I have been tardy at writing this blog but I have a great big excuse-
I am in Europe!
Since last Thursday Tom and I have been in Mainz, Germany. Mainz is about 25 minutes from Frankfurt.
We've been at the Christmas Market where we shopped till we dropped. Good Lawrd, I hope Canada Customs isn't reading this! Actually we'll be OK. We will have been away 8 days by the time we land on Canadian Soil on Thursday Afternoon. So we have room to spare to spend.
There are so many wonderful things to see and do- and buy.
Nutcrackers, hand-blown Christmas ornamnents, food, drink, clothing and much, much more. There's nothing like it back home. It's a truly wonderful event and I'll tell you more about that in a later blog.
We also took a tour of a Monastery that dates back to 1100. The Monks are no longer there but the evidence of their wine-making days still remain. In fact wine making is still in the area and the Monastery gift shop stills sells wine from the surrounding vineyards.
Today Monday we took the train to Paris- about 6 hours or so- with one stop. It was a fabulous ride and we rode in style- First Class.
Comfort class as ICE calls it.
When we arrived just after 5PM Paris time Monday, we hopped on the Metro (Subway) and made our way to the hotel not far from the L'Arc de Triomphe and the Champ Elysees- a shopping district where one finds many of the famous chain stores- like Abercrombie and Fitch.
After a quick freshen-up we headed off to take a Tour of the Sienne. New Parisienne friends Brian and Tony- who live in Northeast Paris, set the evening cruise up for us. They even brought along a bottle of champagne and a few sandwiches. We dined on the boat as we watched the Eiffel Tour, The Louvre and Notre Damn pass us by from the Sienne's banks.
What a sight! The Eiffel tower lit from top to bottom.
After the cruise we said our goodbyes to Brian and Tony and had a late dinner at one of our favourites Parisienne Restaurants.
You know what?
I still LOVE Pais!
With two days left to tour this beautiful city, it's time for bed to be refreshed for tomorrow's adventures!
Au revouir a demain.
R*
