Paris

- - Mike & Groverlee's - -
France and Italy - 2015
Paris

From the Itinerary:

June 1st ... Fly to Paris from S.F.
June 2nd... Arrive at Paris' airport and shuttle to hotel
June 3rd... Meet trip leader and transfer to trip hotel. Bus into the city for a tour and come back in the evening to meet fellow travelers for a Welcome Briefing and a short tour around the near village.

June 2, 2015,

Hooray! We finally made it to our hotel outside the airport.. it took 16 hours and is always the hardest part of the trip. Actually we had good seats... just two of us seated together and the blowup "seat-bed I bought made it so much more comfortable.

I have already used my French although I can't spell it. At customs the guy stamped all the others' passports and not mine. I made the sign of pounding the table and said "If you please" in French and he stamped it for me. (S'il vous plait)

We are in the room in France where we will bring Katie with us . It has a bathroom, a double bed, a twin, and enough room to walk around them. As long as it has those things and wifi I'm OK, but I can't get this iPad to get on wifi so will have to ask for help from the guy at the desk. It works with our phones but I don't want to type on those! I went downstairs for help but finally just rebooted...as Pole always tells me... And voila!

Later... Vic and Leona wanted to do the buffet in the hotel and it looked good, but we wanted to explore. We found a big shopping center across the street with two restaurants. The first was closed until tomorrow except for the bar that was doing a bang up business. The second was also closed but the Indian owner and wife said they would make us panninis. We chose poulet and fromages with some Andalusian sauce and they were at least a full foot long and delicious. We talked with him as best we could. I figured out the menu of the day ....three courses by using my Spanish. It was marinated mussels, skillet of chicken and veggies and tiramisu with strawberries.

We then went to their huge supermarket like Walmart and I practiced French. I now can recognize most fruits and veggies, meats, but most importantly CREME GLACÉ! We bought four yummy chocolate bars of that and shared with Vic and Leona.

Now we are ready for showers and some shut eye actually laying down for a change. Tomorrow is another adventure! TV is pretty much all in French so goodnight.

Nuff said for now.

Later

June 3, 2015

It is finally 6:00 in the morning and I've been awake since before 2! It has felt like the longest night ever....a close second to the plane trip which I know in truth was longer. I have been up to the bathroom at least eight times to read, study my new French/English dictionary, or take notes where I can bother Michael the least. For over an hour I sat up in bed with the bedlight on to study French and now I'm trying to type this in the dark. I was afraid to take a sleeping pill as the one I took on the plane actually made me more awake than I was before. I think I'll stop today at a pharmacy and get Dramamine...that usually works for me! Though I probably didn't sleep more than four hours since I left Gridley, my concern is "OMG! I'm in Paris, how can I waste my time sleeping! It just isn't getting light soon enough!"

Finally it was time to go and a ride passing seven roundabouts we came to our new hotel, big and fancy and darling Anne was there to greet us. In the excitement I was able to forget that I was now getting tired and after meeting the others the 14 people who had arrived already to Paris jumped in a huge bus for an hour's jaunt into PARIS. It is now my new favorite city. Of course before we leave this trip Venice will be a contender. We drove into the city from the 20th district to the first. Anne tells us they are situated in a spiral much like a snail shell. By the time we got to the first district I was totally hooked. The weather is so perfect and the sky over the gardens on the walk to the pyramid in front of The Louvre make everything sparkle. No wonder the Impressionist focused so much on the light!

We were starving and stopped at a restaurant along the walk for a marvelous lunch...croquet Monsieur for the Fishers and plat de jour for us which were burgers with fries. I've decided that "ham and cheese sandwich" doesn't do it justice and will have one or more c. Monsieurs before we leave France! They have a croquet Madam which is the same except with a sunny side egg on top!

Full from our lunch we needed to walk so in the next half hour we walked along the promenade from the obelisk to The Louvre. Amazing! Michael snapped pictures along the way as words can not describe. There were children, bikers, a few selling metal Eiffel Towers and Michael bought a driving hat from one of the guys for 10 euros. We met the bus and drove down Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. Vic and Leona showed us Cafe George where Katie had her 4th birthday dinner. (Smoked salmon and creamed cheese. on a bagel with lemonade.) She was always an adventurer; I expect though her time in France will be much more appreciated at 16! By the time we made the 30 minute power walk I was toast and slept the entire way back to the hotel.

We rested a bit and were off on another adventure....a walking tour of this quaint little village of Roissy where our hotel is. Michael and I are going down there tonight for dinner. We noticed in a little apple orchard they are keeping several hives of bees. People are worried that the colonies are being depleted and now private families are helping. There are many in Paris. It's amazing that many rather most of the hives are stationed on the roof of the beautiful opera house!

We walked through Roissy and scoped out the perfect little brassiere for dinner and it surpassed all hopes (French onion soup, tornadoes of porc with savory sauce and potatoes cooked in cream in individual casseroles then covered with lots of gruyere and put under heat until it's all melts). So yummy!

To top it off Michael and I shared a creme brûlée. Best birthday ever with my hubby.

After walking off some of the calories we walked the winding cobble stone paths back to the hotel. Waddle, waddle!

With my iPad nearly out of battery and me about the same, I'll end this wordy missive and input some photos from today.

Love,

Grove

Lobby of Our First Hotel

Our First Morning in Paris

Sign From Our Little Hotel

Old Green Citroen

The Arc De Triomphe
The Red And Gold Flags Honor The Visiting President From Spain

We Might Choose This Bistro Bar

Blue Shuttered House in Roissy

These are the green metal chairs all over from the obelisk and The Louvre. People move them wherever they want to sit... around a pond facing the garden, watching the people, etc.