Today I will start at the end of a fabulous blue sky day in Paris, a very comfortable 24 degrees! (Celsius for my Texas family)
4pm found us at our favourite cafe/bar for a holiday beverage before heading home!
Ok, back to the morning… both early risers, a load of washing done, we headed off to the metro(train) at 8.30am to embark on our days excursion…. Joining with the morning train rush we squeezed into the train, standing room only, packed like sardines…a train change at Champs Elysees to ride the electric train (no driver) towards our destination….The Paris Zoo!
Before boarding the final (Bus) leg we felt a coffee was in order…
A kiwi size coffee for me and a French size coffee for Sally! Then on the bus to the zoological Park! Several packs of loud French children and louder French teachers but relatively unpopulated at 10 am!
Again with most zoos worldwide the animal comfort versus the human enjoyment is a little unbalanced – the animals winning out! In 2008 this zoo closed for 6 years to undergo habitat renovations….
Creating a more environmentally friendly habitat for its residents.. consequently we did manage to spy most of them (with patience and moments when the loud groups of primary aged kids had moved on)
The lion was noticeably absent but these guys were lazily active…
The zebras provided us with a zoomy race around their enclosure avoiding their rhinoceros roommates.,,
And being spring here the fluffy brown flamingos chicks were hanging out with their pinker parents: seals, giraffes and toucans doing their Monday things! Not much after breakfast!
This zoo is 15 hectares and it took us not much more than two hours to stroll the human designated pathways, so we were out of there by lunchtime (conveniently)
We bused back to the beginning of our train journey and revisited the same (coffee) cafe for lunch
Paris version of a shrimp cocktail and a Pina Colada for lunch …. And back on the trains to head back for our suitcase replacement mission! The 2nd train found Sally and I heading for two vacant seats…as this was the longest ride…when a nasty Frenchman dived in front of me(Sally had sat down) and pushed me out into the aisle and plonked himself on my seat! He was about our age and not incapacitated – just RUDE…. He then proceeded to scroll his phone and get his book out to read, avoiding eye contact with anyone around us…if I could speak fluent French I would have given him a piece of my mind! A kind lady, who was disembarking at the next station, gave me her seat and scowled at the (oblivious) man!
We then continued on to avenue de Clichy (a street, that Sally dislikes and I love as it is full of charity shops) in search of a suitcase for me to continue my travel next weekend.
Three baggage shops later, we boarded our final (bus) transport, new green suitcase in tow, back to Clichy, where we did our final grocery shop and pastry shop and half filled the suitcase…before resting at our cafe/bar for a well deserved refreshment!
All who wander are not Lost girls 