, Bill. He has been in France for the last month visiting his daughter and her family in the South of France.I arrived at Charles du Gaul airport around 915pm Paris-time on Friday night. I am staying at the Le Dokhan's Sofitel Hotel, http://www.dokhans-sofitel-paris.com/, and I can highly recommend it. Bill says that the hotel has the oldest champagne bar in Paris. I did a little Google-ing to see if I could get that verified. No such luck, but I have no reason to doubt it. You get to choose your glass, and of course, your champagne. The environment is really cool. Quiet. Restful. Just a place to enjoy your champagne and company.
The elevator / lift 
/ acsenseur is VERY small. It says that has room for four. Bill calls it a torture chamber. I think it looks like the inside of a Louis Vuitton travelers trunk!
/ acsenseur is VERY small. It says that has room for four. Bill calls it a torture chamber. I think it looks like the inside of a Louis Vuitton travelers trunk!We have spent our time doing a lot of walking! I am wearing my pedometer, and we have done more than 18,000 step
s per day! Yesterday, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Avenue des Champs. Two things struck me. First, the streets are so wide. It's really nice. I wonder if they seem so wide to me because everything seems so narrow in the UK?
s per day! Yesterday, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Avenue des Champs. Two things struck me. First, the streets are so wide. It's really nice. I wonder if they seem so wide to me because everything seems so narrow in the UK?The second thing is tha
t it is not so crowded that you can't make your way down the boulevard. Again, I think it has to do with my experience in London. Our office is in Mayfair, a busy shopping destination. It is constantly wall-to-wall people!
t it is not so crowded that you can't make your way down the boulevard. Again, I think it has to do with my experience in London. Our office is in Mayfair, a busy shopping destination. It is constantly wall-to-wall people! We made our way down Avenue des Champs to the Musee du Lourve. We didn't go in, but of course, had discuss
ions about reading the book and watching the movie, "The Da Vinci Code"!
ions about reading the book and watching the movie, "The Da Vinci Code"!We continued down the Seine [river] to Notre Dame. There was a great [and very entertaining] band playing out in front of the church, entertaining the long lines of people that we waiting to get inside.
We had lunch at Cafe' de Flore. http://www.flickr.com/photos/44548980@N00/176809296/
Café de Flore sits on the corner of the Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Rue St. Benoit, in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France. Historically, it has been famed for its intellectual clientele. Classic Art 
Deco interior of all red seating, mahogany and mirrors has changed little since World War II. Like its main rival, Les Deux Magots, it has hosted most of the French intellectuals during the post-war years. It is said that Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir would meet here and discuss their philosophy of existentialism over a drink.
Deco interior of all red seating, mahogany and mirrors has changed little since World War II. Like its main rival, Les Deux Magots, it has hosted most of the French intellectuals during the post-war years. It is said that Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir would meet here and discuss their philosophy of existentialism over a drink.It was very good and very local French and frequented by the whose-who, I guess. After lunch, we headed down Boulevard Saint-Germain, back across the Seine and down the Avenue des Champs. We stopped along the way for a Coke / glass of wine. Then back on the street, back to our hotel for a much needed REST!
We had dinner just down the street from the hotel at aga
in, another local place, patronised mostly by local French. Always a good sign. This restaurant had a pigs leg mounted on the bar. The leg / flesh had been cured or smoked a
nd it was sitting on two pedestals, like something that would hold a wine bottle on its side. The leg still had the hoof, and where the leg had not yet carved, the flesh still had fur. I'm not sure what you had to order [I'm really good I didn't figure it out!], but the bartender would take a large carving knife and shave off a plateful of bacon [?] and send it to the table.
in, another local place, patronised mostly by local French. Always a good sign. This restaurant had a pigs leg mounted on the bar. The leg / flesh had been cured or smoked a
nd it was sitting on two pedestals, like something that would hold a wine bottle on its side. The leg still had the hoof, and where the leg had not yet carved, the flesh still had fur. I'm not sure what you had to order [I'm really good I didn't figure it out!], but the bartender would take a large carving knife and shave off a plateful of bacon [?] and send it to the table.This mourning, after breakfast, we headed out to find the Tour Eiffel. A funny thing happened to us on the way to the Eiffel Tower ... we turned the wrong way and got lost. It's only a 10-minute walk to t
he Tower from our hotel, so one would think that you could see it within five mi
nutes. Or 30! We ended heading North, instead of South and finding large park after crossing the outer loop [motorway]. There were lots of runners, folks walking dogs, and men playing boccie ball in the park, but not where we wanted to be! We turned around and headed back from where we came and stopped for lunch at Scossa, another great place for local French. I'm going to gain 10 pounds before I leave here this weekend!
he Tower from our hotel, so one would think that you could see it within five mi
nutes. Or 30! We ended heading North, instead of South and finding large park after crossing the outer loop [motorway]. There were lots of runners, folks walking dogs, and men playing boccie ball in the park, but not where we wanted to be! We turned around and headed back from where we came and stopped for lunch at Scossa, another great place for local French. I'm going to gain 10 pounds before I leave here this weekend!After lunch, we went passed our hotel and walked the 10 minutes to Tour Eiffel. Very cool. More people around, but still not overwhelming. I'm planning to walk back tonight to see the tower light up like my two nieces showed me when they were here last May.
