Randi and Cindee visited from Fairfield and Hamilton Ohio to the great city of Paris. This was Cindee's first trip out of the US, unless you count her cruises, and Randi has been to Italy, Russia and a few other countries. But this trip was all about the Eiffel Tower, the arches of Paris and shopping.
We went to the Tour d'Eiffel their first afternoon here and Cindee said she got tears in her eyes. We went back on Wednesday afternoon and went all the way to the top! We had a beautiful view of all of Paris. It was a little hazy in the distance, but we could see the Louvre, the Statue of Liberty, Notre Dame and everything else if you knew where to look! We had a great view all the way around the tower, and it wasn't very crowded. We only waited about 30 minutes to go up to the first level, and another 30 to get to the top from the second level.
They were my shoppingingest visitors. We hit every souvenier shop in Paris. They went to the Champs Elysee three times, and Hard Rock of Paris was another big buying point. We spent a day in the Louvre and an afternoon at Notre Dame.
We road the train out to the huge thumb sculpture at La Defense and walked around in the underground mall there. From the arch at La Defense you can see the Arc de Triomphe perfectly.
And from a window on the third floor of the Louvre, you can see all three arches lined up in perfect French symmetry. I will have to get Cindee's pictures to show you that, I didn't have my camera that day.
Cindee tried her french where ever she could. They used their carte orange to go everywhere they wanted, and even dined out alone one night in La Varenne without any problem. Pat took all of us to his favorite restaurant in Paris, Le Timbre, where we each had a different entree, plat, and dessert. I had veal kidneys! Randi didn't like her beef bourgogne, but she loved the appetizer, and the dessert, Millefeulle Maison, thin layers of a flaky cookie like crust layered with a sweet cream sauce. Pat had roasted figs for dessert and loved it. Cindee had the tarte tatin for dessert (that's like an upside down apple pie) and she was adventurous and tried the halibut-like cabillaud for dinner. She loved it.
We also spent a day traipsing around looking for ice cream at Berthillon's, rode the Bateaux Bus on the Seine and had dinner at the famous Cafe de Deux Magots, a favorite cafe of Sartre and other great french thinkers.
Randi and Cindee were great houseguests, and really fun to have in town. The weather in Paris in September is the best all year and I think that just made this Classic Paris Tour.
