Sightseeing in Paris - Part II

Picking up where I left off yesterday on our Hop-on Hop-off Big Bus Tour, we passed a beautiful French Auction House, bookshop, and café on the corner of Champs-Elysées and Avenue Montaigne.  It was built in 1844, and was formerly a hotel.  It seemed regal and worthy of a photograph.

We rode past the Petit Palais Art Museum constructed in 1900 [along with Pont Alexandre III] for the Paris Exhibition [World's Fair].

Crossing the Seine on the Pont Alexandre III - Paris' most beautiful bridge.

In the center of the 8th Arrondissement is Place [Square] de la Concorde - the largest of five Royal Squares in Paris.  The centerpiece of the square is the Obelisk of Luxor.  Charles  X had the obelisk transported from Egypt in the 1830's to honor those who had been executed [beheaded] there during the Revolution - including his brother Louis XVI and Marie-Antionette.  Renovations are being done to the area for the 2024 Olympics so the nearby fountain was turned off and barricades prevented good views.

Place du Trocadéro is a popular right bank square with great views of the Eiffel Tower just across the Seine.  Our bus driver pulled over to allow for some photographs. 

We crossed over the Seine on the Pont d'lena which is near the Eiffel Tower, also called the 'Iron Lady'.

Champ de Mars is a large public greenspace on the left bank very close to the Eiffel Tower, and provided more great views of the most visited monument in the world.  The Eiffel Tower was the 1889 World's Fair centerpiece, named for the man who built it, Gustave Eiffel.  We didn't have time to tour it, or have photographs taken standing by it, but we were glad we got to see it.

There are 10 stops on the Hop-on Hop-off bus route.  As we were driving along the route before the last stop near Church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine, I spotted a Laudrée Tea Salon on Rue Royale [their original location].  I would have preferred having tea at Mariage Fréres or Palais des Thés, but neither were on the bus route and there wasn't time to locate different areas of Paris on our own.  I couldn't leave Paris without having tea in the City of Light so Laudrée was it!  [I have nothing against Ladurée's, they have 10 locations in Paris all with great reviews, and while they have their own line of fine teas, they're best known as a high-end patisserie, and I had already enjoyed their delicious macarons and tea in London.]

There wasn't a bus stop at Laudrées so we had to ride to the end of the route and take a taxi back to Laudrées [it was too far to walk and we probably would have gotten lost].

The décor inside was beautiful.  Pictured below is the first floor.  It was getting late in the afternoon so the salon wasn't crowded with patrons.

Stairway to the second floor where we were taken.

It was around 4:30 and closing time was 5:30 so all we had time for was a Dessert or Light Tea, but that  satisfied my desire for having tea in Paris.

~ Our Server ~

Our tea was Marie-Antionette - a China black tea with rose petals, citrus, and honey.  It was very good, as was our dessert - Sur Commande Vanilla Millefeville.  [Multiple custard layers between chou pastry.]

When we finished, we took a taxi back to our hotel to relax a bit before one final excursion on our last night in Paris.  Next post...