Wednesday, September 07, 2005
France IV
The next May I made another trip to Paris, this time with my mother, her sister, (Aunt) Donna, and her sister-in-law, (Aunt) Joanne. It was a short trip of just 6 days. We stayed down in Montparnasse, in a rather residential part of the city. As a group, our "paris" experience was quite varied. Aunt Joanne had never been, Mommy had been once, but not since the 1970s, Aunt Donna had been many times, but not in the last 10 years, and I had just been there the previous fall. So we did much of the tourist track (Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Versailles, Louvre). I did make it to some new places including Sainte Chappelle, Musee Rodin, inside the Grand Trianon, the Hameau and an extended excursion to the Galleries Lafayette.
On our very first day we walked down the Champs Ellyeses - up to the Arc de Triomphe - They were having a military procession - which turned out to be the American Foreign Legion (timing!) - It was a little misty and as I looked down the way, toward the Place de Concorde, I noticed that there was a rainbow - right there welcoming us to Paris - pretty cool. We had dinner at a lovely cafe on Washington - I don't remember the name but it was very close to the "Weekend" cafe where Michelle and Scott and I had dined the previous fall - the food was great - Aunt Donna had snails!
On Sunday we trekked out to Versailles - and yes, we got to see the fountains! And, again there was a thunderstorm, so they had to turn them off. The special thing for us was that it was early enough in the day that they turned the water and music back on - and we got to see it from the beginning - I know that sounds corny - but it was very cool. Even in France my favorite part of traveling is the gift shop - this go around they had limoges china renditions of Marie Antoinette's china - pearls and flowers - I'm a sucker for Marie Antoinette - and limoges -so it was an immediate sale - That evening we found the most wonderful restaurant, thanks to our hotel clerk: The Moulin Vert. Absolutely no one spoke english - which was a good sign - the food and atmosphere were amazing - I had the best asparagus ever - and the best dessert - ile floatant - the floating island - delicious!
The next day we spent the morning/afternoon in the Louvre - my favorites are the object d'art and furnishings - and I was able to find a "real" piece of the limoges I had bought at Versailles - And I bought even more when I got to the Galleries Lafayette.
It was an interesting group to travel with - and a wonderful opportunity to spend some more time in the City of Lights.
On our very first day we walked down the Champs Ellyeses - up to the Arc de Triomphe - They were having a military procession - which turned out to be the American Foreign Legion (timing!) - It was a little misty and as I looked down the way, toward the Place de Concorde, I noticed that there was a rainbow - right there welcoming us to Paris - pretty cool. We had dinner at a lovely cafe on Washington - I don't remember the name but it was very close to the "Weekend" cafe where Michelle and Scott and I had dined the previous fall - the food was great - Aunt Donna had snails!
On Sunday we trekked out to Versailles - and yes, we got to see the fountains! And, again there was a thunderstorm, so they had to turn them off. The special thing for us was that it was early enough in the day that they turned the water and music back on - and we got to see it from the beginning - I know that sounds corny - but it was very cool. Even in France my favorite part of traveling is the gift shop - this go around they had limoges china renditions of Marie Antoinette's china - pearls and flowers - I'm a sucker for Marie Antoinette - and limoges -so it was an immediate sale - That evening we found the most wonderful restaurant, thanks to our hotel clerk: The Moulin Vert. Absolutely no one spoke english - which was a good sign - the food and atmosphere were amazing - I had the best asparagus ever - and the best dessert - ile floatant - the floating island - delicious!
The next day we spent the morning/afternoon in the Louvre - my favorites are the object d'art and furnishings - and I was able to find a "real" piece of the limoges I had bought at Versailles - And I bought even more when I got to the Galleries Lafayette.
It was an interesting group to travel with - and a wonderful opportunity to spend some more time in the City of Lights.
# posted by PSUgirl @ 2:43 PM 
