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Published: June 24th 2008
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June 14 - 17, 2008
Paris, France
Nice drive from Brussels and arrived at our hotel on the outskirts of Paris. Spent Saturday afternoon in the center of the city with a very good connection, on the very good, local Metro system.
Anyone traveling to Paris would be wise to consider a room out of the very expensive center of town ( with hotels with very small rooms ) and looking at a suburbs hotel as long as it is close to the many metro stops.
We have been in Paris before and it is as nice as we remembered. A little pricy but very interesting!!
There is so much to see and do here you need a few days minimum just to see the highlights. ( Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Place Concorde, too many art museums, and for those who are into shopping, a lot of shops, and of course the Palace of Versailles a short distance west of the city and Disneyland Europe.)
Sunday we took the usual City Tour (a 2 day ticket here) and traveled about the city stopping at the places we found interesting. Monday we spent a few
hours at the Louvre Museum and a few hours touring as well as a boat tour on the River Seine.
The Louvre is unbelievable!! This place is massive and if you were really into art and history you could spend weeks here. Of course everyone wants to see the Mona Lisa. Monday was a good day as the weekends are a zoo there and Tuesdays are closed.
It seems that almost everything is expensive in Paris !! I guess you charge what the market will bear and it is bearing it as there are lots of people, from everywhere, waiting in line to spend their money. There are some reasonable restaurants with a little looking around. The one menu we looked at, for the restaurant on the Eiffel Tower, was SPECIAL !! Appetizers starting at about 20 Euros, The usual menu items at 65 -75 Euros. Even a beer is expensive with places getting 8.80 Euros for a 400 ml draft beer.
Monday night was fun with a show at the Club Lido. Lido has been around for ever it seems. This was a good song and dance show with some variety acts thrown in for a
break. Show has an, on stage, ice skating number and some fancy fountains and water in some numbers. The mechanics of the stage and props were as interesting as the show for some of us.
Tuesday we spent the day out in Versailles. This city is on the outskirts of Paris and was the home of the kings and queens for a few hundred years. Louis and Marie Antoinette too name a few.
The Palace of Versailles and the gardens and grounds are something to behold. On the same huge track of parkland is the “smaller” ( still too big ) residence that Marie Antoinette lived in rather than the huge palace. As palaces go the main Chateau is probably the most elaborate we have seen considering the size. St. Petersburg in Russia has some that are close.
All in all a very good few days in a beautiful city and one place that everyone should visit at least once. The attitude of the service people in Paris is considerably better from what we remembered from our previous visit and we were well treated by all ( with the odd exception ) and with very few issues with
language.
Off tomorrow to the Chateau ( Palace ) Region south of Paris.
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