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Paris and home -- Oct 22

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 It's our day to fly back. Luckily both our flights leave around 4pm so we have the morning. We head out for breakfast and attempt to get a crepe, something still on our bucket list. We find a nearby bistro, Le Franc-Tireur, that has crepes for Ryan and me - a jam crepe and a nutella. Steve gets a smoked salmon and toast dish that looks amazing. So with a little breakfast we are ready to head out. I buy a baguette and take it home to make up some small sandwiches with the meat and cheese we have left in the frig. They turn out to be pretty tasty. We all get one. Our last delicious baguette. It was warm when I bought it! 9bis Rue de Pierre Demours Greg has us worried about the airport and so we decide to head out early. They have had our street closed for construction but it is now reopened and we think the Uber will find us. He does but not without some searching. He fits all 3 of us and our luggage into his car and off we go. He drops us all at Terminal 2A. Steve and I check in li...
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Paris -- Oct 21

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We are off to Versailles. We pick up some sandwiches before we head out. Ryan has it all routed and we get to the station to catch the C train to Versailles but there is no one there and it appears that the train isn't running. I finally stop some nice Metro workers who tell us how to reroute ourselves to get to Versailles. So we backtrack a bit, get on another train, eat our sandwiches on the nice two-story train and are in Versailles around 12:30 p.m. It's maybe a 10 minute walk to the palace and soon we are inside. We have downloaded the online audio guide which is very helpful.  We start out touring the state apartments which includes the rooms of the Dauphin and Louis XV's daughters, the Hall of Mirrors, and the King's rooms and many more rooms which start to blend together. The palace is so much less populated than the last time we were here. It is even possible to move around in the Hall of Mirrors! After a few hours we head out to see a bit of the gardens. The w...
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Paris -- Oct 20

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Off to the Louvre. We need lunch and find a perfectly acceptable bistro right across the street. Ryan has a croque monsieur. I have a quiche, and Steve has onion soup and an omelette. We are ready to hit the paintings.  The Louvre is just overwhelming. Ryan and I start with a loop that includes the Mona Lisa. We don't get very near it but there are three other great DaVinci paintings across the hallway that no one is paying any attention to. We do pass Winged Victory and ultimately figure out how to get in one wing and into another wing. I hit the Vermeer and the Rembrandt room. And then we just catch whatever is interesting as we pass by. It's about 5:00 and we are ready to leave. We can metro to Le Grand Epicerie so Steve can buy his wine. The one in our old neighborhood is actually easier to get to. But when we walk in we find that they do not ship wine so Steve is very disappointed. He eventually comes around to buying two bottles to carry with him and Ryan buys one. At lea...
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Paris -- Oct 19

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We have to be up early so we can be in the Place d'Italie for our wine tour of Burgundy. It's still dark when we hit the metro. We get worried we might not get there by 8am but turns out we are the first, there even before our guide. We are joined by Luiz, our sommelier, a family of 3 from Texas and Oregon and Costa Rica, and a newly married pair who can't keep their hands off each other. We get in the van and start our 1 1/2 hour drive to Chablis. We stop at a bakery in Chablis and Luiz gets us all a local cheese bread called le gougère to try. Then we stop at Severin and get a good introduction to Chablis and several tastings. Then we drive into Burgundy and Luiz stops at a good view point where we look out over the villages and vineyards. It's a nice day and the scenery is beautiful. Our next stop is a winery where we get a charcuterie lunch and taste their wines at the same time. Nothing special here but lunch is good although a bit sparse perhaps. Our last stop is ...
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Paris -- Oct 18

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Start the morning with croissants from another spot but they aren't as good. We had planned to go to the Louvre but discover they are closed in spite of all our research. So instead we do St. Chapelle. We have tickets ahead and the wait isn't too bad. As pretty as I remember it. Our next stop is the Musee D'Orsay in the old train station. We decide to walk since it is along the Seine. Very picturesque. We buy a small painting of Notre Dame from an artist along the river.  We didn't buy tickets ahead for the museum but the wait isn't too bad and it's mid afternoon. The museum turns out not to be my favorite. Since it is located in an old train station the central hall is interesting but just overstuffed with sculpture. It is a bit convoluted to get to the various painting areas. Ryan and I go through the Edvard Munch exhibition which is very crowded. Best things are the impressionist paintings. And then we find Whistler's Mother which has moved fr...
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Paris -- Oct 17

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We all got a good sleep and start off the morning with a fresh croissant from the patisserie down the street. Buttery and delicious. We are off for our walking tour of the Montmartre. It's a rainy morning. Our tour guide is good and we see interesting spots along the way like the Moulin Rouge, windmills, Van Gogh's house, and cute streets. We end at the top of Montmartre at Sacre Coeur. We head inside to enjoy the beauty and the view and take a break from the rain. Now time to find lunch. We do a little walking away from the tourist crowds and end up at a spot called the Le Refuge. Turns out to be great! I have a goat cheese salad that is wonderful and a croque monsieur. The boys have fish and chips. They say it is among the best they've had. We even had a bottle of a very nice white wine with our lunch. So French! Then we head back and since we were at the Champs Elysees Ryan wants to head to Yves St Lauren to look for his wallet. I am pooped so head back home. The boys pu...
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Cairo to Paris -- Oct 16

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Up at 4:30am. Oh my. Another early morning. Chat with Ryan who is at airport getting ready to board. We are met in lobby by Yassir. We get a big bag of breakfast and are out in our van to the airport. At the airport we are met by the same Viking rep who met us when we arrived. He helps us check in, gets us through passport control, and security. We are on same plane with Mary and Greg and are at the gate with an hour to kill. Takes a while to board and lift off. Lots of planes in line. Flight seems long but passes without incident. Food is pretty good. We land at 3pm and get thru passport control and get our bags and get an Uber with a little bit of confusion about the pickup spot. Greg and Mary take the train. We say goodbye to them but plan to see them on Tuesday for dinner. Ryan is already at the apartment and tells us how to get in since he has figured it out the hard way.  We start out at the wrong apartment building but soon correct ourselves and get inside and find Ryan. We ...
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