We went to Paris 2 weekends ago with my parents. The weather was perfect and the city was amazing. Fabri and I arrived Friday afternoon. It took about an hour longer to get from the airport to the hotel than we thought it would. The Air France bus took us 2 blocks away from the hotel which was very convenient, but we waited for at least 30 minutes, if not more for the bus to pick us up. Oh well. We arrived at the hotel and Mom & Dad were waiting for us. The hotel was very nice just down the street from the Arc de Triomphe! Here are a couple views from our window. It was very close quarters, so you couldn't stay there with just anybody. The bathroom even had a relatively see-through glass door!
After relaxing a bit from our trip, we all hit the subway and went down to the Pompidou Center. It was neat, but the Musee D'Orsay is still my favorite art museum in the world! After all that modern art, we walked to the Jewish quarter of Paris and saw the house/road where my grandfather was born.
Then we wandered around Paris until we found an acceptable bar for an aperitif. They were sooo stingy with the aperitif snacks, but the drinks weren't overpriced. Then we followed Dad to a Belgium Pub/Restaurant. We shared the Belgian specialty, moules frites and drank a bunch of beer. Then we headed to a beer brewery called the Frog & Rosbif where we get some more food, and of course more beer.
On Saturday morning we headed to Montmartre, my favorite area of Paris. We took the cable car up to the top of the hill and walked around watching the artists. Fabri and I are still looking for a piece for above our couch, but didn't find anything we liked enough to deal with the hassle of getting it home. We had lunch at another Belgian Pub/Restaurant (Dad doesn't travel without a list of all these types of places). Then Fabri & I went to the Eiffel Tower and took a boat ride down the Seine. Next time we'll try to take the nighttime boat ride; we hear it's amazing when the city is all lit up.
Saturday night was the Jimmy Buffet Concert. We had an aperitif with cheese & meats and rose´ wine. The rose´ was very appropriate because Jimmy had a new song, "Turn up the heat and chill the rose´!" The concert was a lot of fun. Just like all of his concerts it was more like a party. The theater was small and intimate and full of wild & crazy Americans & Brits. I think there were very few Frenchies. After the concert we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and more rose´!
Sunday Mom & Dad left early for the airport and home. Fabri and I had an afternoon flight, so we walked around Paris for a couple hours. Unfortunately everything is closed on Sunday, so I wasn't able to any shopping even on the Champs d'Elysee. We visited a flea market on the banks of the Seine, but didn't find anything. It was fun (and romantic) walking hand in hand through Paris Sunday morning.
