Sat, May 8th - 4:00AM

Fri, May 7th - 9:48AM

Our bags packed to the max (with lots of Lindsay's clothes and shoes) we headed to the airport.  Tim warned me that there would be long lines and crowds - but there weren't!  Maybe it was the holiday over there, maybe our luck had changed...who knows...we sailed through ticketing, immigration and check in.  And somehow, we ended up in Business Class!  (maybe after the volcano fiasco they felt sorry for us? Who knows?  we just enjoyed the slightly roomier seats and the bit of extra service - at no extra charge to us! yay!)

Arrival in Paris went just as smoothly.  We splurged on a cab and it was well worth it.  We arrived at the Port Royal Hotel feeling rested and ready to explore a few blocks of the city.  We unpacked, admired our bright, clean litle room and headed out to choose a place to eat.  We ended up at Cezar for Italian food.  I got some thinly sliced beef over rocket greens with mashed potatoes - OMG - heavenly!  The beef was so lean and tender, grilled to perfection and I'm not sure if they were mashed potatoes with butter or butter with mashed potatoes - seriously rich and oh, so delish!  Tim had a filet in peppercorn sauce with pasta - the best peppercorn sauce he says he has ever had.  We could not even look at the dessert menu - ok - we looked, but we were so full.  Our waiter was so sweet - hel helped our French and did not make us feel silly at all.  He even threw in an Italian word now and then.

Ah...fun evening.  Then back to our lovely Port Royal with clean, crisp white sheets.  Ahhhh...again...a good sound sleep.

May 5, 2010

This morning we had traditional French breakfast at the hotel - baguette, light and crusty, with butter and jam, and of course cafe au lait.  Then off to the Eiffel tower we went.  We braved the metro and did ok once we found where to buy our tickets. 

At the tower we had to figure out which line to be in.  We finally did and from there it went smoothly.  WOW - yes - it is as impressive as everyone says.  We walked up the first two levels (all they allow) then took the elevator all the way to the top.  Weather was cool and breezy but mostly clear with puffy white clouds.  We got some beautiful pictures....and a great workout!

Afterward we strolled through the park and made our way to the Rue de Cler where we looked in shops and had lunch at a little cafe.  Tim had a chicken sandwich on a crisp baguette whil I hose a buttery-crusted quiche with leeks - warm and oh so tasty!

We wandered and people watched some more as we made our way back to the hotel and dinner and to plan out the next few days.

May 6, 2010

Today was our whirlwind blur - oh, I mean whirlwind tour - lol - of Paris.  This is Tim's description (I was too tired to write more - this is perfect):

-Breakfast - coffee and croissant - Bus - Notre Dame: Gargoyles - Acacia tree: Louis XIV - Gyros in Latin quarter (croissants were not enough) - Narrowest building - St Chappelle: stained glass - Madeline: lunch - Orsay:  fuzzy paintings - Coffee @ Orsay - Louvre:  Mona Lisa - Walk, walk, walk and eventually get to the correct bus stop - Hotel - Dinner - Bed.

May 7, 2010

We finally slept in - we were SO exhausted.  Decided to stick with our plan and go to Versailles anyway.  Our lovely front desk clerk gave us perfect directions first to a little cafe around the corner for a 'real' breakfast (omelet) and then which bus and RER train to take to Versaille (and back - very important). 

Train trip was fun.  Palace was overwhelmingly huge and over-ornate and very crowded.  Definitely worth experiencing, though, and we got some great pics.  What we really enjoyed were the gardens!  No flowers yet, too early, I guess, but the greenery, the designs, the sculptures, fountains and ponds were exquisite!  next trip we may plan to do a full day (or even an overnight) in Versailles and rent bikes to explore the whole place.

Pizza for lunch at an out of the way - non-touristy cafe (we are learning).

Back at our hotel - we got moved to our new room - had to switch middway due to mix ups from the volcano fiasco.  Heavenly!  This one has a double bed - we can snuggle again (last one had twins) and a deep lovely BATH TUB!  Yes - there is a God! 

Au Revoir for now - off to explore a bit more and grab some bath salts for later!

Wed, May 5th - 2:15PM

Wed, May 5th - 2:13PM

I started to title this ‘The BAD day’ – but now that some time has elapsed between the actual day and the day I am posting, I realize it was not that bad.  In fact it started out great.  The city was very crowded since it was a holiday in Ukraine (labor day), but we headed to Andreevskiy’s Descent, the part of town with all the little vendor booths set up selling souveniers of all kinds.  We were having fun choosing little trinkets and looking at all the stuff when suddenly the crowd sort of pushed and shoved into me and I was separated from both Lindsay and Tim and I realized in an instant that someone had unzipped my purse (which I WAS wearing cross-body and close to me) and pulled out my wallet!!  I WAS SO FREAKED OUT!!!! I found Tim right away and then Lindsay called on her phone, looking for me and we tried to assess things.  I knew all my cash was in it, plus my credit and debit card, but also thought my passport was in it as well!  BAD, VERY BAD!!!!  Tim and Lindsay each got on their phones – Lindsay to the embassy, Tim to the banks and I just sort of kept freaking out (you know me). 

Ok…so we headed back to the apartment to sort of re-group and Tim said he needed a beer.  So I said, I think I have an opener in my purse and I started unzipping pockets and VOILA! – MY PASSPORT!!!! We were all SO relieved – I cried and we all hugged each other.  I don’t even remember when I moved it, but it was such a relief.  The cash was lost, yes, but thankfully not too much, and the credit/debit card were cancelled and we had others…so the most important – the passport was still safe.  And we – especially I – learned an important travel lesson – to never keep all the money and cards in one place AND to never think anywhere is safe from pickpockets!  I was prepared and forewarned about Paris, but thought Kiev was ‘safe’.  Lesson learned….

****NOTE:  Jumping on my days but after our arrival in Paris, I received an email from the American Embassy in Kiev.  Someone had turned in my wallet with credit and debit card intact, as well as my driver’s license.  Of course the cash was gone…but…it did restore some of my faith in humanity!

Wed, May 5th - 2:12PM

Lindsay and I slept in then took the metro to see a few more sites while waiting for Tim to return from Cyprus.  We got a text while out:  2 hours late.  So….we wandered a bit more, grabbed an ice cream cone and when Tim called from the taxi, we made our way back to the apartments.  We all took a little break then showered and ‘dressed up’ for our dinner downtown at the Buddha Bar restaurant.  It was a beautiful, quiet and serene atmosphere with exquisite food – sort of asian/fusion.  Afterward we walked upstairs to the bar area to enjoy an after dinner glass of wine.  They asked if would like ‘hookah’ but we politely declined, even though Lindsay did make a pretty good case for us to try it – lol.

We were all really tired so we didn’t stay up too late.  We wanted to be up bright and early for another day of urban trekking.