First Stop: Castex
After a long flight from Seattle, connections though Heathrow to Paris, and on-time transportation pick-up by Golden Air,
we arrived at the Hotel Castex late afternoon. We were a day
early for the start of our Rick Steves' Tour and looked forward to a
quiet dinner and a good night rest. On recommendation from
Castex staff, we had made reservations in advance at a very
popular (and expensive) restaurant a short walk away. We were
confident of the evening ahead - everything was planned to the last
detail.
Rough Start
When we were seated at our table and looked at the menu we were pretty
sure
we had a problem. The on-line information for the establishment
was in English - complete with a menu. I had left a printed
copy of the
on-line menu in our room (not good). The waiter and the menu in the restaurant were 100%
French! Referring to our trusty Rick Steves "French" book we
pointed to the word "chicken" and the waiter nodded his head
"yes". For dessert we pointed to the neighboring table's ice
cream and chocolate wonder.
Several days later, we found the wonderful cafe shown here: Soprano
Ristorante Italiano - this is also a short walk from the Castex.
We ordered off of the Italian menu using an interesting
combination of Italian, English, and very little French.
This was the best meal we had the entire trip and brought back memories of our Best of Italy trip.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Patrick
provided two very full days of hands-on Paris. This included
on-the-job training with Paris Metro; if you have used London
Underground you are already trained. Notre-Dame is located
on the Ile de la Cite where settlements date back to 200BC. This island has always been the
center of Paris. Distances to/from Paris throughout France are
measured from this island.
Musee d' Orsay and Louvre
No standing in line for us! Our personal R.S. museum
guide whisked us through ticketing and security. We noticed
that some
non-R.S. people infiltrated our group from time to time to take
advantage of the very knowledgeable guide. There was a little
confusion in the lunch line and difficulty finding room in the crowded
seating area. Some of
the group indicated that we were part of a R. S. tour and suddenly they
had all kinds of help and free beverages!
It was very crowded both in the Orsay and the Louvre. The more popular exhibits (see Mona Lisa
photo here) were difficult to see in detail; even photographs were difficult to
take.
Departure
As we left the Castex, we were looking forward to getting on the
bus, meeting
our driver, Matieu, and moving on to our next stop. We found the Castex
a very nice place to stay with clean rooms, very helpful staff, and
excellent breakfasts in their breakfast room.
Listen to the Notre-Dame bells
[Broadband download time about 10 seconds.]
