One last day in Paris before we all have to get home. Breakfast with my parents and our plan for today is to check out the Canal Saint-Martin, the Le Bassin de la Villette and the area around.
First we have to get there and with the broken arm and tired feet we took the car into the city. That might be a bad idea if you don’t have time and you don’t like how the French are driving. They are terrible. It takes about 45 minutes to get into the city center.
Parking is the next problem. There are not that many parking sports and the best option is to get into a garage. The easiest we found was the one that is under the Gare de l’Est. You have to pay for it of course. But if you calculate Metro tickets for 3 persons, it is not that bad.
We definitely parked in the area that was closed for remodeling, but there were a lot of people parking there, it was close to the exit and we cannot read French. So all good.
The weather is a little bit mixed today. Sun and rain are possible. We are prepared and hope for the best. We pass through the Jardin Villemin – Mahsa Jîna Amini towards the channel. Following the westside towards the Square des Recollets. A very nice area with the houses, trees along the channel and the old bridges. You can du a boat tour of the channel, but walking is an option here that you should consider.
If you follow the channel all the way, you will get to the Seine river. But that would be a walk that is to long. We only go to the Pont tournant de la rue Dieu where we cross the river to walk back the other direction. It is a nice walk, but soon the clouds get very dark above us and rain starts falling. The best place to go is a dry place inside – a café at the next corner. The Soya Comptoir Bio is a vegan café. The cookies and the tea are good, but hot chocolate with oat milk is not a nice experience. Tastes like oil and water. Nothing beats muh-juice for a hot chocolate. But great cookies!
Continuing to the La Rotonde Stalingrad it is appears that the channels sides are a place where the homeless like to have their camps. A lot of tent in corners and under bridges. And also under the bridges we have to go when we cross the street there are people living on pieces of cardboard.
The Le Bassin de la Villette looks like a place where you can stay afternoons end evenings with restaurants and bars and places to hang out. Like it is done in many cities around the world with no longer used harbors. But not for us today – we have been walking for a long time already and want to return to our car.
Walking down the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin that will get us to the garage. We have a little stop at a fruit and vegetable shop (amazing stuff they sell there – I can only dream about that stuff and that quality in Norway). We also take a little stop to see, where we can have dinner tonight.
Back at the garage and paying the fee which was not to bad. The restaurant that we found on Google is in the south of the central area of Paris. I do not remember the name, but is was a small bistro style restaurant at a corner. No tourists here, but people coming after work. We had good food for a reasonable price. My Croque Monsieur with brie was nice. But then it is time to leave and start packing.
Packing is done fast, since I lived out of my luggage for the week. Chilling on the sofa befor it is time for bed.