Today was our last train travel day. We left Nevers at 8:40AM, with an arrival time in Paris around 12:00PM. It is worth taking a minute to talk about rail travel in France. Over the past week we travelled from Paris to Mont St-Michel, Mont-St-Michel to Lisieux, Lisiuex to Paris to Nevers, and Nevers to Paris. We used the high-speed TGV train, the inter cities trains, and the transport express regional (TER) trains. The experience was wonderful. I think of some of the trips I have taken while living in Arizona: Phoenix to Bryce Canyon/Zion, Phoenix to Los Angeles, Phoenix to San Diego, Tucson to Galveston to name a few. It took 8 hours to get to Bryce/Zion, 6 hours to San Diego, 7 hours to Los Angeles, and 16 hours to Galveston. All of these were done by car, but would be perfect for the high speed/TER trains. Unfortunately, Americans are infatuated with car travel and would choose that over the trains anytime. If we had high speed trains in the USA, I don't know if I would choose to fly very often. I know I wouldn't choose to drive if I had a better option.
We arrived in Paris and took an Uber to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Eiffel Rive Gauche, a spot tucked away on a back street not more than a 5 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower. We dropped our bags at the hotel and set out to find some food. We found a cafe, Cafe Le Dome, with a nice view of the Eiffel Tower. We should have checked the prices and reviews before we decided to eat there. One cheeseburger, fries and Coke set us back nearly $50. They stuffed us into a spot where it would have been tight for one person, let alone both of us. We split the burger and walked over to the Eiffel Tower.
 |
| Ou est la Tour Eiffel? |
 |
| Voila |
 |
| 2025 |
 |
| 2018 |
 |
Found this beauty in the park.
I wonder if she needs a green card? |
 |
| Crooked? |
 |
| Straight? |
On our first trip to Paris, two days after we were married, we found a couple of spots to hang out and grab some nice pictures. I have two photos from 2018, one of Jennie napping in the green grass and another of her, with the Eiffel Tower behind her, with her wedding curls still hanging around. We wanted to try and recreate those pictures. Unfortunately, they had the grass area fenced off and the spot with the tower behind her was overrun by vendors. We managed to get a couple of similar photos, but they weren't the same. The area we were in was the Jardins du Trocadero. It was sad to see how much grafitti and trash were present in 2025 versus 2018. It was like a different place altogether. The weather had turned hotter, and we headed back to our hotel for a little rest period. Thankfully this Paris hotel had an air conditioner.
 |
| Tree-lined street |
 |
| Our home in Paris |
 |
Merveilleux cafe avec terrasse avec une
fille américaine |
 |
| Emily? |
 |
| Restraining Pegasus on top of Pont Alexandre III |
 |
| Fontaine du Palmier at Place du Châtelet |
 |
| Nice ride |
 |
| Emily? |
 |
| Golden hour at the Eiffel Tower |
We headed back out for dinner and stopped at a restaurant called Angeli Focacceria, an Italian restaurant not more than 200 meters from the lunch disaster. What a difference that distance made. For about the same price as lunch we had Lasagnes Bolognese, Penne Bolognese and wine. The food was fantastic, and the night was beautiful. After dinner we walked over to the Promenade du qual Branly and decided to take a one hour cruise on the Seine. The time around the cruise terminal and on the boat was a great people watching time. So many people with their French Beret's, trying their best to look like Emily in Paris.
When the cruise was over, we walked back to our hotel and were out by 9:00PM. Tomorrow was a trip to Monet's Garden and to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
No comments:
Post a Comment