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Planning ahead, continued
After day-trips by train the previous two days, we decided to stay in Paris today, doing things like the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, etc. Of course, all of those require tickets -- gratis in the case of the churches, but still advance reservations. So I looked on-line, and got tickets to the Louvre for Wednesday afternoon. For Notre Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, nothing was available before we leave Paris. Which isn't the end of the world: we got to both of them in 2002, examined the St. Louis shirt as closely as we could through the glass display case, venerated the Crown of Thorns from a few inches away....
So we're not sure what we're doing today: the weather is nice, so probably something outdoors. Or we might day-trip to Chartres, which is a good deal closer than Rouen.
UPDATE: Delayed getting to the train station, just missed our intended train (although we hadn't had time to buy tickets for it anyway, so no money down the drain), decided not to spend three hours round trip on the train for three or four hours in Chartres. Went to les Arenes de Luteces, which we remembered from 23 years ago as a grassy Roman-era amphitheatre where the locals sit and eat lunch. Since then, the center of the amphitheatre seems to have been excavated, leveled, and sand-paved into a sports-and-performance space; we sat in "the stands" snacking, surrounded by art students drawing the surrounding buildings. Got a good hearty lunch at a neighborhood brasserie, then glace Berthillon, then returned to the room to decompress and recharge. After dark, went out for dinner at a crêperie.
So we're not sure what we're doing today: the weather is nice, so probably something outdoors. Or we might day-trip to Chartres, which is a good deal closer than Rouen.
UPDATE: Delayed getting to the train station, just missed our intended train (although we hadn't had time to buy tickets for it anyway, so no money down the drain), decided not to spend three hours round trip on the train for three or four hours in Chartres. Went to les Arenes de Luteces, which we remembered from 23 years ago as a grassy Roman-era amphitheatre where the locals sit and eat lunch. Since then, the center of the amphitheatre seems to have been excavated, leveled, and sand-paved into a sports-and-performance space; we sat in "the stands" snacking, surrounded by art students drawing the surrounding buildings. Got a good hearty lunch at a neighborhood brasserie, then glace Berthillon, then returned to the room to decompress and recharge. After dark, went out for dinner at a crêperie.