Another day in Paris isn’t such a bad thing.
We head off on foot again but heading towards the Arc de Triomphe. Being the excellent map reader that I am, I pick a clever path south through the back streets.
Shortly after guiding us around the third corner I manage to walk us in to the middle of a yellow vest protest (gilet jaune) forming in the middle of the road along with 200 riot police. I am officially banned from routing decisions from this point on.
It’s pretty peaceful really, these protest have been happening for 8 months, but we do see a lone protester being vigorously encouraged not to join the rest of them by some zealous gendarmes. The boys get perhaps an untimely lesson in mild police brutality.
The protestors head off on their march with the riot police shutting down roads. And we take a side exit towards the Arc de Triomphe.
Once there it’s mad and french and impressive. Time to grab some lunch and head towards the Eiffel Tower to have a snack on the grass. There’s a merry go round and a playground so we set up shop here at the base and take our time. Seeing the Tower up close is genuinely impressive and I could have spent all day here. The boys have their standard casual acceptance of what’s going on around them while I walk around slack jawed most of the time.
Jetlag is still strong so we wander back to our apartment and find an open restaurant nearby (harder than you think, it’s August and people literally close shop and leave town on holiday. Half of the cafes at least weren’t open for weeks).
Paris is pretty neat.
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