No. 5 Bienvenue a Paris

 After a smooth 7 hour flight from Newark, I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport late yesterday morning. Unfortunately it was very foggy, so I couldn’t see the beautiful French countryside that one usually sees when flying into Paris. The computer system for immigration wasn’t working correctly which caused very long lines, but eventually I got through and proceeded to my hotel which is in the 6th arrondissement. Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements, with #1 being where the Louvre is located  then numbered in circular clockwise rotation, until you get to the outside edge of the city. So instead of using the name of a neighborhood  to identify a location as is usually done in the US, Parisians use the number of the arrondissement. The 6th is where Luxembourg Gardens , a very large beautiful park  is located and what makes it so nice is that  it is close to many of the attractions and museums, but  more residential and less touristy, especially the restaurants. 

After checking  in and freshening up, I spent the rest of the day walking the  small streets of the Latin Quarter  and sightseeing. The weather was overcast and 50 degrees. One of the places I went was  Notre Dame Cathedral, which still has ongoing restoration work after the horrific fire 6 years ago next month. While the line to get in  wasn’t too long and moved fairly quickly, I decided to wait until I wasn’t jet lagged to see the interior. People  says it so much brighter inside after  the restoration as some of the windows and walls hadn’t been cleaned  a hundred years! Later on I had a very enjoyable meal close to my hotel. I was in luck as their  plat du jour on Tuesdays is beef bourguignon, which was perfect for the weather. Today, after a good nights sleep, I plan to hit the streets. 

Interesting fact - there are Roman ruins from nearly 2000 years ago on the island in the middle of the Seine where Notre Dame Cathedral is located, and the first church on the site of Notre Dame was  built in 1163. 



Comments

  1. BJMMarch 12, 2025 at 2:44 AM

    Welcome to Paris!! Dinner looks great.....you'll have to make it when you return to CT. Keep the reports coming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt AudibertMarch 18, 2025 at 5:49 AM

    That looks great

    ReplyDelete

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