Paris, France

            Sunday, 24 Mar 2024 – Wheelchairs had been requested for everyone in our group, except for Jesse, Earl, and Camille.  When we arrived, we were told to stay aboard the plane until the wheelchairs arrived.  There was no jetway into the airport; instead, we were required to descend a mobile stairway down to ground level.  There was not enough space on the transport for the non-wheelchair passengers, so they were told to board a bus to the airport.  There was one passenger onboard that was unable to descend the chairs, so the bus had to wait for about 45 minutes or so, until a lift arrived to lower that passenger to the ground.  After the plane crew boarded the bus, we departed for the airport.  The group was finally reunited, as the rest of the group had been sitting and waiting for at the airport entrance!  We then had to wait until the wheelchairs arrived to take us through baggage claim and passport inspection.  Finally, we exited the airport where EF Go Ahead Tour personnel were awaiting!

            We arrived at our hotel, the Mercure Montmartre, at about 9:00 AM.  The only problem was that check-in time was not until 4:00 PM.  Our tour guide was Tini, a tall, attractive, Italian woman, born in Venice, lives now in Barcelona, and has been working as an EF Go Ahead guide for 14 years.  She suggested that we explore the area until check-in time, but our group mostly sat in the lobby and dozed all day; however, we did go to the hotel restaurant with Julia & Camille for cappuccinos, and Jesse walked down the street with Camille to an ATM to withdraw a few Euros from our bank account.  Others in the Ivy group also arrived:  Dolores & Wilbur, Ella V., and friends of Ella V, XXXX & XXXX.

Our room was on the second floor, with twin beds that Jesse pushed together.  (Jesse later realized that this room was really supposed to be for Julia & Camille!)  On TV, we could get CNN with English subtitles.  At 5:00 PM, we attended a welcoming meeting on the first floor; we had wine and hors d’oeuvres.  Then, we walked down the street about 2 blocks to a local restaurant for dinner.  We (being last to get there) sat with a mixed couple from Virginia, part of our group:  Earl, his wife Tina, & Sidney (his niece).  On TV, we could get CNN with English subtitles.

           Monday, 25 Mar 2024 – Breakfast at the hotel was expansive, various meats, eggs, bread to slice, pancakes, yogurt, juices, coffee-with-milk from machines.  We had an excellent breakfast.  Today we took a 1.5-hour “Sightseeing tour of Paris.”  A very knowledgeable man gave us a running history of the city as the bus crisscrossed the Seine River.  Sights included the Eiffel Tower, the Place de la Concorde, and the Arc de Triomphe.  The city was preparing for the Summer Olympics, so lots of construction was in progress and some of the roads were blocked.  When we got back to our hotel room, Jesse realized that he left our mobile phone on the bus.  He contacted the tour guide, and the bus driver said he would bring it back to the hotel on Tuesday morning.  Later, some members of the group went out by themselves to see more of Paris, but we stayed at hotel.  For dinner, we went up the street to Clichy’s Tavern and sat upstairs with Dolores & Wilbur, and Julia & Camille.  We shared a salad, Calzone, and beer.

          Tuesday, 26 Mar 2024 – We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel.  Many members of our tour group had signed up for the optional morning tour of the Versailles Palace & Gardens.  We had opted not to participate and spent the day in our hotel room.  However, Jesse did go down to the lobby a little before 9:00 AM to pick up our mobile phone from the bus driver.  Tini thought that I should tip him, and loaned me €5.00, as he had not brought any cash down with him. 

Tuesday evening, we boarded a bus at 9:00 PM for an optional “Dinner in Paris & Seine River Cruise,” that included a night cruise of the Seine River, the only “new” thing that we did there.  First, we ate dinner at a typical Parisian bistro, Le Mesturet.  We sat at a table with Kathleen & Tina W.  (There were two Tinas in our tour group.)  We were served wine, soup, salad, and dessert.  Sally had the fish entre and we both had crème brulé for dessert.  Afterward, we took the bus to the Bateaux Mouches and boarded the ship for the night cruise on the Seine River through the center of Paris.  It was raining and the ship was very crowed, with lots of young people who annoyed us by constantly moving from one side of the ship to the other to take photos.  We couldn’t see the sights very well through the crowds, and our “night” photos were not very good.  Although the dinner was excellent, we both preferred seeing Paris in the daylight!