April 21, 2013  Paris, France

Hi!  We’ve had a nice visit to Paris.  It’s cold and windy, but that didn’t stop us from walking and sightseeing. 

Jenn dropped us off at the local hotel in Marlton for the ride with Abdul Parnelli to JFK last Thursday.  Abdul made it to the airport in 2 hours, doing no less than 80mph except when we were sitting in traffic! 

The flight to Paris is only 6 ½ hours which isn’t all that bad.  We got into Paris at 5:30 am local time and walked 10 miles through the airport to gather our bag and go through passport check.  I was surprised at how easy it was to get into France.  The agent barely looked at my passport.  We caught a taxi in rush hour traffic to our hotel in Paris.  We dropped off our bags at the Westminster Hotel and walked to have some breakfast at a local brasserie.  After a little walk around we went back to the Westminster Hotel to wait for our room to be ready.  It was 8:30am and they said it would be 10:00 before we could have our room.  We thought that sounded good.  That is until the young man came to us and said “I have a suite available for you.  We are upgrading you at no charge.”  Nice!!  So, we have a lovely suite which makes the room rate not look so bad!  I promptly lay down and took a nap, then a shower and then we were ready to walk around and do some shopping!

There was one store I wanted to visit.  When we were here 20 years ago, we had gone to Fragonard perfumery.  They have a museum and a gift shop.  We visited the museum and then did some damage at the gift shop!  Then we found a chocolate shop and felt obligated to purchase some chocolates and macaroons.  

We stopped at a Brasserie to have a drink and snack.  The smoked salmon canapés were so good!

We found a nice place to have dinner and came back to the lounge at our hotel to enjoy an after dinner drink.  By this time we were getting a tad bit sleepy.  But wait!  Someone famous was at the lounge and we had a perfect seat! Manuel Grossman and Jean Luc Kaudyoti played the piano and bass amazingly.  Wonderful jazz riffs of American standards.  Then the filming began while Catherine Falgeirai sang while Manuel and Jean Luc played.  Catherine sang in English but in that husky French voice.  It was a very nice ending to a long happy day. 

Yesterday we went to Notre Dame.  Let’s see, Saturday at Notre Dame?  We decided not to go in as the queue was way too long.  We walked all around it and admired the tulips and outside gargoyles.   The wind was blowing and it was quite cold.  Of course I forgot to bring one of the many scarves I have, including the one I bought last fall in Ireland.  So, I found a new scarf and it really helped cut the wind.  It’s purple! 

We walked around the tiny little alleys window shopping.  We found a shoe store and bought some new shoes.  Here’s bc’s:  Aren’t they nice?  He says they are really comfortable and light.  I bought some shoes to go with my dress pants. 

After we dropped our packages back at the hotel we then caught a taxi to the Eiffel Tower.  Another touristy place, but we wanted to get a picture of us to go with the picture of Ruth and Lou and Mike and Jenn at the Eiffel Tower.  Here’s your picture Mike and Jenn!

We walked away from all the tourists and tricky men playing betting games on the ground to find a taxi.  It’s cold and windy and as we walked I stopped dead in my tracks!  Could it be?  It is!!!  A quilt exhibition!  What are the chances?  ( I can see my mom shaking her head as she reads this!)  Here we are walking down Rue du New York and there at the Mona Bismarck American Center is “Quilt Art.  L’Art du Patchwork”.  There were 25 quilts made by Americans from the collection of the American Museum in Britain.   There was a wonderful selection of American quilts from the mid 1800’s to the mid 1900's.  There was even a Gees Bend quilt!

We came back to the hotel for a rest then out to find some dinner.  We had a nice salad at a local brasserie on Rue Louis Le Grande.  Somehow fitting! 

Back to the hotel for an after dinner drink and to enjoy some of those chocolates and wonderful piano playing and singing by a very talented woman. 

This morning we are rearranging our bags and packing up.  We will be picked up by Michael for the next leg of our trip, the barge cruise.  Did I mention the craziness about the barge tour?  BC arranged this cruise several months ago.  The Thursday before we left on this vacation they emailed and said our barge was broken and we would need to change cruises.  Ok, so we’ll take another cruise.  They upgraded us at no charge.  (I’m seeing a very nice trend here…)  Then a couple of days ago we were notified that there was flooding on this latest cruise so we would be going on a different route.  Again, a nicer area, so in effect another upgrade! 

Well, stay tuned and we’ll let you know where we end up!

Take care, bc and gc