Of absolute course our arrival in Paris meant Jessica would come down with the cold that resulted from hours next to me on a plane. But her mind was set on loading up on meds and pushing through it.


The first thing to do was to find medicine at a pharmacy. This proved difficult, as it was Sunday and we were at kilometer two of the Paris Marathon. I found a shop listed as open, but after crossing the marathon route found that it was in fact closed.

Scenic Paris walking/metro loop, from Google Maps.

I returned to the room empty-handed, but hopeful that we could find meds elsewhere. Our route for the day was a big loop (depicted above, but not showing the metro segments) - metro to the catacombs and then to Arc de Triomphe, where we would take the scenic walk back to the hotel. The original plan called for a stop at Notre Dame, where we'd just walk around the outside and head on our way. This caught the chopping block, and it seemed the Champs walk might have to turn into a metro ride.


We found an open pharmacy near the catacombs metro stop. Jes dosed up and prepared herself for what must have been a very rough day. The catacombs had a long line for the prebook people and a huge line for the day-of suckers, but we got in after ten minutes or so.

The self-guided audio tour consisted of a short walk wayyy below the city. It included history from a quarry era, various (gulp) collapses, and then its famous role as corpse storage.


Another metro ride took us to the Arc de Triomphe.


The marathon had apparently started on the Champs Elysees, so not only did we have the rare benefit of the road being closed to vehicular traffic, all of the marathon people had pretty well cleared out as well. So we walked down the center of the Las Vegas Blvd of Paris, somewhat disappointed that the shops are just name brand designer boutiques on repeat.


The route runs by all sorts of neat sights - the Place de la Concorde, palaces large and small, and the Tuileries gardens.


Eventually we made it to the hotel, where Jes promptly zonked out.


I made myself scarce and found a bottle of wine at Le Bar.


My surprise for Jes that night was dinner and a show at Moulin Rouge (recommended by Santos and Dan). She rallied for it and we took the metro north a few stops to the colorful part of Paris where we walked past live shows and misshapen Eiffel towers to the theater.

The line to get seated wasn't great, but dinner was good. On account of early booking or maybe just luck, we had front row/table seats.

The show was entertaining and varied, dance routines, real and lip synched singing, circus acts, even some small horses and large snakes.