we'll always have Paris (part XI)

OK so the title has been used before - and I also recently made reference to Casablanca the movie in my Morocco blog posts, but seriously - on this - my eleventh trip to Paris... I feel like it should be the eternal city - not Rome...but alas the city of light also works well....

and here are a couple of photos to show how well that title fits beautiful Paris- just two or three of my old favorites - the first is a view of the Eiffel Tower (duh!) from the sidewalk in front of Au Bon Accueil where we will return for dinner six nights from now with CBGB...

the next from along the Seine at night - but still the iconic Tower above the rooftops gives you a landmark-

along the Seine at the Pont des Arts bridge -

and one of my all time favorite photos - and one of my most popular posts on the AFAR website - I call it "Nighthawks" in the post

http://www.afar.com/highlights/nighthawks?context=wanderlist&context_id=14011

and finally- and fittingly - a gift that GA gave me years ago which now has become even more meaningful as we have shared more travel in the intervening years- with CBGB together and most recently GA and I on our gal-pal trip to Morocco-

so CBGB leave tomorrow for Spain and will meet us in Paris on Friday morning and we leave on Wednesday afternoon--- send good wishes for great weather (especially DRY weather) for the weeks we are in France!!! and I will keep everyone updated along the way as I can - Internet dependent...

we are about to barge...

in less than a week we leave for Paris (CDG) for a few nights and days before we meet up with our friends CBGB and head to Burgundy for a barge cruise.  So soon you will get a lot more details of Paris food and even more of burgundy cheese, wine and food as we cruise about 30 miles in the span of a week!

our itinerary is from Dijon (home of the mustard) south through the most fabulous vineyards in the world... we visit wineries and chateaux and Beaune (home of the Hospice de Beaune) so lots of good times.  We took this cruise to celebrate our 50th birthdays and now, a second time to celebrate our 60th birthdays.  In the intervening years we have stayed in touch with five of the other passengers and also our captain... Anna.

The barge will be new but the chef (Cyril) the same and captain Anna the same too... we are so excited to be doing this again...

here are just a couple of photos from the last time- of Cyril in his tiny kitchen and in the dining room describing the food for lunch  - and then of Anna with one of the winemakers in Burgundy-

and here is the wine list and labels from the last cruise and the cheese menus from each day!

 

I think you can see why we are getting excited to be returning to the "scene of the crime" LOL- and we cannot wait to see our friend Anna again- we did see her last year in Paris and several other times when she was between groups- but this time it will be relaxed and a whole week of fun and games with CBGB and Anna and Cyril - Yea!!!! And after the barging is over - we are headed to Lyon (food capital of the world) for a couple of days - a totally new destination for us in France.... so stay tuned!