Trip Report 17-19 Nov

Paris 17-19 November

Day One

We took the train from Germany to Paris. It was a quick trip just under 3 hours. The train ride was nice and comfy. We arrived in Paris around 3:15pm on Friday. We walked around the Paris Est station for a little while and then made our way to the ground level where we waiting in line for a taxi. Even with the strike in progress we only waited about 30 minutes. Traffic in Paris is crazy. We have been there before but I do not remember it being this congested and such a free for all. Anyways our cab from the Paris Est to the Novotel Tour Eiffel was around 16E’s and 30 minutes. Once we were at our hotel we checked in and found that breakfast was not included. I was a little ticked off. For three of us in one room we were paying 240E’s per night…and no breakfast??? If we wanted breakfast it was going to be another 20E’s per person. We decided to pass on eating breakfast at the hotel. I was sure we could pick up some pastries somewhere for a much better price. Then we head up to our room. Rm 1901 has a nice view of the Seine River. My husband and I are travel with my 22 year old brother. We have been asking all our hotels for 3 twin beds or at least a double and a twin. If he is paying for a 1/3rd of the room I did not want him to end up on a couch. Well he did. We walk in to find a hide-a-bed couch that was for him. We were not thrilled. The room was not too small (Europeans have different standards than Americans when it comes to hotel room size) but for three people it was a squeeze. (I was/am still ticked that we paid that much and ended up with the bare minimum at this hotel)

Anyways we settle in, unpack a bit and then get dressed up to head to the Moulin Rouge. We had to be there by 6:45pm to queue…but we decided to head to that area a little earlier. We went downstairs and the doorman got a taxi for us (20 min wait). The cab driver was even more crazy this time but it was okay. We were in a hurry to see Paris. When we arrived in the area of the Moulin Rouge we walked around and found a cute little Irish Pub to have a drink in. It was called Cockney’s Pub. The guys each had a Guinness and I had a glass of red wine. The grand total for our drinks was 11.30E’s. Not bad for a pre-dinner drink. At this point we headed to the Moulin Rouge and joined the line. We were 15-20 people from the front of the line. A quick little wait in line and we were in. Most people were dressed up. Some men in suits or slacks and most women in were in nice dresses. There were some people (mostly Asian) in jeans and fanny packs. They stuck out and looked really tack. But they arrived in a group so I am thinking they were on a tour bus. Anyways when we got in I did not feel like they marched us in like we were all military. Since we arrived early we were nice and leisurely led to our table and seated. We were happy with our table too. Instead of being a table for 6 or 8 it was a nice small table for 3. We were not too close and we were happy about that. We could see everything from our seats and were still close enough to use the restroom with out it being a pain in the butt. Oh..the only restrooms are just inside the main hall/outside of the dinning hall. (4 stalls for the women) I only had to wait in line once at the end of the show. The waiters and staff were fairly attentive. Anytime someone used the restroom or left the dinning area there was always someone to open the door and let you out. I thought the staff did a fairly good job. Our dinner was tasty. Even though it was not a abundance of food I still felt it was a good meal. We ordered 3 Belle Epoque menu’s. My brother had the Sole Fillet starter and my husband and I both had the Lobster Fricassee. We were all happy with our starter. Very tasty. Next was our main course. My brother had the Beef Fillet “Rossini” with potatoes and onions while my husband and I tried the Shin of Lamb with green beans. Although we all though the main course was delicious we wished there would have been more. The lamb was wonderful but it was not even a full cup of meat. The beef fillet my brother had was decent in size. Even though we could have eaten more it was still good. Next was our dessert. The guys both had the Rum Savarin and I had the Dark Chocolate Crunch. We were all impressed with dessert. The guys had a small white cake that had been soaked in rum and served with fruit while I had what seemed to be like a chocolate mousse or cheesecake. I was extremely impressed with my dessert. It was one of the best things I ate on the whole trip. With our dinner we each drank our 1/2 bottle of champagne and then ordered another bottle bottle of it. It was a brand I had not heard of (Mumm) so I thought it might be a cheapy and they are selling it to us for 50E’s a bottle. We got it anyways since we were still thirsty. (Later we found a store that sold it. 50’s was a great price for it. Most places sell it for over 60E’s a bottle). The show was excellent too. Even though we are sure they lip sync it was still pretty interesting. The only part we did not care for was the guy who made shadow puppets. But that gave us a bathroom break and we did not miss the main show J so we are happy. The dinner started at 7pm and the show at 9pm. The show lasted until just about 11pm. After the show we filed out and headed back to Cockney’s Pub. The guys enjoyed more Guinness and I had a Kir Royal. This time 7 drinks was around 70-80E’s (this is the only receipt I forgot to pick up). It took us about 20 minutes to hail a taxi and then we were on our way back to the hotel. (20 minutes 17E’s)

Day Two

Our plan had been to wake up early and get to the Louvre when it opened…well that did not happen. We were a little hung over and in need of food. We got up around 7am and made it out of the hotel just after 8am. We walked down and around the Eiffel Tower and then over to the Princess Diana Memorial. From there we were so hungry that we found a café to eat at. We had breakfast at the Café Le Grand Corona. We each had an omelet and a hot drink. My brother and I had hot chocolate and my husband had a cappuccino. The hot chocolate was amazing. They brought two small pitchers. One had warm chocolate and the other had warm milk. We were able to mix it to the strength we wanted. It was tasty. Our breakfast cost 44.50E’s (1 omelette complete 10E, 2 omelette w/ 2 toppings 14E, 1 cappuccino 5.50E, 2 Hot Chocolates 10E, 2 Toasts 5E) Although it seems pricey it was a nice place and was still almost 20E’s cheaper than eating at our hotel. Now we were on to the Louvre through the gardens. We stopped under the big ferris wheel and grabbed some souvenirs and a crepe. There are restrooms here just incase anyone needs to know J Then we kept on walking until we made it to the Louvre. The line had about 75 people in it but it was super fast getting in. Not even 5 minutes in line. Once we were inside we did have to wait about 15 minutes to get our tickets. Because of the strike the museum was closing at 5pm…but we still had plenty of time. We found a free map at the information desk and started on our way. We saw the Madonna of the Rocks, the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo…then was saw some jewels too. I cannot remember what they are from but they are pretty impressive. We spent about 2.5 hours in there. We headed to the bottle level and picked up some coffees while we looked over our map. It was going on 2pm. We wanted to see St. Sulpice and grab some lunch on the way. So we set our path and headed that way. St. Sulpice was under renovation or construction of some kind. There was scaffolding around most of it. The inside was impressive though. The place is pretty big. We found the Rose Line too. Both of my guys are Di Vinci Code buffs so this was exciting for them.

After St. Sulpice we started our journey for a light lunch. We found a couple places but most were closing the kitchen around 3pm and it was like 2:55pm. So we kept walking and ended up at the Café De Flore. At this point we were so hungry we were ready to eat anywhere. We wandered in and found the place packed. We were squeezed into a tiny table in the back corner. I remembered reading something about this place but I could not remember if it was good or bad. When they brought the menu I just about fell over. This place is SUPER pricey. But we were there so we ate anyways. My brother and I both had bowls of onion soup and my hubby had a Caesar salad. The guys wanted beer but I just wanted some tea. In the end our bill was 94.20E’s (2 Guinness 17E, 1 10oz tea 6.20E, 2 onion soup 24E, 1 Caesar Salad 16E, 2 Carlsberg Beers 17E and 1 Irish Coffee 14E) (As soon as we got back to our hotel we read in our travel books that this is one of the most famous cafes in the world…opps! Good for us!) At this point we walk really fast and head back to the hotel. We want to clean up and head to dinner on Champs Elysees.

We got back to the hotel and we all lay down. Our feet were killing us. We had walked darn near 5+ miles in the last 8 hours. It was almost 6pm so we decided to get on the move. We hailed a cab from the hotel. This time it took us almost 30 minutes to get one. We headed to the Arc de Truiomph and walked down until we found some where to have dinner. We ended up at L’Alsace. It was an okay place. We each grabbed a beer to quench our thirsts. The menu had a good selection. I had a sampler platter of their appetizers (23E’s) and my brother had the smoked salmon appetizer (19.50E’s). We shared everything so that was nice. Our main course was beef fillet with béarnaise sauce and fries. (3 meals – 89.70E’s) then my brother and I both had crème brulee (2 – 17.80E’s) The dessert was the best part. The meal was good, but dessert was the best. Our final bill after 5 beers and three meals was 193.75E’s. It was good and we thought it was an okay price for our final dinner in Paris.

After dinner we walked back on the main strip and it was raining L We walked from our restaurant down to our next destination. We had read about the Buddha Bar online. It is one of the top 25 bars in the world…so we wanted to stop in and have at least one drink. One drink lead to several. This chic bar is located behind the US Embassy down a cute little alley. The bar is very posh. Our server, Tiny, was great. She helped us to pick out drinks and she could always tell what we would like. The bar is known for creating new drinks and odd mixtures. We had a couple drinks that we would have never thought of drinking. One was based on a red pepper and passion fruit vodka, another had Jack Daniels and chocolate…it was great. 9 drinks left us with a tab of 142E’s. But hey…we are at one of the top 25 bars in the world on our last night in Paris…come on, it is worth it. Around 2am we decided we were too tired for another drink so we headed down to the main road and caught a cab back to the hotel. A 10 minute ride and 7E taxi fee and we were in bed sleeping.

Day three

We slept in until around 9am. Once we got around it was about 9:40am and we headed to the Eiffel tower. The line was short and we had our tickets quickly. The top floor was closed because of the fog so we only went to the second level. It was still an amazing view. On the 2nd level there is a little café, 2 gift shops and a restroom in addition to the view J We stayed for about an hour and then headed back to pack up. Around 12 we check out of the hotel and headed to the café in the hotel for lunch. It was much better than we expected. The guys ordered a French version of a hamburger and I had a Caesar salad. We all grabbed a beer too. 75E’s later we were happy and full. We snagged a cab after a 10 minute wait and then headed to the train station. At the station we picked up some chocolate filled pastries and drinks for the ride. 3 hours later we were back in Germany and exhausted.

If you have any questions just let me know...I am sure I missed something. :)

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thankyou for a great report,it was very helpful including the prices.

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It sounds like you had a fun time. Thanks for the report.

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