Kon’nichiwa! In the previous post, I eluded to future plans. Well, it’s now official: next fall we are booked for a tour of Japan. We will be spending sixteen days exploring and learning about the “Land of the Rising Sun”.
Sue has always wanted to visit Japan and my second irrational fear… getting stomped on by Godzilla…has always kept me from traveling there. This trip, we will let her desire overcome my fear.
I will find you when you arrive in Tokyo!
(Photo from The Kewanee Voice and Dreamstime.)
For the folks that heard the early talk about taking a Japanese cruise, we scuttled those plans. The main reason was that we would spend more time getting on and off the ship and wouldn’t have the time to explore the country. We think that the land tour will be a much better fit for us and it will be harder for Godzilla to track us down.
After reviewing many different options, we decided to take a tour with InsideJapanTours. It will give us a good overview of Japan, Japanese culture, food and customs, plus we’ll get to see big cities, smaller towns, natural beauty and ride the Bullet Train.
The itinerary sounds interesting, moves at a slower pace and includes many cities and sights that we are interested in seeing. They also include many activities that we get to participate in. Activities including cooking classes, ritual drumming, meditation at a shrine with a temple priest and tea with a Geisha-in-training will be interesting and fun.
The flight over will be a long one – a bit over thirteen hours. Hopefully, we’ll be able to sleep on the flight so we can hit the ground running. I’m sure that jet lag will come into play our first few days there, but I’m counting on the excitement to overcome it.
Since they have everything planned out during the tour, I get to work on the extra days: two before the tour and then two after the tour. I have some ideas that might be fun, but we’ll have to figure out the lay of the land before we can plan. Luckily, we have almost a year to figure things out.
We’re busy looking at airfares and pinching ourselves, as it’s hard to believe that we made the leap from our comfort zone of western Europe. However – YOLO!
We have a lot of videos to watch and websites to check out to gear up for next year’s adventures. So for now… Sayōnara!
Sometimes the best decisions in life are the ones you don’t think too hard or too long about. For instance, we have been thinking about what we want to do next year for vacation. As we were watching television, we saw a commercial for a river cruise and said: “What about something like that?” Fifteen minutes later, we were browsing online to see what was available. The next afternoon, we booked a Danube River Cruise.
Yes, it really happened that fast! While we were in Chablis, we had been looking at something completely different for next fall and that’s still on the table. A week without a future adventure was more than my system could take.
If you know me, you probably know of my reluctance to get near a cruise ship. I don’t know what terrible thing happened in a prior life, but me and the water usually take completely different paths. As I grow older, I realize that my irrational fear is something that I need to conquer. What better way than on a boat sailing on the beautiful Danube River ?
I’m counting this as an ‘80%’ tour: 80% structured tour/ 20% freeform. That is something that I typically tend to avoid. I love to do the research when planning a trip, so this will be different in many ways. However, I do get to plan out our time in Munich.
Enough about me. Here’s what we booked:
We will be sailing with AmaWaterways on a 7 night cruise called “Melodies of the Danube“. We added 2 nights pre-cruise in Budapest, Hungary to have some exploration time. We are also adding four extra days at the end of the cruise to explore Munich, Germany.
Our Danube river route.
There will only be a total of 156 passengers, plus another 51 crew members. Meals are all included and AmaWaterways is a member of the “La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs”, so the food is supposed to be very good. I can only go by what we’ve read, so it will be interesting to see what it’s really like.
We found flights that are to our liking, although we couldn’t find any direct flights to Budapest. Coming home, we were able to fly direct from Munich, so that added to our reasoning to stay and explore for a few extra days. We were able to find a great hotel in the heart of the Munich Old Town. It’s called the Platzl Hotel and it is perfect for walking around and sightseeing.
Port of calls within the voyage are visits to three countries we’ve not been to before – Hungary, Slovakia and Germany. My globe is going to fall over soon…we’re gonna need to go somewhere besides Europe.
We’re starting to get communications with additional details, so I’m sure there will be at least one update before we go.
To anyone who has been on a river cruise: feel free to send along suggestions or tips. This is a totally new experience and we are willing to learn.
When we first talked about traveling to Chablis and staying for a month, we had some doubts. We wondered if it would be a silly attempt to prove how much we enjoyed traveling throughout France. We had questions about whether our limited knowledge of the French language would be a hindrance. We also worried that the townsfolk would not like us as outsiders.
When our friends Nancy and Michael said that they’d be willing to join us for a part of our stay, we were delighted. We would have friends to share our adventure and someone to talk to if others shunned us. I know…how dramatic!
Well, from the first day in Chablis, we knew we had made the right decision.
So these are just OUR random reflections. Not a guidebook, not a promotion…just our opinions. Here we go:
Chablis:
Chablis was exactly what we wanted it to be. It’s a smaller town with a population of around 2,500. It has history, it has architecture, it has character, it has wine, it has charm and it has some very warm and welcoming people.
It was a great location for exploring. We could walk around town or we could drive to many interesting places without much effort. We used the Waze app while driving around, but the roads are well marked and well maintained. We didn’t do much driving when it got dark though, as you won’t be finding street lamps in the middle of the countryside.
We loved our routine walks to the small market and boulangeries. Walking back with our supplies or fresh baguette, sandwiches and pastries had us feeling like we were part of the townscape. We became regulars and were greeted as friends rather than strangers after just a couple of visits.
Being in a small town meant that everything was within walking distance. We didn’t put many miles on the car since we were able to walk to dinners, tastings and shops. It will take some getting used to having to drive everywhere at home. I want to walk around the corner and get a breakfast pastry or fresh baguette instead of having to go to the supermarket.
Accommodations:
There are some nice places to stay within town. However, we struck gold when we found the house that we stayed in. It allowed us to ‘live’ in Chablis, not just visit. What I mean by that is that we could be comfortable in the space rather than having to share common space with others. We had a salon, a kitchen, a dining room, a study, an upstairs, multiple bathrooms and outdoor space. We never felt like we were on top of each other, even when there were four of us in the beginning.
Our charming house in Chablis
We had great hosts that were always an email or phone call away for any questions. We communicated before, during and at the end of our stay and they were helpful in getting us settled, showing us what we needed to be aware of and even made their housekeeper available to us during our time there.
It was also nice to be able to grab breakfast, lunch or snacks and bring them back home. We didn’t do much cooking at the house, but we could warm things up and that hot cup of tea in the morning was always a treat. Relaxing outdoors on the warm days was an extra treat too, as were our ‘home picnic’ breakfasts and lunches.
Restaurants:
We had a nice rotation going with the restaurants in town. If you followed the blog, you saw some mighty fine eating going on. We never had a sub-par meal at any of the restaurants we went to. Whether it was a lighter meal, tapas or fine dining, the one common thread was that it was delicious and freshly prepared.
Part of traveling is fitting in and trying different foods. We had that chance once again with different ingredients in our meals. There wasn’t any one big item this trip, but there were things like tonka beans, damsoms and sea buckthorn. We’d never heard of them before, but they sure made our meals tasty.
The other important note was that it was all reasonably priced. Most of the time we would select the dinner menu, which was an entrée, plat and dessert for a fixed price. So most of those scrumptious meals were fixed price combos for less than 40 euros. And even when we went ala carte. especially for the tapas, the prices were excellent. The price gauge only moved when we ordered pricier wines, however even the wine prices were reasonable. I can tell you that our selections would have been much different if we were paying Paris or USA prices.
Our ‘Tasty Six’ rotation.
People:
This is probably the thing that stands out above everything else for us. We had spent 48 hours in Chablis two years ago and that was enough to make us want to come back. Now we’d be there for four weeks. Would that same vibe be there for us ? In very big letters – YES!!
Our first encounter was with the house owners and they were lovely people. What a great way to ease into our stay. After that, the next group of people we would meet were all service-related people: restaurant hosts, shopkeepers, and winery people. Everyone seemed to appreciate our attempts at speaking French or encouraged our use by helping guide us through when we’d get stuck. Nobody laughed, were impatient or discouraged us at all.
After a few days, we would get smiles or waves from individuals that we had previously met with. By the time we left, we received some very nice goodbyes and a few hugs or handshakes with pleasant exchanges saying they hoped we would return.
Things to do:
Chablis is located in the Yonne region and within a short drive, there are plenty of things to see and do if you want to wander. Hiking, biking, boating, cave exploration, wine tasting, history, castle building and beautiful landscapes are just some of the options you have nearby. We’re older with some aches and pains, so while hiking and biking weren’t high on our list of activities, there were plenty of other things that we enjoyed.
We loved our visit to the Guédelon Castle site. It was like getting to peek back in history, without having to deal with the plague or rogue highwaymen.
Pontigny Abbaye was another beautiful place to visit. Historic and serene with a well-presented story.
Walking through Noyer-sur-Serein was another wonderful experience. Being from the US, this is another place that has been around longer than our country was even supposedly discovered.
Honestly, I only had one complaint while we were driving through some incredible landscapes. There were no real places to pull over and take pictures and marvel at the beauty. I would have taken many more pictures if there had been.
Wine:
While it isn’t for everyone, it is for us. Since we were driving on our own, we didn’t do any tastings outside of town. All of our wine drinking was done at wineries around town, at restaurants with meals or at the house. Not frat house drinking, but rather getting to taste some of the best wines available with friends or while relaxing.
If you enjoy Chablis wine, then there is nowhere else that you want to be. Each restaurant had incredible wine selections available and at many different price levels. Being in Chablis was eye-opening when it comes to wine pricing. We were amazed at the prices, easily 25 – 50% lower than what we end up paying for them when they finally get to the US.
Summary:
What a magnificent experience!
Our time in Chablis completely exceeded our expectations. People keep asking me what I would change and my answer remains the same…nothing! Even the little stretch of chilly, rainy days didn’t dampen our spirits. You just accept it and go with the flow. (Ok, a little whining is acceptable).
It took a lot of time to plan things out and take care of all the details, but like I always say: “That’s what winter days are for”.
Day 6 – At least the flight path was devoid of traffic.
The day we travel home has arrived – a little too early in the morning for me, but that’s just the way it is. We have a taxi coming for us at 8:00 am, so we could get ready without having to rush. Sue packed most of the luggage last evening, so showers, a little breakfast and then we’ll be on our way.
We went downstairs to check out and settle the bill as morning was breaking in Paris. People were walking the streets and cars were starting to drive by, Our taxi arrived a little early and we were ready and waiting…so off we went.
It’s always interesting to see a big city starting its day. Shops are opening, people hustling about and stopping into cafes for their morning coffees. We just cruised along and then headed towards the suburbs and CDG Airport.
And then it started. Not a rainstorm, not a protest…a monstrous traffic backup.
The traffic coming into the city is expected, however the traffic heading out is a whole other story. What is usually a fairly smooth ride to the airport turned into a long and winding standstill. We were just creeping along while coming upon occasional accidents. The only ones moving were the motorcycles lane-splitting their way through the traffic.
Our driver did his best to keep moving along, albeit slowly. He was so worried about us getting to the airport late, despite our telling him we had plenty of time. It ended up taking us about an hour and a half to get to the airport, so nearly double the usual time. We felt bad because he had to drive back in all that traffic.
The good news was that since many others were stuck out there in the traffic, the airport wasn’t too busy. We met two women who had just finished a river cruise and they told us all about how much they liked AmaWaterways. We made a mental note of their ringing endorsement for future use.
We made our way through check-in, passport control and security in no time at all. Since we did have plenty of time, we headed to the business class lounge to relax and grab a little breakfast snack. It was not crowded at all – probably the result of the traffic delay.
We had about two hours until boarding time, so it was great to have a comfortable place to sit and relax, not to mention occasionally being able to sneak in a pastry or two.
When the boarding time neared, we made our way to the gate. When they announced that boarding would begin soon, all the ‘gate lice’ started to block the way so they could rush to their pre-assigned seats. I’ll never understand that mentality. I guess they hope that sometime the airline will board ‘Zone 3’ first!
We boarded, got settled and then waited to take off. Right on time, we started rolling down the runway and we were off. The flight home was good. We had a little turbulence, but only for a few minutes. Eight hours later, we arrived in Toronto. It was uneventful, just what we like when flying.
Passport control, luggage pick up and customs was a breeze and soon our driver was picking us up for the ride home. Unless you’re Canadian, you probably didn’t know that this was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. We knew, but we sort of forgot until we were once again in a traffic jam getting out of Toronto.
Good grief! Our driver tried maneuvering around it, but ultimately we just had to grin and bear it for a while. We did take the toll road to get around some of it and connect up with the QEW heading towards the Niagara region. No matter, we were on the way home and wouldn’t be late for anything.
We arrived home while it was still light out and let me tell you, it felt a bit weird being home. The first thing we did was crank up the heat to warm up the house. I guess the last few nights had been colder and the house sure felt it.
So that was it – an entire day of nothing but travel. ‘Hurry up and wait’ was the theme for the day.
All that said, it always feels good to get back home, especially after a long trip. We loved the house in Chablis and the hotel in Paris has become our regular place to stay when there, but nothing beats home!
We woke up to start our last day in Paris. It’s hard to believe that this adventure is coming to a close. We don’t have much planned for the day, but we have plenty to keep us busy. Paperwork, packing and lunch will be our primary tasks.
Lunch at La Rôtisserie d’Argent was our final meal in Paris and it was a fine choice for a send-off meal. It is located in the 5th arrondissement just a short walk from Notre Dame and across the street from its famous sister restaurant La Tour d’Argent.
As it is right between Metro stations and not on a direct bus route, we opted to take a taxi to avoid someone’s hair from getting messed up – and Sue’s too! Given that it was just past noon, the streets were pretty busy and there were more people walking around than the day before.
Fear of the restaurant being stuffy and over-priced because of its pedigree vanished as soon as we entered. We were greeted and welcomed in like old friends. We were given the choice to pick any table we wanted and ended up sitting in seats right in the front window. Every French movie set in a Bistrot flashed through my mind. (Honestly, I only know a few, but they did all flash through my mind…)
To add to the fun, we again asked for one menu in French and one backup in English. The host, who was also to be our server, laughingly said he would only talk to us in French – and then did. He did slip in a little English here and there to help us out.
We ordered a duck terrine that we split, then we both had the signature duck confit. We also ordered a bottle of red burgundy – 2022 Domaine Nicolas Rossignol Volnay.
Duck terrineDuck Confit with roasted potatoes
Then before I could plead my case, our server convinced me to order dessert. How could I say no? No, really, I didn’t know how. So an île flottante found its way to our table – luckily!
I’ll cut right to the chase – it was an awesome lunch! The food lived up to the restaurant’s reputation and the wine paired exquisitely. When you add in the service and friendliness of the staff, it was just perfect.
Since we were just across from taxi stand, we thought it might be smart to take a taxi back to the hotel. The driver was less than thrilled to have a small fare, but graciously took us back to our hotel. The walk from the restaurant is deceptively longer than it appears on paper. Anyway, twenty minutes later we were back at the hotel digesting our meal.
We were within the timeframe, so the first thing we did was check-in for our flights tomorrow. Everything went smoothly and everything looks to be on-time.
We have some snacks in the room that we’ll save for later, but we won’t be venturing out this evening. Our taxi will be picking us up at 8:00 am to head to the airport, so we’ll be going to bed early to get a good night’s rest.
Our days here in Paris are quickly passing by, so today we decided to just walk around a bit and enjoy the sunshine. We headed for the familiar Rue de Buci to start off. You would probably call it a touristy area, as there are many cafés, bars, patisseries and boutiques that line the street.
On this beautiful day, all of the above places were filled with people. We made our way over to a little shop that we wanted to check out. We went in and browsed, but didn’t find anything that we just had to have. We weaved our way through the streets and then back up to Boulevard Saint-Germain.
We continued on the boulevard in the direction of our hotel. Just across the street from our hotel are Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore and they both had waiting lines to get a seat. They both draw huge numbers of people wanting to feel the magic. By the looks of most of the crowd, there were no philosophers or literary giants waiting to discuss the meaning of life. But who knows, I may have just been thrown off by the flip flops or Emily hats.
We eventually crossed the street and then decided to see how far of a walk it would be to dinner in the evening. We loved the street at first sight.
Rue du Dragon, with its nifty artwork, is a smallish side street about 100 feet from our hotel. We walked down the street and there were many restaurants, boutiques, small hotels and even a couple of toy shops.
One that caught our eye sold large, beautiful doll houses. The detail on the houses was incredible. Yes, we caught Mrs. Bunny lounging on the upper terrace.
Just a few doors more and we saw the restaurant we would be visiting later in the evening. We continued down the street and then around the block to return to the hotel. Time to relax with our legs up for a while before dinner.
Tonight we dined at Cyril Lignac’s Aux Prés. It bills itself as a 50’s style Saint-Germain Bistrot with a few modern touches. We’ll see.
Cyril Lignac is a TV chef and has two or three restaurants – all in a row as we later noticed. We hadn’t heard of him or them before, but thought it would be fun to try someplace different – especially since it was so close to us.
The restaurant was really quite nice. There were too many people watching, so I didn’t take any photos of the inside decor, but the 1950’s flowered wallpaper was well represented. The long bar was set up for dining and was wood with brass trim. We chose a smaller room in the rear with just a few tables.
We started with a glass of Champagne Deutz NV that was very tasty. They then brought out a bowl with some little snacks that were addictive.
Our waiter was great. wWe asked for one menu in French and one menu in English. With a little coaching, he made us order in French and then complimented us for doing so. I feel like my French is at the Pepé LePew level from the cartoons, but compared to what we are hearing at times, maybe it isn’t too bad.
I started with some crispy sesame shrimp served with some greens. Sue ordered a braised Black Angus beef cut with black garlic sauce while I had the Beef Tournedos. As sides, we ordered a mille-feuille of potatoes and some haricots verts. For our beverage, we chose a 2018 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuit-Saint-Georges red burgundy.
Oops, I almost forgot, we also shared another Pain Perdu. It was as delicious as yesterday’s and perfect to share.
We paid, thanked our server for a “super soirée” or great night and then headed out. What a fabulous place.
Another easy five minute walk and we were back at the hotel. I’m really going to miss all these wonderful places being a short walk away when we get back home.
By this point, you can probably assume that we went through our normal morning routine and were ready for the day ahead. Today, our focus was visiting Notre Dame Cathedral.
When we visited Paris in December, they had just re-opened and the crowds were insanely large. This time, we attempted to book a reservation but were not able to obtain one. So, our plan was to head down and wait in line to get in.
We had one last ticket remaining on our Navigo Easy cards, so we took the Metro instead of walking. We disembarked at the Cité station and then headed up. Up, because the station is deep underground in the middle of the Île de la Cité…so, basically in the bedrock below the Seine River. Like some novel line from an Indiana Jones movie, we turned a corner and looked at the series of stairs in front of us: “Stairs…why did it have to be stairs?”
The two of us hobbled our way up, up, up until we reached the top. With a few beads of sweat sneaking down my forehead, we finally saw light ahead.
The Metro exit brought us up right by the flower market. The various fragrances filled the air and the flowers and plants looked beautiful.
We cut through the market to enjoy the view and wonderful fragrances.
We walked up to the corner and then turned the wrong way. But…is there REALLY a wrong way in Paris?
We looped around the block and then headed towards Notre Dame. We knew we were heading in the right direction by the number of people also heading in the same direction.
There was a good-sized crowd out front taking photos and waiting to get in. We found the end of the line and joined it.
The line was very ‘chill’ and actually moved along at a fairly steady pace. It took us about 40 minutes before we were inside. Given the length of the line, we thought that was pretty good.
There was a couple from Québec in front of us. The man was pushing his wife in a wheelchair and asked a question in French to Sue. She was unsure of what he asked, but I was able to help out. We continued to chit-chat while in line – that’s how I found out they were from Québec. I took a picture of them together and then some people stopped to tell them that since she was in a wheelchair, there was a special line that they could use.
We watched as they were able to walk up and practically go straight in. We were very happy for them. About a half an hour later, we saw them coming out just as we were getting ready to enter.
Notre Dame fashion influencers?
Our first look inside – we were expecting it to be chaotic with all the people:
The crowds outside were excitedly talking about getting in, while the same crowds inside were respectfully quiet. Some people just stood and marveled, some went to a seat and said a silent prayer or just looked around. Others just followed a path around the aisles gazing in all directions.
Having been in Notre Dame prior to the fire, we were astonished at how beautiful it looked. It’s always looked wonderful, but now, with hundreds of years of wear and tear cleaned up, it was stunning. The cleaned and restored artworks were beautiful. The walls and columns gleamed. The brass, silver and gold throughout the chapels glistened.
There were newer art pieces installed along with the ancient originals. Pieces that were previously warehoused or in museums were now back where they belonged. The stained glass windows were clean and had light streaming through them. Beautiful lighting was masterfully added to highlight the stunning architecture. We marveled at the craftsmanship and vision needed to achieve such a beautiful, warm and welcoming effect.
The following pictures will give you an idea of what it looks like, but they truly don’t do justice to all the hard work that brought the Cathedral back to life.
Exiting the Cathedral
We had an amazing visit; well beyond our expectations. It was more beautiful in person than any photo could depict. There is still more work to do before it is completely restored, but I believe that the efforts of those involved will ensure that the cathedral will be there for people to admire for hundreds of additional years to come.
Since it was a nice day, we decided to walk back to the hotel. It gave us a chance to get some fresh air and to scope out the route to the restaurant for dinner this evening.
We did end up walking right by the restaurant and it is much closer than it first appeared to be. It will be a nice walk to get there and back tonight.
For dinner, we are trying a newer restaurant called “Le Jardin Saint-Germain”. We read about it and then saw it on a Youtube video. It’s a small place and the menu sounded good, so we booked a table.
It was about a twelve minute walk to get there and it looked cute from the outside.
On the inside, it was cute and quaint. We were greeted by one of the servers and given our choice of tables. We were then greeted by the owner ‘Christian’ and ordered our meal. There was a steady stream of people coming in and by 7:00 pm it was full.
Despite being full, it wasn’t too noisy. Just normal level conversations and an occasional cough or sneeze.
We started our meal off with a shrimp cocktail served with grapefruit slices and avocado. I went ‘sans avocado’. It was tasty and a great way to start. Next, we both had the duck confit with garlic roasted potatoes. Both of us thought it was fantastic.
My favorite part of the duck confit was when the server told us that it is slow roasted and seasoned from the beginning, so it is perfectly fine to pick up with your hands to finish it off – just like home!
Duck Confit with garlic roasted potatoes
For dessert, we shared a Pain Perdu or ‘Lost Bread’. The name comes from the act of saving the bread that wasn’t finished to turn into a dessert. It tastes like French toast, but is served with a dollop of ice cream (pecan praline) and some fruit coulis.
Pain Perdu – “Lost Bread”. Think French toast pecan praline ice cream and a fruit coulis
No fancy, schmancy wine list here. Just a few selections, including our Loire Valley Pinot Noir. Patte de Chat means cat’s paw. It was a lighter, more fruit forward pinot, but went great with our meal.
Loire Valley Pinot Noir
We enjoyed dining there and would definitely recommend it to others.
Afterwards, we took a nice walk back to the hotel to settle in for the evening. It was a great night for a walk with a big bright moon shining in the sky.
We’ve been to Paris many times, but have never really spent much time in the 3rd arrondissement. Today, that changed as we visited the Carnavalet Museum. It is a museum dedicated to all things Paris.
It’s Sunday in Paris and it seems like everyone is out and about today. To facilitate people enjoying the outside, many streets are closed to vehicle traffic with the exception of taxis. We took a taxi from our hotel in the 6th arrondissement and our driver was great. Besides getting us there, he gave us some tips on places to visit and things to be aware of.
The museum is free and was fairly crowded: mostly tourists, but also many Parisiens. It is a collection of everything including paintings, signage, decor, money, memorabilia of important moments and even entire facades from buildings. There are about 85 different rooms with displays.
We started with one of the things we were really interested in – signage. There are signs from shops, bars, restaurants and even the facade from an apothecary.
The museum is set up so that you walk forward in time from the 17th century to modern times. It was interesting to see some of the items that they have. The fascinating part to me is that some of these items were saved by someone and not discarded.
Once we passed through the signage, we just spiraled our way through the years. The 1600’s and day to day life of the wealthy, the 1700’s leading up to the revolution, the 1800’s and the Napoleonic era and the beaux arts and then the 1900’s with the world wars and occupation of France.
Many of the displays were examples of the good life of the wealthy, but there were also many artifacts from everyday people just living their lives.
These are some of my favorite displays and paintings. The woman at the end looks like a happy person.
That is a young Napoleon in the center photo below. Below on the right is a painting of the storming of the infamous Bastille prison during the French Revolution. Immediately below that on the right is a working heating stove that is an exact replica of the Bastille prison.
The entire facade and original items from the reception area of the George Fouquet jewellry boutique. The famous Art Nouveau illustrator Alphonse Mucha designed the boutique for the 1900 World Exhibition held in Paris. It’s magnificent.
Two interesting paintings and the actual table that Gertrude Stein wrote many of her works on.
Je Suis Charlie memorial items left in tribute to those murdered ten years ago in Paris.
We enjoyed our little walk through history. The Carnavalet Museum is definitely worth a visit.
Our plan was to walk around a little bit and then we have a dinner reservation nearby the museum. We took a bit of a walk, but honestly, we were both not looking forward to having to kill 2 hours.
We did pass by the restaurant and neither of us were thrilled with the table spacing and crowds. We talked and then decided to cancel our reservation and find a place closer to our hotel.
We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel to relax for a while before dinner. Our replacement restaurant was one we enjoyed on a previous trip. It’s called Agata and is an Italian restaurant that is only a five minute walk from the hotel. In retrospect, it was a perfect choice.
We had a glass of prosecco to wet our whistles, then we split a chicken caesar salad and a pizza. Add in a bottle of Barbera d’Asti and you had two smiling faces. For dessert, we had a tiramisu for Sue and a Paris – Bronte for me. It was just what we wanted and was delicious.
A quick walk home made for a perfect evening. We both put our legs up and chilled with some music before bedtime.
Day 1 – Lazy day in rainy Paris, but good news came our way.
We woke up to the sound of the rain against the windows. The weatherman predicted rain and wouldn’t you know it, he was correct this time. Oh well, we have a nice warm place to stay until it ends.
We cleaned up and then went down to breakfast. It’s a buffet breakfast, but has all the essentials. There were only a few other people eating this morning. However, more would arrive a little bit later.
My simple breakfast.
We returned to our room after eating and the housekeeper was just coming up to our room. We grabbed our iPads and went back down to relax in the lounge while the housekeeper was tidying up our room.
A little later, back in our room, we decided to just hang out while waiting for the rain to stop. It was supposed to end around 12:30 pm and it actually did. The sun came out and we took that as a sign to go for a little walk.
As we are surrounded by some iconic restaurants and the Church of Saint Germain des Prés, the streets were pretty crowded. We have also come to realize that there are still some fashion events taking place. If I had known, I would have brought some dressier clothes to fit in. Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton had events that attracted some celebrities. We altered our plans and stopped for financiers at the Monoprix grocery store.
Refreshed from our walk and picking up some water and snacks, we returned to the room. Sue was feeling pretty good, but we got her leg up for a while before we had to leave for dinner.
We walked down to get a taxi to go to dinner and wouldn’t you know it, it started to rain. Luckily, a taxi came along and we only endured a few sprinkles of rain. The ride over was uneventful, but there was a lot of traffic….mostly taxis after the rain started.
Tonight we were dining at Le Violon D’Ingres. It’s a much hyped one Michelin Star restaurant near to the Eiffel Tower. We arrived a few minutes before our reservation time, but they were nice enough to seat us right away.
Ready to enjoy our meal.
We started the evening off with a glass of champagne to warm up our palates. It was a very tasty Bollinger Champagne.
We began with an interesting amuse bouche. It was puys (tiny french legumes) over a mushroom crème fraîche. For our entrées, we both had a langoustine ravioli in a seafood broth, It was rich and delicious.
For our main course, we both had the sea bass filet, served with mashed potatoes and mushrooms. It was cooked perfectly and the mashed potatoes and mushrooms played off of the fish flavors perfectly.
We paired the meal with a bottle of 2020 Olivier Leflaive Puligny Montrachet. It was a perfect pairing!
Next, for dessert, I ordered the mille-feuille and Sue had a grand marnier soufflé. Then, just to make sure we were full, they produced a plate with chocolate and lemon tarts.
The food truly lived up to the hype that we had heard. However, we weren’t as impressed by the overall ambience. It was a bit on the loud side and the tables were close together. And while the service was great, it seemed a little bit like a production line. Everybody was nice, but it felt a little lacking in warmth.
We grabbed a taxi for the ride home. There were pockets of people along the way, but overall it was pretty quiet on this Saturday evening, especially along Boulevard St Germain.
As for today’s good news, it appears that the Air Traffic Controllers strike has been cancelled. We’ll have more information when it is released.
Back at the hotel, it felt good to get changed and to digest our meal before heading off to dreamland.
It’s Friday, October 3rd and we are on the move. We woke up early to take our showers, get dressed and finish packing. We have to check out by 10:00 am, then drive to Auxerre to drop off the vehicle before catching our train to Paris. We have a lot of time. We just have to coordinate the steps.
We started with a battle against my old nemesis – the gate. This time…I won !
Even with two cars parked across the street from the gate, I was able to back out and make the turn without any drama. It was sweet. It was also the last time.
Sue hopped in and we were on our way to Auxerre. There wasn’t much traffic at all. In fact, we arrived about fifteen minutes earlier than anticipated. We pulled into the driveway of the car rental location and the counterman looked surprised to see us.
The original time to drop the car off was at 2:30 pm. However, our train was scheduled to leave at 1:34 pm. Since they close for lunch at 12:00 noon, we had to be there in time for them to check us out before lunch. Bottom line is that we now had a little over two hours to kill in the train station.
There is usually an 11:34 am train, but for some reason it wasn’t running today. So, we just waited there with our train just parked on the tracks.
While we were settling in to some seats, Sue caught the back of her shoe on a bolted chair and somehow twisted her leg. She was in a bit of pain and was hobbling around quite a bit. Some people might have panicked and some might have been upset. However, I looked at the luggage and then at Sue and started humming “Kind of a Drag”.
While we waited, there was only one other train that came through, followed by four buses. When the time finally neared for our train, many more people arrived at the station. As most people seem to just try to rush on to the closest train car, we strategically walked/limped up near the front of the train and when the doors opened, we were able to calmly walk on and store our bags in an empty luggage rack.
The train was not a TVG, so our travel time to Paris was one hour and 51 minutes. Our car was not overly crowded, so it was pretty quiet and the time passed by quickly. There were three stops along the way and we seemed to follow the path of a river and canal on the journey. Soon we approached our final destination of Paris Bercy Station.
We took our time getting off and walking out of the station. Besides our train, it appeared that one other train had recently arrived and there were plenty of people waiting to board.
Magically, right after we arrived, it started to rain. How’s that for timing!
Luckily, there was a taxi pulling in and we were able to hop right in. Our driver was a quintessential French guy. He didn’t speak English, but he maneuvered the streets like a pro and got us to the hotel while avoiding some traffic backups along the way. Sue complimented his driving in French and I paid the bill including a tip…he finally smiled!
The woman at the reception desk welcomed us back and with only a quick copy of the passports and a signature, she handed us our room key. We are on the third floor and the elevator is working just fine. She also informed us that since we booked directly through the hotel website, we could get breakfast each morning for only five euros. Since they have breakfast from 7:00 – 11:00 am, we’ll probably make it down – especially at that price. Normally, a juice and croissant would cost us more than that at a nearby cafe.
When we were here in December, they were remodeling the breakfast area. The remodel turned out very nice and they even added a small lounge area that looks very comfortable
We just relaxed and let Sue put her leg up for a while before going to dinner. Tonight we are practically walking next door to Cafe Louise.
We had a lovely meal…nothing lavish, just really good! After having so many awesome meals in Chablis, I had a hankering for a hamburger and tonight, I found it. It was exactly what I was craving and it hit the spot.
Our waitress not only served us our food and drinks, but I received a lesson in pronunciation. All done with a smile, as the American couple across from us were definitely causing her to roll her eyes. She was a delight and seemed to appreciate our efforts.
It was still lightly raining when we left. That whopping thirty feet to our hotel barely gave the raindrops time to hit us.
While it was a long day of travels, it was a good day. Tomorrow is forecasted to be a rainy day, so we’ll just play it by ear.
Slightly Whirled - A Traveler's Tales 