My first two days in Germany had gone extremely well and I head toward both the BMW Museum in Munich as well as the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.  And I had a delightful time, sightseeing and shopping in Munich’s Marienplatz.  But So far the trip was reliving fond memories as I have been to both Munich and Stuttgart before.  Now it was time to start the exploratory part of the trip and head to Paris, which is a city that I had never before visited.  I’d be taking regional train from Stuttgart to city called Karlshue where I needed to transfer to an ICE train to Paris:

So far, I’d not had any difficulties traveling by train, but this leg of the trip allowed just 14 minutes to transfer trains in Karlshue.  And as luck would have it my train arriving into Karlshue was seven minutes late, which meant that I had just seven minutes to get from one train to the other.  Fortunately, I’d befriended a very nice young Greek gentleman who had been to this transfer station many times and knew exactly where I needed to go.  He gave me some very helpful guidance.  As a token of my appreciation, I gave him a one dollar bill I had in my wallet and he said he had never held a one dollar bill before and was very appreciative to receive an example of US currency.  Once we arrived, I made a mad dash to the platform where I had to board my train to Paris.  Fortunately, that train was a few minutes late getting in or I would never have made it.  But made it I did, and soon we were off to Paris.

As we left Germany and entered France I began to notice this bright yellow crop called rapeseed, also known as canola in North America:

Soon we pulled into Paris’s Gare de l’Est station:

I grabbed a taxi and headed to my hotel.  I was able to book almost all of the hotel rooms I stayed in on this trip using Marriott points.  The hotel I stayed in during my stays in both Stuttgart and Paris was a Marriott hotel brand I was unfamiliar with but apparently is very much a growing brand for Marriott – The Moxy.  The rooms are quite small but they have everything I needed – a clean, comfortable bed, a good hot shower, and…air conditioning!   Both Moxy hotels I stayed in were in great locations with great prices, but I doubt I would stay in one again – particularly if my wife was with me.

Once I dropped off my luggage, I was ready for some lunch.  Fortunately there was a nice little cafe across the street from the hotel:

The special of the day was the veal:

After lunch I did what every first time visitor to Paris does, and made a bee line for the Eiffel Tower:

We were just a few months past the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and the Olympic Rings were just about 100 yards in front of the Eiffel Tower:

I of course took countless photos of the Eiffel Tower.  It’s hard to pick just one or two.

After some photo taking I had one of the best sundaes I’ve ever eaten at this cafe just a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower:

Over the next couple of days I covered a lot of ground in Paris and took a couple of tours.

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre:

I’m about to ruin the movie JOHN WICK 4 so consider yourself warned…  Toward the end of the movie, John Wick has to fight his way up the 292 steps which lead to Sacré-Cœur.  Here is the same stairway where this sequence was filmed:

However, to the immediate right of the stairway are some very pleasant transport cars for reaching Sacré-Cœur:

I did get some photos inside of Sacré-Cœur – it was breathtakingly beautiful:

Saint-Pierre de Montmartre is right behind Sacré-Cœur and is the 2nd oldest church in Paris:

It’s obviously smaller than Sacré-Cœur but no less sacred to religious community in Paris:

Just a short stroll from Sacré-Cœur is the Place du Tertre in the Montmartre district of Paris.  The square is packed with local artists painting, sketching, and selling their work—some even offering live portrait sessions:

The Moulin Rouge is also fairly close by:

On to the Arc de Triomphe:

 

No visit to Paris is complete without seeing the Louvre:

 

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel:

I also visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral:

A devastating fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris occurred on April 15, 2019.  The French government committed to rebuilding it, and President-elect Donald Trump attended the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on December 7, 2024.  But what many outside of Paris don’t know is that, as of May 2025, the restoration of Notre-Dame is not complete, which is not common knowledge outside of Paris.  If you walk around to the back side of the cathedral, you’ll see plenty of scaffolding:

It’s taking a while…but keep in mind it originally took 182 years to complete Notre-Dame.

I’m often asked about the food that I ate while in Paris.  The older I get the more I appreciate a good breakfast.  I have to say one of the best breakfast of the entire trip happened when I sit out early one morning to try to find a “locals” café for breakfast and I succeeded:

of course, I had to order a croissant, And I got a ham and cheese quiche to go with it.  Two words: life. Changing.  They were both so unbelievably fresh.  Even the orange juice that I got was freshly squeezed that morning at the café.

for dinner one evening, I discovered this lovely Latin inspired Café:

I got some quesadillas and plantains, which were quite good:

The tour guide on one of the tours that I took had a stop at a hole in the wall bakery that was absolutely fabulous.  I asked him what he recommended and he suggested I try what he was having which was a “drop.”  it was sort of a custard, filled chocolate pastry that was served warm and lived up to the recommendation – so much so that I forgot to snap a picture before I scarfed it down.  But they also did an amazing chocolate mousse which I had to try:

Here’s a food tip that I was given by one of the tour guides:  The restaurants in cafés in Paris, that have elaborate, beautiful flower displays on the front of their buildings serve the worst food.  At one point during the trip, I had scouted out a meet up location for the photographer that I had hired to take me on a photography tour and had some time to kill before our tour was to start.  I looked around for a café where I could get a snack while I waited and nothing caught my eye, but sure enough there was one of the larger restaurants with an elaborate flower display on the front of the building and I decided to test the advice I had been given.  I ordered an appetizer of calamari.  I asked for marinara to go with it, and the waiter looked at me as though I had two heads.  They only had a tartar sauce based dip to go with it, and it was the worst fried calamari that I have ever had.  I then ordered a banana split and even that was disappointing:

Lesson learned.

Obviously I took a lot of photos.  But my best photos of Paris were taken at night.  I hired a local photographer to take me to the optimal spots in Paris to get the best shots:

looking back I’m extremely pleased with the time, although short, that I spent in Paris.  Not only did I get to see in photograph all of the major tourist attractions, But I got to see the “real“ Paris as well.  Looking back, I can’t believe how much ground I covered.  But I was able to do so only because I made good use of the Paris metro system.  As Americans, we don’t often use underground rail transport.  But unless you want to spend your entire vacation being stuck in traffic, I highly recommend that you do so.

I had an absolutely fantastic time in Paris.  But soon, it was time to take the famous Eurostar train to the final leg of my #2025europeantour – London baby!