(This is part of a summer trip report using miles and points to fly first class on Emirates from JFK to Dubai/Paris, costing $41 and 100K Alaska miles; the cost of these flights would have been $23,914! I pinch myself to think I got such an unbelievable value for my miles!)

This blog post is about my visit to Paris last summer, and I want to express my grief at the events in that most wonderful of cities. It saddens and sickens me to think about what took place there, but I firmly believe Parisians are resilient and will persevere, even in the face of such depravity. And as for traveling, I like what Wendy Perrin said in her blog, “According to the U.S. State Department, the number of U.S. citizens killed overseas by incidents of terrorism from 2001 to 2013 was 350. If you’re thinking home is safer, compare that number with the 3,030 killed in the U.S. by terrorism during the same period. In terms of street crime and gun violence, most of the U.S. cities we live in are statistically more dangerous than the places we visit abroad. Your risk of being killed in a car crash (one in 19,000), drowning in your bathtub (one in 800,000), or being struck by lightning (one in 5.5 million) far exceed your risk of dying from terrorism (one in 20 million).” Always be cautious, do what’s best for you, but don’t let fear control your travel plans.

We flew Emirates business class as part of our one way ticket, with a two day stopover in Dubai. Our first class flight crew put it in our records that this was a birthday celebration trip and we were presented with a cake! Here’s some photos of the business class lounge in Emirates and the flight…

 

 

We were able to use our two free nights (two free nights anywhere in the world with the Hyatt credit card) and stay at the Hyatt Paris Vendome, with its fantastic breakfast buffet. What a treat when we found out we had been upgraded. It was a quiet room, even in the midst of the city and had my favorite shower of all time and the very BEST amenities of the trip!

 

Since we had been to Paris before, we decided we wanted to eat and shop, not see the sights. Of course, you can’t miss seeing one of the most iconic sights in the world ~ the Eiffel Tower!

 

One of our must eat places was Angelina’s – with hot chocolate like you’ve never had before, with real whipped cream! There is usually a line, but we got in fairly quickly. And our next stop (remember this is about food) was the best place in Paris for macarons, Laduree. To me, they were just OK…

 

My friend had told me about a great little shop, so we set out to find it. It was wonderful, everything in the store was hand-designed and hand-made by a local Parisian artist. We bought handbags made from leftover Hermes leather and a very Parisian looking red and white striped dress! And these walls are in the metro…

 

And the food – we ate at a Parisian restaurant and my food was delicious, here are some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some scenes on our many walks…check out the line to enter Louis Vuitton store! 

Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends! Next up, Prague…