2017 Canada North East - Day Four - PEI and Nova Scotia (Halifax)

July 23, 2017 - Day 4 Prince Edward Island (PEI), Nova Scotia (Halifax)

Although Denise and I had a very nice king sized bed, I slept quite badly.  I'm not sure why.   I had a hard time falling asleep and then woke up many times during the night.  Maybe it was the sea calling my name.  I don't know.  I was up by 6 AM, showered and ready to go.

Robert greeted us with a yummy breakfast. It was a frittata with lots of nice vegetables in it.  We also had bacon and toast to go along with it.  We also had milk and juice.  Dale wanted hot chocolate.  But Robert said that he did not have any.  Before leaving the final time, he told Dale he had found a packet and that Dale needs  to come back to get it.

At about 9:30 AM, we set out for church.  It started at 10 AM in Montague which was about a 30 minute drive.  The 'church' looked more like a seminary building.  Sacrament Meeting was held in a room the size of a Relief Society room with about 40 people in attendance.  It turned out to be Branch conference and the whole Stake Presidency was there.  As part of stake business they released the Branch President who had been serving in that calling for about 8 years.  The fellow they sustained to replace him served as Branch President some 30 years ago when he was really young.  Apparently he had joined the church 36 years prior.  But what a humble men these two were as they bore their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.   It was a nice spirit that I really enjoyed.   It is nice to know that I can travel just about any where in the world and find a group of saints that feel like I've known them all my life.  That is pretty cool!

After church, we headed to Panmure Island Lighthouse.  Robert had given us some free passes to get into the Lighthouse and go up to the top.  It was fun to go there and go up top and look around the area.  It is so beautiful and cool.  It is breezy and a nice break from the heat back home.

After visiting the Lighthouse, we stopped at a little shack on the beach by there for some 'chowder'.  Denise and I ordered a lobster roll and a bowl of chowder to share.  The chowder was expensive as the roll.  But it soon became apparent why.  It had more seafood in it than the sea we were by.   It was so good.  And the lobster roll tasted so nice too.  Lobsters and seafood in general is just a way of life here.  I could enjoy that way of life.

After enjoying lunch, we headed back to the Cliffside Inn to collect our belongings and change our clothes.  Robert whispered to me as we walked in that he was missing a pillow and jokingly wondered if Dale and Julee had stole it and took it to church because the pews would be 'too hard'.  We both laughed.  And then I remembered that I saw a pillow behind the door and told him that was where it probably was.  And it was there.  But we had a good laugh.

I am now writing this from the 'D' deck of the Nova Scotia to PEI ferry.    I'm listening to guy play the guitar and sing while we travel.  Dale, Julee and Denise are off somewhere reading their books and people watching.  I won't tell you who is reading and watching people...you'll have to guess that one!  It is a 75 minute journey.  Then once we arrive, it will be a 2.5 hour drive to Halifax. 

One more day of touring and then we get to head home.  I hit the wall about now and I'm ready to go home.  But I'm working my way through it.  Our visit to PEI has been wonderful.  So green, cool and 'Atlantic' beautiful!

Upon landing on Nova Scotia soil, we were greeted with a nice surprise.  We were told the drive to Halifax was 2.5 hours.  However, the GPS was telling us it was going to be 1.5 hours.  And it was.  But, that meant we had to tell our AIRBNB hosts that we were going to be an hour earlier.  They emailed us back saying that they would hurry but they might be 30 minutes later. Se said OK and then decided to go find the Halifax LDS temple.   We found the temple quite easily.  It sits next to a Stake Center and it was all locked up.  Nobody was at the church either.   So we took a few pictures and then left quickly.  After a few wrong turns, we found our way to our BNB.  Our hosts are from South Korea and live in the basement.  The home is a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom place.  It is pristine clean.  The mother and the daughter gave us a nice tour.  Once we got our gear inside, we headed to find a store and some dinner.  We ended up eating at a Tim Horton's...a very common fast food place in Canada.  But the funny story of the day came right after we ate dinner.  Next to us was a McDonald's.  Of course Julee and Dale wanted an Ice Cream cone.  So Julee went by herself to get two of them.  She comes out with two large cones...even Dale commented how big they were.  She gets in and we asked how much they were and how she paid for them.  She said she asked the guy if they took US dollars.  At first they said No.  But then a manager said they did.  Now these cones cost 3.30 Canadian.  Julee whips out a $20 US bill!  We about fell out of the car laughing.  I'm sure the clerk just looked at her.  Anyway, they gave her $24 CAN for it.  But now she has been ripped off for the last two hours cause she paid....possibly...$1 Canadian more than needed for the two cones and that was if she had gotten the BEST exchange rate...which we never do.  Anyway...it was funny.

Well...we are about to go to bed.  One more day touring around.  I sure hope we get home come Tuesday!  I'm starting to think about that already.  I'm tired and ready to go.

Pictures...

Views out of our room....

Breakfast....yum!

Nice morning at church....

A Lobster trap....seen all over this island.

The Lighthouse Inn Keeper and his light....

....and his beautiful wife.

Another lighthouse that was right by the ferry dock....

Waiting to get on the ferry....

Seats on the ferry....the weather was BEAUTIFUL.  Cool and breezy.

The Wood Island Lighthouse as we depart PEI....

Our entertainment....

Hello Nova Scotia...our 4th Canadian Province in as many days.

At least one stayed awake for the 1.5 hour drive....but actually, he was just waking up.

The Lord's House....the Halifax Temple.

Eternal companions....

2017 Canada North East - Day Three - Grand Falls and PEI

July 22, 2017 - Day 3 Grand Falls, Nb and Prince Edward Island (PEI)

Well, we are halfway through our NE Canada trip.  And all in all it has gone pretty good.  It is a busy time of year up here in this area.  Lots of people touring and vacationing.  And hotel prices are quite high as a result I believe.  Nonetheless, we have been able to find nice places to stay that have been clean and up to Julee's standards!  :-)

To start the morning off, the Quality Inn provided us each a $5 coupon towards breakfast that was served up in a small deli like place that was attached to the Inn.  I think when we got to the deli, so did everyone else in the hotel.  The line was fairly long and really slow.  The most expensive thing on the menu were waffles at $5.50.   I had an Egg McMuffin and it was $4.25.   Anyway, you'd think our orders would be easy.  But out of 4 dishes requested, two came back wrong.  Oh well.  The waffle they built nicely for Dale, they just kept.  He did not want whipped cream, bananas and Nutella on his.  Just butter and syrup.  This was not on their menu but they said they would build it for him.  But they forgot.  So they re-made his and served his original one to the next patron.  For me...they just forgot to make my egg McMuffin.  We eventually got out of there....but it was almost 9:30 AM.

We headed back into Grand Falls to check out the gorge and waterfall.  In reading the materials about this falls, at high time, it drops 9/10th of the same water that flows over Niagra Falls!  But they said within a couple of months, the water is re-routed to a power plan and little flows over it.  Well, that is what we saw.  But it is quite beautiful there even with a small flow.  

After spending some time walking around the gorge, we got in the car to do our next 3.5 hour drive.  Upon putting in our destination, it turned out to be a 5.5 hour drive!  Whoops!  It was telling us that we would not get to Anne of Green Gables Authors home until 4:30 PM and it closed at 5 PM.   So off we went.  Within about 5 minutes, the seniors will slobbering in the back of the car.  Eat, sleep and use the bathroom.  I look forward to that. :-).  Julee swears she could hear us talking even though her eyes were shut for an hour and she did not move.  Dale....it is close car door, lower eyelids, buenos noches!  I think he has not seen a single thing while in the car.  But, they are always well rested and ready to go at our stops.

We made it to PEI, after crossing the Northumberland Straight on a very long bridge.  Upon crossing the bridge, we noticed that the toll was $47.  We took a double take on that and kept going.  More on that in a minute.  We drove immediately across the island to Anne's authors home making it there at 4:20 PM.  It was a nice place but nothing to shake a stick at.  We took some pictures, went on a walk through a little grove of trees and just stretched our legs a bit.  The island is full of agriculture and beautiful fields of yellow topped vegetation.  We are not sure what that is but we are determined to find out.  After leaving Anne's house, we headed toward our BNB.  This was going to take us through the main town here, Charlottetown.  So we decided to look for Fish and Chips.  It pulled up a place call Brit's Fish and Chips.  So off we went.    As we drove into Charlottetown, we were passed by a really cool parade of semi-trucks.  They were honking their horns and having a good time.  I bet there were a good 50 of them together on the high way, most without trailers.  I thought of my brother Fred knowing this would make him proud to see being the Peterbilt guy that he is.  It also made me think of my brother Scott, who drives these things for a living.

Anyway, we found Brit's to be a nice place right in the middle of Charlottetown.  We were able to eat out side on the street and just enjoy a very nice evening there.  Upon finishing dinner, we drove through the streets and out to the water.  Charlottetown is a picturesque town with a lot of fun things to see and do.  But, our BNB was a 45 minute drive going south.  As we were driving, we were seeing signs indicating a Nova Scotia ferry.  We were heading in that direction.  Turns out, you could drive back up north, pay the $47 toll to get off the island OR you could take a ferry to Nova Scotia from the southern end which costs $77 for 4 people and a car.  That was a no brainier as it would save us nearly 3 hours of drive time if we took the ferry for $30 CAN.  So we booked a reservation on the ferry that will leave at 2:45 PM tomorrow.  It is a 70+ minute ride.

We easily found the Cliffside Inn.  We were warmly greeted by Robert, the single fellow who owns and hosts this facility.  It is made up of numerous rooms which can host up to 15 people he said.  We booked a two room suite with one bathroom.  Our room is really large with a king size bed.  The other room is a bit smaller, and has a double bed.  Guess who got the King!?!?  I know you thought I'd be generous and let Dale and Julee have it.  Not this time.  I wanted to stretch out so the seniors got the smaller one this go around.  I think we all survived.   The Inn does sit right on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the Northumberland Straight.  Off in the distance, you can see Nova Scotia.  And once in awhile,  you can see the ferry that we will go on later go by.  The only downside to this inn are the mosquitos.  Holy smokes, go outside and you are carried away.  Robert does provide lots of mosquito repellant and of course Julee sprayed herself to be able to go for a walk to get her 'steps in' almost immediately.  Pretty funny the importance those steps are to her.  

Let me take a quick side trip here and talk about Dale again.  I told the story about getting pills without a prescription from a Pharmacist.  Well, after dinner, we stopped to fill up the car with gas and there happened to be a McDonalds inside.  So we sent Dale into get some Ice Cream cones.  He was to buy two.  We gave him $5.  He bought 3.  After we got on the road, Denise asked where her change was from the $5.  He said that he did not have change.  He then went on to say that it rung up for more than $5 and he just told the clerk that he did not have any more money.  So they just let him go with the 3 ice creams.  It was only 15 or 20 cents more than the $5...but he gets away with these kind of things all the time!  We just laugh about it.  Also, poor Robert, he was fresh meat for Dale.  I think he and Robert could have talked for many hours.  Instead, we broke off the chatter to play a quick game of cards.  But Dale and Robert, with Julee joining them for a bit, could have talked for many hours.

Tomorrow, it looks like we will go to small branch here for church.  There are 3 'building's on the island here.  Fortunately, one is about 25 minute drive away.  We will do that, come back to change our clothes, and then go do some Lighthouse and Beach touring before we get on the ferry.  Should be a fun day!

Pictures...

Some pictures from the Grand Falls and Gorge....

They had Zip Lines that crossed the gorge...

5 minutes out of Grand Falls...it was a tough 15 minute Waterfall and Gorge visit!!!!

Prince Edward Island (PEI) arrival....

Fields of yellow flowers....which are either Canola or Mustard...per our Inn Keeper.

Author's home of Anne of Green Gables....

Semi Truck Parade as we come into Charlotte Town...

The seafood house in Charlottetown....

Yum!!!!!

Across the street, a place named after me!

The Cliffside Inn.....

The kitchen....

The 'chat' room...with the dining area down below.

The King room....

The blogger....writing while watching the ocean float by.

2017 Canada North East - Day Two - Quebec City, Grand Falls, New Brunswick

July 21, 2017 - Day 2 Quebec City & Grand Falls, Nb

Before I begin a quick summary of today's adventures, I must write about last night after I completed my blog.   While writing my blog, Dale decided he would go across the street to find a Pharmacy.  Turns out he left some meds at home.  So he went to petition a Pharmacist to give him a 'few' pills.  Well, believe it or not, they did.  I don't know how he did it.  Anyway, upon exiting the building, he must have become a bit lost.  He was gone an hour.  Denise and Julee actually took off to find him.  I some him from our balcony and yelled out to him and asked him what he was doing.  He just said he came out of the wrong door.  I guess so!  Anyway, that was an adventure for us all.

This morning, we had to be out of the dorm at 10 AM.  First on the agenda was to go get a 2nd rental car and drop the first one. We took a royal tour of the suburbs of QC finding Enterprise Rental Car.  We then headed out to the airport to drop the one that we drove from Montreal.  Once we had the 2nd car, we headed into Old Town QC hoping it would be less crowded and easier to find parking.  After an hour of endless lines of cars, we gave up and declared our tour a driving tour.  There must be a secret on how to use a car to get into that location...but we never figured it out.

We left QC downtown and headed back out to the falls that we saw yesterday.  This time Denise and Julee were going to zip line across it.  The whole way there, Julee did not quit talking about reasons why she should not do it.   She would not say that she did not want to do it.  But she just gave a ton of excuses.  Nonetheless, we got to the site and she jumped out with Denise to go get registered and get the gear.  Dale and I drove up the hill and then walked down to the bridge to take our place as the photographers.  In the end, both Denise and Julee flew across the falls and the deep gorge.  And Dale and I got video and still pictures.  They were so excited that they did it.  I'm glad I just photographed.  

After we did that, we drove around and found some food to eat.  We then headed towards Prince Edward Island although you have to go towards Montreal for a good while to get across a bridge and then you head east towards the east coast. 

It was a 3+ hour drive to Grand Falls, New Brunswick (NB).  On the way we hit some amazing rain storms.  At one point, it was so bad, people were pulling off to the side and putting their hazards on.  But give two motorcycle riders a lot of credit as they 'weathered' quite the storm on their bikes.  The temperature obviously became much cooler and has remained that way.  We are in a Quality Inn here in Grand Falls.  We picked stopping here as it was about half way to PEI.

This evening, we found a nice Italian restaurant and ordered some pizzas, salad and other stuff.  It was really good pizza.  The girl who checked us into the hotel said the it was 'the best pizza in the world.'.  Well, I would not go that far.  But it was pretty good.

Upon returning home, we decided to go for a quick swim\hot tub.  I think the pool was warmer than the hot tub.  Nonetheless, it felt nice after a long drive.  

PEI tomorrow....where I booked an AIRBNB on a cliff overlooking the ocean there.  I hope it turns out to be as nice as it sounds. 

Pictures...

The Zip Liners getting geared up!

The final trek to the zip lines....

There they go across the deep gorge....

New Brunswick....it is really green with lots of pine trees so far.

Crazy rain storm plagued us a bit on the drive.  This is Dale coming out of place where we emptied our tanks and got gas.  It was raining real hard...thus the blurry picture from inside the car.

Downtown Grand Falls.  It is a a very nice, really small town.

Nice Pizza dinner.....

Full, ready for some rest.  This is the eatery where we ate last night.  Very nice place.  

2017 Canada North East - Day One - Montreal & Quebec City

July 20, 2017 - Day 01 Montreal & Quebec City

Denise and I are on the move again.  This time with a trip to North East Canada...Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  We decided, at the last minute to invite Dale and Julee along.  The stand by loads were low and seat availability seemed high.  They accepted.  So off we went, last night from SLC to EWR (Newark) on a red-eye flight that left at 11:30 PM.  Instead of keeping one of our kids up late to take us, we took the train from Farmington to the airport.  All in all, the trip to Newark went fine.  We did not get First Class seats, like we hoped.  However, we each did get a row...Dale and Julee in one...Denise and I in another.  When Denise and I first boarded the plan and sat down, I had a rather big guy sitting next to me.  It did not take long for him to get up and move.  You can monitor seats and if people will be taking them.  So he knew a whole row was going to be open and he gruffly got up and moved.  He was a cranky guy.  Hard to figure people out like that.  Maybe he was having a bad night...who knows.

We all tried to sleep.  I suppose we all dozed off a bit...but nothing deep.  Too much noise and stuff going on.  We arrived at 5:45 AM.  I had decided than rather take the risk of not getting to Quebec City via air that we would fly to Montreal (more seats) and drive the 2+ hours up to Quebec City.  That worked out great.  It also allowed me to have a car for the first day.  I was not going to do that if we flew into Quebec.  We arrived into Quebec City about 2:30 PM and decided to go try to find Old Quebec City and the Funicular that you can take up a mountain.  Unfortunately, we came upon police that were standing in an intersection along our route.  They were re-routing everyone saying there was a maritime 'parade' going on in Old Town.  We did not know what that meant.  However, after going to a public bathroom and watching Julee change her clothing, we set out to a popular waterfall.  The waterfall is called Montmorency Falls.  It was quite beautiful.  But what was cool was watching the Zip Liners fly across the big gorge over the falls.  Denise and Julee swear they are doing it tomorrow.  They did not have the right shoes on to do it today.

After enjoying the falls a bit, we headed back into the city to go into the Old portion of it.  It was a zoo.  something is going on here which explains the unavailability of hotel rooms and the high costs.  I'm going to research what is going on....but there are TONS of people walking around the streets in the downtown area.  Anyway, we could not find parking after driving around for a good 45 minutes.  But, we did end up on strange cobblestone streets, saw some amazingly old architecture and some very large military boats on the river.  Quebec City is a very BEAUTIFUL city.

At around 5 PM, we headed to our AIRBNB place.  We paid an outrageous price for this place.  It turns out it is a college dorm room with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath.  But it is very clean and well located near lots of eateries and stores.  We won't be here long but we were able to go to the market and load up with some supplies for the evening and tomorrow's breakfast.

Traveling with Dale and Julee is really special.  You get to slow down and really enjoy the surroundings around you.  You get to enjoy the 'branch' of bananas brought from home (as if Canada did not have bananas).  You get to hear, 'there's a McDonalds, we should stop.'.  We miss McDonalds when we are away.  And we get to witness the eating of healthy things like Tuna and Onion Sandwiches on the plane or Deviled Egg Sandwiches for breakfast.  All good things to live by.  Denise and I will be blessed by having them with us on this trip.  We really do enjoy traveling with them as they bring us much joy and laughter as we travel about.  I truly wish my parents were able to travel and go with us now and again on such trips.   They would make us smile and laugh a bit too.

Well...I'm pretty beat.  No decent sleep since two days ago.  Tomorrow will do a bit more here in Quebec City and then head east toward Moncton, New Brunswick....which sits just off shore from Prince Edward Island.  It is a 7 hour drive which we will probably break up into two legs.    More to come!

Pictures:

Waiting for train at Farmington Front Runner station....

Excited travelers at 6 AM in the morning....(actually 4 AM Utah time).

Tried using Ashley's new blow up pillow.  I really liked it.  It was easy to blow up and take down.  Still uncomfortable...but much better.

We are off on our trip from Montreal's airport....

I think we killed them.....we were concerned....for a second!  :-)

Nope...they resurrected.  We are at the falls I wrote about.  Really cool place just outside the city.  Easy to get to.

Some falls pictures....

This photo was taken down town.  It does not begin to share the crowd size that was down there.  Long lines were everywhere to do stuff.  We were not sure what.

Lots of older churches around this city.  Pretty cool...

Our humble abode for the first night....no air conditioner, dorm rooms, loud streets.  But...lots of stuff just across the block.  So in that regard, a good choice.  But we paid more than we wanted too.

Such joy in getting a McDonald's ice cream cone...until it was realized the cone cost $1.20 USD versus 59 cents in the states.  What do you do...you just eat it slower!  :-)

2017 Paris, France - Day 5 - Trip home and summary thoughts.

April 12, 2017

 

After a long day yesterday, I fell right asleep.  But staying asleep was tough the whole trip.  I don’t know why, but I’d wake up and then my brain would not shut off.  So I was able to solve all the world’s problems (in my head) and listen to my wife howl at the moon.  Well…now howling…just deep breathing.  I was so jealous!  J  

 

While Denise was getting ready, I went for a walk down to the little super market on the corner to see what fruit they had.   I found some grapes and bought them.  I also grabbed some Orange Juice too.  As I returned back to the hotel, I also hit the little bakery shop on the corner too.  I will miss that place.  Everything fresh and warm every morning.  So good.  I had to pick up some nut bread and a ‘Pan de Cocolait’….or something like that.

 

We had decided the night before that we would get an Uber car to take us to the airport.  To use the Metro and Train, it would cost some 20 euro for both of us…which is pretty cheap for that distance.  But, we had been underground riding the metro most of the time and felt like we’d like a ‘car ride’ through Paris and it would be worth the price difference.  Uber was 35 euro to get to the airport.   Our flight to Chicago was at 11:15 AM.  So we wanted to be there around 9:15 AM.  We guessed it would be about an hour ride…which it was.  I think Uber said the trip was 54 minutes.  And it was at prime time and busy when in the city.  Once we got on to the freeway heading north out of town to Charles de Gaulle Airport the traffic flowed well.  Anyway, at the hotel, after requesting the Uber ride, Uber would not accept payment on ApplePay or my AMEX card.  As a matter of fact, it did not pay for the ride from the previous day to the temple either.  I still had to pay that.  I had to sit down and enter my new AMEX card as the old one is no longer valid.  ApplePay should have been fine.  So I don’t know why it did not work.  But once I entered my new card, I re-requested the car and the payment worked just fine.

 

The driver was a fairly young man who spoke very little English.  But we made due.  The drive through town was cool.  We even drove through the Arc de Triomphe round.  Amazing experience seeing him do that.  Upon arriving at the International Terminal (Terminal 1), I was amazed at how poorly they handled the ‘queue’ of cars trying to drop people off.  It was interesting that you actually pulled into a parking stall to get out, get your stuff and then get out.  I’ve never seen that at an airport before.  But it worked.  Once inside this round terminal, we walked until we found United.  We had already checked in on our phones which was surprising for an international flight.  We still thought we had to check in with United.  But that was not the case.   A fellow pointed us to the place where we started our journey to get out of France.  You first go through border control.  Then, you walk a long ways out to where the gates are.  But just before getting there, you go through security like we do in the states.  It was different in that security was not close to the check in location.  It was in a totally different building.  That was different.  We made it through OK with about an hour to spare.

 

We easily got seats this time.  This plane was a 767 with a 2 by 3 by 2 seat configuration.  So Denise and I were together, initially.  Looking at my phone, I could see that the seat across from us was not going to be used.  And the middle seat next to it was not used either.  I suggested to Denise to move over there so she could have more space and be more comfortable.  She interpreted that to be that I did not want to sit by her.  Big mistake by me, I guess.  Oh well, next time I will not suggest.  But, it was a comfortable ride home.  I even fell asleep for a couple of hours.   This 767 needed to be retired though.  The screens on the seats were these little 4x4 screens.  They had no movies.  I guess the new 787 Dream Liners have spoiled me.  At least they had some wifi and you could watch movies and TV shows using those.  They also have cool windows where you ‘tent’ the windows to a level you want light to come through.  Lots of neat stuff on those.

 

The trip from Paris to Chicago went by fast, in comparison to the trip there from SFO.  Upon arriving to ORD, we went quickly to our gate in Concourse C.  As I sat down, I loaded the app to see what chances we had to get on.  It did not look very good.  But I noticed that a direct flight to SLC, in concourse B, had been delayed 3 hours.  And it showed more seat availability.  So, we made the decision to list ourselves on that direct flight and forego the flight to Denver that we thought we needed to take.  That turned out to be a good decision.  And although the flight did not leave until 4 PM, we arrive in SLC at 6:30 PM…much earlier than had we gone through Denver.  Plus, for us, it is cheaper that way having flown less legs.  So the flight home from Paris to SLC went very, very well!  So pleased…

 

Some last thoughts about Paris…..

 

Public transportation is really easy to use.  You can buy a block of tickets (10 minimum) for 1.40 euro.  They are 1.90 otherwise per ticket.  I made the mistake of buying two blocks of 10.  We ended up not using 8 of them.  I donated them to our Uber driver as a tip, even though he said he did not use the metro at all.  He said he would give them to his friends.  Maybe I should have just kept them.  I have no idea what the shelf life of them are.  Oh well.  Moral to the story, don’t over buy if you can avoid it.  Use the RER B train to get to the Rue de Nord Train station and then figure out the metro from there.  Once you pay for the RER, the metro transfers are included.  Cost 10 euro per person to do that.  Don’t try to drive in Paris.

 

Paris is huge.  So much to see and do.  Honestly, 3 days is not enough to even touch it if you are a museum and art lover.  People come alive around 8 PM.  The restaurants are full at 9 PM.  At 6 or 7, very easy to sit down and eat.  Lines to sites are LONG!  Plan on that.  I was amazed at the length of lines we had to stand in.  Look for ways to get tickets in advance or with tour groups.  Get a hotel near a metro station.  Makes your life easier.  We really enjoyed being out by the Eiffel Tower.  That worked out well.

 

Our hotel ‘Hotel Relais Bosquet’ was really nice.  The rooms, naturally, are not big.  Our room was newly remodeled and very modern.  It had plenty of space.   The hotel does offer a nice breakfast in the morning.  It sounded like if you booked the hotel from their Facebook page, it was included in the price.  We did not get that since I booked through Booking.com.  It would have cost 16 euro person.  My chocolate croissant each morning was a lot cheaper from the corner bakery.

 

The food is very good there and it is everywhere near where we stayed.  I suspect that is the case near most metro stops.  The bakeries we found were awesome.  I’d weigh a ton if I Iived near one of them here in the states. 

 

I found the people very kind.  Those that would look me in the eye would usually respond nicely to my inquiries.

 

We had great weather.  It was in the 70’s the first day…quite warm.  It gradually got cooler each day.  But still, it was beautiful.  Great to go to Paris in spring time.

 

What can I say…another great trip and another country to add to my group of flags in my office!

No pictures at this point.....