Part 11 - Last Day in Paris and Traveling Home

After a pretty big and tiring day of traveling around Paris yesterday, we decide to keep it pretty mellow on our last full day in Paris (9/18/15). The forecast was also calling for rain and thunderstorms. 

We started out our day by stopping into a local bakery (boulanger) called "Eric Kayser." We picked up a couple quiches, some croissants, a baguette and a raspberry dessert of some sort. 

Back at our apartment I reheated the quiche in a frying pan like I did earlier in the week and Deanna made a sandwich out of the baguette. I brewed us some espressos and we relaxed, enjoying the view of Paris from our window. 

Quiche

Deanna went back to reading her book more and I watched some French television and took a nap before we decided to go for another walk around the neighborhood. There was a break in the rain so it was a good time to head out for a bit. Deanna was looking for a place that served chicken pho, so we stopped at a few Vietnamese restaurants to check their menus but could not find one that had it.  We stopped into a little gift shop and looked around for a bit then headed home. 

After watching a movie we then headed back to our favorite place "Foyer Mon Vietnam" for some beef pho. This time we ordered the pork rolls, shrimp/crab rolls, 2 beef pho and I had the coconut panna cotta again. It was all just as amazing as before. This restaurant was packed this time which makes sense because it is very good. We wished this restaurant was in SF. 

After dinner we spent some time relaxing with some beers and wine and good music on our jambox. We kept the windows open for a while and listened to the night air and soaked in our final night in Paris. 

There were a couple of nights we looked out the window and saw all of the lights in this building putting on a weird light show or something. 

We did a little packing and went to bed.

Here is the AirBnb that we stayed at in Paris:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6274420

We definitely loved this little apartment. It was cute and the neighborhood was great as well. All transportation needs were close by. Everyone we met in that neighborhood was nice and easy to interact with. We recommend it if you are heading to Paris. 

We booked a flight back to London instead of the EuroStar rail because it was faster and cheaper. The only negative is that the cheapest flight leaves at 7:30am out of Paris. 

So Friday (09/29/15) morning we got up around 3:45am. We did a quick clean up around the apartment packed our remaining luggage. We called for a cab to pick us up at 4:30am to take us to Charles de Gaulle airport. We could have taken the train to the airport but the train does not run at that time. So we would have had to take a bus and transfer once or twice and it would have taken over an hour to get there. Our taxi took us there in about 35 minutes and cost around 53 Euros. Pretty typical for an airport trip in the US. 

We arrived at the airport and went into the terminal to find the British Airways terminal. We were in the right terminal, but could not find anything that indicated where the check in was for British Airways. We walked around for a while trying to figure it out but could not. We looked it up online and found that they were downstairs in a separate registration area. So we headed downstairs to the #9 check in desk and found a group of people waiting for British Airways to open their doors. As we waited a large number of people gathered to get in. They opened around 6am and we all went in. 

After being processed we went to the British Airways gate and hung out waiting to board. The British Airways terminal is very nice and swanky in Paris. We boarded shortly after and took off on our way back to London for our flight home. 

Manbun and Girlbun in front of us

During our flight we got breakfast in the form of a ham and cheese croissant and drinks. Pretty nice for just an hour long flight. We landed and made our way out of the terminal to get our backs to recheck back in to fly United. You'd think they could have some sort of better process for transferring from different airlines and not forcing you to go back through check in and security. 

We found a restaurant in the Heathrow terminal called the Perfectionists' Cafe where we sat down for some food. We both ordered breakfasts. I had the full English breakfast plate, an americano and a beer. Deanna had Eggs Benedict, champagne and a pot of tea. The breakfast wasn't that bad. I ate it all. 

Heathrow Airport

After breakfast we made the 15 minute trek to our United terminal at Heathrow. Luckily this long walk was full of moving floors to aid us in our adventure. Also at Heathrow they have FREE hand carts. We made good use of those. 

We hung out for an hour or so at our terminal before boarding our 9 hour flight back to Houston. Deanna was kind enough to let me ride by the window for this flight and she suffered next to some weird dude for the duration. 

We enjoyed many bottles of complimentary wine and a meal during our flight and watched a couple movies. We watched "Tomorrowland," "D-Train," "San Andreas," and Deanna watched "Bessie" while I watched "Avengers." Before we landing in Houston we were given a small turkey and cheese sandwich that wasn't bad. 

When we arrived in Houston we had to go through customs. The dumb thing they don't let you know about Houston is that they have automated Customs form machines. You do not have to fill out those stupid declaration cards they give you on the plane. We did of course but nobody ever took them. We did the machine and go in the huge lines and made our way out to our Luggage yet again. Then had to get re-scanned to get back to our connecting flight. What a terrible process this was. 

It was immediately evident that we were back in the US as we kept encountering rude TSA agents and unhelpful people at nearly every turn. The restaurants and service at the Houston United terminal were also very depressing. We wound up eating at some sad sports bar where I had chicken strips and fries and Deanna had what they were passing off as a Cobb salad. We quickly ate and drank our beers and left. 

Our flight began boarding and Deanna again was kind enough to let me ride in the window seat. The flight from Houston to SF was terrible. We could not get comfortable the entire time and they only offer drinks and snacks for purchase. How cheap is it of United to not even toss you some free peanuts anymore? The 4 hour flight was worse than the 9 hour one from London. 

We touched down in SF and got our stuff from baggage claim and headed over to the Park SFO shuttle. We parked offsite this time because I had a coupon for a free day of parking at the Parks SFO lot. It turned out to be a good and simple process. We ended up paying around $200 for 13 days of parking. Maybe not the cheapest option but it was convenient and easy. 

We got home about 23 hours after we left Paris. It was great to be home and reunited with our little Donkeycat Nima. She was happy to see us too. 

This was a really fun trip. We loved visiting London and Paris and think we did a good job of balancing out our tourist activities and our vacation relaxing activities. 

Thanks for reading everyone!

Deanna and Mack

Our full photo album is located here
(Many more photos and we'll be posting on facebook in one large album later): https://goo.gl/photos/rRMpDJXDXoF5QsS98

Part 10 - Louvre and Eiffel Tower

Today (9/17/15) we went on an adventure. We got up somewhat early and walked around the neighborhood looking for breakfast. We read a bunch of menus and settled on a place that had croque madames on the menu. 

The place was called Le Paris Saint-Germain. Which turns out to have terrible reviews from a few people on Yelp. We didn't research it. I ordered the Super Croque (comes with piles of tomatoes) and Deanna ordered the regular Croque. We also ordered two cafe espressos. All the food came out pretty quickly and it was delicious. The eggs on the sandwiches had nice runny yolks and the tops of the bread were covered in crispy, melty cheese. 

Espresso

Super Croque!

After we ate, we walked over to the Seine River toward the metro station bound for the Louvre Museum. On our way we walked along the river and came upon one of the "love lock" bridges. These bridges are famous because the guard wall panels along the walkway are covered in padlocks put there by couples in love. The couples write their names on the locks, stick them to the bridge, and then throw the keys away over the side. The most famous "love bridge," the Pont des Arts bridge is over by the Louvre museum but they are currently having the locks removed and the panels replaced to preserve the ironwork. (http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/travel/paris-love-locks-bridges-feat/) We knew about the bridge near the Louvre, but had no idea there was another bridge with so many locks also placed on the panels. This bridge was named the Pont de L'archeveche and sat in the shadow of the Notre Dame Cathedral. 

Pont de L'archeveche

Pont de L'archeveche

While we were standing there examining the locks and the scene overall we noticed someone spray painted over the locks the words "LOVE IS NOT LOCKS" in protest of the lock placements on the bridge. This practice of placing locks on the bridge is not supported by local culture. Some people are very outspoken about it. We did not put a lock on there. We took a couple snaps and carried on our way. 

LOVE IS NOT LOCKS

Notre Dame

Our walk to the Metro station took us over the Seine River and across the Ile Saint-Louis island. This island was cute with little shops and cafes here and there. We may go back for some shopping today if we have time. 

Sirens going by in Paris:

We continued to the Pont Marie metro station and made our way to the M7 platform in the direction of La Courneuve-8-Mai-1945 (our train's direction, not our desitination). We roded the train for a short number of stops until we reached our stop at the Palais Royal Musee du Louvre. 

The metro station comes up from the underground North of the Louvre. There is a small plaza that you can cross through that may have some tents set up for street vendors. After the plaza there is a shortcut through the Louvre in a tunnel called "Passage Richelieu" that will take you right to the center of the Louvre courtyard where the Pyramide du Louvre is. 

Passage

Once we were in the center plaza we walked around a little to look at the grounds and the layout of the Louvre. The building is massive and very beautiful. 

Now onto how to get into the Louvre. Prior to coming to London and Paris, Deanna did some research and found some tips to navigate some of things we had planned to do. One of the blogs that she found gave tips on the best way to visit the Louvre. We discovered that the line to get into the Louvre can sometimes take an hour or more. The article suggested a way to avoid the line by entering through the "Porte des Lions" entrance, which is located in line with the "Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel" (not the main arc btw) and the Denon wing of the Louvre. (Blog with Tips for visiting the Louvre)

Porte des Lions - NO LINE!

We made our way over to this tunnel, entered through a door with nobody waiting in line, quickly had our bags scanned, and entered. After we entered we were not greeted by anyone or ushered one way or another. We stood there trying to figure things out for a moment and then went over to the automated ticketing machines that were present. 

We selected English and were presented with a screen that seemed like it wanted us to choose the amount of tickets we wanted and pay, but it would not let us select the + symbol to add up the quantity of our tickets or to move forward. After being confused by this Deanna hit the screen-wide graphic that described the Louvre ticket package and then we were able to add our quantity and pay. Out came two tickets. So, remember if you are at the Louvre, press the graphic at the top to choose what you are going to purchase and then you can adjust the quantity and pay. This was not very clear from the "button" that was present. 

The bar with Mona Lisa is the actual Button

We grabbed our tickets and walked past a small barrier without incident. We grabbed some maps and were trying to plot our plan of attack. We decided to go directly upstairs to begin our tour with the paintings on the 1st floor level of the Denon building. As we walked up the stairs we looked over and saw a ticketing booth next to the door we had just entered through. Apparently that booth was there the entire time and we could have gotten our tickets there instead of using the automated machine. We also could have probably just skipped buying our tickets and gone in the way we did because nobody checked our tickets from this door anyway. I do not recommend skipping payment but this was just a funny observation. Also you'll need a ticket if you plan to go outside for a break and re-enter at any point. 

One negative to entering through the "Porte des Lions" entrance is that there are no audio tour guides available for rent at this location. You still have to travel all the way to the center of the Louvre beneath the Pyramids to rent them. The process for renting them also includes you using an automated ticket machine where you press a similar button to adjust your quantity and pay. Then you get in the line to hand your prepaid ticket to the headset lady. They supply you with headphones and a Nintendo 3DS system that guides you and gives you artwork history and neat facts. I think it's worth the price of around 5 Euro each. 

We wandered the halls for a good 3 hours that flew by very fast. The Louvre was very busy but not overwhelmed with people when we were there on a Thursday around Noon. We went in to see the Mona Lisa and thankfully only had to wait a few moments to get up to the front rail to have an unobstructed view of her. While the painting itself is pretty simple, its legend and lore are what really make you want to stare and soak it in for a while. After a few minutes we were rudely elbowed out of the way by some rabid tour groups, so we moved to the side to take a few more pictures. 

I made this on the spot from my phone. 

We saw a large number of paintings and works from the 13th to 18th centuries by artists from Italy, Spain, France and England. 

We were able to see some ancient statues and sculptures from Egyptian and Greek history as well. 

Actual Regent Diamond

Monet

When we began to get tired we started analyzing our map of the Louvre and realized we had literally only seen one floor of one wing and the upper 2 floors of the small back area called Sully. There is something like 3 floors on each wing and apparently a basement area too. The Louvre gets our respect as being one of the biggest museums ever and probably deserves a few days to really soak it all in, if that is your desire. We were done though and decided to leave. 

Really Good Eclairs

We took the Metro from the Louvre on the M1 line (La Defense direction) to the Franklin D. Roosevelt station. At this station we walked a good distance of tunnels and stairs to the platform for our transfer onto the M9 line (Pont de Sevres direction) that would take us to the Trocadero station. 

When we arrived at the Trocadero station we came up from the underground and were greeted by a large roundabout. After walking around the side of a large building (museum?) that was right at the exit of the station, we were immediately face to face with the Eiffel Tower. The Trocadero metro station is about a 10 minute walk from the Champ de Mars plaza where the Eiffel tower sits. Being up on this plaza gives you a nice elevated view of the Eiffel Tower and the entire plaza surrounding it, and is a great vantage point for photos. We also learned about this plaza from online research prior to our arrival. Be careful in this plaza as there are a bunch of illegal and shady street vendors and the possibility of pickpockets. We saw the police chasing the vendors away at one point. 

We snapped a few pics and took a few moments to really soak in that we were finally here. Seeing the Eiffel Tower in person is a grounding sort of moment and I personally felt some emotions about it. It's very big- even bigger than I had imagined from photos and movies. We took some more photos and went in search of food. 

We walked up and down the streets near Trocadero looking at menus, trying to find something good to eat... It was hard to find a place that we liked and as we searched from cafe to cafe, we just got more frustrated and grumpy. We finally settled on a place called Le Wilson, which was right next to the roundabout. I could see the very tip of the Eiffel tower over the museum from my seat. Not a glorious view, but a nice reminder of where I was while eating. 

That is the top of the tower over the building

For lunch we both ordered the traditional Onion Soup (French Onion Soup) as our starter. Then I ordered the Duck Confit and a Kronenberg 1664 beer while Deanna ordered the Spaghetti Bolognese (spelling?) and a Chardonnay. The soup came out and was covered in crispy melted cheese, which is a good place to start for any meal. We began to eat and immediately loved the soup. Wow, what a delicious onion soup, done to perfection. We both finished nearly every bit of our soups and were quickly greeted with our main dishes. My duck came with a side of freshly made potato chips. The duck was so rich and tender and the meat fell off the bone with a light touch. I loved it. I may need to get another Duck Confit before we leave. Deanna liked her pasta but it was a bit bland, lacking in seasoning overall. 

Onion Soups!

Duck Confit

Spaghetti Bolognese

For dessert I ordered another creme brulee and two cafe espressos. The creme brulee was fantastic with a perfect amount of sugar crisp on top. After dinner we began our walk over to the Eiffel Tower. 

As we wandered down the steps and sidewalks to the tower we were constantly approached by the many illegal street vendors trying to get us to buy cheap Eiffel tower trinkets, souvenirs, and selfie sticks. Apparently selling selfie sticks on the streets is a huge business here now. There were also a good number of other illegal vendors walking around selling beer, wine, champagne and other drinks for tourists to buy. For now we skipped all of those offers. 

With every step toward the tower you realize just how large it is. It is gigantic and very beautifully designed with ironwork and style throughout. We got some great pictures from the river's edge and pathways all along the walk. We took pictures from beneath it and contemplated waiting in line to elevator to the top. The lines looked pretty long and neither of us were really up for waiting. Also the stairs to the 1st deck were now closed, so we decided we would go have a drink and wait for the sun to dip behind the horizon to catch a view of the Tower after dark. 

We walked a couple short blocks over to a bustling intersection in the Gros-Caillou neighborhood. We stopped at a cafe called Le Champ de Mars and each had a drink. This is a very cute neighborhood and full of great people watching as folks are coming to and from the Eiffel Tower. After our drinks we walked back over to the Champ de Mars plaza where the tower sits. 

The sun was just about gone and the tower was light up. We took some great photos and went back to the plaza for a longer view of the tower. Every minute or so we were offered more trinkets for "just 1 Euro", which they said was a "good price, good price!". Eventually the guy carrying the booze bucket came by again and I opted for a beer. He said he wanted 4 Euros for the beer and I only had about 2.50 coin Euros on me. I did have some larger bills but I didn't feel like exposing how much money I had or getting into a situation where he had to give me change. So we held out that we only had that much money and basically said no thanks to the beer at the 4 Euro rate.  After a few seconds of him thinking he changed his price and said "okay 2.50 is good" and handed me the beer in exchange for the remaining change in my pocket. Great haggling win for us. 

When 9pm rolled around the Eiffel Tower puts on a sparkly light show for everyone to see. I'm not sure how long it goes for, but the  light show turns on at the top of every hour. It is very awesome to witness. 

Visiting the Eiffel tower is definitely something we recommend. Whether you decide to go to the top or not it doesn't matter, you will still have a great time being around it and taking in it's beauty from the ground. Avoid the vendors for the most part and keep your belongings in your front pockets and locked down in your bags. We didn't have any incidents but were warned many times to watch out for pickpockets and thieves. There were also signs telling you to not buy from the street vendors, but we still saw people doing it. 

After enjoying the tower we went over to the Champ de Mars station and caught the RER C line back to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame station. We strolled our way home and spent the rest of the night drinking wine and listening to music with all of the windows wide open, enjoying the warm Parisian night. We also did some people watching from the windows of our apartment as our neighborhood gets a lot of foot traffic. 

It's supposed to be storming tomorrow. We may take it easy. 

Thank you for reading!


Our full photo album is located here(Many more photos and we'll be posting on facebook in one large album later):https://goo.gl/photos/rRMpDJXDXoF5QsS98