We docked this morning in the lovely town of Honfleur.

I didn’t get to see Honfleur except through the bus window because what I really wanted to see was Paris. And Paris is three hours from Honfleur so it was another day of seeing the beautiful French countryside. Dale didn’t go so I tagged along with friends and we had a great adventure if not exactly what I had envisioned.

The countryside was beautiful in its very green Springtime splendor and the thousands of balls of mistletoe in the trees added a Dr Suess-like look.

We arrived in Paris at the Arc de Triomphe and proceeded a short way down the broad Champs Elysees before seeing that it was blocked off, causing a major traffic problem.

Xi Jinping was due to arrive later today and the city was preparing. So we had to change our plans in deference to his! We turned around and hurriedly made alternate plans for drop off and pick up as this was to be an independent tour of the city.

My friends and I opted to have lunch first and we had French onion soup which was different and not as good as most I have had in the US. The soup alone was about $14 plus additional for the water and the french fries bringing my total to $30. I’m very glad I was not staying for a week!

We left the very cramped cafe and headed toward the Eiffel Tower. Every person, map or app we consulted gave a different distance but we persevered in that direction. The problem was that the streets were blocked off and we had to continually adjust our route, but we did get to see the real Paris, where the people live and work, with not a single souvenir shop in sight.

We finally made it to the Seine and a view across to the Eiffel Tower but by then we had to turn around as time was getting away from us.

The protestors and the well-wishers were both in evidence and the crowds (not very big ones to be honest) were gathering by the time we walked back the way we came. But we could not proceed. The police had now blocked every route in the direction that we needed to go and we feared we would not make it back in time but fortunately the motorcade arrived ten minutes later and after it whisked past us with a good portion of the city’s police force as escort the barricades came down immediately.

We made it back to the bus with minutes to spare. I didn’t see the Paris that I expected to see but I’m glad I got to see what I did. It was a good day.