Posts Tagged With: Arc de Triomphe

Return to International Travel – Introduction
Review: SWISS A340-300 ORD-ZRH and Marhaba Lounge ZRH
Lodging Review: Sina Villa Medici, Florence, Italy
Our Time In Florence, Part 1
Our Time In Florence, Part 2
Lodging Review: Park Hyatt Vendome, Paris, France
Our Time In Paris, Part 1 (Louvre, Sainte-Chappelle, Arc, Eiffel Tower)
Our Time In Paris, Part 2 (Versailles)
Our Time In Paris, Part 3 (Catacombs, Musee d’Orsay)
Viking Kari and an Afternoon in Montmartre
Our Time in La Roche-Guyon and Vernon/Giverny
Our Time on the Normandy Beaches
Our Time in Les Andelys and Le Pecq
Lodging Review: Renaissance Republique, Paris, France
Review: Air France A350 CDG-ORD

I’d never been to Paris so all the usual tourist stuff was on my list. I’d also heard the reputation of Parisians to be unwelcoming of those who don’t even try to speak French so I worked my way through all of my French I and a couple of disks of my French II CDs before departing. I realize we were in the touristy areas but I found folks very welcoming and friendly and was glad to see that this particular generalization was not true.

We arrived in Paris on a Saturday evening and wouldn’t be boarding our Viking longship until Wednesday so we had 3 full days plus some time on our own on Saturday evening and on Wednesday. While Viking offered a paid excursion to Versailles, we decided we’d rather do it on our own. We also noticed that there was no time allocated to visit the Louvre, which was also high on our list. To ensure we got to visit, we pre-purchased timed tickets to the Louvre for Monday (it’s closed on Tuesdays) and Versailles, which is closed on Mondays. As it turned out, I believe that was a wise choice for the Louvre but not quite as necessary for Versailles, though we went in October when it was not quite as busy as it would be during the summer.

On Sunday, our first full day in the city, we took the hop-on/hop-off bus and got a lay of the land, found some gems we weren’t aware of and basically just explored around parts of the city. Continue reading →