Apr 27 - April 28 Toronto to Paris

Apr 27 Depart Toronto

It was a 8 PM flight as we had to wait for passengers from a connecting flight. Uneventful, and as always an underwhelming Air Canada crew.

We chose the beef with potatoes and spinach which was better than most plane food.

I watched Mary Poppins Returns and John saw Creed II and Vice.


April 28 Arrive Paris

Cloudy with rain on and of all day.

Apr 28

Terminal 2 A Charles De Gaulle Paris 8:40 AM


MEETING POINTS:

Terminal 2A : Front of Starbucks coffee

After an uneventful flight we arrived in Paris at 9 AM, simple customs, stamp passport, pick up luggage and our driver was waiting for us. She didn't say one word, and unlike a male driver, she didn't help with the luggage.


Mercure Paris Centre Tour Eiffel
20 Rue Jean Rey, Paris 75015
Mercure Paris Centre Tour Eiffel is less than a 5-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower and the Seine. The Louvre and Jardin du Luxembourg are both about 15 minutes by subway.
The hotel features a French restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Guests will enjoy the calm of the terrace surrounded by a garden in the heart of Paris. The lounge bar suggests wine selections accompanied by tapas. Wireless Internet access is complimentary.

Checked in, and had the desk clerk ensure we keep the same room when we join the tour on May 2. It was only 10 AM so we were assuming we would be leaving our luggage and wandering for a few hours. Everyone around us was being told their rooms were not available. But she had a room ready for us! JOY!

It is small but perfect with fridge and microwave. Oddly the toilet is in one room and sink and shower in another.

We took our luggage up and headed out for coffee and croissants. The view when we stepped outside the hotel.

It was sunny but then it clouded over and we decided since we had our room to have a nap at 11 AM. We got up at 3 and headed out. No real plans in mind, other than to walk to Notre Dame. GPS said 14 minutes...later it dawned on us that was by car!

A placard explaining the new botanical concept for the Vertical Garden renovation of the Quai Branly Jacques Chirac Museum.

The Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity cathedral which we visited and will save for inSPIREd Sunday!

The Pont Alexandre III is a deck arch bridge that spans the Seine. It connects the Champs-Élysées quarter with those of the Invalides and Eiffel Tower. The bridge is widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the city. It is classified as a French Monument historique since 1975.The Beaux-Arts style bridge, with its exuberant Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs and winged horses at either end, was built between 1896 and 1900. It is named after Tsar Alexander III, who had concluded the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892. His son Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in October 1896. The style of the bridge reflects that of the Grand Palais, to which it leads on the right bank.

The trees are green, the lilacs and chestnut trees are in bloom. Tulips are almost finished and poppies and roses flowering! And love is in the air if you judge by the number of love locks!!

Thomas Jefferson was the Minister to France and Ambassador to Paris between the years 1785 and 1789, spending time in the walking, walking past this very spot where the statue stands every day, and a lover of architecture, he admired the building called the Hotel de Salm, which is how he has been depicted facing.

Musee D'Orsay is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography.

You wouldn't think that there had been a devastating fire at Notre Dame other than the streets closed off and still a police presence.

It started pouring and we decided we were hungry. We headed into the cliche Latin Quarter for dinner.

The Church of Saint-Séverin (French: Église Saint-Séverin) is a Roman Catholic church in the Latin Quarter of Paris, located on the lively tourist street Rue Saint-Séverin. It is one of the oldest churches that remains standing on the Left Bank, and it continues in use as a place of worship. It was on this burial ground that the first recorded surgery for gallstones was performed in 1451 by Germanus Collot. The patient survived.

Sorbonne

A quick peak, in sunshine, of Les Invalides on our way back to the hotel.
The entire streets around it still had the viewer stands and fences up from Saturday's Tour de France finish.

After we picked up some bananas and smoothies, along with a bottle of Armagnac, we were back in the hotel at 8:30 PM and done for the day.

A drink, a good movie what could be better?

STEPS 19,131 DISTANCE 14.5 km or 9 miles
Not a bad first day without any sleep!