John and I took a two-week long vacation to Paris this year. It was the first international trip I've ever taken, not to mention the first two-week vacation I've ever taken.
Here's our photo-journal (all photos by M.E.Ladd and John McCray):
March 29 2008 - Home base: Saturday in Paris
(click photos to enlarge)
The first thing we did was go to our hotel, Les Grandes Ecoles in the Latin Quarter, directly east of The Pantheon.
Our reserved room was still occupied the
day we arrived. So they gave us another room on the second floor in the
front of the hotel.
You entered the courtyard of the hotel through two big green doors at
the street level. The courtyard was a long cobblestone walkway to the
back where the above building, with check-in was located.
This view is standing from the end of the courtyard looking down to the street. You can see the big green doors in the distance. We loved this hotel. We have very pleasant breakfasts in the breakfast room - amazing croissants and bread. We were also sheltered from city noise since we were so far from the street.
Lovely flowers were located throughout the courtyard.
Our first room with kewl French wallpaper of peasants sticking a hot-air balloon with a stick.
The door to our room and the door to our bathroom, which in this room was so tiny our knees knocked the wall when we sat on the toilet.
Our window.
The view to the left from our window.
The view straight down from our window.
John and Mary in the room.
The backside of The Pantheon.
St. Genevieve Church next to The Pantheon. This was our favorite church in Paris for its lightness and it also had St. Genevieve's finger inside.
We walked by the Sorbonne.
And down to Notre Dame.
And took our pictures by the Seine just like Sonny & Cher on the back of that 60s album cover.
We walked over to Luxembourg Gardens, had a coffee and tea on the edge and then walked through and saw the Palais du Luxembourg.
We loved this statue of a boy holding Victor Hugo's face. "Look! I got your face!"
It was not quite blooming during the beginning of the week.
We ate dinner at an art deco themed restaurant in the French Quarter called Bouillon Racine on rue Racine that was once an old soup kitchen and then walked home past The Pantheon at night.
Our hotel at night / the courtyard at night.
