Monday morning, we went to the beautiful St Pancras Rail
Station in London for our Eurostar trip to Paris.
In 2.5 hours, we went from the center of London to the center of
Paris. The train was splendid! Oh, how we need this in the US! Going under the English Channel was cool…
10-15 minutes (and 31 miles) of dark tunnel and we emerge in France. The tunnel speed is around 100 mph but the
other parts of the journey, the speeds approach 180 mph. That is traveling!
We arrived in Paris at Gare du Nord and got a cab to our hotel,
the Rochester, on rue la Boétie in the 8th arrondissement, just a
few minutes walk from the Champs-Élysées.
That is the NICEST hotel I have ever stayed in and the staff and food
were just delightful! We loved Vincent
in the bar as he prepared our drinks daily and even made a special tea for Sara
one day who was feeling a little ill. He
was so kind to us! The concierges helped
us with restaurant reservations, transportation…you name it. Highly recommend this hotel!
We checked in, freshened up and went exploring. We had reservations for 4:30 for the Eiffel
Tower and off we went. Talk about crowd
control! Lots of folks but pretty
efficient. Tons of ‘vendors’ hawking
awfully tacky plastic Eiffel Towers and stuff… oh, and ‘selfie’ sticks. Which, of course, the Bails already have!
This lovely couple was getting married (or had just done it) on the steps of the Palais de Chaillot, facing the Eiffel Tower.
The shot of the Palais from the Eiffel Tower shows old Paris, and in the background, La Défense, new Paris, a business district not unlike Buckhead or Perimeter.
This is Sacré Coeur Basilica, at the top of Montmartre.
Merry Go Rounds are a big thing in France. They are in the big cities as well as the small towns. We coaxed Willow to ride for us.
This little girl looked so pensive! Or maybe she’s just horrified by her Dad’s buttcrack.
LOL! Yeah, I'm quite familiar with butt cracks. 'Loved the pic of Sara and Eiffel Tower. Nice!
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