Awwwwwsome Paris!
Trip Start
Jul 18, 2008
1
11
32
Trip End
Sep 03, 2008
Loading Map
Paris,
France
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
We over slept ...seems to be a growing trend here for us, Bob has not used an alarm clock for a very long time he has been able to do as my Dad does and just "wake up " at the correct time. well the alarm was set on his watch, but we still all slept in. For this reason I have decided it would be best for me to stay awake tongiht in order for us to make our flight early tomorrow morning!
Oh well off to PARIS,,,We were blessed with a beuatiful day, the sun was shining and the train staion was a much shorter walk uphill from our Hotel with out luggage!
My foot and I have a great routine here in Europe swellup all day return to almost normal over night, swellup all day, you get the idea. Every where I have been people tend to stare, I have seen not one other person wearing the same kind of contraption on their leg here, but maybe it's just because people who are wearing boots like mine, wouldn't be sight seeing! I do know that there is no way I could have walked aournd on cobble stones and uneven ground for the last two days without out useing Becky's boot, I am very thankful for it! But still each day I am hoping for a miraculas recovery!
Now... on to Paris,
Words can;t describe it!
Having just one real day to expolre Paris and one bad foot, we decided to bite the bullet and pay for the hop on hop off bus tour open air double decker, if you ever find yourself in Paris I would strongly suggest this tour you can get off and on as ofen as you like, all day long, we did.
Ohhh Paris
We caught the hop on hop off bus directly outside Gare du Nord train Station.we paid less for the tour than if we had bought our tickets from CAA before we had left Winnipeg which we thought was a little odd, but it makes for a good travel tip!
We bypassed yet more gypses at the station same ones same story, we saw more at the Effle tower, we now have some rules, if some one asks if you speak english, we look puzzled and say neigt or non, if someone tries to hand us something we don/t take it,. and We have Cass or Bob or I go on trains first followed by Brady, and an adult or a Cass are last to get off. we have no intention of Yesterday's train fun ever happening again.
We quickly began to fall in love with Paris, Black wrought iron rails are everywhere, the age of this city and the arcitecture left us speechless.(really)
I could not get over how much of what we saw of Paris was so historic, Bob was sitting along side me with a permentant grin on his face and Cass was soaking it all up he has now decided he wants to come back and back pack through Europe with friends after grad, ( this may also have something to do with the cider) , the comentary that went along for the ride had a great balance of history, (for Cass and Bob) entertainment (for Becky) and Gore (For Brady) and on it was on a bus for me!
Here is what we saw Today
Paris Grand Tour Stops:
1. Auber ("La Boutique", Printemps Haussmann, Grands Magasins)
2. Opéra (Place Vendôme, Café de la Paix)
3.
Wow
Palais Royal (Jardins du Palais Royal)4. Musée du Louvre (Jardin des Tuileries)
5. Pont-Neuf (Conciergerie, Square du Vert Galant)
6. Notre-Dame (Cathédrale, Saint-Louis, Marché aux fleurs)
7. Saint-Michel (Place Saint-Michel, Sainte-Chapelle)
8. Musée d'Orsay (Quais de Seine, Pont des Arts)
9. Concorde (Obélisque de la Concorde, Musée de l'Orangerie)
10. Champs-Elysées Clemenceau (Grand-Palais, Petit Palais, Marché aux Timbres)
11. La Boétie - Champs-Elysées (Avenue Montaigne)
12. George V (Arc de Triomphe)
13. Charles de Gaulle-Etoile (Arc de Triomphe)
14. Trocadéro (Musée dArt Moderne, Musée de la Marine, Musée Guimet)
15. Tour Eiffel (Champs de Mars)
16. Vauban-Hôtel des Invalides (Tombeau de Napoléon, Ecole Militaire)
17. Esplanade des Invalides (Musée Rodin, Musée de l'Armée)
18. Concorde-Royale (Boutiques de la rue Saint-Honoré et de la rue Royale, Maxim's)
19. Madeleine (Eglise de la Madeleine)
50. Trinité (Gare Saint-Lazare)
51. Blanche (Pigalle, Moulin Rouge)
52. Montmartre-Anvers (Funiculaire, Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, Place du Tertre)
53. Gare du Nord (Saint-Vincent de Paul, Terminaux Eurostar et Thalys)
54. Gare de l'Est (Musée du Cristal)
55. République (boulevard Saint-Martin, Canal Saint-Martin)
56. Bonne-Nouvelle (Théâtre du Gymnase, Grand Rex)
57. Grands Boulevards (Musée Grévin, Théâtre des Variétés)
58. Italiens (Grands Magasins, Opéra Garnier)
59. Capucines-Scribe (Place Vendôme, Café de la Paix, Opéra Garnier)
We did not get to the Moulin Rouge, and the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays but "Ces't la vie"
We did however time it right to get inside Notre Dame it left us speechless, it was just stunning and again sooo much history.
At the Louvre even though we did not go inside, we walked through the grounds and the bildings, the kids soaked their feet with about 100 other tourists in the fountains outside the \louvre (ewww) and there were times that our jaws were dropped and our voices silent ( very unusual especially for Becky) Bob stood often and just touched walls speechless, with tears in his eyes! (really I am not kidding)
The Effle tour was so much fun...we did not stand in line with the hundreds of people who did to go up to the top or take the stairs but we enjoyed it just the same , so did Gigi.
We had luch at a cafe on the Champs-Elyesse and thought of Grandad and Grannie, wondering if they did make it to the end of the Tour De France we sure hope they did.
streets
We had pizza in Paris not Escargo like we said we would BUT it was great pizza, and Cass, had well you can ask him, Brady discovered that he doesn;t like capers and I discovered that the harmless looking olive oil placed on the table could be a dead ringer for tobasco sauce yuck!
I did however have a cappachino..and it was great!
Close to our hotel this evening we had dinner we had crepes...not just any Crepes, (ok mine was very plain but yummy) Becky had a Nutella and banana one Brady had a ham and mushroom and cheese one, Bob's was potatoe onion cheese and ham and Cass had pear almond and chocolate. Becky could not remember what whipped cream in french was we had achuckle when we did finnally figure it out, any one know it? Well enjoy some of the 350 photos we took todsy!
Paris... well Paris will be hard to beat
Comments
Crepes and gay paris
wow - Paris looks amazing - I cant belive we live so close and Ive never even been myself - glad you are all having a fab time and I hope your ankle is holding up Jo, so wheres next - Spain ?? - hopefully you will get a little time to relax and sit by the pool and enjoy the hot hot weather. Also the word for Whipped Cream- is it not Chantilly???