Wednesday, August 31, 2005
France - Part 3
I didn't make it back to France, or Europe for that matter, for quite a few years. But I got a call late in the Summer of 1999 from my good friend Michelle, who lives in Seattle, reporting that she and her husband, Scott were going over to Europe in September, and that I was coming along.
Our trip was 12 days; we spent 7 days in England and 5 in France. We had a bit of a crazy flight; we were flying (all together) from DC to London (and then on to Paris) and our flight to London was delayed because the windshield wipers were not working on the plane, and, go figure, it was raining in London. It wasn't my happiest moment with the thought that, well if one thing is broken... - but we were fine - except that Scott and I got air sick (the only time this has happened to me - I blame the airport food!). Once in London (we'd missed our connection) we caught a flight to Paris. We finally landed in France and made our way to our hotel near the Gare St Lazare. Our hotel was the Concorde St. Lazare, and it is a lovely place. It's located right in front of the Gare St. Lazare and extremely close to the shopping on Blvd Haussman. Since Shelly and Scott had never been to Paris (or France), we did a lot of walking and we did the "touristy" stuff: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur - which I love - so I was in heaven.
Our first night we made our way to the Eiffel Tower - which was, as ever, fantastic. We figured out that we were hungry and we decided to find a place to eat on our way back to the hotel. There were not a lot of choices - but we did find an interesting place - bistro-like - touristy (had an English menu) - but we were hungry so we didn't really care - called... Hippopotamus - which, of course caused me to sing "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" - it became a bit of a theme song. The food was more than adequate and we had a great time.
We decided because we had limited time in the city that we would do more of an "outside" tour - few museums - more "sights" - On Sunday we traveled out to Versailles to tour the palace. Little did I know that on Sundays (May - Oct, i think) - they turn on the fountains in the gardens and pipe in music. It was great - we took the audio tour of the castle and then spent a good deal of time walking through the grounds. A terrific thunderstorm blew through - soaking us and everything around. By the time we got back to the castle - they had turned off the fountains - Shelly and Scott got a special treat - they saw the fountains both on and off!
While it was a short stay in Paris - it was a great one. Michelle and Scott are fabulous traveling companions - and our time in England was wonderful as well.
Our trip was 12 days; we spent 7 days in England and 5 in France. We had a bit of a crazy flight; we were flying (all together) from DC to London (and then on to Paris) and our flight to London was delayed because the windshield wipers were not working on the plane, and, go figure, it was raining in London. It wasn't my happiest moment with the thought that, well if one thing is broken... - but we were fine - except that Scott and I got air sick (the only time this has happened to me - I blame the airport food!). Once in London (we'd missed our connection) we caught a flight to Paris. We finally landed in France and made our way to our hotel near the Gare St Lazare. Our hotel was the Concorde St. Lazare, and it is a lovely place. It's located right in front of the Gare St. Lazare and extremely close to the shopping on Blvd Haussman. Since Shelly and Scott had never been to Paris (or France), we did a lot of walking and we did the "touristy" stuff: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur - which I love - so I was in heaven.
Our first night we made our way to the Eiffel Tower - which was, as ever, fantastic. We figured out that we were hungry and we decided to find a place to eat on our way back to the hotel. There were not a lot of choices - but we did find an interesting place - bistro-like - touristy (had an English menu) - but we were hungry so we didn't really care - called... Hippopotamus - which, of course caused me to sing "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" - it became a bit of a theme song. The food was more than adequate and we had a great time.
We decided because we had limited time in the city that we would do more of an "outside" tour - few museums - more "sights" - On Sunday we traveled out to Versailles to tour the palace. Little did I know that on Sundays (May - Oct, i think) - they turn on the fountains in the gardens and pipe in music. It was great - we took the audio tour of the castle and then spent a good deal of time walking through the grounds. A terrific thunderstorm blew through - soaking us and everything around. By the time we got back to the castle - they had turned off the fountains - Shelly and Scott got a special treat - they saw the fountains both on and off!
While it was a short stay in Paris - it was a great one. Michelle and Scott are fabulous traveling companions - and our time in England was wonderful as well.
# posted by PSUgirl @ 2:41 PM 
