Back in the land of push button toilets?

This is going to be a surprise for some.  This blog is coming to you from Paris, France.

Hubby D accepted an early retirement offer from his company and October 20th was his last day.

However right after he accepted the retirement offer, Hubby D announced he wanted to tour around Europe for a month. To say I was shocked is an understatement.  I simply did not believe it.

But he was serious and we are off to France, Spain and Italy for the entire month of November.

I know – it is amazing.  He has ONLY taken more than 4 days consecutive vacation 2 or 3 times in his life!  A month????  I hope we don’t get tired of each other. After 37 years of marriage we are probably safe.

LW and his mom took us to the airport.  It was a fun 45 minutes as I was fortunate to sit in the back seat of the car with LW – read books and look for “big trucks.” He loves airplanes and he was excited to see them at the airport. We had an airplane fly right over the top of the car as we approached the airport.

Unfortunately the rest of the trip did not start on such a good note.  Lufthansa screwed us on our seats and additionally my ticket did not have TSA precheck.

We had to strip down and go through the long security process without the advantage of TSA precheck.  I haven’t done that in years.  Really, in years!

Fortunately, Hubby D put on his negotiating hat and worked hard to make it right so that we were able to sit together on the long overnight flight. It finally worked out.  But it was a stressful beginning.

On the plane, we sent LW our picture before he went to bed.

Bye bye, LW.

The only good thing about the trip was the food. Here is a small plate of salmon with roe that was delicious.

When we arrived in Paris I realized, we were back in the world of the push button toilet.  LOL

However Paris has one big advantage over Bahrain, Greece and Italy, Paris has fantastic coffee.

Our first day, we had some delicious wine and enjoyed the view from our little balcony at our flat in the Saint Germaine district. We did not do much that first day; just enjoy relaxing and getting used to the pace of Paris.





A peek of the Eiffel Tower from the balcony of our room.

Our first glass of wine at a cafe close to our hotel.

Our breakfast the second day was fantastic. And, believe it or not, the third day was even better with some of those melt in your mouth croissants.

Chocolate croissants. 

On the morning of the second day we were up early.  We rented bikes just like we did the last time we were in Paris. The rest of the day was spent pedaling all over Paris. 

Riding bikes in Paris is fantastic fun. We enjoyed it tremendously.

We rode right by our favorite Paris restaurant, Brasserie Lipp. 

This is the bridge Pont Neuf where people attach locks to signify long relationships.

We had not visited Notre Dame for some time so we decided to go in and enjoy the stained glass.




Inside Notre Dame.

This is an art deco metro entrance with an advertisement for the new iPhone.  New and  old together.

Not much, but a bit of fall color on the Seine River

There are fences and barricades all around all the monuments. You had your bag searched every where even at department stores.

Macaroons are still big in Paris.  Every patisserie had them.

On our way to Lido for the burlesques show, we could see the Eiffel tower all lit up.

This is Hubby D standing on Champs-Elysées with the Arc de Triumph in the background.

That evening we took in a performance of Lido Burlesque on the Champs-Elysees close to the Arc De Triumph. It was fun to be in the center of the action for a bit.



This was a bit of shock. A bottle of water cost $7.50.  It was just standard Evian water.

The next morning we slept in a bit – blame it on the bike miles we logged the day before BUT certainly not the bottle of Champagne at the Lido.  After a fantastic breakfast we took the metro over to the Paris Opera House.  We had never been inside and decided to see what inspired the musical Phantom of the Opera. It was amazing and certainly worth the trip on the metro.

On the way to the metro, we stumbled across this market. 

When we came up from the metro, the Paris Opera House was right there in front of us.  Fantastic!

We stopped by our favorite cafe on the way back to our flat for a snack, wine and frites. Oh La La.

After changing clothes and a short walk, we had a fabulous dinner at Brasserie Lipp topped off with our favorite deserts. It was the perfect way to end our visit to Paris.

Tomorrow we leave for Bordeaux and some fantastic wine tours of Medoc and Saint Emilion. We are taking the TVG to Bordeaux.

So far, we are having a great time.  This is so much fun!

Cheers,
Brenda