Paris trip report
Nov 12th, 2004, 02:47 PM
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Paris trip report
Joe?s Paris Trip Report
Wednesday, November 3, 2004 to Wednesday, November 10, 2004
My wife, Tam, and I flew Northwest out of Detroit to CDG. They have new A330 Airbus planes which are quite nice. We booked through Northwest Air Vacations. We totally lucked out on the weather with only one day of rain and not too hard a rain at that. The temperatures were lows of around 40 F and highs around 50 F.
Our hotel was the California St-Germain on rue des Ecoles in the 5th just south of the Maubert-Mutualité Metro station. We enjoyed our stay there. They had a nice petit déjeuner. The staff was very cordial. Our only complaint was that, in our bathroom at least, there was no bidet. To me that is part of the French experience.
We took a taxi from CDG to the hotel after landing on Thursday. The charge with baggage was 43 Euros. Our first activity was to take the Paris Seine-o-rama tour from Cityrama tours on Place des Pyramides. The four hour trip includes a bus tour, boat tour from les Bateaux parisiens and a visit to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. It is a good way to get oriented for jet-lagged first time visitors such as Tam. Before crashing we had dinner at Le Village Ronsard, a typical cafe on Boulevard St-Germain near the Maubert Metro. We had poulet-frites and steak-frites respectively. Both were quite tasty.
On Friday we went to the Cluny Museum which is quite close to our hotel. I had been dying to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries after reading Tracy Chevalier?s wonderful book. I must say that they were stunning. The entire museum was fabulous.
We ate lunch at another typical cafe, Cafe du Pont-Neuf on quai du Louvre: croque monsieurs which were very nice. Then we hit the Louvre. We saw the big three and my personal favorite piece: the Etruscan sarcophogus. We also saw some of the Greek sculptures and Dutch paintings. You can only see so much in a visit.
We had dinner at Bouillon Racine on rue Racine just off Boul? Mich? which was recommended to me by a couple of people on the board. It was well taken advice. We had the prix fixe menu for 25 Euros apiece opting for chicken cassoulet, soup du jour which was a wonderful cream of mushroom and crême brulée for dessert.
On Saturday we went to the Orsay Museum where we concentrated on the Impressionists. There is little I could add to what others have written about this marvelous museum. After another cafe lunch, omelets at the Cafe des Beaux Arts on the Left Bank quai at rue Bonaparte, Tam got art supplies at Sennelier on quai Voltaire. It is a must for artists. We followed that by shopping for gifts at the near by Sammartaine department store on the other side.
For dinner we had a great Indian meal at Délice d?Inde which is on rue de la Montagne just off rue des Ecoles. We had terrific lamb curries as well as appetizers, rice and nan topped off with Indian ice cream. The total bill was a little under 70 Euros.
On Sunday we went to the Rodin Museum. It is stunning to see so many famous works at one time. We ate lunch at a little place on rue de Marboeuf just off the Champs-Elysées. It was noteworthy because the restrooms still had the notorious hole in the floor toilets, cabinets à la turque as did another place on Place des Pyramids. I don?t know if I?m just unlucky but in two trips to Paris I have encountered several of them. They are still being manufactured so, even if their golden era is over, they are still around. We later went to the Grevin Wax Museum which was fun, even if a little cheesy. It was packed.
For dinner we went to an Italian resto, il Pescatore, which is at the corner of rue des Carmes and rue des Ecoles, just south of the Maubert Metro stop. They have wonderful pasta dishes and to die for desserts. The salads are served in beautiful Steelite bowls. They are real Italians and I enjoyed speaking la lingua di Dante with them. We ate there twice. Our meals were just over 40 Euros for everything. It is a very unpretentious place. One of the desserts, coupe Etna, is a fruit salad topped with vanilla gelato and exquisite whipped cream. It was divine. The tiramisu and chocolate mousse were also outstanding.
On Monday we went to Notre Dame and St-Chappelle as well as île St-Louis. There is little I can add to the many descriptions of the holy sites.We had lunch at Le Flore on rue St-Louis-en-île. We had fabulous quiche, salad and Berthilloon ice cream while enjoying a beautiful view of the Seine. The Berthillon ice cream shop on the same street is closed Monday and Tuesday at this time.
That evening we took an evening cruise on Les Vedettes de Pont-Neuf in order to enjoy the beauty of Paris by night. The Eiffel Tower was stunning. We had another typical cafe meal at the Metro which is next to the Maubert Metro stop.
Our last day in Paris was spent at Galleries Lafayette and on rue de Rivoli shopping for souvenirs and gifts. Lacking in energy we popped into Cityrama to see what tours they had going. Since they were leaving for Chartres momentarilly we opted for that. It was a nice way to wind up our trip. The guide was very knowledgeable as well as entertaining. Chartres is a lovely town and there was hardly anyone visiting the cathedral. It was very enjoyable to watch the local children playing on the parvis. I was actually more impressed by the interior of Notre Dame de Chartres than that of Paris.
We had dinner once again at il Pescatore. So our stay ended with dreams of our next vacation. Maybe Italy?
Wednesday, November 3, 2004 to Wednesday, November 10, 2004
My wife, Tam, and I flew Northwest out of Detroit to CDG. They have new A330 Airbus planes which are quite nice. We booked through Northwest Air Vacations. We totally lucked out on the weather with only one day of rain and not too hard a rain at that. The temperatures were lows of around 40 F and highs around 50 F.
Our hotel was the California St-Germain on rue des Ecoles in the 5th just south of the Maubert-Mutualité Metro station. We enjoyed our stay there. They had a nice petit déjeuner. The staff was very cordial. Our only complaint was that, in our bathroom at least, there was no bidet. To me that is part of the French experience.
We took a taxi from CDG to the hotel after landing on Thursday. The charge with baggage was 43 Euros. Our first activity was to take the Paris Seine-o-rama tour from Cityrama tours on Place des Pyramides. The four hour trip includes a bus tour, boat tour from les Bateaux parisiens and a visit to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. It is a good way to get oriented for jet-lagged first time visitors such as Tam. Before crashing we had dinner at Le Village Ronsard, a typical cafe on Boulevard St-Germain near the Maubert Metro. We had poulet-frites and steak-frites respectively. Both were quite tasty.
On Friday we went to the Cluny Museum which is quite close to our hotel. I had been dying to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries after reading Tracy Chevalier?s wonderful book. I must say that they were stunning. The entire museum was fabulous.
We ate lunch at another typical cafe, Cafe du Pont-Neuf on quai du Louvre: croque monsieurs which were very nice. Then we hit the Louvre. We saw the big three and my personal favorite piece: the Etruscan sarcophogus. We also saw some of the Greek sculptures and Dutch paintings. You can only see so much in a visit.
We had dinner at Bouillon Racine on rue Racine just off Boul? Mich? which was recommended to me by a couple of people on the board. It was well taken advice. We had the prix fixe menu for 25 Euros apiece opting for chicken cassoulet, soup du jour which was a wonderful cream of mushroom and crême brulée for dessert.
On Saturday we went to the Orsay Museum where we concentrated on the Impressionists. There is little I could add to what others have written about this marvelous museum. After another cafe lunch, omelets at the Cafe des Beaux Arts on the Left Bank quai at rue Bonaparte, Tam got art supplies at Sennelier on quai Voltaire. It is a must for artists. We followed that by shopping for gifts at the near by Sammartaine department store on the other side.
For dinner we had a great Indian meal at Délice d?Inde which is on rue de la Montagne just off rue des Ecoles. We had terrific lamb curries as well as appetizers, rice and nan topped off with Indian ice cream. The total bill was a little under 70 Euros.
On Sunday we went to the Rodin Museum. It is stunning to see so many famous works at one time. We ate lunch at a little place on rue de Marboeuf just off the Champs-Elysées. It was noteworthy because the restrooms still had the notorious hole in the floor toilets, cabinets à la turque as did another place on Place des Pyramids. I don?t know if I?m just unlucky but in two trips to Paris I have encountered several of them. They are still being manufactured so, even if their golden era is over, they are still around. We later went to the Grevin Wax Museum which was fun, even if a little cheesy. It was packed.
For dinner we went to an Italian resto, il Pescatore, which is at the corner of rue des Carmes and rue des Ecoles, just south of the Maubert Metro stop. They have wonderful pasta dishes and to die for desserts. The salads are served in beautiful Steelite bowls. They are real Italians and I enjoyed speaking la lingua di Dante with them. We ate there twice. Our meals were just over 40 Euros for everything. It is a very unpretentious place. One of the desserts, coupe Etna, is a fruit salad topped with vanilla gelato and exquisite whipped cream. It was divine. The tiramisu and chocolate mousse were also outstanding.
On Monday we went to Notre Dame and St-Chappelle as well as île St-Louis. There is little I can add to the many descriptions of the holy sites.We had lunch at Le Flore on rue St-Louis-en-île. We had fabulous quiche, salad and Berthilloon ice cream while enjoying a beautiful view of the Seine. The Berthillon ice cream shop on the same street is closed Monday and Tuesday at this time.
That evening we took an evening cruise on Les Vedettes de Pont-Neuf in order to enjoy the beauty of Paris by night. The Eiffel Tower was stunning. We had another typical cafe meal at the Metro which is next to the Maubert Metro stop.
Our last day in Paris was spent at Galleries Lafayette and on rue de Rivoli shopping for souvenirs and gifts. Lacking in energy we popped into Cityrama to see what tours they had going. Since they were leaving for Chartres momentarilly we opted for that. It was a nice way to wind up our trip. The guide was very knowledgeable as well as entertaining. Chartres is a lovely town and there was hardly anyone visiting the cathedral. It was very enjoyable to watch the local children playing on the parvis. I was actually more impressed by the interior of Notre Dame de Chartres than that of Paris.
We had dinner once again at il Pescatore. So our stay ended with dreams of our next vacation. Maybe Italy?
Nov 12th, 2004, 03:07 PM
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Nice report -- You'll be back. It's fun to go back to see what you missed and re-visit a couple of favorites.
There are so many other places I need to visit, but been back to Paris 3 times and am strongly considering a return to Italy next Spring. Well, I guess we'll wait for a really fine deal to pop up and that's where we'll go.
There are so many other places I need to visit, but been back to Paris 3 times and am strongly considering a return to Italy next Spring. Well, I guess we'll wait for a really fine deal to pop up and that's where we'll go.
