P-A-R-I-S spells heaven.........

Beautiful works of art in Luxembourg Gardens

This morning we woke up in Barcelona and are going to sleep in Paris - yippeee!!

Today has again highlighted for us just how easy it is to travel when you are cruising - we woke up at six, packed and showered and check out of the hotel - dragged our carry-ons about 500 metres to the Aerobus to the Barcelona airport - an enormous airport - so about a 1 km. walk to the check-in counter, through security - we had to be there two hours before the flight - an uneventful flight with Easyjet (the kind we love) - another long walk to the train - 40 minutes on the train - another walk dragging our bags for about 750 metres - and finally we checked in - 7 hours after we left our beds in Barcelona. We left Barcelona in cloudy but steamy conditions - about 30 degrees - and arrived to rain and 18 degrees in Paris.

We are in paris - at the train station

But all that faded promptly into the background - even the rain stopped immediately although the cloud has hung around - and I am in heaven!!! There is something about Paris which draws my heartstrings and twists them around her little finger....I am so happy and thankful to have the chance to be here - I can’t stop smiling. 

The view from our room

We are staying in the Hotel Luxembourg Parc - a gorgeous private family run hotel in a converted old building with only 23 suites - stunning old Louis the (something) furniture, located across the road from a fabulous park. We have a beautiful corner room - with a bath - pure bliss - fabulous scented bath salts - and even a chandelier - and a view over a park with colourful flower boxes on our window sill.

The photo shows our room on the second floor - with three flower boxes - so gorgeous!!

After we had checked-in and unpacked - we walked along the street to find a beautiful Boulangerie and bought rolls, ham, cheese  and juice - and headed across the road to the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens - found a lovely spot alongside a pond and fountain - commandeered a couple of chairs and acted like the French - put our feet up on the fence and enjoyed our picnic. 

A beautiful spot near an unobtrusive fountain for lunch??

I wanted to explore the park and Arnold wanted to jut sit, and people watch, so I left him while I explored. The French Senate is located in a stunning building in the grounds of the gardens, so the gardens are patrolled constantly by the French police - in their ‘Pink Panther” style hats - they were very polite tipping their hats with “Bonjour Madame” as they walked past - so much french charm!!

The centre piece of the gardens is a large lake surrounding a fountain - since 1922, small boats have been hired by children to sail on the lake - each child carries a long pole which they use to push their boat away from the edges into the wind to sail to the other side - then the children run around to the other side to give their boat a push back - they all run round giggling and calling out - such a wonderful sound. The mothers all gather with their coffees while looking on. Given the age demographic of the passengers on the ship, it has been lovely to hear the laughter and noise of these children and their pure joy and love of life - a sound we have missed recently.

I love the atmosphere around the park - old people meeting to chat, groups of friends chatting, old men playing chess and bowls under the umbrella of ancient trees, young lovers kissing on the grass, babies in prams, singles reading books, painters with their easels closely guarding their unfinished masterpieces, as the joggers and gymnasts practise in the park - seems that the whole neighbourhood was out relaxing and enjoying the summer holidays. I eventually made my way around the park, and returned to Arnold, to find him asleep beside the duck pond - just like so many men I saw as I walked around. 

The beautifully laid out gardens are like an outdoor museum - so many statues and fountains

Finally it was time to return to our hotel - as we walked through the door the owner offered us a pre dinner glass of champagne in the courtyard - the real french stuff!! Yumm!! These French certainly know how to live!!

Cheers - I miss you all!!

Another bubble bath - of course, and we headed out to wander the streets and find a restaurant - we ended up at Marco Polos - Italian?? with a french twist, of course. We were seated at a tiny table, and soon struck up a conversation with a lovely American couple from New Jersey - they had just disembarked from the Azamara Quest - we saw their ship in Nice port on Saturday - so once again we shared travel tales. One of the best things about traveling is the wonderful people that we are fortunate enough to meet along the way. He was an insurance broker for an American company in Japan in the 60‘s and 70‘s and had some interesting and funny tales to tell.

On the way back to the hotel, we walked around a corner near St Sulpice church and stopped dead in our tracks - we had to pick up our jaws - in front of us was a fountain to rival the Trevi fountain - without a tourist in sight - a wonderful and unexpected surprise.....

Today was the first day that I tried out my French skills - I was able to buy two tickets from Paris to Le Havre on Saturday for one adult and one senior on the 7.50am. train without a word of English - and the ticket seller seemed to know what we wanted - and better still we got the right tickets  - we have checked into the hotel - bought tickets to Versaille for tomorrow, bought anti-inflammatory tablets and shave cream at the chemist  and had dinner from a french menu - so I am feeling very pleased with myself!! 

We asked at the reception desk about the arrangements for the Bastille Day Parade and it seems that to get a vantage point to see it, we will need to leave at 5.00am. to walk to the Champs Ellysee and get a spot - how exciting - I can’t wait.

Tomorrow, we off on the train to the Palace of Versaille.....I have to keep pinching myself and hoping that I don’t wake up ...... j’aime Paris - maybe I have some French blood in my past!!!!