Today was the last thing that we wanted to do and that was a food tour.
We took an Uber to the starting spot and met our guide.
He walked us a short distance to a narrow pedestrian street
lined with shops on both sides.
For the next 3 hours, we ate our way through this district
of Paris and really enjoyed the tour.
The tour we had in Istanbul was wonderful; however, this
tour was not only wonderful, but we learned a lot about each of the foods that
we tasted.
We found out that our guide had a flat in the district and
after picking up some wine and sandwiches, he, at Barb’s urging took us to his
apartment.
He has been living there for 5 years and was still in the
process of renovating. That was an added
bonus.
After the tour, we found a money changer to change the Euros
we had from the casino into Dollars as our bank would not accept a deposit of
Euros.
Also, at one of our stops, they were cutting up meat and one
of the butchers had a very sharp knife.
We asked him where he got it from and we went to that shop and bought
one.
Next, we went into the second largest church in Paris and
mass was going on so we joined the people gathered for mass, we thought.
It turned out that it was really a funeral, so we left right
away. We have crashed weddings before,
but this is a first for us.
We forgot to tell you about collection in this church and
Nortre Dame – when they pass the basked there is also a reedit card machine
right on the basket!
We then took an Uber back to our room and at 6:00pm went out
for dinner.
After dinner, we came back to the room and packed for the mooning
when our driver will be here at 5:30am to take us on the one-hour drive to the
airport.
We are flying Air Canada to Montreal, and then switching planes
to arrive in Chicago at 2:44pm.
We have a Hertz car reserved, so see everyone soon. We are really looking forward to Friday with
the family.
Hugs from both of us.
There are more pictures and I will have to load them later.
We got up early to take an Uber to the train stations for an early mooring to Bayeux to meet our guide who would take us to Omaha Beach.
As we were early, we shopped around the quaint shops of the
main area and they met our guide and 4 others who were going with us.
Our guide was a recent French Air Force veteran and was very
knowledgeable about World War II.
To see and hear about the landing zone operation and hearing about the waves of all the solders to took this beach on June 6 was very emotional. the morning of the invasion, which was low tide, the each stretched 400 yards out from the cliffs and the sand was very, very hard so that the vehicles would be able to drive on the beach.
The problem was they were sitting ducks while trying to come
ashore in the first and second wave of thousands of soldiers.
Huge number of troops were killed until the third wave and
they had enough troops on the beach to start the taking of the country.
We then drove back to Bayeux and ate a lovely dinner. then we took the train back to Paris arriving at 11:00pm.
We took an Uber back to the hotel and went to sleep at about
midnight.
Tomorrow is our last day and we have a food tour.
When Barb chose Paris, we wanted to do three things.
One, see the Cathedral, Two was go to Normandy and three was to taste the food
of Paris.
The last item on our list, the The food tour, we will do
tomorrow.
The whole purpose in coming to Paris was to see the refurbished Cathedral.
We took an Uber to the meeting spot for our tour. The tour was for a small group of only 5 of
us and it began at 9:30am.
The first ½ hour, the guide talked outside of the Cathedral
about all that had happened and interesting things about the outside.
Then we went inside and it was amazing. As we mostly remembered it but all cleaned up
and the marble was so white.
The guide walked us around the inside for the next
hour. The only problem was there were throngs
of people and it was very crowed.
After the guide left we took time on our own and first
visited the Treasury with so many items of the Catholic Church going all the
way back to the year 64!
By then it was 11:30am and we entered a section set aside
for prayers. As we were leaving that
area we found out that here was a mass scheduled at Noon.
So, we went back in and very few people were sitting down so
we went right to the front row and almost immediately every seat behind us
filled up.
Precisely at Noon, 8 priest came in and mass began. It was a wonderful experience, especially
from where we were seated.
We then took an Uber back to the hotel to get ready to go
out.
We had a Paris by twilight tour set for 7:00pm and as we
were heading to the meeting spot to first have lunch, the guide cancelled on
us. So, we went to eat at a very famous
restaurant called Bouillion Republlique and had a very good meal.
We took a video which we will post once we are able to post
videos.
Then it was back to the hotel as we have an all-day trip to
Normandy and Omaha Beach. It should be a
very emotional experience.
Night from Paris
T he next pictures are inside Notre-Dame
This is a day of travel.
We had lunch and by then it was time to finish packing and
call the bellman to take our luggage down.
We had a car pick us up at the hotel and take us to the
airport, about an hour drive.
When we got to the airport, the driver found a porter you
will take us in and get us checked in.
We said yes to the fee of 500 Lira which was only $12.00.
So he loaded our bags on his cart and into the terminal we
went. It was quite a walk to check in
and we discover there were lots of lines checking in and it was all electronical! There were no desks with staff checking you
in.
Took our passports and put them in a scanner and printed our
boarding passes. Then he put our bags on
the conveyer belt and we were checked in.
He said goodbye and we walked to an American Express Lounge
for some food and drink.
It was there we looked at our tickets and the system had
upgraded us to first class!
After an hour, it was time to go to our gate and after a
long walk we found it.
We pulled the “old” card and then bypassed the line and took
us right to our seats, the first two on one side of the plane.
They served a great meal and drinks and after 3 1. Hours we
landed at the Paris Airport.
We had requested wheel chair assistance and it was a good
thing we did. It took us 50 minutes from
when we were at the gate to get our baggage and get to our waiting car.
Travel Hint – We have been using the app Welcome Pickups and
results have always been good.
Both cars today, looked like vans on the outside and inside
it was a limousine
It took about an hour and a half to get to the hotel.
The hotel is just fine; the rooms are tiny but very
clean. It is centrally located with
breakfast.
Tomorrow, we have a tour of the Cathedral of Notre Dame at
9:30am so it is time to say night from Paris.
Another day in the 60’s so we took a jacket and wore them a lot.
We both had breakfast and they do an exceptional job with
the display and the food.
We had scheduled a walking tour at 10:30am; however, for
only the second time in all of our cruises, the guide did not show up.
So, we walked the short distance back to the hotel and
quickly found another waling tour at Noon.
We had 10 minutes to get there and we were 8 minutes away so we made it.
It was a 2 ½ our tour and we learned a lot and saw a lot of
this main part of the city.
After the tour, we went back to the hotel to relax for a
short time.
Then we back out and found a great outside restaurant. We ordered a combination plate and as hungry
as we were, we could not finish it.
The major walking street in this part of the city is İstiklal
Avenue (Turkish: İstiklal Caddesi, lit. 'Independence Avenue') is a 0.87
mi pedestrian street in the historic Beyoğlu (Pera) district in Istanbul,
Turkey. Day and night the people are walking
this street and it is very wide and very crowed always.
This is also a cat friendly city, with cats everywhere.
This main part of town is going full blast from morning to
late, late at night and it has been quite an experience.
While we were walking during the day we passed a staging area for the police. Later we heard that there were going to be protest tonight in the Taksim Square which is only a 5 minuite walk from the hotel.
We we went out to eat, there were at least 8 busses full of police, and a truck loaded with shields heading to the Square.
Starting a about 10:00pm, we saw lots of ambulances heading to the square. Lots going on just beyond us and we are staying in for the night.
Tomorrow, we pack and have an 11:30am pick up to take us to
the airport and we fly to Paris, before coming home.
Night from Istanbul
Tomorrow Paris
Again, the pictures are not in order as it is late and we are tired after a fun day
