Paris, France

 Friday, May 20th was our last stop on the cruise.  It was a big one.  We took an excursion to another of the most beautiful cities in Europe- Paris, France.  Though it was a three-hour trip from the port, it was worth it.  In fact, we decided it was the only way to see Paris that day.

The day started early as we were to fly home the next day and had to be tested for COVID a day prior to our flight.  We got in a very long line before 6:00am to get tested.  We then had to wait in our room for twenty minutes fpr a phone call.  They only called those who were positive.  No call and you can go.  We barely made our 7:00am excursion.

We docked at Le Havre cruise port.

The drive to Paris was beautiful.  We stopped once at a convenience store/rest room.  It started to rain while on the way, making many of our Paris pictures less than perfect, but that's okay.  We were grateful to see what we saw.

The Arc de Triomphe.  Our driver drove around it several times so we could get pictures.

The eternal flame beneath the Arc de Triomphe

I took many pictures out the side windows, looking up side streets and at the people and sights, trying to capture the feel of Paris.

Apartment building

I love this one.

Our watery picture of Fontaine Louvois

I found a non-rainy picture on the internet.

Luxor Obilisque

The fountain with the Luxor Obilisque in the background

Place de la Concorde- Paris has many big town squares

Paris Opera House

This opera house was such a beautiful building

The streets were so busy with constant traffic jams.  That is why we were glad we did this on a tour rather than try to arrange it on our own.  Our bus driver handled it all beautifully.

Place Vendome- The Hotel Ritz where Princess Diana spent her last night

Early on in our trip, I noticed a strange thing- doorknobs in the middle of doors.  I even asked one of the tour guides about it and she explained that they were more to push the door than to unlatch it.  That's something we don't see in our country.  We saw it all over Europe.

Arts and Crafts Museum

Historical Paris Stock Exchange

Industrial Design Museum

A Beautiful Church

Place de la Republique

We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch.  As we learned on our Cork tour, these excursion lunches leave something to be desired.

The menu sounded pretty good.

There were too many people stuffed in a hot, stuffy room.  It was very difficult for them to serve everyone in a timely way. The food was mediocre.  Well, except for the Poulette sauce on the chicken.  That was crazy good. I have got to google the recipe for that sauce! You would think French fries in France would be delicious, but they weren't very good.  In fact, I didn't eat them, but Ken did. He confirmed that they were nothing to write home about.  But, anyway, I couldn't wait to get out of there.  I didn't stay for dessert.  They said it was really good.

The appetizer- like deviled eggs

After lunch, we were back on the bus for more sightseeing.

Everywhere we went we saw Ukrainian flags

Les Invalides Museum and Art Gallery

July Column- commemorating the French Revolution of 1830.

River docks

Famous bridge over the Seine

French National Assembly

Notre Dame is being rebuilt

I love this picture

St. Michael Fountain

French Parliament

Pedestrian Bridge in front of the Louve

The Louve is surprisingly huge

It covers several blocks

The Louve

Ah, Paris!

Catholic Church

La Madeline Catholic Church

Pont Alexandre

Military Headquarters

And now, for the highlight of the day:  The Eiffel tower.  We were so excited to see it.  As we started taking pictures there I commented that we should take a lot.  "We can't get too many pictures of the Eiffel tower," I said.  I am rethinking that now!  We have a lot.  I am loathe to delete many of them.  I love them all.  So, scroll fast through or go slow and enjoy the highlight of Paris!

Ken got a lot of pictures from different angles.  While he took lots of pictures on his phone and also took lots for others posing in front of this famous landmark, I was in line for the world's slowest rest room.  Teaser:  You can read about that in tomorrow's post.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.  Nice work Ken!

Civilian War Memorial

The last major attraction that our bus took us to was France's twin statue of Liberty.

We saw most of the famous landmarks of the city in just a few hours. We also saw and "felt" Paris and experienced it for a short time. It was a wonderful excursion.

We then made the long trip back to the port, seeing beautiful scenery along the way.

Rural water tower

The River Seine way downstream from Paris, near Le Havre

The River Seine and the headwaters of a canal serving the Le Havre area

A beautiful bridge.

We were happy to have this letter in our room when we got back stating that we tested negative for COVID.  That meant we could fly home the next day.

It was a long day, but a very nice one.  We loved being able to go to Paris, France.  

We had to pack up and get our luggage out for an early morning departure the next day.  Viva la Paris!