Paris Marriott Rive Gauche

... the cathedrals were intriguing -- took LOTS of pictures of the creepy guys!   We left the comfort of the Marriott Rive Gauche (a beautiful hotel) and headed toward the more "artsy" area of Montmartre for our final two nights in Paris. Our ...

...  We crossed the French border at Basel and traveled through Alsace farmlands and the Burgundy wine region. We arrived at the Marriott Rive Gauche hotel on the Left Bank around 4 o'clock and had some free time until we left for our evening Seine ...

... really nervous as to how am I going to survive with just a few French phrases at my disposal. But when I arrived in Paris, all my apprehensions (the whole "not knowing enough French and being alone" situation) quickly disappeared. It is a real cliche but ...

... , put the bikes together and then headed into Paris to explore as it was raining a bit. The weather picked up, so wandering around Paris consumed the rest of the day, punctuated by stopping in a couple of bars to catch Stage 10 of the Tour. Plenty of ...

The day started out your typical Monday morning...slept through the alarm and got up an hour and a half later!  Oh well...we needed the sleep anyways! Hopefully I can remember what these places are called...We started out the day at the Notre ...

... the tower and see the gargoyles and bells, which was definitely worth the wait and the hefty climb.  You can see all of Paris from there, for much cheaper than the Eiffel tower (you should have seen the lines there).  Quasimodo and I had a nice ...

... 300kph), punctuated by a celebratory beer on our way under the English Channel into France. Made it into Paris, taxi ride to the hotel Marriott Rive Gauche and checked in. Had a wander around the neighbourhood (avoided the Oz Bar), dinner and beer or ...

... to explore it a little more.  I focused on enjoying the free food and champagne!  Our tables were all different sites around Paris, and our name cards were on coasters with pictures of which site/table we were at.  Luckily, our table (Sacre ...

... the boy (age 5) was kept in jail and treated badly until he died at the age of ten. We drove every where in the historic Paris and saw everything again during the daylight from the coach.  Then a stop at the Eiffel Tower to see the city from the top ...

Today we made our way out to the Chateau Versailles. It was huge, and the gardens were really amazing. The bad thing is that is was misty/drizzling all day. And we had to deal with the masses of tour groups which was not that fun. After Versailles, we ...

... Oak Park... c'est la vive!   We left Place des Vosges and headed through the trendy shops of the smaller designers (by Paris standards) of the Jewish Quarter, even finding a discount shop where shirts were only around 150 EUR (we didn't buy any) ...

We are in Paris, I can't beleive it! Neither of us slept much on the plane and poor Kaylyn was half asleep as I drug her through the Louvre. That place is amazing (and freaking huge!). Too bad we don't have any pictures because the camera battery died as ...

... for dinner and slowly walked over to catch the 9pm Bateau Mouches.  (We found a book about all the romantic places to kiss in Paris and it said we had to get in some Bateau SMOOCHES!)  Oh yeah, did I mention yet that it rained a lot.  But ...

... to find an unsecure wireless network to log on to from our room, so hopefully we can do this all week!  All is well and we are in Paris.  Enjoying it very much but surprise we are up this late and ready for bed. Bon jour! Karen & ...

We went to the Eiffel Tower and the Arch de Triumph.  Both were magniificent and way way too many steps(marches).  The Eiffel Tower we elected the shorter line and to walked up the first two levels.  If you look at the pictures you can ...

Bart and I have turned into the REAL papparazzi.  We found out that the time the tour de France was starting and where.  We decided to walk up the Champs Elysses to get a front row spot to see the race.  The race is mainly ceremonial ...

Found this hotel through Priceline.  I recommend letting William Shatner negotiate your price.  We got this one for $100 a ...

If we thought we got wet on the Bateau Mouches, we had no idea!  Funny thing; I remember us commenting that it was so cold that we wished it would just be 10 degrees colder so the rain would at least be snow.  Well, what we forgot is that ...