Joyuex Noel
Le Tren Blue
Where do I start? Perhaps at the begining of the tour on Christmas Day... we gathered at our hotel to meet our Rick Steve’s tour guide, Rolinka Bloeming and the other tour travellers. We start the tour with an evening bus ride around Paris. It was a great introduction to the city and offered us a chance to see all of the Holiday lights as well as get our city bearings. Truly a magical start to the trip.
After the bus tour, we took our first metro ride (to get acquainted with the ins and outs of the Paris Metro) and headed out to our first group dinner at the legendary restaurant, Le Tren Blue. What a treat… this restaurant is located in the Gare du Nord train station and is an unbelieveable sight. It has 41 paintings depicting scenes from the 1900s and is a one-of-a-kind experience. (Note, one of the things I love about taking a Rick Steves’ tour is they do the legwork for you. Rolinka had our Paris Metro Pass (called a “navigo”) and our Museum Passes ready for us. No running around wasting time trying to determine where to buy the passes… definitely a tour advantage.)
Day 1 comes to an end with a metro ride back to the hotel and 24 happy travellers having celebrated Christmas Day in Paris!
After the bus tour, we took our first metro ride (to get acquainted with the ins and outs of the Paris Metro) and headed out to our first group dinner at the legendary restaurant, Le Tren Blue. What a treat… this restaurant is located in the Gare du Nord train station and is an unbelieveable sight. It has 41 paintings depicting scenes from the 1900s and is a one-of-a-kind experience. (Note, one of the things I love about taking a Rick Steves’ tour is they do the legwork for you. Rolinka had our Paris Metro Pass (called a “navigo”) and our Museum Passes ready for us. No running around wasting time trying to determine where to buy the passes… definitely a tour advantage.)
Day 1 comes to an end with a metro ride back to the hotel and 24 happy travellers having celebrated Christmas Day in Paris!