We had breakfast at our dreadful hotel, then, after requesting a refund from Travelocity and finding a new hotel a bit further out, in Vincennes, drove there. Locating it was harder than you might imagine because when the GPS said we had arrived it was nowhere in sight. So I went into the only building that was open to inquire. The response? “Yes, that is us.” Low-key is an understatement. I think it is primarily geared toward students, but it had a parking garage and a kitchenette, so it suited us. We checked in (the room, surprisingly, was ready), parked the car, unloaded the luggage and asked for information on getting into the city. Then we headed to Paris, on the RER A train, which, happily, took the subway tickets that I had purchased the day before.
The new hotel was near a new skate park, which provided some amusement.
We stayed just one night at the Comfort Hotel Paris Porte d-Ivry. The breakfast was good but not great. The room was awful. 2 out of 10. There was no “comfort” in this hotel.
We are still waiting on the hotel refund.
We met Benjie and Junko at Maison Peret for a light and very leisurely lunch, then wandered the city for a bit. Marlene did some window shopping and we wandered the Montparnasse Cemetery, taking photos along the way.
We boarded the subway to go to Notre Dame. Benjie left us to go home to edit his photos while Junko escorted us to Notre Dame. We got some nice photos outside, then waited nearly 30 minutes to be allowed inside. We entered just as 6pm Saturday mass was commencing. We got to tour the cathedral to the music of the mass. Very cool!
There was some kind of religious procession outside when we exited. Got a photo of that and, later, a wonderful photo of Notre Dame as the setting sun poked through the clouds.
We then walked to Benjie and Junko’s neighborhood and had some mulled wine in the local cafe. Then we walked to dinner at La Pie Noir, a little family restaurant. We all had razor clams (never heard of them but they were terrific) and Marlene and I followed that with some delicious salmon. We shared profiterole for dessert.
