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samedi 8 mars 2003 |
margueritte on pont de la concorde with the tour eiffel and pont alexander iii in the background.
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our first full day in paris we had ambitious plans. we walked six blocks from our apartment on rue duvivier to the dome des invalides. then we walked along boulevard des invalides past the musee rodin through a neighborhood with the french foreign ministry and the embassies of poland, switzerland and south korea. remote control surveillance cameras were mounted high off the street covering the entrances to each embassy.
we turned down rue bourgogne and window shopped along stores with antiques, paintings and housewares. we crossed place du palais bourbon, a small square with scooters and parisian mini cars zipping through. across the square was palais bourbon, home of the national assembly of france. military guards stood at the auto entrance on rue de l'universite. we loitered a bit beside a sidewalk newsstand, looking at postcards and newspaper headlines, reading the menu at a sidewalk cafe on boulevard saint germain, and admiring the art deco entrance to the metro station. we talked about popping into the cafe, but decided against it partially because it looked so smoky.
we walked to the front of the assemblee nationale on the river seine. a thick queue of tourists stood by the guard shack at the pedestrian gate to the assemblee nationale. we crossed the seine on the pont de la concorde.