Thursday city bus tour

I am behind on my posts as Thursday marked our 2nd to the last day in Paris with still many things left to see and do. Rosie and I consoled ourselves by saying we will save some sights to see the next time we are in Paris!

We decided to do a city bus tour as the most efficient way to see a lot of things in the fastest time. My American soldier seat companion from Wednesday had recommended the tour he took from a nearby travel agent, so after a morning of late arising, computing and photo editing while Lynne was in her class we set off for the travel agency. We hoped to do the bus tour immediately and then have some time at the d'Orsay Museum in late afternoon. Unfortunately, we were minutes too late for the 12:30pm bus tour and had to put it off until later in the afternoon. We rushed home to let Lynne know of our change in plans (we did not often miss our cell phones, but this is of the times it would have helped). By the time we talked to Lynne, it was time to go back for the tour. We skipped the Metro for these trips because it was only like 2 stops away--maybe 7 or 8 blocks and we hated to waste a ticket. However, at this point it was our 3rd trip and it was only the fact that we were going to sit on the bus that made it work for us.

We sat on the top of the double decker bus (and it was cold again!) but the we had headphones for the tour (you could pick your language so it was very easy to understand)and had about 50 points of interest such as the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs Elysees with all its designer shops, Pont de la Concorde (where many of the beheadings of the French Revolution took place including Marie Antoinette and her husband King Louis XVI), the Madeleine Church with its 52 Corinthian columns was quite a sight, and many other famous locations that you can see in Rosie's pictures.

When we finished the city tour, we went into the travel agency and booked a day trip for Friday to see 3 chateaus out in the French country-side. We were anxious to see a little of French life outside of Paris. The trip was to leave at 7:15am so we had an early morning start ahead of us.

Back at the apartment, Lynne had wine waiting for us and we had also invited Lynne's friend, Lucille Northenscold down for happy hour. I had promised to help her connect her laptop to the apartment's wireless network since she and her husband will occupy it for the part of the month. A few glasses of wine later, we gave up on our idea of visiting the d'Orsay--another thing to save for the next visit. Lucille had recommended her favorite French restaurant a few blocks down the street. It opened at 8pm, so a few minutes after we were off in search of its location. When we arrived, it had just opened and had only one diner seated inside. Nevertheless we went in and were seated by the waiter who brought a chalk board with the day's dishes listed. He propped it on a chair at our table and then left us to study it.

Lynne and I chose a roast pork dish and Rosie ordered a large bowl of soup (dishes not including dairy products were a constant challenge for her). The waiter was very helpful in determining what was suitable on the menu and he seemed surprised when we did not order any wine (if he had known about our happy hour, he might not have been!)Rosie's bowl of soup was quite large and she enjoyed it. Lynne and I received plates of sliced pork artfully arranged with carrots (ala Peter Rabbit Lynne thought-with a little bit of carrots tops still on)sliced potatoes and, I think, parsnips. We had forgotten our cameras or the plates would have been worth a picture. As my son, Mat, always says "presentation is everything." It was excellent and we were pleased with our choices and the restaurant itself. We felt like we had had some nice French dining that evening.

Back at the apartment, the rest of the evening was spent doing a little packing and organizing, some computing and general this and that which kept us up but didn't amount to much. Rosie & I TRIED to get to bed early because we had to be at the travel agency by 7am the next morning. So even though we were on vacation, we chose to get up around 6am!