Paris

One of our customers has shared their travel experiences in Paris

The evening we arrived we ate our first proper French meal at Vaudeville which is all marble and mirrors. The tables have has to be pulled out then be pushed back in, in order to get to the banquette because they are only an inch apart. My travel companion had steamed cod with potatoes puréed with semi salted butter and I had Norwegian salmon with black rice done in a thin broth. Sublime...absolutely sublime. I have never eaten a meal so slowly and savoured every bite.

Yesterday morning we walked through half empty streets where shops were preparing for Saturday shopping: strawberries from Belgium, French raspberries, the fishmongers was a feast for the eyes and boxes of 5 cheeses were 9 € a box.  People were sitting with their cafe aux lait and croissants.  There was a long line-up at Notre Dame so we went back to St Chapelle, which we had walked straight past.  It is a 13th century chapel...incredibly beautiful, we spent a long time there.  We had a lunch of lukewarm frites and a large sandwich that would have fed me for a week and took forever to eat. The food here is incredible! Last night we went to a tearoom and enjoyed black tea fragrant with rhubarb and wild cherries with lemon cake soaked in lemon syrup. After a long walk and we found the Palais Royal arcades and gardens, a child's birthday party was going on and people were just sitting and reading.

On our third day in Paris it looked like rain so we took the early train to Versailles where we could use our Musee pass to avoid the ticket line up and be inside.  Ha!  The security line is outside.  Every tourist in Paris had the same idea...it looks like rain, let's go to Versailles!  They are doing the original gold coloured trim on the roof.  Unbelievable.  Back in Paris we toured the  the Musee Orangery with its fabulous Monet panels and then walked through  the Tuileries Gardens in the rain. Loved it!

On our last day in Paris we went to the Louvre and spent twenty minutes

in the glass pyramid and then to the Sully Gallery. Many of the walls in the museum are covered with coloured marble and the ceilings are beautiful. We checked out the shops in the afternoon.