Wednesday - Friday March 13-2024

 We are off to Paris! Francois picked us up at 7:45 for our 8:30 fast train. The train station was very modern, though it was built 20 years ago. 

 

It’s a high speed train traveling as fast as 186 MPH. We thought we would see everything as a blur, but it was not. The farms have been planted in France and spring is here!

We dropped our bags at the Hotel Chateau Frontenac which is conveniently near Champs Elysees. We had a quick lunch at the George V. 

Then we hopped on the Big Bus for the tour around Paris. Paris is under the gun to be Olympic ready by this summer. There are lots of scaffolding up throughout town and cranes are lurking like dinosaurs down many blocks. One park we passed must have had 1000 shrubs waiting to be planted around a fountain. We drove by all the big iconic sites of Paris.

Note Dame under construction. Opening December 2024.

Lois Vuitton under construction!

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower

Then we went back to our hotel to relax and regroup and check in to our rooms. We had a 7:00 reservation at Chez Francis. It was a short walk from our hotel. We walked down the block made a left and looked right. The view of the Eiffel Tower was breathtaking. 

View from our table. We had the consierge make the reservation and it was the best table at Chez Francis.

   

The golden torch is a replica of the torch on the Statue of Liberty. Just below is the tunnel where Lady Diana was killed while traveling with Dodi Fayad. This area has become a Memorial to Diana, people still leave bouquets of flowers.

THURSDAY

We started out early and went to Trocadéro in order to get a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower. 

From there we went on a boat tour on the Seine River for another view of the iconic landmarks. Due to heavy rain the river was high and boat was unable to make the whole trip on the Seine River. 

                              Under the Champs Elysees

A replica of The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the US. 

Then we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and went inside the gates to the gardens for a better view. 

Jeff consulting the map…Where is the Eiffel Tower?

Next we took a cab to Montmartre. It is about 25 minutes out of town. There is a beautiful church Sacre-Coeur overlooking Paris. 

A short walk around the corner brought us to a beautiful little French artist  town.

Then we went over to the St. Germain section in order to shop for beauty items at City Pharma. This is the best store in all of Paris.The store was 3 floors! It was so crowded. They had plenty of people walking around in white jackets to help you. The customers had shopping lists as if they were doing their weekly food shopping. 

We had a busy day in Paris! Back to the hotel and we had a great dinner right at the hotel. 

FRIDAY 

We had 9:30 tickets for the Louvre. We got in the queue about 9:00. Our first mission was to see the Mona Lisa. The Louvre was originally started as the home to King Phillip II. 500 years later King Louis XVI was still adding on to it. The opulence  was so evident. The masterpieces were breathtaking. Amazing that artists were able to create these works of art. 

We were on a bit of a time limit, as we had a late check out of the hotel at 1:00. Jeff found that the oldest bakery in Paris, The Stohrer, is not far from the Louvre. Oh yes it is!!

We walked!!! It was worth it! The street Rue Montorgueil was amazing. It was like Arthur Avenue where there is a butcher store, a fish store, a bread store, and lots of small shops and cafes. Strohers was out of this world! The croissants were melt in your mouth amazing as well as the eclairs and macarons. 

Quick cab ride back to the hotel, it’s 1:00 for check out and a cab to the Gare De Lyon train station. Our train is 3:40pm. We went into Train Bleu for a quick lunch. Unfortunately we didn’t have a reservation. It was a beautiful restaurant!

Back to Avignon by train. Francois was waiting for us at the train station and took us to our home. We had a quick dinner next door. Back to the house to write the blog and watch some TV.