Avoir Paris. We had a wonderful visit in Paris. We decided to extend our stay from 3 to 5 days--still not nearly enough time. I think I would like to live in Paris for a while. We stopped by an English language school one afternoon and it looks like it would be very easy to get a job. Something to ponder….
We seem to spend a lot of our days walking, be it exploring the city or a museum. I try when I can to talk to the Parisians who, contrary to their reputation, have been exceedingly helpful and gracious.
On our first day, we caught the last day of the Tour de France. Unfortunately we missed the bicyclists but we did get a chance to see the yellow shirted children as well as the team mechanics proudly pedal down the Champs-Elysee.
Amy was still traveling with us when we visited Sacre Coeur and Montematre. The church is impressive. At a park behind the church I met some young French-Africans practicing gymnastics and sat with them, while Amy and Mark explored. Amy found the streets leading to Sacre Coeur reminded her of visits to Queen Anne in Seattle. I was here as a child and remember having an artist draw a caricature of me.
The following day Amy left to join her GAP Adventure tour group. She will spend the next 28 days exploring Europe with a group of young people. Mark and I switched hotels courtesy of a Travelzoo coupon. We stayed for 2 days at the Hotel Rochester. The hotel was impressive (particularly the FABULOUS breakfast included with our room) but a less pricey, more backpack friendly hotel like the Hotel Magador is more our style.
We thoroughly enjoyed the Roden Museum gardens and our trip to the Louvre. One evening we took a boat ride on the Seine. We found a lovely French restaurant near Montematre and availed ourselves of Monoprix and Carrefour for snacks and sandwiches. We even made it to Versailles yesterday.
Today has been a day of travel as we head to Amsterdam. I am looking forward to seeing our dear friends Anne and Hans Daniels (I have known them since we were all in school in Boston some 25+ years ago) and hopefully catching up with Amy this evening.
There is no doubt that Europe is lovely, however, the weather reminds us of what we left in Seattle—overcast and cool. On the other hand, I prefer that, particularly when I am carrying my backpack.
No comments:
Post a Comment