This morning we had reservations for the Conciergerie . Our first stop was to Le Saint Regis for breakfast, located on île Saint-Louis, the smaller island on the Seine. The server who greeted us originally sat us at a table for two, but it was close to where they receive deliveries and lower them down to the basement and they were expecting deliveries, so he moved us to a table for four. When our waiter came to take our order he gave us some grief about only two of us at a table for four. I don't know if it was serious or an act, but I played along and after offering to move he said it was no problem and we could stay. As we had experienced slow service at other restaurants I made sure he knew we had reservations and needed to be quick. We ordered a crêpe and a breakfast that included a croissant, a hot drink, and a glass of orange juice. Alexandra had the orange juice and I had a café au lait as the hot drink and we split the crêpe and croissant. It all showed up very quickly and was absolutely delicious. After we finished we asked for the check, which was also very quick. We then walked across the Pont Saint-Louis bridge, past the Notre Dame which was still under construction, and over to the Conciergerie. Luckily Alexandra still had her phone and I was able to transfer some of my accounts over so we could still figure out where we had planned on going and I had brought with my digital camera so I would still be able to take photos.
When we made it in to the Conciergerie we were given a tablet that had an interactive map and when you scanned a special image located on pedestals placed around the Conciergerie it would display an animated image of what they thought that room would have looked like and explained all the different things found in the room.
Before we had left for our trip, Alexandra had started reading a signed copy of The Paris Novel, which takes place in and around the Shakespeare and Company book store. She was very excited to be able to visit the actual store where it takes places and be able to immerse herself in the same place where many famous authors had been.
After spending some time in the bookstore we walked through the Square René Viviani Park accross the street from the bookstore before walking over to the police station to file a report for my stolen phone. It appears this is a big problem in Paris because while we were waiting to be called in another couple came in to file a report because they had a phone stolen. The wife had a travel purse that was designed to be difficult to pickpocket but she didn't have the phone in the purse when it was stolen. The husband said around the same time he caught someone trying to unzip his backpack, and this was their first day in Paris.
After lunch we had reservations for the The Louvre Because the Louvre is one of the top tourist attractions in Paris, having reservations is pretty much required, and this is one of the locations the Paris Museum Pass requires you to have reservation for entry. Despite being very crowded the wait wasn't too long. Quite a bit of the Louvre had been rearranged since I was last here and we were unable to find the room with the hundreds of sarcophaguses I had stumbled into last time. We did see most of the most famous pieces and Alexandra had the same impression I had last time upon viewing the Mona Lisa. I read recently that they have plans to movie it to a different location with a different presentation that won't make is so disappointing to so many people. It's currently opposite an extremely large painting that goes from the floor to the ceiling that makes the Mona Lisa appear even smaller. After leaving the museum we walked around the grounds of the Louvre a bit, but the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel was under scaffolding due to repairs that are supposed to be completed in time for the Olympics. Leaving the Louvre ground to catch a Metro was also made more difficult due to all the fencing around in preparation for the Olympics.
After dinner we had tickets to see the Catacombs. This was high on Alexandra's list.
When we returned from the Catacombs, the crepe shop near our hotel was open, so we decided to have a late night crepe.
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