New Jersey to Paris: The 13th and 14th
Our trip started by taking a car from our place in Manhattan over to Newark (EWR). A few hours later, we would be grabbing breakfast at a nearby café and taking a post-flight nap a few hundred feet away from the Louvre around Place Vendôme.
Pandemic and Travel
We felt comfortable taking United internationally because the company has implemented a vaccine mandate of all of the staff. We were happy to reward their pro-science and anti-jackass stance that did not suffer the “but my rights.” crowd.
On the plane, I read Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, which I very much liked, but which I cannot say I very much enjoyed (review). Those familiar with the book will know why. We arrived around 0700 in Charles de Gaulle, had a fairly painless trip through customs, met our private car driver (thanks Costco Travel), and were whisked into the heart of Paris. As we drove past a city awakening, heading south and west into the walls of the ancient city, we watched delivery drivers, construction workers, and shopkeepers all going about their tasks of getting ready for another day in Paris.
Outside the widows, we could see that Paris wasn’t as rainy or as cold as it customarily is this time of year, so we enjoyed a bit of summer that was leaking into the Parisian Fall.
We arrived at our hotel and checked in. We stayed at the Westin on the intersection of the Rue de Rivoli and Rue de Castiglione. Upon arrival we took the upgrade to get a Tuileries garden-facing room and, as the pictures show below, we think it was worth it — especially for a birthday celebration.
Because our chambre wasn’t quite ready at check-in, we checked our bags and then headed into the neighborhood of Place Vendôme. There, we found a small bakery called Rotonde St. Honoré whose breakfast hours we just barely made. Upon entry, we were immediately asked for our passes sanitaires — a QR code in an app granted by the government that was required to dine indoors or be in other high-proximity environments — and then were served a delicious breakfast of croissants and eggs.
Again, it was this mature attitude to dealing with this phase of the COVID pandemic that made us feel that France was a safe place to visit.
Having had our breakfast, we shuffled back to our hotel and checked in for a
good blackout nap. After a good rest and birthday gift-giving, we headed
back out into the city to explore the Tuileries at dusk. As the sun set, we
headed south of the Seine (Rive Gauche) into the neighborhood of the Musée
D’Orsay. We chose the Café Varenne for a birthday dinner, and we celebrated
with kir, wine, steak frites (me), pan-cooked chicken (her), and desert brandy.
Full, we took a long walk back to the hotel knowing that we were in for a rough-ish night of jet lag sleep. We flipped some channels of TV and managed to fall asleep somewhat reasonably.
Hotel details
About the hotel, the Westin’s location is superb as the photos and proximity to the Louvre attest. The staff are wonderful and friendly, the morning breakfast (to which we had a daily entitlement per our Costco package) was full of croissants, cold cuts, eggs, and did-I-mention pastries? Awesome all around. The ground floor is clean and welcoming. That said, this building has been a hotel since the end of the 19th century and while it’s nice it’s not modern. That is, there’s no in-room coffee machine and the walls adjacent and floors above admit more noise than the modern traveler might be comfortable with. For those coming from the non-stop noise factory of Manhattan, it wasn’t awful, but with people arriving and departing all hours of the night and encountering all levels of jet-lag, you can definitely come to miss the hermetic sound nullification of more modern hotels. The hotel is the size of a large city block so navigating from the elevators back to one’s room is no slight task. Additionally, I have to note that the carpet is due for replacement and the rooms are due for refurbishment. This might have been delayed by COVID, or such an effort might be awaiting new management: I’ve read that the hotel was recently sold and suspect that a massive renovation is planned as it enters the portfolio of the Dubai Holding.
Expand for photos
