Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Adventure continues

What was supposed to be an uneventful ride home has turned into a full and exhausting day. We took the metro to Charles de gaulle only to learn in route that the workers are strking and service is interrupted. So just getting to the airport was a bit messy. The flight to Atlanta was thankfully without real incident except for the gal sitting next to me who called for a flight attendant when she couldn't find her iPod figuring that I had taken it. It was in her seat cushion not my pocket. - sigh. On the flight from Atlanta to Indy we traveled with the coffin of a local fall marine. It was very emotional and moving to watch his coffin being moved to a herse under honor guard. It was a poignant way to reenter our country.

We are tired, missing the kids and happy to be home but wouldn't have missed it for the world!! Mike and I will always have Paris!!

Finale

Tired

Monday dawned early and Mike and I are actually worn out and really missing the kids.  But fearlessly we headed out.  We went first to the Pantheon.  This is the final resting place of greats like Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas and Marie Curie.  The architecture is, of course, amazing.  This was a fun spot in many ways because the crowds we're very light and so we could actually see the neat paintings and inscriptions.

A fixture along the river banks are the book sellers.  I guess there have been book sellers along there since revolution times when they would secretly hand out incendiary material.  Everything was in french so I didn't buy anything but as a life long bibliophile it was great to just browse.

Next we hoofed it to the the Hotel des Invalides which is basically their va hospital.  But of course it old, ornate, and very grand.  In the dome rotunda Napoleon Bonaparte is entombed.  It is the biggest coffin in the world surrounded by marble pillars, statues, and ornate halls.  It was just about what you'd expect from someone with a "Napoleon" complex. 

From there we walked passed the Grand and Pettit palais.  These were built for a world exposition and now are museum spaces.  By this time Mike and I had nearly walked our legs off so we did not stop for a visit.  We headed back to our room to rest before dinner.

For dinner we chose a restaurant whose chef is the inspiration for Gusteau in the movie Ratatouille.  It was very gourmet.  Mike braved the snails and actually liked them.  Our meals were beef filet and cod.  These were delicious.  In between courses our waiter kept bringing little samples of things. Crackers with exotic toppings, a fish stick and sauce and little dessert samplings.  The most fun was my dessert.  I had carrot sushi.  It was sweetened rice wrapped with carrots served with meringue "chop sticks".  It was fun to look at and very fun to eat.  Hopefully the pictures will do it justice.

We headed next for a night view of the city from Sacre Cour.  This was a let down because most of the student populations of Paris was doing the same thing and with enough alcohol to kill a moose.  And you couldn't even see the Eiffel Tower from the hill so we quickly exited the intoxicated crowd and headed for the other intoxicated crowd at the base of the tower.  The tower shimmers for 5 minutes on the hour which was fun to watch.  We hailed a cab, did a little turn around the arc de triumph and headed home.  We had a fun cab driver who seemed to find joy in showing us where Princess Diana was killed and where he was at the time.  Each to his own.

Sunday

Sunday

Sunday was our only day of cruddy weather.  In fact, we only had a couple of hours of drizzle and fog and clouds and it happened to coincide with our visit to the eiffel tower.  So we headed to the top of arguably the most recognizable landmark in the world and could not see a thing.  We were socked in clouds, covered in drizzle and haze and slipping up and down iron steps.  However, the tower is so impressive even the weather couldn't damper our enthusiasm for the adventure.  I never realized just how massively tall it is and just how big the footprint is.  It is a sight to behold.  

Since the weather was still wet we decided to head for Versailles hopping to ride out some of the rain on a train.  It worked for the most part and we enjoyed yet another amazingly opulent residence and this time an over the top garden.  We we're in time for the music and fountain show which just means that they blast music over the garden while and fountains are going off.  They kind of have to blast the music because the fountains are so big and there is so much splashing noise it's rather loud.

We headed back to the city and took a Seine River cruise.  This was a fun look at a bunch of the bridges in Paris.  Some of them are so old it is amazing to think what kind of action they've seen.  It was another great view apt the city.

We decided to head back to our room and attempt to eat in.  This is easier said than done.  Most things close early on Sundays which is really nice for families but hard for tourists.  But the Chinese always seem to come through when you need food at odd hours.  Mike found a great little Chinese dive and got us some takeout that we enjoyed in the room.  It was actually really great.    A yummy change.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Unexpected surprises

Saturday started with with a metro ride to Saint Chapelle. It is one of the oldest churches in Paris and is known for its amazing stained glass windows. They depict the bible from the creation to the ressurection of Christ. It was very impressive. Whatever king commissioned the church also paid for pieces of the cross, pieces of the crown of thorns and a few drops of Christ's blood to be keep at the church and worshiped. These are not on display. Afterward we made our way to Notre Dame. It is epic. However, we arrived as they were doing mass so we did not get to see most of the building but hearing the organ and the singing more than made up for it. I could almost see good ole Quasimoto swinging from his bell rope. We then picked up the le car rouge - an opened top double decker tour bus - and headed for the Paris Opera House. Just when you think the buildings can't get any more opulent they raise the bar. This building is over the top. I think Mike took enough pictures that we could literally reconstruct the building and make a mural of it on a wall at home. The building is actually used for ballet now and the Paris opera is at a different and somehow bigger building.

Now we headed for the arc de triomphe. We reached it on the tour bus by heading down the champs élysées. The champs élysées is the big tree lined boulevard headed to the arc. It is full of shops and shoppers. The arc was very impressive and the climb to the top was...invigorating. The view over the city was fun. The weather was clear and although a little windy it was comfortable. Twelve street radiate out from the arc so it is really the world's largest round-about.

We went next to a smaller museum called l'orangerie. It houses a collection of Monet's waterlilys. Before you enter the Monet exhibit, the artist purposely design a space through which you have to pass that is a completely white walled room. It is supposed to be a "decompression" space to help you shed the city and prepare to view the traquil lilies. I thought that was a fun idea.

That night we ate, as promised, at Roger the Frog. I started with a roasted goat cheese salad. Mike ordered a pate but said later it was basically duck spam. We each got a frogs legs meal. Mine were in a cream sauce and Mike's in a garlic and basil sauce. Yum. Really they were very tender and mild tasting. However, there are a lot of small bones so it was a little labor intensive. For desserts I had a chocolate cake and Mike ordered Baba a Ruhm. This is basically a cake with rum POURED all over it. The waiter actually left the rum bottle at the table so Mike could help himself to more. I gobbled up my dessert and poor Mike just nibbled and said his tongue had gone numb. He didn't exactly like the frogs legs either. The idea was a bit unpalatable for him. So my meal was great and his was a bust.

We decided to head up to sacre cour after our meal. It's a church on a hill and the view is supposed to be great for night. There were a TON of people also headed that way so I was getting pretty excited about our adventure. With this many people headed that way it must be incredible. The crowds got thicker and thicker as we neared the church and then there was a tremendous boom and fireworks began shooting off. The way to sacre cour was completely barred and we were in the middle of a gigantic crowd watching fireworks for the next half hour. They were louder than loud but so amazing. Most people were drunk or headed that way and cheering and smoking. It was a sight to behold. Well we worked our way through the wine festival which was the cause of the fireworks, we think, and after being stuffed like sardines in a throng of drunk parisiennes we gave up the quest for the church and headed home.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Vive le France!

Our first full day start full and ended very full!! We took the metro over to collect our ParisPass and thought we'd start with a bang and began at the Louvre. Words cannot express the scope of this building. It was huge beyond reason and so stuffed full of art it is busting at the seams. We fairly flew through most of the halls and saw some amazing treasures. The Mona Lisa was even better than I expected it would be. Although thronged with tourists, it is so beautiful, colorful, serene and masterful. It was epic! (thanks shawn) other fan favorites were the Venus de Milo, winged victory, and the raft of medusa. All awesome. We discovered a far off little hall with my favorite, Alfred Sisley. There wasn't a lot of the French Impressionism I love because the d'orrsay has it all. So after walking our legs off and because it was sprinkling outside we headed for the said Orrsay. Knowing we only had a second I headed straight for the impressionist exhibit fairly crying with joy. Lo and behold the largest collection of impressionist paintings IN THE WORLD is not on display because of refurbishment of the space. My arg could be heard round the world. Darn! So a little disheartened we headed back to the room to prepare for dinner.

On the recommendation of a friend of Mike's we ate at le coupole - a Paris landmark. It was amazing!!!! We arrived "early" at 7:30p and not long after we were seated it completely filled up. You sit side by side with people you don't know and the atmosphere was bright and cheerful. We chatted with the gentleman on our right and the couple on our left. Both spoke English. Our server look a liking to Mike and they were practically hugging as we left. Mike started with a French onion soup and I had an avocado, crab meat with citrus slices. Yum! Mike then had the house lamb curry and I had the chateubriand. Mike had mango soup for dessert and I had the creme brûlée. We ate slow, visited, laughed, watched the wait staff sing happy birthday to several patrons and had a grand time. The couple near us gave us some ideas for dinner so tomorrow we are eating at Roger La Granouille. That is Roger the frog in French. Yes my friends, frog legs.

Can't wait!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Gay Paris

We left Mont. St. Michele this morning and headed for the Norman coast. This was in our little rental car, trusting the good little GPS box. The roads are well marked and we went mostly by freeway. We traveled first to Omaha beach. It is a beautiful spot. It is a 4 mile long sandy area that saw the most horrific action. We drove to the American Cemertary overlooking the beach. This was a big change from the other museums we saw. A lot of the villages have small museums of artifacts and are trying to get tourist money, but the cemetery was very well done, free and very moving. It was obviously an American endeavor. After the cemetery we drove to a portion overlooking Juno beach and the German strongholds that are still there.

We then headed into Caen to return the car. This is a large city and traveling around was tricky but Mike was a pro. We returned the car, boarded the train and traveled into Paris. We traveled by taxi to our new hotel in the St. Germaine district of Paris. The ride over was a quick little tour - effiel tower, champs élysées, Madeline church.

We ate dinner at a nearby cafe. It had an omelette and a cheese plate. I learned I don't like camembert. So far though I have really liked French food. Last night I had a galette which is a crepe with ham, cheese and egg. Then I had a caramel butter apple crepe. Yum! The croissants with chocolate are delicious!

We are trying to get pics online but are having a hard time finding a computer to do this on. My iPad doesn't have an SD slot, a definate design flaw.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Viva la France!

Today we started at 3:30am waking up and getting to st. Pancreas station to take the train under the Chunnel. The Chunnel was anticlimactic since we both must have closed
our eyes to rest for the twenty minutes you are underneath. The next thing you know....you are in France.

We got into Paris and had a quick transfer to get on the train for Rennes and we got there around noon. We rented the car and then the journey around rural France began. Our car is some Nissan brand that I have never heard of. We got out of Rennes and up to
Mont St. Michel in good time.

Mont St. Michel is amazing!!!!!! Worth the trip out of Paris to see.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

To the henge

Day two was a bit slower paced but no less exciting. We woke early to catch our tour bus to Winsor Castle. Although the state rooms were not open, the chapel and a doll house collection was. It is a very neat and OLD castle that is still a residence. After Winsor we traveled out to see Stonehenge. It is in essence a big pile of rocks in a field. Almost as neat were the fields of sheep. LOTS of sheep. After lunch at another pub and another batch of fish and chips -sigh, we went on to Bath. This is a really nice resort town with an old Roman bath. As a Jane Austen fan it was fun to see places she visited and was inspired by. We toured the bath, Mike tried the water, Mike hated the water and we headed back to London.

We have risen at 3:30am to catch the euro star to Paris. Tired and happy! We will blog on the other side of the channel :)

Monday, October 3, 2011

A full day in London

It has been a huge day!! We started out with a "traditional English breakfast". This included back bacon, scramble eggs, pastries, and baked beans. These looked just like pork and beans from a can - for breakfast?!? Mike thought it was good. Maybe I'll try it tomorrow. We headed for a walk through St. James park to buy tickets for Buckingham Palace. The weather is still amazing and a huge crowd had the same idea about the palace. After getting our tickets and knowing we had some time before entry we headed out to find Portobello road. Think "bed knobs and broom sticks" - yes it's a real place. After a fairly obnoxious attempt at using the tube we opted for a taxi to the road. Then we thought we'd be adventurous and rent bikes to ride back to the palace. Thankfully the kiosk at the bike rental was broken and we came to our senses and took a cab back to the palace. Our driver took us by the Royal Albert Hall - think "a day in the life" by the Beatles - for a photo op and then to Harrods for a pic. Then onto Buckingham Palace.

It was amazing!!! It is so ornate and historic. The wedding dress recently worn was on display with the accompanying audio tour describing the dress and the video display of how and who made it. People were swarming the display and to see the bouquet and cake. These people take their royals very seriously. But the palace was still really neat.

Afterward we had the world's worst fish and chips. Ah well. And walked to Westminster abbey. Total surprise. I thought it was a big church but I guess anyone who's anyone that is dead is there. Crazy huge monuments, floor plaques, and a lot of dead people. It was impressive. There were cute school kids on a field trip sitting in the choir loft. I asked them if they were going to sing. They weren't. Listening to their denials in British accents was fun!

After the abbey we headed to the Thames for a river tour. This was a fun way to see the city. We saw the Harry potter movie bridge, the globe theatre and the HMS Belfast - a big ship. The tour ended at the tower bridge and then we heded to the tower of London. This was an exepected fun spot. We climbed through this medieval castle wall, up and down stone staircases and small halls. Built in 1066!!! We visited with a very nice beefeater and saw the crown jewels. All very interesting.

We took at cab over to St. Paul's. Although we were too late to go inside the outside is so fantastic it was worth the trip. Kids-it's the church from Mary Poppins that has the bird lady outside. Neat!!

We finally took the tube to Picadelly circus for dinner. We opted for an Indian restaurant that was really good. We walked around the west end for a bit, bought the kids some trash and thought a night bus tour sounded fun. We bought tickets and walked to the bus stand. The time for the bus to come came and went. We started to think we had just bought beach property in Kansas when the ticket seller came walking up. He said that another customer had complained that the bus never showed and he wanted to check on us and give us a refund if we hadn't seen a bus. What a good chap!! He is just a kiosk guy with postcards and knick knacks and had no real affiliation with the tour company which was new. Faith in humanity restored.

We bought some sweets, a tin of biscuits (saving one for you Tanner), came back to our room and are watching James Bond on BBC4.

And that is just day one!!!!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Conference on an iPad

We were able to view most of the Sunday afternoon session on my iPad in our hotel room. What a blessing technology is! It was astounding that we could hear the prophet's voice 1000's of miles and time zones away on a sliver of screen. NEAT!

Mike forgot to mention we also walked through Trafalgar square. The weather is unseasonably warm and people are out in droves! London has a lot of street performers which are both funny and disturbing. There are people here from every where on the planet. English is heard only on occasion. I think Italy must have emptied out into London this weekend! As to freaky street performers, Mike and I decided it was a tie between a ratty, dog-eared Mickey Mouse lookalike trying to hug kids and a boogie woogie person with a queen Elizabeth mask on trying to hand out a tiara so you will pay to have your picture taken. We are holding out for the real thing tomorrow. Look out Buckingham Palace here we come!

A Sunday afternoon in London

We got into the city from Paddington without much effort. We found the hotel and the first room was small. I know that European hotels are smaller, but this was really small. We got a much better room now though after a couple of phone calls.

Today we went to Piccadilly Circus and had fish and chips, saw the national gallery, and then we went to the London eye for a ride. It was right at dusk so we could still see the buildings when we got on without lights and then they turned on the lights so that was cool to.

Mind the gap

We are enjoying the free wifi on the heathrow express to Paddington station. From the air London looks awesome!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Leaving on a jet plane

Somehow without bawling my head off we made it out the door, to the airport, through security and are sitting at 96th st. Burger enjoying some nosh. We finalized our will this morning only traumatizing Shawn a wee bit. Good times!