Day 16 - Paris to Home

It is a blessing and a curse to have a late-day flight. We didn’t have to depart at 4am this morning, as some of our cruise friends did, but we also had all day to wait until our flight. 

Rob caught the cold that Michele caught on the ship, so we were feeling a bit ragged. We met Roy and Gwyn for our final breakfast in Paris at a leisurely 9am. Upon looking at all the food Roy chose this morning, Gwyn made a quiet observation that he’s eating as if he won’t have another meal today. 

After breakfast, we did a final bag weighing using Roy and Gwyn’s luggage scale and determined Michele’s jeans and some toiletries had to go in Rob’s bag. Her suitcase weighed in at 50 pounds. It’s the big one below.

Here are pictures of the Pullman Hotel Montparnasse pulled from their website as we forgot to take pics of our room. There was an abundance of mirrors with several walls and doors as mirrors. Rob said we had our own hall of mirrors. 

Viking gave us an itinerary of the day’s logistics a few days ago. They are very organized, communicate well and in advance, which we appreciate. Our bags needed to be outside our door at 11am for bag pickup, then we had to check out of the hotel at 12pm, and wait for our taxi transfer to the airport at 12:30. 

At 12:30 a Viking rep took us to the lobby and walked us out to a waiting taxi van as we said goodbye to the Pullman hotel. 

Traffic was heavy driving to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport, about an hour away. At the airport, the Viking rep met us at the taxi. He assisted us in checking our bags and escorted us all the way to the first security entrance. We decided this level of service suits us well. 

It was close to 2pm by this point and the airport was not busy. We marveled at the uphill moving walkways, called travelators, and stood sideways because of the incline. The big rollers under our feet felt like a foot massage.

Don’t they look like hamster tubes? 

Gwyn also discovered that the directional icon for straight ahead is a down arrow, not up like in the U.S. We had to double check our directions to get our bearings.

At our first security check, CDG has the automated Schengen border control system for non-European citizens traveling through the Schengen Zone borders.  It fast-tracks through border security if you hold a biometric passport from select countries. These pics are examples from online.

There were no lines. We scanned our passport then entered an enclosed and secured area with two interlocking doors. A screen captured our image and did a body scan. Rob breezed through. Michele’s passport got a red light and “access denied” sign. An airport rep came over to help, same issue. She told him, “I’ll just have to live in Paris forever then.” The man laughed and said, “You like it here? All of us want to leave!” He tried another machine and it worked, so she could enter the enclosure.

Out on the other side we couldn’t find Roy and Gwyn. A few minutes later they came out of a gate further down. Apparently their passports didn’t work in several machines. Rob pointed out how the enclosed “man trap” keeps you in until the police arrive, should there be a problem. 

Michele was hoping that process was both customs and security combined, but after more walking, we eventually got to the main security check for Terminal 1. This airport is modernized with a partially automated gray bin roller system, such as this example.

Each person picks up a bin from the shelf below, fed by the empty bins at the opposite end. All the items go in it, then when the lady nods at you, you push it to the back rollers. This method allows you to skip in front of people who take longer to fill their bins. Then we go through the regular metal detector. Should a bag need further scrutiny by a guard, it automatically shifts to a separate roller system. Michele was sure her big backpack would be selected because she was caught off guard having to quickly put her gels/liquids in a little bag and knew that she missed a few. It was selected, but not opened. The guard had just finished picking through a man’s suitcase full of chocolate and snack foods that were bursting out of his little clamshell carry-on. Gwyn’s bionic knees got a few beeps and she was pulled aside. When she joined us later, she said her pat down was personal and very thorough. “They patted everything but my crotch!”

Onward, we found ourselves in a couture mall. Cartier, Yves St. Laurent, Hermes, Dior—all of the big names. 

Passing that section we found our gate and immediately noticed the decor—Parisian “art de vivre” in a modern Roaring Twenties-style, according to one online description. Historic columns and fireworks-like lighting highlight the space, with leather sofas and art deco-like details. It was a calming and beautiful space to wait in for a few hours. There were even video game stations for kids or adults to pass the time.

Michele walked to the other side to find a sandwich for lunch. She got the last Le Grand Poulet sandwich (chicken, lettuce, tomato, dijon mustard on a baguette) and wandered back. Along the way she checked out the Cartier jewelry on display, including prices. Should one have $120,000 Euro sitting around, they can snap up this sparkly diamond bracelet.

Our flight started to board at 4:10pm. Michele was pulled out of the line for a random check, not understanding the request in a French accent. Shoes off, bags open, and she got the warm special paper wand swiped on her hands, feet and stomach. Other ladies were pulled aside also, equally confused. By this time Roy, Rob and Gwyn were already through the gate. The rest of boarding went smoothly.

Our plane was a 767 with Polaris business class pods up front, our rows of 2-2-2 Premium Economy, then rows of 2-3-2 in economy behind us. Our flight even left a little early. The flight time was 8+ hours and we’d be landing at home at 7:10pm eastern or 1:10am Paris time. 

The captain said our route would be quite northerly, catching the southern tip of Greenland about halfway through. Michele tried to see it, but the cloud cover was thick and white below us at our cruising altitude of 38,000 feet. It might look like this had we seen it.

The plane wasn’t even half full, there were big sections of empty seats in the back, allowing people to stretch out on the three middle seats to sleep. We watched multiple movies thanks to United’s extensive seat back entertainment menu. We also got two meals. Dinner was chicken and vegetables or cannelloni, with a little green salad and bread. The chicken was dramatically better tasting than on the flight out. 

About an hour and a half from landing, Rob shook Michele awake from a twilight nap and said a second dinner was being offered. Beef and noodles or vegetarian something. It wasn’t as tasty as the last meal, but tolerable. Rob thought the salad was bitter and yucky. Michele gave him her chocolate dessert from the first dinner to make up for the bitter taste. She had been collecting snacks during the trip and had them all around her in the seat! 

An hour from landing the captain put seatbelt signs on and told the stewards to be seated. It was light to moderately bumpy until the last 20 minutes. Luckily the bumps were not big dips or tilts, just the constant shaky kind. Landing at Dulles went fine. We got on a people mover that seemed very ghetto compared to the gleaming marble of CDG airport. Over at customs there was a line about 3-4 rows deep. A big plane from China arrived before us. Unfortunately about 25% of them mistakenly got into the US citizen line that slowed us up. Somehow Michele got left behind the rest of the family in line, but passed the time by chatting with a nice lady who was on the same flight. She went on a tour group to Paris and saw different sights than we did. She couldn’t find the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, saying it was too big with bad signage. Otherwise she enjoyed Paris. Her husband didn’t want to go to Paris so she took a tour with other women.

Luckily another customs gate opened and the line moved faster. Michele’s CBP agent was all smiles and said, “Did you bring any food? Any meat?” Michele said, “Meat?” He said, “Yes. Meat. Fruit?” Michele said no, just a bunch of airplane snacks. He stamped her passport and welcomed her back.

By this time the rest of the family already had our bags at baggage claim. Everyone compared notes on what the CBP agents asked—we all got different questions. With bags in hand, Rob texted Marcia and she was already waiting for us at the pickup door. We arrived home around 9pm DC time/3am Paris time. Off to bed!

What an amazing trip we had! Roy and Gwyn were incredibly generous to invite us to accompany them on this trip. We are now big fans of the river cruise format and especially Viking’s level of service and quality. We enjoyed favorable weather. Despite catching the ship sinus cold, we enjoyed every day and have great memories of traveling together as a foursome. Prague, Germany and Paris are very special places to us! 

Day 15 - Paris Day 03 - Montmartre

On our last full day in Paris and of our trip we met for breakfast at 7:15am. We may not have mentioned previously that this hotel also does a lavish buffet spread for breakfast. Omelet/egg station, fruits, vegetables, and an entire hind quarter of a pig decorates the station with various meats. There are also cheeses, cereals—you name it. This hotel caters to international travelers so there is a bit of everything. Roy and Michele agreed though that the omelets were not as tasty as those prepared by Benjamin onboard our Viking ship. 

Sufficiently full, we met our tour group in the lobby area at 8:45am for our bus ride to Montmartre. How lucky were we to get Janice again as our guide! While we waited, Michele chatted with a couple from Charlotte, NC. They agreed the river cruise was spectacular. Tomorrow they aren’t going home, but are flying to London where they get on an ocean cruise around Great Britain and Ireland! Michele asked them how they have the energy because our family is exhausted from all the fun. They admitted they are tired from all the walking.

Our tour group was four couples plus Janice so we got a small Mercedes passenger van to take us to Montmartre. Today the taxi drivers were on strike because the government wants to reduce the payment they get for providing a service for the government of taking people to the hospital. Some roads were blocked and the streets were a madhouse of rush hour activity with motorcycles, motor scooters, bicyclists, buses, cars, and pedestrians. It didn’t bother us as we saw new sights and Janice narrated the entire time.

We drove across the ornate Alexander III bridge inaugurated in 1900. It has art nouveau lamps, and was built in honor of the alliance between France and Russia. It majestically spans the Seine with its golden statues and columns.

Other monuments.

These are the war canons in front of Les Invalides, a complex of buildings containing monuments and museums. Napolean’s tomb is housed below the golden dome.

It took us 45 minutes to an hour to drive the 8km to Montmartre, as our driver had to cut through small side streets to avoid congestion. Montmartre is a large hill in Paris’s northern 18th arrondissement (think of these like the boroughs in New York City). It is 130m high and gives its name to the surrounding district and is also part of the Right Bank (those arrondissements on the right bank of the Seine river). Montmartre is primarily known for its artistic history, for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit, and as a nightclub district.

Off the bus, Janice said she would take us on a quiet street that is a gradual and pleasant uphill walk to the top where the main town is located. She loved telling us how expensive the tiny 400 square meter apartments are in Montmartre. She estimated that for every one square meter, the cost was 15,000 Euros (that is about $16,800 per 3 square feet or $5,600 per square foot!) 

This small corner had the only houses in the city—what we’d call townhouses at home—and only the very rich can afford the square meters of space.

We met the “Man who could walk through walls” based on the short story by Marcel Aymé. It follows a man named Dutilleul, who discovers he can pass through walls, leading to various adventures of crime and romance until he ultimately becomes trapped in a wall.

This is the Moulin de la Galette. Nineteenth-century owners and millers, the Debray family, made a brown bread called galette which became popular and was adopted as the name of the windmill with an attached restaurant. Artists such as Renoir, van Gogh, Casas and Pissarro visited and forever immortalized Le Moulin de la Galette.

We got a first glimpse of the basilica dome up the hill.

After walking up, we were in the famous Painter’s Square. It is a small touristy area where artists have their paintings and drawings for sale. Many were quite talented.

Several had customers who wanted their portraits made on the spot, such as this little girl.

Check out the Notre Dame in chocolate made by a fancy chocolatier. 

Viking arranged for us to have a rest break at a local restaurant. We had an apple tart waiting for each of us with our choice of beverage. Michele had green hot tea. The bag said “Gunpowder”. The man across from her said, “Just don’t light it on fire.” She sniffed it first to check. A quick google and Gunpowder tea is a form of tea in which each leaf has been individually rolled into a small pellet. The restaurant had colorful decor.

We met Janice outside at 11:30 for our walk up to the Basilica. She warned us that the crowds would be intense and pick pocketers are in the form of little girls pretending to have petitions to sign. She said she would use a codeword on our audio devices to alert us, should she see them. Codeword: Charles de Gaulle.

The basilica was impressive against the blue sky. 

We did not enter the basilica on our tour as it is not tourist-friendly, which is understandable. No pictures or phones, and proper dress required. However, we later found a virtual tour on their website and the imagery is spectacular. Check it out here:

https://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/en/360-virtual-tour/

It was warm and crowded on the various terraces below the basilica. Suddenly we heard Janice say, “Charles de Gaulle! Charles de Gaulle!” Thankfully we didn’t see nor come into contact with the pick pocketers. 

We then took the funicular down the hill instead of the 200+ steps or having to retrace our path from earlier. A funicular is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. At the bottom we walked over to our parked passenger van. The ride back to our hotel was much smoother with calmer traffic so it took only 30 minutes. 

After a 10-minute refresh in our rooms, we walked over to the train station where Janice said there is a mall inside with eateries. We found a restaurant with a quiet section in the back and enjoyed pizzas for lunch. Thank goodness for Google translate’s camera as this restaurant didn’t have english menus. The waiter spoke english well enough to explain things to us. Some translations aren’t perfect, such as Michele’s artisinal lemonade that tasted like a fancy version of Sprite, but much better. During lunch we decided to make a reservation at Les Fauves again for dinner tonight and separately texted Marcia to confirm she can pick us all up at the airport tomorrow night.

After lunch we found a nice chocolate shop for Roy and Gwyn, then we all returned to the hotel for an afternoon rest.

We walked over to dinner at 7:15 and were seated up front in a booth. The reservation was a good idea because the restaurant was nearly full inside by 8pm tonight, compared to last night. We were told that Parisians don’t eat dinner until 8 or 9pm. Many restaurants don’t reopen for dinner until 7pm. 

After dinner we did a test suitcase packing and weighing, and learned that we only get 50 pounds per each of two checked bags on the return trip. Michele needs to load a few pounds into Rob’s bag! 

Day 14 - Paris Day 02 - Notre Dame and the Louvre

Today was a free day for us without any scheduled tours with Viking. We wanted to get into Notre Dame today but were a little skeptical given that all of the free advance reserve tickets for Sunday were sold out. They offer 10,000-15,000 timed passes a day to help skip the regular line. We got up at 6:15am, had breakfast at 7:00 and were ready to set out and explore Paris by 8:15. Would we be smart and beat the crowds or would everyone else have the same idea?

Rob ordered us a taxi using the Paris G7 app. We requested an English speaking driver as well. The driver picked us up in a nice Camry hybrid. It was very clean and quiet, and the driver had a pleasant British accent. About half way to the cathedral we ran into a problem. There was a running race and all the roads on our side of the Seine river and to the cathedral were blocked off. In order to drive us to the cathedral he would have made a significant detour and likely take longer than walking. So he got us as close as he could and dropped us off at the Eglise Saint-Sulpice. We waited about 5 minutes before we were brave enough to trot across the street through a gap between the runners.

From here it was about 0.8 miles to the cathedral. The walk was pleasant with very few people out except for the runners, but a little chilly as the temperature was only about 50F with a slight wind. We saw even more runners as we walked towards Notre Dame.

We made our way down Rue Saint-Sulpice, past the church and made a left on Rue De Conde. We followed that to Boulevard Saint-Germain and then a left onto Rue Danton. 

Michele admired the architecture of this apartment building. 

That street took us to the Quai St-Michel. It was from here that we got our first glimpse of the cathedral. We made a right on Quai St-Michel and followed the Seine river before crossing over it on the Petit-Pont Cardinal-Lustiger bridge.

This put us in the park just in front of the cathedral. It was about 9:25am and there were quite a few folks outside the cathedral taking pictures. Rob first spotted the line for those going in for mass and then saw the sign for visitors entering without reservations. It was a set of metal crowd fences that snaked back and forth. We walked into the entrance of these fences and although we had to go back and forth countless times, the line moved at a normal walking pace, never slowing down. About halfway through the maze, the cathedral bells started to ring. Michele saw that our queue to the front door was clear without any delays and said, “I think we will be able to walk right in without a wait!” 

We noticed that the line of folks waiting in the Mass line were now filing into the center front doors of the cathedral for the service. After about 5-7 minutes of walking along this corridor of crowd fences, and Rob getting annoyed at the chick taking selfies of herself, we reached the entrance of the cathedral and walked right in. No waiting at all! We couldn’t believe our luck. 

Very shortly after entering, the pipe organ began playing and the priests began singing/chanting. Michele sat down in one of the many chairs in the nave of the cathedral and watched mass while marveling at the newly built ceiling and beautiful interior. She recorded portions of the service and couldn’t believe that we were so lucky to be surrounded by music during our visit.

Rob, Roy, and Gwyn slowly made their way clockwise around the cathedral. The nave of the cathedral was reserved for those attending mass. The aisles on either side of the nave were for visitors.

The inside of Notre Dame is surreal due to how clean and bright everything is. We can only guess that it looks like it did when completed in year 1260–a brief 97 years after its construction began. So often these 800 year-old cathedrals are very dark inside after centuries of accumulated dirt.

Here are two of the famed rose windows:

North Transept

South Transept

The center ceiling vault where the nave and transept intersect was completed destroyed by the fire when the spire collapsed into the building. Today, it is completely restored!

The back of the choir wall tells the story of Jesus’ life.

There are 15 chapels in Notre Dame.

Some of the sculptures in the Apse were gifts from Louis XIV in honor of his father Louis XIII.

Behind the Aspe, the holy relic of Notre Dame (the crown of thorns) is kept here. It is only brought out once a month and on Good Friday. Our tour guide from yesterday, Janice, told us that when the cathedral caught on fire, one of the priests frantically bicycled to the church to remove and save the crown of thorns. He was successful. 

The cathedral has 3 organs. The biggest was difficult to photograph due to mass and its location directly above the entrance. Here is one of the smaller ones.

One of the altar boys brought the incense out right by us so we got a hefty dose of it. After our complete lap around inside, we walked back outside. Michele was all smiles from the experience in the cathedral and Rob said, “That was spectacular.”

We then walked around the outside of the cathedral counterclockwise. Restoration work continues today on the exterior of the cathedral though a significant portion of the scaffolding has been removed. We observed that from the inside you would never know there was so much restoration still occurring outside. 

There are temporary and modular on-site construction offices to manage the restoration after the fire, like this small white one facing the rose window below.

We walked around the back of the cathedral, crossing over the Seine to walk down the north side of the building. The construction fencing along this side contained excellent information about the restoration efforts. It is in multiple languages, offering highlights of the many aspects and craft trades of the restoration, such as lead roof repair, stonework and structural repair. We probably spent 30 minutes walking down the street slowly reading the many displays with the cathedral as its backdrop.

You can see some of the hefty wooden stabilization structures that are still in place for the flying buttresses, just beneath them.

We planned to find the best cream puff shop that our tour guide told us about yesterday. By the time we finished our walk around the exterior of the cathedral it was 11:15. Gwyn said, “I’m going to need more than a cream puff.” We decided to start looking for a lunch place early given how crowded the streets were with people. As we circled around to the front of the cathedral, we were shocked at what we saw: the line of people waiting to get in was crazy!

The entire maze of fencing we had breezed through just two hours earlier was packed with people and the line extended out all the way to the end of the front courtyard of Notre Dame. We made a very good decision to arrive early at the cathedral.

We crossed back over the Seine and turned right on Quai St-Michel and followed the Seine for one block. Michele saw a nice-looking restaurant with inside seating across the street, Le Depart Saint-Michel, so we crossed over to check the menu. There were a few items that looked good so we went in and were immediately seated. Roy, Rob and Michele ordered variations of croque monsier and Gwyn enjoyed quiche. Michele also got the vegetable soup that was a delicious bisque and the homemade peach iced tea. 

We really enjoyed our lunch and decided that we would walk over to the Louvre to have a look at the inner courtyard of the former palace and now famous museum. The walk was about a 1/2-mile up the scenic Seine.

We reached the Louvre and cut through one of the southern buildings to get into the courtyard. Wow! The place is huge and very busy with people clustered around the pyramids. Michele, Roy, and Gwyn found a spot to sit along the southern wing and Rob walked around the inner courtyard for pictures of the four pyramids (one large and three smaller ones) and pictures of the building facades. We’d have to visit the museum inside on another trip as it contains 500,000 objects! 

It was time for ice cream, but the first place was closed. Rob found a Haagen-Dazs nearby. This time we were successful.

Michele agreed her mango sorbet was Ooh la la Paris for sure. 

While sitting there, we saw a very chic couple roll up on a small and pristine black Harley-Davidson. The man had his lady on the passenger seat and she was holding a very cute dog! They effortlessly parked the bike, got off, and walked down the street. They wore beautiful clothes and looked fabulously Parisian. Michele was so surprised that she forgot to take a picture. 

After the short break, we decided to head back to the hotel for a rest. Rob hailed a taxi using the G7 app and we were chauffeured back to our hotel, this time in a hybrid Lexus. With the app we get the license plate of our driver so it is easy to identify the correct car approaching. Payment is all done through the app. 

Rob worked on the blog and downloaded today’s pictures while Michele napped for two hours. At 7pm we dressed for dinner and walked over to pick up Roy and Gwyn. We got a recommendation at breakfast from Colleen, one of the ladies we met on the cruise, of a restaurant (Les Fauves) that Viking recommended nearby. She said the chicken dish was excellent and to arrive early because it is a small restaurant. Just a three-block walk and we lucked out to be seated without a reservation. The chicken dish said it was a stew with spicy potatoes, so only Rob tried it. The rest of us got the braised pork loan with roasted vegetables. The meals were beautifully presented and flavorful. Rob’s chicken was not a stew nor were the potatoes spicy, so something was lost in the translation. No matter, we liked our meals. 

During dinner we wondered how much it costs to upkeep the Versailles palace each year. The average ticket price for the estate and garden is 32 euros. Multiply by 30,000 people visiting a day and they are bringing in nearly 1 million euro each day! 

We also ordered dessert, then rolled ourselves back to the hotel for the night. 

Tomorrow we have our last tour in the morning for a few hours.