Today, we started at Palais Garnier, the magnificent opera house. We were disappointed that the "Paris Pass" didn't provide us with free entry -- it's been great for most things. We walked past Café de la Paix -- it's famous (especially for vanilla slices) but VERY expensive.
We then walked around to Galeries Lafayette, a shopping centre with an amazing stained-glass roof:
It's much bigger than it looks in the photograph.
Some people I know .... getting organised to discover different sections of the complex before all meeting on Level 6. From Level 6, we could see the Eiffel Tower, the Obelisk in Place de la Concorde, the ferris wheel in Jardins des Tuileries, the gold dome of the church at Les Invalides, and lots of the Parisian skyline.
We walked down Blvd des Capucines to Place de la Madeleine (Madeleine Square) and the Madeleine church. It's surrounded by 20 metre high Corinthian columns. A wonderful building, so I wish they'd clean the side and back walls. They're covered with years and years of dirt and grime.
We lit candles in memory of departed loved ones, but also with prayers that Con would make a full recovery and be home with his beautiful family in no time at all.
By now, it was about 1:30 pm and we were all ravenously hungry. We found a great spot in a side street off Madeleine Square and I had my first good coffee because I remembered to order in French and explain the kind of coffee I wanted: "Un double (something) de café espresso avec du lait chaud sur le côté." A double shot of espresso coffee with some hot milk on the side. I forgot the word for "shot" but the waitress got the message. It was worth it -- the coffee was nearly as good as the coffee we get at out favourite place in Melbourne (Down to Earth). Hard to believe that in this wonderful city of Paris, it's difficult to find a really good coffee.
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