Wednesday May 16 - Part 2

Walking along I realised I was at the designer end of town - avenue George V.  I passed high end fashion names and the elite Hotel George V, where a waiting chauffeaur was using a soft brush to clean specks of dust off an immaculate black car.  Not the cheapest place to stay - the royal suite will set you back about $24,000 a night.  The avenue takes you right onto the Champs Elysee - of course.  It was way past lunch time, so I ducked down a side street to find something a bit cheaper than what you can find on the grand avenue.  An Italian place seemed to fit the bill.  The lasagne was absolutely delicious.  I washed it down with some  Italian rose

and a very strong Italian espresso.  The waiter asked if I were Quebecoise.  What  a complement.  I floated out of there, although the wine may have had something to do with it.  I bought a ticket to a movie and had time to kill so decided to have a look at the Elysee Palace.  On the way I found myself in another high end designer area.  Men's shoes from 4300 euro, womens from 2400. I guess you get both shoes for that price.

This is not a toy -

but it looks like something that's been assembled a la meccano.

Smart car indeed.

To my mind, probably the most boring job in the world, although you do get to dress up,

There seemed to be a lot of security in the area of the President's residence, plus an enormous corral of media opposite the front gates.  You will not believe it, but the gates slowly started to open just as I got there.  Two cars came out, tailed immediately by a police van.

This is a beautiful area of the city, with passages suggesting hidden gems beyond the obvious.

Back at the place de la Concorde end of the Champs Elysee I found this sculpture called La Muse.

Everyone has to make a living.

The movie (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - called  Indian Palace here) was enyoyable.