Hotel Regyn’s
Pl. des Abbesses, 75018 Paris
///shapes.guess.monk
48°53’4.7832″N, 2°20’17.0520″E

We landed in Paris at 10:00am local time. Passing through French Customs was unbelievably quick. After collecting our luggage we found our way to the train station that is  connected to the airport terminal & took a local train to Gare du Nord. Then  we hopped on the Paris Metro that had a stop that is very  close to our hotel in the Montmartre area.

Our hotel is in a very nice area of the city with lots of cafes & interesting shops & architecture. We also like it because the majority of people live in this neighborhood so it is easy to get a small sense of what it’s like for the locals to live here.

We arrived at the hotel too soon to check in so we dropped off our bags and went to a nearby cafe for some refreshments.

David & I were quick to make our choice.

Valerie & Catherine opted for tea!

After refreshments were finished we took a brief stroll around the neighborhood & then checked into our hotel.

Our hotel rooms are very small but clean & comfortable & reasonably priced for the area we are in.

Later in the afternoon Catherine & Valerie & David walked “up” to see the cathedral Sacre Coeur – about a 30 minute walk from our hotel. I was feeling jet lagged so I opted for hanging out with the locals in a very small neighborhood park.

This apartment building overlooks the park. I’d love to be able to get a close look at that rooftop garden!

By 6:00pm we were all starting to feel hungry so we walked down the street to a nearby restaurant – Le Sancerre – & had a great dinner.

Followed by an amazing dessert – millefeuille with fresh raspberries, that we split 4-ways. Still plenty of calories to go around for everyone!

We all slept well after that feast!

Cheers!

Via Rail Station London
///totally.legal.bliss
42°58’52.6152″N, 81°14’48.6600″

You will notice that I am adding a new  “feature” to my blogs. Maybe you have heard about the mobile app called “what3words”. It is a free app that takes  any latitude and longitude coordinates and converts them to 3 simple words that are used to only that specific location in the world.

So, the Via Rail station in London GPS coordinates of 42°58’52.6152″N, 81°14’48.6600 are assigned the words: ///totally.legal.bliss.

These words are much easier to remember than a group of numbers. It is becoming so popular that delivery services and even police and emergency authorities are beginning to recognize and use this app.

If you are interested in learning more, here is a link to follow:

https://what3words.com/about

And now, back to the blog!

Bonjour, mes amis!

We started our new adventure at the Via Rail station on York Street in London. Joining us are long time friends Valerie and David.

We are headed to France to spend a few days in Paris & then we will travel south to the Charente River region to cruise for a week on a charter boat.

Valerie & David have spent time with us aboard Ananda, our 36 Nauticat and also on Santosha, our 34 Marine Trader so they have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Here’s a preview photo of our charter boat:

This is a screenshot from the charter boat company’s website. We pick up the boat on Monday, September 3. 

We have been planning this trip for about 9 months & it’s hard to believe that it’s finally happening!

After the train ride to Toronto we took an overnight flight to Paris, landing on Wednesday morning at 10:00am local time. The flight was uneventful but none of us got very much sleep during the flight.

Catch up to you tomorrow!

Cheers!