Baccarat Paris

... the nice man across from me on the
train spoke English and wished me luck. I managed to get back to
Chatelet-Les Halles and transferred to the right line to get to Gare
de Lyon. But I guess the Seattle bus tunnel doesn't really prepare
one for the enormousness of European train stations. I got lost so
many times. And then when I finally got to Gare de Lyon, I couldn't
figure out how to get outside. My ticket wouldn't work in any of the
turnstiles. I ...

... rental fee, but a deposit is required, in case you don't return the bike), I dutifully entered my Visa. "Transaction did not go through". Hum. Tried again, same result. Tried my bank (debit) card. Same thing. An American couple tried their card - same thing. Conclusion: Velib only works for French (or perhaps European?) cards. No Velib for me.

Resigned to walking, I headed back up Les Capucines, towards the large department stores of Printemps and Galeries LaFayette. I was ...

Bonjour everone! We made it here, flu pandemic and all. Actually, it was an easy trip. For those of you building reserves of miles, use them for long distance 1st class tickets. Its totally worth it... there are massage rollers in the chairs and you won't feel trashed when you arrive. So we headed to the Marais district (2nd arrondissement) and to our little apartment rental. Its pretty little in that the washing machine doubles as a dryer ...

... rail station. We were able to hop onto what looked like a zoo train to return to the car (I don't think I could have walked any further by then), that also delivered many passengers to the train station. Interestingly, almost everyone seemed to have left the fair with a purchase. Chairs, tables, birdcages, baskets all made their way to new domiciles...but I had to leave my new salt box with my friend until next winter--we are leaving for Oxford tomorrow--with only carry-on luggage.

... front desk clerk what happened, she was like yeah they do that a lot around here, she was so sorry for me !! So I inquire as to how am I suppose to get it back ? She pulls out a tourist map and shows me where the location is on the map. All I can tell is that it is located on Rue de LaBlanc a couple of miles away. Then she wrote the word La Fourrière on a post it note. I try to get a taxi for about 30 minutes, I guess I am not very good at hailing a taxi. I look ...

... churches, the latin quarter, surrounding area and sites. Again these self guided walking tours were great in getting us in and out of an area by describing what was important to see, giving us a bit of history/background and then we had time for lunch/cafe etc. It was such an efficient way to see such a large city and we didn't have to pay a tour/bus guide. Paris is extremely expensive, something we were not prepared for - but it was worth the expense seeing the city of lights!!

... RyanAir desk. I take a seat on the floor along with others. It gets close to 8am and no plane. Hmm.. not suprising. Last time I flew a low budget airline (EasyJet) it was 2 hours late. No worries there was a bar nearby to the terminal! Finally, the plane lands and people disembark. Suddenly as rush of people has queued up at the other RyanAir desk. Damn it!! the boarding process is going to be at ...

... that lined up. The French were immaculately dressed in suits or skirts and jackets with heels and designer umbrellas. The young Japanese were in thongs and were getting very wet. The rest of us were in 'sensible' walking shoes or trainers with waterproof jackets and backpacks... wet weather was not about to stop us. Two hours inside and I was spent. Crowds, stairs and a queue at the cafe. And how many Renoirs, Monets and Toulouse-Lautrecs can ...

... turned out, it was worth it. As one approaches on foot, clearing the tree line, the first sight of the place is beyond almost anything else (man made that is) that I saw on the entire trip, save perhaps the Alhambra. They still call it a châteaux but, only because that's how it all began. The original structure on the site was built as a hunting lodge in 1624 by Louis XIII. Succeeding additions now place it squarely in the realm of grand palace as far as I'm concerned. I mean ...

... was a good night. 29th. That morning we all piled into the coach for a tour around Paris. As we drove Elini pointed things out to us and gave us some details of the history around us. (I have a feeling she isn't too fond of the "Frenchies") Our tour started by driving past a stadium that is used for concerts etc there in Paris, both Madonna and Eric Clapton had been there. She also told us because there is grass planted on a steep angle up the side they had to have a machine made ...