Paris - Dordogne- Paris

 

Paris- (Dordogne)-Paris March/April 2022

 We arrived Paris at 2pm. And took a taxi to the hotel (58 euro -cash- not all taxis take credit cards). We got on our best walking shoes and headed out the door.  Our first stop was the grocery store to get some wine and cheese and bread to have a wine picnic by the Eiffel Tower.

 After lunch we took the metro up to Arc de Triomphe

and strolled down the Champs de Elysee,

              

 past the Petit Palace 

and finally across the Pont Alexander III bridge.

 We walked home passing Invalides. WHEW!! We were exhausted after a full day of travel followed by 6 miles of walking. Time for bed! Hopefully jet lag won't kick in tomorrow.

   The next day we visited San Chappelle I made reservations the night before- (off season you can do this- on season book weeks in advance) Next time I will book a concert here!

We waited in the security line.  The x-ray machine showed I had a wine bottle opener- which they confiscated!! Really a wine opener taken in Paris?? Anyhow,  San Chappelle will never disappoint (except for the wine opener)- it may be one of my favorite places in Paris. It is like being inside a kaleidoscope.

    Walking more…next up… the outside of Notre Dame. I can’t wait to see it finished.

Then the Deportation Martyrs Memorial Museum.  This is a super well done holocaust memorial museum dedicated to the 200,000 French people who were deported to concentration camps. The museum is mostly underground and hard to find. (It is super close to Notre Dame)

one light for every Jew deported

 Strolling through the neighborhoods stopping in churches, photographing oddities, passing by large museums, like the Pompidou (which was closed that day- I knew this-but I was a bit sad not to be able to go into the lobby, because it is fantastic.

   Stopping for lunch in a bakery, I couldn’t resist a baguette sandwich and a pain au chocolat to share with my sweetheart. (though  truth be told, I ate most of the croissant).

   Meandering our way over to the Louvre- didn’t want to go in- too big- too crowded- and the Mona Lisa is disappointing at best (my opinion).

 So we just continued our walk to the Tulleries Gardens and took a seat around the beautiful fountain- our “feeties” needed a rest!!

  After the rest, it is onto my favorite museum the D’Orsay.  I bought the tickets from my phone as we had our feet up in the Tulleries (again, the joys of off season- March 29^th) We just walked right up and right into the museum.  This museum has so much wonderful art, but the building itself, is the largest best piece of art.

  We took the metro back to our hotel, stopping at the grocery store to pick up some beer, for a shoes off, late afternoon, hotel room happy hour. 

That evening we met up with a high school friend’s daughter who was doing a semester abroad. We had a wonderful time.

Our next day’s adventure was a trip out to Versailles.  At this time of year (March 30^th) the gardens are free for everyone, so we took the RER C train out with the intention of just touring the gardens. There was no line to get into the palace and no line at the ticket booth, so we bought our tickets and went into the palace.  The hall of mirrors was my favorite room.

   Then we went out to tour the gardens and saw they had golf carts for rent- the slowest moving golf carts ever….we rented one and enjoyed the narration and the chamber music. It was a hoot, Versailles in a golf cart!! 

We returned the cart and then walked down to the lake and rented a rowboat- my favorite thing to do!!

    Tired but not that tired, that evening, we strolled down to the Eiffel tower to watch it twinkle- and then it was off to bed.

  The next day we caught a 4 hour train to Brive-la-Gailliard and picked up a rental car and headed to part two of our trip  (see my Beau Villages Dordogne blog)

We stayed in the Dordogne region for 13 nights in the towns of Sarlat-le-Caneda, Cahors,             Conques and Martel. I highly suggest this region!!

  After our beau villages tour, we were on our way back to Paris. This time we were staying in the Montmartre area. We did Annie Sargeant’s (Join Us in France podcast) using Voice Map  app, and sharing blue tooth earbuds, to do a tour of this section of town. I loved learning about this area.  This Voice Map tour was fabulous!  

Love Wall

  We stopped at a sidewalk café and I had a few gin and tonics and a crepes and took Emily in Paris pictures.

    You can see from my pictures at Sacre Coeur below that the weather had improved and the crowds were getting bigger because it is now April  14^th and it was Spring Break. We were not used to the crowds- it took a few hours to acclimate. I walked up all the stairs (foregoing the funicular) to Sacre Coeur to get the evening glow photo. Well worth the effort!

   Our last day in France adventure was out to Pere Lachaise Cemetery. I love a good cemetery.

On our last night our meal was a salad and a fabulous bowl of onion soup.  We needed to pack and get a good night’s sleep before our early morning flight.

Au revoir France- until next we meet.