Winding Down

November 1, 2016

Winding Down

We leave tomorrow morning to fly back home, so I want to get one last blog post up tonight.

Sunday, we filled up again on art, starting by going to the Louvre. That place is gigantic, extremely elaborate and would take days to tour it thoroughly. We did the “find the pictures and sculptures we want to see” version, so it took us less than a day. Obviously, the Mona Lisa was the picture to see (if you could get past the crowd), and  the Venus de Milo statue, were at the top of the list.

After the Louvre, we headed over to the Rodin Museum, which is a much more manageable size and is in a beautiful setting of a former mansion where he lived at one time and surrounded by gardens, which were filled by some of his many statues, the most famous of which is The Thinker. It was much more relaxing than the Louvre.

Next, we visited Napoleon’s grave and the Cathedral of Saint-Louis Des Invalides, which are right next to each other. They are both very majestic and Napoleon’s tomb is massive. I guess it fits his personality. Large! Anyway, it was interesting.

By this time, we were ready to stop touring for the day and headed back to our Airbnb. Later, we started walking the neighborhood and discovered a little Asian restaurant, where you go in and buy the food by weight. We were hungry for noodles, so we had chicken soup with noodles and another noodle dish. The food was very good and inexpensive. You might wonder why we would be eating Asian in Paris, because French meals are expensive and we aren’t big of fans of French cooking . . . a lot of rich sauces. It comes down to a matter of taste and our pocketbook.

Monday, we started off by visiting the Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees. We climbed to the top and viewed the city on a beautiful and clear fall day. After getting back down to street-level, we walked down the Champs-Elysees, where many of the wealthy people of the world spend time and money. We sat and people-watched and saw people of all shapes and sizes, colors and levels of beauty and fashion. It was interesting and humbling to remember that Jesus died for all of them.

We continued our walk past the Grand Palace and the Petit Palace and then took the Metro to the Pantheon where we saw the graves of Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Rousseau, the Curries, and Alexander Dumas, as well as, the Foucault pendulum, which demonstrates the rotation of the earth. While walking, we stopped and got a €2 chocolate cone at McDonalds. I should mention that when McDonalds wanted to open a store on the Champs Elysees, it was viewed with horror. Now, it is the busiest McD’s in the world. In their stores here, everyone orders via touchscreen and pays per credit card via the screen or goes to a special line for cash. You then go up to the counter to pick up your order. Every McDonalds that we have seen, has been very busy. Maybe it’s the fries. People over here love their “frites”. . . with mayo and ketchup or various other sauces. Go figure. Other than buying a drink one other time, we have stayed out of any American restaurants.

We ended the day, with a visit to the Jardin du Luxembourg. The setting was beautiful, right in the middle of the city and people were out by the thousands, sitting in chairs, picnicking, talking and enjoying each other’s company. In a large city like Paris, people take advantage of any window they have to be outside and experience nature on a beautiful day. It helps when the next day is a holiday.

Today, is All Saints Day, which is a national holiday in France. We started off the day by visiting the largest cemetery in Paris. It’s huge! We walked through parts of it looking for the graves of Chopin (pictured), Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Maria Callas. All the people were out, placing flowers at many of the graves. They even have a section called Jardin du Souvenir (Garden of Remembrance), where people were throwing flowers onto the grass in remembrance of those gone before. The graves are large concrete structures of varying sizes and placed very close together. It was started in 1804. We were glad that we got to see that side of French culture.

After the cemetery, we went to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur which is a church on top of one of the highest points in Paris. It provides a great view of the city, but was a bit hazy today, even though it was a lovely day. The place was flooded with people relaxing and enjoying their day off. We took the funicular to the top and walked down and continued down the street to the Moulin Rouge, which is in a not so nice part of the city. After a photo, we picked up a few things for breakfast and headed back to our neighborhood to pack and get ready to fly out tomorrow morning. It has been a wonderful adventure and we are so grateful that we have been able to spend the time together doing something that we love. See you stateside and thanks for following along.

 

We finally made it back to Paris

October 29, 2016

We finally made it back to Paris

Bayeux turned out to be a small city and the older part of town, where we were staying, was a fun place to explore. That area was filled with small little lanes and cobblestone streets. There was even a canal with a waterwheel running through the middle. Very charming.

On Wednesday, we took a bus out to the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach. There is a large visitor center with all kinds of nicely displayed information on D-Day and the importance it had for the French and the Allies. They have done a nice job of giving personal examples of the soldiers who were involved.

The cemetery is a beautiful site that is laid out perfectly and well-maintained. There are around 9,400 people buried there, including some unknowns and some civilians. It overlooks Omaha Beach and is a peaceful, quiet, contemplative place. I can’t imagine what it must have like for the young men who were coming in to fight that day. Fear of the unknown and death were no doubt on their minds. Sobering.

After spending time in the cemetery, we walked over to where there are remains of German bunkers which we walked through and then hiked down the hill to the beach. The tide was out, just like on D-Day, so you could imagine what it was like as the soldiers were coming in on the boats and the Germans were firing down from on top of the hill. Fear must have gripped them.

We were glad that we visited the site because it was a reminder of how important D-Day was for the beginning of the end of WWII. Neither of our parents or any family members were in the military, so we never were raised listening to war stories. It gave us a new perspective.

We made it to Paris and to our Airbnb on Thursday without a problem. After we checked-in, we went down to see Notre Dame, which is beautiful. We walked along the Seine for, what seemed forever, walked by the Louvre, and saw the Eiffel Tower lit up, from a distance. By this time, my knees and legs were calling, so we headed for home. The place we are staying is very close to trains and metro stops so it’s convenient to travel around. There are also plenty of shops, etc. to buy food, or anything, for that matter.

Yesterday, was another day of walking all over Paris. We went down to Notre Dame where we had missed the Deportation Memorial, close by. It deals with the 200,000 French victims of the Nazi concentration camps. Another sobering, simple and tasteful presentation.
Then, we started a Rick Steves’ walk in that area of Paris. It took us to some interesting places, one being one of the few English bookstores in Paris, Shakespeare and Company. It is very tiny, old, jampacked with books, and so quirky and delightful. We loved it! The only sad thing, was that no picture taking is allowed inside, so our memories will just have to do, which is a little scary.
We sauntered over to the old medieval part of town, where the homes are skinny and out of shape, and the streets narrow. They call it the Latin Quarter today, but there is more of a visible Greek influence. It was fun. In a nearby church, where we stopped, someone was practicing the pipe organ, and was good, so that was a plus.

We made several more stops during the day, including Sainte Chapelle where the stained- glass windows are breathtakingly beautiful, the Conciergerie, where prisoners were held before being beheaded in the Revolution, Marie Antionette, included. Our evening climaxed with a visit to the Eiffel Tower. We got there during the evening hours, when the lights came on. It was beautiful! We finally arrived home, having added more miles to our ever-growing list.

Today, we went out to Versailles, toured through the chateau, and skipped the gardens, since it is pretty much the end of the season, other than the layout. All I can say about that place is, it is extravagance overload. To me, it is almost sickening. It made the chateaux in the Loire Valley we visited, seem like pauper’s homes. Go figure. No wonder there was a revolution.

After leaving there, we ended our day at the Musee d’Orsay, which is housed in an old railway station which is a fascinating structure. We walked all over, viewing some of our favorite paintings from the periods of Realism and Impressionism, and more. It was art overload, but interesting.

Tomorrow, it’s more art at the Louvre and other Parisian sights. I’ll try and get one more blog post in before we leave. We’ll see. It’s been a great trip, so far!

Chateaux and Mont St-Michel

October 25, 2016

Chateaux and Mont St-Michel

I’m sitting here typing with my hoody over my head because it is soo chilly in here. The apartment is cute, but could stand better heating. Roger just figured out how to turn on the heat in the bedroom, the only room heated, and turned on the towel warming rack, so we’re good to go.

Anyway, to get you up to speed with our travels, we arrived in Amboise, in the Loire Valley, by train, of course. We had to take a train to Paris in the early morning, and, on arrival there, we took the Metro to another train station, and hopped on another train to Amboise. We arrived before noon, without a hitch . . . until we reached the town and had to walk several miles to where we were staying. We found it without a problem, partly because we bring up satellite views of where we are going to be walking the day before, take pictures of them when we still are on WiFi, and then use the pictures to help us get to where we want to go. It works, usually. On the way to the Airbnb, we stopped at a sandwich shop and bought some lunch and at a Carrefour City market, which are small Carrefour (like our Costco) stores. We bought food for breakfast, etc.

The place we stayed, was an apartment with a garden that was run by a young couple. It was tastefully decorated and had everything that we needed. We then walked back to town, purchased some seats for an informal tour to two of the Chateaux, on Sunday. We then went to visit the Chateau Royal D’Amboise. This is a large piece of property, overlooking the Loire River, right in the center of the city. Leonardo Da Vinci is buried here. It is an impressive place but not as ostentatious as the two we visited on Sunday. After walking through the chateau, we started our walk back to the apartment and while walking went past some cave-like dwellings that used to be inhabited by the poor but now are renovated homes for the wealthy. Some of the unrenovated ones are used for wine storage, due to the constant temperature. We came to a local restaurant built into one of these caves and had soup and salad . . . both yummy.

Sunday morning, we walked into town and bought some train tickets for the next two legs of our trip, and then walked through the huge open market that they have every Sunday. There were all kinds of baked goods and other food items, flowers, live chickens, clothing, etc. You can tell that this is where people go on Sunday, not church. In fact, the main church in the center of town, is open but empty of pews, etc. Sad.

We then met our van to take us to the Chateaux. The driver spoke good English and could answer some questions, and we watched a short DVD presentation, each person in his/her own language. Our 8- member group was made up of Mexicans, Japanese and Chinese and us. The chateaux were about an hour away, so we were glad that we had a driver.

We ended up stopping at Chambord and Chenonceau chateaux. Chambord is mammoth and surrounded by a 20-mile-long stone wall. Its main attraction is its architecture, including a double-helix staircase. It has 440 rooms and a fireplace for every day of the year. It used to be a monument to the royal sport of hunting.

The next place was Chenonceau. This was a 16^th century Renaissance palace which arches over the Cher River. It is impeccably maintained and has beautiful gardens and fresh flower arrangements throughout and roaring log fires in some of the fireplaces. The setting is very impressive and is the most visited chateau in France. We enjoyed this one the most of those that we saw.

On Monday, we caught an early train to take us to Pontorson, so we could visit Mont St-Michel. Three trains, and about 8 hours later we finally arrived and caught a bus for a short ride to Beauviour where we stayed for one night. Our Airbnb was in a small town and our room was a renovated 250 year old stone room in a very small hotel run by a French man with his British wife. We loved the setting and the room. Since we were needing to get to Mont St-Michel before it closed, the owner told us how to walk the back way, across farm fields with a wonderful view of the Abby.

We arrived at the Abby in time to walk all over the island and up to the top, but the Abby was closed, to our disappointment. The experience of being there was satisfying. It is a small medieval town which surrounds a huge church built in the center. The island is surrounded by mud flats and arrival there was always subject to the tides but a causeway has been built to take care of that problem. Even though our visit was short, we were happy that we had the chance to experience it.

This morning we left Pontorson and took the train to Bayeaux, which is near some of the D-Day sites. We plan on visiting the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach, tomorrow.  Today, we walked around the old part of the city and took our own tour of the massive cathedral here that was built in 1066. Old but beautiful!

At this point, you’re all caught up. Our next stop is Paris on Thursday, where we will stay until we return home on November 2. Thanks