Trip to France 1999 Journal

FRANCE 1999
 
I returned from my trip to France on Monday the 17th with my Mother.  We had a great time!  Paris was beautiful, as well as the rest of the country, and we enjoyed every minute of our trip.  This was our second trip to France.  The first one was in October 1997.  I was supposed to travel with Tony, but two weeks before our trip he found out he was being promoted to First Officer at USAirways.  His training would begin the same time as our vacation.  Tony tried to postpone the training, but the company said you want the job, go to training.  So I called my Mother and asked if she would go with me and of course she screamed with joy yes!  I had 1 week to change Tony's airline and train tickets to Mom's name, plus revise the car rental to my name.  It was very stressful, but everything worked out.  We paid an additional $38 for the airline tickets, and $10 for mailing new train passes.  We had Mom fly up from West Palm Beach, FL, on the 29th of April purchasing her tickets on MetroJet for $116.21.  I had Doris, my sister-in-law who worked at Nations Bank (Now Bank of America), get me $100 in French Francs for the start of our trip.  I really wanted just $50, but they had a minimum of $100.  I also checked with her about my Debit card.  The bank (at least with my card) does not charge a conversion fee.  I used that card for most of our transactions.
 
4 May 1999 (USA/Paris):  Mom and I did our final packing, had a nice lunch at him, then later in the day Tony drove us to Dulles International airport.  Our flight was at 6:50pm on Air France on the new Boeing 777.  That was a packed, hot trip.  I suppose Air France wanted to add a few more rows.  Too much!  We both didn't sleep.  The seats were too close together and the A/C didn't seem to work.   There was definitely no legroom.  At least the food and wine were good.
 
5 May 1999 (Paris):  We arrived in Paris on Wednesday at CDG 2.  Foreign carriers use CDG 1, while Air France uses CDG 2.  After waiting to get off the plane, shuttling to the main terminal, and going through customs, we headed to the shuttle bus to catch the RER B to the Saint Michel stop.  The bus took us to the CDG 1.  At the end of our vacation, we took the RER B directly to CDG 2.  It turned out that we didn't have to take any shuttle bus to CDG 1 when we first arrived in Paris!  To get to the RER from CDG 2: exit customs and turn right (do not exit the doors in front of you to go outside) and head down the hallway.  Go through door #9, which also has a sign for the Sheraton Hotel, then down the escalator where you'll see a sign for the RER.  The RER is very easy to take and is a lot less expensive than taking a taxi.  It cost $16.50 for the two of us and took about 35 minutes to get to the St. Michel metro stop.
 
On the way into Paris, the train stopped at Gare du Nord.  A few minutes later, the train started to move backwards towards CDG.  So we got off the next stop to come back again.  Three other people had gotten off the train too.  A security man helped us to get to the right track and told us there was a train strike and Paris had limited trains running.  We had to switch trains at Gare du Nord.  It was a nuisance, but we did see the Sacre Coeur 3 times and we were excited to be back in Paris.  It took us about 10 minutes to walk to our hotel, from the St. Michel metro stop.  We stayed at the Grand Hotel des Balcons in the 6th Arr.   It's in an excellent location around the corner from the Odeon metro stop and the Odeon theatre.  We had to place our luggage in the storage room, as our room was not ready.  We headed to one of our favorite outdoor markets, the Buci market and walked around a little bit.  We returned to our hotel and moved into our room.  It was nice and clean, but very small.   The door to the bathroom would not open all the way because the queen bed was in the way.  We had a window that looked to the back of the building/inner courtyard.  It was quiet.  We were on the 2nd (European 3rd) floor.  We didn't unpack as I decided to see if we could switch rooms.  Caroline, the woman at the desk said we could change rooms the next day, which we did and the room was much better.  It faced the front.  Our rooms (beginning of the trip and the end) were very nice. We had a private bathroom and the hotel supplies washcloths! The rooms facing the street are larger than on the backside. Room #30 on the ground level was a good size room. No hair dryers.
 
We took a walk to Notre-Dame.  We walked around the area, but didn't stay out too long.  I wanted to find a restaurant by 7pm so I could get to bed at a decent hour.  We had dinner from the recommended Cheap Eats in Paris book:  Au Gourmets.  We had a good meal!  We used the book about 6 times throughout our stay in Paris.   We never had a bad meal and the prices were reasonable.  We walked back to our hotel and went to bed shortly thereafter.
 
6 May 1999 (Paris):  On Thursday we headed to the Saint Michel RER stop to purchase our museum pass about $53 for two 3-day passes) and to get our railpass tickets validated.  I paid for our museum pass with my credit card.  In fact, I used my credit card whenever I could: hotels, restaurants, shopping.  I did pick up more FF for my smaller purchases.  I got an exchange rate of 6FF to the dollar, which was pretty good.  We headed to the Cluny museum, which was very interesting.  We were there for about an hour.  They had various exhibits.  It used to be ancient Roman baths.  After, we walked to the Police museum.  I wanted to see it for Tony.  It was at the police station (off rue des Ecoles).  There was a guillotine blade and other interesting artifacts.  Unfortunately everything was written in French, but the photographs and exhibits made it easy to understand.  We walked towards rue Mouffetard to the Roman amphitheater.  Sat there for a short while watching boys playing soccer.  We had an inexpensive lunch at a Creperie.  I had a great one with ham, cheese, mushrooms with a paprika cream sauce. Mom had the ham and cheese. 
 
I wanted to go to the top of the Notre-Dame towers to take some photographs of the views from above and of the gargoyles.  I remember seeing a photograph taken from one of the towers looking towards the left bank and EiffelTower, so we headed to the Seine.  It turned out that the towers were closed for renovations/restoration.  I was really disappointed.  We went to the crypt in front of Notre-Dame, which was interesting.  You could see the ancient foundations.  This was part of the museum pass.
 
We walked around the area and to the flower market.  We went to Sainte Chapelle where the lines were very small (also included in the museum pass).  It was around 5pm and the sun was perfectly in line with the stained glass windows.  They were absolutely beautiful!  Some of my pictures came out well.  Sainte Chapelle is my favorite Cathedral.  We headed back to our hotel for a break before dinner.  We had picked up some postcards, so I wrote a couple.  I got a phone call and thought it was Tony.  It was Glenn, one of Tony's VMI college buddies who was also in France with another college friend Don.  He stated that Don was going home the next day and that would be alone for the rest of his trip, so I asked Glenn to join us for dinner for the next night.  We decided to meet near the Odeon metro at the Danton café.  For dinner, we ate at Au Petit Prince.  The waiter did not give us the Menu, but rather the a la carte.  He did the same for the other diners with the exception of the French diners.  I should have said something, but didn't.  Our meal was very good and we paid about the same as the Menu, but without dessert.
 
7 May 1999 (Paris):  On Friday we walked to the Buci market to buy croissants for breakfast.  It's a lively market filled with beautiful flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables.  There are also shops, which sell meats, cheese, and of course, wine.  We walked to the Museum D'Orsay, which was about a 30-minute casual walk.  The lines were not long at all.  We spent about an hour or so in the museum seeing works by Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Rodin, and many others.  It's one of the best museums in Paris.  I personally think the Louvre is overwhelming compared to D'Orsay.  Mom purchased an art book on Impressionism.
 
We walked back to our hotel to drop off the book and to get some lunch.  We had great salads at the Horses Tavern, around the corner from our hotel.  I had a huge salad with tuna, avocado, hearts of palm, cheese, etc.  We walked over to the Right Bank and headed up along the Seine to the Samaritaine department store.  We went to the top of the building for some great views of Paris.  It was an overcast day, but some of my photos came out fine.  It's a great spot for taking photos of Paris. 
 
We walked towards the Louvre and window shopped along the way.  There are lots of souvenir shops filled with tourists.  I purchased a sweatshirt for myself and a small EiffelTower for a friend, which he requested.  I should have bought one for myself!  I also picked up a magnet for the refrigerator and a shot glass for a co-worker.  There are lots of souvenirs in Paris to purchase.  We walked back to our hotel room and there was a message from Glenn.  We decided to meet at 6:30pm.  We both wrote in our journals of our day's events and I wrote another postcard.  We met Glenn as planned and headed over to the Saint Michel area.  It was fun getting together with someone from the USA.  We had drinks at a café, which Glenn paid.  We had dinner at one of the very touristy places on the Left Bank on rue de la Harpe that we enjoyed back in 1997 called La Petite Hostellerie.  Glenn and I had a veal dish and Mom had a steak.  We all had profiteroles, which were very good.  It was an enjoyable evening.  Glenn left for the US the next day. 
 
8 May 1999 (Day trip to Fontainebleu):  On Saturday, we headed to Fontainebleu.  It was about a 40 minute train ride, then a 5 minute local bus ride to the palace.  It's a beautiful place with NO crowds!  It seemed like we had the place to ourselves.   The weather was lovely with bright blue skies and white clouds.  We toured the palace and its grounds, which were immaculately kept.  We enjoyed lunch in town at Au Delice Imperial.  Mom and I collected their place mats, which was of their restaurant painted in watercolors.   Then we walked back to the train station, about a 45-minute leisurely walk.   As usual, in the late afternoon, we would go to our room, rest up, write in our journals and/or postcards, then head out to dinner.  This night we dined at Le Boomerang, another restaurant we enjoyed back in 1997.
 
9 May 1999 (Paris):  On Sunday we moved to our next hotel, Hotel Leveque in the 7th Arr.  When I originally made my travel plans several months earlier, it was to include going to Provence after Paris, then returning to Paris.  This would have given me the opportunity to enjoy two different areas of Paris.  I revised our plans to skip Provence when Tony thought my plans were to aggressive.  However, I still wanted to stay in two areas of Paris.  Hotel Leveque is on rue Cler. Rue Cler, which is a great pedestrian street with pastry shops, meat shops, fruits and vegetable markets, cheese shop, wine shop, a Chinese take-out place, and a couple of cafés.  It's such a lively place during the day. The hotel was also nice, comfortable, and clean.  We paid $67/night, which is an excellent price for Paris.  Our room had a private bathroom, twin beds, tv, and hair dryer. We were on the inside facing a room across the 'shaft' of the building so it was pretty quiet at night.  I saw one room facing the street and it was also nice. However, I don't know if I'd like to stay in a street side room when everyone on rue Cler starts to set up their shops and the trucks roll in to bring supplies for the day.
 
After settling in, we walked to the EiffelTower, about 10 minutes away.  The lines were long to ride to the top of the tower, so we headed to Montmartte via the metro.  We spent the afternoon having lunch and walking around the Place du Tertre, which was filled with tourists purchasing paintings and getting their portraits done.  Mom and I had a man do silhouettes of us. 
 
For dinner we met friends of mine that were in Paris.  I chose one of the restaurants out of the Cheap Eats book called Le Bistrot de Breteuil.  It was one of the best meals we had in Paris.  We wish we had gone back there again before leaving for home.  We had a great time with everyone (there were 6 of us altogether).  The restaurant was lovely with linens and a nice atmosphere with outdoor dining.  We chose to dine inside because the evening was cool.    The restaurant was probably a 35-minute walk from our hotel, so we took the metro to get there.
 
10 May 1999 (Day trip to Dijon):  We got up very early and took the 7:18am TGV train to Dijon.  It was a cool, rainy day, which did not let up for most of the day.  Dijon didn't seem like a pretty town because of the overcast skies.  We walked around town, toured the Beaux Arts museum and had an inexpensive pizza for lunch.  We shopped in some of the stores and I purchased a beautiful wall tapestry (approx. 48" wide by 32" high).  It cost me about $175.00.  The sales woman also threw in a mini 6-pack of mustards and a postcard.  
 
We took the train back in the afternoon and rested in our room for a while.  I tried to open a bottle of wine that we purchased the night before, but couldn't.  I had Mom knock on neighbor's door and a young German man opened it for us.  Next time, I'll bring a better wine opener.  After sipping on wine and writing in our journals and writing postcards, we headed out for dinner nearby.  There were a few restaurants we were interested in and ended up picking one recommended by Rick Steves, L'Auberge due Champ de Mars.  The place, very small, was filled with Americans only, apparently also picking the place based on Rick's recommendations.  After listening to a few conversations, one older man turned to me and asked, "where are you from?"  I said Maryland.  Then, a woman at the next table over said, "Monica, get a bigger table!"  Wow!!! That was Kathy and her husband Karl who I had corresponded with several times on the Fodors travel forum about getting together on the 16th of May at Café du Magots.  Talk about a small world.  I knew they were in town, but just never imagined that I would run into them at a restaurant in Paris.  Her next statement was to her husband saying, "I told you it was Monica," Kathy had recognized me when they came into the restaurant.  The whole restaurant turned to look at two women happy and excited to see each other as if we were long time friends.  We both decided to return to our tables to finish dinner, where Mom was sitting there in awe of the whole thing.    The four of us chatted outside for several minutes before we went our separate ways.  We were glad to meet them in person, especially since they missed joining us on the 16th.  I wish I had my camera at that time.  We headed to the EiffelTower and took some great shots at dusk before heading back to our hotel.  What a great evening we had!
 
11 May 1999 (Day trip to Reims):  We got up early to catch the 7:16am train to Reims.   We wanted to go early in order to enjoy a Champagne cave and tour the town.  We arrived into Reims, a beautiful town.  It was a cool day, in the low 60s with a light sprinkle of rain in the morning.  We walked to the tourist office from the train station to get our bearings and to find out about the champagne tours.  We opted for Taittanger Champagne cellars.   It was a 10-minute local bus ride and a 4-minute walk to the champagne cellar.  The tour had just started, so we met up with the rest of the group (the tour was about $5 each).  It was quite an interesting tour. The Romans created the caves by excavating the chalk to use for the construction of their buildings and monuments.  What were left were the hollowed out caves.  An Abby was built, which only the foundation remains.  We ended the tour with glass of champagne.  It was delicious.  I would recommend people check the price of champagne before heading to France.  I didn't, so I don't know if they prices were reasonable.
 
We headed back to the center of town for lunch and a visit to the Cathedral.  Across the street was a statue of Joan of Arc.  We got back to Paris, did our usual journal writing, then headed to dinner.  We chatted with the people next to our table who were in Paris on business.  We later had a couple of glasses of wine at an outdoor café. 
 
12 May 1999 (Paris):  We slept in a little since the last two mornings we got up extremely early.  Down the street on a corner was a lovely bread shop, which served omelets for breakfast, which we enjoyed.  We walked to the EiffelTower where the lines were fairly short.  Mom didn't want to go to the top, so I got in line, which took only 15 minutes.  What a view!  I went to the top level.  After taking several photos and enjoying the views, I headed back down.  It takes 2 elevators to get to the top and one can opt to stop at the first or second level. 
 
We walked to the Arch de Triomphe, but didn't go to the top.  We did that the last trip to Paris. There are great views from above.  On the way over, we crossed the bridge near the area where Princess Diana had died.  Nearby was the gold flame monument for Liberty, but was defaced with notes, poems, and letters to Diana.  We both thought it was pretty sick.  We didn't mind flowers lying next to the monument, but the ink marks were not necessary.  We headed down the Champs Elyeess and window-shopped.  We ended up at the two big department stores, Pritemps and Gallery Layfaette.  I bought some perfume and received a few samples.  Down in the gourmet food department we bought some chocolate for gifts.  There were some that had liquor inside.  We did a little more shopping at the stores along side the Louvre before taking the metro to our hotel.  After relaxing in our room drinking our wine, we headed out for dinner.  We enjoyed another great meal, this time at Le Bistrot du 7'eme.  It was located near our hotel and not too far from the Rodin museum.  We took the 'long' way home walking around Les Invalids. 
 
13 May 1999 (Paris/Bayeux):  We got up early so we could catch the 9:08am trip to Bayeux.  It took 2 hours to get there and we enjoyed the views from the train.  Bayeux is a lovely town very near the D-Day beaches. It was one town that was spared of bombings during WWII.  We took a taxi to our hotel, which was inexpensive.  Our hotel D'Argouges, was in the center of town and about a 10 minute walk to the tourist office.  We had a large room, which faced the gardens in the back and the hotel had a small parking lot.  Included in the room were a hair dryer, tv, a large bathroom with tub, but no curtain.  The room had a queen and twin bed.  We walked around town to see the Cathedral, which was beautiful, the Bayeux museum with its famous tapestry, and finally the Normandy D-Day museum.  It was a full day of interesting sightseeing along crepes for lunch near the Cathedral.  After resting in our room, we found a place for dinner in the plaza next to our hotel.  Our meal consisted of a 4-course meal, rather than the normal 3-course meal and was very good.  We chatted with our dining neighbors. 
 
14 May 1999 (Day trip to Mont St. Michel): This was my favorite day in France.  I have always wanted to visit Mont St. Michel since I was very young.  My Mom had done a painting of it so it always stuck in my mind.  Mom and I got up a little later than usual and walked 15 minutes to the Hertz car rental agency to pick up our car.  The morning was cool and cloudy.  We got a Fiat, which I enjoyed driving.  I had purchased a map of Normandy and got directions from the person at Hertz.  Getting to Mont St. Michel was very easy.  The countryside was beautiful as we headed to Mont St. Michel.  It took 1.5 hours to get there.  We stopped along the way to take a couple of pictures.  It rained along the way, but about half-hour out, it stopped and the clouds cleared and the sun came out.  Our first glimpse of Mont St. Michel was in the distance looking so tiny. What a spectacular sight it was when we arrived.  The last few miles to Mont St. Michel took about half an hour because of all the cars, busses, and motorcycles converging onto the causeway.  There were hundreds and hundreds of people converging on Mont St. Michel.  I found a parking space fairly close.  Near by was a parking lot for motorcycles.  There must have been several hundred bikes.  The place had very small streets, which were filled with tourist shops and restaurants.  There was no room to walk with all the people there.  I wish we had made plans to spend the night when tourists left and the place was quiet.  Another time.  We toured the Abby and had sandwiches for lunch.  We watch the tides start to come in while people where walking out in the distance.  On our way out, I asked someone to take our photo, which is my favorite from our trip and sits on my desk.  As we left (and always looking back for one last look), the tour busses, cars, and bikes were still coming, but they had to park on the mainland side because of the oncoming tides, which covers much of the parking lot area.
 
We drove home passing a few towns along the way.  After parking our car behind the hotel, we went back to our room to freshen up.  And of course, we wrote in our journals.  It was certainly a great day seeing Mont St. Michel.  For dinner, we dined at a restaurant near the tourist office and had a great meal.  Restaurant prices in Bayeux were much less than in Paris and the menu's had more of a variety to select from.
 
15 May 1999 (D-Day Beaches):  Our last day in Normandy was spent along the D-Day beaches.  When we walked out our hotel, we noticed across the street in the plaza it was filled with the Saturday's market day.  We walked over to check it out and saw all the wonderful foods and live chicks, ducks, hens, and rabbits.  Dinner!  There was a vendor grilling sausages for sandwiches.  So we had breakfast.  Another vendor made paella for take out. 
 
We drove to Arromanches, 6.5 miles from Bayeux.  It was a very interesting place.  There was a war museum, which we toured and saw a 15 minute film.  We certainly did learn a lot about the area during the war.  Out in the water were remains of a floating port, which I believe, had been made in preparation of D-Day.  There were many American tourists.  Next we drove to Colleville Sur Mer, where the American cemetery is located.  There are over 9,000 crosses located at the edge of cliff at OmahaBeach.  The grounds were immaculate.   The place was very peaceful, yet sad.  Everyone was quite as if in a Church and it really was a moving experience to see all those crosses and names of those who died during the war. 
 
Our next stop was Pointe du Hoc.  There were many craters and several run-down bunkers.  There is a monument at the edge of the cliff in memory to those that lost their lives there.  Our last stop, heading back, was at Longues-sur-Mer where German guns in the bunkers still remain.  Nearby hang gliders were floating in the air above us.  They had some great winds in their favor.  There were lots of tourists at each location, but too crowded.  We drove back to Bayeux to the Hertz car rental office and had the car filled with gas.  We paid $26!  I had tried to fill the car at another gas station, which was less expensive, but didn't realize the car was fixed to accept only a higher-octane gas.  What a scam!  We walked back to town and had a late lunch of onion soup, which was good, but expensive.  For dinner, we returned to the restaurant that we enjoyed the previous night.  We also saw a few people we recognized from our first night.  We walked home very fast because it was a cold evening. 
 
16 May 1999 (Bayeux/Paris):  Mom and I got up to catch the 9:17am to Paris, which arrived at 11:146am.  We went back to Hotel Balcons in the 6th Arr.  Our room was on the main floor, which was nice.  We went back to the Horses Tavern for lunch, then spent the afternoon doing some last minute shopping and walking along the Seine.  We also walked to see the glass pyramids at the Louvre and the gardens nearby.
 
Since we were meeting new friends at 5:30pm at Café du Magots, we headed to our hotel for a short while.  I brought my red silk rose so I could be identified.  Joy and Mark joined our table, followed by Catherine and Peter, and Michele and her Mother Joan.  We all had a great time talking for about 2 hours and having one drink each since the place was very expensive (about $13 for 2 glasses of wine for Mom and me).  I had someone nearby take a group photo (see my link to the Fodorites! page).  After, we all split up and we went to dinner.  We ate at Beaux Arts where we dined in 1997.  The food was pretty good, but we both wished we had returned to Le Bistrot de Breteuil.  The restaurant was packed with people and more at the door waiting to get in.  On the way home, we stopped at a café for one last drink in Paris.  It was cold outside, but the café had heaters overhead, so it was comfortable.  Back at the hotel, I left a message for one couple that I knew would be in town, but missed our get together.  She called from the lobby and we talked on the phone for several minutes.  They had a great day in Paris seeing many of the sights and couldn't get to the café in time.  Mom and I did our final packing, then went to bed.
 
17 May 1999 (Paris/USA):  We got up at 8:20, checked out and walked to the RER at St Michel at 9am.  It took us only 40 minutes to get to the airport on the RER.  It was so convenient to have the RER stop right at CDG2.  I headed to the VAT refund office to claim my tapestry and only had to wait 15 minutes.  I got rid of the remaining French Francs by shopping in the duty free stores.  I picked up a few bottles of wine for Tony, some chocolates and a few other items.  Our flight left a little late, but we got home 20 minutes earlier than scheduled.  We did have a lot of turbulence the first hour of the flight, but the rest of the flight was smooth.  My father-in-law picked us up since Tony was in training.  We really enjoyed our trip and I look forward when I can go back with Tony.
 
Monica

Trip to France October 2000 Journal

 
France October 2000
 
14 October 2000, Saturday.  Here we are at the Philadelphia airport waiting for our flight to Paris.  This is my second trip to Europe this year.  Tony and I enjoyed Germany in June and I had decided over the summer that with the amount of vacation time I get, I'm going to start traveling twice a year to Europe.  Judy, my friend, is traveling with me to Paris.  This is her first trip to Europe and is very excited.  My original plans were to go alone.  I chose Paris because I had been there twice before and felt it to be a very safe city to visit alone.  I know of several other travelers who felt the same about Paris.  When I mentioned to Judy that I was going to Paris, I asked her if she wanted to go with me.  After a few days, she called me up and said yes!  Tony was very happy that I had a travel partner.  My original plans were to have 6 full days in Paris, flying out on a Monday.  However, I checked the flights for a Saturday departure, and we ended up having 2 extra days on our trip.
 
Judy and I are flying stand-by on USAirways.  We should have no problem getting on board and are hoping for the upgrade to the Envoy (business) class.  There are 5 seats available and only the two of us listed, so I don't see any problem! 
 
Well damn, here we are in coach class!  For some reason, those seats disappeared just prior to boarding.  We got called and were told, "no more Envoy seats."  Are we disappointed!  Well, at least we're sitting together and on our way to Paris!  Our flight is direct from Philadelphia to Paris.  I didn't sleep well the night before and am hoping for a good night sleep in Envoy class.  I'll enjoy some wine.  Maybe that will help me to relax and get some sleep. 
 
The food on board was okay.  Nothing special.  The service was good and the flight attendants are pretty nice.  We're on an Air Bus 330, which is a very nice airplane.  Comfortable seats and I don't feel cramped in coach.  Envoy would have been much better! 
 
15 October 2000, Sunday evening.  We are enjoying drinks at Cafe Comti on the corner of Buci and rue Mazarine.  My white wine is expensive!  52FF.  I'll have to remember to ask or the wine cart from now on.  I must be spoiled from the inexpensive German wines I enjoyed in June.  It's almost 8:30pm and I'm tired. 
 
We landed this morning about 7am.  We missed having breakfast.  It was a very nice, smooth flight.  I didn't sleep well at all, even after having some wine.  Judy slept pretty well.  I watched one movie.  The video system is pretty neat.  TVs are on the backs of the chairs and there is a remote control where you can choose between movies, comedy, and music in various languages. 
 
Getting out of the airport was pretty easy.  We went through customs, found an ATM machine to get some French Francs, and hit the bathroom before heading to the RER.  We took the free shuttle bus to the RER station and bought our tickets for Paris.  It took about 40 minutes and the train was pretty empty being a Sunday.  Our tickets were $6.22 each.  It was a very overcast day and it was drizzling when arrived.  We took the RER to the St. Michel stop, and then walked along Blvd. St. Germaine to our hotel near the Odeon metro.  We stayed at Grand Hotel des Balcons in the 6th Arr.  My Mom and I enjoyed Balcons in 1999.  We loved the location.  It's just a few minutes walk to the Odeon metro and it's near the Odeon theater, the Luxembourg gardens and about a 10-minute walk to the Seine.  The Buci market is also nearby and Notre Dame is about a 15-minute walk away.
 
We dropped off our luggage in the storage room since our room was not ready yet.  We didn't have breakfast on the airplane, so we headed out and had coffee, tea, and delicious croissants at Le Danton, just next to the Odeon metro.  We walked to the Buci market, one of my favorite Paris spots.  Not all of the shops were open yet, but many were being set up for the day.  What lovely fruits and vegetables.  And the pastry window displays!  Just as I remembered last year.  We walked over to the Seine, across Pont des Arts to the Louvre. We didn't go in since we wanted to get the 3-day museum pass and start using them the next day.  Today was a day of wandering around and getting Judy familiar in our "home" area. 
 
We headed back to our hotel and still had to wait 45 minutes for our room.  At one point the power went out.  One couple was in the tiny elevator when that happened.  Fortunately that lasted only 5 minutes.  I'd hate to be stuck in that elevator for any amount of time!  Finally we were given our room key.  We got our luggage and squeezed ourselves into the elevator and went to the top floor.  Our room, #601, is a corner room with a full size bed and twin bed, and angled ceiling.  The ends of the beds were close to each other, so it was a tight fit to get around the room.  The room faces the front street and has a tiny balcony.  There was just enough room for two people to stand on.  We had great roof top views including a view of the EiffelTower!  (We didn't notice it until the evening after the rain had stopped and the skies had cleared up somewhat).  What a great surprise!  There was a small closet, tv, and counter top area.  The bathroom had a tub, no curtain of course, and a small window facing the back. 
 
Judy wanted to take a nap, so I set the alarm clock and rested for a while.  I didn't sleep because I was afraid I would not get up and I wanted to get into the Paris time zone as quickly as possible.  Plus, I was in Paris!  I got up and left Judy in the room telling her I'd return in 45 minutes.  I took a walk to the Luxembourg gardens and found a great surprise.  Along the fence of the gardens was an exhibit of photographs by YannArthusBetrand.  They were fabulous arial photographs from around the world.  The photographs must have been 6 feet x 5 feet or larger!  Many people were walking from one photograph to the next.  Just amazing.  There were photographs of glaciers, deserts, farmland, ocean scenes, and villages and many others.  I was impressed.  I headed back to the hotel to wake Judy who was still sound asleep.  It took a few minutes to get her up.  I hope she wasn't mad a me, but I didn't want her to sleep any longer otherwise she would have trouble adjusting to the time change.  I wanted her to see the photographs, so we headed to the gardens.  We also walked through the gardens.   There were many people out with their children and dogs on this Sunday afternoon.  It started to sprinkle a little and was glad to have my umbrella with me.  We took a walk to the Seine and to Notre Dame.  Along the way we heard some musicians playing near the Sorbonne.  Mass was in session when we entered Notre Dame.  We stayed just for a few minutes deciding to return when the sun was out.  We walked around the area, including the touristy Greek street, rue de la Huchette.  We walked back to our hotel via Saint Andres des Arts and rue Mazarine.
 
12:01 am:  We're back in our room getting ready for bed.  We had gone out for dinner at Pizza Pepone.  I was there last year with my mom.  We sat upstairs and it was crowded.  We had a late dinner, which we enjoyed.  I really enjoyed dessert: profiteroles!  Tomorrow we'll buy our 3-day museum pass and visit a couple of museums.  We'll probably split up because I've been to the Louvre and D'Orsay twice.  I have a list of museums to see.  Bon nuit! 
 
16 October 2000 Monday.  I woke up at 8:30am and showered.  Judy slept and we didn't get leave the hotel until 10:30!  It rained all day long.  We headed to the St. Michel RER stop to purchase our museum pass.  They were sold out.  We walked to the Seine and stopped at the St Michel Cafe for breakfast. We stood at the bar enjoying our croissants while watching people walk along the Seine.  We headed over to the Marias area to visit the Picasso museum, where we also purchased our museum pass.  In this area I wanted to visit two other museums (museum of French History and museum of Paris), but I could not locate one of them, and the other was closed on Mondays.  I enjoyed the Picasso museum, but not all of his work.  He was a crazy man. When he was in his "I hate women" moods he really showed it in his paintings. 
 
We had lunch at a nearby cafe.  I had a croquette - a toasted sandwich of ham, cheese, tomato, along with a salad and red wine.  After lunch we walked to the Georges Pompidou center.  It's just as ugly as I remembered.  Some things just don't belong in Paris.  We walked along some of the side streets, which were lovely and quaint. There were lots of small cafes and restaurants.  We ended up at the Louvre again.  I wanted to walk to the Arc de Triomphe but my feet were starting to hurt.  So we headed to the Samaratine department store where I could buy a hair dryer.  Mine didn't work in the hotel.  At least I can use this for all my future European trips.  When purchasing items in a Paris department store, you pick out what you want and the sales person writes up a ticket.  You then head to the cash register area and pay for your goods.  Then you go back and pick up your purchases.  There was an older gentleman who noticed my Bank of America ATM card.  My photograph is on it for protection.  He complimented me on my photo and we chatted for a few minutes.  He's from Naples, like my Mother in law.  He was a very nice man.  Earlier in the day we stopped in another department store to buy a scarf, as it was a cold day.  Outside this store (BHV) where there are several stands with people selling a variety of items, one young man was cooking various foods in pots and pans.  He called us over and wanted to have his picture taken with us.  We squeezed into the booth with him and his friend took our photo.  He gave me 20FF and his address to send him a copy. 
 
I had Judy take us home with her map so she could get used to the area alone.  On the way back to our hotel we stopped in a wine shop and purchased a couple bottles of wine for the room.  I picked up an inexpensive 1996 red wine.  It was pretty good.  We headed out to dinner around 8:30pm and stopped at a few shops along the way.  We had dinner at Aux Gourmets des Arts, another restaurant I enjoyed last year.  We had a good meal and the owner was very nice.  It's now just after midnight and I'm very tired.  While writing in my journal on my bed, I am enjoying the view of the EiffelTower all lit up.  And for about 10 minutes on the hour, it lights up with flashing lights.  How neat to have this view!  It certainly makes up for the small room. 
 
17 October 2000 Tuesday.    What a great day!  I woke up at 8:00am.  It wasn't quite light out yet, but I could tell it was going to be a beautiful clear sky day.  It was lovely: Lots of sunshine and cool temps (mid 50s).  We packed our bags so the hotel staff could move them to our next room.  Since my original plans were for 6 nights, then I changed them to 8 nights, the hotel could not give us a room for all 8 nights.  So we had to split it up.  We headed out for the day at 9am and had our usual breakfast at Le Danton.  Judy said their cappuccino is the best in Paris.  We stood at the bar, as it is less expensive than sitting at a table.  Plus sitting at a table takes longer to get through a meal. 
 
We walked over to Notre Dame.  It was a perfect day for picture taking from the top of the towers.  We climbed up the top via many, many stairs.  We certainly got a good morning workout.  We had fabulous views from above.  I loved being so close to the gargoyles.  They've always fascinated me ever since I first saw some in Barcelona.  I think I used a whole roll of film at Notre Dame. 
 
We headed back down the stairs and then walked over to Place Maubert to visit the roving market and to catch the metro to the EiffelTower.  The market was in full swing.  I bought my packets of Herbs de Provence and some French soaps.  After enjoying the various sights and wonder smells of the market (great cheese shops), we went to the metro.  We got off at the BirHakeim metro stop and walked to the EiffelTower.  The lines were very long, at least a 2 hour wait to take the elevator to the top.  We decided to take the stairs to the second level.  More exercise!  More great views of the city!  We had sandwiches for lunch and sat outside enjoying the views.  It was cold, so we moved our seats into the sun, which helped.  I had a beer with my sandwich.  It was cheaper than buying a soda. 
 
We walked to the nearby RER station to get to the 16th Arr. to visit the Museum Marmottan Monet.  There were several RER "attendants" who directed people to the right train.  I thought that was good service that the RER had attendant to assist people.  I knew in general where we had to get off, but wasn't sure which RER to take. We were told to take the next short train.  What ever that meant.   Well, one went by, which we didn't take.  It didn't have the right name on it.  A second one went by as well.  Then a third one sped past us.  Yes, it was a short train with the correct name on it.  We were standing in wrong area (for a short train) and had to run fast or else miss it.  Two other people ran with us.  We were never told where to stand.  The 16th Arr. is a lovely residential area.  I'm sure not many tourists visit this area except to see this particular museum.  After a round about way, we got to the museum.  I really enjoyed this museum.  There were many of Monet's paintings that I had not seen before.  My favorite was Nympheas.  I purchased a few postcards of the exhibit.
 
We took the metro back to our hotel and unpacked our bags.  Our room, #305 had twin beds and was more roomy than the other room.  But no EiffelTower view.  The balcony was bigger.  We wrote in our journals, wrote a few postcards, freshened up, then headed out to dinner.  We were to meet Denny and Vennette, friends of mine.  Mom and I had dinner with them last year.  We took the metro to SeveresBabylone and walked 1 block down rue de Sevres to rue Dupin.  We all had a great meal at restaurant L'EpiDupin.  The restaurant was filled with Parisians.  The restaurant is small, but comfortable.  We had very good service and even the waiter was kind to split our bill.  Denny and Vennette bought our wine, which was very good.  It's definitely a restaurant I'll return to. 
 
We decided to walk home since I figured it would be a 15-20 minute leisurely walk and we wanted to walk off dinner.  It was a very nice evening.  Back near our hotel we stopped in Le Danton for drinks.  The tables were very close to each other and the place was packed with people talking, drinking, and smoking.   We chatted with two men at the table next to us.  They bought our drinks too.  One was from Holland and the other from Tunisia. Both spoke several languages.  The man from Tunisia is a taxi driver.  He offered to drive us to our hotel, but we politely declined telling him our hotel was only 2 blocks away.  The other man works in pharmaceuticals. 
 
18 October 2000 Wednesday.  We're in a bar across the street from the train station in Chantilly.  It's very cold today, probably in the low to mid 40s and rainy.  We got up at 7am so we could get to Gare du Nord to catch the train to Chantilly at 9:35am.  It was only a 25-minute train ride.   Upon arrival, we had to figure out how to get to the Chateau.  I didn't have any town map with me.  Across the street next to this bar is a Tobac.  We asked this young, absolutely handsome man for directions.  We ended up walking about 20 minutes after waiting almost 1-1/2 hours for the local bus!  We were so mad.  Five busses had gone by and all of them said they didn't go to the Chateau.  It was very uncomfortable waiting outside in the cold weather for the bus.  I had left my scarf and gloves back at the room.  Chantilly is a lovely town, so we enjoyed our walk to the Chateau.  The Chateau is quite lovely.  It reminded me of some of the Chateaux in the LoireValley.  Inside, there were many beautiful artifacts, paintings, and a fabulous library holding approximately 13,000 old books.  We visited many rooms, which had many paintings on the walls.  After purchasing our tour book, we took the local bus ($0) back to the train station.  We had to wait just over 2 hours for our train to return to Paris.  We were definitely not happy about the train schedule and the bus situation.  So, we're here in the bar, writing in our journals and drinking coffee to keep warm. 
 
Back in Paris, we shopped a little and ended up on rue de Seine to buy drinks at the local grocery store for our room.  After freshening up in our room, we headed out to dinner.  I wanted to go to Chez Maitre Paul around the corner of our hotel, but we didn't have reservations.  So I made them for the next night.  We walked in the area and ended up at Cremerie Restaurant Polidor on rue Monsieur Le Prince.  It's been around for 150 years.  The place was packed with people, elbow to elbow, mostly locals and a few tourists.  Our waitress was very busy as she took care of the many tables. Judy thought the waitress was very rude because she didn't bring us any water or bread.  It turned out that we were supposed to share the water pitcher and bread that was already on the table with the other customers.    At the end when I asked for the check, she just tossed it on the table.  Judy said she wouldn't recommend this place, but I would.  I had read about this place and knew up front that the waiters can be very brusque and the atmosphere hectic.  We walked around for a bit before heading to our room. 
 
19 October 2000 Thursday.  I had a great morning.  I wanted to explore the rue Mouffetard area, so I got up and went out alone.  Judy slept in.  We decided to meet back at the hotel at 11:30am.  I walked along rue Ecoles, then to rue Mouffetard.  The first part of the walk was pretty quiet.  Not many places were open yet.  I picked up a mini quiche lorraine for breakfast and ate it as I walked along.  One man said "bon appetit" to me.  How French!  He was sweet and made my day.  I also stopped in a local grocery store and purchased a bottle of water.  Further down the street, rue Mouffetard woke up.  The markets!  The food!  This is such a great area.  I also notice a lot of restaurants and cafes.  I'm sure this place is lively in the evenings.  I can see why Rick Steves recommends this area of Paris to visit.  I enjoyed seeing the different foods, including pheasants hanging in a poultry shop.  I took several photographs of the area.  I also purchased 2 glass containers of foiegras (whole) for Tony and my Dad.  Still a little hungry, I picked up a pork spring roll at one of the Chinese cafes.  Towards the end of rue Mouffetard, some event was going on.  There were several booths with people selling bottles of wine, foiegras, bottles of honey, and other fancy foods.  Music was playing nearby.  It was some event, but I couldn't tell what it was for. 
 
I wanted to hang around the area, but needed to get back to the hotel.  I walked back via the Pantheon.  I really enjoyed my time alone.  I've been to Paris before and enjoyed this morning's walk without having to have my map with me.  It's a great feeling to know that I can be comfortable in a foreign city and get around as if it were my home.  I met Judy in the lobby and we headed out for the day.  We stopped at Le Danton so Judy could have her cappuccino.  I wanted her to see the Memorial de la Deportation, but it was closed when we got there.   It turned out to be a nice day weatherwise.  We took our umbrellas with us because we heard on the news it would rain all day.  It didn't rain at all until about 9:30pm. 
 
We walked around the Ile St-Louis, one area that I had never really visited before.  My Mom and I would just walk across the bridge closest to that area, but never wandered on the Ile.  It is a pretty area.  I'd be interested in finding a hotel there for a future trip, but it doesn't seem easy to get to from the RER.  Across on the right bank, we took the metro to Bvd. Haussmann.  We split up to do some shopping and met 1-1/2 hours later.  I went to the gourmet section of Galleria Lafayette (basement of the Homes building).  It looked just as wonderful as my last visit there.  I purchased some cans of pates and chocolates for gifts.  I went outside and walked around the area.  There are lots of little shops and cafes, bars and creperies.  I found one shop that sold scarves.  I bought a lovely one in purple.  I met Judy back at the department store and we headed towards Le Madeline.  We stopped for lunch at Cafe de L'Olympia on the corner of due Caumaratin and Blvd. Haussmann.  We sat outside having our lunch and enjoying people walking by.  Next to us was a couple from Holland.  They had just arrived for a short visit to Paris.  We chatted with them while having our lunch.  I had a delicious salad with salmon and shrimp.  After lunch, I took Judy to see Fauchons and the other wonderful gourmet store.  We walked to Place de la Concorde on rue Royale.  It was definitely Royale' with expensive shops (Cartier), restaurants and hotels.  At Concorde, there is a hughferris wheel in the center.  It's not a pretty sight, especially being so to the Louvre and other buildings.  We headed over to the left bank and took the metro to our hotel.
 
At 6pm, I had plans to meet Joy, a fellow Fodorite in Paris, for drinks.  I was hoping a few others would show up, but they didn't.  Joy and I had met last year at my first Fodorite get together in Paris.  We enjoyed talking and having wine at the Horses Tavern near my hotel.  Judy stayed in the room and got caught up on her writing.  After I left Joy, I met Judy back at the hotel and we headed out to dinner at Chez Maitre Paul.  It's a very nice, upscale restaurant, but not too expensive.  No one smoked in the restaurant.  We were quite surprised.  We had a delicious meal and great service. 
 
We took a walk after dropping off our purses in the room.  We walked to the Seine and back via the Notre Dame area.  We stopped at a souvenir shop and I bought a few items: my Paris sweatshirt and 2 mini Eiffel towers.  It rained a little as we walked home. 
 
20 October 2000 Friday.  It's 8:47am and we're on the train to Provins.  It's a very cloudy, cold day, and we hope it warms up.  I didn't bring my scarf nor did I wear my other sweater.  We had to get up at 5:30am to catch the 7:43am train from GareL'Est.  We had no other choice in train times, unless we wanted to get Provins late in the day. 
 
1:03pm.  We are sitting outside in a plaza.  The sun is out and it feels very nice.  There are children playing in the plaza (Place du Chatel).  We had a slight scare this morning on the train.  Our train arrived in Longueville and after a few minutes stop at the station, the train proceeded to head back towards Paris!  We panicked!  What should we do?  Get off at the next train station and hope there is another train to Provins or head back to Paris?  I asked a woman in the same car, who I saw get on in Paris, if we should get off the next stop.  She said no, we were okay, "direct train to Provins."  Well, the train was going in the right direction, just on a different track to Provins.  Thank goodness. 
 
When we arrived, we walked around the town, window shopped, then headed to the medieval part of the town.  This is a lovely town with stone and wood buildings.  Moss grows on top of roofs.  I've hardly seen any other tourists.  There was a large group of German and French children at the tower we visited.  The tower was very interesting with its narrow, steep stairs.  We had lunch at a creperie (delicious Spanish style crepe with chorizo, tomato, cheese, and tomato sauce).  Since the rest of the museums do not open until 2pm (we purchased their monument  pass) we're sitting at Place due Chatel.  We did take a walk to the ramparts and walked along the top.  We had great views from above.  The sun is out and is nice and warm. 
 
5:58pm.  We are on the train heading back to Paris.  We enjoyed the various sights in Provins.  After our rest' in the Place due Chatel, we headed to the 3 museums/sights.  The first one was a museum depicting the Fairs of Champagne, which showed how merchants (Italian merchant, Provins cloth merchant, the money-changer, the Flemish merchant, the letter-writer, and the wool, potter, and stone cutter merchants) sold their goods.   It's a very small museum, which we visited in only 10 minutes.  Next we visited the main Provins museum, which had interesting Provins artifacts.  One in particular, from what I could tell, was a wooden baby incubator!  A toy doll was inside on the front end, and there was straw on the other end.  The note, in French, said something about abandoned babies.  I believe it was from the 1800s.  Next we visited the underground tunnels.  A guide, who spoke no English, told us about the tunnels, as well as the markings on the wall.  With my limited French and some sign language, I was able to translate what the guide said to Judy.  I couldn't get all of it, but enough to understand.   No one really knows how long the tunnels have been around or their purpose.  There are about 150 rooms within the tunnels.  We met another tour guide who did speak some English.  Pretty much what she said I understood.  We walked around town, stopped at a pastry shop, then went into a bar for drinks while waiting for our train.  Our train, only choice to get back to Paris at a decent hour, was at 5:55pm.
 
For dinner, since we arrived back in Paris in the evening, we headed straight to the Marais area.  We didn't have time to go to our hotel to freshen up like I usually like to do.  We walked around a little, and then found a restaurant, which we enjoyed.  There was a large group of German tourists that took up most of the tables.  They left about 30 minutes after we arrived and the place quieted down.  The restaurant is quite colorful and there was a piano player who entertained everyone, including a couple of waiters who sang some songs.  I had their delicious escargot for an appetizer and a steak with béarnaise sauce for my entree.  We walked home to our hotel.  It was a long day but very nice.
 
21 October 2000 Saturday.  I decided to stay in Paris instead of going to Rouen.  I was tired from the day before.  We had our usual breakfast at Le Danton.  I had wanted to try a different cafe each morning, but Le Danton was very good and close to our hotel and I like the fact that the waiters recognized us as if we were their local customers.  We headed to Ile St- Louis so Judy could purchase her Venetian mask that she had seen the other day.  We had also stopped back at Notre Dame since the sun was out and so Judy could see the beautiful stained glass windows.  After our shopping on Ile St-Louis, we walked to the market at Maubert where I picked up a couple cans of pate and 2 scarfs'. 
 
We headed back to our room to drop off our purchases, and then took the metro to Sacre Coeur.  We walked along the main boulevard where the tacky Tati shops are located.  Those stores were filled with junk but many people were buying like crazy.  We walked up to the Sacre Coeur after picking up sandwiches for lunch.  Many people were out for the day.  We visited inside the church and then walked around the Place Tetre.  It was very crowded, a lot more crowded than when I was there last year.  We saw some very nice paintings, but out of my price range.  I suppose I could have bargained.  We walked to the Mouin Rouge, which is no longer a nice area.  There are many live peep shows.  One guy at one place was trying to get us to come in.  I said firmly, "No!" with my French accent.  He responded, "Lesbian show!!!"  We both laughed as we quickly walked on.  We took the metro back to our hotel. 
 
For dinner I had made reservations at Le Bistrot de Breteuil, where Mom and I met Denny and Vennette last year.  This time I made reservations and we met Miriam and Oliver from Frankfurt.  Tony and I had met them this past June in Germany while in Assmannshausen on the Rhine.  Miriam and Oliver were supposed to arrive in Paris that day, but I had not heard from them.  Finally around 7:15pm, Miriam called from her cell phone saying they were lost in Paris in their car.  I told her I would leave the restaurant information with the hotel receptionist.  I then asked the receptionist, Nice, to call the restaurant and change our reservations to 8:30pm.  Miriam called again while we were in the lobby and I gave her the restaurant's phone number and she got directions from them. We took the metro and met them just after 8pm.  We had a great evening with them and a great dinner too.  The restaurant was just as nice as last year.  The decor had been changed to a more romantic atmosphere with soft yellow colors.  I complimented the owner before we left telling him I had dined at his restaurant last year.  He appreciated it.  We dined until about 11pm before Judy and I walked home.  It was only a 20-minute walk and not that far from L'EpiDupin.  It's one of my favorite restaurants in Paris. 
 
22 October 2000 Sunday.  Our last day in Paris was a very nice day.  We separated in the morning.  After breakfast, we walked to the Seine where we split up. Judy headed to the Louvre while I took the metro to the Pere Lachaise cemetery.   I had purchased a roll of black and white film and wanted to try it out at the cemetery.  (A few came out okay).  It was a beautiful sunny day and warmer than the other days.  I met a young man with his 6-month-old kitten, who was out for the first time exploring the area.  The kitten climbed up a tree and had a hard time getting down.  He finally came down after climbing to the end of a very small branch and falling to his feet after hitting a couple of branches along the way down.  Eight lives left!  I took the metro to the Sentier stop to visit the outdoor market area, which is near Les Halles.  It's a great area with the same typical food shops. 
 
After, I headed to the Samarataine department store to shop for a short while, then headed to the front of the Louvre to meet Judy at 2:30pm.  She had gotten lost getting from the Louvre to Bvd. Haussamann.  She had purchaed a jacket the other day and didn't get her tax refund slip.  But no luck, she couldn't find the store.  We walked down the Champs Elysees and had sandwiches along the way.  We shopped at Sephoras, then walked to the Arc de Triomphe.  I had a woman take our picture.  As it was getting late, we skipped going to the top of the Arc and headed towards the Seine to take a boat cruise.  We passed by the French memorial that is now "considered" the memorial for Princess Diana.  I think it is disgusting that people have ruined this French memorial instead of building one for specifically for her.  We enjoyed the 1 hour 15 minute boat ride on the Seine.  It was a lovely afternoon and comfortable being outside on the boat. 
 
After our ride, we took the metro at Alma to get to the restaurant where I had made reservations for our last night in Paris.  It was at NosAncetres Les Gaulois on Ile St-Louis.  We had 7pm reservations (didn't want the 10:30pm seating).  This restaurant is listed in the Cheap Eats in Paris book, which I have used many times now.  This restaurant is a fun place to dine.  A beautiful basket of vegetables is placed on your table, where you proceed to make your own salad.  In addition to the vegetables in the basket (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, radishes, carrots, purple cabbage) there is a vegetable and a cold meat board.  There is a variety of meats to include dried sausages and homemade pates.  Next to this table is a wooden wine cask, where you pour your own wine - all you can drink!  Bread is served at the table.  For the entree, there are several selections, including beef kabobs and steaks.  A cheese platter with about 6 differnent varieties is served prior to dessert.  Their creme caramel is delicious.  The waiters were very friendly and so cute!  We had our pictures taken with two of the guys. Oh la la!  Throughout the evening, there are singers who go from room to room singing and playing their guitar.  It was a very intertaining and fun evening.  Along the way home, we stopped for some last minute shopping at the souviner shops near the Greek quarter on rue de la Huchette.
 
Back in our area near the Odeon metro, we had one last round of drinks (not that we needed them after our 2-3 carafs of wine at Les Gaulois) to say goodbye to Paris.  We had drinks at Le Relais Odeon, across the street from Le Danton.  Finally, a new cafe to add to my list.  We walked to our hotel, where I tried to call Tony to make sure we were listed for our flight home.  I couldn't get through with my calling card number.  This is the second time that there has been a problem calling home.  I ended up calling direct and left a very short message on the recorder.  I paid close to $6 for this 20-30 second message!  I organized a few things, and then went to bed. 
 
23 October 2000 Monday.  We are on our way home.  We have been in the air for about 6 hours now and have 2.5 hours to go.  We got up at 7:30am and left just after 9am, ½ hour later than I wanted to leave.  Our suitcases and carry-on bags were very heavy to carry.  I had my cans of pate and jars of foiegras, a small ceramic terrine (now I can make my terrines properly) and all the chocolate bars I bought).  We walked to the St. Michel RER stopping every so often to change hands.  The RER was pretty filled with people when we got on.  However, at the next stop, many more got on board.  One man who thought it was funny to squeeze in more people than what the capacity should have been was pushing me.  I pushed him back telling him he was making me fall over and pushed my suitcase over and onto my foot.  He rudely replied, "What, do you expect me to take a taxi?"  I should have responded that he takes the next damn train.  Almost everyone on board was taking the train to the exposition center for some hugh food event.  Unfortunately, it was one stop before ours and it was terribly hot inside.  No air was moving and the windows were steaming up.  Judy almost passed out because she still had her jacket and scarf on.  I was fortunate that I took my jacket off just before that large group came on board.  When we finally got off the train, we stood there for several minutes to cool off while Judy had a cigarette.  We headed to the shuttle bus and were lucky to get on board last, so were the first off.  Had we flown on Air France (CDG2), we could have taken the RER all the way to the terminal without taking any shuttle bus.  But we were on USAirways and had to go to terminal 1. 
 
It took a while to check in, which we listed ourselves for Envoy class, and then I had to go to the tax refund desk.  That took almost an hour, which I was very uncomfortable.  I was afraid that I would never get through the tax place in time for my flight.  We still had to go upstairs and check in again to see if we got Envoy class.  There must have been 15-20 other stand-by passengers, which several were also listed for Envoy class.  None of us got the upgrades, but all made it on board.  I wanted to do my last, last minute shopping at the duty free store, but was unable to do so.  We just left the hotel later than we should have.  I think we need at least 4 to 4.5 hours to get from the hotel to the RER to the shuttle bus, checking in, going through tax refund line (give yourself an hour!), and getting to the gate.  There was no time to spare this time. 
 
24 October 2000 Tuesday.  I'm home now.  It always feels good to be home, but I'm always ready for my next trip!  We had a good flight home, although it took almost 8.5 hours because of head winds.  Tony picked us up and we told him all about our trip. 
 
Overall, I had a great time.  I wish the weather had been better, but hey, it was October.  I enjoyed being back in Paris.  It's such a beautiful city.  We met a lot of friendly people, and yes, they were French!  Don't believe what people tell you that the French are rude.  They can be, but if you make an effort to learn the language, they'll appreciate it and warm up to you.
 
Traveling with Judy was a lot of fun.  It was wonderful to see Paris again through her eyes.  Spending time together, and then apart allowed us both to see things at our own pace and level of interest.  It allowed her the time to experience a little of Paris on her own, and me the time to wander and explore a bit.  I truly enjoyed the couple of mornings I had to myself exploring rue Mouffetard (I love those outdoor markets!) and Pere Lachaise cemetery.  When traveling with someone who has never been to that place, it is important for both people to understand that each person's level of interest will be different, and time spent alone is a perfect solution.   Plus, I like the anticipation of meeting later for dinner to share each other's experiences of the day.  We had a few late dinners, but my ideal time to dine is around 7:30pm.  I like having enough time to relax and enjoy my dinner meal, take a walk around the area after dinner before heading back to my room or having time for a glass of wine at a cafe.  I also like having time to write in my journal before turning in and getting a good nights rest for the next day of sightseeing, especially if it means getting up very early to catch a train someplace. 
 
Next year Tony and I plan to travel to Greece in May.  For my second trip in 2001, I'm thinking of Rome and the Amalfi coast for 8-9 days in November.  Alone?  I'm not sure yet.  I do enjoy having a travel partner!  I might take a friend with me as long as we both know there are times to be together and times to be apart from each other. 
 
Au revoir!
 
Monica

Germany 2000 Journal

 
GERMANYJUNE 2000
 
We're back from Germany and Tony and I really enjoyed our trip. Thanks to everyone who provided us with their travel suggestions! We were pleased with all the hotels we stayed in and the places we visited.  We had warm weather with mostly sunny days.  There were some rainy days or light afternoon showers and we did have a huge thunderstorm on the Rhine where the storm must have been right above us!   In Hohenfurch one early evening there was hail. The exchange rate we received was about 2.02DM to the dollar.
 
6/3/00 (Saturday):  Our trip started at Dulles International airport where we took the 4pm flight on Lufthansa to Frankfurt, Germany.  There were no delays, the flight was smooth and comfortable (enjoyed the Air Bus 340), the food was decent and the flight attendants were friendly. I read mixed reviews of Lufthansa at Fodors.com.  My comments about Lufthansa are positive.  I would definitely fly with them again.
 
6/4/00 (Rhine area):  Flying over Germany, our plane flew right over the Moselle and Rhine river.  I could make out Koblenz at the confluence of both rivers.  Our flight got in one hour early, about 5:15am.  We were tired, but excited to be in Germany.  Getting our luggage and going through customs took no time at all.   We headed to the Avis rental office where we booked a car through Auto Europe.  We requested a mid-size car ($228.00) and our only choice was a station wagon.  I didn't want to have our luggage exposed while we were sightseeing in Heidelberg and driving down the Romantic Road, so we opted for the next car up, a Mercedes E200 (an additional $13.08 per day plus $35.00 for a second driver).  Getting out of the airport was fairly easy and I had my map with us and gave Tony directions while he drove.  We missed the connecting road to get to Assmannshausen on the Rhine near Weisbaden, and it took an extra 30 minutes or so to get back on track. It took a couple of days to get used to the German road signs and my road map.  After that, we had no problem.  Driving around Germany was a breeze.  The drive to Assmannshausen was very nice as we drove along the RhineRiver.  We noticed that the water moves upstream (north) and was moving quite fast.  We could see the boats coming from the north struggle to move south.
 
Since it was still very early to get into our room, we had breakfast at the hotel.  We enjoyed a nice spread of food (see hotel and food description under Hotel Café Post on my hotel page, as well for all other breakfasts we had at the other hotels).  By 9am, there was still no room available for us, so we drove to Rudesheim, about 3 miles away.  We parked, walked around a bit, and headed to the cable car area to take a ride up to the Neiderwald war monument.  The cable cars rise about 25 feet above the Rudesheim vineyards.  The morning weather was perfect for this ride up to the top.  The ride was quiet and peaceful.  At the top, we walked to the war monument.  It is very impressive. The view from above is lovely.  We could see the RhineRiver, Rudesheim, and Bingen across the river.  All the hills in the area are covered with vineyards.
 
Tiredness was starting to sink in with us, so we headed back down and drove back to Assmannshausen.  We parked our car behind the hotel (room for only 3 small cars).  Our room was ready and Frau Hotger escorted us to our room.  We unpacked and took a short nap.  We got up around 2pm and headed out to town (it's a very small town) to enjoy the afternoon and the Assmannshausen Red Wine Festival.  It had been going on for 3 days and we were lucky to join in on the last day.  The festival was held in a small area near the train tracks.  There were about 6 tents where the locals were selling wine, beer, and food. Tables were set up to enjoy the drinks, food, and music.  It was a warm afternoon, so I was glad for the umbrellas.  The red wine is wonderful! Not too dry, yet smooth.  I notice throughout my "wine tasting" that the Germans don't use a lot of oak in their wine making and are not heavy in sulfites.  I enjoyed all the variety of wines I tried, especially their dry Reisling.  We each had a glass of red wine, 2 varieties from the Karl Schon Weingut of Assmannshausen.
 
We walked around the town and window-shopped.  We also took a walk along the RhineRiver enjoying the views.  In the late afternoon, we had drinks at the hotel next door to ours.  People were sitting drinking beer and enjoying ice cream.  That seem to be the norm throughout Germany: dessert around 4pm along with their favorite beer!   We had plans to meet Miriam and her husband Oliver (from Frankfurt) for dinner at our hotel at 6pm, for the first of three fodorites get together I planned. All of us had a wonderful time talking about many subjects, enjoying our drinks, and having a great dinner.  They had made reservations to stay the night at Café Post because of the long drive home and work the next day.  That was sweet of them!  That evening, there were fireworks to end the festivities of the festival; and to end our first day in Germany.  We headed back to our room, I believe around 11pm, and went to bed.
 
6/5/00 (Trier):  We woke up to an overcast morning.  I had plans to drive along the Rhine as a day trip, but decided to switch days, so we headed to Trier.  After breakfast, which was very good and filling, we headed to Rudesheim to take the ferry over to Bingen.  It costs 6DM for a one-way trip.  Ferries cross over all day long about every 20-30 minutes.  It took about an hour, but we got to the MoselleRiver and stopped in Bernkastel-Kues.  The sun had come out, so we enjoyed our walk around this lovely town.  Many of the buildings in the old town area were constructed in the old timber style.  We continued our drive along the MoselleRiver and enjoyed the views.  We arrived in Trier and toured the Roman ruins, such as the amphitheater, the main gate (Porta Negra), and the Roman baths.  In the town center, there was a small market with fruits, vegetables, and herbs.  There were also a couple of cheese stands with a nice selection to choose from.  We had a lot of rain in the afternoon as we headed back to Assmannshausen.  I was glad the rain held up most of the day.  We took the ferry over to Rudesheim from Bingen.  The rain had stopped at that time, thank goodness.  I don't think I would have liked a choppy ride.  Being a Monday, the restaurant we chose was quite empty.  The owner stated that the town is usually busy on the weekends.
 
6/6/00 (Rhine River Drive):  On Tuesday, we drove along the RhineRiver.  We crossed over to Koblenz and back down again to Bingen.  The day started out cloudy, so I was disappointed.  We stopped in a few towns:  Koblenz, St. Goar, Bacharach. Koblenz is large with a nice town center and pedestrian area.  St. Goar is lovely, but our favorite was Bacharach.  Lovely town with old buildings.  We enjoyed pizza for lunch and shopped a little.  Herr Hotger recommended this town.  Good choice.  It would be one town I would like to spend a night in.  The drive along the Rhine was very nice.  There were so many acres and acres of vineyards.  We just could not imagine how it all could be harvested!  The countryside is beautiful.  We saw many castles, but did not stop in any of them. 
 
We returned to Rudesheim via ferry, freshened up, and headed out again to Johannisburg where the famous Riesling wine is produced.  We parked butwe were too late for their last tour.  We walked around the area and enjoyed the views from above. The place has a restaurant, but we noticed it to be a little pricey.  We drove north for a short while to see the area, then headed to Rudesheim.  The place was pretty crowded with tourists enjoying the famous Drosselgasse Street.  We had drinks at a place away from Drosselgasse.  The food looked pretty good, but we picked another place for dinner.  It was called Wienerwald. The food was pretty good and inexpensive.  We later found out that this was a chain restaurant.  There is one in Heidelberg.
 
6/7/00 (Heidelberg, Rothenburg):  Today we headed to Rothenburg via Heidelberg.  It took about an hour to get to Heidelberg and another half hour to find a parking place.  We ended up on the other side of the river in a parking garage. We had a great time in Heidelberg visiting the old town section and the castle on the hill.  Although there is not much left to the castle, we enjoyed walking through it and the park with its great town views.  Heidelberg is a beautiful city.  I would love to spend the night there someday.  The town platz had several fruit and vegetable market stands, as well as a couple of cheese stands.  I visited the cathedral, which was beautiful. After lunch of Turkish kabobs and a gyro at Pasha Grillhaus (just off the platz), we headed to the philosopher's walk to take the well-known photo of Heidelberg.  I was pleased with my photograph but should have walked a little further for a shot directly across the river. 
 
In the afternoon, we headed to Rothenburg, a 2-hour drive. It was easy to get to our hotel: enter from the south gate and the hotel (Hotel Gerberhaus) is about 500 on the right.  We parked on the backside.  Rothenburg was one of my favorite places in Germany and I was glad we spent two nights in town. Our room was charming and comfortable. 
 
We walked around town and found a place for dinner.  We had the place to ourselves and a few other guests until a bus tour of Japanese came in.  Yes, we were in touristy Rothenburg, one of the most visited towns in Germany! 
 
After dinner, we headed to the center in front of the town hall and main platz to take the 8pm Night Watchman's tour.  The walking tour lasted one hour and was very interesting.  We walked to various parts of the town while the night watchman told us wonderful stories.  After the tour, we headed to a place called Eisenhut to meet Bari and her sister and mother for drinks.  This was the second fodorites get together in Germany. We all had a very nice time having a round of drinks and talking about our trips.  We headed back to our hotel for the rest of the evening.
 
6/8/00 (Rothenburg):  We had a nice day in Rothenburg.  We did some shopping, visited the medieval crime museum, and walked along most of the town wall.  For some great views of Rothenburg and the countryside, head to the top of the one tower that’s available for climbing.  The day was beautiful and sunny! 
 
We had a good lunch at Ratsstube right on the platz.  I enjoyed their white asparagus soup andsalad.  The restaurant has a garden terrace, but it was filled when we arrived. 
 
In the early evening we headed outside the wall and joined a wine tasting seminar at a local winery, which started at 7pm.  I had read about it on the internet.  However, I did not realize that the seminar was only in German. We got by, as Tony was able to understand some of it and translate for me.  We sampled eight local wines, all excellent.  We brought home six bottles!  By the time we were done sampling, we were very hungry.  We headed back inside the town walls and found a great restaurant (one of our best meals in Germany) called Reich-Küchenmeister. We dined alfresco with many other diners. After a long day, plus Tony carrying the heavy box of wine, we headed back to our hotel to pack up for the next day. 
 
6/9/00 (Romantic Road, Hohenfurch):  After breakfast and checking out, we packed up our car. The car was partially covered with pigeon poop!  The birds rested in nooks on the wall and well, our car was in their way (and the other cars too!).  We headed out of south gate and to the nearest gas station to wash our car.  After all, we were driving a Mercedes! 
 
Along the Romantic Road we stopped at Dinkelsbuhl and Nordlingen.  Both towns were lovely. Dinkelsbuhl, like Rothenburg, is also a walled city.  There weren't many tourists in these two towns like Rothenburg, but Rothenburg has more atmosphere. 
 
There were lots of photo ops on the Romantic Road, so we stopped a few times to include the town of Donauworth.  There was no time to stop in Augsburg if we wanted to get to our hotel in a timely manner.  There was a traffic accident just south of Landsberg and only 15 minutes away from Hohenfurch.  The police closed part of the road, so we had to drive west on a smaller road, taking us an extra 45 minutes to get back on the main road.
 
We arrived in Hohenfurch and to our hotel, Landgasthof u Café Schonach-Hof, around 5pm.  Wes Fowler, a fellow fodorite, recommended this hotel. We were given room St. Ursula, which faced the back of the hotel.  It was a wonderful large room on the top floor with a balcony.
 
After settling in, we headed downstairs to the beer garden to relax, have a couple of drinks, while I wrote in my journal and wrote postcards.  There were several others in the garden drinking and having dinner.  We were the only Americans there throughout our stay.  We had dinner plans with Claudette and Joe, our third fodorite get together.  They were staying in Garmish and met us about 7pm.  We had a great time and the food was wonderful! 
 
When we first arrived at this hotel, the woman that gave us our room key seemed a little concerned and upset.  I found out later from Tony that she gave him a look of relief when he spoke German to her.  It seems that since she didn't speak English, she thought she was going to have a hard time communicating with us.  She warmed up to us quickly after that and was quite enjoyable.  She even treated us four to pear schnapps for an after dinner drink.
 
6/10/00 (Castles):  This day we enjoyed visiting two castles in Bavaria: Newschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, about 30 minutes from our hotel. The day was mostly sunny, and we enjoyed seeing the German Alps along the way.  We parked our car and headed to the ticket office to buy our tickets.  They were 56DM for both castles for the two of us.  The tickets showed a set time for our visit.  One can visit these castles only with a tour guide.  Ample time is given to visit both places without having to rush from one to the other. 
 
We visited Hohenschwangau first, where Ludwig II lived there from childhood until about 17 years of age.  We decided to take the bus to Newschwanstein and walk down from there.  The bus ride was 7DM.  At the top, we walked to a bridge for a spectacular view of Newschwanstein.  It wasn't the view that one typically sees of this castle in photographs, but the side of it.  It was spectacular anyway.  Each tour lasted about 30 minutes. 
 
When we were done visiting the castle, we headed down by walking.  As we walked along the road, horse-drawn carts were going up and down taking tourists.  The strength of these horses (2 per cart) pulling 6-8 passengers was amazing.  
 
For lunch we drove to Füssen, about a 10-minute drive from the castles. Tony tried his first weiswurste, the white par-boiled sausages. I tasted it and they weren't bad, but I wouldn't order it myself, as they don't look appetizing. 
 
On the way home, we visited Weiskirche, which Wes Fowler recommended. It was beautiful in Rococo style.  What was interesting was when we returned to the hotel and I read about the church in my guide book, we discovered the domed painted ceiling was actually a flat ceiling!  Truly amazing!  We wanted to return to the church the next day to study the ceiling, but we didn't have the time. 
 
Another great dinner at the hotel. Actually, Tony and I switched our orders from the previous night, as they were so good.
 
6/11/00 (Bavaria Drive):  After our usual German breakfast, we headed out for a day trip visiting Oberammergau, Garmish, and Mittenwald. 
 
Oberammergau was quiet as most of the townspeople and tourists were in the theatre rehearsing for the passion play, which is performed once every 10 years.  The town is lovely.  I imagine when the play is stopped for their daily lunch the town is buzzing with activity. 
 
We shopped a little but wanted to do some other shopping in Mittenwald.  We drove around Garmish, but didn't get out of our car.  We enjoyed the drive taking in the scenery.   Mittenwald is a lovely town!  We walked around, but the stores were closed with the exception of the souvenir stores!  It was a Sunday.  We found a nice place for lunch at the Post Hotel, one of the places recommended in my Day Trips Germany book.  Good choice!   We sat in the garden area and had a great view of the cable car, which goes to the top of the mountain.  We watched the cable cars go up and half way up the cable cars look like a dot on the mountain.  Tony tried to get me to go up, but I didn't want to.  I would have gotten great photographs of the area, but it had started to rain. 
 
On the way back to Hohenfurch, we stopped in Schongau, which is very near Hohenfurch.  The town was also closed down and just a few restaurants were open.  We had pizza for dinner at Café Roma, which was pretty good, but I would have preferred more sauce on the pizza.  Back at our hotel in Hohenfurch, we had a round of drinks before turning in.
 
6/12/00 (Munich):  Off to Munich!  I was looking forward to being in a big city.  It took about 45 minutes to get to Munich, and then we got lost in the city!  We had to stop and ask for directions.  We were way off course.  We finally made it to our hotel, Hotel Blauer bock near the Viktualienmarkt (one of the best markets I've seen).  There is an empty parking space for hotel guests to unload their car.  We parked our car in their garage for 10DM. 
 
Our room was not ready, so we left our luggage in the car and headed out to the DeutschesMuseum.  Being a Monday, almost all sights are closed with the exception of this science and technology museum.  Tony was especially excited because there was supposed to be a large aviation museum.  It turned out that a portion of the aviation museum was outside the city limits at an annex.  The museum had a nice display of planes, but Tony was disappointed.
 
After our visit, we headed to the town center.  The Marienplatz was filled with people, beer and food stands, tables, chairs, and a music stage, as the city foundation festival was in full swing.  It had started on the 10th of June and this was the last day of the festival. It was a fun afternoon watching all the activity going on, as it was very lively.  After lunch of beer and brotwurst, we headed to our hotel to unpack and do a little wash.  We had asked for a room on the quite side because the front street was under construction.  We paid an extra 10DM a night for this "upgrade."  Later we walked around town and headed back to the Marienplatz where I enjoyed a glass of red wine while Tony had a beer.  For dinner, we dined at Donsil, just off the Mairenplatz.  The food was pretty good and we sat outside to enjoy the festival that was still going on.  After dinner we took a walk to find the Hofbrahaus.  Along the way, we had stopped to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We got to the Hofbrahaus and took a peek inside.  It was packed with tourists and quite noisy, so we left. We really didn't want to have a beer there, but I wanted to see the place.
 
6/13/00 (Bertchesgaden, Munich): We were up early and out by 9am to head to Bertchesgaden (via A8 autobahn).  It was a very hazy day.  There were many trucks and traffic coming into the Munich area.  We drove near the mountains.  The drive from A8 to Bertchesgaden was windy, but very nice (rte B20).  We parked our car in a garage and headed to the train station to catch the bus to the Eagle's Nest (EN).  We had to transfer to another bus at Obersalzburg to get to the very top.  The second bus ride was very windy and steep. Private cars are not allowed up this portion of the road and we could see why.  The road is only 13 feet wide and as I said, very windy. There is only one hairpin curve in the road.  I certainly wouldn't want to make that turn!  Busses coming down the mountain had to pull over to a certain spot to let the busses go up the mountain.  It's very well organized and we were told there has never been an accident.  I'm sure those busses are inspected quite frequently, especially the brakes! It was as thrilling (or scary) a ride like the Amalfi coast, but much higher!
 
Once at our destination, we still had to get to the EN.  We walked inside the mountain in a tunnel to get to a large elevator.  We went up 407 feet in 41 seconds.  The interior was made of brass with mirrors because Hitler was claustrophobic. Apparently he went up to the EN only a handful of times.  Because of the hazy day, we did not have great views of the area.  We could see Salzburg, but it wasn't worth taking photographs. While up there, we ran into a VMI graduate from class of 1960 (Tony graduated from there in 1978). We enjoyed great conversation with Alan and his wife Glenda.  We all took the bus back (one must schedule a return time) to Obersalzburg.  From there, Alan offered us a ride and on the way down, he stopped to show us Hitler's house, Berghof.  Only the foundation remains.  I took a few pieces of the foundation.  It was already raining, so we really couldn't walk around the area. We headed back to Bertchesgaden and had lunch together.  We had a nice time with them before heading back to Munich, while they headed to Salzburg.
 
Back in Munich, we went to the train station to return our car.  It took almost an hour to find the place.  Avis has their car return place in the garage of a hotel.  There were no Avis signs on the street at all!  I had to drop off Tony at the station to ask where to park the car.  What a hassle. Our evening ended with drinks at the beer garden in the Viktualienmarkt, a Greek dinner next to our hotel (Kyri's), and a walk around town.
 
6/14/00 (Dachau, Munich): On this day, we headed to Dachau via the S-Bahn.  There is a S/U-Bahn stop at the Marienplatz.  I really didn't want to go, but I also didn't want to miss the opportunity to visit the place.  It was very interesting, but we both expected to see more (based on the exhibits we have seen at the Holocaust museum in WashingtonDC).  We saw a film, in English, at 11:30, which gave the history of the place.  As we headed back to Munich, Tony got off at one of the stops to head out to the aviation museum annex, while I went back to the Marienplatz area to shop and have lunch.  We met later around 6pm at the Viktualienmarkt and had drinks. All the tables and chairs were filled. It was a very nice afternoon. For dinner, we ate next to our hotel at Manila's, a Filipino restaurant. This is the restaurant that is attached to our hotel where we had our breakfast. For dessert, we had ice cream as we walked around town.
 
6/15/00 (Munich): This was our last full day in Germany, so we spent it visiting sights in the area.  It was a very cloudy day and it rained on and off throughout the day.  We headed to St. Peter's to climb the stairs (over 300) to see Munich from above. It wasn't raining at the time we were at the top.  Next we headed to the Residence and its museum.  We visited the treasury - fabulous crowns, jewels, etc.  We also visited the Residence and saw many rooms where royalty once lived.  One part of the museum had photographs showing how the Residence was bombed and the restoration process.
 
For lunch we had decided to have a picnic by purchasing a variety of food at the Viktualienmarkt.  We bought bread, camembert, salami, chilled shrimp in an olive oil and garlic dressing, marinated eggplant, marinated mushrooms, and delicious octopus!  There were many other delicious foods to choose from.  We bought beer and my white Reisling and ate at the tables at the beer garden.  We had a delicious lunch!  I wish we had more days to do this. An older German couple next to us kept eyeing our meal.  A few minutes later, he went off and returned with a container of marinate mushrooms and bread.  We smiled at each other.  We went back to our room after lunch to drop off the extra cheese and bread (it was cheaper to buy a round of cheese rather than a portion of one).  We packed most of our luggage to get ready to leave.  I was glad to bring my bubble wrap and Tony had purchased packaging tape.  We used some of our socks and underwear to pad the bottles we were bringing home.
 
We headed out again and did some shopping.  We had been pricing out the German Hinckel knives and decided to buy a set.  We bought a butcher block set and a set of eight steak knives.  We felt we got a good price, better than in the US.  We also did some last minute gift shopping (a few Christmas ornaments and linens).  I also purchased (as I usually do on my trips) a gold pendant of a beer stein.  The top opens and the front has the Munich emblem.  We walked around a little more, but our feet were really hurting (too many stairs and lots of walking at the Residence). 
 
We dropped off our purchases at the hotel and headed to Donsil for drinks.  I wanted to try someplace new for dinner, but a lot of the places were crowded.  We decided to dine at Donsil.  That place was also crowded, but the waitress asked if we'd mind sharing a table with three others.  Fine with us.  They were young students getting ready to enter college.  We had a nice time chatting with them.  They spoke very good English.  They were recently new to Munich and were friends from school.  We bought their dinner, which they were quite surprised, but appreciative.  For the five of us, we paid $65. After we left, I wanted to have a last round of drinks at a bar.  We found one, which had a Harley Davidson on display.  It was a fun place with good music and people enjoying themselves.  We ended up having two rounds of drinks and having a huge hangover the next day (we did have a few at dinner). I don't remember the place, but know exactly where it is!  We'll have to go there when we return to Munich someday.
 
6/16/00:  Time to head home!  After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel about 8:3am and headed to the airport with our luggage on the S-Bahn.  The ride took 40 minutes to get to the airport.  It took a while to find the tax refund office - we swear they make it hard for people to find. No signs, no maps showing the refund office. They must hope that people will just give up and not get their tax back.  We got it, finally, in cash. 
 
Our flight left on time and we got home safely. The flight attendants treated us well.  We were given a bottle of champagne by the flight attendants.  Tony had talked with them for about half an hour.  That was a nice treat.  We also were asked if we wanted any of the small liquor bottles so they wouldn't have to inventory them. We said sure and were given about 25 of them! 
 
Germany was wonderful!  The countryside is beautiful and there are many wonderful places to visit. I know we will return to Germany!
 
Monica