It was a really beautiful day today so Katie and I spent the day walking through Paris. We decided to spend the day enjoying being outside and being in Paris. We brought along some letterbox clues and looked for a few along the way. We walked from our apartment to the Rodin museum, which turned out to be closed for the day. We then walked to Les Invalides, but couldn’t find the box there since too many people were in the park. We walked across the Seine on Pont Alexandre III bridge and over towards the American Embassy. It was heavily fortified and I felt like I was acting a bit suspicisous looking for the box in the park across the street. We found that one, and then another in the short hedge maze near the Louvre. We then walked towards Palais Royal and were delighted to find a string ensemble playing in the nearby square. We relaxed on the ground as the 18 piece group played classical music. They were quite talented and we enjoyed the rest in the nice warm sun. The group included 11 violins, 2 voilas, 3 cellos and 2 basses. A large crowd gathered to listen and a large red haired man stretched out on the pavement in front f us fell asleep and started snoring. Katie was aghast. “How can he sleep here with all these people around?” she asked. He must have been tired, and in that sun his face was soon going to be as red as his hair!
We stayed for four or five pieces and then moved on to the Palais Royal. Once again this garden was packed and we couldn’t find the letterbox. Katie enjoyed playing on the large black and white columns. These columns were of various heights from 6 inches to 8 feet, and in 10 straight rows of about 26 per row. Kids were going crazy around these things, climbing on the, posing, jumping on and off, running slalom around them, you name it. Their play was so creative it was a joy to watch. Plus, the marble columns were so cool on the hot day that they felt good just to touch.
Once Katie exhausted herself, we moved on to our final stop f the day, a playground near the site where the Bastille used to be. The letterbox clue was clear, but I just couldn’t find the hidden box in the hedge. So we went off in search of ice cream, came back to the park to eat it, tried a little longer and found it! I am very tenacious with these things and hate to give up!
Our final tally for the day was: four letterboxes found, two abandoned due to too many people around, one abandoned due to closed museum. Additional numbers: 18 piece orchestra, 4 movements of classical music, two ice cream cones, 260 black and white columns, 15500 steps taken and two tired girls.
We found a letterbox once in a rest stop! It was hard to distract people.
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