Alright, I am even more tired tonite than last night. I am obviously getting old. We went downstairs for a breakfast, an awesome one at that. It was a buffet that involved bread choices, hash browns, vegetarian sausages (to die for) pork sausages, ham, eggs two ways, fruit, jams, marmalade, yoghurt, cereals, cold cuts, cheeses and on and on.
We left the hotel on a 9 am shuttle for the airport and got through to the secure side pretty painlessly. There was a log of shopping in this terminal so took total advantage of that and shopped a bunch. So much fun.
The flight over was short and bumpy. And Paris is magnificent, at least the part we can see. We can just see the Eiffel tower out our window!
The only draw back is the actual hotel. Once again I picked a bad time to come. This is a four day weekend here in France and the city is full to the bursting seams. When I tried to book this hotel I had to end up going further from down town than I liked and in a very colourful neighbourhood. (Montmarte) The hotel itself is awful by our Canadian standards. The room is reasonably large, with the third bed being in an alcove opposite ours, with a little sitting area in between. The hotel itself is ancient and it shows. The added on later elevator is about three feet by four feet. Bill and I can’t fit in it and get the door shut...I was so claustrophobic I wouldn’t use it. So, I climbed up the spiral rickety sloping stairs all the way to the top sixth floor. I thought I was going to die. I have done it twice already today!!!
The whole hotel is run down and ragged and slopey and OLD!!! But what fun! We checked for bedbugs, and there aren’t any that we can see and thats what really counts. The cupboard door is broken, and April just hollared from the loo that when you shower water gets everywhere...oh well...you get what you pay for! We can see the eiffel tower so what more could you want!!!
We stepped out at around five to find food. HUNGRY!! And the only place serving food at supper time in France is asian..and we found a wee Thai place just around he corner. So in we went and had the tastiest thai dinner ever. We went back to our room and had a heck of a good time, sitting on our beds, gabbing, doing our pics etc....Bill conked out by 7:30 and April and I around 10.
This morning we were up at 6:30 and downstairs for breakfast by 8. Croissant, jam, cereals, fruit salad, buns, cheeses, salamis etc...OH, and the best part....French butter. We got a taxi and headed down to the Louvre. There was a line up but not a seriously bad one. About forty mintutes. The moment we got in there we made a dash to see the Mona Lisa. I am glad we went so early, the crowds were agathering!! It was pretty exciting to see it with someone new. We toodled around and looked at other stuff then left and walked along the Seine to a bridge, crossed over and got into a forty minute line at the Muse d’ Orsay. This was the museum I have really wanted to bring April to. Oh My God.....we saw Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Toulouse Letrec, Renoir and on and on and on. So much to take in.
Before the galleries though, we went to a very beautiful dining room in the M ‘O and had the most amazing lunch ever. I will explain it in the pics below. Unbelievable experience. We left there and walked freaking miles to the Place D’ Concord and got a taxi up to the Sacre Ceour, on the hill.
Our wifi is so sketchy here in this hotel. I am not going to be writing a very good critique of this dump on travelocity. People should be warned!
Yesterday we made a trip to Givernay, honestly I think its the most beautiful place in France. The flowers, in spite of the rain, were amazing. We hired a private tour car and the guide/driver was really good. I think I could almost paint beautiful things there and I can’t paint a straight line!
We left Bill in the hotel (he is having trouble walking) and April and I went down to Lafayette, the largest and most expensive busy shopping centre in Paris. Such a beautiful place, but waaaaay to busy for us. We got out of there and found a wonderful little place to get some very French lunch. We then wondered our way back tot he hotel. We rested a while and then went out for a neighbourhood walk. Bill went back after a few blocks and April and I wandered around and eventually found a little cozy bistro that had wifi. So we sat and drank beer, ate little olives, and wified. Ahhh...the life of Riley!!! I am going to try to post some pics here but not sure they will go. TTYL
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