After spending 6 months being so superstitous that something would happen and we would never make it to Paris, we were finally there. (Even a 1 1/2 hour rain delay and a bomb sniffing dog in Miami airport couldn%26#39;t stop us.) When we landed the driver that our apartment agency had arranged was there to pick us up. He didn%26#39;t speak much english and asked my husband (who is hispanic) if he spoke spanish; so there we were in Paris and I%26#39;m listening to my husband speaking spanish with this guy. I couldn%26#39;t believe it. The driver dropped us off at the apartment rental agency, Guest Apartment Services, since it was too early to get into our apartment. This agency was wonderful to deal with. It is run by Phillippe Pée and Christophe Chastel. I had many email correspondences with Ms. Pée before our trip and he made all our dinner reservations and also our dinner cruise and cabaret reservations. They couldn%26#39;t have been nicer and I highly recommend their agency to anyone wanting to stay on the Ile St Louis (the only place to stay as far as I%26#39;m concerned - It is an oasis in the city). After checking in we went and purchased food for a picnic along the Seine. Ms. Pée gave us a list of the stores they recommend on the island and told us where to take the stairs that lead down to the water where we could have a bench in a quiet area. We bought a 1/2 bottle of red wine (Nicolas, 64 rue Saint Louis en l%26#39;Ile -They opened it for us.), baguette l%26#39;ancienne bread (THE bread to have - Bakery Martin, 40 rue St Louis en l%26#39;Ile) and cheese (La Ferme Saint Aubin, 76 rue Saiint Louis en l%26#39;Ile) I could lose my mind in the cheese stores. The entire window display at this one was filled with goat cheese. In the states we have 1 kind of goat cheese and here there were dozens. We bought 2 different kinds of goat cheese and some langres which I had read about. It%26#39;s real smelly. I loved it but you couldn%26#39;t get the smell off your fingers. After enjoying our picnic lunch, we went back to the apartment agency and Ms. Chastel drove us to our pied-a-terre which was only about 2 blocks away. It was on the north side of the island near Pont Sully. The building was built in 1640. There was a gate with coded entry leading to a small courtyard. Right through the main door was our door which lead up a small flight of stairs to our apartment. It looked just like the pictures on their website (guestapartment.com - our apartment was studio ABQA). There was a beautiful marble bathroom, small kitchen with a washer/dryer combo, 2 small crystal chandeliers, wood beam ceiling, nonworking fireplace, hardwood floor, delightful furnishings, netting around the bed and a balcony (open the window and there%26#39;s a railing- but hey, if I can hang over it, it%26#39;s a balcony) with a gorgeous unobstructed view of the Seine and Parisian life passing by on the street below. My husband surprised me by having the rental agency place 2 yellow roses in the room (they also had a vase of flowers on the dining table) and a bottle of champagne in the fridge. After a quick unpacking (they had our luggage was waiting for us), we went to the pastry shop (Pastry Gabriela, 35 rue des Deux Ponts) and bought a to-die-for raspberry tart and returned to a bench by the Seine to enjoy it. We then took a walk around to the other side of the island and over to the Left Bank where we got our first sight of the famous view of Notre Dame. This was the one thing that I had looked forward to seeing the most in Paris. It did not disappoint. The building with that setting makes for unmatched beauty. I never tired of looking at it. We then walked east to check out the Pont Neuf (road construction-I enjoyed the bridge more from the water) and Square du Vert-Galant and then proceeded on up to the Pont des Arts. I had originally planned on picnicking here but it was too far away since we landed late. The good thing about it is that it%26#39;s pedestrian only but it%26#39;s a very popular spot (meaning you%26#39;re not alone) and you can only see the tip of the Eiffel Tower where as you could see the entire top half of it from the bridges up near where we were staying. We never made it back there again but if we return we%26#39;ll have to try it again. We walked back to the Ile by walking down below on the left bank right next to the water. We had some wine and the smelly cheese before getting ready for dinner. We had dinner reservations at 8pm at La Rotisserie du Beaujolais. It is owned by La Tour d%26#39;Argent and is right across the street from it but is quite casual. From a posting on TA I had learned they have a private window table enclosed by a curtain with a view of Notre Dame. Ms. Pée obtained the table for us but I guess the view of Notre Dame is only when the leaves are off the trees. It was still very nice, looking out onto the street and bridge and our waiter was very funny and would knock before entering. We had a bottle of their house beaujolais. We both enjoyed our entrees. My husband had the onion soup gratinee and I had the terrine de fois gras de maison. We both had the rotisserie chicken with pureed potatoes and it was very good. My husband had strawberry cake and I had creme brulee. We waited forever for our check and we were getting tired after our long day. Heading back to our apartment over the bridge we were delighted when we spotted the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We hadn%26#39;t yet realized you could see it from this far away. It was almost 11pm so we waited a few minutes to see it sparkle. We then knew there was a reason why we had waited so long for our check. After returning to our apartment we enjoyed the view from our balcony for a few minutes before retiring for a very good nights sleep. We couldn%26#39;t believe we were in Paris.
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Your apartment sounds wonderful. What a nice first day you had. I hope there%26#39;s more.
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