The End

Determined to get the most out of our last day, we started out as early as possible with the Musee D’Orsay. The extra walking was too much for Kathy’s ankle and she stayed behind for the morning. We were half way through our visit when I bumped into a fellow Collin associate at the museum! John and Kathy took a canal cruise in the afternoon and Jim and I used the Metro and covered the Champs-Elysees and other sites on the right bank. We finished our vacation at Café de la Paix, a great restaurant next to the Opera House (where Eric and Meredith went after they got engaged). Tomorrow, we have an 11:40 direct flight to Dallas (10 hours) which will get us in DFW at 3:20. Kathy and John almost have another full day to enjoy Paris as their flight to JFK does not leave until 6pm. Hope to spent some of the time on the flight going through the 100’s of pictures we took trying to get them down to a manageable number to post on Shutterfly.

We Love Paris!

Today we finally unfortunately had rain but fortunately we planned the morning for the Louvre. Our continental breakfast at the hotel turned out to be a full breakfast with out of this world croissants. After an overwhelming 2 hours in the Louvre, we came out to fairly heavy rain and it was impossible to get a cab to Notre Dame so we decided to take a break to visit Angelina’s Tea Salon on the Rue de Rivoli near the Louvre and it was an excellent detour. We had African Hot Chocolate which was possibly the most delicious thing I have ever tasted and unbelievable pastries. It was the recommendation of Kathy and John’s daughter-in-law Meredith and it was fabulous. Cabs are impossible to find in Paris and we ended up walking to Notre Dame (which we needed after our hot chocolate). We thought it would be a short walk across the Seine down Boulevard St. Germain down to Fragonard Boutique, a wonderful perfume store. It turned out to be about 2 miles which would not have been too bad except for Kathy’s ankle. We finally found the perfume store and it was another great recommendation from Meredith. John and Kathy thought they would get a cab back to the hotel from the store but ended up walking another two miles due to lack of cabs. I dragged Jim to Luxemborg Gardens because the videos from the French class that I am taking (“French in Action”) are filmed there. The rain stopped shortly after lunch and the gardens were beautiful. We decided to try the Metro back to the hotel and I was successful in using my French and we did not get lost and were actually able to change trains. Our cousins Anne Marie and Katie Hynes happened to be in Paris and we met them for dinner at another Rick Steves recommendation, L’Affriole, it was delicious! We did SO much walking today, we almost walked off the African Hot Chocolate. We can’t wait to try out some more of Meredith’s recommendations tomorrow! Unfortunately some more light rain is forecasted for tomorrow.
Wireless Internet connection is great at the hotel (note to my CEWD friends – was even able to connect with VPN and access I: drive from Paris!)

Nous sommes à Paris

Arrived at our hotel, Relais Boquet which was highly recommend in Rick Steves Paris book and it lived up to all it’s recommendations (plus free wireless!!!). The hotel is centrally located close to the Eiffel Tower. We had chance for a quick walk to the Eiffel Tower and then had our first delicious dinner at a nearby French restaurant Le Florimond. After dinner, Kathy’s ankle injury was still bothering her and the Lussens went back to the hotel. Jim and I walked back to the Eiffel Tower where hundreds of people were picnicking on lawns in front of the Eiffel Tower waiting for it to become illuminated at 10pm. We decided to walk back to the hotel along the Seine and got a little lost but luckily had a good map. There are predictions of rain tomorrow so we might plan our visit to the Louvre in the morning.

Lussen Luggage Luck

Enjoyed our final night and woke up for the dreaded debarkation. It seemed to go so smoothly until the Lussens could not locate their final piece of luggage. All the luggage is picked up from the rooms the night before and is put in one large room when the ship docked grouped by color coded tags. The Lussens had red luggage tags and their last piece of luggage accidently got sent to the airport with the luggage that was going to the airport. We were going to the train station and luckily had enough time for the suitcase to get sent back from the airport. We then had an extremely pleasant 4 hour train ride from Amsterdam to Paris with beautiful scenery. We did run into a traffic jam with the motorcade going out to meet Ingrid Betancort.

Farewell to the Baltic Paris Nous Venons

On next to the last night was another fabulous dinner at the Murano restaurant with our new friends Alicia and Dustin. Wind was pretty brisk as we sailed into North Sea but still there were some sun worshipers out there. Spent a little time packing and enjoyed some of the onboard activities. Our group from Cruise Critic had one last get together and then our last dinner. Some people are getting off the ship at 6:30 for early flights. Our train to Paris is at 11:30 and the train station is two blocks away however they will probably want us off the ship by 9. We hear the weather in Paris could be rainy . We have a great list of recommendations for restaurants and shopping from Meredith Lussen  - so Paris here we come.
Tom and Jenny – realized, it is only number 9 anniversary, but still Happy Anniversary!

The Good Weather Godess is Still With Us!

I did stay up last night to see a magnificent sunset at 11pm and the bridge that connects Denmark to (I still do not know where). The ship docked in Copenhagen at 7am with clear blue skies. We boarded the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus right at the cruise ship terminal and the first stop was Amalienborg where the Royal Palaces are and saw the guards. It was then only a short walk to Nyhavn, a small canal flanked by 18th century houses where the merchants used to live. We took a canal cruise from there and passed by Christiana (the hippie colony) and had a pretty good close up look at the Little Mermaid (which was very “little”!) It was a great way to see some of the sights that we could not have seen walking. After the cruise right on the Nyhaven we found the best ever waffle cones and ice cream and continued on to Stroget, the main shopping street. We stopped for coffee and Danish beer outside of Illum a beautiful Danish department store. We reboarded the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus and passed Tivoli Gardens and Rosenburg Castle. It was a spectacular day and I particularly enjoyed it since Copenhagen is the birthplace of my maternal grandmother, Ellen Anderson, who left Copenhagen in 1901 at the age of 14 to come to America. We found the people to be very friendly and I never saw so many cute babies in beautiful prams. Jim and John thought the woman were pretty nice, too.
We sail to Amsterdam at 5pm today (we are 7 hours ahead of CST at this point). Tomorrow will be our last day – a sea day. Tonight we are going back to the specialty restaurant along with another couple that we have met. We will be thinking of Pop-Pop Sheppard tomorrow on the 65th wedding anniversary and Happy 10th Anniversary to Tom and Jenny Sullivan.

Sea at Last!!

Well earned day of rest before Copenhagen tomorrow. Today was clear and sunny but a bit brisk and windy (55 degrees). The only people wrapped in blankets by the pool were people from Seattle or Great Britain and other sun-deprived places. Can’t believe it is just Copenhagen and one more sea day before the cruise ends on Friday. Friday we will be taking the train from Amsterdam to Paris and I am not sure what the internet access will be there. Have been able to use wireless the whole time with some sporadic slow periods. For some reason there are some sites that I have not been able to get to, mainly one of my bank sites and my work Groupwise account (yes – I have not checked work email since Heathrow airport on the 21st!). It is 10pm here in the Baltic Sea and still daylight. Sun does not set until 11 and sunrise is about 4. At 11 tonight (if I am still awake), we are supposed to be passing under a big bridge that connects Denmark to some other country (forget what Captain said).