07/21/2014 Dijon at leisure

Grand Hotel La Cloche

We are staying two nights in Grand Hotel La Cloche.

Last night we had a fantastic dinner in the lower level of the hotel.  We started off with a salad and some great bread (France has fantastic bread everywhere). That was followed by braised beef in burgundy, carrots and potatoes.  Desert was a lava cake (chocolate galore).

Started the day today sleeping in.  Had breakfast at 9:30 then found a laundromat.  Raining lightly but only an 8 minute walk.

Connie and I then found a boulangerie (bakery/deli) across the street where we picked up lunch.  Following that we had a nice walk around the city with our tour guide.  Here are just a few shots from that walk.

Beautiful facade and roof

Cat and Owl adornment

Medieval Homes

Medieval Street

Nice dinner and outing scheduled this evening.  I’ll try to remember to take some pictures of the meal to share tomorrow.

Au re voir.

07/20/2014 Paris – Dijon

We started the day with breakfast at Le Meredian (very nice).  We left via a very nice Mercedes bus (I’ll post a pic at some point) and traveled first to Troyes.  A beautiful old town with lots of history.   We had lunch there and wandered around for an hour.  Connie had quiche lorraine and I had a chicken sandwich (not a buritto but it did the trick).

Troyes

We then traveled on to Chablis where we stopped into a quaint brasserie and did a wine tasting (for me a little more than a tasting).

Wine tasting – Chablis

We then stopped in Vezelay and visited the Basilica where the crypt of Mary Magdalene is.  It was a beautiful property but not as adorned as one would expect though the church was nice.

Mary Magdalene crypt

We ended our day in Dijon where we will spend tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night.  We are looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and then exploring the city.  Plenty to do.  We have also signed up for a dinner excursion tomorrow night that includes a wine and cheese tasting.

This is a map of our travels today (marked in ink).

Au re voir.

07/19/2014 Paris – Changeover Day

Last nite we spent our last night at Paix Republic hotel.  Today we had breakfast there and then packed and moved to the starting point for our first tour Insight “Country Roads of France” (see link below).

Le Meredian hotel is a top notch hotel within walking ddistance to Champ de’ Elysse and the Eifel tower.  It is where we begin our first tour.

Le Meredian

We took the subway and arrived in time to meet Alun (our tour director) in the lobby.  He got us our room.  Beautiful place.  The Meredian is top of the line worldwide.

Grabbed a quick shower then off to lunch.  Connie and I split a pizza.  First Italian since we arrived.

Lunch Pizza

As we wandered around looking for lunch we came across this gas station.  First we’ve seen in Paris since we arrived.  Sort of surprising.

Gas Station

We have our introductory dinner at 6:00 in the lounge.

Aurevoir.

07/18/2014 Friday Paris

We started the day at one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Notre Dame.  This is our second trip to Paris and with all there is to see I needed to come back.  It is truly an amazing place.   Here are a few of the pictures we took.

Notre Dame w Frank

Notre Dame inside

Notre Dame outside

We then set out to visit another old friend.  Sacre Coeur.  It is a long climb up from the subway station in 90°+ heat.  Lots of water.  It is a wonderful old church with much beauty and history.

Sacre Coeur

After our visit to the church we walked over to an area we discovered on a walking tour (we use Frommes 24 walks in Paris) when we were here in 2010.  Much of the artists area seems to have been taken over by restaurants but the area is still special.

Square near Sacre Coeur

Artist in square

It’s 4:00 and still blazing hot.  Over 90°F.  Some reduction is expected for tomorrow.

Last nite for dinner Connie and I walked up the street and found a nice restaurant.  I had grilled chicken.  Connie also had chicken but hers was prepared in a cream sauce with mushrooms and green peppers.  Tappas tonight in another place we discovered along the way.

Take care everyone and follow us along on our journey.

Ciao!

 

07/17/2014 Thursday Beautiful – HOT – day walking in Paris.

Beautiful indoor mall

Ceiling in opera house.

Opera house

Beautiful church

 

Lunch

We had breakfast then upgraded our room to a Superior Room.  More cost but has A/C and with temps in the 90’s it is essential.  Then set out to explore.  We walked to a closed off area with shops all over.  It was about 1 1/2 mile’s away.  from there we walked another mile to the start of one of our Frommers 24 walks of Paris.  It was called “The Phantom of the Opera” (another 1.5 Mile’s of walking) that started at Trinite Church (1860 so not that old but beautiful).  From there we saw the Opera Palais Garnier (built mid 19th century) where we walked through the opera house (hope I can upload pics today – trouble yesterday).  We also walked through the Intercontinental Le Grand Hotel.  This hotel was built at the same time as the opera house for its wealthy guests.  We walked through (and I had lunch – hope pic loads) a large building that housed an indoor mall.  6 floors with all kinds of high end stores.  Cheeses, meats, you name it.  Finished our walk by seeing the Paris Ritz Carlton owned by Mohamed Al Fayed.  It is where Princess Diana and Dodie Al Fayed left from the back door for their fatal car journey in 1997. Thats it for now.  Take care everyone.