They said its the best season (Beginning of Spring) to visit Paris; and man were they right. We took off from Cincinnati airport on time, how ever landed in Paris 3 hours late. Oh well - at least we are here. Grabbed our bags, walked up to the train station & caught RER line B to St. Michel/Notre Dame station (Paris - 40 minutes). Got out on pedestrian exit no. 2 (Cluny/St. Germain) & we were officially in 5th Arrondisement (Latin Quarter). WOW! Our first walk down Paris streets 
. Headed south on Boulevard St. Michel and in 10 minutes, we were at our hotel (Hotel De Suez). After reading about the size of hotel rooms in Paris, we really did not set very high hopes on what to expect. But, after checking into our room (Room 401), I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised. The window looked out straight onto St. Michel & the bathroom had a bidet . So, after washing up, got out of our hotel and continued down south on St. Michel. The boulevard was filled with people from all walks of life & a number of shops, including - Cafes, Brasseries, Restaurants, Boulongeries, etc. This is it - this is how one should experience Paris. We first stopped in at the Luxembourg Gardens. The geometry of tulips was amazing & the Greek + Roman influence was clearly visible in the sculptures. After touring the garden, we continued to walk south to get on to Avenue Denfert-Rochereau. While the plan was to stop in and see the Catacombs, we were late as it closes at 4:00 pm. Oh well! Turned around & headed north on Boulevard Raspail before turning left on Boulevard Edgar Quinet to get to Mont Parnasse. This is the business district of Paris. People were just getting off work & stopping in at the various cafes & bars for an evening drink. We did the same 
. We primarily came here for Tour Mont Parnasse - this is a tall building from where you can get an excellent view of Paris at night. This is the same view that Pixar rendered in Ratatouille when Remy first realizes he is in Paris. If you time yourself correctly you can also catch the Eiffel tower glittering right about at 8:00 pm. We did not know this at the time but got lucky. Two words - Its beautiful! Ended the day at a restaurant on a charming cobbled street for our first experience with food in Paris. While I am a person who lives to eat, my 8 year old is on the opposite end of that spectrum. Having said that, we ordered one thing that we thought would work for all 3 of us & that was the Margherita Pizza. WOW, the pizza was delicious 
& the Belgian ale went down beautifully 
. The little guy literally inhaled it down. Not too long after, combination of the jet lag, the piping hot pizza & the Belgian ale was beginning to kick in 
; so headed east on Boulevard De Mont Parnasse before turning left on Boulevard St. Michel, back to our hotel. Ahhh - what a beautiful time & this is just the beginning.
After a great night's rest, headed on down to Pomme De Pain (right opposite our hotel) for some breakfast. While the original plan was to catch Bus No. 85 just in front of out hotel's entry, we learned from the front desk that the bus does NOT operate to Sacre Coeur on Sundays. So we took an alternative route, via the Metro. Caught the metro from St. Michel to Barbes-Rouchechord. Got out & walked for about 15 minutes on Rue De Barbes before turning left on a side street that took us straight to Sacre Coeur. It is only after you walk up the steep stairs to the top do you fully comprehend the devotion with which such architectures were built to please the Gods. After visiting the Sacre Coeur we walked through some charming streets that took us straight into the Mont Martre market place or square. This is where majority of the painters spent their time. Till today, the streets have a number of painters trying to make a living by selling their arts on display. The overall experience is hard to define in words. Would have loved to stay a little longer but had to head back to get to our next stop - Musee D'Orsay. Got on the metro & got out on Boulevard St. Michel. We could have taken Boulevard St. Germain but opted for the more scenic Quai De Conti - wonderful walk along the River Sienne. The art collection at Musee D'Orsay is absolutely wonderful, but it might be better to visit during the morning hours. The natural evening light falling on some paintings made it hard to see. Fortunately, the paintings of most interest (Vincent Van Gogh's work for my 8 year old & Monet's work for the wife) were positioned better. I have to say one thing - seeing these paintings in real life is something everyone must do at least once in their life. After covering the rest of the museum, to the best of our abilities, we walked back the Quai as my 8 year old wanted to see where Linguini was about to drop Remy into the River Sienne (Ratatouille). So we strolled down the cobbled path, munching some snacks and taking in the experience as the river boats cruised by. Continued to walk down the Quai to Notre Dame where the little guy got to play with some kids pretending to be a Power Ranger. Right across the Notre Dame is this quaint little bookshop (Shakespeare and Company) where the 2 avid readers spent about 2 hours while I did my thing - Taking photographs. We ended the day at an Indian restaurant (Aarapana) for dinner. We ordered Chicken Tandoori, Chicken Tikka Masala & Baingan Bharta - the food was excellent! Second day in Paris and already so many wonderful memories.
Day 3 is when we grouped with the wife's brother + family who were flying in from India. After the usual family greetings, we headed up north on Boulevard St. Michel to take in the Notre Dame. And I thought I had seen it all at the Sacre Coeur - boy was I wrong. If you love architecture & love to dwell in details, you could quite easily spend an entire day out here. Hats off to those who not only thought this up but actually executed on it - WOW! To get to the top of the tower we had to come out & take the second entrance which is on Rue du Cloitre Notre Dame. My son had a great time climbing up to the tower pretending to be the Hunch Back & entertaining fellow visitors along the way. As with everything else that we had seen so far, the bell at the top of the tower was ... BIG
. Well, at least for us. After spending almost 3 hours at the Notre Dame, we rushed to visit the Sainte Chapelle & Le Conciergerie. Fortunately they weren't as big as the other structures & so it did not take as much time to go over both. We spent the rest of the day shopping along the streets of Paris. We ended our 3rd day at a wonderful little restaurant (Anahuacalli) on Rue De Bernardins. Everything we had there was delicious - the jar of Margarita really helped with letting the good times roll .
Today is an important & exciting day for all - the day we all see the Eiffel tower. After a sumptuous breakfast, we caught a bus (Number 63) from Rue De Ecoles to Les Invalides. The bus stop is just around the corner from our hotel. We got off & visited the museum, which also happens to have the tomb of Napoleon. Outside of the tomb, the defense museum also had a V1, V2 & a replica of the Fat Man/Little Boy. From there we walked back on Esplanade des Invalides, over Pont Alexandre III, past the Garnde & Petite Palais onto to Avenue Champs-Elysees. With that walk, the kids built quite an appetite & were ready for lunch. We stopped in for lunch at Pino Pizza (great Pizza) before continuing on to Arc de Triomphe. Two words - Aieee Caramba!!! This is a Mammoth . But wait, there is something bigger & taller coming up. So, we headed down south on Avenue D'lena which took us straight to our destination once we crossed over the Sienne from Pont D'lena. The first thing my son had to say after seeing the Eiffel Tower was, "It is a lot shorter than I thought" 
. So, we stood in the line (Domino of Humans) & after waiting patiently for 2 hours, grabbed our tickets & took the elevator all the way to the top. Standing on the roof @ 300.65 meters, the view is endless - mind blowing! Pulled out my trusty camcorder & got myself a 360 of Paris. This was a long day and a real long walk for the kids. So, we caught a cab & headed straight to Rue Saint-Benoit for a steak dinner . We read a lot of good reviews on Les Relais de L'Entrecote. Their menu is quite simple - Salad, Steak in their secret sauce + french fries. You can order it either medium or well done. While I have had better steak, the family had a good time. Overall, another beautiful day in Paris.
We had planned to make this a lighter day, so we left the entire day for the Louvre. Don't think that you can cover all exhibits in 1 day - Louvre alone can take up 5-6 days. But, since we were only interested in the Paintings, Print & Drawings exhibits - we did just that. Some of these painting are brushed on 20' x 40' canvases with the an amazing level of detail in them - light, anatomy, shades, colors, etc. Of course, the highlight of this day was going to be the one single exhibit that everyone visits - the Mona Lisa. She just hung there with her smile. While my lower jaw was floored, my 8 year old (the family critique) asked, "Why is the painting so small?". Quickly followed by, "He should have made it bigger"
. But to his point, a logical thought, especially after having experienced "tres grande" exhibits/collections/monuments. Any case, after that we walked through Jardin De Tuileries down to Place De la Concorde. From there we caught a cab & head straight back to the hotel. The nice thing about our hotel location is that all the main points is either a 10 minute walk or a 10 minute drive by cab/bus. The other great thing about this location is that it is literally a 5 minutes walk from Rue de la Harpe and Rue de la Huchette. These 2 narrow streets is lined with restaurants and cafes serving cuisine from every corner of the world - Middle Eastern, Indian, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Greek, Turkish and French, of course. The family wanted to try some fondue, so we ended our day at one French restaurant. While they enjoyed the fondue, they could not stop ranting and raving on the French Onion Soup.
Our last and final full day in Paris
. This had to be a day that we would remember for the rest of our lives. So, we checked with the front desk at our hotel, & the lady there was so very helpful with hooking us up with a tour company that would take us in a private van, with a guide, to Giverny & Versailles. It's expensive, but if you get a chance - please do this. Our guide (Emerick) was very knowledgeable & gave us a lot of insight into the lives & ways of the great Louise the XIV all the way through to the "not so great" Louise the XVI. The wife was ecstatic as she was getting great insight into the life of Marie Antoinette. The drive to Giverny, once you got closer to Normandie, was absolutely charming. Giverny is where Claude Monet finally settled & spent his final days. He built this beautiful home with a well maintained garden - including his Japanese garden where he painted the world famous lily pond painting. After visiting and learning a great deal on Claude Monet we stopped for a drink (included in the package) & then set out to a charming village on Rue de la Moulin where we stopped for a sumptuous 3-course lunch (again, included in the package). The Inn was by the river & we had an absolutely gorgeous view. After filling our bellies we head out to Versailles - the drive through some small mountain ranges was beautiful. Driving through the small & charming towns really brought back some old memories from my summer vacation days in India. Once we got to Versailles (man, what a contrast), I really started to feel the creek in my neck. Talk about "Grand". Ironically, the bedrooms were not as large as one would think for a palace. In any case, they sure loved their gold. Versailles was the unofficial capital city of the kingdom of France. While Paris remained the official capital city of France, and the official royal palace was the Palace of the Louvre, but in practice government affairs were conducted from Versailles, and Versailles was regarded as the real capital. Enough of history - the paintings in each room was simply amazing - the ceilings were also painted . All in all, a great day & some fantastic memories to take home.
Next morning, we bid adieu to the family & set out for the airport to catch our flight back home. Like I stated earlier, this was one great trip that will remain in our memories for years to come. Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. Until next time, Adieu - Belle Paris!
. Headed south on Boulevard St. Michel and in 10 minutes, we were at our hotel (Hotel De Suez). After reading about the size of hotel rooms in Paris, we really did not set very high hopes on what to expect. But, after checking into our room (Room 401), I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised. The window looked out straight onto St. Michel & the bathroom had a bidet . So, after washing up, got out of our hotel and continued down south on St. Michel. The boulevard was filled with people from all walks of life & a number of shops, including - Cafes, Brasseries, Restaurants, Boulongeries, etc. This is it - this is how one should experience Paris. We first stopped in at the Luxembourg Gardens. The geometry of tulips was amazing & the Greek + Roman influence was clearly visible in the sculptures. After touring the garden, we continued to walk south to get on to Avenue Denfert-Rochereau. While the plan was to stop in and see the Catacombs, we were late as it closes at 4:00 pm. Oh well! Turned around & headed north on Boulevard Raspail before turning left on Boulevard Edgar Quinet to get to Mont Parnasse. This is the business district of Paris. People were just getting off work & stopping in at the various cafes & bars for an evening drink. We did the same . We primarily came here for Tour Mont Parnasse - this is a tall building from where you can get an excellent view of Paris at night. This is the same view that Pixar rendered in Ratatouille when Remy first realizes he is in Paris. If you time yourself correctly you can also catch the Eiffel tower glittering right about at 8:00 pm. We did not know this at the time but got lucky. Two words - Its beautiful! Ended the day at a restaurant on a charming cobbled street for our first experience with food in Paris. While I am a person who lives to eat, my 8 year old is on the opposite end of that spectrum. Having said that, we ordered one thing that we thought would work for all 3 of us & that was the Margherita Pizza. WOW, the pizza was delicious & the Belgian ale went down beautifully . The little guy literally inhaled it down. Not too long after, combination of the jet lag, the piping hot pizza & the Belgian ale was beginning to kick in ; so headed east on Boulevard De Mont Parnasse before turning left on Boulevard St. Michel, back to our hotel. Ahhh - what a beautiful time & this is just the beginning.After a great night's rest, headed on down to Pomme De Pain (right opposite our hotel) for some breakfast. While the original plan was to catch Bus No. 85 just in front of out hotel's entry, we learned from the front desk that the bus does NOT operate to Sacre Coeur on Sundays. So we took an alternative route, via the Metro. Caught the metro from St. Michel to Barbes-Rouchechord. Got out & walked for about 15 minutes on Rue De Barbes before turning left on a side street that took us straight to Sacre Coeur. It is only after you walk up the steep stairs to the top do you fully comprehend the devotion with which such architectures were built to please the Gods. After visiting the Sacre Coeur we walked through some charming streets that took us straight into the Mont Martre market place or square. This is where majority of the painters spent their time. Till today, the streets have a number of painters trying to make a living by selling their arts on display. The overall experience is hard to define in words. Would have loved to stay a little longer but had to head back to get to our next stop - Musee D'Orsay. Got on the metro & got out on Boulevard St. Michel. We could have taken Boulevard St. Germain but opted for the more scenic Quai De Conti - wonderful walk along the River Sienne. The art collection at Musee D'Orsay is absolutely wonderful, but it might be better to visit during the morning hours. The natural evening light falling on some paintings made it hard to see. Fortunately, the paintings of most interest (Vincent Van Gogh's work for my 8 year old & Monet's work for the wife) were positioned better. I have to say one thing - seeing these paintings in real life is something everyone must do at least once in their life. After covering the rest of the museum, to the best of our abilities, we walked back the Quai as my 8 year old wanted to see where Linguini was about to drop Remy into the River Sienne (Ratatouille). So we strolled down the cobbled path, munching some snacks and taking in the experience as the river boats cruised by. Continued to walk down the Quai to Notre Dame where the little guy got to play with some kids pretending to be a Power Ranger. Right across the Notre Dame is this quaint little bookshop (Shakespeare and Company) where the 2 avid readers spent about 2 hours while I did my thing - Taking photographs. We ended the day at an Indian restaurant (Aarapana) for dinner. We ordered Chicken Tandoori, Chicken Tikka Masala & Baingan Bharta - the food was excellent! Second day in Paris and already so many wonderful memories
.Day 3 is when we grouped with the wife's brother + family who were flying in from India. After the usual family greetings, we headed up north on Boulevard St. Michel to take in the Notre Dame. And I thought I had seen it all at the Sacre Coeur - boy was I wrong. If you love architecture & love to dwell in details, you could quite easily spend an entire day out here. Hats off to those who not only thought this up but actually executed on it - WOW! To get to the top of the tower we had to come out & take the second entrance which is on Rue du Cloitre Notre Dame. My son had a great time climbing up to the tower pretending to be the Hunch Back & entertaining fellow visitors along the way. As with everything else that we had seen so far, the bell at the top of the tower was ... BIG
. Well, at least for us. After spending almost 3 hours at the Notre Dame, we rushed to visit the Sainte Chapelle & Le Conciergerie. Fortunately they weren't as big as the other structures & so it did not take as much time to go over both. We spent the rest of the day shopping along the streets of Paris. We ended our 3rd day at a wonderful little restaurant (Anahuacalli) on Rue De Bernardins. Everything we had there was delicious - the jar of Margarita really helped with letting the good times roll .Today is an important & exciting day for all - the day we all see the Eiffel tower
. After a sumptuous breakfast, we caught a bus (Number 63) from Rue De Ecoles to Les Invalides. The bus stop is just around the corner from our hotel. We got off & visited the museum, which also happens to have the tomb of Napoleon. Outside of the tomb, the defense museum also had a V1, V2 & a replica of the Fat Man/Little Boy. From there we walked back on Esplanade des Invalides, over Pont Alexandre III, past the Garnde & Petite Palais onto to Avenue Champs-Elysees. With that walk, the kids built quite an appetite & were ready for lunch. We stopped in for lunch at Pino Pizza (great Pizza) before continuing on to Arc de Triomphe. Two words - Aieee Caramba!!! This is a Mammoth . But wait, there is something bigger & taller coming up. So, we headed down south on Avenue D'lena which took us straight to our destination once we crossed over the Sienne from Pont D'lena. The first thing my son had to say after seeing the Eiffel Tower was, "It is a lot shorter than I thought" . So, we stood in the line (Domino of Humans) & after waiting patiently for 2 hours, grabbed our tickets & took the elevator all the way to the top. Standing on the roof @ 300.65 meters, the view is endless - mind blowing! Pulled out my trusty camcorder & got myself a 360 of Paris. This was a long day and a real long walk for the kids. So, we caught a cab & headed straight to Rue Saint-Benoit for a steak dinner . We read a lot of good reviews on Les Relais de L'Entrecote. Their menu is quite simple - Salad, Steak in their secret sauce + french fries. You can order it either medium or well done. While I have had better steak, the family had a good time. Overall, another beautiful day in Paris.We had planned to make this a lighter day, so we left the entire day for the Louvre. Don't think that you can cover all exhibits in 1 day - Louvre alone can take up 5-6 days. But, since we were only interested in the Paintings, Print & Drawings exhibits - we did just that. Some of these painting are brushed on 20' x 40' canvases with the an amazing level of detail in them - light, anatomy, shades, colors, etc. Of course, the highlight of this day was going to be the one single exhibit that everyone visits - the Mona Lisa. She just hung there with her smile. While my lower jaw was floored, my 8 year old (the family critique) asked, "Why is the painting so small?". Quickly followed by, "He should have made it bigger"
. But to his point, a logical thought, especially after having experienced "tres grande" exhibits/collections/monuments. Any case, after that we walked through Jardin De Tuileries down to Place De la Concorde. From there we caught a cab & head straight back to the hotel. The nice thing about our hotel location is that all the main points is either a 10 minute walk or a 10 minute drive by cab/bus. The other great thing about this location is that it is literally a 5 minutes walk from Rue de la Harpe and Rue de la Huchette. These 2 narrow streets is lined with restaurants and cafes serving cuisine from every corner of the world - Middle Eastern, Indian, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Greek, Turkish and French, of course. The family wanted to try some fondue, so we ended our day at one French restaurant. While they enjoyed the fondue, they could not stop ranting and raving on the French Onion Soup.Our last and final full day in Paris
. This had to be a day that we would remember for the rest of our lives. So, we checked with the front desk at our hotel, & the lady there was so very helpful with hooking us up with a tour company that would take us in a private van, with a guide, to Giverny & Versailles. It's expensive, but if you get a chance - please do this. Our guide (Emerick) was very knowledgeable & gave us a lot of insight into the lives & ways of the great Louise the XIV all the way through to the "not so great" Louise the XVI. The wife was ecstatic as she was getting great insight into the life of Marie Antoinette. The drive to Giverny, once you got closer to Normandie, was absolutely charming. Giverny is where Claude Monet finally settled & spent his final days. He built this beautiful home with a well maintained garden - including his Japanese garden where he painted the world famous lily pond painting. After visiting and learning a great deal on Claude Monet we stopped for a drink (included in the package) & then set out to a charming village on Rue de la Moulin where we stopped for a sumptuous 3-course lunch (again, included in the package). The Inn was by the river & we had an absolutely gorgeous view. After filling our bellies we head out to Versailles - the drive through some small mountain ranges was beautiful. Driving through the small & charming towns really brought back some old memories from my summer vacation days in India. Once we got to Versailles (man, what a contrast), I really started to feel the creek in my neck. Talk about "Grand". Ironically, the bedrooms were not as large as one would think for a palace. In any case, they sure loved their gold. Versailles was the unofficial capital city of the kingdom of France. While Paris remained the official capital city of France, and the official royal palace was the Palace of the Louvre, but in practice government affairs were conducted from Versailles, and Versailles was regarded as the real capital. Enough of history - the paintings in each room was simply amazing - the ceilings were also painted . All in all, a great day & some fantastic memories to take home.Next morning, we bid adieu to the family & set out for the airport to catch our flight back home. Like I stated earlier, this was one great trip that will remain in our memories for years to come. Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. Until next time, Adieu - Belle Paris!
