Journey to Paris

Hello from Paris! We arrived on Wednesday night after a journey that was 100 times more pleasant than in 2010, when we encountered a British Airways strike and it took over 30 hours to get to Paris. After upgrading our seats for Vancouver to London (we're playing the honeymoon card shamelessly), we had a quick last dinner on Canadian soil:

Dave enjoying a veggie burger on a gluten free bun...yum...

In 2010, we were stuck at Heathrow for over 8 hours and it was exhausting. So this time, we opted for a short-term stay mini-hotel room at the airport - somewhere to have an undisturbed nap and freshen up. It was interesting, sort of like mini cruise ship cabins. The whole room including bathroom was 75 square feet at most, but helped prepare us for our room in Paris.

Standing in the bathroom while taking this picture, and this is still all I could fit in the frame

Although we were only in Heathrow and did not head into central London, we got the feeling of being in an Olympic city again. There were countless ambassadors ready to help visitors with questions, and there is a pride amongst locals that their city is putting on a world class event.

Upon arrival in Paris, we headed to our hotel on Ile Saint Louis. The 'Island', as one of the hotel employees referred to it, is a quaint yet lively place. It is between the right and left banks of the Seine and spans only a few city blocks. The famous ice cream maker Berthillon has their shop on Ile Saint Louis, though like many stores and restaurants in Paris in August, it is closed for vacation. Luckily, there are about 9 cafes on Ile Saint Louis that sell Berthillon ice cream. There are lineups all day.

Of course, I made known when booking our hotels that we were 'honeymooners'. Our hotel greeted us with a beautiful box of macarons and a bottle of bubbles!

Rose petals included too!

 

We are so happy to be here, and we're ready to explore more of Paris that we did not get to in 2010!

Vivian

 

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