Paris!

Ahhh, Paris!


It was not my first time in Paris – I have been there several times before; though usually not for as long nor in such a romantic setting. The occasion was to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. The travel was by TGV (fast train) from Grenoble to Paris. We stayed in the Hotel Gare Lyon Bastille; had French buffet breakfast each morning at the hotel; and then went out for adventures.

Friday evening was a walk around the neighborhood to the Bastille memorial, along the Seine Quai Rapee, by a boat harbor linked to the Seine by a lock followed by a dinner at a Bistro/café just a couple of doors from our hotel.

Saturday we walked though a modern art outdoor sculpture museé on our way to Notre Dame and the archeological crypt underneath. After lunch, we made our first trip to the Louvre, and viewed sculptures, middle eastern artifacts, Egyptian artifacts, and the apartments of Napolean III, etc before surrendering to tired legs and backs for a return to our hotel. (I don’t even remember what we had for dinner Saturday night!)

Sunday, we took the Metro to Monmartre and attended services at Sacré-Coeur. (The directions for the metro politely and fully provided by our hotel clerk were immediately abandoned since the line we needed to take was closed as of that morning for maintenance.) After a bit of study; I began to figure out the system for myself and we made our trip uneventfully. After the service, we walked to another nice café for lunch; and then headed off to the catacombs. (Big hint: Don’t go to the catacombs or one of the public museums on the first Sunday of the month. Admission is free – so they are very crowded. The line was so long that security informed us that we would not be admitted before it closed. So, I surprised Nancy by getting us off the Metro at the Eiffel Tower. She had initially not expressed much interest in seeing it; but as we approached and she grasped the size of the thing, she was most impressed.

We were very bad for dinner – we went to a creperie and had a crepe with banana, chocolate, and served flabé. Oh la la!

Monday, we went back to the Louvre, and toured Greco-Roman statues and most of the paintings before heading back to the Gare de Lyon for our train back to Grenoble.

Nancy tells me this was the best combination of Valentine’s Day and Anniversary she could have asked for. :-)