Day 3: The Louvre and onto Beaune!
Neither Nicole or myself would consider ourselves as people very interested in art. However since our experience at Paris' Louvre Museum, we really have a new respect and appreciation for art. Our morning at the Louvre started by our group splitting into two small groups to be able to tackle as many of the amazing sights as possible. With only 12 in our group, we were able to move very efficiently and all were able to see very well. As the pictures show, we had about 20-30 minutes of the museum basically to ourselves. Elizabeth [she called herself Queen Elizabeth, we've yet to verify that :) ], our guide for the museum, had a very well organized route that let us see what we needed to see and hardly run into anyone else on the way! Her enthusiasm for art was contagious, the entire group was engaged in her stories and the tales behind many of the paintings that truly would have gone without recognition had we had not been with such a great guide!
- As your guide will remind you, these places are prime locations for pick-pockets! As visitors are usually gawking at the wonderful art, thieves can find their way to your belongings. Keep your things close and hang onto it, nobody in our group had any problems however!
Location Reflection: Paris
Our time in Paris was up! We went to Paris without knowing what quite to expect from it. Overall, we will come back someday, but feel like we can strongly say "we've been to Paris" and certainly had a filling experience there. The amount of group time and free time we spent there was very good for us. We hit the highlights and were also able to get to the more personal side of Paris.
Road Trip to Beaune, France!
This wonderful little town within France is a few hours away from Paris. A somewhat much needed bus ride allowed the group to catch a nap and enjoy the countryside of France that few tourists get to see. Our bus dropped us off very close to our hotel, Hotel Des Ramparts, which is run by a wonderful couple. This hotel was a castle that had be transformed into a hotel. We had a short break to settle our belongings in our room [we ended up with the "Tower Room"!] before we were off to dinner!
Dinner was held at Abbaye de Maizieres. This amazing location was second to the service we received from Bruno and Martine, they were so inviting into their culture and really let everyone feel like they were right at home. We tasted a variety of different wines and we managed to take a bottle home with us!
Dinner was held at Abbaye de Maizieres. This amazing location was second to the service we received from Bruno and Martine, they were so inviting into their culture and really let everyone feel like they were right at home. We tasted a variety of different wines and we managed to take a bottle home with us!