You may want to read this Travelogue first, then check out the Yahoo! links...
11/18/2001,12:07 PM
"Bonjour! I'm writing this from seat 8D on the Delta flight from ICT to ATL. Hard to believe it, but I am on my way... Mom will have arrived in Atlanta by now; we will meet at the gate for our Paris flight. I finished up my packing while watching. I have probably brought an extra sweater or two that I could have skipped. My bag weighs in at 24lbs, about 5 lbs. more than I would like to carry. Now for the big question: I wonder if I will gain 24 lbs. from all the great food we will encounter while on this trip?
11/20/2001,10:04 PM
"I'm freshly showered and dressed for bed. Today was a much better day than yesterday, although we didn't get as much done as I would have liked...
Yesterday
after we arrived, we were picked up immediately by the
Airport Shuttle service. Good service, reasonable
prices. The only bummer was the rush hour traffic; it took us
about an hour to get from the airport to Hotel Leveque.
Once we arrived, we dropped off our luggage and started
walking around. Mom changed into her walking shoes; I
was still wearing my Eccos. It was cold and a bit windy
as we walked from Rue Cler towards the Ile de la Cite. We
should have tried the Metro--I didn't think it would be easy
to get from there from our hotel...so we did a LOT of
walking. On our way we bought some quiche lorraine and
munched as we walked. We purchased the Carte Musee (Museum
Pass) at a travel bureau near the south bank of the Seine.
Mom walks really slowly, and she was getting tired. We
were both getting cranky, too.
We finally made it to Notre Dame and to Sainte Chapelle.
Notre Dame
Sainte Chappelle
They were both amazing. . Here are some links on each:
Sainte Chapelle (I need to find a better site than this--after all, Sainte Chappelle houses the Crown of Thorns...
On the way home, we crossed the bridge and made it to the Sainte Michael Metro stop on RER C. After we returned to the room, we turned up the radiator to warm up the room and took some time to sleep. I napped for almost two hours, and then took a nice shower.
Later
we visited Philippe at La Varangue and had a nice dinner: I
had lobster bisque, leg of duck on some type of scalloped
potatoes. On the way there we stopped at Cyber World
C@fe so we could send e-mail home. Philippe is
friendly and just happens to speak English. He once lived in
the Philadelphia area.
This morning (Tuesday) we awoke fresh and rested, pretty much on local time. We tried the freebie breakfast downstairs; it was OK, but I think we can do better at one of the many little places on rue Cler. We had a late start this morning because we slept in, but that was OK because we needed the rest. It didn't seem as windy today; it was mostly upper 40's and it might have even gotten to 50 degrees. Later in the day the sun peeked out just a bit.
Rue Cler
After
walking around rue Cler a bit, we mailed Mom's
postcard...then we walked in the CORRECT direction for the
Ecole Militaire Metro. Our goal was the Orsay Museum. Happily
we already had our museum cards so we jumped the VERY long
line and walked right into the museum. Our bags were
checked briefly.
At the Orsay
Orsay Links:
The Orsay was amazing; we could have stayed all day, but I think a person can only spend so much time in museums without getting burned out.I would have liked to have made it to the Rodin today as well, but we didn't finish until around 3:45 or 4:00pm. One bummer: the credit card processing device wasn't working, so I had to pay cash for my Orsay Museum purchases. I bought some very chic and artistic business card holders, and I decided to leave behind the Orsay Museum book; I reasoned that there would be Orsay books at the Lourve, because there were Lourve books at the Orsay : ) We then walked across the river and east on the street running along the north ("right") bank of the Seine, to catch bus 27. We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at La Samaritaine.
Dinner at the Tea Room
Rooftop view of Paris
We
finished around 5:50pm or so and spent the next hour and a
half walking around Samaritaine...then took the Ponte Neuf
Metro stop back to line 8 and home. I picked up a nice
chocolate mouse/cake treat as PMS consolation. We came
home, cleaned up, and rested while the French TV showed
Titanic. (FYI, Rose doesn't call him
"Jacques"...it's sort of "Jack" with a
bit of a French lilt. )
Tomorrow
we hope to get to the Rodin early , hit the Champs-Elysee
afterwards, then the Lourve because the Lourve is open late
on Wednesday...bon chance, no? That is probably way more than
we can accomplish in a day.”
11/21/2001,11:44 PM
"Nice day today. A bit warmer--50 degrees, and mostly overcast, although the sun did come out a bit near the end of the day.
Mom and I sat up and chatted until very late last night, so we slept in and didn't get moving until around 9AM. Our big plans were to get to the Rodin museum (we didn't make it yesterday), and fit in a Champs-Elysee walk and the Lourve tonight. Well, two out of three ain't bad.
We started for the Arc d'Triomphe and had breakfast there--real eggs and Canadian bacon. I wasn’t really looking for an American breakfast, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm learning to drink my coffee with lots of extra steamed milk...and learning how to tell the waiter that I want extra on the table. After breakfast, we started on down the street. What started off as a clear day turned cloudy. We walked around with the Parisians, who reminded me of busy New Yorkers...but with style. We used the Internet connections at the Toyota Café. While waiting for Mom (she was busy dealing with the funky Euro-keyboard) I struck up a conversation with the young Costa Rican hostess. She has lived in the United States, and we talked about the difference in lifestyles, cultures, and driving habits. She was shocked to hear that one American family with 3 teens could possibly own five cars. Afterwards we walked more of the Champs-Elysee, down to the Pont Alexander at Avenue Churchill.
Champs-Elysee Walk
We then walked back towards the C-E and the Metro for our trip to the Lourve.
Mom was most impressed by the moat and the nude statues. I'm not sure what impressed me the most; the various paintings from various eras...Venus de Milo...Mona Lisa...?
The Lourve
The place is absolutely huge. We walked around separately for a couple hours, then together for a while. The museum was open late, so we took our time.
Lourve Link:
Lourve Museum Official Web Site
Mom
happily found good news for us; a bus tour will take us to
Chartres Cathedral AND Versailles on Friday. That means
our last full day in Paris will be tomorrow. We haven't
yet made it to the Eiffel Tower, so we had better get off our
asses tomorrow. If we are going to see the Rodin and
Pompidou tomorrow, we are going to have to hustle. I
can see that it would be good to spend at least TWO weeks
here. I would be perfectly fine in bringing Mark back
here next year; there is still plenty to see and do."
11/22/2001,6:32
PM
"The ladies know how to shop... We were up around 8AM today, but we didn't leave the hotel until closer to 10AM. We had coffee and croissants at the Cafe du Marche.
Are Parisians rude? When I asked the waiter for a menu (carte), he told me that they could not bother to put together one for breakfast service. “Do you want coffee and breads? What kind?” I wasn’t annoyed, but I can see why some people find the waiters impatient.
After breakfast, we walked to Napoleon's Tomb and the Rodin Museum. We were both more impressed with the Rodin than the Tomb.
RS makes the following comments in his book about allowing time to tour Napoleon’s Tomb...
‘Women: 90 minutes. Men: 2 hours. Republicans: all day...’
Napoleon's Tomb
We skipped the other military exhibits. I had a hunch that Mom would like the Rodin, and I was right. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the sculptures.
At the Rodin
Link to Rodin Museum:
Afterwards I asked Mom if she wanted to go to the Pompidou; she was not interested. I had a hunch she would prefer to go shopping...and I was right. We walked from the Rodin to Bon Marche, and from there split up. That seems to be a good tactic for us, as she loves to window-shop.
I
finished up early, so I left Bon Marche and toured the
Epicerie next door (after some Canada Dry at the Blue Bar
downstairs.) They had a very nice selection of foods
from various countries, even Tex-Mex from the States. After
buying a Ritter Sport chocolate square, I walked over to a
little church where a vision of the Virgin Mary appeared to a
young novice named Catherine. Mary gave Catherine some
kind of medallion. Very nice sanctuary. I bought
some postcards there and at the Catholic store next to the
convent before returning to Bon Marche to meet Mom. We
left the store together, then had a light dinner of omelets
and salad at the cafe Sevre Babylon (also the name of the
metro station right there...) We also sampled pistachio
Berthillon ice cream. It was REALLY good. We then
walked around the neighborhood a bit, but not for very long
as the weather turned dark and the drizzle fell on our heads.
Since we got back to the hotel early, we both went through
our things in anticipation of leaving here Saturday morning.
I confirmed our ride with the shuttle service for Saturday
morning.While out today I bought a very nice (and very red)
Lancel bag so that I can transfer some things from my bag. Yes,
I should have left those extra sweaters at home."
11/24/2001,12:18
AM
"Great day! We were up early to prepare for our bust tour to both Chartres Cathedral & Versailles. The sun was shining as we took the Metro to meet at the tour office for our trip to Chartres Cathedral and Versailles. I was happily surprised to find that our group was small; a couple from Miami (Gator grads) and some Kansans--a lady from Topeka and a couple from Kansas City. Our Dutch guide, Serge, was helpful and knowledgeable. The drive to Chartres was about an hour, and we spent about two hours there. Afterwards we had a leisurely and delicious lunch at a local restaurant, then drove another hour to Versailles. We toured the main palace with audio guides. My impressions of the cathedral: simply amazing. The only thing I regretted was the limited view of the labyrinth due to the podium and chairs set up for what looked like a concert of some type. There was also some scaffolding set up to facilitate restoration work. I was very glad to have my binoculars, the better to see "Mary's veil"...
Chartres Cathedral, from a distance
The palace was...well, it was Versailles; what else can I add to that? Everything was done on a very grand scale. We had a glimpse of what it must have been like to lived as royalty. No wonder Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were beheaded.
The famous Hall of Mirrors
After our final Metro ride home, we stopped at the hotel to freshen up, then I had the front desk call ahead to see if Agnes would have us at her little restaurant. We had a lovely time. Dinner itself was very good; I had some sort of lentil soup with ham, and Mom has fish. We had nice salads and dessert. We chatted the best we could, given my limited French and her limited English. Agnes (and Gypsy) were as friendly as could be.
Agnes
was particularly impressed with the pictures of my family and
pets on the Clie. She had never seen a Palm Pilot
(""palm-pee-low""), and she even got a
kick out of the digital camera. Mom and I talked with
Agnes about how much Nana loved to cook. She was happy
that we were on our way to Italy. We kissed Agnes, and
I left her a business card with the website address
verngator/paris2001. Now we are (mostly) packed for
Rome..."
Our last morning in Paris we rose early and walked to a local brassiere for breakfast. Our server had some problems working the credit card machine; she set it down on the counter, and I finished the transaction for her. Afterwards we were window-shopping at a teashop, where we found some neat glassware, painted by hand. I bought 8 glasses and a covered dish; Pascal was nice enough to carefully wrap the goods. We stopped at the post office and mailed them to Kansas. We picked up postcards (Marva's man), then finished our packing in time to meet our shuttle at rue Cler and rue Grennelle. A doctor from the West coast who had just finished a RS tour chatted with us about our experience on the way to CDG. She is also a Lab lover. The driver dropped us off at the wrong terminal, but we managed to find our way to the correct salle (hall?) for our trip to Rome...