Days 1 & 2

I flew on Lufthansa from Los Angeles to Frankfurt––11 hours––and then to Paris––a bit over 1 hour. I was picked up at the Charles de Gaulle airport by the shuttle service that I booked through viator.com, with whom I booked other tours that I was to take in Paris before my Gate 1 Classic France tour would begin. All went well until I realized that I had left my iPad on my Lufthansa flight in Frankfurt. To retrieve it took perserverance, many emails to Lufthansa lost and found (they found it), unanswered emails to DHL and FedEx, then a wasted hour at the DHL office in Paris and three hours at the FedEx office there. In a nutshell: Lufthansa will mail you whatever you leave on their planes, but only to your home and will not mail you or deliver to you any item with lithium batteries as it is against EU rules. You need to use a courtier service (DHL, FedEx, UPS) to pick your item up (here, Germany) and deliver it to you (here, France). BUT to use either DHL or FedEx (I didn’t try UPS), you have to have an account with them so that they can verify your U.S. credit card––no cash allowed. My recommendation for any international traveler: open an account with one of the courtier services to use just in case you left something on a plane. You then should be able to arrange for pick up and delivery simply over the internet. Photo: The Eiffel Tower seen on my ride to my hotel. It was lightly raining.

Days 1 & 2

Dinner in Paris

I ate dinner at my hotel’s restaurant––the Mercure Paris Centre Tour Eiffel. Photo: Part of the menu. You can find recipes on the internet for mustard ice cream and foie gras Korsmeskies (use a C instead of a K).

Dinner in Paris

My Dinner

I’m not an adventurous eater, so I had a chicken sandwich and French fries, but these were really the best French fries I have ever had and, fittingly, I am having them in France.

My Dinner

Eiffel Tower Blinking–Movie

My hotel was close to the Eiffel Tower and I was given one of the rooms that faced it, probably because I booked the hotel on my own (Gate 1’s price for it was more) and I am a member of the Le Club AccorHotels, becoming a member at another Accor hotel on another trip. So for four nights (the fifth night it didn’t blink) I could watch the Eiffel Tower blinking––a fantastic sight––right from my hotel room. It blinks every hour on the hour from 9 p.m. (earlier when it gets dark earlier) and until 1 or 2 a.m.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/zxZq5a8ElXI

Eiffel Tower Blinking–Movie

Day 3: Mont Saint-Michel

Day 3: Today, I took a day trip from Paris to Mont Saint–Michel. A driver picked me up at my hotel at 6:30 a.m. The hotel gave me a boxed breakfast as I was leaving before breakfast was being served. Photo: A Paris scene we passed on the way to the meeting place for the tour.

Day 3: Mont Saint-Michel

Paris

The tables were already all lined up for their breakfast crowd.

Paris

Paris

Passing the Grand Palais on the right where the 1900 Paris World Fair was held. It is still an exhibition venue.

Paris

Paris

Passing the Pont Alexandre III bridge, named after the Tsar of Russia. This is my fourth trip to Paris, the last one in 2004. On this ride, I am remembering how beautiful Paris is with so much to look at. I am still enthralled by it.

Paris

Paris City Vision

We are at the Paris City Vision office from where the tour to Mont Saint–Michel will be starting. The statue in the photo is of Joan of Arc.

Paris City Vision

Map of Normandy

The map shows where Mont Saint–Michael is located, in Normandy northwest of Paris. It is on the Normandy/Brittany border. At one time, parts of Normandy were part of Brittany and Mont Saint–Michel was located in Brittany. This is a long trip from Paris to Mont Saint–Michel. I was picked up at 6:30 a.m. and dropped back to my hotel that night after 9 p.m. It takes about 3 hours plus to get to Normandy plus we added a rest stop. Most of the drive was on well flowing highways with the view only of trees. I and I think most of the people on the tour thought it was a good time to catch up on sleep.

Map of Normandy

Normandy

Normandy was beautiful with old brown stone houses, some quite large with ample grounds. It is really a place that you want to drive around on your own and to take your time to view it.

Normandy

Mont Saint-Michel

Our first view of Mont Saint–Michel from afar. The original site for the monastery was founded by an Irish hermit. Then in the 8th century, as per legend, the archangel Michael appeared to the bishop of Avranches in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the islet here. At the time of the French Revolution, few monks remained at the monastery and it was turned into a prison. Victor Hugo and others campaigned to restore it back to a monastery. Today, there is a small number of monks and nuns of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem living here. It is a place religious pilgrims come to and tourists as well.

Mont Saint-Michel

Lunch

You can take the tour to Mont Saint–Michel with or without a lunch option. I took the lunch option and sat at a large table with a Chinese couple from Hong Kong who I had already talked to at our rest stop and three couples and a single man all from Australia. What was odd was that none of the couples or the man knew each other beforehand and didn’t know that they were all from Australia until we told each other where we were from. Are Australians born with a homing device to sit next to each other? Anyway, a good group to have lunch with and the main dish was a fish pie which was really delicious.

Lunch

Mont Saint-Michel Causeway

A new causeway was built between the mainland and the islet in 2014. It is supposed to allow people to cross over even when the tide is in. One time it was submerged due to a super tide. Shuttles take you from the mainland almost to the islet. As soon as we got off the shuttle, we were hit with, to me, hurricane–force winds and they didn’t let up. However, as soon as we entered the town behind the walls, no more wind.

Mont Saint-Michel Causeway

Mont Saint-Michel Village

There are 350 steep and sometimes uneven steps up to the monastery. I avoid steps without rails so I was not planning on going up them. Anyway, I inadvertently couldn’t find my tour group that was going to climb up––my tour director wanted me to see how far I could go up. I missed hearing that the group would meet at the end of the causeway but I was waiting for them at the entrance and missed them. So I spent my time in the town below the monastery. I have heard that both the monastery and the church at the top are well worth the climb. As I don’t have photos of them, you can Google “Mont Saint–Michel photos” and some will come up of them. The town had many souvenir stores and restaurants and the street was cobblestoned and steep. You are really walking through a medieval village.

Mont Saint-Michel Village

Mont Saint-Michel Ramparts

I climbed up to the ramparts and took this photo and others. My photos of my trip to Mont Saint–Michel are on a slideshow. Go to
http://www.peggysphotos.com/mont–saint–michel/ (Slide Shows, Western Europe, France, “Mont Saint–Michel”).

Mont Saint-Michel Ramparts

Paris in the Rain

It was raining when we got back to Paris and I heard that it had been raining there all day. A view of the Eiffel Tower in the rain.

Paris in the Rain

Paris in the Rain

The Pont Alexandre III bridge in the rain.

Paris in the Rain

Paris Ferris Wheel

The ferris wheel went up for Christmas and is supposed to be taken down soon.

Paris Ferris Wheel

The Eiffel Tower

Now closer to the lit up Eiffel Tower and my hotel.

The Eiffel Tower

Paris Amusement Park

The tourists are out even in the rain. There were many tourists in Paris when I was there. Back to my hotel.

Paris Amusement Park