Wednesday October 24, 2018

This morning we say farewell to Italy. It’s been a wonderful, amazing stay in this special country. We have enjoyed walking and visiting the small towns as well as the larger cities. While the large cities hold much of the well known history, the smaller towns have their place in history as well.

If you were a world history buff you might be aware of some of the facts. When you walk into a walled town, just by looking you can understand their value and sacrifices the townspeople and military made to defend those walls and beyond.

Walking past and through miles and miles of vineyards and olive groves was amazing. Walking Roman roads and climbing long steep hills was worth every view we had.

We end with 4 days in Paris, a city I fell in love with before I ever visited.

Our long train ride lasted nearly 8 hours. It was interesting to watch the scenery change, go through the Italian Alps, past a couple lakes, and then finally into Paris. It seems like we were just here but it was 5 weeks ago.

The photos below were all taken from the train window so they have some reflection. At least it gives an idea of the terrain.

Our hotel is very close to the train station, less than a mile, so we walk. This way we can see what our neighborhood has to offer before we arrive.

Our hotel is an Ibis, nice and modern and clean but I always ask for a twin room and we were given maybe a Queen bed. Checking in I asked about the beds and were told there were no twin rooms until tomorrow. If we were willing to move then, we can have one. That means we pack our bags in the morning, and let them keep them until the afternoon. Then we can switch rooms and sleep a little more comfortably. I’ve been too busy to look ahead to our next stay. Oh well.

I did some research on the train and decided this trip I would find food and restaurants that others have enjoyed. I usually just check out menus wherever I am at the moment, but don’t always get the best result.

A savory crepe sounded really good and there was a particular place, Chez Nicos, that sounded good. It was in the Latin Quartier, which in itself is cool.

We took the Metro which was packed like sardines. I wasn’t sure if Suzanne was going to make it alive. She wanted to hold on to something and I just kept reminding her the car was so crowded there was no way she would fall!

We are also really looking forward to clothes that we didn’t hike in…

The first uncrowded train

We made it to our destination and it was so cute. Restaurants were everywhere and so were the people. I don’t think I’ve been on those streets before. We’re coming back for some other type of food another evening.

The crepe was delicious. Egg, cheese, spiced ground beef, potatoes, tomatoes and lettuce. Excellent! There are two in the photos as we each had one. We asked if we could share and he said no. They do fold them a certain way but we could have easily shared…

Paris has been fun so far. We haven’t figured out our exact strategy yet

But by morning a plan will be in place. Stay tuned!

#enjoythejourney