The trip from Chenonceau to Paris was fine until we reached the perimeter road around the city and then things got ugly.  We stopped at a rest stop and some friendly counter workers did their best to talk us the rest of the way in.  Eventually we got close enough to the city that I was able to pin down our location on the many maps I had of Paris and work our way to our hotel, Residence Hotel Henri 4 in the Latin Quarter.

     After checking in and bringing our bags up we went through the agonizing process of finding the Avis office at the Austerlitz train station to return our car.  But, as we are trying to wipe that event from our memory, let’s skip to talking about our hotel.

     Our room on the 5th floor was reached by a tiny elevator or a many staired spiral staircase.  The door opened into a pretty room with a couch that converted into a double bed and a small table with chairs.  A second bedroom opened off that one with 2 beds for the kids.  The bathroom was spacious and a tiny “kitchen” with 2 burners, a microwave, sink and little frig was built into the wall in the hallway.  Both rooms had tall French doors with a little balcony.

The first morning we ate breakfast in the basement breakfast room but after that we either brought bread and juice in the morning to eat in the room or went to a nearby boulangerie and ate as we walked to our destination for the day.  One of our bike tour guides told us about the Saint Michel area – we might not have come across it if he hadn’t.  It was full of people, restaurants, souvenir shops – lots to see and places to eat, which we did several nights.

Here is Michael A.K.A. Saint Michel, trampling Satan.