The last day of our French road trip, at least with me in it, began as many of our days have done so far, with a wine tasting. However, after Chateauneuf du Pape, we now all have an air of snobbery at tasting wine that is not nearly as exquisite.
After tasting, we then made our merry way across vineyards to the train station to drop off "Robert" at Hertz. The trip was not as simple as it sounds. Due to diversions we ended up having to circle the streets of Avignon. When we finally got to the TGV station, there were no signs or directions leading to Hertz. We eventually rang them up, only to find out that we had to get a ticket to enter the parking zone, in order to get to their office. Well Avignon TGV Station, I think better road signs are in order. We are not psychic you know!
Lunch was more alcohol, bubbly champagne, 2 bottles to be exact. One whilst we waited for the train and one for the road, with plastic glasses. Very classy.
The train journey was a bit of a blur, pretty much because all 3 of us slept through it, the effects of the Champs I guess. But before you knew it we were back in Paris. With it being our last night together, we decided to get all dolled up and to go somewhere fancy.
Ruth chose the place; Hotel Athena, which we got to by taxi. The ride was relatively pleasant as we got to see some of the sites, but we also got to see some crazy Parisians.
In particular, there was one lady who was walking down the middle of the road and staring directly at our taxi. As she approached the car in a drunken stagger, she had this look of pure hate and started attacking the car, hitting the side view mirror. At this point I had a death grip on the door handle to make sure that she didn't try to get in... She didn't.
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Hotel Athena, but the place was stunning and definitely a glimpse of how the other half live. As we entered the hotel, there was an entourage of 5 or 6 people standing at the door, who were happy to show us to the bar and to make a dinner reservation for us. Although I have to say, had we not been dressed for the occasion, I am sure we would have had an alternate scenario of being shown the door.
The bar was lovely, very pristine and full of men in suits and cute bar men. It has become a theme of this trip. Here we had cocktails. I had a twist to my fav cocktail, Mojito, which was made up with Champagne. Yum.
Dinner was in the garden and was a three course meal that yet again reminded us that the French sure know how to cook.
After the meal, we then walked off our dinner with a stroll along the Champs Elysees and Rue Montaigne. Personally I think this was a dry run for Mer on the shopping route Ruth had planned out for Friday. We passed every designer you could possibly think of; Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Louis V. The list was endless. It also seemed that the route was marked by starting with the Eiffel Tower and ending with the Arch de Triumph. I think the purse strings will be crying come Friday night.
Au Revoir Paris.
x
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