Today is my first full day in Bayeux so I scheduled a guided walking tour to help me get the lay of the land.
This is Christele. She runs Discovery Walks Bayeux and she was the guide on today’s group walking tour.If you are ever in Bayeux I highly recommend this walking tour.We started at the tourist office. During WW II this building was used as a rest area for American soldiers that landed on Utah and Omaha beaches. The soldiers were given a hot meal and a shower and then were ordered to proceed to Caen. Prior to D-Day Bayeux was not bombed by the Allies because there were no German combat troops in the town. After the American soldiers were done with their hot meals and showers they spent the next couple of days drinking their way through all the liquor in Bayeux’s bars and restaurants before they finally made it to Caen.Look closely and you can see seven bullet holes in the side of this building. That is the only damage done to Bayeux during WW II.The River Aure flows through Bayeux.Another shot of the River Aure.During medieval times the river provided the power for Bayeux’s three main industries, leather tanning, grist mills and dye manufacturing.
In order to tan leather the folks in Bayeux would soak the cow hides in crushed oak bark chips and urine. If you were poor you would sell your urine to the tannery and you would be labeled “piss poor.” If you were so poor that you didn’t have a container to collect your urine and take to the tannery you would go to the tannery and use one of their containers. These people were so poor they “didn’t have a pot to piss in.”
This is the door to the hospital where infants born out of wedlock were dropped off anonymously. This is a statue of Mary near the unwed mother’s door. Every baby that was dropped off at this door would be cared for and each and every one of these babies would be given the surname Mary or Marie in French. Marie is the most common surname in the Bayeux phone book. This is the Bayeux Liberty Tree. Seven thousand of these Liberty Trees were planted during the French Revolution. Most of the Liberty Trees were chopped down when the monarchy was restored. Only seventy Liberty Trees remain in France and Bayeux has one.This is the Bayeux Cathedral. I will be touring it on Wednesday and I will discuss it in detail in Wednesday’s blog.Another shot of the Cathedral.Bayeux is the first town Charles de Gaulle visited when he returned to France a week after D-Day. People in Bayeux love Charles de Gaulle.
We walked around Bayeux for two and a half hours and it was a very informative tour. After all that walking around I was tired and hungry.
Lunch was a pita stuffed with falafel and veggies and fries and a Coke.
After lunch it was off to the Bayeux Tapestry Museum.
Bayeux Tapestry Museum.
They have a strict no pictures policy inside the part of the museum where you view the tapestry so this part of the blog will not have many pictures.
The Bayeux Tapestry really isn’t a tapestry, it is an embroidery. It is 230 feet long and 20 inches tall. It tells the following story.
In 1064 Edward the Confessor was the King of England. He had a cousin, William the Bastard, who was the Duke of Normandy. Edward did not have an heir so he decided that when he died William would be King of England. Edward sent his brother in law, Harold, to Normandy to tell William the good news. William made Harold swear an oath of loyalty to him. Soon after Harold returned to England King Edward died and Harlod crowned himself King.
William was hopping mad about Harold’s treachery and led a Norman army to England and defeated Harold’s Anglo Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings. William was crowned King of England and changed his name from William the Bastard to William the Conquerer. The Tapestry is flat out amazing!
A little background on the Tapestry.After touring the Tapestry Museum I visited the grocery store. Dinner back at my Airbnb was a salami and cheese sandwich with olives and chips and a beer. Delicious!
That’s it from Bayeux. Tomorrow I go on a guided tour to Mont Saint-Michel. I hope you are having a great day wherever you are.
Checkout time at the hotel is 11:00. My train departs from the train station Gare Saint Lazare at 12:58. It is a 45 minute walk from my hotel to the train station so I sacked in this morning and then got packed up for an 11:00 checkout.
I liked the Royal Saint Michel Hotel. Nice clean rooms and a super convenient location.The elevator was very small, one person small, but very nice to have an elevator if you have a room on the 5th floor.Unfortunately, the elevator was out of order Friday, Saturday and today. At the end of a long day when you are dog tired it is a little disappointing to see this sign on the elevator and know that you need to drag your weary carcass up five flights of stairs to get to your hotel room. This morning I had to carry a suitcase and a backpack down five flights of stairs to check out. I am not complaining. I need the extra exercise to stave off my croissant and gelato induced weight gain.
Who in the world would want a Krispy Kreme Doughnut in Paris when there is a boulangerie with heavenly croissants on every street corner?
Near the Paris Opera House.I had to wait for the crowd to clear out before I took this picture.Lunch was a gyoza curry rice bowl with a Coke. I am hoping to eat a lot of fish when I get out to Bayeux.I arrived at the train station at noon and the train doesn’t depart until 12:58. Everyone waits around staring at the departure board until about 10 minutes before the train is scheduled to depart and then they announce which track your train is on and there is a mad scramble to get through the ticket check gate and board your train. Good news. I think I have finally figured out how to find my seat. It isn’t difficult and I don’t know why I have had such a hard time with this simple task.I have arrived.Bayeux looks like a very manageable walking around town.D-Day tourism is BIG here.I booked an Airbnb in Bayeux. I am in a cozy apartment in the attic of the owner’s house.This is Jasmini the manager of the Airbnb. He gave me tickets to the art museum, the tapestry museum and the D-Day museum. What a nice guy.It is Sunday and a lot of shops and restaurants are closed. I found a bar that was open and ordered a local red ale. Very good.
I told you that I wanted to eat a lot of seafood once I got out to Bayeux which is on the Normandy coast. The bar that I found serves beer and pizzas.
I ordered a pizza with red onions, black olives, capers and ANCHOVIES. It was great
That’s it from Bayeux. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
Today I wanted to take it easy and spend some time strolling around the Latin Quarter, where I am staying, and visiting the Luxembourg Gardens. One of the interesting things about Paris is that as you are walking around you never know what you might find. As I was walking down to my favorite boulangerie for a croissant and an orange juice I ran across this amazing market.
There must have been 50 stalls in this market selling everything from clothes to fresh oysters.The flower stall was bursting with color.The fresh fish stall was redolent of the sea.
After I inhaled my warm flaky croissant and ate a box of strawberries I bought from the market I continued my exploration of the Latin Quarter.
The Pantheon. It’s a museum and I can’t do another museum today.I’m not kidding. I can’t do another museum today.
As I was walking up the hill towards the Pantheon I turned a corner and ran across this church.
This is the Church of Saint Etienne on the Mount.
I know I have been loading up the blog with pictures of churches but I am amazed at the number of beautiful old churches in Paris. I can’t walk by one and not stop for a visit. And if I am going to stop for a visit I am going to drag you along with me.
Saint Genevieve’s relics are located in a side chapel in this church.This is the side chapel that contains the relics of Saint Genevieve.The intricately carved stone spiral staircases on either side of the altar are amazing.
The stained glass windows were especially luminous with the morning sun streaming through them.
This church has a Mass tonight at 6:45. I think I will join the congregation at this Mass.
After my detour to the Church of Saint Etienne it was on to the Luxembourg Gardens.
The flowers are in full bloom and it was a beautiful bluebird morning. The tourists go to the Tuileries and the locals go to Luxembourg Gardens.The Medici Fountain.Notice the miniature sailboats.Parents rent these little sailboats for their children. Each sailboat comes with a long stick to push your sailboat away from the edge of the pond. Or you can use the stick to whack your siblings. I saw the sticks being used both ways.The kids are having a blast with these little sailboats.
After walking around Luxembourg Gardens for a couple of hours it was time for lunch. I was in the mood for some real authentic French food so I stopped at a little bistro and sat outside at one of those little round bistro tables and ordered a French beer while I perused the menu.
One of my best friends, Steve Lael, recommended this beer. Thanks for the recommendation Steve. Great beer.
After much thought and a detailed review of the menu this is what I ordered.
That is a French cheeseburger 🍔 with a French bun, French hamburger patty, French lettuce and tomato, French catsup and of course, French fries. It was delicious and authentically French.
As I was walking back to my hotel for a little afternoon siesta I ran across Johnny Depp again.
The first time I ran across Johnny Depp he was hanging out on the balcony of my hotel room in Vigo when I was walking the Portuguese Camino this Spring.
Johnny Depp in Vigo.Now he is in Paris selling pirate candy. This guy seems to be following me wherever I go.
After my siesta I walked up to the Church of Saint Etienne on the Mount and attended evening Mass. The church bells rang for a good fifteen minutes before the Mass was scheduled to start. About five minutes before the Mass was scheduled to start Father Pierre was out in the church shaking hands and working the crowd. When he came to me he shook my hand and said something in French. I told him I didn’t speak a whole lot of French. He then told me, in English, that he needed a reader. I told him I could do the readings in English and he said we had better stick with French.
Father Pierre on the left.
That’s it for today from Paris. I hope you are having a great day wherever you are.
Tomorrow I take the train to Bayeux. The guy who operates the Airbnb where I am staying offered to pick me up at the train station. Wasn’t that nice. I told him I would walk as it isn’t that far and I didn’t want to inconvenience him.
I got up early this morning because I had to catch a Metro to the train station where I was taking the 8:30 high speed train to Reims. I got to the station by 8:00 and was on the train by 8:15. I spent 15 minutes trying to find my assigned seat. I finally gave up and decided to stand in the vestibule of the train between cars until the train departed and then I found an empty seat and occupied it.
Reims is a 45 minute smooth as silk train trip from Paris. Amtrak really is a poor excuse for passenger rail service when compared to European trains.
The first thing I encountered when I got off the train in Reims is the Arch of Mars.
This arch is the largest preserved Roman arch in France. This arch was part of the north gate in the Roman wall surrounding ancient Reims.
Then it was on to the Cathedral. I would love to visit Notre Dame in Paris but they almost burned it down a number of years ago while they were in the middle of a renovation. They are saying that the rebuild will be complete and Notre Dame will reopen at the end of 2024. Don’t count on it. My guess is that it will be reopened at the end of 2025.
A very good friend of mine, Patrick Larm, suggested that the Cathedral at Reims is pretty spectacular and might prove to be an acceptable substitute for Notre Dame in Paris. Good suggestion Patrick.
The facade of the Cathedral is falling apart but they are working on it. Reims was on the frontline of many battles during World War I and was almost destroyed by fire and bombs. It took over 20 years to repair the most visible damage to the facade and it has taken over 100 years to attempt to restore the facade to its prewar condition.
The construction of the cathedral was commenced in 1211 and finished in about 1285. Twenty-five French kings have been crowned in this cathedral.
The stained glass windows in this cathedral were stunning.
Huge window above the front door of the cathedral.Intricate some carvings around a pulpit.Stained glass windows designed by Chagall to replace windows damaged during World War II.The altar.A side wall of the cathedral.One of the side chapels.
After I spent two hours thoroughly examine the interior and exterior of the cathedral it was time to walk to my 1:30 champagne tour at Veuve Clicquot. Along the way I got a takeout lunch from a bakery.
A chicken sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie and a Coke. Perfect!After a long uphill hike I arrived at the champagne house where I had scheduled my tour.This was in the room where the tour group waited for our tour guide to arrive. I can guarantee that the King Pin bowling alley did not have a Veuve Clicquot foosball tables when I played there 50 years ago.This is Nadine, our tour guide.The tour took place in the limestone caves and tunnels where they store the champagne. This champagne house has 15 miles of tunnels and 476 rooms to store its champagne.During World War I the local population lived in these tunnels for four years to escape the constant shelling. This is a Red Cross which denotes the location of a hospital or aid station for wounded solders.This is a carving of Bacchus, the god of wine. This is Madam Clicquot. In 1805 her husband died and she inherited his small winery. She was advised to sell the winery but decided to operate it herself. A woman running a business in France at that time was unheard of. Madam Clicquot quickly became a leading producer of high quality champagnes and innovated and developed the first rose champagne.Champagne tasting at the end of the tour. I highly recommend this champagne house and the tour if you are ever in Reims.
After a quick train ride back to Paris it was time for dinner.
McDonald’s?Chipotle?I was in the mood for pasta so I went back to my old standby.A Perroni grande.And penne bolognese. When I got back to my hotel this notice was on the elevator door. And I am on the fifth floor. 😱 Climbing up five flights of stairs is not my idea of a perfect way to end a day trip to Reims.
That’s it from Paris. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
I decided to shake up things a little and instead of a croissant for breakfast I got a cinnamon babka.
The babka was good but very dense and doughy. I think I’ll stick to croissants. 🥐
I enjoyed the clear blue skies and brisk fall weather as I walked along the Seine on my way to the Louvre this morning.
The French Institute and the Eiffel Tower.The French Institute is in charge of preserving and protecting the culture of France. The Institute is very big on preserving French food, language and wine. Thanks to the watchdogs at the French Institute you can’t call a sparkling wine Champagne unless it is produced in the Champagne region of France.
I got to the Louvre at 9:45 and met the tour guide for the skip the line tour that I booked a couple of weeks ago.
This is tour guide Nadia.
We had a total of six people on the tour. A couple from New York and a father and his two twenty something sons from Connecticut. The tour covered the highlights of the Louvre and lasted three hours.
The Venus De Milo. One of the most famous examples of ancient Greek sculpture. The Greeks want it returned to Greece. It was a madhouse around this statue.This is a bronze of Mercury. Notice that he is standing on a man’s head and the man is blowing him aloft.The famous statue of Nike called Winged Victory. The crowd in front of the Mona Lisa was like a mosh pit, everybody pushing, shoving and jostling to get a view of this famous painting. This is Liberty Leading the People. Marianne is the name of the woman holding the flag and rallying the troops during the French Revolution. Marianne has come to symbolize the cornerstones of the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.This huge painting is on the wall opposite the Mona Lisa. It depicts the Biblical account of the wedding where Jesus turned water into wine. It is the biggest painting in the Louvre but nobody notices it because they are too busy fighting through the crowd to see the Mona Lisa.
This is where the tour ended. Nadia was a very knowledgeable tour guide but her Russian accent, think Natasha Fatale from the Bullwinkle cartoons, and her rapid fire delivery occasionally made it hard for me to follow her narration.
Nadia led the rest of the tour group out of the Museum and I stayed to continue my tour.
Beautiful depiction of Mary with baby Jesus and baby John the Baptist.The paintings on the ceiling of this long gallery were amazing.The colors are so vibrant.The Louvre has a massive collection of Egyptian artifacts. Egypt wants them back. The Louvre said they bought them fair and square and they are not returning them.There was a whole wing of Art Objects.
At about 5:00 I ran across this guy.
Notice the knife to the temple. I know how he feels. Too much art for one day. If I don’t get out of here soon I will put a knife through my temple.
I finally escaped and made my way back to the hotel. I was so tired that I stoped by the place I ate last night and had a quick bulgogi burger and a beer and a side order of spiral fries.
Spiral fries.
It was very good and quick. I am beat and have to catch a train at 8:20 tomorrow morning for a day trip to Reims.
That’s it from Paris. I hope you are having a great day wherever you are.
I was beat from walking all over Versailles yesterday so I decided to sack in this morning. I didn’t get out the door until 9:00 and made an immediate beeline to my favorite boulangerie
Isabelle has absolutely the best croissants in the world!This is her trophy case. I also added some Driscoll raspberries from Morocco.
After breakfast I walked over to Shakespeare and Company Bookstore.
This bookstore didn’t open until 10:00 and the line started forming at 9:30.
If you are any kind of bibliophile at all you have heard of this bookstore. A friend of mine, Anita Lael, who is a hardcore bibliophile, highly recommended that I visit this bookstore. Thanks for the great recommendation Anita.
There is a lot of history embedded in this little bookstore.I found a small upstairs reading room and made myself comfortable in a wicker chair with this view and a book on Paris during the Revolution.
After a relaxing couple of hours at Shakespeare’s I had lunch at ITSU, one of my favorite fast casual restaurants.
A Thai curry chicken rice bowl with a soft boiled egg. Yum!
I got done with lunch and started walking over to the Paris Opera House for my 2:00 self guided tour. During my perambulation I ran across this beautiful church.
The Church of Saint Germain. The stained glass windows were beautiful.
I made it to the Opera House just in time for my 2:00 timed entry.
What a beautiful facade.This is the grand staircase.Another view of the grand staircase.This is the Grand Foyer where people mingled during intermissions.Every square inch of the walls and ceiling in the Grand Foyer was painted like this.The ceiling in the Grand Foyer.
There was also a Petit Foyer. The floor and ceiling in the Petit Foyer were decorated with beautiful mosaics.
This isn’t a painting. It is a mosaic on the ceiling of the Petit Foyer. Amazing.
I spent almost three hours touring the Opera House. It was stunningly beautiful and I highly recommend that you put this place on your Paris must see list.
After I walked back to my hotel it was time for dinner. The guy at the front desk suggested that I try a Korean burger joint that was just around the corner. Why not?
This place has won all kinds of best burger in Paris awards.I had a bulgogi burger and Korean coleslaw. It was very tasty.
That’s it from Paris. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
I signed up to take guided tour of Versailles today. The meeting point was a couple of miles away so I got up early and had a quick breakfast at Bo & Mie.
A chocolate croissant and fresh squeezed orange juice. The breakfast of champions.
After breakfast I walked a couple of blocks to the nearest Metro station to see if I could successfully use the Paris Metro to travel to the meeting point for my tour to Versailles. I am happy to report that traveling on the Metro was easy peasy. When I was at the train station on Saturday I bought a Navigo Easy card that allows me unlimited access to any type of public transportation while I am in Paris. At the Metro station there is a turnstile and a card reader. I tapped my Navigo Easy card on the card reader and the turnstile opened and welcomed me to the Paris Metro. How easy is that?
This is the Metro station. Not much going on at 8:00 AM. Apparently the Parisians are not morning people.
I got on the train and 20 minutes later I was at the Metro stop where I was going to meet the Versailles tour group.
This is Will the tour guide. In order to be a tour guide in Paris you need an undergraduate degree and a specialized masters degree in tour guiding. This is the tour bus from Paris to Versailles. It was a little bit of a rattle trap.
When we got to Versailles Will gave us our entrance tickets and whisked us through the VIP no standing in line entrance.
When we got inside it was a wall to wall madhouse. Little did I know that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. Every tourist that can’t go to the Louvre on Tuesdays goes to Versailles. My pro tip here is to stay away from Versailles on Tuesdays.
The ceilings in the rooms on the tour are all painted like this. I got dizzy looking up at these magnificent paintings.This is the famous Hall of Mirrors.This is the king’s bedchamber.This is the queen’s bedchamber.
At about 1:00 PM, after a very informative tour of the rooms in the main castle, the tour ended and Will started to shepherd everyone out to the bus. I asked him if there was more to see and he said heck yes. I told him that I was going to bail on the bus trip back and spend the afternoon exploring the rest of Versailles.
After Will and the rest of the tour left I meandered around until I was in the Gallery of Battles. This is a long room that is twice as big as the Hall of Mirrors. Every major battle fought by the French from before Charlemagne to after Napoleon was commemorated by massive paintings.
The Siege of Yorktown. This is my favorite painting in the Gallery of Battles. Thanks to France the United States was able to defeat the British and win our independence.
After I finished touring the Gallery of Battles I went outside and walked around the gardens.
This guy is using a GPS device to plant flowers in one of the geometric flower gardens.This is one of the many fountains in the gardens with the Grand Canal in the background. They used the Grand Canal for some of the 2024 Olympic events.
While I was wandering around the gardens I decided it was time for a late lunch.
A hamburger, fries and a beer. I was starved and it tasted great.The next stop on my self guided tour was the Chateaux Trianon. This was built for the king to have a little hideaway palace.This is the road leading up to the Chateaux Trianon.This is the Chateaux Trianon.Apparently the king liked to play billiards.This is the breezeway connecting the wings of the Chateaux.The next stop on my self guided tour was the Petit Trianon. This was the queen’s hideaway palace.The queen had quite a collection of dishes.The flower gardens at the Petit Trianon were in full bloom.Fresh squeezed orange juice machine on the back of a golf cart. Brilliant!The Fountain of Neptune.
I stayed at Versailles until 5:00 PM and the hoofed it to the train station where I took a train back to Paris.
I didn’t get back to my hotel until 7:00 PM so I decided to have a quick dinner. This is a smoked salmon and cheese sandwich on a poppy seed bun. It was delicious.Another Gran Cru Stracciatella for dessert.
That’s it for this evening from Paris. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
This morning I decided to visit the French Army Museum. It was a 45 minute walk through the drizzle from my hotel to the Army Museum but I need the exercise.
The entrance to the museum. It opened at 10:00. I got there at 9:45 and I was first in line. Go to this museum if you want to avoid the crowds at the more well known Paris museums.
Pro tip on this museum. The exhibit explanations are printed in French and English.
This is the side of the board that has the French language exhibit explanation. Do you see the British flag and the arrow at the lower right hand corner of the board? When you turn the board like you would turn the page in a book you reveal the English language exhibit explanation. I am too embarrassed to tell you how long it took me to figure out how to turn the exhibit explanation boards to reveal the English language explanations.
I spent the morning in 15th through 17th century arms and armor wing of the museum. I have no idea how they have gathered together and preserved so many arms, armor and uniforms from this time period.
I especially enjoyed the Napoleon wing of the museum.
Napoleon’s coronation as Emperor of the French.Napoleon on his way to exile on the island of Corsica. Napoleon was an amazing figure in the military, political and cultural history of France.Throughout the Napoleon wing of the museum they had these four by eight foot TV screens. Each screen was dedicated to one of Napoleon’s battles. Each screen showed a 10 minute short film depicting the battlefield terrain and the movements of Napoleon’s forces and the opposition forces, with a description of the battle streaming across the bottom of the screen. What a fascinating way to illustrate Napoleon’s military genius.
The World Wars wing of the museum was absolutely chock full of World War One and Two armaments and uniforms.
There must have been over 100 exhibit spaces like this in the World Wars wing of the museum.I especially liked this tiny Shrine Circus Parade motorcycle the American paratroopers used as part of their parashoot drop on D-Day.France paid a soul numbing price for its pyrrhic victory in World War One.
There are two churches in the museum complex. The first church is the Church of the Dome.
Church of the Dome.This is the dome from the inside of the church.This is the altar.And this is Napoleon’s tomb from the floor of the church. Napoleon’s tomb is in a circular open vault in the floor of the church under the dome. The circular vault is at least 20 feet deep with a circumference of at least 200 feet. This is a view of Napoleon’s sarcophagus from the floor of the open circular vault. The altar is in the background of this picture.The Cathedral of Saint Louis. This is the second church in the museum complex.
I love military history and I loved this museum. if you don’t like military history you might want to skip this museum but you MUST go to the Church of the Dome and Napoleon’s tomb. It is absolutely amazingly beautiful.
I stayed at the museum until 5:00 and then trudged back towards my hotel. I was about a block away from my hotel when a waiter saw me scanning a menu outside his restaurant and he told me that if I dined with him I would have a fabulous meal.
First course. Salad with goat cheese. Good but not great.Second course. Beef Bourgogne. The meat was very dry and the dish did not have a lot of flavor.Third course. Chocolate cake. I ordered tiramisu but when the waiter brought my dessert he brought this chocolate cake instead and told me they ran out of tiramisu. Oh well, I guess every meal on this trip can’t be a Michelin star meal.
That’s it from Paris. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
Today I decided I would just wander through different neighborhoods and eventually make it up to the Montmarte neighborhood and Sacre Coeur.
I needed to fuel my engine before I started this walk so I decided to check out what many people consider the best croissant in Paris.
The croissants from the House of Isabel are flaky, buttery and simply amazing.
As I walked by Notre Dame on my way up the hill to Sacre Coeur I noticed these Camino markings on the pavement.
This is the classic shell symbol of the Camino.This is a yellow Camino arrow spray painted on the sidewalk.
As I was walking through the Montmarte neighborhood I noticed that the Church of Saint John was ringing the eleven o’clock bell calling the people in the parish to attend Mass.
What a beautiful old neighborhood church.
I liked the idea of attending Mass at a neighborhood church so I joined the congregants as they streamed into the church.
Mass at Saint John’s Church in Montmarte.What a beautiful altar.This is the huge stained glass window above the altar. It must be 30 feet at its base and 50 feet in height.
The music for the Mass was provided by the church’s massive pipe organ and everyone in the congregation enthusiastically sang every song. After Mass there was a little cake and coffee gathering. What a nice way to spend a Sunday morning.
After Mass was over I was feeling a little peckish so I decided some fresh fruit would make a nice snack.
I bought these raspberries from a fruit vendor and they were delicious.
After I ate my raspberries and rested a while I made the final climb up to Sacre Coeur.
Sacre Coeur was a madhouse today.
I stood in line for 15 minutes to go through security before I could enter. Speaking of security there are heavily armed policemen and policewomen all over Paris. This is the last day of the Paralympics and that might be the reason for the aggressive police presence. We’ll see if that changes tomorrow.
After I walked back to my hotel I took a little nap before dinner.
Last night’s dinner was so good I decided to go back again tonight.A grande beer.And Penne Quatro Fromaggi, four cheese pasta. Very good.This restaurant has a wood fired oven. This evening they were roasting the meat they will use tomorrow to make their bolognese sauce. The owner invited me back tomorrow to try his bolognese.This boulangerie is just a block away from my hotel. It is reputed to be one of the best boulangeries in Paris.A carmel praline brownie from Bo & Mie. Outstanding!
That’s it for today from Paris. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
Today is a travel day. My daughter Sara flew back to Houston this morning and for the rest of this trip I will be solo. It was so much fun exploring London with Sara. I am taking the 12:31 AM Eurostar high speed train from London to Paris. This is the train that travels through a tunnel under the English Channel.Two hours and fifteen minutes after departing London I arrived at the train station in Paris. The train cars were clean and modern. The seats were comfortable and the ride was silky smooth. What a great train trip.
After I got off the train I had to find a bathroom.
This is the bathroom in the train station. They charge people one euro to use the bathroom. I think that is chickenshit. Pardon my French. The train ticket wasn’t cheap and then at the end of the line you are going to charge me a buck to use the bathroom?? Give me a break!
After I got my money’s worth out of my visit to the train station bathroom I commenced the 45 minute walk to my hotel. As you can imagine the area around the train station was a little sketchy. After 15 minutes or so the sketchiness started to fade away and it started to look more like Paris, sidewalk cafes where beautiful people were sitting at little round tables drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.
This is my hotel. I am a couple of blocks from Notre Dame. I am paying about the same daily hotel rate in Paris as compared to the daily hotel rate I paid in Springfield, Illinois when I visited my mother in early August. That makes no sense at all.My room is on the fifth floor. This is the one and only elevator for the entire hotel. It says you can fit three people in it. I had a hard time fitting my Michelin star fattened carcas into it along with a small suitcase. Nice room.
This morning I got up at 6:30 AM to wash clothes in the apartment in London. I have never been good at laundry. Washing the clothes was no problem but the load was big and the clothes dryer was small so the clothes were still wet when I pulled them out of the dryer at 9:45. I had to check out of the apartment at 10:00 so I chucked the wet clothes in my suitcase and now I have wet clothes draped all over my hotel room. I hope they dry overnight.
I found this great place for dinner.After a stressful travel day I figured I deserved a beer. I sat outside and enjoyed my grande beer. Then I ordered dinner.Penne Puttanesca. No Michelin stars for this spaghetti joint but it was very good.
After dinner I thought I would treat myself to a gelato.
Stracciatella Gran Cru. It was wonderful.
That’s it from Paris. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
AbeAndMarkontheCamino 