Days 17 & 18, October 23 & 24

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Tuesday October 23 Day 17

Another travel day and we made arrangements to have a taxi pick us up at our hotel at 9:45 AM to catch a train from Bruges to Brussels. The only ticket we had was for the train from Brussels to Paris, which was scheduled for 12:37 and we still needed to purchase our ticket from Bruges to Brussels. Our taxi driver arrived and was soon putting our luggage in the back of the van he was driving. He asked Jim why one of the bags was so heavy and Jim told him it was full of Bruges crap, the taxi driver laughed and loaded it into the van. On the way he chatted us up and we asked if Dutch was the language spoken in Bruges of which he answered “we speak Flemish, it is the same as Dutch but since the Dutch have tried to take us over before we say we speak Flemish”, sort of how the Scottish think about the English, no real animosity just good ribbing.



We arrived at the train station and he advised us on where to purchase tickets. We could have taken a 9:58 train but spotted a Starbucks, our first, and decided to get a cup of coffee and a croissant. The next train was at 10:35 which was part of our original plan anyway and gave us plenty of time to find out train to Paris in Brussels, so we decided to relax and enjoy our breakfast. We found a couple of nice seats on the train to Brussels and settled in for the hour-long ride. The first stop on the way to Brussels as Ghent St Peiters and the train stopped as planned at 11:03 AM. Soon there was an announcement over the public address system in the train but since it was in Flemish we just sat in our seats. After about 5 minutes we noticed a lot of people exiting the train and leaving the platform. Jim stepped out of the train and found someone who spoke English and found out that a freight train heading towards Brussels had derailed and was carrying hazardous materials. No trains were allowed to travel to Brussels and there was no estimate of when our train would leave the station. Now we were face with a dilemma: wait it out, hire a taxi for about $150 euros to take us to Brussels, or rent a car and drive to Paris, and with each scenario we had no guarantee we would make our 12:35 train to Paris. We decided to wait it out figuring we could use our tickets to schedule a later train but probably have to pay a fee. All this stress, and us without a beer or a bottle of wine!



To our surprise at 11:45 the conductor motioned for everyone to get on the train and soon we were off. Now the stress was increasing as we were not sure how long it would take to get to Brussels and if we could still make our train to Paris. We arrived in Paris at 12:10 PM so we rush out of the train and found an information booth where the young lady told us our platform for our train to Paris was very close. We board our train to Paris at 12:20 PM and sit trying to catch our breath; we made it!



Our train arrived in Paris on time at 2:05 PM and we had researched which metro trains we needed to take to get to our hotel, two trains, nine stops, soon we were above ground trying to figure out where our hotel was. It took about 10 minutes but we found our hotel, checked in, unpacked and were soon walking the streets of Paris about 3:30 PM. We are staying in the 7^th arrondissement right off Rue Cler, a pedestrian street with many cafes and gourmet food shops. After a quick walk through the neighborhood we walked to the Eiffel Tower and surrounding area. The weather was nice, about 68 degrees and the area was full of tourists. Since this was our second time to Paris we had fun just watching all the people trying to get the perfect picture of the tower. After spending an hour or so at the tower we headed back to our neighborhood for a bite to eat. Right next to our hotel is a café so we ordered off the plat de jour menu, Lisa had a chicken cutlet with salad and mashed potatoes that must have had equal amounts of butter and potatoes. Jim ordered the Duck Confit with roasted potatoes and a salad. The chicken was OK but the duck was amazing, let’s face it, anything cooked in fat and then roasted has to be good. After dinner we did some shopping and decided to call it a day, we were both exhausted.





Wednesday October 24 Day 18

Today we decide to take a walk and see some of the sights we have seen before but maybe check out some we missed last time. We have a nice breakfast at the hotel and then off we go. We decided to go to back to Arch de Triomphe and walked down the Champs de Elysee with all the shops and tourists. Before we go on any trip we do quite a bit of research. The research includes what type of scams people are pulling. One we read about and then saw first hand at the Arch de Triomphe was the “gold ring” scam. A person walks by you and then appears to pick up a gold ring that is lying on the ground and asks if you lost your ring. When you reply no they start to walk away with the ring and attempt to put it on. Of course it does not fit and they notice an engraving that shows how valuable the ring is. They then walk back to you explaining the situation and want to sell you the ring for a reduced cost. The ring is junk of course but people must fall for it. A lady tried it on us while we were at the Arch and as soon as she showed us the ring we said no. She started to say something else and we said no a few more times and she finally walked away.



From here we decided to walk to the Louvre. We had visited before and the line was so long we decided to pass. We know there are many people that would love the opportunity to go into the Louvre as many times as possible but… We walk around the area for a while and then head out in search of the neighborhood we stayed in on our last trip. This was in the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank near Notre Dame, but never got a chance to go in the cathedral because the lines were always so long. We find the neighborhood and the hotel we stayed at and Lisa reminded Jim about this café we went to a few times on our last trip for French Onion Soup and Crepes that were amazing. It was a very brisk day and the thought of warm soup was too much to resist. We couldn’t find the exact café but found one that had the soup so we found a table on the sidewalk with a heater above us and ordered lunch. We looked up the hotel on Jim’s iPhone we stayed in before in hopes of finding that café.



After lunch Jim attempted to get us into the old neighborhood. Finally we find the hotel we stayed in before and reminisced about our first trip to Europe. Then we found the exact café we were in search of and a crepe sounds wonderful. We order and banana and chocolate crepe and a Crepe Suzette with all the showiness of setting the grand Marnier alight. Both crepes were wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed our trip down memory lane. The two Irish coffees we had also warmed us up nicely.



We head to Notre Dame and unbelievably; there is no line at all. It took us 12 years but finally we got in. The cathedral is huge and very impressive. Work is under way to get ready for the 850^th anniversary celebration and there are scaffolds and portable buildings being built on the courtyard in front of the main building. Once inside the cathedral we decide to pay to see the “treasures” which included ornate chalices and robes worn by the historical leaders of the church.



Later in the day Lisa spotted another person trying the “gold ring” scam on someone else and when she failed, she walked towards us not knowing that Lisa had already seen her. Lisa pointed this out to Jim and when the lady approached and started to bend over as if to pick up the ring, Jim bent over and said “Look, a ring!” and put his hand along hers on the ground. She didn’t know what to do at first and then he acted like he was picking it up and she grabbed it tightly. We laughed for quite a while over that stunt. We saw her again a couple of hour’s later about 2 miles away and Jim told her she just missed the ring and she laughed. We are not sure why the police do not try to stop these people and the other scams but we can assume it is because they can only be in so many places at one time.



We walked from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm today with a stop for soup and another stop for crepes. Our feet and legs are aching and we need to rest up for a bit so we head back to our hotel for some rest before getting a bite to eat. The TV stations in our room are mostly in French so we spend a few minutes watching the Simpsons in French, still funny, we think.

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Photos

Bruges Train Platform
Waiting for our train in Bruge

Gare Nord Station Paris
Our final destination. A huge station full of people moving about in all directions.

Rue Cler Shop
One of the many stores on Rue Cler which is a pedestrian street with cafes and gourmet shops

Fromagerie on Rue Cler
One of the many of Jim's favorite shops

Arch de Triomphe
We sat on this bench and watched traffic maneuver around the Arch trying to enter one of the 13 streets from the Arch.

Crepes
Our dessert after lunch in the Latin Quarter