Day 4 The Latin Quarter

Tuesday's objectives: See the Rodin museum, the Church of the Miraculous Medal & find La Maison Du Chocolat for the Chocolate & Pastry walking tour

December 28 we thought of Colin - Happy Birthday from Paris!  On this day we were all over the Latin Quarter, the Left Bank - it is huge! We took the Metro and learned how to change lines, following the signs by color, number and destination.  We started our day at the Rodin museum which has The Thinker in the garden and The Kiss inside the hotel that was his home.  He was a prolific sculptor and a master of sculpting the human body in marble. I must admit, while I admire the artistry I am not a huge fan, whereas this was a touchstone moment for Bill who loves sculpting and it was a big reason for him to even be in Paris.  My summary comment... marble porn.  OK, that's a bit strong, but some of the sculptures I had never seen before and I found myself imagining how these erotic poses came to be...  Anyway, he is hugely popular and did some amazing work.  For someone with zero depth perception (me) it is unfathomable how someone can create works of art from hunks of rock.  

Bill's POV: 

Musée Rodin, Metro ride to Varennes Station.  Rodin was clearly a prolific sculptor and designer.  Elise said he was a dirty old man.  Probably so.  His sculptures are certainly a departure from the classical styles at the Louvre.  

We next took the Métro to the area close to where the Chocolate & Pastry Tour start ~ a gift to us from Dan & Ann.  First we went Le Bon Marché, a large Nieman-Marcus-type department store (nice restrooms).

Then to Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, the church of St. Catherine Labouré ~ a beautiful chapel with a simple gift shop run by the convent nuns. Lovely.  

Then we went to La Grande Epicerie ~ a fabulous grocery store.  It took a while to find a simple bottle of water, plus a sandwich to share & some take-home goodies.  We were too cold to wait outside for the tour, so we slipped into a little restaurant for coffee - perfect.

Bill's POV:

From the Rodin museum, we took the train to Sèvres-Babylone.  We walked to Le Bon Marché, a department store, a bit pricey. From Le Bon Marché, across the street is the chapelle Notre-Dame de la Médaille Miraculeuse.  This is the convent Saint Catherine Labouré joined and the site of her apparitions.  Next stop was La Grande Epicerie, for sure the most interesting grocery store I have ever seen.  We bought a sandwich to share and 5 Sel Gris as gifts back home for the kids (and two for us). 

Pastry Tour:
2:00pm (14:00) We met our group outside La Maison du Chocolat ~ Not quite sure what the guide's name was ~ He was très French, so his English was with a heavy accent.  He was quite knowledgeable about the area and the various shops.  I lost count, but we sampled or took samples with us of chocolate éclair, infused chocolates,...

...sourdough bread and shortbread cookies, ...

 

...AND macarons, which are all the rage here in Paris - light & airy cookies with a filling to hold them together.  Wonderful!

The neighborhoods were quite urban with upscale shopping and fabulous architecture ~ buildings, now mostly apartments ~ from the 1800s.  There was one "Where's Bill?" moment when he disappeared from the group, but then caught up with us having slipped into a jewelry store to buy me a bracelet... or, perhaps just to warm up, but the bracelet was a sweet surprise.  

We also saw an historic hotel: Hôtel Lutetia and Saint-Sulpice church, one of the churches from "The da Vinci Code" movie.  Quite an experience all 'round.  Thanks, Dan & Ann!

It was a cold, misty Paris afternoon, but we again managed the Métro & gratefully came "home" to Hotel de Lutece ~ a welcome, warm site to rest our tired feet! 

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Sens'o Italian restaurant, a delicious 3-course dinner.  It was a big food day!

Bill's POV:

The pastry tour started across from a café where we had café crème while waiting.  La Maison du Chocolat seems to be one of the more famous of the many chocolate shops in Paris, a great place to start the tour.  From there we went to a bakery.  Across from the bread shop, I stumbled into a jewelry store called Metal Pointu's.  The bracelet I bought is metal with a bit of Oriental marking on it, 32 Euros, a gift for Elise.  From there, we went to Pierre Hermé a maker of "Macarons." These are a sort of cookie and candy combined to make a very nice treat.  They are available in many flavors.  They look like little bitty hamburgers.  Since the weather was cold and had become drizzly, we headed to the Saint-Sulpice Métro and went back to the hotel.

Day 3 Monday December 27, 2010

Objectives of the day: Figure out the Metro & Explore the Louvre...

Living in Kansas City, we have very limited experience with subways & trains.  To get anywhere you drive!  So, the Metro was a new experience.  Our station was Pont Marie, which is a small station - no line transfers here.  We took our time so as not to appear obviously clueless.  10:30 AM was slow in terms of French schedules.  They seem to get late morning starts, which may explain their penchant for late dinner hours.  We found our way to the Louvre, taking our time.  We were very glad to have the Paris Pass, purchased in advance, for the convenience of Metro and museum tickets.  The line to the Louvre was very long, but our understanding was that we could avoid the ticket lines with our Pass.  Huge bonus points for Bill's disability... The lift on his boot as well as his cane was the Golden Ticket.  We simply went to the front of the line to ask a question about entry, the guard looked at Bill's foot & opened the gate without hesitation.  We acted like we knew what we were doing & breezed by: "Merci!"  Once inside under the glass Pyramid you need to have some idea about what you want to see as there are 3 enormous "wings" to this museum (former palace): Denon, Sully & Richilieu... Each wing has 3 floors (i.e., ground, first, and second). There is also an `Entresol' - below ground-level.  We went through 2 of the 3, or so I thought...  As it turns out we were in parts of all 3.  Our targets were the most famous: the Mona Lisa, as well as other da Vinci and Italian Renaissance art, Venus, Winged Victory and other marble statuary.  It is easy to get lost and turned around in the maze of hallways & stairways.  If you can get a glimpse through a window to see the main courtyard it helps keep your bearings.  The map was somewhat helpful...  It is just so overwhelming.  We missed da Vinci's painting The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (although I was sure I looked carefully) and the Egyptian collection, but it is impossible to do it all in one day and we were fairly certain we would return during the week.

 

Bill's POV:

The Louvre (a wealth of wealth)

It is no wonder the French killed their kings and now I better understand the origins of the French revolution.  

After making our way back to Ile St. Louis we stopped for something to hold us until diner.  It turned into chocolate crêpes, mainly because we made the mistake of choosing a small shop for hot chocolate, but one sits to drink a beverage and to prevent further insult to the owner I quickly said "Oui, deux crêpes au chocolat, 'take away.'" They do not seem to be fond of carry-out-style food or drink, i.e., no to-go!

For dinner we found a charming little restaurant Les Gourmands de l'Ile with reasonable prices, just down the street from our hotel.  We should have checked the reviews ahead of time... They had 3 wine choices: bottle, carafe or glass - in other words, how much are you going to drink??  Bill ordered Bœuf Bourguignon which was actually delicious.  I know this because he shared it with me after  I mistakenly ordered Le Cassoulet.  It turned out to be little more than white beans & hot dogs... MISTAKE!  Plus, the soup was a puree of butternut squash & carrots, otherwise known as vegetable soup - Not what I had in mind. The atmosphere was charming, though.  We were shown to the cellar down the narrowest spiral staircase I have ever seen: 2 complete 360 degree turns to the stone "cave" - Memorable!

Bill's POV:

We ate dinner at a small bistro, nothing to get excited about.  The beef bourguignon was very good.

Day 2 Paris arrival

Day 2 was actually a continuation of Day 1 since we both dozed off & on during the trans-Atlantic flight - hardly qualifying as SLEEP.  CDG (Charles De Gaulle) airport was so bizarre due to the closing of Terminal 2 and flight cancellations earlier in the week due to heavy snow.  The roof was in danger of caving in which is why they closed it down.  While anticipating the trip I adopted a Que Sera, Sera attitude, because truly, what can you do about what you cannot control?? The post-Christmas results were thousands of abandoned suitcases stacked by every luggage carousel.  We were so grateful to have carry-on bags only.  Sadly, too, there was a dog abandoned in a crate barking out of fear, thirst, hunger... it made us feel helpless.  Then, to keep everything reasonably "secure" all the exits were chained shut, and due to the holiday, there was no obvious personnel to assist us lonely travelers who actually made it!  Again, great karma accompanied our every move!  We walked in circles seemingly forever to find our way out of the terminals to a taxi stand.  Security & customs were minimal to nonexistent - we could have picked up any one of those stacked suitcases & simply walked out.  Too bad for anyone without their belongings! 

Terminal closed at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, news

Paris... quite urban, like any other large city; however, once on Île Saint-Louis... très magnifique!  Teeny streets with little shops, hotels & restaurants.  Ours, Hôtel de Lutèce, was adorable, a 17th century converted mansion between a small grocery and a chocolate shop.  

I finally saw Notre Dame de Paris (French for Our Lady of Paris), also known as Notre Dame Cathedral.  In high school & college, having taken several years of French & attended 2 Catholic schools, I was fascinated with the Cathedral in Paris.  In an art class in the 1970s I used watercolor, pen & ink to paint the church from a photo in a book.  I had it framed a couple of years ago and, while it hangs in my living room, I never dreamed I would see it in person.  This does not explain my obsession, I can only say - some things are beyond explanation... It just is what it is.  

So many views of this magnificent structure from the outside, inside and across the Seine, daytime & at night.  On this day we were there in time for Christmas vespers.  Started in the 1200's, it is hard to comprehend the scope of this still active Catholic church.  So elaborate in design and decor... The thing that really got to me was the commercialism, very hard to take.  There were vending machines surrounding the open sanctuary for medals and holy cards: choose your saint, insert coins here.  Plus a gift shop inside the church with outrageous prices for cheap trinkets, rosaries, magnets, etc.  Just could not go there.

We ended our day close to the hotel with a lovely, simple dinner at Le Flore en l'Ile : onion soup, rustic bread, a cheese plate and wine.  The chocolate shop next door provided a rich hot chocolate for dessert.  We were DONE for this very long day.  Our plan for the next day was to tackle the Paris Métro, then Musée du Louvre (the Louvre).  

Bon soir!

Day 1 Travel day

12/25/10
This was a pure travel day, that is, after we celebrated Christmas morning with the family...  Lots of Santa-excitement & the famous brunch casserole.  Bill & I headed to the Kansas City airport & chose The Parking Spot for long-term parking.  I love the polka-dot buses that take you to the terminal.Definitely the proper reason to choose a place to park!  We were quite early to a nearly empty airport, so we simply waited. Security was no problem.  I amazed myself that I rose to the challenge of packing only carry-on luggage.  Normally I stuff a large suitcase for an overnight trip in Nebraska!  I was hoping to avoid having the luggage opened, however, for fear that my tightly rolled & stuffed clothing would spring out like one of those mixed nuts trick canisters. http://www.theparkingspot.com/locations/locations.aspx?ID=5

We had a small plane for the trip to Charlotte, NC - 2 across seating so reasonably comfortable.  Probably the most interesting part of all the air travel happened when a rather disturbed, impaired woman made her way to the window seat across the aisle: loud & belligerent, she would not get off her cell phone, having *!#@* words with the flight attendant as we were taxiing to take-off.  I was actually surprised we didn't return to the gate, but, you know - schedules & all.  By the end of the flight, after a cocktail or 2 she was loudly swearing at all the passengers, including Bill who she thought looked like her husband... Hmm, I sincerely doubt that.  She was definitely the chatter of the jetway in Charlotte as we all waited for our larger bags, which had been stowed.  

A simple, quick transfer to our plane to Paris, with a perfunctory glance at our passports, again on US Airways.  We bought our tickets 2+ months ahead so we had our choice of seats - 2, 4, 2 across we had window & aisle seats to ourselves.  We had the most amazing weather karma as a monster winter storm was edging its way to the East Coast.  As our window iced up, we ended up on the runway 1.5 hours awaiting de-icing.  When we eventually took off in the dark there was a light freezing drizzle and the airport was bathed in an eerie green glow of antifreeze being sprayed from tall lighted boom trucks - glad to have made it out just in the nick! http://www.usairways.com/

Uneventful and sleep-deprived overnight flight, but pleasant fellow passengers, and a nondescript dinner of pasta (me) or chicken (Bill)... We picked at that, drank lots of water, dozed and tried not to think about what time our bodies thought it was, i.e. the middle of the night, as we landed at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.  Partly cloudy & cold (27 degrees F), it was 11 AM in Paris (4 AM Kansas City) on Day 2.

Beginnings

“The golden opportunity you are seeking is within yourself.” ~ Mary Engelbreit


I am not inclined to make New Year's resolutions, however, I looked at this quote on the charm hanging above my desk, a gift from my dear friend Mary, and I knew the time to start my blog is now.  


Bill & I ended our year with a celebration of our 35th anniversary, a trip to Paris.  This was SO foreign to our usual routine... I think that is why we have had so much interest in our trip.  "What did you do?"  "What was it like?"  "Do you have photos?"  We both kept journals, so I will start my blog here: the end of the year, the beginning of a new way of looking at travel and looking at life.  We are both artists (at least in spirit) and appreciate the life stories historically revealed in all kinds of art.  When I was in high school I was fascinated with France and took 4 years of French.  I painted Notre Dame cathedral from a photo in a book, & and  it hangs framed in our living room.  I have always wanted to go there.  Bill, too, was interested in France, studied French and we both have roots in France & England.  His recent fascination with sculpting marble led him to research Rodin.  Where else to see the art but in Paris!


Paris December 2010