Tuesday is a much cooler day, a welcome change after so many days near or over 30C. We decided to spend the day just wandering around & exploring. We first walked up to the Bastille monument. All that remains are some stone foundations and in it's place is the Colonne de Juillet, a monumental column commemorating the Revolution of 1830. We then headed to a lovely park, Gaylene & John recommended, the Place des Vosges, in Le Marais district. The park was really different to the other parks we had visited. We wandered around Le Marais district, enjoying the different architecture, the artist galleries, the various shops as well as the 600 year old Jewish quarter.
We then made our way to a cafe our daughter Jennifer recommended which is getting great reviews, & about 1.5 kms away. Unfortunately the cafe was closed so we headed back to Place des Vosges & had lunch at the (Victor) Hugo cafe opposite the park.
We then headed down to the Seine to find the Giant bike shop Paul saw on the hop on hop off bus back in 2011. We found it easily & just like other bike shops no service was offered. I suppose in their defense we did look like tourists.
Next we walked to Notre Dame Cathedral, on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité, which was very crowded, with very long queues waiting to enter. It was interesting that only a few streets away it was peacefully quiet, but come to a major tourist attraction & there are thousands of people milling about.
Walking along the Seine we came upon the Paris-Plages, the Paris beaches. A plan run by the office of the mayor of Paris that creates temporary artificial beaches each summer along the river Seine in the centre of Paris. There are dance stages with dancing lessons, children's games areas, misting water jets, music & off course numerous pop up restaurants. Of course, we took advantage of this novel opportunity to relax in the deck chairs at the beach, in Paris, before heading home to our apartment.