Thursday, November 8, 2012 - 2nd day in Paris, France - Last evening I closed this blog with our departure from The Louve for our reserved hotel for the night, Hotel Amelie.  The taxi took us directly to this hotel and once inside we were greeted by the night manager who had our luggage.  He told us that with the hotel under remodeling construction, the water was turned off for the night.  Earlier in the day when we had left our bags with the day manager, we were told that the Herrmanns would be in a 1st floor room (one flight up) room and Sylvia & I would be in a 2nd floor room.  The night manager did not seem to know anything about those assignments and proceeded to give the Herrmanns a 2nd floor room and us a 4th floor room.  We proceeded to our rooms via the spiral stairway that had no landings or banister, just simply curved stairs for 6 or so floors with rooms opening off this stairway at all levels.  Once we had found our room, a few minutes of inspecting it and the security of the locks and door convinced us that it probably was not a safe place to stay.  We decided to discuss the situation with Bill & Marie.  Leaving our luggage inside and locking our door we walked (?) back down this spiral staircase the two floors to their room.  Meanwhile, Bill & Marie had become equally concerned about staying in this hotel and within a few minutes of our discussion with them, we decided to leave it and go looking for another place to stay.  By this time it was after 11 p.m.  I returned to our room and retrieved our bag and other items and then rejoined the group in the room below.  As we departed the hotel we told the night manager that we were not staying and would discuss our reasons for leaving with the day manager the following morning.  I proceed to the first hotel I noticed (probably about a city block away).  The rates there were very expensive--quoted in Euros, it would be approximately $400 USD for the night.  We began to look around for another place and soon spotted another hotel, Hotel Jardins d' Eiffel, across the street about one-half block away.  When we went inside the lobby we felt it might be acceptable.  The night manager told us he had only 2 rooms left, one "standard" room and one "upgraded" room.  We asked to see the rooms and were directed to the elevator (which was a good sign) at least for us.  Both rooms were very nice; Bill & Marie took the "standard" room; Sylvia & I took the more expensive "upgraded" room.  Neither room was priced at the $400 rate quoted at the previous inquiry.  So, we stowed our things and decided that we were relaxed enough that we realized we were hungry.  Outside we walked a few blocks to a cafe that we located.  The food was good and the time together very enjoyable.

With all that stated, I'll continue with our activities for the next day.  The following morning, Bill & Marie and Sylvia & I checked out of the hotel after a nice breakfast (included) and stowed our luggage so that we could be picked up there for our return to the Gare de St Laurent (train station) for our late afternoon return trip to Le Harve.  I made a phone call to the car service and sent a message to Carol via email to give them the address of our present hotel and then we began our exploring.   Meanwhile as planned, Paul & Carol had departed from their hotel this morning for their tour of Versailles Palace.  (Sylvia & I had visited there in 2010 when we were on a British Isles Cruise that stopped one day at Le Harve).

I found this first picture interesting because it made me feel like we are all somewhat alike even if we live in Paris, Texas or Paris, France.  It's important to keep the soda bottles cool.

 

Our walk of the neighborhood took us by some lovely bakeries with delicious items for sale.

Not only were the displays beautiful but so was the setting inside with this lovely chandelier.

 

We walked the streets through areas like this.

 

 

And, I saw this motorcycle with this "bumper" sticker (from the USA) on it...

Soon, we were again at the Eiffel tower.

 

 

Looking over the flowers to a monument...

 and another monument, Bill.

Near the Eiffel tower was the United Buddy Bears display

 

 

One final picture of Eiffel

 

The beautiful streets of Paris.

 

Nothing was as beautiful as the flowers in the flower store.

 

 

 

Unless it might have been the fruit in the fruit market.

 

Paul & Carol had ended their tour of Versailles and arranged for the driver to deliver them to our hotel.  There they stashed their luggage and then walked to a location nearby where we met them and all continued to a nice sidewalk cafe for lunch together.

 

 

After a relaxing lunch we returned to our hotel to meet our driver who took us to the train station for our 3 p.m. train.  The 2 hour ride was uneventful and we were a happy group of 6 who piled into a small taxi cab and returned to our waiting ship, Celebrity Constellation.

 

That evening, at 11 p.m. we departed from the port of Le Harve, France to travel the 524 nautical miles to the port of LeVerdon, France (port for Bordeaux) with arrival scheduled for Saturday, November 10, 2012.

 

As I reflect on this "whirlwind" tour of Paris, I remember it with very fond thoughts.  It was an adventure that was certainly made more memorable and enjoyable by the company of Bill & Marie Herrman and Paul & Carol Melton!