Off On Another Adventure – First Stop Paris

All packed and ready to start our 20 day adventure across the pond. We began with a Lyft ride to Miami airport. Our driver was a nice young man who was fascinated by travel and hopes to do a bit himself. I use Lyft because my card gives me 5X points per dollar spent and I love my points. It’s part of the reason we are able to travel as much as we do.

We arrived at Miami airport with three hours to kill. My Platinum American Express card gives me access to a lot of lounges with Priority Pass and Turkish Air Lounge was right near our gate. So we settled in with cappuccino, sandwiches, cookies and fruit to wait.

We are flying Air Canada premium economy. Our first flight was to Montreal. We are flying Air Canada because I opened an Air Canada Credit Card that gave me two tickets after I met the minimum spend. So our flight cost us $14.40 for two, the amount for taxes.

Montreal was a very quick layover. We had to go through a mini customs and then found our way to The National Bank Lounge, which is also part of priority pass. We had a quick bite of cookies, soup and pasta, then headed to our gate.

We have premium economy seats to Paris and they are as nice as the seats in first class domestic on Delta and American. We were given a little kit which included a toothbrush and toothpaste, socks, eye mask and ear plugs. We also had bottled water and headphones.

We arrived at 7:45 am with very little sleep but excited to be in the City of Lights. Our hotel set up a car service and our driver was waiting for us at the exit. All went very smoothly. We arrived at the Hotel Bel Ami at around 10 am and they had our room ready. I booked this through my American Express Platinum card which offers a $200 discount on Fine Hotels. I also was upgraded to a deluxe room with a $100 voucher for food or spa services.

After checking in, we went out for breakfast. We stopped at a little outdoor cafe and had coffee and fruit tart. The fruit tart was more like an apple cake with a little chocolate swirled through it. It wasn’t what we expected but it was delicious.

It was fun to sit and watch people as we enjoyed our breakfast.

We returned to the hotel and took a long nap. It was much needed as we were planning to walk many miles to the Eiffel Tower. Our stroll took us along the Seine River.

It was a beautiful fall day and many people were out and about enjoying the sunshine.

Tour boats and barges were going up and down the river.

We stopped for a cappuccino and tea on a boat cafe!

After a two mile walk and then some, we finally saw the Eiffel Tower.

We could not get tickets to go to the top, so we were satisfied to see it from the outside.

I wanted to see it lit up at night, so Bruce and I ate at a little cafe right by the Eiffel Tower.

I had a goat cheese and tomato quiche and Bruce had an omelette. Very tasty.

For approximately 20 minutes, the tower sparkled with little lights and then became fully lit.

It was an amazing first day in Paris!

#paris #eiffeltower #hotelbelami #aircanada #prioritypass