Monday, 7 July

We started the day at the Louvre. We got there 40 minutes before it opened and stood in line. It was windy and cloudy, and I FROZE! (It turns out we didn’t need to come early – the line was never long when we saw it. We would have been better off arriving soon after they opened.) We saw the Mona Lisa, which was bigger than I remembered. It amazed us that they allow you to take photos. We walked around for a couple hours.


Once we got outside, it started to rain. I’d packed umbrellas, but since the forecast at the hotel didn’t mention rain, I didn’t have them with us. There went another 5 euro. When the umbrella started turning inside out, we took the train to the Champs- Elysees. We returned to the restaurant with the good ice cream, and ate our first meal indoors (as opposed to a sidewalk café). While we ate, the rain stopped. Headed back to the hotel, with a stop for pastries.

Lloyd starts his conference at 6 pm. I’m on my own for the next couple of days.

Sunday, 6 July

We slept in today – until 9:00. It was a busy touring day, with lots of walking. We started at the Eiffel Tower. We took pictures, but didn’t go up because the line was so long. Police were everywhere, and we eventually saw them chasing some street vendors. They caught one, but we don’t know if they found what they wanted.

We got off the beaten path, and had trouble finding a café for lunch (we hadn’t eaten yet). We accidentally found the miniature Statue of Liberty. Cafes soon appeared, and we were refreshed. This pina colada tasted much different than I’m used to. The list of ingredients are the same, but the final product was not. I also always seem to end up with carbonated water, when I would prefer still. We’ve also paid up to $10 for a 1 liter bottle of water in a restaurant.

The Musee Marmottan was next, which has the largest collection of Monet work in the world. I can’t explain how wonderful it was. Just to see so many of his works…….

Outside the Musee was a rather large park. There were people playing with their children, picnicking, reading, resting, and it even had Wi-Fi. They offered donkey rides for the children. It was like out of a story book.

The Seine was our next destination. We started near Notre Dame, and walked. I forgot how many vendors are along the Seine. We stopped across from the Louvre to have a drink on a docked boat. We would have had dinner, but they were not serving yet. (It was only 6 pm). We walked back into the neighborhood to find a restaurant recommended by the travel book, but it was closed. This is where we found one rude waiter, who knew we spoke English but gave us a French menu. Our waitress was disgusted when she noticed we had to swap. But I had my dictionary, and had figured out what most of the dishes were.

Saturday, 5 July

Had a quick breakfast at the hotel (a wonderful buffet!) and caught our tour. We went to the beaches of Normandy. Our first stop was Pointe du Hoc. Saw bunkers, and many bomb craters. That's Lloyd peeking out of a bunker. We came to appreciate how difficult it was for the soldiers to climb the cliff to get to the land. Visited the American Cemetery where 9,387 soldiers are buried. The Canadian cemetery was beautiful with its flowers. Watched a 360 degree movie with no words, but lots of emotion. This was very moving day.


Had lunch at a Chateau. We had cheese for a starter, and chicken with sauce, a baby potato, green beans wrapped with bacon, and baked tomato. It was presented as I expect a French meal to be. Wonderful! Only six of us on the tour, and it was a friendly group. Took a van instead of a bus.

Friday, 4 July

Believe it or not, our flight was an hour early getting to Paris! We went to the hotel to leave our luggage, but could not get a room until 3 pm.

We went to the Arc de Triomphe, and walked along the Champs-Elysees. There, we found macarons and ice cream. Lloyd says French Vanilla ice cream is grossly misnamed in the US. This was wonderful!


Our hotel room is on the 24th floor. We have a view of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Doesn’t get much better than this! The room, though, is only about half the size of a US hotel room, with no drawers and only two shelves for clothes – and a closet. Two bath towels, and those are not as fluffy as in the US. But everything is more than adequate.

Went to bed early, since we never did sleep on the plane.

On our way!

We're in Minneapolis, and our flight to Paris leaves in an hour and a half. So far, everything is on time. The weather is beautiful. Got a massage here in the airport, so I'll be feeling good!

Paris Itinerary

Here is our itinerary:

Thurs, 3 Jul
11:03 am depart Waterloo, NW flight 3023
12:17 pm arrive Minneapolis

3:30 pm depart Minneapolis, NW flight 62

Fri, 4 Jul
7:20 am arrive Paris (CDG)

Hotel Concorde LaFayette
3, Place du General Koenig
75017, Paris, France
www.concorde-lafayette.com
To Phone, dial 011 then 33 (0) 1 40 68 50 68


Sat, 5 Jul
7:00 am - 9:00 pm D-Day and Normandy Tour (Paris Vision tour company)

Mon, 7 Jul
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Lloyd to Conference
2008 SAE Biofuels: Specifications and Performance Symposium
Le Palais des Congres De Paris
2, Place de la Porte Maillot
CIP no 1-75853
Paris Cedex 17, France
www.palaisdescongres-paris.com

Tue, 8 Jul
7:30 am - 5:00 pm Lloyd to Conference

8:30 am - 5:30 pm Mary to Giverny (Monet's home) & Palace of Versailles (tentative)

Wed, 9 Jul
7:30 am - 3:00 pm

Thur, 10 Jul
12:50 pm depart Paris (CDG), NW flight 61
3:25 pm arrive Minneapolis

5:29 pm depart Minneapolis, NW flight 3024
6:45 pm arrive Waterloo

General
On days when nothing else is scheduled, we plan on touring Paris. Some thing we would like to do is go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, explore the treasures of the Louvre, cruise the Seine, spend some time on the Champs-Elysees, see the Arch de Triumph. We've both been to Notre Dame, but we may go again.

Paris is 7 hours ahead of CDT, 6 hours ahead of EDT
* noon in Iowa = 1 pm in Detroit = 7 pm in Paris

The high temps are expected to be in the low 70s, with lows in the high 50s. Some rain.

Let's see if I can post a photo.....Success - I think! This is obviously from Mary Beth's graduation. Let's hope it works from Lloyd's computer in France.