Arc de triomphe du Carrousel

Reflecting back on our 1 1/2 days in Paris, France..
We arrived 4/21/2025 at Charles de GaulleAirport (CDG). We met up with our friends Lou and Tawna, which, Mark and I met on a Miami Dolphin cruise two years ago, they have done the Camino two times. Along with them is their friend Tom, all from California..
We got to our hotel around 4 pm. Went next door to the hotel and got lunch, I got a delicious salad.. then off to the Eiffel Tower, the only tickets we could get was at 10 o’clock that night, and the elevator tickets were sold out, so we walked to the second level (equivalent to 35 stories). We had pizza at a little Italian restaurant, delicious!!
Second day was pouring rain, it was then I realized I left all my rain gear, beanie hat and gloves at the airport.. I had all my rain gear in a separate bag which I had cinched on top of my backpack.. as Tanya and I were waiting on the group from California, I decided to do a minor re-sort my back pack and my cinch strap buckle broke, I thought no big deal, I’ll just pick up another strap in Paris, and carry the rain gear bag (it had a handle). Well, that bag never made it out of the airport, I guess I left it on the bench in the airport…. Tanya saved the day, I borrowed her extra pinch until I could replace all my rain gear… on with our day.. First we had breakfast and a French croissant, i can’t put in words how delicious that croissant was!! Off the Notre Dame, the rain continued as we waited in the long line, it was beautiful and very touching, as a lot of people were paying homage to the Pope… We then made our way to the Basilica.. a few cafes for coffee or a cocktail in between..we topped the night off with a boat ride on the Seine river..

We are leaving Paris this morning.. 4/24/2025, on a bullet train going to St Jean Pied Port (SJPP), this is where we start our walk..
I want to mention Christina, who is a friend of Lou and Tawna.. she is from Arizona, and a young lady who is traveling around Europe..Through her travels she has learned to navigate the complex metro system, which in return helped us so much, we would have spent several waisted hours trying to figure out, and spent $$$$ on taxi’s and Ubers..Read more