"I Know What You're Going To Say" - France Sept 2019 - Update 1/5 Disneyland Paris, Dinner & Home

Peace Museum - WWII Exhibit

We saved the WWII exhibit for last as we weren’t sure how we would be on time. I’m glad we had time to visit this section even if we had to skip many of the videos or audio clips through the exhibit.

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The exhibit starts with the explanation of how the First World War failed to truly bring peace. It started with explanations of how Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler rose to power within their countries. It showed how the democratic countries didn’t respond to these ideological mobilizations and allowed the Germans to just start occupying other lands despite the treaties from WWI.

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It goes into France during the dark years of the war. They went to war with Germany after the invasion of Poland but they were ill-equipped to deal with the strength of the Nazis and lost the Battle of France in June 1940. It went to French society under the German occupation and the Vichy government that led France.

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There was a French Resistance during this occupation but it was started by isolated individuals and grew over time to provide information to the Allied forces.

The war became global with the African Campaign and Japan attacking China and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (parts of which in the exhibit provided conflicting information than what we knew of Pearl Harbor but that could be a translation error rather than a factual error as they said all ships were a complete loss when we really only lost 3 ships)

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Warning - the section will be behind a spoiler tag as the photos could be a bit much for some people as it deals with the Holocaust and other Mass Killings

The next exhibit was about the genocides and mass violence during WWII. The exhibit went into Hitler’s persecution of the jews, including the killing of around 2 million in Ukraine/Belarus region.

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Then there was the Death Camps…

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It also went into the others attacked during the Holocaust such as the Gypsies, those with disabilities, etc. They had various star symbols for all the classified groups.

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It also went into USSR’s mass violence and the Nanking massacre of the Japanese army.

Our next room was the explanation of Total War, explaining how there were deportations to the concentration camps or other work camps. The bombing of cities including a small section on the atomic bombs along with the Battle of Stalingrad

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We quickly went through the societies war section that explain small resistance movements, how civilians survived during the war such as sending their children off to hopefully survive at some stranger’s house. It also went through the life and death of a soldier.

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It continued with showing how towns and countries were slowly liberated from 1943 to 1945 and evnetually the end of the war, Hitler’s suicide, the moral shock of the war and the painful toll of human life because of this war - according to them estimated to be around 70 million most of which were civilians but it will never be truly known due to the various massacres probably not known about.

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After this exhibit, we went to the store to pick up a couple things and then used the restroom. We finished these tasks with not a lot of time to spare before our required end time. We did miss the major D-Day film along with the special Norman Rockwell exhibit that was going on. Time passed very quickly there. Once on the bus, we headed to Deauville for the next two nights.

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Evening in Deauville

We arrived at our hotel Normandy Barrière a little after 5pm. They had the red carpet rolled out for us!

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Or actually, because it was the 45th Annual American Film Festival that occurs every year in Deauville.

We offloaded from the bus to head into the lobby where we all gossiped if people walking in were celebrities or not. We assumed people walking in a hoodie and large sunglasses were someone famous but I figured out through instagram hashtags the first person was Ladyj Ly a French Director.

We got our key and headed to our room which was overlooking the ocean but there were tennis courts and the signature Deauville changing rooms between us. This room was not very pretty in comparison to other rooms we stayed in but I was also staying in France so who am I to complain?

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I looked outside our window and saw paparazzi which is really one of the weirdest things to see in real life. So here are my paparazzi pictures of the paparazzi!

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Our luggage arrived and we settled into the room. They had only provided us with one key which wasn’t going to work if my husband was going to the gym or we got separated so I headed down to the lobby. Not sure who I shared the elevator with but he had dreadlocks that went to the ground and then I awkwardly got to share the elevator back to our floor after I got the extra key. From looking around the internet now - it was whoever Chanel Model/French Actress, Anna Mouglalis’s new boytoy was. We also looked into nearby restaurants as our Tauck guide mentioned that with this festival going on, make sure you have reservations if you plan on dining out as many places will be busy or not planning on walk-ins. Before dinner time, we visited the concierge to make us reservations at a place I saw that had decent reviews on Google (and actually found out later it was Michelin Recommended so the reviews didn’t lie!)

We headed to dinner at 7PM and there were three tables set up for our group. After some puzzle piece type moves made, we were all seated accordingly. We were with the three solo travelers and the couple from North Carolina this evening. The service at this dinner was the worst of the trip. Trying to get our drink orders in was pretty much impossible as they gave us a server who didn’t speak any English even though they provided us with English only menus. She kept having to ask another server to help translate. So this took a while. We ordered a bottle of wine by just pointing to the menu when it became our turn.

Eventually she returned with everyone’s beverages along with a check for drinks to sign for then! Before we even took our food orders! The North Carolina couple was flabbergasted as they said, they were going to have multiple drinks during the meal but they wouldn’t allow it to be paid for just once that every round would need to get paid for when it was brought out. Even though the only option to pay for it was to charge to the room...We all were a bit shocked as it made us feel like they thought we would all run out on them? While we would have ordered more wine or spirits with dessert, we instead nursed our bottle of wine through the dinner to not have to deal with that.

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Wine!

So offended, we gave our food orders for all three courses by pointing at the menu since communication was so broken down anyway.

My husband and I each got the same appetizer. The prawns in the dish were lovely as well was the citrus sauce. The avocado was not and apparently we offended the waitress since we weren’t members of the clean plate club. Whatever.

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King Prawns with Avocado and Citrus Sauce

My husband’s plate looked like it belonged on r/WeWantPlates as the sauce was falling off the wooden board (although later in the trip I had a much better submission to r/WeWantPlates that was a top submission for the month of September) The steak was just ok according to him but he really liked his potatoes.

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Beef Rib Steak served with baby potatoes

I had the sea bass which was cooked nicely. Celeriac Cream not so much but I didn’t care about offending my waitress by not eating more of it.

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Sea Bass with Celeriac Cream and Pimprenelle Herb[/b]

For dessert, I went with the light option. It was a mint sorbet with lime whipped cream and absolutely wonderful. Totally finished this off to the shock of the waitress!

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Pastry Mojito - Cuban Rum, Mint and Lime

You’ll just have to imagine my husband’s dish as apparently I didn’t get a photo. I think it's because his dish was served later than everyone else's so I forgot as I was already enjoying mine.

Selection of Pastry with Coffee

So while the food was ok, the waitress and payment policies kinda made this meal bleh for all of us. One of our favorite ladies from the trip talked about the meal being the worst Tauck experience she’s ever had as it was downright rude and never seen anything close to that on her many trips with Tauck. At least it eventually became a joke over the next few days as time passed.

After dinner, we headed to the bar to stalk celebrities and get more alcohol since it was pretty much impossible at dinner. I had a wonderful scotch I hadn’t tried before but for the life of me I don't remember what it was now and my husband got a nicely aged Calvados. At the bar, two French actors sat next to us, Alexi Manenti and Damien Bonnard. We left before we spent more money as everything we wanted to try was going to be expensive.

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The Bar

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Scotch

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Calvados

Back at the room, we got ready for the next day as we knew it was going to be a long one.
 
Private WWII Collection at D-Day Academy

A lot of our group was cranky that our morning started early. We had to be on the bus by 7:30AM to head to the privately owned collection of WWII memorabilia but everyone was still there on time. At least the Red Carpet was still out for us!

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On our way, we drove by the Pegasus Bridge (or rather a new replica of it as the original one is at a memorial nearby) THere was an overnight glider invasion of British troops there before the Normandy invasion to overtake the bridge from the Germans. The surprise attacked worked and the British controlled the bridge within 10 minutes.

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Pegasus Bridge

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D-Day Academy[/]

When we arrived we were ushered to sit down towards the front as the person speaking to us was born right after WWII. He was given the same name as his older brother that died during the war and has devoted his life to studying and teaching others about the war. So we had a lecture for the next hour to explain the invasion plan of Normandy and how the Allies prepared. They talked about the French Resistance and how the women would needlepoint flowers or other symbols to provide information to the allies. It was interesting at first but the room was very cold so it kinda became a struggle to stay awake as he was very monotone with his speech. At least we didn’t start snoring like someone else did. At the end of the lecture, we were given time to explore their private collection. If you wanted to touch something you could - one of our group got on the bike that was used to generate power for the radio.

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Wow, I'm just in awe of all of your pictures from the museum and the academy. We're spoiled with so many great museums in DC, but seeing these makes me realize the speck they are in the context for world history. Thanks so much for sharing.

Totally jealous you got some celebrity sightings in. I love all things Pop Culture so I would have turned into a paparazzi myself. And what a weird meal. Who charges as you go???? Makes zero sense
 


Wow, I'm just in awe of all of your pictures from the museum and the academy. We're spoiled with so many great museums in DC, but seeing these makes me realize the speck they are in the context for world history. Thanks so much for sharing.

Totally jealous you got some celebrity sightings in. I love all things Pop Culture so I would have turned into a paparazzi myself. And what a weird meal. Who charges as you go???? Makes zero sense

You are spoiled by great museums in DC! We really have a lack of museums here in our area other than the Thomas Edison/Henry Ford Summer Estates. Yeah - this trip really gave us a large amount of info about the scope of the war and other historic movements in new views. I felt I learned way this trip than we did in Italy.

Well, there is more celebrity sighting to come once I get done with the WWII stuff. Hope you have a wonderful Halloween!

It was a really weird meal. Made me drink less at least!
 
Pointe du Hoc & Normandy American Cemetery

When we left the D-Day Academy, we headed to Pointe du Huc.

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Pointe du Huc

The battery at Pointe du Hoc was originally built in 1943 to house 6 captured French WWI 155mm guns in open concrete gun pits as part of the German Atlantic Wall Defence. It was an excellent position along the coast due to the height of the cliff and the location along the shore line. So the Germans improved the defenses of the battery with enclosing the guns - only 4 were built of the planned 6 by the time of the attack. When the area was bombed in April 1944, the Germans removed the 155mm guns and put decoy guns in the place.

When the initial group of Army Rangers landed there, they scaled the cliffs and only 108 of the original 225 men made it to the top. And they discovered that the casements were empty. They did then worked on their second objective and building a roadblock in the area which occurred. Some rangers scouted the area and found German guns in the nearby fields and blew them up. Pointe du Hoc’s attack is controversial among historians as there is debate if the leader of the Army Ranger ignored his orders or if it was necessary because of another location of German long range guns.

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Decoy Gun

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From there we drove to the Normandy American Cemetery where 9388 people are buried. It also has memorials for all the Americans that fought in World War II. The cemetery is set up like a Latin Cross with a chapel in the middle that can do both Christian and Jewish ceremonies. When we arrived, all of us were given a white rose to lay at either the wall of soldiers declared missing in action or at the headstones for those buried there. I placed mine at a soldier along the missing wall that had the same last name as my maiden name. My husband placed his at random as his last name, his mother’s maiden name and my mother’s maiden name didn’t have anyone missing. It was a very somber experience where we were mainly quiet other than the guide talking about ceremonies and the more notable people buried there like the sons of Teddy Roosevelt (one son died in WWI but they moved the body so they could be buried next to each other)

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Omaha Beach Golf Club & Omaha Beach & Gold Beach

After our somber start to the day, we had a lunch buffet at the Omaha Beach Golf Club.

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We all had decent appetites from all the walking around and it was past 1PM. Overall, we were happy with the food selections. I did get a second main plate where I had more shrimp and bread as well. No one complained at our table about the food!

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After lunch, I got in trouble with our guest guide with some of the other ladies on the trip. We were all talking on the bus about television shows and laughing, you know to break up the somber note of the day. The guest guide pretty much coughed into the microphone and said, well, enough with the television talk and continued his lecture. The three of us all looked at each other and silently giggled.

As horrible as this sounds, I was mentally done with the lecture, especially on the bus. He was very monotone and I was full. I was rude and put my headphones in and listened to a podcast (one that wouldn’t make me laugh at least) as otherwise I was going to fall asleep. More than half of the bus fell asleep as we drove from the golf club to Omaha Beach so I guess I wasn’t the only one feeling that way.

At Omaha Beach, we started at the memorial where our talk continued. He kept talking about the amount of life lost and the issue of the extreme tides causing some of the deaths. He went into a lot more detail and kept repeating himself as well.

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We walked onto the beach where our guide placed a remembrance cross in the sand and read a poem.

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We walked up the seawall and saw one of the long range guns that was left in an intact battery.
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From there we headed to Gold Beach which is where the English landed on D-Day. Gold Beach still has large chunks of concrete spread out from the bombings so you can see how powerful the blasts were. I actually turned off my headphones and just explored on my own a bit as did my husband. I think all of us were tired of the monotonous talk even if he had a ton of good information. We also got to witness one of our travel mates meltdown as he worked in oil sales and he was getting notice about the drone attacks in Saudi and was very upset about the loss of production. He made sure we all heard him too...

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We dropped off our guide back at the D-Day Academy before heading back to Deauville.​
 


La Flambe

We got back to the hotel at 6PM so it was a very long day out and about, we headed back to our room where we had so many paparazzi outside the other side of the hotel. So I paparazzied the paparazzi…

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The only celebrity I ended up seeing as they were heading down the red carpet was Catherine Deneuve who I had no idea who she was but everyone else in the tour group did when I mentioned it the next day. Once she got into her limo, the crowd dispersed and we cleaned up from the day. We wanted to walk the town a bit before dinner after we got dressed up.

Outside of our hotel in the plaza they had a bunch of photos up from the Film Festival of the stars that have been there before or that were featured this year.

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A store I am not even allowed to enter into.
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I love seeing large dogs in public!
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Even more people waiting for the festival...
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Their town hall also had some lovely art in front of it.

And the way they display notaries is very pretty.

Eventually, we killed enough time and arrived at the restaurant we had booked the previous evening based off google recommendations. When I saw it was Michelin Recommended I knew we were making the right decision hopefully!

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La Flambe

We were sat quickly and were happy to see that the menus given to us were in English as I didn’t think they had those versions based off their website. We also ordered a bottle of Champagne as why not?

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We went simple for our appetizer but my husband wasn’t a fan of them. He doesn’t like having to work for his food at nice dinners and the shrimp was served cold rather than hot. I loved it! I had no problem finishing this plate off. I also liked they brought a bowl of lemon water to help you keep your hands clean while eating!

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Fresh Pink Shrimp

For our main, we went with Chateaubriand for two. It was excellent. The meat was very tender and perfectly seasoned. Very simple in presentation but good steak should be simple.

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Chateaubriand with Bearnaise Sauce

We skipped dessert as we were full and didn’t need to eat just to eat but overall, we were very happy with the meal.

Another table brought in their adorable dog who was probably the first dog I saw misbehaving the whole trip as he was an excellent beggar! He worked for the food!

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After dinner, we wandered back to the hotel to get packed back up as the next day we would be heading into Paris and we were so happy that we would be in the same hotel for 4 nights and thus really able to unpack!

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It was a very somber experience where we were mainly quiet other than the guide talking about ceremonies and the more notable people buried there like the sons of Teddy Roosevelt (one son died in WWI but they moved the body so they could be buried next to each other)
Seeing things like this certainly puts life into perspective but somber indeed. Thanks for sharing.

We were all talking on the bus about television shows and laughing, you know to break up the somber note of the day. The guest guide pretty much coughed into the microphone and said, well, enough with the television talk and continued his lecture.
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: How dare you try and lighten the mood after experiencing something so sad. Of course passive aggressive, sarcastic me would have just gotten louder.

He doesn’t like having to work for his food at nice dinners and the shrimp was served cold rather than hot.
Jason is so the same way. Nice dinner or not two of my favorite foods are artichokes and crabs and he thinks they are both too much work!

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Chateaubriand with Bearnaise Sauce
Yum! Contemplating what to have for dinner and suddenly want steak and potatoes.
 
Seeing things like this certainly puts life into perspective but somber indeed. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah..you learn about these things in school but you never really get a good understanding until later in life it seems.


:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: How dare you try and lighten the mood after experiencing something so sad. Of course passive aggressive, sarcastic me would have just gotten louder.

Oh, I wanted to but my husband gave me that look to behave thus why I put headphones on and listened to other stuff as it was a safer passive aggressive move!

Jason is so the same way. Nice dinner or not two of my favorite foods are artichokes and crabs and he thinks they are both too much work!

Oh, my husband will work for crab legs so at least I got that. Food you have to work for just tastes better sometimes! I could eat shrimp every day of my life and die a happy woman.

Yum! Contemplating what to have for dinner and suddenly want steak and potatoes.

Sounds like a good dinner to me! I'm probably making steaks tonight for dinner as well. Yum!
 
Rouen

The next morning, we had our luggage ready for the 7:30AM pick up. My husband and I had discussed being cheap for lunch since it would be on our own and eating a large breakfast this morning as it was included in our package. Glad we did that as the spread at this hotel was well stocked and had tons of variety. I loaded up on bread and fruit while my husband had hard boiled eggs, eggs and fruit. The kids section also had prepackaged chocolate/shortbread biscuits so we grabbed some of those for the bus rides between locations.

Our first destination on the road towards Paris was Rouen. Rouen was one of the largest cities in Medieval Europe and is where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake three times and ashes dumped in the Seine River in 1431 due to wearing pants and you know, being an outspoken female capable of leading an army in those times.

Our arrival into Rouen was a bit strange as the normal locations used for this tour were blocked as it was the day of the Rouen Marathon but eventually we got off the bus and we met with our local guides. We were split into two groups of 10 to tour the city.

I wish we were here in the evening so I could try out this fun bar we saw along the way.

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We went to the main square to start our tour after a bathroom break. At this main square is the restaurant that inspired Julia Child to fall in love with French Cuisine, La Couronne. They even have a lunch special to recreate her meal if you wanted.

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La Couronne

The square is also home to the Church of Joan of Arc that was built in the late 20th century. To me, it kinda looks like an Imperial Star Destroyer but we all know I’m a little Star Wars obsessed.

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In the square, they also have some ruins of the original church that Rouen had and probably burned Joan of Arc in. Some birds drank water in that area as well.
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We walked to the city wall gates where they an astronomical clock called Gros Horloge that showed the time, phase of the moon and day of the week.

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We continued to the Rouen Cathedral which was painted many times by Monet when he had a studio across the way. The two towers look a little different due to the difference of when it was built. One of the towers is called the butter tower as it was paid for by people donating money instead of giving up butter during Lent in the 15th/16th century. We did not go inside as it was a Sunday and church services were going on.

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We continued to walk around the city where we went to a side entrance of the cathedral. One of the statues there really reminded me of Sansa & her Direwolf but I got funny looks when I mentioned that.

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After this, we were freed to have about an hour on our own to either shop, eat, explore museums. My husband and I decided to wander some shops and eat a bit. It was a bit of an adventure getting back to the main shopping streets as the marathon was running at the cross street. We had to wait until a gap of runners came and we ran through but slower people probably would have had some issues as I heard complaints on the bus later.

We had a super healthy snack to start - Ice Cream Macaron Sandwich and we also picked up about a dozen macarons & a chocolate bar at that location as well that we enjoyed later that afternoon and the next day.

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While the ice cream was good, I wanted something more substantial but not heavy. I saw the French equivalent to Moe’s and knew that would be the right choice for me. My husband got more ice cream instead. I got 2 beef and 1 chicken taco and was pleasantly surprised by how good they were.

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Tacos

We wandered a bit more until heading to our meeting point to head back to the bus.​
 
Giverny

We traveled to Giverny, which is a small village that Claude Monet fell in love with upon seeing it in passing on a train. He rented a house and eventually had enough money to buy it and the land surrounding it. He created a lovely garden there that was used for many of his impressionist paintings. We had about 90 minutes here on our own to explore.

We started in his water gardens.

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And then headed to the normal gardens.

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I really wanted to enjoy Giverny but the crowds killed it for me. It was hard to really explore and enjoy such a beautiful garden when every 15 seconds, someone is bumping into you or you are bumping into someone else. Add in the most disgusting bathrooms of the trip and I was over it. I didn’t care at the point about even seeing the inside of his home, especially with the large line to get in.

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We headed to the shop which was also crowded.

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We bought nothing and headed outside to the benches to wait for our group. Well, meeting time came and we were missing one couple (no, not the Naples couple the oil meltdown couple) and we waited. Our guide sent us towards the bus that was about a 10 minute walk away so she could walk the exhibit to find them. Well, they were sitting on the bus. We had our bus driver call the guide to let her know so she could abandon her quest. People are so awesome at listening! *roll eyes*​
 
Paris Arrival & Dinner

The drive into Paris was rather uneventful. We all got excited though as we drove in and started to tell we were arriving in the city.

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We were staying at probably the fanciest hotel I’ve ever stayed at. Like to the point that I felt a little to low-class for the place but all is well. We hung out in the lobby until we were given our room key and headed upstairs to look at our room. It was the complete opposite of what you’re told hotel rooms in Paris are like as it was spacious, inviting and relaxing. We had fresh flowers every day along with fruit, cookies or other surprises.

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When our luggage arrived, we finally did a full unpacking of our stuff since we would be in the room for 4 nights which felt like such a change of pace from the 2 night hotel stays we’ve been doing. We also dealt with some unfun stuff like bills, emails and things as being on a trip this long meant we had to play real life at some point as we also needed to turn on our cell phone as one of our accounts wouldn’t let us log in without an authorization code that had to be texted. Annoying, but necessary. So that was how we spent our time before drinks and dinner other than when I took a nice long soak in the bathtub of that gorgeous bathroom.

We got dressed up a bit as our dinner this evening was at the hotel and they had a dress code. First, we headed to Bar 228 to get a cocktail before dinner and talked to another couple from our group at the bar that we would be eating dinner with.

My husband had a very pretty champagne cocktail while I had a mint julep. We adored both of these even if they may have been the most expensive cocktails we’ve ever had, inclusive of Trader Sam’s & eventually Oga’s Cantina.

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Champagne Cocktail

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Mint Julep
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Snacks

The snacks that accompanied them were also tasty as who doesn’t love cheesy puff pastry or nicely salted almonds?

Dinner that evening was at Le Dali in the hotel and we had a journey of 15 minute to arrive there. We were sat with the couple from the bar along with two solos in the group that we got along well with. For some reason, we ordered refills on our cocktails. They must have been strong for us to quickly forget their cost.

I actually didn't eat any of the amuse bouche but our table mates enjoyed them.

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Amuse Bouche

When the following dish was served, the waiter told me “Don’t eat the rocks?” I had to wonder if they had people actually eat the rocks or if he thought I may be dumb enough to do that. The plating was absurd enough that I submitted it to r/WeWantPlates and got lots of fake internet points because of it. They were excellent.

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Arancini with Cheese

My husband went with a salad although the portion was so large it was almost an entree in and of itself. He felt bad wasting so much but he knew he had two more courses coming.

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Chicken Caesar Salad

I went with the duckling and oh my...it was so good. The sauce worked well with the meat and I had no problem finishing off the dish!

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Roasted Fillet of Duckling, figs and turnips

My husband enjoyed his steak and potatoes. It was cooked exactly like he requested and properly seasoned. I wish he would have branched out a bit more but at least he was happy!

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Fillet of Beef with Shallots, Baby Potatoes

Dessert was a miss for me. I love tiramisu but this dessert was rather grainy like it either didn’t set right or had a lot of coffee grounds in it that shouldn’t be there. Oh well! Not like I didn’t get enough to eat anyway.

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Frozen Tiramisu

And of course, the after dinner treat as we paid our drink bill.

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After Dinner Chocolates

Back in the room, we slept as we would be exploring Paris the next day!​
 
I saw the French equivalent to Moe’s and knew that would be the right choice for me. My husband got more ice cream instead. I got 2 beef and 1 chicken taco and was pleasantly surprised by how good they were.
Did they yell Welcome to French Moe's when you walked in :earboy2: After all your fancy food I'm sure some tacos and ice cream were a welcome change.

Gorgeous! It so looks like it is right out of a Monet painting or I guess Monet pairing out of it

Man, that does looks super fancy. Great place to stay for four nights

For some reason, we ordered refills on our cocktails. They must have been strong for us to quickly forget their cost.
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Think we've all fallen victim to that one.

The plating was absurd enough that I submitted it to r/WeWantPlates and got lots of fake internet points because of it. They were excellent.

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Glad to hear they are good, but that is just ridiculous looking. In what world do rocks and arancini go together :confused3
 
Wow, wow, wow... such an amazing trip. You're really reinforcing (in a good way) how little of the world I've seen (and how little I paid attention in history class, LOL). You guys did so much on this trip!! I'm starting to wonder if the pace of these tours is going to be "for me" and the way I like to vacation (emphasis on relaxation). But on the other hand, I do want to see all of these places and learn and explore and eat good food. I need to find a tour company that specializes in lazy people, haha. Bummer about Monet's gardens. I would have been turned off by the crowds and dirty bathroom too. I cannot believe your hotel in Paris … GORGEOUS!!! Looking forward to hearing more!
 
I can’t wait to read about Paris. I am loving the trip report so far.
I'm glad you are enjoying!

Did they yell Welcome to French Moe's when you walked in :earboy2: After all your fancy food I'm sure some tacos and ice cream were a welcome change.
No :( I did get lots of smelly 10K runners in line with me as the marathon had a 10K option as well! I like fancy food but I like normal food as well.

Gorgeous! It so looks like it is right out of a Monet painting or I guess Monet pairing out of it

It really did look like all his paintings! I could see why he made the gardens as beautiful as he did.

Man, that does looks super fancy. Great place to stay for four nights

It was! Extremely relaxing for our time in Paris and in a great location.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Think we've all fallen victim to that one.

I knew you would feel my pain. A good pain though!

Glad to hear they are good, but that is just ridiculous looking. In what world do rocks and arancini go together :confused3

I haven't a clue! I also wonder how many people tried to eat the rocks. They weren't even warm so it wasn't like they were keeping the arancini warm either. Fancy plating for the sake of being weird!

Wow, wow, wow... such an amazing trip. You're really reinforcing (in a good way) how little of the world I've seen (and how little I paid attention in history class, LOL). You guys did so much on this trip!! I'm starting to wonder if the pace of these tours is going to be "for me" and the way I like to vacation (emphasis on relaxation). But on the other hand, I do want to see all of these places and learn and explore and eat good food. I need to find a tour company that specializes in lazy people, haha. Bummer about Monet's gardens. I would have been turned off by the crowds and dirty bathroom too. I cannot believe your hotel in Paris … GORGEOUS!!! Looking forward to hearing more!

It really was an amazing trip and well worth why I've been very cheap in my life since there. Oh, I forgot a lot from history class too but at least I had updated lectures on the trip that made me remember some of those things. It also a lot better when you have things to help you put it into a better perspective than a textbook with photos.

That hotel was one of the most memorable places I've ever been. I'm so glad to experience it.

I found it was a good balance of relaxing and doing stuff. I mean, if I'm traveling to a foreign country - I want to do things unless its to Mexico/Bahamas/Caribbean Islands and then I'm good with relaxing. I did get enough relaxation time especially after what happens the next update!
 
Bus Tour Around Paris

We woke up and shockingly, my husband joined me for breakfast again. Rather than a buffet here, breakfast was ordered al carte and the prices made me happy it was included as otherwise this would have been a 150 Euro Breakfast…(insane) I had fruit and crepes, bread while my husband had fruit, scrambled eggs and bread. He wasn’t that happiest about the scrambled eggs as they had onions in them but he got over it as at least they weren’t egg soup like other places.

Once on the bus, we headed to the Place Vendom where I took a horrible photo of the Vendome Column.

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When then headed to the Opera House where we disembarked to take our tour photo. As we were never given a digital copy of it - you’ll just have to believe me as I still haven’t touched the pile of things that need to go into the scrapbook to cover this trip.

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After passing the Louvre & its mini arc (quickly since we would be going there that evening for a private tour), we headed to the Eiffel Tower for a photo stop before heading on our way. It was here we got a lecture before getting off the bus on what people that are going to pickpocket will say to you. “Will you sign a petition?” “Do you speak english?” “Help, I’ve lost my mom” etc. Just be rude to strangers and you won’t have that problem.

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We boarded the bus again and headed to the Arc de Triomphe where anyone driving would have a heart attack as it is in the center of a rotary/roundabout where 11 streets meet. Our bus driver earned his tip that day! I also found it amusing the line of people waiting for their photo in front of it.

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We had a stop at the Luxor Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde, my ankle decided this would be a great place to hate me. We got off the bus to head towards the restrooms and get a better look at the Obelisk. I was watching my feet like I always do thanks to my 20 year history of a bad ankle when it gave way and I ended up on the ground. The youngest person in the tour would be the one to fall....Luckily I did have my ankle brace on as I was wearing it when I knew there would be a lot of walking so it wasn’t as bad as it could be. Initially I think I was more embarrassed than hurt so I took photos and went on my way.

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We passed Notre Dame but didn’t stop. Apparently that used to be where the tour photo was taken but it was changed after the fire in the spring.

I got back on the bus with the rest of the group to take my left shoe off and look at it and make sure there wasn’t bruising as well as move seats to elevate it a bit. Fun!​
 
Walking Tour Around Paris

My husband convinced me to do the walking tour of Paris instead of heading back to the hotel. I figured I had my brace and that should be ok, right?

The tour started in the 6thh Arr. of Paris where we initially stopped by Cafe Procope Salon de The which was founded in 1686 making it the oldest cafe in Paris where discussions about Enlightenment were born among many other intellectual debates.

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From there we walked to Saint Germain and walked down rue de Buci where we had an hour and a half for lunch on our own. After looking at a few menus, my husband and I decided on a place called Atlas that seemed to have want we wanted. We ordered a carafe of Rose (50 CL) along with an appetizer and entree. We were happy with all our food but we cut it close on time to get back to the group for the walking tour.

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Onion Soup

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Shrimps

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Bacon Cheeseburger

The first placed we headed was the Abbey of Saint Germain. This abbey was originally founded in the 6th century and it became one of the richest in France. It is the only remains of the Romanesque buildings in Paris. We also were able to enter the oldest part of the church that is rarely open due to the restoration efforts that are on going.

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We continued the walking tour of the Left Bank and visited quiet squares as well as seeing some of the art along the walls.

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At the Seine, traditional sellers were selling books and art along the sidewalks. The famous love lock bridge doesn’t have the large amount of locks on it anymore (as yeah - a foot bridge wasn’t designed that much extra weight to constantly be on it) but some people don’t understand Forces & Loads and continue to try to find ways around the rules.

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We walked outside of the Louvre where discussions of it as a Royal Palace were given including how Henry did his monogram to honor both his wife and his mistress and we saw one of the World's Fair metro stations.

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The guide had us get on the metro for one stop back to the hotel to show us the process in case we wanted to use it again and at 3PM, we were on our own for the rest of the afternoon.

When we got back to the hotel, I knew the walking tour was a bad life move as I was hurting. As this wasn’t the type of hotel that you could get ice from an ice machine & I wasn’t about to call them to bring me some. I just drew an ice cold bath and soaked for 30 minutes. Not the most comfortable experience but I knew my ankle needed that shock. I relaxed for the rest of the time until we headed downstairs for our private time at the Louvre.​
 

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