Learning Paris

After 20+ hours of travel, we arrived at our hotel. Took a nap for a couple of hours and then set out to explore. It was cold and rainy, so took no photos, but looked around the Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the Seine, where Paris was first inhabited. Returned to the Rea of our hotel and ate dinner at the Bistro des Dames. We forgot to bring our French phrasebook, so Pat took a chance on the menu and ordered Boeuf Udon, which turned out to be Asian udon noodles with beef, very tasty. Wm. had cod with potatoes and broccoli. What we found interesting was the blackboard listing where the beef for the various courses originated. (See photo) Heard the next day that this is a common practice, as French people want to know the origin of their food and prefer to eat local.  

Tuesday was free until we met up with our tour group at 5 p.m. So we walked the Champs Élysées, visited the Eiffel Tower and then took a get-on-get-off bus tour around town to get a view of where things are in relation to each other. Here are some photos from that time.

 

The last photo is of the Velib bicycles. There are 20,000 bikes available for rent throughout Paris. rental is by credit card and you just swipe to rent and swipe again to turn it in. There are bike paths throughout the city and bike routes marked beside each road. 

We met up with our Rick Steves tour group over wine and aperitifs at our hotel and then ate dinner as a group. There are 28 in our group, a mix of retires and families, with the youngest member just having graduated from high school and the oldest in their 70s. Tour begins tomorrow with Notre Dame and Ste. Chapelle  in the  morning and the Musee d'Orsay in the afternoon.