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