A Visitor Arrives!

Pages from Jan's Travel Journal: Saturday, March 12, 2011

What a busy day this was! We awoke at 5:00 AM so that we could make it to CDG in plenty of time to meet Jennifer's plane. This would be her first trip to France, and she was very happy to be able to see her brother and enjoy a memorable vacation. It was so good to see Jennifer's smiling face when she arrived. She looked so fresh and pretty and awake! It was hard to believe that she had been traveling for almost 20 hours. 

We headed back to the hotel right away, so Jennifer could drop off her cases. We then began to walk in the direction of the Seine, though first stopping to introduce Jennifer to real French pastries. She happily enjoyed the pain au chocolat while I nibbled on three flavors of mini-macarons. Craig chose an eclair, but Des wasn't really hungry. Leaving the patisserie, we soon found the river, and Jennifer was thrilled at her first sight of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower! We boarded a Batobus for a tour on the Seine, and I enjoyed watching the expression on Jennifer's face as she gazed, enthralled, at the fabulous architecture.

Such a lovely view. 

We hopped off the boat at the Eiffel Tower, where we purchased crepes at a little stand. They were actually pretty good, and of course Jennifer got a kick out of it. Just sitting on a bench as we ate, looking at our surroundings, was a thrill. 

Then, it was back on the boat to head toward our next stop - Notre Dame.  It was magnificent - especially those glorious stained glass windows.

 

Notre dame as seen from the boat.

Jennifer and Craig in front of Notre Dame.

Our next stop was the Louvre. The line at the entrance was horribly long. We couldn't even get down to the basement gift shop, so we turned away, disappointed. All of us were beginning to feel a bit tired, anyway so we hailed a taxi to return to the hotel for a brief rest.  

After our batteries were recharged, we set out to explore, visiting a few shops before deciding on a cafe for dinner. We had a very pleasant meal at the Cafe de Luna where we were seated next to a window overlooking the busy street. Our meals were tasty, and we all enjoyed the mousse au chocolat and the creme brulee for dessert. The following day would be our last full day in France, and Craig and I were feeling a bit sad.

Mousse au chocolat and creme brulee - who could resist?