Paris Day One

The French don't seem to pay much attention to who comes to their country by air. In the past we have had to complete a customs form. Not this trip - your smiling face and passport is all it takes, and they don't seem to show much interest in us. Passport control? Not so much. We then got our bags and headed to the train. And, once again our lack of chip and pin credit cards in the U.S. meant we could not use the self service kiosks but had to stand in a long line to buy our tickets. 

We then headed to the RER B, changed to the line 5 Metro at Gare du Nord, and got off at Bastille. With lugging our bags up and down stairs at Gare du Nord and at Bastille, we have gotten our workouts for the day.

Our hotel, Hotel Bastille Speria, was a couple of blocks from the Metro stop and we checked in a got our room right away. We dropped off our bags and went exploring. We found the Canal St. Martin to be not at all as some reviewers saw it. It was also surrounded by tents housing an antique show, so we could not walk around the canal except on the surrounding streets.

More wanderng and we ended up at a small restaurant just outside Place Des Vosges, Le Preau. Salade Chevre Chaud and Rose wine made us happy. We toasted Cindy thinking she would enjoy the rose also.

We walked a bit after lunch then went to the hotel for naps, then showers, and then more exploring. We walked quite a bit around the neighborhood, taking pictures and looking in shop windows. The Hotel de Sully was quite pretty. We stopped for a pricey kir vin blanc right on the square surrounding Place des Vosges, then continued our exploring with a dinner venue in mind. At around 7:30 we settled into Le Tabarin just north of Bastille. There we had a delightful cheese and charcuterie plate with kir vin blanc, then plats of lamb shank and confit of duck. Both were quite tasty with a carafe of Rhone wine. Next stop the hotel and bed and it is not quite 10:00 P.M. We have had a busy 24 hours!