PARIS DAY 1 & 2

Who doesn’t love Paris?  The “City of Lights” has me wrapped around her fingers and captured me: the historic sights, the charm and mostly especially, the view.  Ashley was extremely excited to be in Paris from all the movies she has seen and her eyes were wide.

We arrived in Paris around 1:30pm from our early morning train departure from Zermatt at 5:39am, still in the dark of night.  Once we changed trains in Lausanne, we were off to Paris which took us through some incredible views around Montreux and Lake Geneva Bay up through the pastures of France to Paris.  We took a cab over to our Hotel and is a pleasant residence of charming dimensions. Located in the heart of a welcoming and residential, calm and elegant area of Paris, the hotel was not far from the Eiffel Tower, Roland Garros, the Auteuil and Passy districts and the Bois de Boulogne. The Champs Elysées and Paris’ major tourist and culture spots are accessible by subway, Jasmin Station, which was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel.  Our room was marvelous and our window views nestled atop the surround neighborhood buildings.  Leslie made a reference to the Alfred Hitchcock movie “Rear Window” as the views reminded her of the film (check out the pictures).

Our first goal was to get food and get food fast!  We walked around in our neighborhood and found a local pizzeria which served Gyros as well.  Of course, the kids had pizza and Leslie had a wonderful Tomato and Cheese Warm Sandwich and me, I picked the Gyro, which Ashley loved after taking a couple of bites from me. A few doors down from the Pizzeria, was a chocolate store called “Chapon” and the owner was incredible nice.  He gave us some samples of some rare dark chocolate from Africa and Leslie was hooked so we bought a small bag to take home.  Food in the stomach--CHECK!  Hydrated--CHECK!  Time to see Paris--ABSOLUTELY!

We walked down the Jasmin Subway Station to catch a train to a main tourist area stop and get on our City Tour Bus to see a little of the main sites.  We toured around Paris listening to the history from our headphones on the bus for about 3 hours.  We grabbed dinner at a restaurant that had the very worst food from bad sandwiches to watered down French Onion Soup, which we sent back.  How can a restaurant like this, in Paris at that, serve food like this and survive?  I don’t understand the French!

The next day we toured around the City on our Bus and went into Norte Dame Church, which was a site that Leslie really wanted to see.  So glad we did this because the inside of the Church was entrancing: large columns, colorful windows and the Presence of God inside.  Outside, the kids had a good time with the Pigeons and finally, Ashley allowed a bird to fly and sit on her while she fed them.  As a good parent, Leslie made sure the kids washed their hands after touched these nasty birds.

The rest of the evening was nice and we visited a restaurant that Leslie and I loved from our last trip.  It was Italian and they had some great food and the kids loved the pizza. 

Overall, the family enjoyed Paris and I believe that Paris enjoyed us.  Our next stop was London and we were excited!