From London we took a train to Paris. We sat in the first class, but since we were seated backwards I got severe motion sickness. I had to miss the French wine, fried cod, and the fine dessert. The worse thing was that I couldn’t even look out from the window to enjoy the beautiful French countryside scenery.

After feeling sick on the train for three and half hours we finally got to Paris. On the way to the hotel my husband said, “Paris looks like China.” I also thought there were similarities between the two such as that many people and cars traveling on the street.

We stayed in Hotel De CASTIGLIONE . The hotel open in 1932. I was fond of the lightly prestigious district and the atmosphere it brought to the hotel. Looking at the antique furniture laying around in the hallway made me feel like I traveled back in time, yet the contemporary theme of the room brought me back to reality. Our bathroom was pretty with marble floors and marble counter tops, but to my surprise there was no shower curtain in the bathtub. No wonder my colleague told me that the people in Paris don’t take showers.

I don’t know any French, yet my husband learned French in high school, and still remembers some of it after many years. Our hotel is only a few blocks away from Place De La Concorde, so all the major tourist spots were within the walking distance. Personally, I loved Le Louvre the most. I learned that two hundred some years ago it was the King of France’s palace, now it is the French national art museum. It has the most art collections in the world. It is said if you want to look at each piece of art in the museum it would take two days to accomplish. We spent 5 hours over there. I was amazed to see that there were so many people around the original piece of the “Mona Lisa,” we had to wait 10 minute to get to the front to look at Da Vinci’s masterpiece. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait to see other world class original artworks. However, all the deions were written in French, so I could only read the time period of the author and in what year the work was created. My husband said that was a good thing for us since I couldn’t spend too much time in front of each item to read the deions. Therefore, we were able to see more exhibitions. Maybe he was right.

It was raining the last night of our Paris trip, we ate dinner in the restaurant of our hotel. They offered the best Vinaigrette salad dressing and filet mignon that I had ever tried, and they even had English printed in their menu. After dinner, while my husband rested in the room, I walked to the Avenue of Champs-Elysées hoping to buy some reasonable price designer clothes. But when I got there it was over 9PM, and most of the fashion stores were already closed. I could only buy some candies for my co-worker to share, and a handbag for my daughter. But I did take some pictures of Champs-Elysées at night time to share with you.

We only stayed in Paris for three days, so we couldn’t visit all the places on our list. We even missed the famous Moulin Rouge. Someday we will go back to visit Paris again…

French Countryside

A street in Paris, picture was taken on the way to the hotel

Arc De Triomphe

Elffel Tower

in front of the military institution

The Seine

Petty Palace (compared to the grand Palace)

Place De La Concorde, that is only a few minutes walk from the hotel we stay

The ceiling of Petty Palace

Before I went to Paris, I didn't know the French had sedan chair in old time

A painting in 1600's

Chinese art work from Ching Dynasty

My niece took us to a Chinese restaurant, they raise the fishes under the floor

My husband and I in the Chinese restaurant in Paris

Notro Dame

In the street of Paris

Le Louvre (the French national art museum)

The original piece of Venus

One of the ceiling in Le Louvre

Napoleon III's apartment

Inside Le Louvre

The Lacemaker (by J. Vermeer) in 17 century. We have walked a long way to look for this painting

my husband and I in a French restaurant near our hotel, the food was good, but the menu was in French only

My niece, her fiancée and I

Champs-Elysées at night time