Went to Paris for a day ...

... because you can from London!

Last Sunday, my friends,Erik & Ramu, and I took the Eurorail to Paris for the day. We took the first train out and the last train back ... in Business Elite class, of course!

It continues to be cold and gray here in the UK, and after just 40 or so minutes on the train, the sky was blue and we saw the sun for the first time in weeks! What a treat!

So, what do you do when you go to Paris for day? Eat! That was the theme of our trip. Eat and some alcohol ...

On the train, we asked the train manager if she could make us some Bloody Mary's. She said she'd have to check and see if there was any tomato juice on the train. She came back with a small shot glass full of some watery-like juice that looked more like cranberry juice than tomato juice. Usually, the ratio is 4 parts of juice to 1 part of vodka. We had the reverse. Add a little pepper from a paper packet and voila'! Bloody Mary.

We arrived in Paris and started walking. We headed towards the River Seine. Once was had our bearings, we recognized that we needed to stop and have some lunch! So we had lunch in a little bar and started our food tour. We had escargot and tartare de boeuf. Very, very good! And some wine.

After lunch, we continued walking along the River Seine and then decided to take a taxi to Notre Dame. I had not been in the Cathedral before. You'll be happy to know I lit two candles: one for Mom and one for the UK staff! The Cathedral is beautiful, but then, I wouldn't be the first one to say that.

From there, wewalked to the Louvre. Have I mentioned yet that it was FREEZING cold. We took some pictures and sent them to Suzanne [office manager] to torture her ... can you guess where we are? We proceeded to walk West on the Terrasse du Bord de l'Eau [park], we stopped at the Jardindes Tuileres [fountain] and had a cigar.

From here, we had to stop and have a rest and some wine alongside the River Seine.

After our snack,we took a taxi to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur [Basilica of Sacred Heart] at the top of a huge hill that overlooked a very ... cloudy Paris. It was beautiful. And there was a funicular! I sent a picture to my friend, Denise.

We didn't go in to the Basilique, but rather, decided we needed to find a place for dinner [you're following the theme, right]. We stopped at a bistro' and had frog legs and mussels! After some more wine and a great dinner, we took a taxi to the train station and began our journey home.

The trip was fabulous!!!

[Computer continues to die ... so alas, first no ability to post photos. Now can't control the layout. I give up]