Monday, September 30, 2013

France Day Nine

What a long day! We left Riquewihr this morning for Strasbourg just as the sun was coming up. Good thing, too, because as we got closer to town, traffic was horrible. The rental car return sign at the airport was nowhere to be found, and poor Nancy drove around and around before we finally spotted a tiny little "retour" sign with an even tinier little automobile sign underneath it. Barely made our flight to Paris, but by 11 a.m., with luggage in hand, we found our driver. We then had to fight the Paris traffic, but eventually we were deposited curbside at our home away from home for the rest of the week. The owners of this apartment live in California, but they have an English-speaking manager who met us and showed us around. The cleaning people were still hard at work, so we dumped our bags and walked to a cafe on the corner for lunch: croque monsiers, an omelet, frites, and a pitcher of wine. Welcome to Paris!

This is the first time we've rented an apartment in Paris. They are expensive and small, and it's hard to find a reasonably priced one that has two bedrooms and two full baths (our criteria). After having lots of space at our house in Riquewihr, this one seemed very little, and it was hot, too. But, we opened up the windows and turned on some fans, and now it seems both larger and cooler! It's actually a sweet little jewel box of an apartment on the Ile Saint Louis, that was built in 1652. Juliette was restored by a movie set designer, with no attention to detail spared.
 Street-side, all you see is a brown door, and if you look up, the window into our living room.
 This is a view straight in through the kitchen and onto the living and dining area.


Here's my room and bath, and I also have a little twin bed under the staircase, in case I want to move around (or in case my daughter wants to fly over).


Nancy and John have the upstairs loft and bath, both very nice!


I think we'll all have a great time...there's lots to see and do, and we are here until Saturday morning. Thanks again for coming along!

Sunday, September 29, 2013

France Day Eight - Part Deux

Today we visited the automobile museum in Mulhouse, France. Less than an hour from where we are staying, it was well worth the drive. The collection itself contains over 520 vehicles, including the largest Bugatti collection in the world. Here's the short tour (trust me, you could spend days in there)!


 The museum tour starts with automobile mascots. Very interesting!



 And then the cars.  Oh, the cars...



























Thanks for joining me! I'm off to Paris tomorrow for the rest of the week. See you there!

France Day Eight

This morning, we drove through Kaysersberg on the way to Mulhouse, and saw a crafts fair to benefit the local kindergarten. Almost everything was handmade, and it was so much fun checking out the different booths. The crepes were good, too!