Sep 23, 2012 - Paris - Eiffel Tower

I started today a bit late, leaving the room just before lunch time. I thought that, given today is predicted to be the last day of sunshine whilst I'm in Paris, it's a good day to go to the Eiffel tower. I haven't arranged tickets like last time, but I figured I was out of the peak tourist season, so the wait shouldn't be too bad. First of all though, I was going to go for a little walk, and see some of the neighbouring monuments. I started by walking down to L'hotel de Ville. I turned right into Rue de Rivoli, which is one of the main...

Sep 23, 2012 - Hanging with the Parisians

Here we are in our last day in Paris and there is still so much we have not seen. I think if we were here another week we would say the same thing as there is also way too much to "do" as well! The last two days have been a mix of seeing and doing with the weight on the doing side.  Yesterday we checked an item off Kendra's bucket list with a visit to a Paris Flea Market. We picked the smallest one and thank goodness as it was still 6+blocks and 280 vendors. I don't know how you would see a bigger one in one day. I think you can buy...

Sep 21, 2012 - Arrival in Paris and evening at Notre Dame

Today is our last day of our driving holiday. We had planned to go see EuroDisney, but the fine print on the car rental says we have to return the car before midday, or we get charged for it. So, we've decided we'll head straight back to the airport to drop the car off, after a short detour. One cannot go to Reims, and not buy some champagne to bring home. And yeah, yeah, I know hear you saying "But Kirk, you got a Dom Ruinart gift box already" And yes, you are right. I did. But I couldn't just stop there! Not when there are so many to...

Sep 21, 2012 - So much to see and do!

Wow ... the last two days have been go, go, go! Well almost too much so, ... we did get a nice sleep in yesterday that had us out the door by the crack of 11! But there really is just so much to see and do here that one starts to realize that 7 days in Paris really isn't nearly enough. There isn't enough time just to "be" in Paris. But more of that in a separate entry. Dinner on Wednesday was pretty simple fare at the creperie across the street from the hotel. But they were quite well done and enjoyable. Smoked salmon and lemon cream, ham...

Sep 19, 2012 - Settling in

Today was definitely a tourist day. We even included the getting up early part to make sure we could beat the lines at the Eiffel Tower. Turns out the longest line we saw was formed by people getting up early to beat the lines! Nonetheless the strategy was great to get us up the tower early before the crowds. It was also when the light was great for pictures. The views really are magnificent and change dramatically based on what level you are on (200 ft, 400 ft, 900 ft). We did them all and truly marveled at what Paris has to show us. We...

Sep 18, 2012 - Paris Day Two

Well I guess the trip is now officially under way! We arrived in Paris yesterday after some minor alterations to plan, courtesy Air Canada. I'm amazed that Air Canada thinks that one can get off a plane, clear customs, transit terminals, clear security and get to your plan within 30 minutes! You can't and we didn't so we ended up on a plane 90 minutes after scheduled, which meant the hotel car that was also unavailable. No matter! We ended up at our hotel by noon, our room was ready by 1PM. The hotel is quite a nice but small hotel newly...

Sep 10, 2012 - Last day in Paris

As today was to be another repeat day from our last Rick Steves tour, we did our own thing again. We had a leisurely breakfast; stayed in our room to take care of finances and some repacking; read the English language newspaper in the lobby; and ate our picnic lunch in our room. Ivan wanted to see more of the Louvre so he headed out about 2:00 with Metro passes and his museum pass to acquire more culture. I was not interested in any more walking today so stayed in our room to work on the computer until he returned about 6:30 with part of...

Sep 9, 2012 - Trip to Paris

Hi We made it safely, very long flight, great food, but actually too much with Emirates. We had a short stop at Bangko to replenish food stocks! The stop over in Dubai was interesting & bizarre about 5 WCs for 100's of passengers, in the transit area & not enough seats! It was like Pitt Street at 5am, literally the terminal was packed, passengers lying on the floor. Once we got into Paris on the Luxembourg Stn, we struggled initially with our bearings to find our accom but thanks to my Father's day compass it worked a treat and saved Marg...

Sep 9, 2012 - Versailles

This was a long hot day (88 degrees and sunny!) at one of the most visited attractions in France. (Would you believe the Disney Paris Park is by far the most popular attraction? And while we were in Paris we never saw or heard a single reference to it!?!) Ivan and I struck out on our own today, walking 15 min. to the train station where our Eurail Pass entitled us to free tickets on the VICK for the 35 min. ride to the outskirts of Paris to Versailles. We and thousands of others had tried to come early to avoid the crowds. Ha! After a...

Sep 9, 2012 - Paris

Well what can I say about Paris? Always blows me away so much to see and do. Finally made it to the Louvre Got a ride in a tuk tuk up the Champs Élysée listening to dirty dancing music lots of fun but so exhausted as we covered so much in such a short time can't wait to come back with Que Sera ladies in a few weeks.

Sep 8, 2012 - In Paris

Free time for us until we meet our next Rock Steves tour group at 5:00. We took advantage of the time in a nice room with AC. I cute Ivan's hair (it had been 6 weeks since the last cut) and we both showered, splashing the bathroom with water because of the ½ shower door. Ate our picnic lunch and took an afternoon nap. Great day! At 5:00 twenty-eight of us from the U.S. and Canada met our guide, Patrick Vidal, who is very French and very nice but I fear Ivan will have trouble understanding his accent. (This tour will show us Paris and then...

Sep 7, 2012 - Back to Paris

Finished packing before going down to a later breakfast at 8:20. Most of our folks had already left but Hilbren and Cary were still there. We got into a great long discussion about traveling and various favorite places. I was amazed to learn that Hilbren had been at my favorite Chautauqua Institute just 3 weeks ago! It was great sharing experiences there and telling Cary she has to put that wonderful place on her Bucket List! Got to the train station by taxi in plenty of time for our 11:16 train that didn't appear until 11:11 but left on...