About this Blog.....

In July of 2007, I traveled to France with my daughter Jana and her friend Chelsea. The entries below are in order from most recent to least. You can click on any of the dates in the column to the right to see what we were up to on that day. It was an amazing trip and we can't wait to go back!

WE ARE HOME!

At 8:00am this morning we bid “au revoir” to our friend Jacqueline at the Hotel Muguet. It was a wonderful place to stay and we highly recommend it to anyone visiting Paris.

Our experiences at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris have been interesting; little signage, poor communication and much disorganization at the gate...makes us appreciate the Newark and Rochester Airports. Our flight to Newark was uneventful; however, I was stopped in customs for carrying “suspicious mustard” - three small jars I had bought in the Paris Airport. After a thorough check, I was allowed to pass. In addition, we didn’t realize (until we left customs) that we had to pick up our luggage in the customs area and re-check it through to Rochester. When we tried to go back to get it, we were told we couldn’t and that our luggage would catch up to us in a couple of days. (Note: Jana says to say that she hates Newark, although this should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows her.) I took advantage of the girls’ luggage worries and beat them for the first time in a game of BS on the floor of the Newark Airport! I also finished the new Harry Potter book on the plane and have handed it over to Adam.

So....no luggage when we arrived in Rochester, but the good news is that they are delivering it to us tomorrow (which means no unpacking or starting laundry tonight!) Chelsea’s Grandma Sandi picked us up at the airport and we had a relaxing ride home as we re-lived some of the highlights of our trip.

Our watches say 7:00pm, however our body clocks think it’s 1:00am, so it’s time to say thanks for sharing our journey with us and good night!

Day 10 - Tuesday

To see our photos from today, click here.

Our last day in Paris started out drizzily, but turned out to be a beautiful one. I had wondered what all of the cafes do in the bad weather (stack the chairs and tables and bring them inside?). My question was answered when we went to Cafe de Marche for breakfast; as you can see in the picture, the have a whole awning system to make the patio area enclosed.

Two of the museums we had wanted to see, the Rodin and the D’Orsay, were in walking distance, so we headed toward the Rodin. August Rodin was a sculptor most famous for his statue “The Thinker.” After exploring the grounds, we walked to the D’Orsay Museum, however after seeing the very long lines, I decided that I could visit this museum when I come back to Paris with John :)

Lunch was crepes and panini on a park bench and then back to the hotel for our daily afternoon rest. I had read about the Montparnesse Tower, which some people claim provides a view as good as, if not better than, the Eiffel Tower. It is a skyscraper (56 stories high) that looks out of place in Paris, but the view was fantastic (looking at the Eiffel Tower from this building is nicer than looking at this building from the Eiffel Tower!). We then walked to the rooftop of this building, which reminded us of “Top of the Rock” in NYC.

A shopping mall borders this building and the girls were delighted to see price tags with single (or at least smaller!) digits on them. Chelsea bought a shirt. I had promised the girls that I would treat them to a nice dinner on our last night, since they had both been so great about traipsing all over the city. We had a dinner which was not only delicious, but very entertaining as well. At the table next to us, a very well-intentioned gentleman was giving English language lessons to a young French women. He had a list of words he was defining for her and would give her a sentence using each word. We could hardly contain ourselves with some of his examples: “cart” - “I cart my mobile phone with me wherever I go.” and “darn” - an expletive, as well as a verb “Your grandmother darns your socks.”

We made our way back to the hotel, where we finished packing, played six games of B.S. (Chelsea won 4, Jana won 4, and YES, I lost all of them!) We had a wonderful trip and are glad you shared our journey with us!

Day 9 - Monday

To see our photos from today, click here.

We were up early and out of the hotel by 8:00am to get to the Eiffel Tower when it opened. What a gray and drizzily day! First bit of bad weather we’ve had. Fortunately, it kept the crowds away from the Eiffel Tower. We were one of the first in line, and we took the elevator to the top instead of looking around on the first or second floor. It felt like we had the entire tower to ourselves! The views were stunning and it was great to be able to identify the places in Paris we had visited. Had coffee and a croissant in the little cafe on the second level, looked around, mailed a postcard to Adam from the post office within the Tower, and descended. Walked back to the hotel in the drizzle, dried off, and read in our room for a couple of hours .

The girls walked down to the store down the street and brought lunch (sandwiches and quiche) back to the hotel, where we ate.

We had briefly visited one department store (BHV) several days ago, but thought today would be a good day to visit another. Decided on Printemps, in the Montmarte area, which is one of the most well-known. We had fun looking around on each of the nine levels. After, we looked around in some of the other small shops in the Montmarte area, where Chelsea got Michelle a....(Michelle, you don’t really think I’d tell you, do you?). Lunched at Oh! Poivrier! which we found out is a chain in France with all-French menus (and waitstaff that only speak French). I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting when I ordered, but it was delicious!

On the way back to the hotel, we were inexplicably pulled in to the pastry shop by an unknown force - good thing we’ve been doing a lot of walking!

Day 8 - Sunday

To see our photos from today, click here.

We slept in until 9:30am again this morning. The morning was overcast and cool. We ate breakfast at another local cafe “Comptoir 7,” which consisted of juice, coffee (hot chocolate for the girls), and croissants. We had no set plans so we decided to hop on a bus at the stop near the cafe and explore. The bus took us past the Champs Elysee, and was a nice way to see another part of the city. We got off for 15 minutes, walked around, got back on and took it to the Montparnesse area and back to a stop near our hotel.

Since it was Sunday, we thought it would be nice to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral. We had seen its distinct gothic architcture from a distance when we visited Saint Chappelle. After spending some time in the Chapel, we bypassed the tour of the towers and headed toward nearby local shops.

When we left, it was close to 3pm and we were ready for lunch. We purchased a loaf of bread, a chunk of cheese and some vegetables and dip (and of course the girls bought a pastry!) then went back to the hotel and ate in the dining area...we are so lucky to be able to do this! As we have done for the past several days, we went back up to the room to rest for a couple of hours and read.

At 6pm we got our second wind and decided to take the metro to the Latin Quarter, which gave us a feel for another part of the city. It is so named because Latin was the language actually spoken here in the middle ages. This area has an artsy, bohemian feel to it. Nearby, we found the Luxembourg Garden & park. It reminded us of Central Park (except I liked it much better). In addition to the gardens, sculptures and ponds, there were areas for playing tennis, basketball and petanque, a French sport where the goal is to throw small metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (similar to bocce). A carousel, a string puppet theatre, and pony rides are also available.

After leaving the gardens, we ate dinner at a “wok bar” which was very good and fairly inexpensive. Then we took the metro to Trocadero Square, which we had heard provided the best view of the Eiffel Tower (it did not disappoint!). The day and evening ended up being beautiful (70’s and sunny) and we strolled back to the hotel. For the first time in Paris, we arranged for a wake up call for the next morning (7:30am) so we can get to the Eiffel Tower when it opens at 9:00am and avoid the lines.

Day 7 - Saturday

To see our photos from today, click here.

We slept in again until 9:30am! Breakfast was a leftover baguette in the room, with peanut butter that Jana brought from home, as well as a nice strong cup of coffee for me. Another beautiful day, so we decided to make the trek to the Palace (Chateau) of Versailles, built in the 1600's and home to several French Kings (Louis XIV - Louis XVI). We were hesitant about going...the people we met from Boston did not seem too impressed, but we decided to go anyway and are so glad we did. It was a 30 minute ride on the RER (the system of trains outside of Paris), which gave us another view of the Paris area. What followed was a ten minute walk accompanied by what seemed like thousands of others headed to the same destination. At the entrance we could see two long lines, one for people waiting for tickets (which we found out later was two hours long) and one for people who had tickets (which I did have - the girls were free). Thanks to Chelsea’s power walking, we passed 76 people on the way to the line. The wait ended up being only 15 minutes. Words can’t really describe the inside of the palace...magnificent, awe-inspiring, extravagant. We did feel like cattle being herded, though, as we passed from room to room.

Outside, the garden and rest of the grounds were huge, so (since we had been so frugal for most of the trip), I splurged and rented an electric cart so we could explore. The cart had a map for us to follow, as well as audio that described areas as we went by. We were told when we made a wrong turn and given directions to get back on track! (too bad we didn’t have a system like this when we got lost - twice - near the Eiffel Tower!) We had a picnic lunch on the banks of the grand canal - girls had pizza (yes, cheese and tomatoes for Chelsea, but in pizza form, it tastes better). Finished our exploration of the Versailles grounds and headed back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon rest of a couple of hours.

We had read about the “Paris Plage” (plage means beach) and decided to check it out. For several weeks during the summer, some of the roads along the Seine River are closed, and a “beach” is created. Tons of sand are crated in, potted palm trees, and beach chairs and umbrellas brought in. Every chair was taken at 7pm when we walked by, some people still in their bathing suits, and children making castles in the sand. Can’t compare to Fair Haven, though!

Dinner was a stop at “La Perla” Mexican Restaurant in the Marais area. It was soooooooo good!!! Headed toward home at 9pm, made a quick stop at “Lenotre Patisserie” near our hotel, and back to the hotel for some German MTV.

Day 6 - Friday

To view our photos from today, click here.

We woke up at 9:30 this morning and all three of us were dragging! It’s the half-way point of our trip, and we’ve been quite busy, so I guess we should have expected it. Walked down to our favorite street, Rue Cler, for “pain au chocolat” (chocolate croissant-type pastry - mmmmmm!) and espresso for me, at Cafe du Marche. Sat at a small table outside and did more people watching. Weather started out cloudy, but cleared up into another beautiful day. We took the metro to the Pompidou Center, which houses a modern art museum. As you can see from the pictures, it is a very distinctive building! The art includes paintings, sculptures, textiles, film, you name it, it’s probably in this museum. I wish the descriptions next to each item were more elaborate...I would love to know the artists thought processes for some of these pieces of work.
After the museum, we strolled (our energy level only permitted “strolling”) around the Marais district, which is similar to the Soho/Greenwich Village area of New York City.

When we reached a metro station, we decided to head to a bridge near the Seine where Chelsea had seen a sketch she liked. On the metro ride, we listened to a tuba player’s rendition of “Hello Dolly.” (No trip to Paris is complete without this experience!) On our other metro rides, we have also listened to accordian players, karaoke singers and a six piece string group playing classical music! Returned to the hotel at around 4pm ready to crash. We decided dinner would be a trip to the supermarket, eaten in the hotel dining area (the only meal the hotel serves is breakfast, and they allow guests to use the dining area at all other times). We had a feast of baguettes, hummus, quiche, pasta, blackberries, milk, and of course, pastries for dessert. I thought I would be ending this blog entry by saying that we went to our room after dinner and fell asleep early.

But that’s not what happened....Jana said, “Can we go to the Louvre?” (which is open late on Friday nights) and what could I say but “sure!” We had a wonderful evening with a visit to the Louvre (which at one time was the largest building in the world). This was followed by a walk through the Tuileries, at the entrance to which we discovered “Le Fete des Tuilieries,” a two month Carnival that takes place in the summer. We took a ride on a Ferris Wheel overlooking all the sites of Paris. Jana (the Pop Culture Queen) spotted Julia Louis-Dreyfus by one of the rides (think Seinfeld). Jana asked her if I could take their picture together, to which Julia graciously agreed. We ended our evening with a visit to an American bookstore (WH Smith), which was holding a celebration to note the release of the latest Harry Potter book at midnight tonight. (I could have had the book six hours before everyone in the United States, but our “second winds” were loosing their gusts and we were ready to head back to the hotel).

Day 5 - Thursday

To see our photos from today, click here.

We slept in until 9:00am this morning and decided to walk along the nearby Rue Cler to look for a place to eat breakfast. Throughout our travels we have seen so many “open air” restaurants (of course, that’s not what they’re called, but they are hard to describe if you haven’t seen them). The restaurants open up to the outside so it doesn’t appear that they have doors. Small tables (usually round) with chairs behind and to the sides allow people to eat meals, or sip espressos or appertifs, talk with friends and watch the continual parade of people walking by. We ate a leisurely breakfast (good strong coffee, juice and delicious croissants with strawberry jam) at an outdoor table, and enjoyed people-watching.

We decided to visit Sainte-Chappelle this morning, since it was a beautiful day, and we had read that the stained glass windows were best admired on sunny days. Sainte-Chappelle is a cathedral built in 1248 by King Louis IX to house the supposed Crown of Thorns. The fifteen separate panels of stained glass contain more than 1,000 scenes from the bible. The pictures I took do not do it justice! When we arrived there we were dismayed to see a long line to the entrance, however we ended up talking most of the time with a very nice family from Boston. We did not go into the Conciergerie, but did take a picture of it from the outside. This is the prison adjacent to the cathedral which was the last stop for the 2,000+ people (including Marie Antoinette) who were headed to the guillotine.

From Sainte-Chappelle, we headed to the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, located at the highest point in Paris. We had the option of taking the funnicular (cable car) but opted for the stairs instead. The view was magnficant (notice the lack of skyscrapers in Paris!) and the atmosphere in the church very reverent, considering the number of people going through it. On the way down, I counted the steps we had climbed (289) which coincidentally was the same number of shops Jana and Chelsea went in during our stroll through the streets of Montmartre! Just kidding....we had several hours to walk around before the restaurant (recommended to us by Jana’s French teacher) opened. Great shops - vintage clothing, art galleries, jewelry stores and book/stationary shops. Chelsea bought a shirt and Jana bought a dress.

We had bypassed lunch today so that we could enjoy a nice dinner at “Refuge des Fondus.” As you might be able to tell by the photograph, the outside of the restaurant is nothing special. We had visited its website, found it opened at 5:00pm, and arrived at 4:45pm ready to feast. We were dismayed to see, from a sign on the window, that it didn’t open until 7:00pm. We decided to continue to shop, stopped and had a piece of quiche (well, Jana and Chelsea had pastries) to tide us over, and returned at 7:00pm. It was well worth the wait!
We were the first ones to be seated, at the end of one of two long tables that stretched from one end of the restaurant to the other. Another couple came in shortly after, at which time we realized how lucky we were to be the first to arrive. Check out this youtube video to see how most people are seated in this restaurant! (note: it’s only 2 seconds long, so don’t blink). A plate of appetizers was served to us first, which included cubes of cheese, salami, pepperoni, bologna, olives, pickles and spicy potatoes. This was accompanied by a small glass of wine. We were given a choice of beef or cheese for our entree; the girls choose cheese, I choose beef. A generous cup full of raw beef chunks was placed in front of me, with a plate of four sauces. Fortunately I was warned by a dinner companion that a pot of boiling oil in which to cook the beef would be following. While the girls dipped bread chunks in the cheese fondu, I cooked my beef and enjoyed it in the provided sauces (of course, we shared). As you can see from the pictures, our drinks were provided in baby bottles. Our waiter Andre was quite the character, and we enjoyed the company of our dinner companions, Chris and Jennifer, from Toronto, who were on a three-week honeymoon through Europe. To get a feel for the atmosphere in the restaurant, you can watch this youtube video. Our meal ended with desserts of fruit, cheese and chocolate cake.

Our day concluded with a walk back toward the Eiffel Tower, to view it again in the dark. At 11:00pm the city was still alive with activity! (we did get somewhat lost on the return to the hotel, but that’s another story.....)

Day 4 - Wednesday

To see our photos from today, click here.

No card games at 2 am last night! We slept in until 9:00am, packed up and headed off to the metro stop to take the train into Paris. We had to make one change, but everthing went smoothly. Our hotel is delightful! Its location is on a quiet street about a ten minute walk from the Eiffel Tower, in an area near many markets and shops. As you can see from the photos, the elevator (lift) is very small! We had to go up one at a time with our luggage. After unpacking, we decided to explore the area and eat lunch. We walked down Rue Cler, a street noted for its open air markets and small restaurants, and found “Ulysee en Gaule,” a family-owned Greek restaurant. We bought delicious crepes filled with cheese, ham and peppers and ate them as we walked the street. We knew we would be taking the metro a lot, so we purchased a “carte orange” which allowed us unlimited rides for a one-week period. We took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, which is located at one end of the Champs Elysee, a noted street in Paris. We walked down the Champs Elysee, window shopping at stores which included Cartier and Sephora, until we reached the Place de la Concorde, a very historic part of Paris (a guillotine was used here during the French Revolution). We hopped back on the metro (thanks to Jana’s French teacher, Madame Brown, who let us borrow a “Paris Metro” board game, we were quite adept at using the metro!). For dinner we went to the Hard Rock Cafe - Chelsea was getting tired of tomato and mozzarella sandwiches, and Jana has eaten at a Hard Rock in three countries (US, Canada & Mexico) and wanted to make it four. After dinner, we went back to the hotel for a quick stop, and walked to the Eiffel Tower. The lines to go to the top of the tower were long, so we decided to come back at another time. It is an amazing structure (1,000 feet tall, 7,000 tons of metal and 50 tons of paint!). We stayed until dark to see it lighted and returned to the hotel around 11:00pm. To see what the view from the Eiffel Tower looks like, check out its website and click on "view of Paris!"

Note: I also added six photos from our evening at Disney...return to photos, day 3, to see these.

Day 3 - Tuesday

To see our photos from today click here.

Today began with a card game at 2:00am - Jana and Chelsea taught me how to play “B.S.” We couldn’t hold off, and went to sleep at 9pm. Slept well for five hours but all three of us awoke at 2:00am. Returned to bed around 3:30am for three more hours of sleep - we should be on track now!

We were asked by several people before we left....”Why are you going all the way to Paris to go to Disneyland?!?!?” Well, here’s the answer...”IT’S FUN!!!” We took the shuttle from our hotel and were able to take advantage of the early park opening for hotel guests. We went on Space Mountain, It’s a Small World, Peter Pan’s flight, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the Carousel, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We had been on all of these (except the Indiana Jones ride) at Disneyworld in Florida. However, on each of the rides we noticed differences. For instance, the “Small World” ride ended with a display of cartoons from various countries, which was interesting. Jana says to note that Space Mountain here is MUCH better than the one in Florida.

For those of you wondering how we are making out with the French language:
Chelsea is smiling and nodding a lot (she does now know the words for “exit” (sortie) and “sale” (soldes).
I am perfecting my “Franglais” - Je voudrais un autre “cup”.
Jana usually does the talking for us and we have no idea what she is saying!

We are heading back to Disneyland tonight for the fireworks and look forward to relocating to the Hotel Muguet in Paris tomorrow!

Day 2 - Monday

To view our photos from today, click here.

We are in France! Our flight out of Rochester at 10pm last night was uneventful. Pillows and blankets were on each seat when we boarded, and a very nice dinner was served at 11:30pm (with real silverware!). After getting our luggage, we took the VEA Shuttle to the bus station outside of Disneyland Paris, and took the train one stop to our hotel, l'Elysee Val d'Europe. Tomorrow we will spend the day at Disneyland; today we window-shopped and people-watched and are trying to stay awake so that we can sleep well tonight. Our bodies think it is 1:40pm and the clock says 7:40pm! Check back tomorrow for a more detailed report!

Day 1- Sunday

To view our photos from today, click here.

We're in the Newark Airport, getting ready to board our 10:00pm flight to Paris! Picked up Chelsea, then took Adam to Camp Barton Boy Scout Camp near Trumansburg. A stop at the Cayuga Lake Creamery on Frontenac Road for some delicious home-made ice cream (we highly recommend it!), then on to the Rochester Airport, where we were told our flight was delayed an hour. Flight was uneventful, and we're hoping bad weather won't affect our flight out of Newark tonight. Jana has been teaching Chelsea how to say "important" phrases in French - one that stood out was "Do you have these shoes in another size?" I think that's a hint to me that they are interested in doing some serious shopping!