Today, we find ourselves on a train leaving our beloved Paris. It was a wonderful, if short visit, during which we visited some spots that were the favorites from our April in Paris.

We arrived, fatigued but not totally worn from the long journey. Not totally worn because we ended up in first class across the ocean. Let me tell you, first class on an A330 is something to behold. Jess and I never want to fly international coach again!¹

When you fly to Europe, you tend to land bright and early in the morning.² Our arrival had us there at 7:30, with a bit of time to get into Paris proper and to the hotel, we still had about 4 hours until we could possibly get a room. So, homeless and zombie-like, we walked the streets and parks through Le Marais to Ile Saint Louis and Ile de la Cité– stopping, of course, for a visit to Notre Dame and the park at Pont Neuf– to eventually arrive at the Musée D’Orsay, my favorite museum. There, we spent time being zombie-like art aficionados.

After leaving the Orsay, we were really hungry and remembered a small cafe at Tuileries, the large park in front of the Louvre. This was actually when it really hit me that we’d just flown into Paris and were navigating from our memory of “living” there! Lunch was followed by a return by metro to the hotel and a much too short nap. We then woke up, still groggy but ready to be troopers, to meet with Jessica’s brother Mike and his wife Sara. They are also visiting Paris, and for the same reason, so we walked around a bit with them, and had dinner in Le Marais. Then Jess and I were going to pass out, so, early as it was, we went home to crawl into bed.

The next morning we did much the same thing: walking around and drinking in our memories of Paris. It’s an odd but wholly welcome feeling to walk around in Paris and know our way around, know what we want to see, and how to get there almost without thinking. It almost felt like we were walking around a city that was home, but just hasn’t been so for a while.

Le Marais to La Seine, Champs Elysais to the Eiffel Tower, finally we doubled back to the famed Rue Cler to buy some provisions, both for lunch and to take to Mike and Sara’s apartment for appetizers later on. It was the fromagerie for a selection of cheeses, the charcuterie for a bit of sausage, the boulangerie for some baguettes and a baguette sandwich, then to the park in front of the tower to gaze at Jessica’s Most Beautiful Thing In The World while we ate lunch. Surprisingly, we did not go up to the top. The line was long, and– still jetlagged– our time before collapsing was short. So, again zombie-like, we crawled back into bed for a nap.

That evening, we returned to the Left Back to meet Mike and Sara and spend some time in their lovely Paris flat eating cheese and bread, drinking wine, and chatting. Then, it was time for dinner, so we headed to a tiny restaurant called La Grotte for a wonderful dinner.

This morning was our “fin de Paris,” and we decided that the best thing to do would be to wake up early and head straight back to the top of the Eiffel Tower! After that, we had only a few minutes to check out, but a few hours for the train, so we left the luggage at the hotel and picked up a few provisions– namely macaroons for Jess, these amazing chocolate hazelnut candies³, a seven bottles of great French wine, including a few from Jura⁴, and Jess went to an upscale perfumery to buy some new scents.

Checkout, shopping, luggage, metro, train station… farewell Paris, we won’t see you again soon enough.

…next stop Deutchland!!

1. we will, of course, but we don’t WANT to!! [↩]
2. Of course, it’s the middle of the night as far as your body’s concerned [↩]
3. I’m not allowed to say how much we spent on that! [↩]
4. and we spent less on wine than we did on chocolate! [↩]

And so it begins again.

It’s 7pm in the evening, we’re packed, the house has a sitter, our work is all taken care of, every base is covered…

and we’re freaking out, as normal, not quiet ready to leave on another adventure. Tomorrow, we fly back to Paris, City of Dreams. Unbelieving that it is already November, and we left on the final day of April from our month-long stay in paradise. 7 months can go by so quick.

We return for two short days, once again to walk the streets of Le Marais, to visit our beloved Ile Saint Louis, to sit together and bask in the dream of our love as we sit, ebullient in wine, watching the Seine drift by at the park at Pont Neuf.

But life must go on. We cannot live in our memories of a Paris spring lost.

We are vikings of winter! Come to ravage the great body of lady travel!

And so, after two days in beautiful Paris, we depart by train to Strasbourg, there to cross the border into my beloved Deutschland for this, our next great adventure! Vikings are We!

Our goal, the Viking cruise vessel leaving from Nuremburg and drifting downstream to Budapest, Hungary. Along the way, we stop every day to descend upon the locals, pillaging their Christmas markets, drinking their glüwein, and ravaging their women!

(well, I’ll at least be ravaging my woman, but I’m going to do it viking-style!)

Our vessel departs on this plunderous journey some three days following our departure from Paris. Across the border from Strasbourg is the famed German city of Baden-Baden, where we will bath and be massaged in Teutonic splendor. From there it is a two and a half hour drive to Nuremburg, so the next two days will see us getting as lost as humanly possible in wonderful winter Bavaria.

After reaching Nuremburg, we have 10 days on the river visiting Christmas markets in Germany and Austria. Our goal, to be the best vikings we can!

Posts will follow here detailing our viking plunder. Stay tuned!