COSMOS The Best of Europe Tour Day 18-PARIS

Paris, France—What a wonderful entry for our 100th blog entry!!

We woke up in Paris at Forest Hill Villette. I stepped into the shower, only to find a ceiling of mold! YUCK! I heard that many of the other tour members experienced the same thing. In addition, this hotel offered the smallest rooms in comparison to our other accommodations. We headed down to the buffet breakfast and it was a mad-house! At all of the other hotels, our group had their own room. Here, at the Forest Hill Villette, we were with all of the other hotel guests. This normally would not have fazed me, it just felt a bit overwhelming after the previous accommodations.

In addition, there was a very pushy lady in line…who must have “visited” the buffet about 10 times, 2 of those times while I was standing there! We ate, drank our coffee, and got out of there! Some of my tour members warned me against eating the food…because if the kitchen looked anything like the shower…yikes!! We all got a good laugh!

Our included tour began immediately and our local guide took us to the Notre-Dame Cathedral. After taking pictures of the outside, we entered the church of Our Lady. The Notre-Dame Cathedral is beautiful and actually “simple” in comparison to other churches we saw (quite notably St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City). After walking around the Cathedral, Dusty and I sat in the pew and admired the beautiful windows that casted light down upon us.

The rest of the tour included the tour guide pointing to sights around the city. After the tour ended, we were granted “free time”. Again, everyone wanted to do different things! I had only one thing I wanted to do in Paris and that was to visit the Louvre! Dusty was more than happy to oblige, but no one else was interested. We agreed to meet up with the family at the Opera House at a specified time.

Dusty and I walked into the courtyard of the Louvre, where a steel and glass pyramid sits in the middle surrounded by fountains. We stood in line to enter the museum. The line moved very fast and we were soon inside the Louvre. It does not cost money to enter the Carrousel du Louvre, which is a collection of shops and cafes. To visit the actual museum, you must buy a ticket. Dusty and I did just that. It only cost 9.50 Euros each to enter. This was considerably less than we had expected.

With our tickets, we were given a map of the Louvre. Let me begin by saying that the Louvre is huge! We immediately found the Mona Lisa on the map and began in that direction. Our search for one of the most mysterious ladies of all time, took us on a journey through time. We found ourselves walking through rooms that contained art and statues from the BC era. Admiring Roman, Greek, Iranian and Egyptian pieces was overwhelming and extremely exciting.

The Mona Lisa hangs on “her” own wall and is roped off. The picture is covered with glass, and guards stand on each side of “her”. Viewing the original was an unbelievable experience for me. I actually cannot say what made me so excited to see her but I was! The original, in my opinion, is not anything like the copies. In every copy I have seen, the Mona Lisa has a smile. In viewing the original, Dusty and I both agree that she is grinning. The look on her face, is in fact a “come hither look”, just as we have heard. Throughout the years, many men have fallen in love with this mysterious beauty. Now that I have seen the original, I understand why.

In addition to the Mona Lisa, Dusty and I admired many other famous works. The Venus de Milo, a famous Greek statue, was also roped off. Her face is very beautiful, as is her voluptuous body, only half draped. I spotted a breath-taking statue at the top of a staircase and stopped in my tracks to admire it. The Winged Nike of Samothrace, is from about 190 BC, and was sculpted to honor the Goddess Nike. This was my favorite statue, absolutely magnificent!

The Louvre is full of artifacts from across the ages, including pieces from the Egyptian pyramids and slabs with hieroglyphics! We were expecting an art museum, but what we discovered was a museum of mankind. Dusty and I recommend the Louvre to anyone and everyone!!

Trying to leave the Louvre was an adventure in itself. Like we said, the Louvre is huge. While trying to find an exit, we found ourselves discovering more and more rooms of history. After exiting the museum, we were once again in the Carrousel. We had to walk by multiple shops to exit, smart business!

Knowing that we had to meet the family at the Opéra House shortly, we began walking in that direction. This part of Paris was very expensive! Designer boutiques and very pricey restaurants were everywhere. On a side street, where some buildings were under construction, Dusty and I stepped into another deli type café. As we entered, we saw a cook from the back, bring out fresh sandwiches. We snagged one and purchased it. Before taking our sandwich outside, we grabbed 2 cups of free water. The sandwich was so good! The bread was sesame, and slightly toasted. Inside was bacon, turkey, lettuce, tomato and a delicious sauce. We enjoyed our cheap Parisian sandwich and then began walking directly towards the Opéra.

After finding our family and hitting the atm one final time for Euros, we were on the bus again. Back at our hotel, we had time to get ready for the final paid optional excursion, ”Farewell Dinner and Montemarte”.

Getting ready for dinner was quite nostalgic. We could not believe our tour was already coming to an end! Once we were ready, we met with everyone else for one final ride on our coach. Before dinner, Attila took us to Montemarte. Montemarte is a hill overylooking Paris, and home to the Basillica of Sacré Coeur. To reach Montemarte, Attila provided each of us with tickets for the chair lift, to get up and come back down.

Montemarte is a very interesting place. A huge staircase reaches up to the Basillica, and a smaller staircase descends to a view point of the city. On the steps, hundreds of people were gathered, may listening to a guitar player, others watching break dancers. It was a very interesting scene, on the front steps of a church. Street vendors were also everywhere with their blankets laid out. We enjoyed the view, but I was ready to leave after I was groped (sad but true).

The drive to the restaurant that would host our dinner was not too far away.
The bus dropped us off, and we all strolled across the cobble stone streets to the restaurant. After walking through the doors, and down some interior steps, we entered the dining room which was in a cave and very lovely. After taking our seats, our first course was served. On the way to dinner, Attila presented us all with menu for the evening, there were options for each course.

Our first course was very Parisian! I chose foie gras (goose live terrine), Dusty had frog legs, Rachel had escargot, and Mom and Grandpa had French onion soup. The appetizers, all but the frog legs, were delicious. The frog legs lacked flavor, and were different from what we expected. Dusty and I both ordered duck with potatoes for our entrees. The duck was the best I have ever had! Grandpa and Mom both ordered the shrimp, I think they were both a bit disappointed with it. For dessert, we all shared profiteroles and chocolate mouse. Wine and water were included with the dinner...and there were definitely members in the tour that had ”their fill” of wine! :)

Musicians played while we ate. We all chatted and enjoyed our food. Nostalgic, is again the best way to describe the feelings. After dinner we boarded the coach and headed back to the hotel. A few of us went in to the hotel bar for drinks. I must say that there were staff members at the restaurant bar that were very rude. Usually, I do not point these things out...but they were very rude!

We quickly took our business elsewhere and find a delightful bar across the street from the hotel. Numerous drinks and dances later, at 2am, we called it a night. We all said our good byes and headed for bed.

Many on the tour would head back to London in the morning, to catch flights from there. A few people were remaining in Paris for a few days or so. Our familly would be in Paris until 6pm, when COSMOS would then provide us with transportation to the airport.

Oficially, our 18-day COSMOS The Best of Europe Tour had seen its last day. However, we did have the following day all to ourselves, in Paris.

COSMOS The Best of Europe Day 17-Beaune & Paris, France

Day 17…we are on the road to Paris! But first, our tour made a stop at Beaune, France (pronounced Bonn), the capital of Burgundy wines!

The town of Beaune is very, very cute with its thin cobble stone streets and authentic European shops and cafes. Attila took us to the center of town and pointed out spots of interest. As individuals, we all had an hour and a half of “free time”. Of course, different people chose to use their time in different ways. Dusty and I explored the streets and tried our best to get lost! Rachel went wine tasting. Mom and Grandpa hung out with Dennis, and did some of their own tasting. Mom had a glass of Marsanne which she absolutely loved!!

For lunch, Dusty and I stepped into a deli style shop and chose a sandwich which we thought was paté, but turned out to be seared tuna. Lucky for us, we love all food!! We enjoyed our sandwich as we continued to cruise the town. Beaune has many wine shops, delis, and bakeries with incredible looking products!!

After an hour and a half, everyone met back up and got on the coach…we were off to Paris!
As we approached Paris, the Eiffel Tower became visible out the left side of the bus. Paris is a very big city, and like any other big city has a lot of….graffiti, people, buildings, cars…etc, etc. The bus dropped us off in front of the Eiffel Tower, right near where we were to board our boat for the optional paid excursion (which included a boat ride tour and passage to the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower).

Unfortunately, during our drive to Paris, we hit a lot of traffic. Due to this, we were running a bit late and missed our boat ride! Attila made the best of the situation and took us all for a walk to get a great view of the Tower and the parks on each side. We then all walked to the Tower and entered with our passes. A lift took us to the 2nd floor and the views were amazing!! We took pictures and enjoyed the panoramic view of Paris. After coming down, Attila let us know that he arranged for us to take the next boat ride! We really appreciated this!

We loaded onto the boat for our tour of Paris on the Seine River. From the boat we admired the Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower, Musee du Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Assemblée National, Hotel des Invalides, Pont Neuf (Paris’ oldest bridge, dating to the 16th century), Pont Alexandre III (Art Nouveau bridge dating to 1896), and Grand Palais (Belle Epoque building housing National Galleries). A head set was available at each seat and offered a commentary in multiple languages. We of course chose English and enjoyed the information provided during the magical cruise. Along each side of the Seine River, many couples sat and watched the boats pass. It was very romantic to see.

Once our tour was over, we began the drive to our hotel. We passed through downtown Paris. It was Friday night, and the town was very alive. I was surprised at the multitude of bars and restaurants. Paris was the most active city that I saw throughout the entire tour.

After much traffic, we reached our hotel, Forest Hill La Villette.Our hotel was a little ways outside of the downtown area. We checked into our rooms and decided we were hungry! Mom and Grandpa went with many of our fellow tour members to a certain burger joint they heard was near….McDonalds! LOL Dusty, Rachel and I opted out of Mcy D’s and gave our patronage to the local kebab place across the street, recommended by Attila. Our dinner was incredible! Mom and Grandpa found that McDonalds was not near, and they had less-than-satisfying burgers at a small restaurant.

After dinner, we all headed to our rooms and to bed. Tomorrow would bring a day of included sightseeing with a local Parisian!

COSMOS The Best of Europe Tour Day 16-Grasse & Grenoble, France

Our breakfast at the Park Inn Hotel, in Nice, was the first hot breakfast we had eaten since Germany! Everyone enjoyed the meal very much before taking off in the coach.

Our first stop was in Grasse, France at a typical Provence perfume workshop, Fragonard Parfumeur (www.fragonard.com). We were given a tour of the workshop, along with a complete description of how the scents are mixed to make the perfect perfume. In addition, we watched as a man used a machine to form heart-shaped bars of soap.

After the demonstration, we were taken into the perfume shop, where we were able to smell different Fragonard perfumes, and purchase if we so chose. Many people in our tour group purchased different perfumes and soaps. I was not crazy about any of the scents, Rachel was though. She purchased a small pack of 6 different perfumes, one of which was her favorite.

The drive to Grenoble was very windy but very beautiful. At lunch time, we stopped in Castellane, a small town at the northern end of the Gorges du Verdon in the Alpes de Haute Provence department. Castellane is beautiful with its small streets that run very steep. For lunch, we chose a small restaurant right down town. Dusty, Rachel and I shared the salad du chef, which Attila recommended, and a paté sandwich. The food was delicious!!! We strolled the streets a bit and peaked into shops. Beware of the free public restroom-one stall does not contain a toilet—only a hole in the ground!! LOL

After lunch we were back on the road. We eventually arrived in Grenoble and checked into the Plazza Alpexpo. Dinner, included by COSMOS, was to be served immediately after checking in and getting our baggage to our rooms.

We all made our way to the dining room, and sat at the nicely set tables. Wine was not included with the meal so many people purchased their own. Bread was brought out first, but not any bread plates. This predicament was very common for our dinners in Europe! Lol

The first course was served; it was a refreshing salad with delicious dressing. The main course was delectable salmon, served with rice. Finally, the desert was flan, vanilla custard with caramel. The meal was absolutely outstanding…the best of the entire trip!!

After dinner, Dusty, Rachel and I played a game of pool (the only hotel to have a pool table). We then utilized the FREE internet, and then headed to bed with satisfied full stomachs.

Tomorrow we are off to Paris!