Wordless Wednesday: Sunset in London

Our European Vacation: Artistic Paris

The feeling of waking in Paris was delicious.  The sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains at our full length window.  The noises of the city morning drifted up from the sidewalk below as the city moved into second gear.  We began our day with a typical European breakfast, cold cuts, boiled eggs, yogurt, rolls and coffee.  After breakfast we took the metro to the Louvre to immerse ourselves in the artistic side of Paris.

The Louvre as a museum, even without the art that's housed there was impressive.  A former palace, it's structure and size were awe inspiring.  If the entire palace had stood empty it still would have been worth touring.  In fact, I think at the end of the day Rob took more pictures of the paintings on the walls and ceilings of the Louvre than he did of anything else.  I found it amazing that with all the political unrest centering around the monarchy in France that the palace was standing and still so beautifully decorated.  I suppose the citizens didn't love the royalty but took pride in the art even when they were part of an angry mob.

Once again, we used Rick Steves as our guide and made our way through the Louvre using his suggestions and information.  I noticed several people inch closer as I read the entries from Rick.  We both decided that we were glad to have the actual guide book and not the audio version as we moved through the museum.  It was nice to pick and choose what we learned and not to stand so close together all the time in the crowded areas. 

Rob was focused on finding and experiencing the Mona Lisa up close or at least as close as possible. I preferred to walk loosely and soak in as much as possible.  My favorite piece of art turned out to be Winged Victory but the pieces that I was most eager to see had to do with our study of ancients last year; Hammurabi's Codex and the winged bulls from the throne room of Sargon II.  We both found the Louvre to be amazing and overwhelming.  Rick suggests spending at least two hours there.  I think we called it enough at three hours and left without seeing 3/4 of the museum's collection.  We both felt satisfied with hitting the highlights.

Upon leaving the Louvre we felt the need to sit quietly and eat well.  Thankfully there is no shortage of lovely places to eat in Paris.  We found a cafe a few blocks from the Louvre and took a table outside.  One of my favorite things about Paris was the outdoor dining and the easy availability of table space.  If one cafe was full it was a simple thing to walk to the next for a seat. 

After enjoying lunch and a relaxing break from the world of art we made our way from the Louvre through the Tuileries Garden to the Orsay Museum.  The day was beautiful and our stroll through the garden refreshed us almost as much as our lunch.

We were immediately impressed with the openness of the Orsay Museum.  Compared to the corridors and connecting rooms of the Louvre, the Orsay seemed straight forward and manageable.  Unfortunately, even our walk hadn't cleared our heads of the Louvre and the Orsay started with the disadvantage of coming second in the day.  Had we seen the collect first we might have counted it among our favorite experiences of the trip.  The greatest hits of the impressionists and post-impressionists were represented in impressive numbers. The galleries are astounding.  Given a fresh start and a full day we might have lingered.  There is such thing as an overdose of beauty and art.  We reached our saturation point before we reached the end of the Orsay collection and as a result we may have missed some of the museum highlights.  We did stick with Rick through out so I'm sure we didn't do the museum a total injustice.  Two hours was our limit for the Orsay and we were ready to see something besides art. 

We opted for military prowess and Parisian views instead and headed for the place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe.  The view and the history lesson were just what we needed to finish our sight seeing day.  From the Arc we took the metro back to our hotel and changed clothes for our dinner cruise.  We were looking forward to a delicious meal and sightseeing without walking.

Prior to our departure for Europe we had chosen a few special events.  These were things we were willing to pay money for over and above the normal expenses of sight seeing.  Our dinner on the Bateaux Parisiens was one of these activities.  We took the Paris Illuminations dinner cruise and it was magical.  The ship was beautiful, the food was excellent and the service was outstanding.  Best of all, there was no walking.  Choosing a boat for our expensive dinner out was perfect for us.  It insured that I got three solid hours to eat and relax with my husband and it insured that he was a captive audience.  It also took the stress of ordering away.  For the most part, meals in Paris didn't concern us but going to a fancy restaurant and ordering seemed challenging.  The boat menu made it painless.  We had four choices for appetizer, main dish and dessert.  All the choices were exceptional. 

Upon arriving on the ship we were delighted to be seated at our own table toward on the starboard side of the ship.  We weren't right next to the window but with all the glass we had beautiful views all around.   We were also a few tables from the center stage area so when the live entertainment, a singer and small band, began we were close enough to enjoy but not so close to impare our ability to talk.  We enjoyed a kir with sparkling Blanc de Blancs and mini-savoury breads while we waiting for the ship to get underway.  As appetizers we shared Royale of porcini and morel mushrooms and tender leeks in a creamy sauce and chilled king prawns in a creamy crab sauce. 

Cruising down the Seine River enabled us to see the sights we'd toured over the last few days from a different perspective.  The river and the evening lent a glow and glitter to the city outside our windows.   As it was a Friday night and the weather was beautiful it seemed that much of Paris had come out to enjoy a waterside picnic or stroll.  We departed the Eiffel Tower and traveled past les Invalides, l'Assemblee Nationale, le Musee d'Orsay ,  la Conciergerie and la Cathedrale Notre Dame turning back down the river at la Bibliotheque Nationale de France.  For our main dish we shared poached sea bass in truffle sauce and fillet of roast beef in Chateaubriand sauce. 

The singer and band provided entertainment as we traveled back toward la Tour Eiffel.  For dessert we shared mature Saint Marcellin cheese with young salad leaves and fresh strawberries and strawberry sorbet in a strawberry coulis. The music was a lovely backdrop to the view and the conversation.  The night darkened and it because obvious why Paris was called the City of Lights.  A beautiful city turned into something even more magical at dusk.  We traveled past Notre Dame and la Conciergerie on the opposite side then proceded on past le Louvre, la Place de la Concorde and le Grand Palais circling la Statue de la Liberte and returning to the Eirrel Tower.   The Eiffel Tower illuminated exceeded my expectations.  It was glorious and I couldn't get enough of the view.  We strolled from the boat under the tower and down the Champs de Mars.  We arrived at our hotel full of delicious food, beautiful Paris and thankfulness for the day.

Wordless Wednesday - The Louvre

Waiting to meet the lady.

The lady herself.

Hammurabi's code

Colossi from Sargon's palace.

Wordless Wednesday - Moulin Rouge

Our European Vacation: Historic Paris

We arrived in Paris at 6 a.m. and quickly moved through customs.  My concerns over answering questions in an unfamiliar language were unfounded as we were welcomed warmly into France.  Even at 6 a.m. Charles de Gaulle Airport was a busy place.  From the hustle, the languages being spoken and the dress of the travelers, it would have been difficult to identify the country from inside the airport.  The signs giving directions were easily understandable because of illustrations and minimal English.  We called our shuttle bus service and were directed to the appropriate door where our bus and driver were waiting.  Three other couples joined us for the drive into Paris.

While our driver wasn't a tour guide, he did an excellent job of hitting the highlights as we zipped into Paris.  Several time during the drive I felt extremely thankful that I wasn't responsible for driving or navigating this journey.  We were the last hotel to be dropped and that gave us the opportunity to see most of Paris by shuttle bus.  We drove down the Champs Elysees and around the Arc de Triomphe.  We passed so many beautiful and famous sights that we were planning to see later in our visit. The trip to our hotel was a highlight tour given by a local and one that we hadn't expected to receive.  It was thrilling because it was first and unexpected.

I'd picked our hotel, Hotel Royal Phare, based on it's recommendation by Rick Steves, it's proximity to the Eiffel Tower and the rue Cler and it's price.   We arrived at 8 a.m. and found the door open.  The desk attendant assured us that our room would be ready by 10 a.m., far earlier than we had anticipated, showed us where to put our luggage so we didn't have to cart it with us and gave us easy to follow directions to our first destination, the Eiffel Tower. 

We walked down the Ave de la Motte Picquet and through Champ de Mars expecting to see the tower much earlier than we did.  The tree cover hides a sweeping view of the tower from that side until you are almost at the base.  Catching glimpses of the structure was a real treat and only increased the anticipation.  I was surprised by how close buildings and city scape clings to the bottom of the tower on both sides.  This is no monument set apart from a city.  The Eiffel Tower is a monument in and of the city. 

We enjoyed a leisurely walk to the tower and arrived shortly before 9 a.m.  Since I hadn't know how quickly things would move upon our arrival to Paris I'd scheduled our Eiffel Tower tickets for 10:30 a.m.  We had plenty of time to walk under the tower, cross the Seine River and explore the buildings that make up the Trocadero.  The street sellers and beggars were out as early as we were.  We were offered Eiffel Tower key chains and the opportunity to support deaf Parisians by numerous advocates as we made our way to, under and past the tower.  From the vantage point of the Trocadero we had a gorgeous view of the tower and Paris beyond and we learned a little about Paris' Universal Exposition in 1889.  We also scoped out where we'd be catching our dinner cruise later in the week.  It's always good to know where you are going and how to get there in advance.

Upon our arrival back at the tower, things had changed.  The slow paced stroll we'd taken almost alone at 9:00 a.m. had turned into a muddle of people and lines.  It was easy to see that if you weren't going to show up and get in line at 8:45 a.m., it really was smart to make reservations.  Even the stair entrance had a line by 10:00 a.m.  The lines for the elevators were akin to amusement park ride lines with twist and turns aplenty.

We enjoyed a piece of Parisian pizza and waited for our reservation time while watching the growing crowds.  At 10:20 a.m. we walked to the reservation line and were ushered onto a lift and taken to the second level of the tower.  From there we found the line and lift that would take us as close to the top as possible.  With Rick Steves as our guide we took the Eiffel Tower Tour with all the enthusiasm and awe of true tourists.  The thrill of being in Paris and being at the Eiffel Tower was every bit of what I'd imagined.  We read and gawked and strolled hand in hand soaking in the sights of the City of Lights.  The best part was knowing that this was only the beginning.

After enjoying the views from the third floor we took the lift back down to level two and spent time exploring the view from a closer perspective.  Our trip from level two to level one and level one to ground was done via the stairs.  At that point we didn't realize how much ground we'd cover in the next 10 days and the idea of walking the Eiffel Tower was romantic and fun. By the time we reached the bottom, I was very thankful that we'd chosen to ride up and walk down rather than the reverse.

By the time we finished our tour of the Eiffel Tower it was close to noon so we walked back to the Royal Phare to check in and make plans for what came next.  According to Rick Steves, between the Eiffel Tower and our hotel we'd find the rue Cler Walk.  We enjoyed catching  a glimpse of how life might be lived in Paris.  The cafes, open air shops and easy pace made me long to spend months rather than days there.  We knew that the rue Cler is a place we'd walk more than this one time during our stay.  At the end of the rue Cler we turned right and made our way half a block to the Royal Phare.  Our room was ready when we returned and we checked into a street side room on the second (third for us) floor.  The elevator was small enough that there was no way a person and a piece of luggage were fitting inside at the same time so we took the stairs.  The room, while small was clean and more than adequate to our needs.  The accommodations included a private bath, closet, refrigerator, bed and oscillating fan.  Our window, floor to ceiling with french doors that opened in but no balcony, gave us a view of the shops and restaurants that lined the street in front of the hotel.  The window also gave us a slight breeze that was aided by the fan and hampered by the glorious sunshine.  We know that the weather was unseasonably warm for May but it made me sympathetic for a tourist that might spend a hot, hot July or August night in this room.  Paris in May was definitely an excellent idea.  After coming from an unusually rainy and cool Ohio spring we were more than ready for as much sunshine as Paris had to offer.

A short nap left us refreshed and Rick directed us to historic Paris.  We found the Metro station less than a block from our hotel and put it to good use during the remainder of our trip.  Our only incident of Paris as a less than warm and welcoming place occurred during our initial attempts at purchasing metro tickets.  We wanted a carnet (10 tickets for a discounted rate) but weren't able to come up with the word quickly and were dismissed from the line until we got it figured out.  Needless to say, it wasn't a word we'd forget again. 

The metro took us to  Ile de la Cite.  We purchased our Paris Museum Pass at the tabac near Sainte-Chapelle then made our way toward Notre-Dame.  A cafe on the way to the cathedral became a lunch stop as we enjoyed a croque monsieur and adjusted to the price of food and drinks in Paris.  After lunch we traveled on to the center of France and toured the catherdral of Notre-Dame. 

The children and I had been reading Victor Hugo prior to our departure.  I'd read a good bit of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame aloud and I'd listened to more than half of Les Miserables on MP3.  Seeing what I'd been reading about was a thrill beyond what I'd anticipated.  I'd been expecting dark and dank but the cathedral sparkled in the sunshine and the statues practically waved to welcome us inside.  Again, we counted on Rick to be our guide and followed his Historic Paris walk and tour of Notre-Dame.  I found it surprising that the exterior of the cathedral held as much, if not more, interest that the inside.  While the interior was beautiful and awe inspiring, the artistic detail and architectural innovations demonstrated by the exterior were every bit as impressive.  We toured the cathedral before we made our way to the Archaeological Crypt but found that stop to be extremely interesting and worthwhile.  Experiencing Paris from Roman times to present put the city and it's history into perspective for us. 

We chose to skip the Deportation Memorial.  Our upcoming trip to Germany made us especially sensitive to the issues and challenges of immersing ourselves too heavily in World War 2 history.  We wanted this trip to be a vacation and a joy, not a moral dilemma.  Shallow perhaps but it was the path we chose to take.  As a result we viewed the Ile de St. Louis as we crossed over the bridge to the Rive Gauche.  The booksellers were opened for business and we enjoyed walking down the street looking at the items they had to offer.  We also were charmed by the view of Medieval Paris we received at the church of St. Julien-le-Paivre, St. Severin and the skinniest house in Paris.  While we fell in love with Baron Haussmann's vision of Paris we also appreciated what Paris must have been like before he created the vision that is modern Paris.

By the time we'd enjoyed our river front stroll along the Seine and our quiet exploration of medieval Paris we missed our opportunity to tour Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie.  We arrived a few minutes after closing time and opted to continue our tour through the Place Dauphin, past the Statue of Henry IV and take a seat at the Pont Neuf for some quiet reflection of the day and planning for the hours left before bedtime.

Feeling pretty confident in our ability to negotiate the metro, we set out for Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur.  The original intention when we decided to go to Montmartre had been to see Paris at sunset from Sacre-Coeur but by the time we reached the basilica we realized the primary objective was to see Moulin Rouge so we could report back to our teenage daughters and get back to the hotel.   We were exhausted. The walk to Sacre-Coeur was filled with life.  Jugglers, dancers, street vendors, people of all shape, size and color.  In Montmartre there was no pseudo-intellectual, historical pretension.  The people were here to have fun. In my memory Sacre-Coeur is actually more beautiful than Notre-Dame but on a much smaller scale.  Large beauty compared to miniature beauty.  Both breathtaking if allowed to stand separately.   My favorite part of Sacre-Coeur, beyond the name, were the stairs in front.  Paris spreads out in all directions.  We rested there watching the people and the sky line, holding hands and breathing together, soaking in Paris and the fact that we were really there.

If you could see my Rick Steves Paris guide book you'd be able to see the chocolate ice cream smear on the map of Montmartre.  As we wound our way through Montmartre from the basilica to Moulin Rouge and the metro station at the bottom of the hill we passed various tourist shops, cafes and, best of all, the ice cream shops.  Ice cream in Paris was a delight that I wasn't anticipating.  The ice cream was displayed like jewelry.  Mounded high in glass cases that beg the passerby to stop and enjoy, the ice cream called out to me and a double chocolate cone in Montmartre was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  

After the double chocolate cone, we sugar buzzed our way to the Moulin Rouge and back on the metro to our hotel.  Again, we were thankful for the stop at Ecole de Militaire and the short walk to our hotel where we collapsed dreaming of Paris and of all that we had seen and done that day.

Our European Vacation: Ohio to Paris

It was still dark outside when we made our final trip preparations and said goodbye to my parents.  We had a three hour drive to the airport and were nervous about getting there without any problems.  This was the trip of a lifetime and so many things could go wrong before it truly began.  We kissed sleeping children in their beds, hugged the grandparent-babysitters, said thank you for the thousandth time and set off.

Thankfully, the trip to the airport, while long, was uneventful and we arrived at the lot where I'd made reservations for parking almost two hours before our flight was scheduled to leave.  The parking people were efficient and pleasant and we enjoyed telling them where we were going.  Paris, Berlin, London.  Just saying it made us even more excited about the days ahead.  The parking lot attendant told us a horror story about a trip his family had taken to Italy, ending by saying, "But I'm sure y'all are going to have a wonderful trip" and we agreed. We were going to have a wonderful trip.

The first leg of our journey took us from Pittsburgh to Boston.  A long layover at the Boston airport gave us the opportunity to shop in the duty free store and have dinner.  Sam Adams never tasted so good.  We decided to change some money in Boston so we wouldn't have to search for an exchange place or bank in the Paris airport at 6a.m.  We figured there were going to be enough challenges upon arrival that eliminating the currency exchange would be a good idea.

We were surprised at the number of times our passports and boarding passes were checked and double checked before we boarded.  Once at the desk in front of the boarding gate, again at the gate, once in the passage way that led from the gate to the plane and again at the plane.  After running the gauntlet to board the plane, the trip across the pond was uneventful.  We were a bit disappointed that the plane only had one movie playing rather than the individual units that allowed travelers to select their own movies.  The movie wasn't one that interested me so I was thankful for my book on MP3.  A number of chapters, two meals and several naps later we touched down in Paris.