Paris Day 1 - Saturday, May 5, 2007

Saturday we woke up real early, around 5:30am, walked to the Aircoach stop next to Trinity College and the Tourist Information Office. It was a short ride to the airport, and a rather painless travel experience from DUB to CDG. For such a short flight (about an hour), the service was realy nice: moist towelettes, drinks, yogurt, Irish bread with butter and orange marmalade. After landing, we taxied for ever. Then we walked down the stairs off the plane and got straight onto a bus to take us to the actual terminal. The bus ride was even longer! This is a huge airport!

Instead of standing in line to buy RER train tickets into Paris proper, we bought a Toblerone so that we could get enough change to buy our tickets from the machines: 16.20 euro in coins is a lot! The RER took us to Chatelet, which was close enough to our hotel that we walked, through a very touristy area selling all kinds of souvenir junk, to the Westin on Castiglione & Rivoli. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we relaxed and ate a light lunch at the hotel bar, Bar Tuilerie: croque madame (ham & cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top), "club sandwich" (tasted more like an egg salad sandwich, with turkey, proscuitto, lettuce, tomato, eggs), salad, and frites. With our drinks (Evian and a red Bichon wine) came beer snacks: potato chips, trail mix, wasabi peas. Theresa really likes this bar because it has soothing red decor and couches, but the tables are really short.

Our room was small but cozy. Mirrors on the wall and dressers made it look bigger. Interesting architecture and nice wallpaper. The bed was very comfy, and Ray fell asleep immediately (before Theresa got a chance to take photos). Once we were refreshed, we took a stroll down rue Rivoli and Champs Elysee, walked toward Hotel des Invalides, then turned toward Le Tour Eiffel. Then after some hurried walking, we finally found our dinner boat, Le Capitaine Fricasse. It had a somewhat rushed and commercial feel to it, but otherwise it was a lovely boat ride down the Seine with some fine dining. We started with a 5-piece appetiser, the highlight of which was the pate de fois gras. We both ordered the filet; Ray's medim rare was exceptionally rare, and both were quite chewy. But the mushroom sauce and gratin served on the sie were tasty, and the mache salad made Theresa happy. Mid dinner we ran upstairs to the viewing platform to take photos and video of the cityscape from the Seine perspective. Then we came down for dessert: cake w/chocolate mousse, a raspberry dessert, and banana crepe w/chocolate sauce. Then out came the birthday cakes with song, in both English and French!

After the cruise, we walked around the Tour Eiffel a bit, since it was nicely lit after dark. We were pretty tired by then, so we went to the nearest Metro station instead of walking back to the hotel. We weren't sure what kind of tickets to get, so Theresa had to ask the ticket agent. Ray was very impressed with Theresa's French.