Day 2 - Welcome to Ljubljana!

 Sunday 3/27. Paris to Ljubljana

Between the time change and the big dinner, I woke up for a while after midnight. But back to sleep, until 7:30.  The view from our window was beautiful. Sunrise over the rooftops of Paris!

Then we got up and spent a pleasant hour strolling Le Quartier Latin. We started out in Luxembourg Gardens. No crowds and nice lighting.

La Sorbonne in the Distance, in the early morning light. A pleasant walk!

Saint-Sulpice Church. It sure wasn't this empty last time we were here.

Another empty street in the Latin Quarter. All this walking is making me hungry!

Back to our hotel for a nice breakfast. Then a shower and off to the airport. We again had the cheap fare on the RER, because of the initiative to reduce pollution (we had bought a second pair of tickets yesterday). And we managed to find a fairly direct train that only made a few stops.

Found business class check-in and checked our two rollaboard cases for convenience. We were through security fairly quickly at 2F. We had time to explore the fairly new AF lounge at 2F which was very nice, but crowded. 

Off to our gate and we were ready to board. Of course it was a bus ride to the plane.

Boarded on time, and wheels up at 1309. Shrimp for lunch with champagne and wine too!

Beautiful views of the Alps as we flew over Austria and Italy. Here is a shot near the border between Austria and Slovenia.

Touched down at 14:40. Luggage was not too slow, and we met our A&K guide. From the airport, a leisurely drive to our hotel, about 25 minutes. There's a big EU delegation here so security is tight, and some of the roads are closed in front of the hotel. 

While we checked in, our guide made us a dinner reservation for tonight. Apparently it's restaurant week so some places are serving special 3-course menus. Sounds delicious!

We set out to explore Ljubljana. Just down the street from our hotel, the Triple Bridge. It's hard to get a picture that shows all three bridges though. The two side bridges are hidden here because they're at an angle.

We have never been here in person but we've done some virtual walks through the city before. So we knew that we had to go see the Dragon Bridge.

You couldn't ask for a nicer day for sightseeing!

Close up of one of the four dragons guarding the bridge. 

Back towards the Triple Bridge and on the opposite bank, the Franciscan Church.

We walked in the opposite direction. The view looking back was just as good.

Like everywhere else in Europe, there was a Roman settlement here. This statue is in front of what was the wall of the Roman City of Emona.

Back down to the river. Ljubljana Castle sat high above us. We should visit there tomorrow! I hope that this beautiful weather holds.

Time to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had a reservation at a restaurant on the southern edge of town. It would be a 15-minute walk from our hotel. 

We got ready for dinner and set out for an evening stroll along the river. The castle looked even nicer in the evening light.

Manna Restaurant was right where we had it marked on Google Maps, and they had our table waiting. As it was restaurant week, the choices were a fish menu or a meat menu. We went for the meat! Luckily Chris can use her fluency in Ukrainian to read a decent amount of other Slavic languages, so she figured out most of the menu before I could type it into Google Translate.

The first course was hazelnut puree along with homemade butter and roasted garlic, served on delicious bread. 

Then we feasted on smoked slices of duck breast served with čemaž (wild garlic), apricot jelly, and ponzu sauce.

The third course was a pork terrine. It was made from a specific Slovenian breed of heirloom pork, the Krškopolje pig. And served with asparagus salad and citrus chutney. Very good.

The main course was more pork. This was pork cheeks served with confit potatoes, dandelion greens, and kohlrabi. Tender and flavorful. The bitterness in the dandelion greens contrasted well with the fatty pork.

We enjoyed it all with a Slovenian red blend. No dessert after all of that delicious food. We were glad that there was some walking to do, so we could burn a few calories!

Now the nighttime riverside walk back to the hotel. Luckily, there were beautiful vantage points along the river, where the lighting made for great pictures. This is the Cobbler's Bridge.

The Franciscan Church and the Triple Bridge. Or at least one of the three. The reflections in the river were fantastic. Lots of photo stops along the way.

A nice surprise awaited us back in the room. I guess we are having dessert after all! Even though my birthday was yesterday, we'll happily celebrate again.

Day 1 - Birthday Layover in Paris

 Day 1 - My Birthday in Paris!

Saturday 3/26

We landed a bit after 1PM, which was ahead of schedule! It was a bit of a long taxi to the gate but still made it out before our scheduled arrival time. We had deplaned fairly close to passport control and the line was pretty short so no delays there. 

There was a decent walk to the RER but got our cheap tickets and we were off. This entire weekend, they are selling all-day passes on the entire transportation system for €1.90 each! The purpose of this was to reduce pollution in the city and encourage people not to drive. A real bargain for us as the usual price for a one-way ticket from CDG to Paris is over €10 per person.

We took the RER directly to St-Michel Notre Dame and walked a block to our hotel. This was a new hotel and location for us - we were at the Hôtel Europe Saint-Séverin, a block from the Left Bank, in the Latin Quarter. We arrived a few minutes before 3PM. There was a short wait for the room but they were ready for us quickly. 

Now the fun part...the hotel's elevator is broken so we had to climb 6 flights to our room! We managed, despite having tired legs. Thankfully, they insisted on carrying our bags for us.

The room was on two levels, with a loft for sleeping, and a living room down below. Very nice!

After a shower and change of clothes, we headed outside to enjoy the beautiful sunny afternoon. The weather was spectacular!

We crossed Pont Saint-Michel and headed directly for Notre-Dame. We had not seen it since before the fire. Except for the fencing and crane, things look familiar from this angle.

We skirted around the cathedral to the other side. Here you can see some of the construction work going on to repair the roof. No small task.

We crossed over Pont Saint-Louis and over a little bit of Île Saint-Loius, heading towards Le Marais.

A pleasant hour walking around Le Marais. Cool architecture. Here is the National Archives, from the gardens at their front entrance. 

Chris knew where to find some old medieval houses. Here are some examples dating back to the early 1400s.

We slowly wandered back to the hotel, stopping for pictures along the way. Many familiar places. But what a gorgeous day!

Here the crowds soak up the sun in Place du Châtelet.

Back to the room for a snack and coffee before dinner. The hotel had thoughtfully provided a six-pack of macarons in the room. They really hit the spot!

Dinner at La Grange aux Canards was delicious. We started with an Armagnac and Champagne aperitif. I really liked this print on the wall. True to the cartoon - duck was definitely on the menu! 

We shared a big plate of escargot for an appetizer,.

Then we had duck breast stuffed with foie gras, and cassoulet, for mains. A bottle of malbec from southwest France went well with the mains. No dessert needed!

As we walked home, we passed by the Church of Saint-Séverin.

Back to the room for a hot tub and sleep. Tomorrow we fly to Ljubljana!

Day 0 - Leaving for Europe in Covid Times

 Friday, March 25, 2022.

Leaving for Europe in Covid Times.

We had a nice late flight out of Albany at 7:14PM, so we could work the whole day. Once we got home, we assembled our bags and were ready to go. An Uber to the airport and we were through security within minutes as we were all carry-on.

We had uploaded our Covid vaccine cards to Delta's FlyReady service and we had the green check mark on our boarding passes so we should be all set. As we waited near our gate we heard our names paged overhead, to report to the gate. Uh-oh, now what?

The agent at the gate proceeded to scold us for not checking in first at the counters before security. She said that they needed to scan our passports and check our vaccine records. Odd, because at our last international trip in November, we waited at the counter to make sure and they said that we didn't need to... What's the point of the FlyReady service if they need to check anyway?

Then she asked for our attestation form - which we didn't need for France. After we explained the requirements to her (as in, no, we don't need this), she relented and all was good, but it was a bit disappointing to be treated like naughty schoolchildren. This isn't our first international trip. And I've spent the past few weeks studying the requirements very carefully! But of course I understand that Covid has made everyone stressed and the regulations are a bit confusing.

An uneventful flight to Atlanta, where we arrived early. But despite that, all of the Delta SkyClubs in Terminal E and F were closing down at 10PM! Better for us, as we have dinner waiting on the plane. So we waited near the gate for our flight to board at 11:00. Soon we were seated and pushing back, on track for an early arrival in Paris!

Dinner was tasty even though it was after midnight. The entree was a nice short rib, served with generous pours of Rioja. We settled in and watched some movies, napped a bit, then woke up in time for breakfast.

As we flew over Land's End, we were still on track for an early arrival. Extra time in Paris sounds great to us!