CINQ FOTOS-Paris Day 1

We bid a temporary farewell to Amsterdam as we will return later this week. We had an easy fast train trip to Paris, and we passed through a few major cities in Belgium on the way. With the exception of the cities, we mostly appeared to travel through farmland. We arrived in Paris a little before 3 pm, and we made our way to the room that we are renting.

I do think this is one of the nicest weather days that we've had since we left Portland in April. It was dry and sunny with a slight breeze.

We were greeted by Stephan and Stephane, two very sweet men who welcomed us with hibiscus tea and a fruit galette. They live on a spacious 5th floor flat, and we have a very nice guest room. They gave us many recommendations of walks to take, and we enjoyed learning about the highlights of the city through their eyes.

I shared with them that my actual surname should have been Fortin. Although, I have very deep French-Canadian roots, we located the areas where my French ancestors lived not too far outside of Paris.

We decided to head on a walk near a canal towards the gay district. As we crossed the River Seine we caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower an impressive figure in the distance and the visual reality check that we were really in Paris and not Las Vegas.

We stopped by the gay district for a drink and then we strolled the streets in the area without a set destination. We did find Notre Dame which is still closed and under reconstruction after the devastating 2019 fire. The construction site has very detailed panels about the efforts to rebuild and replicate what was lost.

We ended the evening with dinner at TaTa Hamburgers, and I had probably the best hamburger that I've had since time in the states.

We retired for the night, and we look forward to our first full day tomorrow.

Bonne Nuit!Read more