Bonsoir, We had not been to Père LaChaise in many years, and a second visit was our main itinerary today. The weather was breezy, cool, and mostly cloudy so it was an appropriate ambiance for walking quietly through this huge green space. I was very surprised at how few people were visiting, almost no Americans […]
Bonjour, There’s nothing better than spending Sunday morning at one of the largest markets in Paris at Marché Bastille. And for us, it’s a convenient wonder that it’s only two blocks from our apartment. We decided to stroll through and let the pictures tell the story. Despite a gray, drizzly day, we found color and enjoyment […]
Happy Fourth of July Weekend! I will take a break on the blog for a day or two since I’m sure most of you will be busy grilling burgers, eating watermelon, and visiting with family and friends. We will be as proud to be Americans here in Paris as we are at home! This morning […]
Bonjour! What a surprising weather day today with a foreboding forecast of rain all afternoon, but the joy of sunshine with 68 degrees was what we actually got. We decided to venture out again into new territory for us and became flâneurs or strollers through the 18th arrondissment. For those who may not know, Paris is […]
Bonjour, Today has been a lovely weather day in the upper 60s with mostly sunny skies. Our morning is usually devoted to shopping, as was the case today. Then we grabbed some take-out lunch from a little patisserie including a splurge with a fresh cherry tart! Most days we are averaging between 12,000 and 15,000 […]
Bonjour mes amis, I thought I would give all of us a little break from the blog for a day or two! Hope the weather has moderated some in Alabama. Things are certainly “hot” over here with Brexit and some additional manifestations at the Bastille and the closure of the Eiffel Tower today. But as […]
Bonjour from Paris on a Sunday morning, We are hearing from so many of you about the terrible heat in the USA. Hopefully, you will get a break soon! Not to add salt to your wound, but yesterday in Paris was just perfect. I think the high was 68 degrees with a gentle breeze, and […]
Happy Weekend, I love a day like yesterday in Paris. . . new territory, charm, and surprise, all amid gorgeous weather. Thanks to a suggestion from friends, Connie and Jim Malone, we struck out after lunch for a long, complicated subway ride to the suburbs of Paris in the 20th arrondissment, an area which is […]
Bonjour, We awoke this morning to the shock of Great Britain’s vote to leave the EU, followed by David Cameron’s resignation. If you have investment in the US stock market, there will likely be some some rocky days ahead. Regardless of your opinion on this issue, it will bring huge changes to Europe and the […]
Bonjour, One of our fun goals each summer in Paris is to explore new places. . . which is becoming more challenging as the years go by. But we generally can find a new surprise or two, some of which have been on our list for a long while. After many attempts to find our […]
Bonjour mes amis, The question I have been asked by many of you is, “Are you all okay in Paris?” This seems to be driven by extreme media reports coming out of Paris about street riots over football, stinky garbage piling up on streets, strikes and other manifestations over labor disputes, dysfunctional transportation, etc. I […]
Bonsoir mes amis, Sunday is such a special day in Paris. . . easier, quieter, more relaxed with families outside everywhere. Most stores are closed and many restaurants as well. Our day began with a walk across the river for a special Father’s Day lunch with Bernie’s son. We noticed that the Seine has risen at […]
Happy weekend to all of you! I can tell that summer has arrived as I’m sensing many of you are busy with summer travel and side trips to fun places. At least I hope so. Happy Father’s Day tomorrow to all the Dads! This morning was laundry day for us in our new apartment which […]
Bonjour, After a very busy morning of packing and unpacking, we are in our new apartment which will be our home for the second month of our Paris visit! We LOVE it…very light, breezy and much more room than we had before. However, we will remember 42BIS on rue St. Paul with much fondness and […]
Bonjour, Some days are slow and lazy, and this has been one of them. The weather is still quite cool, and we managed a pouring rain about 1:30 which kept us inside at the Musée d’Arts Décoratif. I began my day early with a much-needed haircut. I always hold my breath a bit when I […]
Bonjour mes amis, Last evening, though tired, sleepy and feeling our age, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. . . when reasonable people should be heading to bed! There were special ceremonies in memory of the victims of the Orlando shooting. We felt we had to be there since it was our country […]
Salut! It’s a gray Monday in Paris with intermittent light drizzle and around 60 degrees. We welcomed Bernie’s son, James, this morning and his partner, Stephen. Their studio apartment is about a 3-minute walk from us on the top floor of another 16th century building in the Marais. I’m sure they have at least 70 […]
Bonsoir, Our weekend has been easy and fun, slightly cooler with more rain! Ugh! However, we are excited to greet Bernie’s son James and his partner, Stephen, tomorrow for a two-week visit. They will be staying in an apartment very close to us, about a 3-minute walk. We are glad the river has found its […]
Bonjour mes amis, I love to start with good news. The River Seine is almost back to normal, and I think within a day or two, sans any significant rain, we will see the cruise boats back out on the river in force. The water needs to drop another couple of feet in our estimation. The […]
Bonjour, After almost a week in Paris, Jan & Tony left early this morning (Friday). It was a good week but certainly less than hoped for with Jan’s being under the weather. She was able to make all of our dinners, but none of the daily activities. They stayed at the Hotel Caron (http://www.hotelcaron.com) It’s […]
Bonjour, We found a way to make our central focus yesterday in Paris about food! That’s not hard to do in this wonderful place. Our friend Jan was only able to join us for dinner, but we enjoyed the earlier part of the day with Tony. Our stop for lunch was the Terrace of the Plaza […]
Dear Friends, What can I say? I’m a Southern gal from Alabama and nothing suits me better in Paris than warm temps, blue skies, and sunshine! That’s what we had yesterday in one of our best weather days since arriving. The city is adjusting to the flood and life goes on amazingly well. Our guests […]
Bonjour, I understand it’s very, very hot in Huntsville, close to 100 degrees. So sorry! Yesterday in Paris was our best weather day since we arrived on May 16…77 degrees with some sun in the afternoon and early evening. The waters along the Seine have begun to recede slowly but the lingering effects remain. Consider […]
Bonjour mes Amis, It is Monday, June 6 in Paris and we are saying “Hello” to our friends, Jan Smith and Tony Porter. They have come right behind us from Budapest to spend a few days in Paris. It will be their fourth time to visit. But never before have they seen us in such […]
Bonjour, C’est dimanche à Paris…it’s Sunday in Paris and that means a quieter, slower day. Still hoping for some sunshine but it doesn’t look promising. The flooding Seine has been the topic of conversation and is having a profound, negative effect on the economy. The waters are receding but it will be days if not weeks before […]
Bonjour, Newsflash: it was raining this morning. Ugh! Hopefully, soon we might see the sun, but I’m beginning to wonder. Here are more photos of the flood around L’Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame. I’ll caption each one so you can get a better feel of what’s going on. Both the Louvre and the d’Orsay […]
Dear friends, We are back in Paris after our river cruise on the Danube. The traffic yesterday from the airport, because of the closing of the expressway by the river, was chaotic and resulted in a very long and expensive cab ride. There has been a prix fix or fixed price fare from the airport but […]
Bonjour mes amis, Still trying to catch up with some of our wonderful pictures. We are on our last day today in Budapest and finally were hit with rain showers this morning. It’s the first time weather has been anything but beautiful, so we cannot complain. Here’s a little tour of Passau, an old medieval […]
Bonjour, I am sitting in Vienna, Austria under blue skies and 73 degrees. Our weather on this cruise has been fabulous. But the frustration over our Wi-Fi has been maddening. I’ll try to catch up with some of our stops and photos, but I have long forgotten the individual itinerary to identify everything. Forgive me […]
Bonjour, Wow, we’ve had a very busy few days! We enjoyed a quick day trip to Baume les Domes, home to Bernie’s other cousins, Jean-Paul and Marie Josée who are now in their golden years. As always, we had a special time and fantastic lunch with them and their daughter Muriel. Josée makes her own […]
Bonjour, On Monday evening before our departure for Alsace, Bernie did a solo photography shoot and captured some gorgeous pictures of the St. Paul-St. Louis church, which is steps away from our apartment. Notice the detail work and remember that up until two years ago, this church was totally black! Then he captured some interesting […]
Happy Monday to all, Despite a cold, blowing rain and 55 degrees, we trudged across the river to one of Paris’ most interesting celebrations, Le Fète du Pain. Each year this event is held in front of Notre Dame in honor of St. Honoré (Patron Saint of bread bakers), with the purpose of selecting the best baker in all […]
Bonjour, It didn’t take long for the rain to return in Paris and with it a bit of gloom over the city. The locals are humorously crying that Paris has skipped over summer to autumn! We are close to agreeing with them. A day with this kind of steady rain means not many pictures or […]
Bonjour from a sunny Saturday in Paris! It’s 73 degrees in Paris on a gorgeous day and we have thoroughly enjoyed the uptick in weather. All the winter wardrobes overnight become summer, including mine! And what better place to enjoy a summer day than along the Champs Elysees? We stopped by the elegant Marriott hotel […]
Bonjour, It was 58 degrees this morning when Bernie left the apartment at 9am to meet our next landlady and prepay our second month’s rent. He did not get to see inside the apartment (just around the block) because it is currently rented, but he did get to assess those 70 steps leading up to […]
Bonjour mes amis, This morning it was 52 degrees and rainy, not my favorite Parisian day. To say we’ve had a slow pace is an understatement but we do have a few proven ways to enjoy ourselves when the weather is this uncooperative. We rode the Métro out to La Defense and walked around the […]
Bonsoir, This year I’m wearing a Garmin Vivofit, compliments of my son. So for the first time, we will be able to accurately count our steps each day in Paris and the number of miles they represent. It’s only 3:30pm at the moment, and we’ve already hit 12,000 steps or 4.5 miles. Wow! We began […]
Bonjour, We’ve discovered several great things about our little Paris apartment…it has a very comfortable bed (9 hours of sleep last night for two tired souls) and a fantastic large shower. I believe with those two amenities, we can easily be at home here. The motto is: a place for everything and everything in its […]
Bonjour mes amis, For our twelfth summer fling to Paris, we were blessed with a perfect travel experience … no delays or hiccups, even a 30-minute-early touch-down at Charles de Gaulle. Today is a holiday in Paris for Pentecost so there was almost no traffic as we drove in. We couldn’t believe it! We also […]
Bonjour mes amis, As we await our twelfth trip to Paris in a couple of weeks, it was a shock to read that it snowed in the City of Light a few days ago! Yesterday’s temp was 46 degrees. Certainly, we’re hoping that all the cold weather disappears before we make our entrance, but weather […]
Bonjour mes ami, Since I told you the bad news, I feel compelled to share the good news! We secured an apartment this morning just off rue St. Paul in the Marais where we love to be. It is tiny and the one with 70 steps, but we will make it work. We’re very grateful […]
Bonjour! The preparation for our Paris trip in about a month was met with a startling surprise this past Sunday evening. As we were watching an episode of “Madam Secretary,” Bernie looked at me with a downtrodden face and said, “Oh no! I’ve got some very bad news.” He had just received a lengthy email […]
Dear Friends, It won’t be long until we leave for our twelfth trip to Paris. We depart in mid-May for two months. Some of you have asked about subscribing again to the blog. If you signed up last year, then you are good to go. Please tell your friends about the blog and my forthcoming […]
Good morning, We are safely home after a non-dramatic travel day. All flights were on time and no glitches. How fortunate we were. BUT we did have one almost tragedy right at the beginning. The fluster of getting out of the cab at the airport is always nut-so. Grabbing all the bags, watching out for […]
Bonjour mes amis, Our time here is ending and like every other year, I write a final blog about insights and reflections we hope you will find interesting. The weather has affected our time here more than ever before. It has rained 3 times in 49 days, twice of those at night and all three […]
Bonjour, Yesterday, our entire day was a lovely trip to Château de Vaux le Vicomte about 55 kilometers outside of Paris. We went by a local train, all arranged by Jim Bilbro, and then caught a taxi from Melun out into the countryside. Once again, the weather was not our friend. It t […]
Bonjour, Our last week, saying goodbyes, wrapping up, wistful sadness. That’s where we are right now. It’s Tuesday morning and we are off to a busy day with the Bilbros touring a chateau outside of Paris. More on that later. Last evening we had the farewell dinner with Bernie’s son James and friends at one […]
Bonjour, It’s the morning after again and I’m just writing yesterday’s blog. We came in so tired last night and then slept in! What a wonderful life. We’re counting down the days as there are only six more to go! Our trip is a little shorter this year, seven weeks instead of eight, and that […]
Bonjour, Occassionally, one can be disappointed in Paris. An outing doesn’t pan out to be what you expected. This happened to us yesterday. After lunch with the Bilbros, we made our way over near the Eiffel Tower with Bernie’s son James and his partner, Stephen, to visit what was billed as a fantastic shopping mall. […]
Bonsoir, We’ve been waiting for the perfect day and today was it! We had a 3-hour picnic on the river along the Paris Plages. It was just wonderful with mild temps, a gentle breeze, and beautiful sky graced with white puffy clouds. We took some of our food and bought a couple of sandwiches. I […]