Paris - August 12 to 15

On Tuesday August 12 we disembarked from the cruise at Le Havre and took a car transfer to Paris. We stayed at the Hotel Chateau Voltaire, which had its pluses and minuses. The location was perfect, just north of the Jardin des Tuileries, where we walked every day. The hotel was beautiful, the reception staff charming and our room was delightful. On the negative side were the bar and the restaurant. At the bar at 6pm the first night, the only bar server did not know how to make a martini - would I mind waiting for the main barman to return from his break (he did not show up for the half hour I was there)? We ate at the hotel restaurant the first night and it was small, bereft of other diners, the food was bland and the waitstaff disappeared for 20 minutes at a time. Weird for such an otherwise excellent hotel.

After checking in at the hotel we took a walk through the Tuileries and then explored our neighborhood a little. We ate a late lunch at the marvelous Restaurant Drouant where the food and service were both superb. We immediately made a reservation to return the next evening for dinner. Before heading back to the hotel we explored some beautiful churches including Saint Roch and Église Notre-Dame de l'Assomption.

On Wednesday August 13 we did another walk through the Tuileries and continued onto the Champs Elysees - we are tourists after all! Lot of grand buildings and statuary to see at every turn. We particularly liked the architecture of the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais and the Statue de Marseille.

In the afternoon we had booked a private guide to show us around the Notre-Dame Cathedral, now that much of the renovations are complete. Unfortunately the guide was not empowered to skip the line, and it was a 90F day with bright sunshine and the line was outside. After about an hour we finally made it inside, and it was definitely worth it. Our guide as very knowledgeable and the renovations inside we quite spectacular. Work still continues on the exterior. When we came out from Notre Dame, it started to rain and we ducked into the delightful Petit Pontoise for coffee and cake until the rain stopped.

That evening we had dinner at Restaurant Drouant and it was excellent, as can be seen in the photos below!

On Thursday the 14th we had no bookings and enjoyed a lazy day in Paris. We wandered over to the south bank of the Seine and explored a couple of neighborhoods there, looking for perhaps a different place to stay next time. We found a couple of possibilities. We love Paris and will definitely return soon. On Friday we headed to the airport and the long flight home.