Paris May 2013
I know this is ridiculously long. It's mainly so I can remember
the biggest trip of our lifetime. It has
turned into a book.
May 19 - Sunday -
Check in, Orientation
May 20 - Monday - Saint Eustache
May 21 - Tuesday -
Palais Royal, Arcades,
May 22 - Wednesday - Tuileries,
l'Orangerie, Notre Dame, Deportation Memorial, Left Bank, Sainte
Chappel
May 23 - Thursday - Louvre, d'Orsay,
Dinner at L'Epi D'or
May 24 - Friday - Pompadau Center, Duck
l'Orange dinner,
May 25 - Saturday - Versailles
May 26 - Sunday - Cluny museum,
Montparnasse tower, Louvre walk
May 27 - Monday - Arc de Triomphe, Champs
Elysees, Place du Concorde, Madelieine church, Rue Cler, Le
Fumoir
May 28 - Tuesday - Eiffel Tower, Napoleon's
Tomb, Bon Marche department store, Dinner at "La Petite Mâchon"
May 29 - Wednesday - Rue Montogrueil,
Pere-Lachaise cemetary, Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur Basilica, Seine
walk
May 30 - Thursday - Saint Eustache,
Catacombs, Jacques Machelle
May 31 - Friday - Left Paris, Reykjavik,
Seattle
June 1 - Saturday - Flew to San Jose,
taxi home
Comments - And more
Sunday May 19th the first of our 12 nights
in Paris.
We arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2. We had paid
quite a bit, €75, for a driver to pick us up. The problem was
the office where we would normally pickup the keys to the
apartment was not open on Sunday so getting the keys appeared to
be a complex problem. The baggage thing was apparently broken or
had a problem because our luggage took at least 30 minutes to
show up. We went out to the lobby and found our pick up guy. He
was very nice but in a big rush. When we went to checkout of the
parking area apparently there was a problem. I'm guessing he was
in the short term parking too long. It took about twenty minutes
before we got out of that mess.
We zipped into Paris (movie) in about
30 minutes. He didn't seem to know what to do to get the key.
After a phone call and looking at Deb's paperwork he found the
place with the key. Then he took us to our place. It's on a one
lane street with no parking. We jumped out and got the bags out.
He drove off to park illegally someplace and came back to show
us how things work. There is a sort of combination thing to get
into the building. Our place is on the second floor (third floor
in America) and there is a tiny elevator. We put the bags in, I
rode up with them while he and Debbie dashed up the spiral
staircase. It took a couple minutes to identify our place. Here is the entryway inside.
The key worked but when we entered some ladies were
there cleaning the place. Darn. We left our stuff and went out
to kill some time. We are located in the first Arrondissement at
5 Jean-Jacques Rousseau a half a block from the Louvre and a
block from Rue du Pont Nuef.
We nipped over to a small Pizza
place up and across the street. We
were greeted by a friendly nice waiter. We joked around a bit
and ordered a bottle of vin rouge and a pizza with Parma ham to
split. We had a great time. Seeing everything is closed on
Sunday we asked about where we could buy some wine and possibly
groceries for tonight. He said there was a wine market near
Notre Dame and we could walk there (?!). I looked at the map and
sure enough it looked pretty close - only an inch or two. We
hiked out and got our first look at the back of the Louvre, along the Seine (movie) river, across
the Pont au Change onto the Ile de la Cite. Amazing. We found a bird market and a
flower market but no wine market. Deb
bought some flowers. We had a pretty good view of Notre Dame. It began to rain
and as we walked it rained harder. We crossed over to the Rive
Gauche (left bank) and walked along the river then crossed back
on the Pont Neuf (New Bridge built in 1607 the oldest bridge in
Paris). We stopped at a little place
the "Café Musée" at the corner of Rue de Rivoli and Rue
du Louvre two streets that became very important to us. We had a
beer and wine and gawked at the
Louvre and the passing scene. The sky opened up and poured (movie). After an hour
or more we decided to get wet going home because our place was
very close. Unfortunately our bad map led us astray and after
wandering around in the rain we ended back at the Café Musée
again. Somebody there directed us to our place.
After sitting around and unpacking for a while we
decided to venture out and try to find some wine and food.
Seeing it's Sunday most things are closed. We hiked up Rue
Saint-Honore' a few blocks. We bought a couple sandwiches for dinner. While walking home we found a
tiny grocery store which had everything we needed. We bought
wine and bubbly drink plus probably a few other things. So off
to home for our first night. It was generally raining most of
the time.
Our place(extra)
is pretty spectacular. It's older with tall ceilings. Crown
molding everywhere and chandeliers in all rooms. It's down at
the end of a hallway. When you enter the door you are in a
hallway with a coat and umbrella thing on the right. There are
four doors off this hallway - bedroom on the left, shower next
left, toilet at the end and the living/kitchen area on the
right. Quite roomy. View (movie)
of leaving our apartment.
Entry is through a big door with a combination lock
where you type in the secret code. The entry hall leads to a
covered court area. To the right is the small elevator. Once on
the second floor (3rd at home) it's down a dark hallway, there
is a light to turn on. It looks like there have been some break
ins or attempts. Our door uses two keys and three locks. I
noticed others doing multiple locks.
Dinner, TV, cards and bed.
The TV here is a bit better then
Spain. More channels in English but still only news channels. Al
Jazeera was the best. We did watch a fair amount of local TV in
French. They even have a show that is a knock off of Gordon
Ramsey. This French chef goes to a place, tastes the food and
turns partially ill. He then talks to the waitress and later to
the owner. Of course there is friction and at the end of the
show the place is redone and the menu improved and everybody
lives happily ever after.
top
Monday May 20th.
Rain. We went across the street
and bought pastries and a couple cups of coffee to take out for
breakfast.
We went to pay our rent but could not find the
place. We did find a nice little shop like a fancy deli that
sells pre-made food, cheese, pastries and wine. Keep this in
mind. We found a small "supermarket" where we bought coffee,
wine and stuff. We went back to our place. I looked at the paper
describing the office we were supposed to go to and found we had
gone to the wrong address. Back out to pay our rent. We had
lunch and went back for a nap.
We then went out to wander around. There is
supposed to be a big market near us - Les Halles. Unfortunately
it is under construction and
everything there is totally disrupted. Next to it, however, is
Saint Eustache a classic large medieval Cathedral. The weather
was dark and gloomy so the cathedral was dark and gloomy but
really big. We walked around and noticed some nice pieces. (extras)
Back out on the street we found a German place for
a drink. We then hiked over to "Le Grandgousier" (extras one,two,three)and bought a cooked chicken,
crab on avocados, olives, potatoes
plus dessert for dinner. We went home and had dinner, watched some French TV, played
some gin and had some wine. To bed early.
Top
Tuesday May 21.
More pluie (rain). Went to the shop for some morning pastries.
We had bought coffee so I made rather good coffee for us.
Debs fashionably long pants were getting wet so we
decided to buy a new pair. About a block away we found a nice
clothing store where they helped her
find the perfect pants (€78). A nice European style.
Today I was looking for a large market under the Louvre. We
asked around but could not find it.
It was mentioned in a book about Paris Markets I had brought
along. We did find the "Louvre de Antiquaries" which was a fancy shopping center with mostly antiques. A little above our budget.
We found the Palais Royal. We hiked through it and into their
very nice garden. Unfortunately it
was mostly raining so the idyllic garden
with adults and children frolicking we found to be dank and
empty.
I was determined to find some nice shopping places.
We hiked out to try to find some arcades/galleries to explore.
The first one looked like part of a
university. The next one was rather disappointing. Debbie did
buy a scarf a one place. This seemed to be an Asian area with various ethnicities -
Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
We hiked back to our area for a pizza lunch. We've been adopted. Everybody
welcomed us and knew what we wanted. We explored the little gallery on our street - "Galerie Vero Dodat". It has several
nice upscale shops.
Deb bought some sox in a shoe repair
shop. Then home for a brief nap.
We decided to hike along the Quai of the Seine but
it was too cold and rainy. Darn. We
got some supplies and food for dinner later. We dropped in to
the Brasserie for happy hour. Then home, TV
news, dinner, cards and bed.
Top
Wednesday May 22.
I had done some research so found where the underground market
at the Louvre was located. Turns out it is under the Louvre. Deb says we bought our four
day Museum Cards for €52, cash only, at the tobach under the
Louvre. However rather then enter the Louvre we decided to walk through the Jardin des Tuileries or the Tuileries
Gardens. They are part of the Louvre
grounds. Amazingly large and beautiful. We entered the
l'Orangerie museum. They have two oval rooms each with six large
paintings done by Monet of his gardens at Giverny plus some
other art. Quite a nice museum. Lots of kids entering as we were
leaving. They activated our museum passes.
We decided to metro over to the Hotel de Ville
which is across from Notre Dame. We hiked around and hit an ATM.
We then had a nice lunch. Deb sat
next to a Parisian lady who
befriended her. She didn't know a word of English so she spoke
slower and louder so Deb could understand. Of course Deb
couldn't understand. The lady gave Deb a kiss at the end of
lunch. I had a croque madam - a croque
monsieur with an egg on top.
We hiked over and took our time looking at Notre
Dame. We entered and enjoyed walking through. Not very crowded.
I think we used the Rick Steves tour for this. (extras)We exited and
walked along the right side and viewed the flying buttresses and how it was constructed
including the tower and statues added in the 1800's remodel.
Behind Notre Dame at the very tip of Ile de la Cite
is the "Deportation Memorial" to French Jewish citizens who were deported to Nazi camps. Very moving.
There is a bridge here,
which we crossed to the "left bank", covered in padlocks with names and dates on them.
We then, using RS, walked around the left bank. We saw the
oldest tree in Paris, some of the
old twisty, narrow Medieval streets
and looked for the famous book store where Hemingway and others
borrowed books. We didn't find the bookstore. We stopped for
some wine and the toilet.
We crossed back over to the "Ile de la Cite" to
enter the "Sainte Chapelle"(link).
It was built by Louis IX (Saint Louis) in 1239-1248 to house the
original crown of thorns that was used on Christ at the
crucifixion. Louis paid €500K for the crown and €150K for the
chapel. The crown was damaged during the revolution and now
resides in Notre Dame and is displayed once a month. This chapel is noted for its walls of
stained glass windows. It is
spectacular with the sun on it - it was cloudy and gloomy when
we were there.
We nipped over next door to see the
"Conciergerie" where many people were held before being
guillotined including Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, Robespierre,
Danton and many others. Marie Antoinette had a particularly nice
cell. This
is an exercise area.
We then went home, bought food
at le Grandgousier, had a drink at
our bar (movie) then went home
to eat, watch TV, play gin and relax
before bed.
Top
Thursday May 23.
We had brought along head phones and players so we
could do Rick Steves Louvre tour. Of course the Louvre is art head quarters for the
world. We went directly to the Winged Victory of Samothrace
where we (and everybody else) started our tour. Unfortunately we
immediately drifted off course and walked way down to the other
end before we realized we were on the wrong floor. So back we
went and got the tour on track. Of course I can't say enough
good things. We took lots of pictures and marveled at a lot of
wonderful art. There were crowds at certain spots like the Mona
Lisa, the Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo. The painting of
Liberty bare breasted leading the people was not there!
Later we exited this part of the Louvre and went to
the Richelieu Wing to see some Dutch and German paintings which
we enjoy. An interesting experience seeing an area most people
don't see.
Back to our pizza place for lunch.
In order to get our money's worth we decided to go to the
d'Orsay(link) seeing
it stays open late tonight. We metroed and then hiked a couple
blocks. I noticed the train station under the d'Orsay.
Ironically the d'Orsay was originally a train station and still
looks like one. I was thinking we might go back again later.
We did, or tried to do, Rick Steves tour.
Unfortunately the place is under renovation so things were moved
around. The tour was confusing so it didn't go well. We saw lots
of stuff but couldn't seem to get the context. No pictures were
allowed but I don't think they were enforcing it. After spending
hours in the Louvre today we didn't do the best job on the
d'Orsay. Next time.(extras)
Tonight we are going to a nice dinner out. Paris is famed for
their fine restaurants so we decided to spend a few euros and
give it a try. I read reviews of local restaurants and
noticed one just up the street that looked good. L'Epi D'or. We
dropped in about 8pm with no reservation. Quite a nice little place - table cloths
and all. They set us near the door. We ordered the suggested wine and checked over the menu, which
of course we can't read and I forgot my menu translator book I'd
bought for this occasion. For starters or "entree" I had poached
eggs in sauce. It was spectacular!
Deb had Scallops. The waiter sort of
pressured us into getting the "leg of lamb". I'd suggested a
steak but that was poo pooed. So "leg of lamb" it is. Well, hmm,
turns out it was a lamb shank. We
had sides of mashed potatoes and green beans. I had some famous
dessert called something like a "bomb". It was like a cake covered with whipped cream then
you pour brandy over it. Not quite to my taste. Deb
couldn't eat her apple pie. The food
was very good but hardly worth the €130 we paid. Oh well.
I think we nipped into our little bar
for a drink before going home to
bed.
Top
Friday May 24th.
We had our morning pastry and Rob
posing.
The plan today is to hit the Pompidou Center(link).
A big modern art
museum. We metroed over and hiked in in the rain. It's an interesting building
with the various facilities on the outside
like heating and plumbing. The write-ups describe all the
activities going on in the courtyard but today there was nada,
nothing going on.
After riding escalators up and down and elevators
up and down we finally found the entry point for our tour. It
turns out to be an excellent museum
with a lot of world class art. (extras) As usual we saw
several groups of school children
learning about art. The presentation was clear and interesting
with explanations in English as well as French (thank you). We
seemed to be a bit tired. I continue to have problems with my
legs and hips.
Once again we had pizza for lunch
and hiked the "Gallerie vero-dodat" again.
We went to our fancy "grocery" and got duck l'Orange for dinner tonight. Between that some
fancy scalloped potatoes, cheese and dessert we spent like €50.
It'll last for a few days I'm sure. Dinner, cards and bed.
Top
Saturday May 25th.
Today is our day to go to Versailles
(link).
We took the metro to near the d'Orsay
then the C train out to Versailles a
rather long trip. The weather was
threatening. There were like hundreds of tour buses in a large
lot. The place looked very busy.
They made us check our umbrellas. We got in this really long
security line. After more then a half hour we got to the front.
No problem. We were in. We picked up
some free audio guides to use.
Louis XIV built Versailles to get away from the
noise and dirt of Paris. It is so huge that it wasn't unusual
for 5000 people to visit on a weekend plus their footmen and
various servants and friends.
We toured the palace. It was fantastic. We even saw
Louis XIV's formal and real beds. I can't say enough
superlatives. They had a second version of Napoleon being crowned.
The hall with the historic
battle paintings "Galerie des Batailles" was amazing. One
painting had George Washington.
The crowds were also pretty amazing. (extras)
The hall of mirrors was
astounding. (extras)
We were butt to butt the whole way through.
We then returned our audio guides and went out to
the gardens. Wow! Huge! It looks
like hundreds of acres of gardens and fountains plus a lake. You
start up on the hill where the palace is located and hike down
into the view you can see from above. At this moment our goal is
food and toilet. We found the outdoor restaurant and sat down.
It began to sprinkle. As we ordered our lunch the waiter opened
a cover over the tables. The sky fell but we didn't get wet. We
had a nice lunch in a forest setting.
After lunch we set the goal to go see the Petite
Trianon. Seeing San Jose has a building called the Petite
Trianon I had to see it. It was quite a long walk. We stopped to
see a colonnade area. Then on we walked near the lake and out to
the Petite Trianon. It looked sort
of like the SJ one but was totally different inside. I guess I
shouldn't be surprised seeing it was a small palace for Marie
Antoinette. (extras) There
was a €7.5 charge to enter.
We were pretty pooped and my legs were not doing
well. We hadn't gotten on the little train
that takes you around so it looked like we were going to hike
forever. But they did allow us to buy tickets so we trained back
up the hill. After looking around one last time we walked out to
the C train. There were many things that we missed. We must go
back someday.
On the way home we talked with a Canadian guy who
had had his back pack stolen in a train station someplace. Quite
a story. He lost a lot of stuff including his train tickets
which could not be replaced.
We went to our little bar
and asked if we could buy a glass to replace the one I had
broken. Nicholas gave us a glass.
We took out a pizza eat
in our apartment. I nipped over to
the pastry shop for a dessert. A grumpy lady was upset because
it was too close to closing time. I got us a couple nice pastries.
Top
Sunday May 26th.
The pastry shop is closed so we went
to the "Coup d' etat" for a coffee and croissant at €9 each.
Yikes.
Deb likes taking pictures of flowers. (extras)
Deb really wanted to see the Cluny museum. It's mostly medieval
art. They have this series of tapestry's showing the story of a
unicorn. There were a lot of interesting things in this museum.
I enjoy seeing the Madonnas. A fairly large collection of
jewelry and church objects. Also the heads that had been taken
from the statues on Notre Dame. A worthy museum. Unfortunately
the unicorn's were not on display. (extras)
I took us over to the Montparnasse tower
for the magnificent views of Paris. This thing sticks up above the
area and looks totally out of place. We paid our entry and took
the fast elevator up the 59 floors. We then hiked up to the roof
for the view. OMG what a view! You
could see forever and see everything.
We enjoyed identifying things from up there. Look at this cemetery. The roof was
surrounded by a glass wall so you
don't get blown too badly by the wind. It was just amazing!
When we went down we got a little confused trying
to find the metro and ended up hiking all over the place. Darn.
My hips are killing me.
We got back to our area and had lunch at "Indiana". Deb had two mini-burgers, I had a
hamburger. Good American style food. Turns out "Indiana" is a chain. (€44)
We walked home past "le
Grandgousier" - closed on Sunday. We
gawked at shops along the street.
We went home and ate left overs for dinner. It looked like there
was light out so we went out and found it sunny. Money money. We hiked around the Louvre as well as into the grounds. This was so much fun. Musicians were playing inside the walk ways which was
quite beautiful. We took pictures and
really enjoyed this little outing.
Top
Monday May 27th.
We took the metro to the Charles de Gaulle stop to view the "Arc de Triomphe". There was a long
line to go up inside of it but seeing we had already had a high
view of Paris we just skipped out and looked
it over. Amazingly larger then you might think. (extras)
We took the tunnel over and started our walk down
the famous "Avenue des Champs
Elysees" or Elysian fields avenue. The weather was nice, it
wasn't crowded but really not a lot to see. It was a street with
a lot of stores for shopping. Here is the worlds most profitable
McDonalds. Our goal is Place du Concorde, the largest square in
Paris. As we hiked we moved off into a parallel park that was quite nice to walk in. The park
was not overly attended to which made it seem like our park. At one point I must have set my
Rick Steves Paris book and map down and left it. I hiked back but couldn't find it. Our
entire Paris visit is pretty much based on this book. I'm very
upset to see it's gone.
We did make it to "Place de la Concorde"(link).
We took pictures. The streets were like a race track here. The
motorcycles in particular seemed to be racing each other. We saw
the fountains and the famous "obeliskque". Now the goal is the
"Eglise di La Madeleine" church. It looks like the Parthenon in
Athens. Many people sit on the steps and eat lunch here. There
were some elegant stores here plus Maxim's restaurant - guess we won't be eating
here.
After walking our legs off we finally found the
metro to go back to a shopping street recommend by Rick Steves -
Rue Cler. Unfortunately seeing it's
Monday not much is happening. We are quite hungry. Deb spotted a
place she wanted to stop at for lunch
- expensive. We had a nice carafe of wine, Deb had croque
monsieur, I had a hamburger with an egg
on top with frites. The hamburger was really high quality and
was surprisingly good. No dessert.
Quite expensive. We bought some very good chocolates and Deb bought some more flowers.
We went home but then
right out again because I read rave reviews of this bar "Le Fumoir" near us. We went there and it was really nice. Right
behind the Louvre near our metro stop (Louvre Rivoli). I ordered
some cheese along with our drinks, the olives are complimentary.
Apparently we stopped back by our little bar again before going home to eat and
try the chocolates. Yum.
Top
Tuesday May 28th.
Despite the rain today we are doing the Eiffel Tower(movie). We metroed as
close as we could then hiked to the Tower. There were houseboats along the Seine. The tower
is huge and magnificent even in the rain and gloom. Deb enjoyed
the merry-go-round(movie).
You just can't tell how big it is until you walk under it. We
had not made reservations and the lines were quite long so we
decided to not try to go up. Many tour buses here. (extras)
We wanted to hike to Napoleons tomb which is less then a mile away.
Unfortunately because of construction
it was a long slog through the rain and mud. We came up on it
from the back corner. I thought there was a back entrance but
couldn't see it so we hiked around to the front. We got in the ticket line. When
we got into the building some lady directed us to go out and
down to another door where there is another ticket line. We went
there but it was a zoo. I tried buying tickets from a ticket
machine and lost our place in line. I swear two tour buses must
have showed up. So between being half pissed off and tired we
left. At least we got a glimpse
inside a nice chapel here.
Originally this facility was a hospital for wounded soldiers.
Someplace I read that the dome over Napoleons tomb inspired the
dome over the capital building in Washington DC. Oh well.
Off we went to find Bon Marche, the first department store in the world and considered
quite elegant. When we got off the metro I noticed a place
mentioned in our tour book that would be good for lunch. I asked
the waiter standing out front where the Bon Marche was - he
pointed and there it was. We hiked over and entered. They had
free umbrella covers for us. We looked the store over from top
to bottom but never saw the ladies section, Deb was thinking
about buying some boots. Down stairs we found the huge complex
of L'Epicerie du monde. An amazing layout of foods from all over the world. I've
never seen anything like this in America. Lots of pre-made
dishes too. The wine and liquor
departments were beautifully laid
out and quite expensive. We didn't buy anything because it was
so overwhelming.
We hiked out to find our restaurant and metro stop.
I guess we took a wrong turn because we walked our feet off
trying to find it. Finally a policeman pointed us back in the
direction we had just come. Argggh. So back we went. We almost
went into a different place for lunch but I spotted the place I
was looking for across the street.
The same guy I had asked directions from seated us
right in the front window(movie).
Perfect. Deb had another croque
monsieur and I had beef burgeon. Wow
was that good! I make a pretty good beef burgeon but this was
way better. We enjoyed talking with the waiter who had been to
New York.
Later we went out for our second fancy meal out at "La Petite Mȃchon"
just around the corner from our
place. The reviews were good. The waiter suggested a wine. Deb started with avocado soup with a scoop of goat cheese
sorbet. I had slice of paté. My
dinner was the suggested veal. A
generous portion, nicely cooked with a tomato sauce over it. I'm
not big on tomato sauce. I thought I'd asked for the left overs
to go but I guess not. Once again I'd left my phrase book at
home. Darn. Another rather disappointing and expensive meal
(€100)
We nipped into our bar for a B&B
to share then home and bed.
Top
May 29 Wednesday.
I had read about this market street
near our place, close to Saint Eustache. The street is Rue
Montogrueil. We enjoyed looking at the shops. We bought some
bread and some foie gras and perhaps a few other things to eat
lunch at home. A nice outing. (extra)
We hopped on the metro stop Philppe Auguste and went to the big
Pere-Lachaise cemetary. It was drizzling. It was amazing. Acres
of old tombs and family chapels. Some graves were old and very
old and some were new. Apparently an active graveyard. We looked
at some famous graves but really
wanted to see the graves of Abalard
and Heloise. We have studied them
several times in our class. They were deeply in love when
Heloise's father had Abalard's testicles cut off. She joined a
convent where she was very successful as a leader. He continued
to make big intellectual contributions to the Sorbonne
(university).
We took pictures of grieving statues and some of
people as they were in life. (extras)
We wandered around here for a couple hours at
least(movie). We
stopped someplace for apparently a nice
lunch. (extra)
On to Montmartre up on the hill. We got off the metro at the
base of the hill below Sacre-Coeur Basilica.
There were crowds here. We could
have hiked around and gotten in the funicular line but decided
to walk up. First through a crowded street with hucksters every
few feet trying to get you to play their game. We finally
cleared that and started a serious hike up the hill. Quite nice. We took pictures
as we got higher and higher. At the top we went into the
Basilica and took a look around. We
admired the views of the city. We then hiked around and looked
at all the tourist activity going
on. It was uncomfortably crowded. Finally we hiked down and took
the metro home. Some of the longest metro rides we've ever
taken.
The weather had cleared some so we decided to walk along the
Seine. We took a good look at some old gothic building across
from the back of the Louvre. One seemed to be some government
bureau and the other the church of Eglise Saint-Germain
L'Auxerrois (or something). Quite an impressive church. I'm
surprised there are three Gothic cathedrals within easy walking
distance of each other.
We found a ramp that took us right
down to the river. A really nice
experience walking along here. We
saw a pair of ducks swimming along.
Some cops were having fun speeding up and down the river. We
watched the tour boats doing their thing.
We hiked back up and walked on the pedestrian bridge. The bridge had thousands of padlocks on it with names and dates.
Guys were selling locks on the bridge. There was a Japanese
dance group performing. (movie)Very
much fun.
We then passed back
through the Louvre on our way back
to our place. (movie)
Here is a nice picture of a building and church.
We had dinner at the pizza place. Looks like I had
a breaded veal cutlet, Deb had pizza
plus we had lemoncello. Pretty good
and not a bad price.
Here are a couple pictures of wine, corks
and flowers.
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Thursday May 30th.
Our last day. We hiked over to Saint Eustache again. On our
first visit we didn't understand how important this church was.
Louis XIV (14th) had his first communion here. There are
paintings by Rubens and a work by Keith Haring. Quite a large
and impressive cathedral. One of the largest I've ever been in.
We hiked to the the shopping street Rue Montogrueil
and picked up a few supplies.
The main goal today is to go see the catacombs(link).
We metroed over rather late in the day and found a long line. It closes it's door around 4:15
and wants everybody out by 5pm. We were told by a line monitor
that we might not make it. We did get in but no English audio
guides. The story is that in the 1700's people near Saint
Eustache were getting sick and dying. The problem was traced to
contamination from all the cemeteries around. So the solution
was to remove all the cemeteries and put the bones in abandoned
limestone mine shafts. It took a couple decades working at night
to do this. We hiked quite a long distance to finally get to the
bones. It was amazing! 6 to 7 million people are buried here.
Mostly you could see stacks of femurs with skulls artfully
placed among them. Behind this wall of leg bones were the other
bones. In some places the bones went back eighty feet. It went
on and on and on. Fantastic! Not particularly eerie but
interesting. I would have been very disappointed if I'd missed
this. (movie)
Back to our area and our last dinner at the pizza place. I had steak au Poivre (with pepper sauce)
and fries. Very tasty. Deb had her last Parma ham pizza. We finished with some
lemoncello. They generously poured us another glass. Lots of fun
kidding with the owner and the
bartender.
We nipped into our bar for one last goodbye. We met
Jacques-Machelle Ivonovich who tried to speak English with us or
was he trying to teach us French. He
was drinking some anise drink. We had a lot of fun with my
phrase book. We were all pretty toasted so we were pretty loud
for that little place. A good time was had by all. Home and to
bed.
Top
Friday May 31.
Previously we had hiked over to the office where we had paid our
rent and asked them to arrange a taxi for us. Thank goodness we
didn't schedule things for too early in the morning. We had our
usual pastry's for breakfast and leisurely packed. We were on
the street by 10am when the taxi arrived. He illegally parked
and loaded our bags and off we went. The traffic wasn't too bad.
We are there about three hours before our flight. I think he cut
the price a bit to make it exactly €60, plus I gave him a
€3 tip.
We stood in line and got checked in and had a lunch. Finally we boarded our
Icelandic Air plane and flew to Reykjavik. We sat around there
for an hour or two then flew to Seattle. We got on the plane at 5:30 in the afternoon and
arrived in Seattle at 5:30 in the afternoon. We took the hotel
shuttle to our hotel, checked in, ate (a real American
hamburger) and went to bed. Finally some English speaking TV
that isn't all news.
Top
Saturday June 1st.
We took the shuttle back to the airport and flew to San Jose.
The taxi home was hot and miserable. His air conditioning didn't
work or he was enjoying the 90 degree heat. ($50 to get home)
Comments -
Some extra pictures that I
liked.
We took several books that I recommend -
- Rick Steves' Pocket Paris
The Paris visit was based on this book. Excellent
- Rick Steves' Paris
2013 Kindle edition
Not very handy on the Kindle but still useful.
- Rick Steves' French
Phrase Book & Dictionary
A MUST have. Just point at the phrase.
- The Marling Menu-Master for France
Recommended by Rick and everybody else. It looks
great but we kept forgetting to take it along.
- Markets of Paris
I found this nearly useless. There needed to be a
map. Some descriptions were not clear.
- An Hour From Paris
A wonderful read and a great idea but between the
weather and time we never went to any of them.
- Quiet Corners of Paris
Did not use this book. Well maybe we took a couple
suggestions from it.
We didn't speak enough French with the locals. But we did get
good with the simple phrases and pointing at our phrase book.
For some reason Deb's movies did not turn out. I'm so sorry that
we don't have the movie of a 25, or so, piece orchestra we found
playing in a Metro tunnel. It was fantastic!
We probably should have done a few more nice lunches.