Bonjour Paris!!!

We arrived safely this morning around 10AM after our overnight flight on Air Canada from Toronto.
Our driver was waiting for us when we exited with our bags. The four of us were then driven to our hotel, the Waldorf Trocadero.
As we were being driven, we caught our first view of the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Sacre Coeur.

Established in 2003, Alain Marcot, French interior decorator, has refurbished this former 1920 private house. It  is situated around the Arc de Triomphe, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower. it is a small, boutique hotel with only 44 rooms. It is a non-smoking hotel, which is a pleasure when in Paris!

We reached the hotel around 11 but our rooms were not available until 3PM.


We were all very excited and didn't care about our jetlag. We set out to simply wander and soak up the atmosphere. It was a little overcast and cool but after the humidity it felt great!

First things first! We all took a deep breath, looked around and said to each other "are we really here???"
We soaked in the feeling of the ancient streets, listened to the babble of foreign languages and didn't worry about camera batteries for a moment.

First destination - the Eiffel Tower as it was a quick five minute walk from our hotel. The cameras went into action very quickly as one of us always snapping something.
Our first shot of the Eiffel Tower!!

Located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, it was built in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair. It has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest building in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.

You can view Hôtel des Invalides/Napoleon's Tomb right through the bottom of the Tower.
In 1670, the Sun King Louis XIV decided to build this "hotel" to house soldiers with disabilities. It wasn't an entirely benevolent gesture, considering that the men had been injured, crippled, or blinded while fighting his battles.

The Eiffel Tower remained the highest monument in the world until the construction of New York's Chrysler Building in 1930.

Once we soaked up our first views it was time to have lunch in Le Malakoff with a view of the Tower.
Image Source

Feeling refreshed we head back to take more photos of the tower. Dark clouds kept swirling around making us take our jackets on and off!

 Below the Tower are The Gardens of the Trocadero which were created for the Universal Exhibition of 1878. Napoleon the Third’s aim was to make these parks a symbol of social harmony.


Located at the centre of the park is the fountain of Warsaw which offers a spectacle of lights and jets of water at sunset.

The gardens are ornamented with sculptures, amongst them “the Man” by Traverse or “The Woman” by Bacqué which overhang the basins.

We continued our walking across the bridge and onto the grounds of the Tower. The lines to get into the tower were immense. We strolled and took more photos. Just as there were armed guards with AK47s at the airport so too do they patrol the grounds of the Tower.
Image source

By now we had been up 26 hours and it was 3PM so we decided to walk back to the hotel and have a nap and then head out to dinner at 7:30.

The hotel is gorgeous. Tiny and beautifully decorated.

After a nap we met up and wandered out to a local cafe for dinner. We found the Corner Cafe located at 68 avenue Kléber and took a seat outside.


The service was delightful, everyone could speak some English. Between us we had duck ( was incroyable!!), baby back ribs also declared delicious, steak frites again delicious and a pasta dish that was rated that greatly. And the prices were very reasonable compared to our lunch which was located closer to the Tower.
Dessert!!!

We decide to take a walk to the Eiffel Tower and I am so glad we did. There she was all dressed up in her gold gown.

 And then!! Every hour on the hour the sequins are lit and sparkle on her dress, the crowd lets out an appreciable whistle!!

After that light show it was time to say good night!!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm linking up over here and at Tina's Wordless Wednesday.






Sign on door of river cruise ship on our Russian cruise last May.

Places We've Stayed - New Bern NC

We use a lot of timeshare for our trips.
In October 2011 we stayed at Windjammer Fairfield Harbor Condos near new Bern, North Carolina.

According to RCI's website:
Nestled along the Neuse River, Fairfield Harbour/Windjammer Villas I is a resort within a resort. Here you can enjoy three outdoor pools, tennis courts, a recreation center with an indoor pool, a miniature golf course, two 18-hole golf courses, and boat slips that can accommodate boats up to 60 feet in length. You'll also find rental boats available in Morehead City and New Bern. Of course no vacation would be complete without relaxing accommodations, and this resort doesn't disappoint, offering spacious two-bedroom units with full kitchens, washer/dryers and Jacuzzi tubs.

They don't mention that only one of the golf courses is available for use. 

I do love a condo that is a "house", with no one above or below you. The furnishings were a little dated but spotless.

 I loved the closed-in porch along with another deck off the master bedroom.

This tub had a huge skylight over it.

 The view from the deck.

We were told not to feed the geese but who could resist helping out this little guy who is missing his wings. I wonder how that happened. However, he kept up with the rest of his gang.

My Recipe Box - Hummus

Source

This is so simple and cheap to make compared to buying store-made.

From the Magic Bullet cookbook.

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable or chicken stock
14 ounces chickpeas, drained
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini

Directions
Place everything in the tall cup.
Fit the cross blade.
Blend until smooth.

Skywatch Friday

I'm linking up over here today!

Taken while driving into Toronto on the 401 after a weekend away.

Toronto - Canoe

On Tuesday my DH took me to Canoe, a restaurant of great repute in downtown Toronto's financial district. These first three photos are courtesy of this website.
The restaurant is located on the 54th floor of one of the TD Towers.




We had a spectacular view of the Toronto Islands. The service is impeccable and the food is divine.

Clover Road's duck "Tongue to Tail" Sourtilege maple whiskey cured foie gras Rillettes et Parfait was our shared appetizer.
And WOW was it amazing. When the waiter brought the dish he described it in detail. The "Tongue to Tail" described the various parts of the duck that we had on the plate. It was meant to depict the portions of the duck. There was the breast, and several parts made up the pate - the heart, the kidneys and liver. It was truly amazing! Photos are not the best as we used our phone.

A reflection of the windows in the wine glass. The wine was from the Picton area of Ontario, a pinot noir from the winery Keint-He. The name is derived from a native word which was anglicized to Quinte, hence the Bay of Quinte.

We both had the Alberta lamb, Branson pickle, baby turnips, spring onion and butterball potatoes. Absolutely delicious!!

 I was full and am not usually a dessert person, BUT honestly!! This sticky toffee date pudding layered with passion fruit ice cream and and almond foam was mouth-wateringly delicious that we almost ordered a second one. I was out with a friend last night and we were discussing the restaurant and she asked longingly about this dessert!!

Alphabe-Thursday

 

I'm posting over at Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. 
Today's letter is K. 

For today's letter I thought long and hard about the letter K. Then I decided on Kitchen where we've had many a Kitchen Kaffee Kalstch!
This is a history of our Kitchen since we moved in twenty years ago. I have been on a mission to make our house "sell ready" for the last couple of years and the Kitchen was the (almost) last room to get neutralized with paint and decoration.

These photos are running chronologically backwards. This is a fun trip down memory lane!!

Wordless Wednesday

Taken in 2006 in Pecos National Park, New Mexico.