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Monday, July 3, 2017

2 NIGHTS IN PARIS


Our arrival into Paris was via the Eurostar high speed train from London.   You can learn about that experience by checking out my previous blog article.  



Our train eased into the Paris Gare du Nord Station in the late afternoon. Friends met us at the station and escorted us to our hotel for the next 2 nights, the Hotel Champs de Mars.  
Hotel du Champs de Mars in Paris
Hotel du Champs de Mars lobby

Hotel du Champs de Mars Eiffel Tower just 10 minute walk

Located at 7, rue du Champ de Mars, this hotel has a great location at a reasonable price and included free wi-fi.   Situated a stone throw from the foot of the Eiffel Tower, and one of the most beautiful section of Paris, it is also just a short walk to the Louve, the Invalides, the Place de la Concorde, the Rodin Museum, the cobblestone banks of the Seine River, and Notre Dame Cathedral.  The rue Cler market, the liveliest and most well known market street in Paris, is just around the corner from the hotel as well as Champ de Mars Gardens

Our queen room at the Hotel Champs de Mars was quite small but most rooms in Paris are small.  Our nightly cost was $183.98 but we opted to pay an additional $10.93 per person for breakfast, bringing our total to $205.84 per night. 
Standard Queen Room
Toilet and sink area of our standard queen room
Shower in a Standard Queen room
Immediately after checking in and dropped our luggage, we walked out the front door of the hotel, turned right and walked to the corner which is rue Cler street.  We made another right and in under 2-minutes had arrived at Mariage Freres-Tower Eiffel location. This French gourmet tea company was founded in 1854 by brothers Henri and Edouard Mariage.  The company has been managed for over 130 years by the Mariage family.   Today, with over 30 stores, it operates in France, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, with four stores located in Paris. 
Entrance to Mariage Freres from rue Cler
Inside the Mariage Freres tea shop.
Inside Mariage Freres
The tea menu was extensive, but in French, so Mike and I simply followed the example of our friends and ordered the Marco Polo Blue Tea.  Listed as being “the most legendary of blended compositions”, it was very elegantly served in individual silver teapots and the tea color was actually blue. 
Marco Polo blue tea at Mariage Freres tea house in Paris
Be prepared for sticker shock as a pot of tea here will run you $15.00 per person.



The friends that met us at the Nord Station, escorted us to our hotel and then joined us for Marco Polo blue tea were Fred and Nancy Gramann. 
Friends Fred and Nancy Gramann from Paris
Fred recently celebrated his 40th  year as the Music Director of the American Church in Paris.  You are probably asking yourself how we came to meet and become friends with a couple who have lived in Paris for 40 years.  That is a fascinating story in itself and perhaps one for a future blog.  In any event, when I discovered that our hotel was only a 10 minute walk to his church and that he would be holding a music rehearsal while we were there, I asked Fred if I might be able to attend and he very graciously consented.  We did find ourselves caught in a rain storm as we began walking to the church.  I had brought along my umbrella but Nancy, and my husband Mike, quickly improvised with cardboard and a plastic trash bag. 
Improvising during rain shower in Paris
Breakfast at the hotel is served downstairs and there are no options to choose from like you would see on a typical American menu.  Once you are seated you were brought the prepared breakfast which consisted of orange juice, croissant and breakfast breads, butter, cheese sticks, plain yogurt, fruit cup and coffee or tea.  It’s the same each day. 
Breakfast area downstairs
Breakfast is served
We left the hotel at 10:00am and enjoying a leisurely stroll on the cobblestone walkway running adjacent to the Seine River.   My GPS indicated the walk to Notre Dame Cathedral would take us 15 minutes but it actually took us just short of an hour as we found ourselves making numerous stops to admire the views, especially of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River.
Selfie on our walk to Notre Dame Cathedral
Fun photo of the Eiffel Tower

Sights along the Seine River

Sights along the Seine River

Sights along the Seine River

Sights along the Seine River

Sights along the Seine River

Sights along the Seine River
Sights along the Seine River

Sights along the Seine River
We finally arrived at Notre Dame Cathedral just before 11:00am and jumped into the back of the line for entrance.  There is no fee to enter the Cathedral, however, you will pay a fee of €10 to go into the tower to check out the gargoyles and bells.  The lines can be very lengthy at the Cathedral but our wait was no more than 10 minutes.  You will go through a quick security check before entering.   I wrote about the Cathedral on an earlier blog.
Notre Dame Cathedral


 
Entrance into Notre Dame Cathedral

Selfie in front of Notre Dame Cathedral while listing to the noon bells ringing
After leaving Notre Dame we made our way to the Foxity bus stop for the 2-hour hop on hop off Paris city tour.  We purchased our tickets and boarded at Stop #7.  A bus comes by every 20 minutes.  The double-decker buses are orange and white and the cost was €20 per person for a 24-hour pass.   The roof is retractable in the event of rain and the bus is heated during the colder weather. The tour makes 10 stops including the Eiffel Tower, Avenue de Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triumph, Palais Garnier (Opera), Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral.   Individual headsets are provided and commentaries are in 9 languages.  I especially liked that they stopped at the major sites and gave ample time for photos. 
Foxity hop on hop off double-decker bus
Foxcity route map
Arch de Triumph from Foxcity tour bus

Eiffel Tower from Foxcity tour bus

The Louve from Foxcity tour bus
We walked out of the hotel at 5:30pm and headed straight to the Eiffel Tower as I had made 6:30pm dinner reservations at 58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary.  The walk over took us less than 10 minutes. Why is it called 58 Tour Eiffel?  “Count 57 meters up from the ground, add a meter for the height of the kitchen range and there you have it . . . .”
58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant in the Eiffel Tower
 
Update 12/5/2021:  The 58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant is now Le Jules Verne. 
 
Our confirmation instructed us to check in at the foot of the Eiffel Tower 30 minutes early. To access the Eiffel Tower esplanade you will first need to go to the checkpoint located on Avenue Gustave Eiffel, between the South and East pillars, and present your confirmation email.  Without that document, you will not be allowed access. Mine was on my iPhone and we encountered no problems getting inside.   
Avenue Gustave Eiffel check-in point to enter Eiffel Tower esplanade
Once inside the esplanade area you then need to find the red 58 Tour Eiffel welcome desk located between the North and East pillars.  Here you collect your lift ticket as it is included with your dinner package.  Once you have your lift ticket proceed to the VIP lift that provides access to the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.  It is located between the South and West pillars.  There is a special entrance for guests holding dinner reservations so you skip to the front of the line. 
58 Tour Eiffel check-in area at base of Eiffel Tower
I booked the 58 Tour Eiffel online and purchased the 6:30pm “Emotion Offer” that included lift ticket, glass of champagne, starter, main course, dessert, wine, mineral water and coffee. I selected this package because it offered a guaranteed window view.  Dinner lasted 2 hours and our total cost was $249.31 but I felt it was worth it and would certainly do it again.  NOTE:  If you plan to have dinner in the 58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant you will want to book as far in advance as possible as I have friends who have tried to book three months in advance and they were already sold out. 
First glass of champagne after arriving at 58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant
Mike and I enjoying our window seats in the 58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant
Our second morning in Paris was uneventful.  Downstairs for breakfast about 7:30am, then back to the room to pack.  Today we are heading to Conflans-Saint-Honorine.   It is in this small community, situated on the banks of the Seine River, where we were to board the MS River Venture, our home for the next 7 days.   
MS River Venture docked at Conflans-Saint-Honorine
The docking area in Conflans-Saint-Honorine for Vantage Travel is about 30 miles northwest of the city center.  The question then presents itself as “How am I going to get from my hotel to the dock?” and “How am I going to get from the dock to the airport?”.  I did a quick google search of “Ground Transportation Paris” and was provided with pages of standard options such as Viator, however, they all list from city center to the airport.  I needed a company, other than hiring an expensive taxi, that was flexible enough to take us to this relatively unknown location.   

My next google search was “Paris Ground Transfers”.  It was here, as I scrolled through the list, that I ran across a company called Shuttle-Paris-Airports.  Searching my way through their website, I was unable to find information on transportation to Conflans-Saint-Honorine. Transfers via taxi or through Vantage Travel were extremely expensive so I felt it beneficial to fire off an email to Shuttle-Paris-Airports and inquire if they provided such a service and at what cost.  My initial email was answered promptly and professionally by Serge, the owner of the company.  From this point on we exchanged a number of emails and I began to feel very comfortable with my choice. 
Meeting Serge from Shuttle-Paris-Airports
I pre-arranged a transfer from our hotel to the docks of Conflans-Saint-Honorine and also a transfer from the docks to Charles DeGaulle Airport.  The service was easily paid for online and a receipt issued the same day.  On the morning of our scheduled transfer to Conflans-Saint-Honorine, Serge personally met us at our hotel and introduced us to Ben, our designated driver.  Ben confessed that he had not been to the docks before but made the trip very enjoyable with his engaging conversation and bubbly personality.  The trip will take between 45 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic.  Once we arrived into the community of Conflans-Saint-Honorine it took us a few extra minutes for Ben to locate the docks where the MS River Venture awaited.  Total travel time was just over one hour at a cost of $85.81 for both of us.  



Seven days later we returned to Conflans-Saint-Honorine and once again Serge personally met us dockside, allowing enough time for a short interview before we headed to the airport.  Serge was born in Columbia but came to France as a very young boy.  Shuttle-Paris-Airports is a smaller company and fairly new, started just five years earlier.  It represents just one of many businesses owned and managed by Serge, who also builds and manages his own websites.  Serge assigns his drivers from a current pool of ten.  Bookings are comprised of 50% American, Canadian and Australian and 50% from the rest of the world. 

If you are looking to support a local, quality run business operating in the Paris area, consider Serge and Shuttle-Paris-Airport first. Have a unique request?  Just send an email to Serge at shuttleparisairports007@gmail.com   You won’t be disappointed. 




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