Paris is closed.

We slept rather late this morning and didn’t end up setting out to look for breakfast until 10:30. Today there was a farmers’ market along the street that our apartments are on, so we wandered through that, checking out the amazing array of produce available – much greater than the markets you see around the UK.

En route we ran into Paul L, who was at a loose-end for the morning while his partner Martin K finished some stuff for work. So we headed off together to have a coffee and chatted for a while before returning through the market to pick up pastries, cheese, paté, fruit and bread for lunch in our apartment.

After lunch we took the Metro along to Place de la Concorde (which feels unfortunately like an airport apron, dotted with statues, fountains and an obelisk – they should learn from Trafalgar Square and pedestrianise the whole place!) and then headed back along the river to the Museé D’Orsay – which was closed because it is May 1^st. This confirmed our fears about what there was (or rather wasn’t) to do in town today, so we crossed the river again, cut across the Louvre and ambled through the Tuileries gardens, to a spot where we could book dinner and a show at the Moulin Rouge for Tuesday.

Then we carried on East, heading for the Marais area again, pausing only for a much needed fresh fruit smoothie in the (ironically named?) Fruit’s Paradise…

Arriving at Café Open again, there were more of the Chorus boys sitting around enjoying the afternoon sunshine, so we joined them and ended up booking ourselves on their evening Dinner Cruise along the Seine. It’s a bit pricy, but we are promised five-courses and lots to drink, so we are optimistic (and had been considering doing one ourselves anyway.) We’ll probably head out to a bar or somesuch afterwards too.