A Visit to Zeeland, MI

I'm interrupting the last post [or two] about my recent trip to Paris, France to write about last weekend's outing. My hubby and I left Sunday morning to pick up our granddaughter, Isabella, and her college roomate, Grace, at Michigan State University and take them to Zeeland with us. They had a four-day break from school.  Grace is from Virginia - too far to go for a four-day break - so Izzy invited her home.

The drive was beautiful with the trees displaying their fall colors.   They're not quite at their peak, but close.  I had to be quick to get the photos while traveling on the expressway.

Izzy and Grace kept busy in the kitchen making 'pizza pumpkins'.  I made an Apple Crisp to add to their culinary achievements.

Landon and Ellie were on hand for support and taste-testing!

Jerry and Jeremy watched football in the 'man cave' while Sam and I watched 'All Things Great and Small' [PBS Masterpiece Theater series] in the living room.

On Monday we went to a local blueberry farm market and bought some yummy doughnuts made fresh on the premises.

[L-R: Jerry, Daughter-in-law Samantha, Izzy and Grace]

Then it was back home where Izzy and Grace made 'cinnamon pumpkins'.

After dinner the 49er fans donned their team clothing to watch the 49ers game.  Sadly they lost to the Vikings.   Landon finished a great season with his school's football team and had tryouts for the basketball team earlier in the day.

On Tuesday Izzy got up at 5:30 a.m. to go boxing with her Dad.  [She said it was fun.]  We left to come back home at mid-morning because I had a late afternoon Dr. appointment.  We enjoyed our visit and will probably return soon when Jerry and Landon celebrate their birthdays.

To inject tea in this post, Jeremy enjoyed Harney & Son's Blueberry Green Tea while we were there.  I see a tin of it tucked inside his Christmas present.  I sipped Harney's Citron Green Tea. 

I'll close this post with fall photos from Jeremy and Samantha's backyard.  Happy Fall, as we approach the end of October already!

Evening Dinner Cruise on River Seine

Our dinner cruise included a window seat.  The views were great and the meal delicious.  We went under several Paris bridges and I photographed a few.  Paris has 37 bridges and foot bridges that span the Seine connecting the left bank to the right bank. 

A photographer was on board to take pictures for a fee, and we had him take our picture.  It was delivered to us at the end of the cruise.

There was live entertainment, but the real entertainment was the beautiful Paris sites as seen from the Seine.

Pont [bridge] de l'Archeveche - or Archbishop's Bridge.  It is the narrowest bridge in Paris built in 1828 with three stone arches.  Lovers place 'love padlocks' on this bridge.

Building near Archbishop's Bridge.

Locals and tourists can be seen sitting all along the side of the Seine.

Le Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge in Paris.  It has been in place since the beginning of the 17th century.  Its design is Roman inspired.

Le Pont de Bir-Hakeim connects the 15th and 16th arrondissement and good views of the Eiffel Tower can be seen from this bridge.  It passes by Ile aux Cygnes [Swan Island] where the quarter scale replica of the Statue of Liberty can be seen.  It was gifted by the Prisian expact community in the United States to Paris in 1980.

Le Pont de Bercy connects the 12th and 13th arrondissement.  The stone structure was built in 1863-64.

Pont Alexandre III is said to be Paris' most beautiful bridge opened in 1900.  It has 32 bronze candlabras and numerous sculptures.  It connects the 7th and 8th arrondissements.

Pont des Arts pedestrian bridge to the Institut de France.  It is also known as Love Lock Bridge, but when a panel fell into the Seine in 2015, unromantic city engineers feared the heavy locks were jeopardizing the structural integrity of the bridge and installed glass panels to prohibit affixing padlocks to the metal railings.

Now for our dinner menu...

We began with Mozzarella di Buffala with Tomato Tartar.  It reminded me of the similar Italian Caprese salad.

Our main entree was a Chicken Fillet with a Zucchini Flan and Thyme Sauce.

~ Dessert ~

After the dinner cruise we walked back to our hotel.  Our first day in Paris was wonderful and we were glad we included it in our itinerary.

Goodbye London, Hello Paris!

Our London hotel arranged for a transportation service to pick us up and take us to St. Pancras International Train Station at 7:00 a.m.  It is a huge station, but the driver took us to the side entrance closest to Eurostar which made it much easier for us.  The station was bustling with travelers.  We got a scone and yogurt parfait at a restaurant inside St. Pancras and waited until the designated time when we could enter the Eurostar line to go inside.  Eurostar is actually it's own station within St. Pancras.

~ Inside the Eurostar Station ~

~ Our boarding platform was #9 ~

Our departure was scheduled for 10:31 a.m.  We were in coach 4, seats 37 & 38.

~ Eurostar logo on the side of our coach ~

Jerry getting onboard with our luggage.  There are no porters.  Travelers are responsible for handling their own luggage.  Good thing Jerry is healthy and strong!  The Eurostar ride was 3 hours and 20 minutes with our arrival in Paris at 1:50 p.m.  

Our arrival at Paris Gare du Nord train station [10th Arrondissement] was daunting.  It is a huge station, very crowded with people [all of whom seemed to speak only French] and all the signage is French.  To our disadvantage, Jerry and I don't speak any French, so we just kept walking through the station until Jerry finally spotted an exit.  Outside we found a G-7 taxi. The driver was from Morocco, but spoke English.  

The traffic was horrendous with no lane designations on the larger streets.  It seemed like every driver had to fend for himself, but amazingly we didn't see any accidents.  We finally arrived at our hotel [in the 7th Arrondissement, left bank] safe and sound.  The streets around the hotel were very narrow with cars parked on both sides, allowing for only one lane of through traffic with bicyclists and motorcyclists weaving in and out.  Like London, buildings make use of every square inch of property and no space is left wasted.  Paris is an old, historic city with not a lot of new buildings.  They maintain, preserve and repurpose, but not demolish.  The architecture is beautiful.

Our hotel - Hotel De L'Universite

Our room #11 was smaller than the hotel room in London but very nice and clean.  The hotel itself was smaller too, but I actually liked it better.  I find it hard to believe all the hype circulating right now about Paris being infested with bed bugs, because we didn't see any sign of them.

Staircase to our room on the second floor.

We got out belongings situated then it was time to get ready for our 6:45 p.m. sight-seeing dinner cruise on the River Seine.  I pre-booked it before we left home thru 'Come to Paris' and I highly recommend them.  It was a lovely 1 hour 15 minute cruise that departed from Port de Solferino which was just a short 15 minute walk from our hotel.  It's actually why I chose the hotel.

Side view of Musée d'Orsay - a museum housed in a former railway station built between 1889 and 1900.  We boarded the dinner cruise boat across the street from it.

Front view of museum.  Paris has over 140 museums, but a visit to the Louvre or Musée d'Orsay usually tops the list.  The Beaux-Arts museum includes French Art dating from 1848 to 1914 that includes paintings, sculptures, furniture and photography.  We didn't have time to tour it though.

The dinner cruise boat making the turn-around to approach the boarding area.

Parked at the boarding area.

A peek inside the windows.

To be continued...