Paris For a Couple of Days

Previous: France 2014: Introduction

Paris

July 12, 2014

I arrived in Paris in the morning on Air France. Emilie, who was in France with her mom, sister, and Suzannah for a week earlier met me at  the airport and took the train to the Notre Dame stop which was near the hotel.

Emilie and I met up with Sz at their hotel from the previous few nights, “Hotel Home Latin”, which they were just about to check out of. We went and checked in at the quaint and perfectly located  “Hotel California” Saint-Germain about two blocks from their hotel, in the Latin Quarter. We had excellent fondue, crepes, and wine for lunch at Le Marmiton de Lutece  restaurant in the Latin Quarter.

We then took the Metro to Tuileries Gardens and proceeded to walk toward the Eiffel tower, enjoying local scenery. We stopped for cheese and wine at an outdoor cafe along the duck pond heading toward the Plaza De La Concorde. Sz had her very first wine here. When in France…

That evening we took a Seine boat ride. The ride was about two hours long….we sat outside on the top deck. On the cruise we got close-up views of the Eiffel Tower lit up, as it was now getting dark.

After the Seine cruise we took the Metro back to the hotel. Along the way, we made a mistake and entered the wrong side of the Metro platform and unbelievably ran into people from Suzannah’s high school who also just entered the wrong side of the same platform!!! What are the odds of that??

Suzannah called it a night once back at the hotel, but Em and I sat at the outdoor café across the street from the hotel for a late night glass of wine.

Here is a view of the Hotel California from our sidewalk table at the café.  Our room was the one right next to the “Hotel” sign.

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Eiffel Tower

July 13

We had a delicious breakfast at a cozy nearby neighborhood Patisserie…chocolate croissants, juice, coffee. Took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower.  It was very crowded and we had to figure out which was the quickest way for us to get up the tower.  We didn’t remember it being this crazy the first time we were here back in 2002. After some initial confusion, we walked up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower.

At the second level, we got on line in the pouring rain for tickets to the top level. After about 20 minutes we got to top level via elevator.  We celebrated our 23^rd wedding anniversary atop the Eiffel Tower!

After about 45 minutes (of viewing, not kissing) we took the elevator to the bottom. Then we made our way on foot towards the Champs Elysee where we stopped for lunch/dinner at Bistro Marbeuf. Great food and wine. We knew we were in France because at this nice restaurant, one family brought their dog in.

Arc de Triomphe

After our early dinner, we shopped along the Champs de Elysee. Sz bought some clothes, and we got ice cream. We decided to not spend all of Suzannah’s college tuition and so that was all we bought on the strip. So, we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe.  The streets were hard to navigate because the city had erected many barriers along the way in preparation for the Bastille Day festivities starting the next day. We climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. What an awesome and historic view!

We walked back on the other side of Champs De Elysee and picked up the Metro to the Notre Dame Cathedral stop near our hotel.

We ate a late snack at Café Panis just outside of Notre Dame Cathedral. Sitting outside, we were next to three young women from Poland who had been drinking lots of beer.  They were loud but fun, and not too drunk to take this picture of us.  Café Panis had good food, a great location, and a fun waiter. I went into Notre Dame Cathedral while waiting for the food (Emilie and Sz had already gone in before I arrived in France). We left around 11 pm, which in Paris in July is just around dusk. We returned to the hotel to get ready for travel to Normandy the next morning.

Next: To the Normandy Coast