pj

This was a wonderful trip! We arrived t Heathrow and took the piccadilly to London. We were staying at the Dolphin Square on the victoria line at the Pimlico stop. I got ny reservations on Priceline! There were 5 of us and we were all upgraded to deluxe suites!
Our room was 225 pounds, around 450 USD a night! We paid 95 USD through Priceline!! Just for the record, I love Priceline.
We settled in our wonderful suites. After a quick nap we were off to Westminster Abbey. Unfortuntely there was only 1 verger tour that day and we missed it! We then rented the audio guide it was mediocre, but it was somewhat helpful. We were there on a Thursday,Feb 19 2:30 it was packed! I will be back some day to do the Verger tour, but Westminster Abbey should not be missed!
We then preceeded to a pub on Storey Gate, Westminsters Arms. Absolutely packed!! The time is now 5:00, we go downstairs to the wine cellar and toast to our 1st day in London!
We have dinner reservations at Criterion at 6:00 that night. What a beautiful restaurant, they have a prix fix pre theater dinner. The price was 15 pounds, my dinner was delicious but it was so so for my brother. We enjoyed our meal, except at the the end we never received our desserts! Service very slow, I started reminding them at 7:15 for our desserts. We had theater tickets at 8:00 Haymarket Theater, When Harry met SAlly. Well to make a long story short our desserts arrived when we were walking ou the door! Maddening!
Off to the show, in a few words about When Harry met Sally, it was entertaining. It was perfecct for jetlagged brains! So we enjoyed it.
We then decided we had left Criterion on such a bad note, we would let them redeem themselves. So we returned to Criterion after the theater and enjoy our desserts then! They were very accommodating and we had our desserts and kirs then! No extra charges for dessert! Then to our wonderful hotel, and crash!!!! The report will continue!

pj

2nd day in London. Now well rested....sorta, we are off to meet June with London Walks, hidden London. We meet at monument tube, she was excellent! We toured alot of Christopher Wren churches. We then go to a pub called Judy's, exactly what a english pub should look like! Sat by the fire, had some great indian food.
I went to V&A, my family went off to the Tower Of LOndon.
For the evening we went to a pub across from All Hallow's Church. Then we did the Jack the Ripper tour with Shaughn from London Walks. I have done the walk with Donald before, but Shaughn was just as good! Then we walked to a street with all Indian restaurants, right past Ten Bells Bar. Very interesting! We all ate drank, shared our meals to a total tune of 10 pounds each! Pretty cheap, excellent food. Then back to Dolphin Square!

pj

Just a correction it is Punch pub on Fleet street not Judy's. It is a cool pub. 1 more day in London...

Gabriella_Shari

What about Paris, Versailles, and Chartres? I'm on my way to all these places in 2 weeks. Can you tell what else there is to do in Chartres after the Cathedral? When did you go, what was the weather like?

pj

Last day in London, we went to Brtish Museum in the morning. My brother and sister in law stayed at the museum. The other part of the group, we went to Sir John Soane museum. It was one of my highlights! We did wait in line for about 1/2 hour. But it is a fascinating place! Will definitely go back, we even got in the tail end of the tour.By the way the weather is cold! But it is sunny. Now it is early evening, we took the Eurostar to Paris. Arrive late almost 12:00 AM, take the metro to Hotel Danube. It is located on Rue Jacob,I love this hotel for the location, ambiance and service. Francois greeted us, and we are off to bed! Paris report next!

pj

The weather in Paris was cold and windy! Probably around 25 to 32F.
The first day in Paris we are off to Musee D'Orsay (of course with our museum pass) Long lines, which we bypassed. We pretty much did the impressionists. I just love this museum.
We then walked to Notre Dame and walked around the Roman ruins under ground. We then went inside the church and then got in line to the bell towers. We were freezing in line! This is the first time I got to go all the way to the top! You actually can go on top of the bell towers. Great views, it is a hike up though, so you have been forewarned. We then went to a bistro right on the side street next to Notre Dame. We had excellent french onion soup, sandwiches, kirs.
We then walk to St. Chapelle, my personal favorite cathedral in Paris.
For dinner we had reservations at La Fotaine de Mars. I cannot say enough about this bistro, we loved it! Everyone meal was heavenly. We then walked to Tour de Eiffel and it was 10 minutes to midnight, at midnight all the lights started sparkling, it was magnificent. Back to Danube, more conversations with Francois the night manager then to bed! More Paris tommorrow.

pj

My last sentence should be, We had more delightful conversations with Francois, the night manager of Hotel Danube. Then we called it a night!
Since there was 5 in our party, 3 of us stayed in the apartment 210 euros a night. My brother and his wife stayed in the basic room 115 euros a night. I saw there bathroom, it was beautiful! They are doing quite a bit of updating there.

pj

It is now Feb. 23, we are off to exploring Louvre. We pretty much stay in italian rennaisance. Crowds were not too bad.
We then ate in a glass enclosed atrium in the jarden des Tuileries. The gardenns had some flowers, the pots are all covered up. What was really cool is, it started to snow! So we drank our kirs, ate our hot goat cheese salads and watched the snow.
We then made our trek up to Montmarte.We walked up the Abbesses metro to see all the artwork on the stairs. We went into the byzantine church St Jean L'Evangeliste. It has some interesting frescoes.
We then continued up Rue Lepic, reached Place du Tertre and it started to snow again! You should see how fast the artists pack up there stuff.
For dinner that evening we stayed close to home on Rue Jacob.The restaurant is L'Ardoise, it is stone walled with a timber ceiling. The food is always excellent.
Next day off to Versailles, Chartres.

ira

Hi pj,

>we were all upgraded to deluxe suites!<

Well, good for you!!

Thanx for sharing.

Gabriella_Shari

pj,

thanks for sharing, I'm checking back in to read about Versailles and Chartres.

pj

I forgot to add, my sister and I meandered around Ile St. Louis before dinner at L'Ardoise. We found some great jewelry! Just for your information. Tommorrow the last day in France.

pj

Today we are fitting Versailles and Chartres in one day. For anyone who has not already explored Versailles before, I would not reccommend doing both in one day. My sister and I have both been to Versailles and were mainly interested in seeing Maria Antoinette's hamlet.
We took the train from Montparnasse and bought round trip tickets to Chartres. If you take this train it goes through Versaiiles and the stop is Versailles Chantier. It is a little longer walk from this station then Rive Gauche.
Well we arrived at the Chateau before 9:00. So we bypassed all the tour groups. We were the only ones in the hall of mirrors! We then walked through the gardens, yes they are still nice in February. We had some crepes and kirs at this fabulous restaurant by the Fountain of Apollo. It was so charming, I would urge everyone to go there. We then We then started our LONG trek to the hamlet. It is so worth it though! I was there before the big windstorm, so there is now a on going reforestion project. I love the hamlet, it is a little village Maria Antoinette recreated for herself. She missed Austria, so this is her little quant farm. We gotta keep moving a train to catch for Chartres!

pj

We are on the train to Chartres, It is around 1:00 in the afternoon. We have wine and sandwiches in our backpack for the train trip. It is around a hour trip.
We arrived in Chartres around 2:00, and we are so HOPING for Malcolm Millers tour at 2:45. The town of Chartres is so interestng, to see the cathedral up on the hill was really breathtaking.
We definitely had serendipity, Malcolm was at the cathedral. We had 6 in our tour. He is simply the best! How he weaves the storys that our told in the stainglass. Our tour lasted 2 1/2 hours and was 15 euro. Definitely buy his book. Our next stop was maison piccasette. He mosaiced his whole house.Well we were not so lucky for this, it is closed now, because of it being off season. Oh well, we are still on a high from Malcolm Millers tour.
We meandered the streets, so medieval. We of course found some more jewelry!
One more train to catch, into Paris!

Gabriella_Shari

You just went last month and Malcolm Miller had tours? I heard that he doesnt have tours again until April. I am going in 2 weeks and hope to take his tour as well.

pj

Gabriella, we were so lucky to have Malcolm Miller. I know for a fact that he is in Chicago at the Art Institute March 9. I am hoping to see him again!
I actually emailed him before my trip, he replyed and told me to call him when I was in France. His number is 0237281558. I have a feeling he is going to be gone though.
I was not expecting to see him though, so you never know. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. PJ

pj

Our last night in Paris, we made reservations at Au 35 on Rue Jacob. Very cool place,awesome murals. I will be back here the food was wonderful. The service was great too, very tiny so make reservations. It is Mardi Gras, but in Paris it is more of a religous holiday. We found a jazz club right off Rue Jacob. That was alot of fun!
Trip is over, back on the Eurostar ash Wednesday then to Heathrow. It truly was a magical trip!

pj

I just want to thank this forum, for all their help. A special thank you to Elaine, Ben Haines, SalB, PJ

pj

One last footnote, I finally indulged at Laudree and had there macaroons. They are heavenly!!!!!!!!! PJ

klondike

thanks for the report back! Brought back great memories.

pj

To the top for Kevin and Maureen!