fscher
Jul 17, 04, 10:33 pm
Bonjour! I am in Paris now and have time to start my trip report. Belive me, it is not because there is down time. It is because it is 4:00 am and my family is asleep. My body still can't figure out what time it is and I am wide awake.
My 17 year old daughter and I left on Continental # 10 from Houston on Monday (July 12) to Paris. My husband has been on assignment in China for several months and flew here to meet us. The assignment has ended earlier than planned and he will fly home with us on our flight back to Houston. The brand new Hilton Arc De Triomphe is the hotel that we are staying at.
The flight left 15 minutes after schedule as Continental decided to wait for arriving passengers that would miss the flight due to their plane landing late. Due to Houston traffic and an accident on the freeway (nothing new here), we were lucky to get there on time. I had a limo service take us to the airport and we were picked up 3 hours before the scheduled flight. We arrived at the gate only 10 minutes before boarding started. It does not help that we left from Terminal E and that in itself feels like it is in another city after needing to check in at Terminal C.
Flight entertainment was a poor selection. The meal was a choice of chicken and rice or beef and noodles. The food was good and I took my ambien so that i could sleep and pass the time and boy did the time pass fast........I don't remember much of the next 12 hours (9 hour flight)! I really don't even remember getting to the hotel. Thank goodness my daughter is a seasoned travel brat and knew how to guide me. This was not the first time to take this prescribed drug for travel, but it is the first time the drug stayed with me after landing.
Check in at the hotel seemed to be smooth. We were placed into a room on the executive floor on the 7th floor. No upgrades to suites (Diamond), but upgraded to a view of the Eiffel Tower (Not, I-fell, but E-fell don't forget it is a hard "E" or they look at you like you fell off a turnip truck). I say "seemed" to be smooth because we went to unpack and discovered the ONLY 3 drawers in the small room could not open to put clothes into. The beautiful piece of furniture was so big that when the door to the unit opened, it would hit the foot of the bed at the half way point! The other side of the same unit was the mini bar. For three of us there were suitcases everywhere and living like this for 8 days was not a pleasant thought. There was hanging space. They showed us another room, but it was the SAME floorplan. If I sat on a chair near the window, and my husband was on the computer, I had to CLIMB ON THE BED to get over. There was no room to pass. After 24 hrs. of this they found another room for us on the 6th floor that was larger. Part was floorplan, part was that we settled for two full beds instead of two queens. Also the hair dryer in the first room had a 6" cord and only one side of your hair could be blown with ease. It would not stretch long enough to blow the other side. You had to turn backwards away from the mirror. Other guests mentioned the same thing. They are aware of the problem with the dressers and have new ones on order. There was no way of moving the dressers due to the cords attached to the tv and the bar and floorplan. Anyway, the new room is very nice, as is the hotel and staff! Location is really wonderful. NO COMPLAINTS!
Night one:
Walked about to get a feel for the area around the hotel, had the mandatory chocolate croissant and/or ice cream and fell asleep with no problems.
Day one:
Bastille Day! Huge parade with what seemed like zillions of people everywhere, both residents and tourists. Streets were blocked off and taking a taxi to the Eiffel Tower was not an option. Turned out to be a pleasant walk (maybe about 30 minute??) to get there. The line to go up was less than 20 minutes and the weather was PERFECT. We took a boat ride down the Seine and walked back to the hotel in the late afternoon. We were invited up to the terrace of a room at the hotel to watch firworks over the Eiffel Tower. Champagne was served and some desserts, too. There were about 100 guests there (I do not know if invitations were general invitations or for executive floor guests) and it was a nice show and great view. There is a sushi restaurant just a few steps from the Hilton and we ate there after the fireworks simply because it was so late by this time (11:00 pm) and was so convenient. Just as everywhere we have been, we ate outside.
Day two:
We took the subway to The Louve (1.40 E per person, per direction). The area for the Mona Lisa was very unorganized and pushing and shoving were overlooked by security. The "line" was not long as would have been expected (probably because there was no "line." While the Mona Lisa is a great piece of art, I was more impressed with many other paintings. Being in a museum with the world's largest collection in one place was awesome and of course there was no way to see it all, not even close to all. We ate lunch at the museum and then went to get some overpriced souvenirs at the shops around the corner from the Museum (in addition to the ones at the Museum). I did get a handpainted Limoge cup and saucer for my cup and saucer collection at a fair price. I had gasped at the price of the one cup at first. The owner explained that due to the value of the dollar, etc, that this set had been in his display for over one year. He discounted it greatly for me without my asking and I was a happy camper. I refuse to buy souvenirs from France that say "made in China," but that does not mean that my daughter didn't get a few of those kind for her friends. We went to the Ballet at the Granier Opera House that evening. The theater is spectacular and the staircase makes a lady feel like a lady. HOWEVER - just like Italy, the a/c is used in small doses and it was very warm inside.
Day three:
Disneyland Paris! We left the hotel about 11:00 and took the subway right up to the Disneyland park. Tickets of 46 Euros included roundtrip transportation and park entry. This has been the only bargain of the trip....BELIEVE ME! It is VERY expensive here at each and every turn. I am not talking about just Disney. The whole trip so far. The day was fun and all three of us enjoyed going. The sun was out all day and we called it quits about 8:00 or 9:00 pm and took the subway back.
Day four:
The "on and off" bus is a two decker bus (several buses) that is very easy to pick up in many locations. We paid about 22.00 Euros each and you can get "on and off" at scheduled stops whenever/wherever for two days. Crepes, Galleria Lafayette (serious (SERIOUS) shopping stop, Notre Dame (just the outside of it on this stop today for us) and one other stop took us til about 6:00 pm. By coincidence a friend of mine from Houston was in Paris and we planned on catching up at the stores near the Opera House after she toured the Louve. Once in the area we realized there was no way to find ANYONE without a VERY SPECIFIC SPOT due to size and volume of people EVERYWHERE. After giving up on the idea of meeting and heading out from the store.......we did find each other! Major rainstorms were scattered thoughout the day and evening. We walked down different streets to get back to the Hilton and another wonderful day found us up in the lounge to rest our feet before heading out for dinner. The lounge here is very nice. It is decorated in royal purple tones, has an outdoor area with a few tables, sitting area with a Plasma television, a counter area with barstools and tables scattered within. The food that is served is of superior quality and we have had breakfast in the executive lounge each morning (Diamond member HH).
Some of the "made in France" items that we got today: A wool beret & a Baccarat crystal necklace for my daughter, She bought magazines published in French that had tshirts packaged with them at the magazine stand for her friends (some fashion or teen magazine) as gifts, I got an assortment of small perfumes for some gifts that I needed (each box had 5 different perfumes in five pretty bottles that I will take out and make individual gifts from - much better than a keychain or magnet :) )
I think this brings me current on the trip so far. I am sure there is something missing, but I can add to it later.
Au Revoir for now.
***************
I want to mention that I always made the reservation for 3 people. I was not given a smaller room due to a reservation for 2. This is one of the reasons for not staying at the Hilton Paris that is closer to the Eiffel Tower. They have very few rooms for more than 2 people and none were available. While several FTer's report they always had three (due to a child or relative, etc), this was exactly the situation I never wanted knowing that all European rooms tend to be smaller (plus it is against fire code and most rules and procedures are for a reason).
Another random thought:
I have not noticed one French manicure on any French Women. Even though the residents in this area live in apartments or condos (I love the front doors!) they tend to be walking very large dogs for such housing - and very few French Poodles! I also have not seen a single slice of French Toast this week. What's up with that?
Off to enjoy our Sunday. Weather permitting: A picnic in the park!
Talk to you later.
**********************
Weather did NOT permit a picnic. We did eat a wonderful lunch in the Jewish area : A deli sandwich, a huge potato latke and a crustless quiche-stlye cheese dish. This place had a name close to Sacha Finkelstajn, but I don't remember exactly. It is in a yellow restaurant and you really must try it. Another Deli on the opposite side is where I purchased "real" Dejon mustard to take home for my father and also had a "real" drip-down-your-arm pickle from a barrel that was honestly as much a treat as the pastries that were in each window. This area was really neat. The Picasso museum is a few blocks over and we went in there, as well as a beautiful old church. The Hilton does NOT have a pool, or even an agreement to use another one. The sun did come out later in the day and lounging by a pool for a few hours would have been nice. We dropped off all the packages we accumulated for the day about 6:00 pm, had a snack in the lounge and headed back out. Because this was Sunday, it was hit or miss as to what was opened as far as all business - food establishments and retail/boutiques, etc.
My husband recognized Scotti Nguyen (champion poker player - seen on Travel Channel World Series of Poker) by the Hilton and found out there was a world poker tournament at the France Aviation Club. Marc went in at night for a short time to see what was going on while my daughter and I picked out a French cologne at the store on the next block for my son who did not join us on this trip. This was all on the Champs Elyesee and we did grab some pizza and croissants. The sky opened up once again and we were soaked by the time we walked back to the hotel after 10:30 pm.
We have been using the EYEWITNESS PARIS book and STREETWISE PARIS map that I purchased at Amazon.com. I have used these same series of travel items for other cities and I would recommend them to all of you. No need for more than one book when you have the EYEWITNESS book.
Another thing I noticed is that there is not any graffitti around in the areas we have been to. This was such a problem in Rome or I probably would not have thought about it one way or another.
We have two more full days and it does not look like we will make it to Normandy Beach. That tour is not offered at convenient times each day. The next one available is Tuesday and it is a full 12 hour tour. If this is something you are interested in, it is better to make it one of the first things on your itinerary.
**********************
Monday:
Even though this is day seven, it is the first full work day where real traffic was seen. The other days were still considered part of the extended Bastille Day Holiday and many businesses were closed. We went into stores on Rue Royal such as Dior, Gucci and Ralph Lauren. I made a few minor purchases, but mostly this was to look only. Maxims famous restaurant is only a block a way. Their sister "Minims" is next door and had a reasonable menu and we ate there for lunch. It was very good. The Louis Vuitton store is in another area and we made our way over there. They must have 50 employees all in uniform and the place is PACKED with customers. Our feet just failed all 3 of us today after hours of walking down and exploring new streets. We went back to the hotel at 5:30 with all intentions of going back out as we have each evening. Putting our intentions aside, we watched a DVD movie in the room and never left the hotel again. I have just read Dan's post about the top 10 things to do in Paris. I plan on going to the Travel Channel website now to see if they have those listed "just to make sure" that we have covered the basics as we only have one more day in the great city of lights!
**************************************
My 17 year old daughter and I left on Continental # 10 from Houston on Monday (July 12) to Paris. My husband has been on assignment in China for several months and flew here to meet us. The assignment has ended earlier than planned and he will fly home with us on our flight back to Houston. The brand new Hilton Arc De Triomphe is the hotel that we are staying at.
The flight left 15 minutes after schedule as Continental decided to wait for arriving passengers that would miss the flight due to their plane landing late. Due to Houston traffic and an accident on the freeway (nothing new here), we were lucky to get there on time. I had a limo service take us to the airport and we were picked up 3 hours before the scheduled flight. We arrived at the gate only 10 minutes before boarding started. It does not help that we left from Terminal E and that in itself feels like it is in another city after needing to check in at Terminal C.
Flight entertainment was a poor selection. The meal was a choice of chicken and rice or beef and noodles. The food was good and I took my ambien so that i could sleep and pass the time and boy did the time pass fast........I don't remember much of the next 12 hours (9 hour flight)! I really don't even remember getting to the hotel. Thank goodness my daughter is a seasoned travel brat and knew how to guide me. This was not the first time to take this prescribed drug for travel, but it is the first time the drug stayed with me after landing.
Check in at the hotel seemed to be smooth. We were placed into a room on the executive floor on the 7th floor. No upgrades to suites (Diamond), but upgraded to a view of the Eiffel Tower (Not, I-fell, but E-fell don't forget it is a hard "E" or they look at you like you fell off a turnip truck). I say "seemed" to be smooth because we went to unpack and discovered the ONLY 3 drawers in the small room could not open to put clothes into. The beautiful piece of furniture was so big that when the door to the unit opened, it would hit the foot of the bed at the half way point! The other side of the same unit was the mini bar. For three of us there were suitcases everywhere and living like this for 8 days was not a pleasant thought. There was hanging space. They showed us another room, but it was the SAME floorplan. If I sat on a chair near the window, and my husband was on the computer, I had to CLIMB ON THE BED to get over. There was no room to pass. After 24 hrs. of this they found another room for us on the 6th floor that was larger. Part was floorplan, part was that we settled for two full beds instead of two queens. Also the hair dryer in the first room had a 6" cord and only one side of your hair could be blown with ease. It would not stretch long enough to blow the other side. You had to turn backwards away from the mirror. Other guests mentioned the same thing. They are aware of the problem with the dressers and have new ones on order. There was no way of moving the dressers due to the cords attached to the tv and the bar and floorplan. Anyway, the new room is very nice, as is the hotel and staff! Location is really wonderful. NO COMPLAINTS!
Night one:
Walked about to get a feel for the area around the hotel, had the mandatory chocolate croissant and/or ice cream and fell asleep with no problems.
Day one:
Bastille Day! Huge parade with what seemed like zillions of people everywhere, both residents and tourists. Streets were blocked off and taking a taxi to the Eiffel Tower was not an option. Turned out to be a pleasant walk (maybe about 30 minute??) to get there. The line to go up was less than 20 minutes and the weather was PERFECT. We took a boat ride down the Seine and walked back to the hotel in the late afternoon. We were invited up to the terrace of a room at the hotel to watch firworks over the Eiffel Tower. Champagne was served and some desserts, too. There were about 100 guests there (I do not know if invitations were general invitations or for executive floor guests) and it was a nice show and great view. There is a sushi restaurant just a few steps from the Hilton and we ate there after the fireworks simply because it was so late by this time (11:00 pm) and was so convenient. Just as everywhere we have been, we ate outside.
Day two:
We took the subway to The Louve (1.40 E per person, per direction). The area for the Mona Lisa was very unorganized and pushing and shoving were overlooked by security. The "line" was not long as would have been expected (probably because there was no "line." While the Mona Lisa is a great piece of art, I was more impressed with many other paintings. Being in a museum with the world's largest collection in one place was awesome and of course there was no way to see it all, not even close to all. We ate lunch at the museum and then went to get some overpriced souvenirs at the shops around the corner from the Museum (in addition to the ones at the Museum). I did get a handpainted Limoge cup and saucer for my cup and saucer collection at a fair price. I had gasped at the price of the one cup at first. The owner explained that due to the value of the dollar, etc, that this set had been in his display for over one year. He discounted it greatly for me without my asking and I was a happy camper. I refuse to buy souvenirs from France that say "made in China," but that does not mean that my daughter didn't get a few of those kind for her friends. We went to the Ballet at the Granier Opera House that evening. The theater is spectacular and the staircase makes a lady feel like a lady. HOWEVER - just like Italy, the a/c is used in small doses and it was very warm inside.
Day three:
Disneyland Paris! We left the hotel about 11:00 and took the subway right up to the Disneyland park. Tickets of 46 Euros included roundtrip transportation and park entry. This has been the only bargain of the trip....BELIEVE ME! It is VERY expensive here at each and every turn. I am not talking about just Disney. The whole trip so far. The day was fun and all three of us enjoyed going. The sun was out all day and we called it quits about 8:00 or 9:00 pm and took the subway back.
Day four:
The "on and off" bus is a two decker bus (several buses) that is very easy to pick up in many locations. We paid about 22.00 Euros each and you can get "on and off" at scheduled stops whenever/wherever for two days. Crepes, Galleria Lafayette (serious (SERIOUS) shopping stop, Notre Dame (just the outside of it on this stop today for us) and one other stop took us til about 6:00 pm. By coincidence a friend of mine from Houston was in Paris and we planned on catching up at the stores near the Opera House after she toured the Louve. Once in the area we realized there was no way to find ANYONE without a VERY SPECIFIC SPOT due to size and volume of people EVERYWHERE. After giving up on the idea of meeting and heading out from the store.......we did find each other! Major rainstorms were scattered thoughout the day and evening. We walked down different streets to get back to the Hilton and another wonderful day found us up in the lounge to rest our feet before heading out for dinner. The lounge here is very nice. It is decorated in royal purple tones, has an outdoor area with a few tables, sitting area with a Plasma television, a counter area with barstools and tables scattered within. The food that is served is of superior quality and we have had breakfast in the executive lounge each morning (Diamond member HH).
Some of the "made in France" items that we got today: A wool beret & a Baccarat crystal necklace for my daughter, She bought magazines published in French that had tshirts packaged with them at the magazine stand for her friends (some fashion or teen magazine) as gifts, I got an assortment of small perfumes for some gifts that I needed (each box had 5 different perfumes in five pretty bottles that I will take out and make individual gifts from - much better than a keychain or magnet :) )
I think this brings me current on the trip so far. I am sure there is something missing, but I can add to it later.
Au Revoir for now.
***************
I want to mention that I always made the reservation for 3 people. I was not given a smaller room due to a reservation for 2. This is one of the reasons for not staying at the Hilton Paris that is closer to the Eiffel Tower. They have very few rooms for more than 2 people and none were available. While several FTer's report they always had three (due to a child or relative, etc), this was exactly the situation I never wanted knowing that all European rooms tend to be smaller (plus it is against fire code and most rules and procedures are for a reason).
Another random thought:
I have not noticed one French manicure on any French Women. Even though the residents in this area live in apartments or condos (I love the front doors!) they tend to be walking very large dogs for such housing - and very few French Poodles! I also have not seen a single slice of French Toast this week. What's up with that?
Off to enjoy our Sunday. Weather permitting: A picnic in the park!
Talk to you later.
**********************
Weather did NOT permit a picnic. We did eat a wonderful lunch in the Jewish area : A deli sandwich, a huge potato latke and a crustless quiche-stlye cheese dish. This place had a name close to Sacha Finkelstajn, but I don't remember exactly. It is in a yellow restaurant and you really must try it. Another Deli on the opposite side is where I purchased "real" Dejon mustard to take home for my father and also had a "real" drip-down-your-arm pickle from a barrel that was honestly as much a treat as the pastries that were in each window. This area was really neat. The Picasso museum is a few blocks over and we went in there, as well as a beautiful old church. The Hilton does NOT have a pool, or even an agreement to use another one. The sun did come out later in the day and lounging by a pool for a few hours would have been nice. We dropped off all the packages we accumulated for the day about 6:00 pm, had a snack in the lounge and headed back out. Because this was Sunday, it was hit or miss as to what was opened as far as all business - food establishments and retail/boutiques, etc.
My husband recognized Scotti Nguyen (champion poker player - seen on Travel Channel World Series of Poker) by the Hilton and found out there was a world poker tournament at the France Aviation Club. Marc went in at night for a short time to see what was going on while my daughter and I picked out a French cologne at the store on the next block for my son who did not join us on this trip. This was all on the Champs Elyesee and we did grab some pizza and croissants. The sky opened up once again and we were soaked by the time we walked back to the hotel after 10:30 pm.
We have been using the EYEWITNESS PARIS book and STREETWISE PARIS map that I purchased at Amazon.com. I have used these same series of travel items for other cities and I would recommend them to all of you. No need for more than one book when you have the EYEWITNESS book.
Another thing I noticed is that there is not any graffitti around in the areas we have been to. This was such a problem in Rome or I probably would not have thought about it one way or another.
We have two more full days and it does not look like we will make it to Normandy Beach. That tour is not offered at convenient times each day. The next one available is Tuesday and it is a full 12 hour tour. If this is something you are interested in, it is better to make it one of the first things on your itinerary.
**********************
Monday:
Even though this is day seven, it is the first full work day where real traffic was seen. The other days were still considered part of the extended Bastille Day Holiday and many businesses were closed. We went into stores on Rue Royal such as Dior, Gucci and Ralph Lauren. I made a few minor purchases, but mostly this was to look only. Maxims famous restaurant is only a block a way. Their sister "Minims" is next door and had a reasonable menu and we ate there for lunch. It was very good. The Louis Vuitton store is in another area and we made our way over there. They must have 50 employees all in uniform and the place is PACKED with customers. Our feet just failed all 3 of us today after hours of walking down and exploring new streets. We went back to the hotel at 5:30 with all intentions of going back out as we have each evening. Putting our intentions aside, we watched a DVD movie in the room and never left the hotel again. I have just read Dan's post about the top 10 things to do in Paris. I plan on going to the Travel Channel website now to see if they have those listed "just to make sure" that we have covered the basics as we only have one more day in the great city of lights!
**************************************