Welcome to the Hotel Lutetia, built in 1910. Cool people like Picasso and Charles De Gaulle were guests here on a number of occasions. Want a room for the night? No problemo. Just cough up 2,500 euros and it's all yours.
We were walking along rue cherche-midi, and we saw this cool house that was built in 1720. I really liked the door.
We now come to the "treat" part of the walk. Prepare for some mouthwatering. In 1932, Pierre Poilane opened this bakery. They make their bread with stone-ground flour and without any yeast! It's then baked in wood-fire ovens. The most famous item is the 4.2 pound loaf of light brown sour dough. Poilane ships their bread to restaurants all over the world.
Yes, they are as good as they look.
I could sit and salivate over these displays all day.
The next "treat" on this walk was this lovely little place, Pierre Herme. I'm not sure who decided to stack beautiful oranges in a pyramid with a divine looking pastry on top...but I am a fan.
After we tore ourselves away from the food, we found the next stop- Saint Sulpice. Saint Sulpice is the second largest church in Paris, after Notre Dame of course.
This fountain was in the square just in front of Saint Sulpice.
I decided to take a picture of the pigeons for you. Let me explain why. The pigeons are taking over Paris. It's a fact you come to realize as you walk the streets. I've decided the only thing they are good for is entertainment. For example, this morning as I was walking to class a pigeon was walking alongside me. Yes, walking alongside me. They follow people around. They think you are going to drop food, which is a good assumption because the baguettes here are really crumby. Crumby as in half of it ends up on the ground, and then in the pigeons, which explains the plumpness. Anyway, after that long tangent...ahem...the pigeon was walking alongside me when all of a sudden it just fell off the curb. I don't know why it struck me as being so funny, but I giggled to myself and kept walking. I'm happy to know I'm not the only clumsy one in Paris.
These next few photos are of the inside of Saint Sulpice.
For those of you who are Dan Brown fans... this is the Rose Line he mentions in the Da Vinci Code. Saint Sulpice actually became more of a tourist attraction when the book was published. The local authorities don't particularly find it very amusing, and have posted signs that say things such as, "Go ahead and take pictures of the gnomon like all of the other tourists, but please, don't go knocking around for hollow tiles hiding clues to the Holy Grail." The local authorities may not be amused, but I was.
We passed this store that specializes in womans clothing from 1860-1970. Not sure how I feel about that...but I took a picture anyway. Enjoy.
This is the Abbaye Saint-Germain. It is one of the oldest church is Paris, having been built in the sixth century. I thought it was rather charming.
Inside the Abbey
This was a great walk. The bread was divine, the pastries were sumptuous, and the churches were beautiful. What more could you want?
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