Our recent trip to Paris was truly special—my wife and I had the joy of introducing two teenagers among our six grandchildren to Europe for the first time. The adventure began with a rendezvous in New York, where our grandkids flew from their home city. From there, we boarded our overnight flight to Paris. We were all excited about the days ahead.
Upon arrival, our first stop was Hotel Bassano. This small, but chic, hotel quickly won us over. The staff greeted us with genuine warmth, and the location couldn’t have been better, just a short stroll from the Arc de Triomphe and within easy reach of the Eiffel Tower and other must-see sights. Breakfast each morning was a highlight, with fresh pastries, freshly squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs and bacon, and strong coffee to fuel our explorations. The rooms were comfortable and stylish, making it a perfect Parisian home base.
Joanne and I had been to Paris before. It was nostalgic to return. We made the most of our days, mostly traveling by Uber, notably pricier than back home, but convenient. Our itinerary included visits to the Eiffel Tower, where the kids were suitably impressed and the views did not disappoint. We stood beneath the Arc de Triomphe, feeling the weight of history and taking plenty of photos. At the Louvre, we navigated the crowds to see the Mona Lisa and walked around to see famous masterpieces among the 600,000 objects in its collection. The sheer scale of the museum left us all in awe. It was easy to accumulate more than 10,000 walking steps and countless up and down steps on each of our four days in Paris. I should say the steps were easy for the teenagers, not so easy for Joanne, and very difficult for me.
After lunch at an excellent café in the museum after cafe, we split. Joanne and our granddaughter visited the nearby Museum of Interior Design, inspired by our granddaughter’s plans to study in that area when she goes to college. Our grandson and I took an Uber to the Air and Space Museum, exploring vintage planes and rockets. He has plans to be a pilot.
A standout day was our train trip to Versailles. The Palace of Versailles is a grand former royal residence renowned for its opulent architecture and vast art collections, now housing over 60,000 works of art that span from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. The palace itself contains 2,300 rooms and covers about 680,000 square feet. The Gardens of Versailles are vastly larger than the palace itself. The gardens cover about 2,000 acres, roughly 128 times larger than the palace building in terms of acreage. We joined a small tour group led by an outstanding guide who brought the palace’s history to life. Lunch at the Palace Café was a treat, and a stroll through the gardens was the perfect way to soak up the grandeur.
Paris is a paradise for food lovers, and we embraced the opportunity to sample a variety of cuisines. From classic French brasseries to cozy Italian spots and even a Japanese meal, every restaurant offered something memorable. The only sour note was the night of the soccer match, when rowdy crowds made dining out a challenge. We were in a nice Italian restaurant. It had a large section of the front of the building opened up to adjoin the outside seating. A group of hoodlums were crowded to watch the match on the restaurant’s flat panel TV. While blowing smoke into the restaurant and roaring at each goal scored by the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), the name of the main professional football (soccer) club in Paris. The following night we headed to a French restaurant for dinner only to find the key streets to get there were closed, police everywhere. The celebration left two dead and one police officer in a coma. We were sad about the human cost of the celebration and chalked up our inconveniences to local color and quickly moved on to happier memories.
No Paris trip is complete without a little shopping, and our granddaughter made sure to find some treasures to bring home. Throughout the week, we reveled in the simple pleasures: sharing meals, discovering new places, and seeing Paris through the eyes of our grandchildren.
Traveling with teenagers in Paris was a delight. Their curiosity and enthusiasm were infectious, and we loved watching them experience Europe for the first time. Despite a few bumps along the way, the trip was a resounding success, filled with laughter, learning, and a few croissants too many. We’ll remember this adventure fondly and look forward to our next family journey, wherever it may take us.
Our grandchildren and us took many pictures in Paris. You can see our shared album here. I did not include pictures of the grandchildren out of respect for their privacy. Info on past travels here.
In this section, I share what I am up to, pictures of the week, what is new in AI and crypto, and more.
On June 9th I will be speaking at a small private investor group about crypto.
On June 17, I will be speaking at the Danbury, CT Library at 6 PM. Sign up here.
On June 18, I will be speaking via Zoom to the Economic Round Table of San Francisco at 11 AM. If this is something you are interested in, let me know. I am sure I can get a visitor link.
I love to read books. All the books I have written and the books I have read are in my Goodreads profile. Feel free to view it here.
I finished reading Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin: A Novel. It was a complex novel. I gave it a 4-star on Goodreads.
Next I started reading Polostan: Volume One of Bomb Light. It was billed as a riveting historical epic of international espionage, intrigue, and the dawn of the atomic age. It is by bestselling author Neal Stephenson. I have read some of his other books, but this one was over the top. At 30% complete, I ditched it.
Now I am reading Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything by Michio Kaku. So far, this book is excellent. Was planning to finish it on flight to Paris, but it did not happen. Hopefully by next week..
Our grandchildren and us took many pictures in Paris. You can see a sample of our shared album here. I did not include pictures of the grandchildren out of respect for their privacy. If you are seriously interested in Paris photos, you can visit Unsplash’s Paris photo gallery, which features hundreds of high-quality images of iconic landmarks and neighborhoods. The pictures are here.
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