Paris 26.7.12

L'église de la Madeleine

Today was another late start. Around 1pm, I headed down to the Place de la Concorde to view the giant obelisk, visit L'église de la Madeleine, tour the outside of Le Grand Palais, and to climb the Eiffel Tower. Believe it or not, I actually completed everything that I wanted to today! L'église de la Madeleine was quite interesting. It didn't look at all like a traditional church, instead, resembling the Parthenon. The interior had beutiful alfrescos on the ceilings and bronze doors weighing 3.2 tonnes! Following my visit to the church, I walked across the street to see the Maille mustard shop. You'd be surprised, they make mustard with basically everything! There was fig and coriander mustard, orange and ginger, mango and thai spices,  and pistacho and orange (http://www.maille.com/moutardes/saveurs-et-fruits-du-monde.html)- I was amazed, it was like Kit Kats in Japan. The Grand Palais was also pretty impressive with the glass ceilings - it must have been utterly breathtaking in 1900 for the Universal Expo. However, it was disappointing to see them watering their lawn in the mid day heat on the hottest day this week...
The view from the Eiffel Tower was pretty impressive - you could see for miles. Due to the fact that summer is peak season, there were so many people! Thankfully I opted to take the stairs - the line up for the elevator would have taken hours.

Swimmers in the fountains of Trocadero

As I finished all that I wanted to achieve today relatively early, I decided to do some leche-vitrine (window shopping) on Champs- Élysée. I have to say, compared to Orchard Road, the luxury goods and haute-couture shops weren't all that impressive.