Paris…Tuesday, Day 4

Busy 1/2 Day.  We have found that we function the best on European trips using what we lovingly call the 1/2 day technique.  It doesn’t always work but we go hard for a 1/2 a day and nap in the afternoon.  It re-builds our old bodies!

Did that today.  6 a.m. breakfast, on the bus by 7:30.  A slow painful drive to Versailles Palace and Gardens.  The roads are as busy as Los Angeles as the drivers refuse to car pool or to take the nearly free public transportation. Sound familiar?

Speaking of familiar.  We have a very quiet room except for the quiet rumble of the underground train deep under our building.  I write this at rush hour and the rumble is there every three or four minutes.  Then for you movie goers,  The police cars in France do have that unique Paris warbling siren.

Now back to Versailles Palace.  Took an hour and a half to get there, 12 miles by bus.  LA, you ain’t looking bad.  The lines were massive although our guide called them not bad.  The palace and gardens are spectacular with real gold leaf covering everything.  The crowds were the worst we have ever seen any place in our 12 trips to Europe. 

Our tour guides had real depth in their knowledge and enthusiasm for their country.  Well worth have them verses trying to do it by themselves.  I will let the pictures speak for the excessive opulence’s of the palace.  No wonder the starving peasants chopped the heads off their king and queen. 

Finally back at our hotel by1:30 pm and we were starved.  We went to a restaurant near our hotel that specialized in steak and pommme frites(french fries) and salad.  Absolutely delicious!  Sitting out on the sidewalk at the little table watching Paris flow by.  Rabbit was their special of the day but Libby said, “No way.”  That’s us drinking Perrier water not wine.

Long nap and now up for a late dinner in our room.  Just got some eggs for a very light omelet.

Long morning tomorrow to the Louvre Museum. Later.

 

 

France…Day3 Monday

Our first night sleeping in Paris and the dreaded jet lag.  On Sunday night our group took over “God Save the Kitchen“ restaurant for dinner.  A five course dinner was consumed with wine over nearly three hours.  One waitress handled all us all…35…without a hitch.  What a professional.  We had a choice between sea bream or chicken.  Everyone was happy with their choice. 

Off we went to our room by 10 pm we crashed!  A long day. We both woke up at 3 am, the dreaded jet lag!  It didn’t last long and by 4 am we were back in La La Land.  Our alarm told us it was 7 am and a quick shower we were off to our buffet breakfast.  Those French know how to cook.  Fresh croissants with eggs and every imaginable breakfast meats, cereals etc. 

It was raining out most of the morning including when we boarded the bus heading for our four hour “drive by” tour of Paris.  It was a great overview of what is available to see.  It would take us about a year to see half if it.  Here are some photo’s we took on the tour. 

We arrived back to our hotel and headed to the bank, to the bakery, and to the grocery store in that order.  We brought back a wonderful hot ham and cheese pannini for lunch.  Then yep you guessed it, a two hour nap. 

We cooked a delicious dinner in our minni-kitchen in our room and now are relaxing as we will be head out early in the morning to Versailles and in the late afternoon a walking tour of Monte Marte which is a hill that gives one of the best views of Paris.  Great first real day in Paris.

 

On the Road

September 27, 2014 2 p.m.

We arrived right on time at the airport using the Van Nuys Fly away bus.  The sign-in at Lufthansa was smooth as butter and they are organized and very professional.  Thank you Lufthansa for saving our bacon from Air France and their strike. 

We are flying a 747 which is nothing new for us.  Well no more at this time. 

September 27, 2014 830 pm

The lack of space in this “cattle car” is appalling.  The staff is competent, the food barely adequate.  The experience is just painful.  We will think hard and long about going through this again to get to Europe. 

We have had a few bumps but not really not bad so far. 

I think the best part of this is the excellent organization of getting all those people into the plane in such a quick way. 

We are about 4 1/2 hours away from landing in Frankfurt Germany.  We have a little more than an hour to to find and board our flight to Paris.  Wish us luck.

September 28, 2014 Sundqy

We landed ahead of time and it took us a good hour to get through the mess to our new plane.  We met a business man from San Francisco and he gave us some tips about  Paris. 

The Flight was fine and we were met by our tour person and we had a van take us into Paris, 15 miles in terrible traffic.  Glad I wasn’t driving.  Nice room with kitchen. 

 

Day 1a, France

We worked 2 hours yesterday after getting the notice from our travel agent that France was on strike and our Air France flight was gone.  She put us on Lufthansa Airline but it was our responsibility to get our seats. 

We got our seats…not the one’s we prefer…as they were gone and the flight will not be non-stop.  A stop in Frankfurt.  Twenty three hours before the flight we did an on line check-in that became problematic as the email ticket number that was sent to by our travel person was wrong.  Libby’s was correct and went right through.  The Lufthansa personnel went right to work and found the right number for my ticket and we both were checked in.  Can’t say enough good  about Lufthansa staff so far.  The German’s are saving the day.

We are up, we are packed, and so far so good.  More later today

 

France Just Went on Strike

We finished packing, we have our seats on our non-stop flight, we WERE ready to go until the phone call came through from our travel agent.  FRANCE IS ON STRIKE!!!   

Our Air France flight was cancelled due to a Pilot strike and it looks like the flight attendants will join them in sympathy!  Looks like the train operators are going in strike because some of their co-workers were caught drinking rum cocktails on duty and were punished.  Horrors.

Lets see.  Looks like the German’s (Lufthansa) is coming to our rescue minus a non-stop flight and no seats yet of course.  No underground trains and etc????  Ten miles a day walk? 

Must keep in mind that “Travel is an adventure.”

 

Closer and Closer to France

We are four days away from hopping the big jet to France.  Each day we are checking off the last few things we need to do for the trip.  We are watching the weather in Paris and it is really pretty warm there.  77 degrees during the day.

We are taking the Van Nuys Fly Away Bus.  More flexible than the local airport express at less than half the price. I do have to drive 40 miles but it is worth it.

 

Getting Excited About France

With exactly 14 days till we head off to Paris, I have been digging around the net trying to minimize all of the possible places we could see to a number that we have a chance to see.  Not an easy job. 

Also noting that the temperatures are 20-30 degrees cooler in Paris than here in the desert, we are having trouble imagining wearing long pants, sweaters and of course rain jackets.  They are expecting 5 days of rain next week. 

Should be fun. 

 

Twenty Days Away from France

We are well on our way for packing for our trip to France.  Its difficult to know what to pack in the shoulder season where it could be cold, warm, wet or dry.  We will do the best we can. 

Talked to some friends that spent a couple weeks in Paris recently.  They are a bit younger than we are but the husband said, “Trip was good but be prepared for things to move very sloooow.”  The wife said, “I just loved it.”

I have been doing a bunch of writing for TripAdvisor as of late.  For some reason, we have been hitting restaurants that have had exceptionally good service.  Couldn’t do enough for Libby and me.  We are interested in seeing if service in French restaurants meet up to American restaurants. 

Finally, we have been thinking about never ending instability in the Middle East and between Russia and it former satellites and how it could affect our trip, especially our flights.  We have decided to worry but to enjoy our trip.  What will be will be or  ce qui sera sera in French.