Notre Dame
Sorry it's taken me so long to post this, I have no excuse.
Our time was flying by in Paris a city we both just love. Today my sister, her husband, my niece (my brothers daughter) and 10 or so university students of my sisters (from Kendall School of Design) were coming into Paris. It was the reason for going up there. They had been in Munich, Berlin and Vienna, now spending 3 days in Paris. They were flying in and then taking a bus into the city, so we decided to head over to their hotel and meet them when they arrived. They were all a bit tired from being up at 4:00 to catch a plane, so we decided to let them un-pack, relax and get settled, so we headed over to the Jacquemart-André Musee for a while. It was beautiful. We headed back over to their hotel at 1:30 and went over to get some ice cream at Berthillon's on île saint-louis, it's supposed to be the BEST and well I don't know because I'm not an ice cream nut, but it was really good. My sister, brother-in-law and niece were with us and we walked over to Notre Dame and around the 5th and 6th. Then my sister and brother-in-law split off from us and my job was to take my 17 year old niece shopping. We weren't finding anything good in the 5th or 6th for her, so we hopped on the metro and headed back over to the Lafayette Galleries. Bruce decided to stay in the 5th and do some drawing at the Luxembourg Gardens. We were to meet back at the hotel around 7pm. My niece and I were lucky at the galleries, she got an adorable jacket and a dress and I got a cute dress too (not that I needed it but what the hell). The afternoon was slipping away so I got her back to the hotel and had to jump back on the metro to head back over to our hotel as we were meeting S&N back at Les Funambules for an aperitif at 7:30 and then my sister and "the gang" were meeting us there for dinner. I was rush and hungry and tired when I got back to the hotel, but to my surprise Bruce wasn't there yet. He came in around 7:15, happy and relaxed from a day hanging in the gardens drawing.
me and my sister Anne
My niece Maggie
We then headed over to the restaurant, had drinks with our new friends and dinner with my sis. Super fun night!
The gang at dinner
my man in his favorite city
On Thursday we let my sister and the gang do their own thing, we went back to the Luxembourg Gardens (which could be one of my favorite places in paris) and road bikes around the 5th and 6th, a really nice relaxing afternoon. We went to Pierre Hermé an amazing dessert shop with the most incredible macaroons. We got some for us and some for the S&S who take care of the dogs. We met up with my sister in the afternoon and then had dinner with my brother-in-laws relatives (his mom is originally from Nice and all her relatives are in France), great fun, great wine and great food. Another amazing day in Paris.
The Luxembourg Gardens
Friday, day 6, our last day! We met my sister for coffee over in the 4th and said our goodbyes. Our train left at 2:00pm and we had to be back to the hotel at noon to check out. We had the most amazing time in paris and it was wonderful to share it with my sister. She lives too far away and we don't see her enough.
We stayed at a lovely hotel while we were there called The Grand Hotel Francias in the 11th. I mentioned it before but this is a great hotel and the staff were so friendly and nice and accommodating. The rooms are all re-done, we stayed on the ground floor in room #2 and it was beautiful, clean, spacious and the bathroom/shower....amazing! I highly recommend this hotel if you are going to Paris, you won't be disappointed.
Our trip was amazing and we really just roamed around the city, we didn't do any of the touristy things, but we've been to Paris before and saw most of the big sights. This time it was just riding around on bikes or walking forever and experiencing the city for what it is...beautiful!
