Another trip is wrapping up. I spent the night hoping we did not run out of LPG for the heater as the temperature hovered around freezing. I lucked out and we made it, though when we return we will be heading right to the LPG pump to fill up. We woke up early and finished preparing François before dropping him off for the winter.
The trip into Paris was uneventful, and we arrived at the hotel at the airport. We have upgraded to a Holiday Inn which is a huge improvement from the Comfort Inn we have been staying at.
We dropped François off and took our normal route to Paris. Everything worked as it should, except there was a long line to buy tickets for the train to the airport so we missed the last shuttle of the afternoon for our hotel. With the help of a couple of French ladies we were able to convince another hotel (with the help of €10) to drop us off at our hotel. The air conditioner in our room did not work and it was around 90 degrees, fortunately the window opened so we were able to cool the room down to sleep. We think its time to look for a new hotel.
Our neighbor at the aire in Gron last night. We are not sure what kind of cow this is.
Dinner was at our normal kebab place near the hotel. They did not have AC either so we did not linger. The highlight of the day was watching the US beat Spain in the Women’s World Cup.
We were up bright and early to deliver François back to France Motorhome Hire. After a quick turnover we were off to the train station in Sens. The trip to Paris was quick and relatively easy, involving a train and two different subway lines. We were lucky that both the train, and the subway to the airport were express with no stops.
There was nothing much to talk about the rest of the day. We went out for a kebab dinner at a place we have discovered near the airport hotel we use. At the end we settled down for the night in a proper bed for the first time in 50 nights.
The flight home was uneventful but long. The only hitch was that American Airlines couldn’t be bothered to transfer our bags to Alaska Airline in Chicago, and just threw them on their next flight to Portland. Apparently this is a pretty common occurrence, because as soon as we said we were coming in from Chicago the Alaska agent new what had happened. Fortunately the American flight was only about 30 minutes behind our Alaska flight.
We really enjoyed the trip to France, and are looking forward to the next trip to Europe. For the trip we covered about 2000 miles in 27 days, primarily in Burgundy and Provence. Even though we did not venture that far, we still could have probably spent another two weeks just in those areas. There is still a lot of France to see, and a whole lot of other countries.
François gave us no problems, and after this trip we are sold on using a European RV instead of shipping Scout. We are now in the process of lining up a slightly used RV over there.
Ron and François enjoying the countryside.
From a cost point of view, operating costs per day (excluding rental costs) were actually lower in France than our last two trips in North America. Fuel and camping costs per day were lower than we spent in Alaska and our western swing. While fuel is nearly 21/2 times higher in France than here, things are much closer together. We were also traveling during shoulder season so when we did stay in campgrounds they were generally cheaper than their counterparts here. As we got used to things we started gravitating towards Aires, and they are much cheaper than campgrounds. Food was higher in Europe, but not as much as we expected.
Today we planned to spend at the Louvre. Of all of the places in Paris Ron wanted to spend some extra time there as he had never been.
It is an overwhelming place in many ways. The building is huge, but the vast majority of people are there to see the two or three must see things, the Mona Lisa, David, and the Italian art. Those things are clustered in one area of the museum, and that area is packed. We did see all of those things, but the crowds were a little too much for Ron. The other wings of the building are nearly empty and there is a lot of good art.
This is not the crowded part of the Louvre.
After about 4 hours we had enough and decided to get some lunch. Ton was interested in getting some Moroccan food, and we found a good restaurant. We had our most expensive meal in France, and the meal was good. After lunch we decided to head back to Montmartre, and grab a couple of last minute things we wanted to take back to Oregon with us.
I think we enjoyed walking around Montmartre nearly as much as we did the Louvre for the day. We made a couple of trips to grocery stores in the area, as well as taking one last stroll (Ton would say climb) to the cathedral. We had our final dinner at an African restaurant across from the hotel that Ton had her eye on since we checked in The meal was excellent and the spices were really interesting. Ton’s fish was delicious.
Today was our day to be tourists. You cannot go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, the Louvre, Notre Dame, etc. We decided the best way to accomplish this was by buying a hop on hop off bus ticket.
We accomplished the mission seeing all of the important places, but unlike all of the other cities we visited where we walked from point to point, this time we rode a bus with loads of other tourists. Ton appreciated the lack of steps, and it would have been a bit much to try to do everything on foot, but for Ron it felt a lot more sterile from the bus.
The River Seine.
Paris is lovely, and though yesterday it looked like all hell had broke loose downtown, today you could not tell there had been a riot going on around here. We got wrapped up looking at stuff, and forgot to eat lunch. We did stop into a chocolate shop and had a nice chocolate sundae, and found a place for dinner later in the day.
Today is labor day in France. We decided to stay in Montmartre for the day as we were not sure what was going to be open in the center of the city. Also, there were some marches planned, and there was a rumor that some people were going to use the marches as a pretense to cause some problems.
Our hotel is very centrally located in Montmartre. We started the day by heading to the cathedral at the top of the hill. Montmartre is located on a pretty good sized hill, and it is a decent climb up to the cathedral. The views of the center of Paris from the cathedral are expansive.
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre.
Montmartre is famous for it’s cafe culture, so after spending about an hour deciding which cafe to eat in, we settled in for a lunch and to do what everyone else is doing, people watch. It is an interesting combination of tourists from all over the world, and locals. We enjoyed the lunch, though we had high expectations, and were a little disappointed with our food.
The streets of Montmartre full of tourists and locals.
After lunch we took another turn around the area, looking at the sites, and mostly the people. We did a little shopping and went back to the room to drop off our purchases, and take a siesta. Instead of a siesta, we were entertained by watching the riot that had broken out in the center of the city live on TV. A McDonalds was sacked and a it was not a good day to park your Mercedes downtown as it looks like the rioters specifically targeted them for burning.
After we got our fill of watching the TV, we decided to go back up to the cathedral for sunset, and dinner. At the cathedral we saw that we were not the only ones ignoring the riot going on a few miles away as there were several hundred people up enjoying the sunset.
The Basilica lit up after sunset.
Another thing Paris is famous for are pickpockets, and we noticed a gentleman suddenly confronting a younger man quite loudly. It turns out he noticed that the young guy was trying to get into a woman’s purse, and intervened to stop it. The young guy took off, and the lady rewarded the good samaritan with a couple of kisses on the cheek, and then sat down on top of her purse to finish watching sunset.
The Eiffel Tower from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
After an early start where we returned François to France Motor Home Hire. We had a quick meeting with the owners there and have a preliminary plan to buy a European based vehicle from them, instead of shipping Scout to Europe. We will post more as things develop along this line.
We arrived in the station at Sens, purchased our tickets and boarded an express for Paris within 10 minutes. Our timing could not have been better. After arriving at Gare deBercey station in Paris we took a taxi to our hotel in the Montmartre district of Paris. When we arrived it was really miserable. About 40 degrees, raining and really windy. Our motivation to go out and explore Paris was pretty low, so instead we hit a grocery store and settled in to our room for a rest. The weather is supposed to be better tomorrow, so Paris can wait.
Today we planned to spend at the Louvre. Of all of the places in Paris Ron wanted to spend some extra time there as he had never been.
It is an overwhelming place in many ways. The building is huge, but the vast majority of people are there to see the two or three must see things, the Mona Lisa, David, and the Italian art. Those things are clustered in one area of the museum, and that area is packed. We did see all of those things, but the crowds were a little too much for Ron. The other wings of the building are nearly empty and there is a lot of good art.
This is not the crowded part of the Louvre.
After about 4 hours we had enough and decided to get some lunch. Ton was interested in getting some Moroccan food, and we found a good restaurant. We had our most expensive meal in France, and the meal was good. After lunch we decided to head back to Montmartre, and grab a couple of last minute things we wanted to take back to Oregon with us.
I think we enjoyed walking around Montmartre nearly as much as we did the Louvre for the day. We made a couple of trips to grocery stores in the area, as well as taking one last stroll (Ton would say climb) to the cathedral. We had our final dinner at an African restaurant across from the hotel that Ton had her eye since we checked in The meal was excellent and the spices were really interesting. Ton’s fish was delicious.
Today was our day to be tourists. You cannot go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, the Louvre, Notre Dame, etc. We decided the best way to accomplish this was by buying a hop on hop off bus ticket.
We accomplished the mission seeing all of the important places, but unlike all of the other cities we visited where we walked from point to point, this time we rode a bus with loads of other tourists. Ton appreciated the lack of steps, and it would have been a bit much to try to do everything on foot, but for Ron it felt a lot more sterile from the bus.
The River Seine.
Paris is lovely, and though yesterday it looked like all hell had broke loose downtown, today you could not tell there had been a riot going on around here. We got wrapped up looking at stuff, and forgot to eat lunch. We did stop into a chocolate shop and had a nice chocolate sundae, and found a place for dinner later in the day.
Today is labor day in France. We decided to stay in Montmarte for the day as we were not sure what was going to be open in the center of the city. Also, there were some marches planned, and there was a rumor that some people were going to use the marches as a pretense to cause some problems.
Our hotel is very centrally located in Montmartre. We started the day by heading to the cathedral at the top of the hill. Montmartre is located on a pretty good sized hill, and it is a decent climb up to the cathedral. The views of the center of Paris from the cathedral are expansive.
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre.
Montmartre is famous for its cafe culture, so after spending about an hour deciding which cafe to eat in, we settled in for a lunch and to do what everyone else is doing, people watch. It is an interesting combination of tourists from all over the world, and locals. We enjoyed the lunch, though we had high expectations, and were a little disappointed with our food.
The streets of Montmarte full of tourists and locals, mostly tourists.
After lunch we took another turn around the area, looking at the sites, and mostly the people. We did a little shopping and went back to the room to drop off our purchases, and take a siesta. Instead of a siesta, we were entertained by watching the riot that had broken out in the center of the city live on TV. A McDonalds was sacked and a it was not a good day to park your Mercedes downtown as it looks like the rioters specifically targeted them for burning.
After we got our fill of watching the TV, we decided to go back up to the cathedral for sunset, and dinner. At the cathedral we saw that we were not the only ones ignoring the riot going on a few miles away, as there were several hundred people up enjoying the sunset.
The Basilica lit up after sunset.
Another thing Paris is famous for are pickpockets, and we noticed a gentleman suddenly confronting a younger man quite loudly. It turns out he noticed that the young guy was trying to get into a womans purse, and intervened to stop it. The young guy took off, and the lady rewarded the good samaritan with a couple of kisses on the cheek, and then sat down on top of her purse to finish watching sunset.
The Eiffel Tower from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
After an early start where we returned François to France Motor Home Hire. We had a quick meeting with the owners there and have a preliminary plan to buy a European based vehicle from them. We will post more as things develop along this line.
We arrived in the station at Sens, purchased our tickets and boarded an express for Paris within 10 minutes. Our timing could not have been better. After arriving at Gare de Bercey station in Paris we took a taxi to our hotel in the Montmartre district of Paris. When we arrived it was really miserable. About 40 degrees, raining and really windy. Our motivation to go out and explore Paris was pretty low, so instead we hit a grocery store and settled in to our room for a rest. The weather is supposed to be better tomorrow, so Paris can wait.
