Normal checkout at the hotel is 10:00 but they let us stay until 11. There was a cafe/eye-glasses shop where Kurt grabbed us a breakfast of crossants and coffee that we ate sitting on the bed looking out the window.
The Swarovski Christmas tree. It was really beautiful to see in person. All of the ornaments were crystal and the base was all sorts of different animals and sculptures. It was so sparkly!
True Story. We went to the train station at 11:00 when we had to check out of the hotel. Kurt grabbed one of these things and we walked some more...this time around the train station (it wasn't very exciting) until our 1:00 train.
The "I don't know what's going on" expression. Our TGV high speed train to Paris was stuck in Basel due to weather. They put us on the commuter train for the 45 minute ride to meet our TGV train. We met more people stranded from the Snowstorm in England trying desperately to get back to the UK. Turns out we were sitting in first class on this train and got booted back to 2nd. Oops.
The snow melted-and it was green. So green.
Our TGV train. Packed to the gills.
The snow was so heavy there was a speed restriction on the train that delayed us about 60 minutes.
We already knew it was a risk not bringing food for the ride but we didn't want to buy anything else in Zurich (it would have been a $30-40 lunch!). By the last 45 minutes Kurt was too hungry to wait and hit up the food car. All that was left was junk-chocolate muffins, gummi bears, a Kinder beuno bar (and it was muy bueno!), and crisps.
Paris! We jumped on the Metro, transferred once (not out of necessity but convenience) and found our hotel.
We were really smooshed in this tiny elevator with our bags. There were a few warning signs at check in that the establishment was not up to par but the room was truly awful. We dropped our bags (after checking for bed bugs but still not putting them on the floor/bed) to head to dinner asking the receptionist on the way out if we could change rooms. He told us not until tomorrow but his English was limited so we were unsure if he understood what we were asking.
Kurt somehow managed to find our favorite place from the last time we were here.
It was so good. And so much less then Zurich!
We stayed in the Latin Quarter our last trip and this time in the Bastille. On our way home we called Amex to find out our options with the hotel and then stopped into 3 others in the vicinity to check availability and rates. The Holiday Inn was very nice, but more than we wanted to spend. My budget for this trip was 100.00 US a night max in every city (an achievement with our exchange rate!). When we returned to our hotel there was a new night receptionist so we asked him about switching rooms. He was so rude we packed up and left at half past midnight.
Here we are checking into the Ibis around the corner. 99 Euros a night including Wifi. Holiday Inn was 139/139/129 Euros and Wifi was 17 additional per day. I can't find fault with this Hotel, it was a real blessing. I won't even tarnish this trip with photos of the other establishment. Kurt was great and handled everything and I did have a moment but it was short and he is awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment