We woke up in Budapest at 6:30 am after the wake up call. We got ready and headed down for a quick breakfast and then left for the airport at 7:15 in a taxi. We reached the airport a few minutes before 8 am, well in time for our 10:10 am flight. After checking-in our bags and passing through security, we window shopped for a little while and then found a comfortable sofa and camped there till our boarding time. Samia read her book on kindle and I started writing the previous two days' updates. The flight took off on time. Air France's staff and service was very good and the plane was not that old. I continued writing the updates through the almost 2.5 hours of the flight and Samia read her book. We also had coffee and a cookie during the flight.
We landed in Paris at about 12:30 pm and then collected our suitcases. We had decided against taking a taxi and we were going to take the train to the city center. That was a bad idea. After buying tickets to the train, it took us almost 45 minutes to get to the right platform because we went to the platform adjacent to the correct one by mistake. Due to a combination of the slowness of the elevator and not enough space for our suitcases the first few times it stopped, the elevator ride down took 20 minutes. Similarly, the elevator ride up took another 20 minutes. Finally we got to the correct platform and boarded the train. It was already almost 2 pm by this time. We had to change trains at a major station Chatelet but by the time we got there, we were so tired because of lack of sleep and the physical exertion of lugging our suitcases that we decided to exit the station and take the taxi for the remaining route. This was another mistake. When we exited the station by taking a few escalators and an elevator, it turned out that this station was in a pedestrian-only street where some construction was also going on. After unsuccessfully trying to find a taxi, we went back down to take a train. We got to the station nearest our hotel after 3 pm and then walked a few minutes to our hotel. We were really exhausted by this time.
Our hotel is called Hotel Scribe and it is the birth place of motion pictures. On December 28, 1895, the Lumière brothers demonstrated their new invention, the cinematograph here and that day motion pictures were born. The location of the hotel is very central. It's a few minutes walk from most attractions in the 1st arrondissement - The Louvre Museum, Musee d'Orsay, Opera Garnier, Jardin des Tuileries, Place Vendome - and a few subway stations away from all the other major attractions of Paris - the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle church and Arc de Triomphe. River Seine and Champs Élysées are also about ten minutes walk away. The hotel staff was extremely helpful and the service was probably the best we've seen at any hotel. For the next few hours, we rested in our room after taking showers to freshen up.
We consulted our hotel concierge and picked a French cuisine restaurant five minutes walk from our hotel for dinner. It was called Chez Monsieur. Luckily, we were able to get a table. It was probably the healthiest fine dining meal we've ever had in our lives. The on-the-house bread and butter was paired with fresh baby radishes which was a delightful combination. Our appetizer was super-thinly-cut slices of watermelon and melon with balsamic vinegar, pesto, basil leaves and peppers. As Samia described it, this appetizer was a flavor explosion of deliciousness. Our main entree was fresh caught fish which was done just right - delicate enough to not make it chewy and well done enough that it didn't feel undercooked. Sprinkling a bit of lemon on it and having it with a side of stir-fried vegetables was again the perfect combination of tastes. Our dessert was strawberries, kiwi and cantaloupe in black currant juice with plum sorbet topped with freshly ground mint leaves. It was the perfect mosaic of fruity flavors and capped the delicious meal very nicely. After paying the bill, we also got an on-the-house dessert of madeleines (mini cakes) with apricot chutney. The French sure do know how to prepare a perfect meal. The server was very friendly, efficient and funny and the whole experience reminded us of how much we love Paris. The few minutes walk on the way to the restaurant had already reaffirmed that love when we saw beautiful buildings, smartly dressed people, scores of corner cafes and restaurants creating a vibrant and lively atmosphere. The French obsession with flavorful food and emphasis on enjoying the little things in life perfectly matches our definition of a good time so it's no wonder that it's our favorite city in the world.
After dinner, we started walking back to our hotel but one of Samia's sandal's sole separated from the shoe. She waited at a cafe while I quickly went back to the hotel to get her a replacement pair. Then we continued walking towards Jardin des Tuileries to go on to Champs Élysées so we could walk on it and go towards Arc de Triomphe. I wanted us to check if the famous Angelina bakery was open and despite Samia telling me that all bakeries and patisseries in Paris close shop early, I insisted that we check it out. I had miscalculated how far the walk would be and it turned out to be quite a long detour and the bakery was closed. Since we had almost reached the start of the park Jardin des Tuileries, we decided to trace our way back by walking through the park. It's in the middle of the city with The Louvre on one side of the park, Musee d'Orsay on another side and Place Vendome on the third side where Champs Élysées begins. We walked from The Louvre to Place Vendome through the park, with Musee d'Orsay on our left. The park has green spaces but oddly enough, the walkways are plain gravel surfaces which meant that it was dusty and not too comfortable to walk on them. After taking a break at a picturesque fountain, we finally exited the park and reached Place Vendome. It is a square with the Vendome column in the middle which was originally erected in 1699 by Napolean to commemorate victory in a battle.
We landed in Paris at about 12:30 pm and then collected our suitcases. We had decided against taking a taxi and we were going to take the train to the city center. That was a bad idea. After buying tickets to the train, it took us almost 45 minutes to get to the right platform because we went to the platform adjacent to the correct one by mistake. Due to a combination of the slowness of the elevator and not enough space for our suitcases the first few times it stopped, the elevator ride down took 20 minutes. Similarly, the elevator ride up took another 20 minutes. Finally we got to the correct platform and boarded the train. It was already almost 2 pm by this time. We had to change trains at a major station Chatelet but by the time we got there, we were so tired because of lack of sleep and the physical exertion of lugging our suitcases that we decided to exit the station and take the taxi for the remaining route. This was another mistake. When we exited the station by taking a few escalators and an elevator, it turned out that this station was in a pedestrian-only street where some construction was also going on. After unsuccessfully trying to find a taxi, we went back down to take a train. We got to the station nearest our hotel after 3 pm and then walked a few minutes to our hotel. We were really exhausted by this time.
Our hotel is called Hotel Scribe and it is the birth place of motion pictures. On December 28, 1895, the Lumière brothers demonstrated their new invention, the cinematograph here and that day motion pictures were born. The location of the hotel is very central. It's a few minutes walk from most attractions in the 1st arrondissement - The Louvre Museum, Musee d'Orsay, Opera Garnier, Jardin des Tuileries, Place Vendome - and a few subway stations away from all the other major attractions of Paris - the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle church and Arc de Triomphe. River Seine and Champs Élysées are also about ten minutes walk away. The hotel staff was extremely helpful and the service was probably the best we've seen at any hotel. For the next few hours, we rested in our room after taking showers to freshen up.
We consulted our hotel concierge and picked a French cuisine restaurant five minutes walk from our hotel for dinner. It was called Chez Monsieur. Luckily, we were able to get a table. It was probably the healthiest fine dining meal we've ever had in our lives. The on-the-house bread and butter was paired with fresh baby radishes which was a delightful combination. Our appetizer was super-thinly-cut slices of watermelon and melon with balsamic vinegar, pesto, basil leaves and peppers. As Samia described it, this appetizer was a flavor explosion of deliciousness. Our main entree was fresh caught fish which was done just right - delicate enough to not make it chewy and well done enough that it didn't feel undercooked. Sprinkling a bit of lemon on it and having it with a side of stir-fried vegetables was again the perfect combination of tastes. Our dessert was strawberries, kiwi and cantaloupe in black currant juice with plum sorbet topped with freshly ground mint leaves. It was the perfect mosaic of fruity flavors and capped the delicious meal very nicely. After paying the bill, we also got an on-the-house dessert of madeleines (mini cakes) with apricot chutney. The French sure do know how to prepare a perfect meal. The server was very friendly, efficient and funny and the whole experience reminded us of how much we love Paris. The few minutes walk on the way to the restaurant had already reaffirmed that love when we saw beautiful buildings, smartly dressed people, scores of corner cafes and restaurants creating a vibrant and lively atmosphere. The French obsession with flavorful food and emphasis on enjoying the little things in life perfectly matches our definition of a good time so it's no wonder that it's our favorite city in the world.
After dinner, we started walking back to our hotel but one of Samia's sandal's sole separated from the shoe. She waited at a cafe while I quickly went back to the hotel to get her a replacement pair. Then we continued walking towards Jardin des Tuileries to go on to Champs Élysées so we could walk on it and go towards Arc de Triomphe. I wanted us to check if the famous Angelina bakery was open and despite Samia telling me that all bakeries and patisseries in Paris close shop early, I insisted that we check it out. I had miscalculated how far the walk would be and it turned out to be quite a long detour and the bakery was closed. Since we had almost reached the start of the park Jardin des Tuileries, we decided to trace our way back by walking through the park. It's in the middle of the city with The Louvre on one side of the park, Musee d'Orsay on another side and Place Vendome on the third side where Champs Élysées begins. We walked from The Louvre to Place Vendome through the park, with Musee d'Orsay on our left. The park has green spaces but oddly enough, the walkways are plain gravel surfaces which meant that it was dusty and not too comfortable to walk on them. After taking a break at a picturesque fountain, we finally exited the park and reached Place Vendome. It is a square with the Vendome column in the middle which was originally erected in 1699 by Napolean to commemorate victory in a battle.
Then we walked on Champs Élysées towards Arc de Triomphe. The pedestrian walkways were occupied by bleachers-style benches for public for celebration of France's National Day (Bastille Day) a few days back on July 14. The day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. We had to walk very carefully to ensure that we didn't overbalance on to the road since we were walking fairly close to the edge. After walking about half the boulevard, the benches were gone and we could walk on the regular pedestrian path. Soon the commercial part of Champs Élysées started. We were quite tired after walking through the gravel surfaces of the park since we hadn't worn appropriately comfortable shoes as it wasn't in the plan to walk through the park. We were about to take a break at Starbucks when I spotted a nice looking restaurant across the road so we decided to check it out. Turned out that the world's most famous macaroons place Laduree was adjacent to that restaurant. Of course, we went there instead of the restaurant. We ordered hot chocolate which was essentially melted chocolate and got 4 mini macaroons - coffee, lemon, chocolate and pistachio - and a chocolate pastry. The macaroons were perfect - not too hard, not too soft, not too warm, not too cold with delicately tantalizing flavors - and definitely a touch better than Jean Philippe's macaroons of Las Vegas or Thierry's macaroons of Vancouver. After capping off the day with pure chocolaty goodness, we decided to call it a night and took the subway back to our hotel. Till the next update, goodbye from Paris!
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