The view from our Rue Cler hotel (Hotel Muguet)...not too shabby, eh?
Bright and early next morning, we boarded the high-speed Thalys train to Paris, which to my moderate disappointment
was only high speed once we left Brussels (after two hours of many slow stops).
Gen and I have been to Paris once before and we loved it! We were old pros at the Metro. As soon as we arrived at the
train station we bought a carnet of tickets and headed to the Rue Cler neighborhood where our hotel was. Gen and I strolled
the always wonderful market, the Eifel Tower, and nearby shops.
Dinner was an interesting experience. Gen, KC and I ate at Le Florimond. Shortly after we sat down, a large group of older, nicely dressed Americans arrived. I think they were Texan (no offense meant as Gen and I grew up in Texas). The highlight of their very loud conversations was (use the appropriate drawl):
You see, the price is fixed, but they can un-fix it if you don't want the duck liver.
Even with the noisy Americans, it was a wonderful meal and Laurent (the host) was super friendly.
The following day was a whirlwind tour of the Louvre, shops on the Rue de Rivoli, and Notre Dam. Take my advise and spend the time to go up to the Notre Dam towers, it is amazing. While standing in line, we met James and Heather who were pilots in the US Air Force on vacation as well. They were fun to hang out with while waiting. Afterwards, we sampled ice cream from both Berthillon and Amorino Gelati. I'm paritial to Amorino Gelati -- possibly because our first European trip was to Italy and I could eat gelato three or four times a day!
Gen loves breakfast which is an unknown concept in France; however, she highly recommends the crepe place on the Rue Cler (its under the Boucherie Chevaline sign (horse meat -- no there isn't any horse meat in the crepes that I know of). The crepes are excellent (and I'm not much of a breakfast person myself). We also met Stephanie, another American, during breakfast. Gen got some shopping tips from her -- go to Printemps (a French department store) as they refund the VAT tax on site. Gen bought a Lancel handbag there.
That night we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary which we spent at Leo le Leon restaurant which is our favorite restaurant in Paris. You have to visit the restaurant to experience Frederick the waiter -- he is the friendliest, most charming person we've met in France. In his own words: no paneek! Izz okay? Ooooh, la la.
Dinner was an interesting experience. Gen, KC and I ate at Le Florimond. Shortly after we sat down, a large group of older, nicely dressed Americans arrived. I think they were Texan (no offense meant as Gen and I grew up in Texas). The highlight of their very loud conversations was (use the appropriate drawl):
You see, the price is fixed, but they can un-fix it if you don't want the duck liver.
Even with the noisy Americans, it was a wonderful meal and Laurent (the host) was super friendly.
The following day was a whirlwind tour of the Louvre, shops on the Rue de Rivoli, and Notre Dam. Take my advise and spend the time to go up to the Notre Dam towers, it is amazing. While standing in line, we met James and Heather who were pilots in the US Air Force on vacation as well. They were fun to hang out with while waiting. Afterwards, we sampled ice cream from both Berthillon and Amorino Gelati. I'm paritial to Amorino Gelati -- possibly because our first European trip was to Italy and I could eat gelato three or four times a day!
Gen loves breakfast which is an unknown concept in France; however, she highly recommends the crepe place on the Rue Cler (its under the Boucherie Chevaline sign (horse meat -- no there isn't any horse meat in the crepes that I know of). The crepes are excellent (and I'm not much of a breakfast person myself). We also met Stephanie, another American, during breakfast. Gen got some shopping tips from her -- go to Printemps (a French department store) as they refund the VAT tax on site. Gen bought a Lancel handbag there.
That night we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary which we spent at Leo le Leon restaurant which is our favorite restaurant in Paris. You have to visit the restaurant to experience Frederick the waiter -- he is the friendliest, most charming person we've met in France. In his own words: no paneek! Izz okay? Ooooh, la la.
The next day we visited St. Sulpice church which was a location in Dan
Brown's novel The DaVinci Code. There is a posted
disclaimer on how the book is in accurate. Good stuff.
On Friday, we visited the L'Orangerie Museum (Monet) in the afternoon and met up with the Rick Steve's group later that evening. Gen and I took a taxi to the group hotel in the Montparnasse district. That evening, we mingled with the group during the dinner at C'est Mon Plaisir.
The next morning, the group started with a tour of the Louvre plus free time to wander in the afternoon. Gen went shopping in the St. Germain district and at one of the shops we met a young girl in pre-med who was fascinated by the US show Grey's Anatomy. We took the metro back to Amorino Gelati since it was so good! That night we wandered the Montparnasse area for a place to eat. The Rick Steve's book didn't offer much in this neighborhood so we first tried to go back to C'est Mon Plaisir but it was closed for a private party. We wandered to a cafe but the service was slow and the menu average. On a whim, Gen and I jumped on the Metro back to the Rue Cler and got a table at Leo le Leon. Again, it was a wonderful meal -- Frederick was amazing again. We took the Metro back around 11:30pm. All in all it was a great last evening in Paris!
On Friday, we visited the L'Orangerie Museum (Monet) in the afternoon and met up with the Rick Steve's group later that evening. Gen and I took a taxi to the group hotel in the Montparnasse district. That evening, we mingled with the group during the dinner at C'est Mon Plaisir.
The next morning, the group started with a tour of the Louvre plus free time to wander in the afternoon. Gen went shopping in the St. Germain district and at one of the shops we met a young girl in pre-med who was fascinated by the US show Grey's Anatomy. We took the metro back to Amorino Gelati since it was so good! That night we wandered the Montparnasse area for a place to eat. The Rick Steve's book didn't offer much in this neighborhood so we first tried to go back to C'est Mon Plaisir but it was closed for a private party. We wandered to a cafe but the service was slow and the menu average. On a whim, Gen and I jumped on the Metro back to the Rue Cler and got a table at Leo le Leon. Again, it was a wonderful meal -- Frederick was amazing again. We took the Metro back around 11:30pm. All in all it was a great last evening in Paris!
Of course we saw many sites in addition to the ones above such as St.
Chapel Cathedral, more of the Louvre, plus a number of other
neighborhoods.
The next morning was a group tour of the Orsay Museum and a bus to
Normandy. Paris is amazing! We were sad to leave Paris but excited to see more
of France!
Patrick demonstrates how flying buttresses work
