Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
A week ago Friday, we made our way from Southwestern France to Paris. We wanted to end our trip with a few days in the magical city.
When I'm buying plane tickets, I usually include a hotel room in Paris either as we are arriving or leaving. I find that the hotel room doesn't really increase the price of the plane tickets, so it's like getting a hotel room for free. So our flights from Ohio to Paris with two nights in a hotel in Paris were about $800 each.
This time we stayed in Trianon Rive Gauche, which was in the 5th arrondisement. The rooms are always small in Paris, so don't expect anything like an American hotel room, but the bed was firm and the bathroom remodeled, plus we didn't spend that much time in the room.
Since we took the train to Paris, we arrived at the Gare de Lyon in the 12th arrondisement. I had checked ahead of time and walking from the train station to our hotel was about 2 miles. Even though we were wheeling suitcases along, I wanted to walk and enjoy the city.
When we first got off the train, the sky looked like this!
How glorious!
So we started walking, following some vague directions I had downloaded from Google maps.
Soon the sky ahead looked like this.
So we started walking, following some vague directions I had downloaded from Google maps.
Soon the sky ahead looked like this.
We kept walking as the wind picked up, wheeling our suitcases behind us. And then the rain began to fall and suddenly in front of us, a bistro appeared with a broad red awning. I pulled my suitcase next to an empty terrace table and Earl joined me.
We had shared a sandwich on the train, but after walking for a while, we were definitely ready to eat again. Paris is used to tourists who eat at all hours of the day, so they didn't look askance when we ordered a charcuterie and cheese planche (board) along with a Kir au vin blanc, which is kir mixed with white wine.
This is the huge board that arrived with ham, salami, three kinds of cheese, butter, pickles and bread. We sat there watching the rain for quite a bit, until it had passed and we were definitely sated.
After checking our directions again, we moved on to arrive at our hotel with slightly damp suitcases.
Two nights in Paris is never enough, but I know that we'll be back to explore more.
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5 comments:
Oh two nights in Paris is never enough most definitely, but your last picture of your meal made me heart ache. It's Paris on a plate. I must admit that I have never tried the butter with the cheese- it seems so weird, but next time I'm definitely trying it.
Obviously I have missed a point somewhere, I thought this was the 'big move' and that you were staying in France for the long term this trip! Did you find anywhere you liked and wanted to settle? Hope you had a good trip home.
Three pictures that took my breath away. I absolutely love a dark cloudy sky. That a very intense one. So glad you snapped that picture. Of the lunch was awe inspiring.
The contrasting photos made me laugh! Quite a memorable arrival to Paris. You took a potentially awful situation and made it fun!
Louise, You're right. We've had entire vacations when we stayed in Paris and didn't get tried of it, but we do love exploring the rest of France.
French Oasis, This was a reconnaissance trip for us, checking out villages and markets to decide where we wanted to live. I'll write a post soon that sums up our thoughts on that. My husband moved his retirement back to December, so after Christmas we'll plan on the big move.
Just Me, I took these pictures with one hand as we were wheeling along the street. I knew Earl didn't want to stop. He was intent on getting to the hotel!
Noreen, Yes, the sky always surprises me in Paris. I have one whole section of pictures on my phone that look blue as I scroll past just from the twilight sky in Paris.
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