Paris, France

I fell in love with Paris, France on my recent trip to Europe. We arrived in early evening and spent the first night in a "fancy" hotel with all the amenities. For some odd reason our credit cards all had holds placed on them by our banks because they didn't realize we were in France!! So we considered turning around and going back to the airport and trying to get on an earlier flight but possibly spending nights in the airport was not even in the area of possibility for us. We came up with enough for the first night so we could eat and get some rest and then decided to move to a more economical one and get hold of our banks the following Tuesday (Monday was a holiday in the USA). 

The front of our little hotel

Well, the second "hotel" was only 10 rooms and just exactly what you would expect to stay in in France. It was so delightful I hardly know how to describe it. The hotel had a tiny lobby with a fireplace, lots of flowers and things. There was a lift (elevator) that was big enough to hold two suitcases and one person. The stair were a little winding staircase. There were 5 floors in the hotel, and 2 rooms to a floor. Our room had twin beds and a dresser and two night stands. It also had two small chairs and a TV hung overhead. There were large french windows that opened into the room and a ceiling fan for cooling. The bathroom was the tiniest thing but so well put together! There was a deep tub with a removable shower nozzle, the toilet, and sink and they had a hairdryer, mirror that magnified what you were looking at (great for makeup applications), and a clothes line that you pulled from one side of the tub and it hooked to the other side. Bathrooms in Europe are called water closets and the toilet in our bathroom had a handle that you pulled which hung out of the ceiling. It was just the cutest thing I ever saw!!! The only drawback was that the water wasn't hot enough. In fact, I never had to turn on the cold when I took a bath or a shower. 

Tub and water closet

Sink area

We decided to spend the first day on a bus tour that we had passes for. It took us all around the most important places in Paris. The bus was a double-decker with the top deck open so we sat up there and it was the best place to take photos of things. 

Top seating on the Double-decker bus

Sculptures on the side of a building.

There are so many statues around Paris!

I just love the architecture in Paris!!!

French and Catalan Flags

Entry to an Administration building

Looking at Notre Dame as our bus approached

Buildings across the River Seine

A museum - forgot which one

A typical Parisian street

Arch de Triomphe

A sculpture on the corner of a building

The second day we went to the Louvre. The buildings outside along with the glass pyramid are so awesome and huge! I was almost moved to tears when I first saw them. We had to cross over the River Seine to go anywhere from our hotel and there were artist working and selling their paintings or drawings on the bridge and a couple of times there was a man playing an accordion on the bridge as well. If I hadn't had to come back to the States and I had a lot of money, I would have stayed in Paris. It is very, very expensive to live there AND to visit there.

Just attached to the Louvre is what is called "The Carousel". This is a small shopping mall and a food court, which even had a McDonald's! Before you say the word "boo", they sold wonderful things like brioche, and croissant rolls of different kinds and the best coffee and orange juice ever. 

Once inside, we wandered from the sculptures (and there are a lot of them) which I really like to the paintings, to the apartments of Napoleon. We saw all the things that you "hope" to see...and the Louvre has thoughtfully built in two restaurants so that when you get tired and hungry, you don't have to leave the Louvre and come back in to eat. You have to go through security to get into the Louvre so this is very nice. 

My daughter's chocolate Brioche and coffee

McDonald's 

Outside of the Louvre

One of the inside sculpture gardens at the Louvre - really awesome!!!

I will show much more in my next blog of what we saw there. 

The last day we spent on another bus tour in order to see more of Paris that wasn't the usual tourist fare. We saw the less than picturesque side of Paris where the factories are and learned more of the history of Paris. The one thing we never saw was a grocery store...ever, anywhere.  odd???

I hope to go back to Paris someday. I want to spend more time in the Louvre. I want to sit and study the paintings and learn more from the art that fills that beautiful building. I also want to be among the people more. Most thought we were from Canada because of our "accent", but everyone was so nice. Waiters came and sat at our table to talk, hotel people bent over backwards to make our stay comfortable, and people were so very understanding of our inability to speak their language. We picked up a few more words than we went with as we had done in Spain. 

The River Seine 

Another bridge crossing the River Seine. This bridge had locks placed on the side of the bridge by tourists/lovers signifying that they came to the city of romance and renewed their love for each other.

This is the premier shopping area in Paris where all the big name designers have their stores

I hope there is travel in your future. There are other cultures to be enjoyed and learned from.

Janie