Easter Sunday in Paris, a peaceful and sunny day. The original plan was to head to the Flea Market on the edge of town and then head to the wine warehouse district in Bercy. However, since we had the Metro shutdown yesterday and had to cancel our hopscotch around Paris, we decided to do that instead. We were at Breakfast by 9:30 and at the start of our attempt to hit all 20 arrondissements in one day. Mind you this was not just going to each of them but it was doing in order 1 through 20. The first part was getting from the 7th to the 1st. We would be getting great use out of our Metro pass today. Jerry spent weeks before our trip putting this together. Reading up on each arrondissement, mapping out ... read more

Several years ago, I ran across a list of the 10 oldest restaurants in the world. Since that time, we have been making sure to tick each one off our list. Paris has two on the list. When we were in Paris in 2016 with Christina, we ate at A La Petite Chaise number 5 on the list. This trip we would be marking on number 3 La Tour D’Argent, first established in 1582 during the reign of Henry III. We now only have three more until we have been to all ten of them. The most difficult will be number ten, Yar Restaurant, which is located in Moscow, Russia. Brief History La Tour D’Argent first opened in 1582 as an inn on the right bank of the Seine, looking at Ile de la ... read more

We woke up at 6:30 and started getting ready for our first full day in Paris. It was a beautiful Pairs morning, just a bit of chill in the air, but not cold with clear blue skies. The shop keepers were busy getting ready for the day ahead. Restaurants were preparing for the day and making the switch from winter to summer seating. The collapsible walls were coming down to make way for the famous sidewalk seating. Most of Paris seem still asleep, a few business men were making there way to the office, tourist that had earlier morning arrivals were arriving at the hotel across the street. When you get up with the workers you can see why Paris is 100 times cleaner than the streets of New York. Each shop owner sweeps the sidewalk ... read more

With my 34th tax season behind me, we now begin our 7thtrip to France. Like our trip to Italy, we once again splurged for business class tickets. Flying United this gives us access to the Polaris Business Class Lounge. Like the Air Canada lounge in Montreal, this is a very posh and comfortable space. Everything is gratis. The major It difference between the United and Air Canada lounge is that in addition to the buffet they have an order off the menu dining room. I spent a few hours at the office doing client billing and then left a bit before noon to meet Jerry at Penn Station. We decided to get to the airport a few hours early in order to be able to take full advantage of the Polaris Lounge. We are very excited ... read more

The last day in Italy would be as jammed packed as any other day on this trip. The only difference, we slept in until 8 and went down to breakfast at 10. So, we started our day about an hour behind what we had planned, but it was fine since it was our last day and we intended on exploring parts of Rome yet seen. It was already hot and humid, so one more day of being wet all day. The first stop was to be the Palazzo Barberini, just 2 blocks from our hotel, we changed that because the only time sensitive place on our agenda today was the Basilica San Celemente, the last church of the trip. It was near the colosseum, but on the opposite side of where we were the first part ... read more