Day 7 New Year's Eve ~ Going home

Friday 31 December 2010


This was a travel day, so we were up early and ready to go.  We crammed everything into carry-ons again since we were worried about making it through Charlotte to connect to Kansas City in time.   One suitcase zipper on an outer pocket broke, oh well!  Our delightful breakfast maid, Shanti, said "Oh mama, you leaving today?! You come back, I take care of you!" with hugs and kisses on both cheeks.  So sweet!  Our concierge had arranged a car for us.  It turned out to be a Mercedes minivan - NICE!  Our Thai driver was very talkative.  He grew up in Paris, had never been to the US and hated museums.  After we quickly ran out of common ground it was a quiet ride to the airport in the dark.

The airport definitely looked more normal than when we arrived (deserted with abandoned luggage & chained exits on 26 December).  Bill and I both lost items in security that made it through previously: my very nice, and little scissors I had forgotten about - they were buried in my yarn; and a small container of body powder.  They were quite stringent, diligent and humorless.  ("These are forbidden," she said frostily)  Also, sadly, we lost a jar of fig jam that was too large.

Bill's POV:
The SwissTech made it through security from Kansas City via Charlotte and Paris and back to KC. Had it attached to my keys, no problem.
The fig jam I purchased in Paris, however, perished at the first security inspection. "Do you have jam?" asked the officious man in the blue blazer. I readily confessed.


It was a long flight, but still, much preferable to fly during the day (than overnight).  We enjoyed the in-seat entertainment systems with movies, TV, GPS to follow the flight (fascinating!) and live international news texts.  We read there was a major winter storm in the US Midwest, but that could mean anywhere from Ohio to Minnesota to Missouri... 


We made it through customs and security once again in Charlotte.  Bill's suitcase was thoroughly searched, probably because of the 5 Salt canisters he had neatly, but suspiciously, lined up along the edge of the main compartment.  He had to repack the entire contents.  We talked to Katie while waiting for our plane ~ it was Minnesota affected by the storm; she was snowed in at her in-laws home in Perham.  Fortunately, Kansas City was spared!  We had the most amazing weather karma on this trip!


After retrieving luggage and being shuttled to our car, Bill went to Hen House for deli chicken and salad.  So, at the end of a 23-hour day (being awake) we were sound asleep on New Year's Eve by 10:00pm.  

Happy New Year 2011!

Day 6 Being Tourists

Today's objectives: Relax, do some shopping & enjoy our last full day in Paris.

We pretty much "hit the wall" after the last several days of metro & museum hopping.  We thought about going to Versailles, but it would be better viewed in the spring or summer when you could walk the grounds.  We saw a representative room in Musée d'Orsay and we got the idea of the grand opulence we would expect to see.  Another idea was to find a shop where Julia Child frequented, E.Dehillerin, and even figured out what route to take...  But, we were bushed!  We crossed Pont Marie to  Ile de la Cité and walked around Notre-Dame.  It was our first and only sunny day and there were huge lines around the cathedral.  We passed on that crowded venue and strolled to ...

...La Conciergerie (where Marie Antoinette was jailed) and Sainte Chappelle adjacent.  But again, there were lines around the block.  So, we just waled around the island and saw the sights from the outside.  It was cool and brisk, but beautiful out.  We enjoyed the views of the Seine - the boats, the bridges and the Louvre (across the river), and all the charming buildings: window-boxed, balconied apartments as far as the eye can see.  Simply lovely!

We stopped for deli "pizza," hung out in the hotel and did some shopping.  The pizza was a thin crust LOADED with tomatoes, veggies and a little bit of cheese.  

So much just screamed TACKY Paris and/or were overpriced, naturally.  We got a handful of Eiffel Tower keychains and some chocolates from the store next to the hotel.  

I was after the winter scarves, all the rage in Paris for men and women.  Bill, shopping with me, said "Buy that one," after I fingered half a dozen in one store.  Clearly this was not like shopping with a girl.  I also picked up a matching reversible TOC! set, a looped, double-sided fleece head/neck wrap that can be manipulated into different configurations, plus fingerless gloves.  By the end of the day all we wanted was a scoop of the very popular Bertillon ice cream, heavenly.  

We kept passing this very snooty store with jersey & lace wraps... it drew me in and I succumbed to the urge and bought one.  SO Touristy!

Bill's POV:

12/20/2010 Ile de la Cité, shopping on Ile St-Louis 

Pretty much hit the wall with walking and rich French cooking.  Lines at Sainte Chappelle and the Conciergerie were quite long, so we opted for shopping and a quiet day without much in the way of food.  

Day 5 Musée d'Orsay

I woke up the morning of Wednesday 29 December and said "We haven't seen the Eiffel Tower,  Arc de Triomphe or Place de la Concorde (site of the guillotine)..." So, we got ready for a day of sight-seeing after another beautiful breakfast served to us by the delightful lady, Shanti, who called me Mama ("Mama, you like?): pain au chocolat & raspberry conserve, fresh orange juice, coffee & cream, and more!

We hopped on the Métro and headed out to Place de la Concorde, which is a huge square and where you can see all the sites by standing and turning around 360 degrees. You can look down the Champs-Élysées through the Arc de Triomphe. The Ferris Wheel of Paris (Grande Roue de Paris) is also there, but it was so foggy all day you couldn't see past the base of the Eiffel Tower.

We walked the length of the Jardin des Tuileries, that must be beautiful in the spring & summer, and crossed the Seine to ...

... Musée d'Orsay
 

The art is in a renovated train station - It was all so beautiful I came close to tears ~ a glorious hall with an enormous gilded clock at one end.  It was filled with art by Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Degas, Rodin... Amazing!!  No photos were allowed, but we had each taken a couple before we realized this.  I bought a souvenir book as a remembrance.  

After we toured the museum we were quite thirsty & hungry, but the museum restaurants had very long lines so we took off walking, ending up at Brasserie Terminus Nord where our 30€ lunch included my "Coke" for 6.90€, which is around $10! All we could do was laugh... The bread and cheese was so wonderful, though, and it was such as fun, bustling cafe.  It was the best Coke I've ever had :)

Since we were right across from the Louvre, we crossed the river and went back to find da Vinci's painting The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.  I thought I looked for it diligently during our 1st visit, but was sad to discover it is not currently being shown.   

 We then got completely lost in Sully, in the Medieval Louvre and huge Egyptian collection. We were up and down stairs over and over...  We were completely DONE!  We had a lemonade, then, thanks to Bill's cane, we got a ride in the coolest open-air elevator up the Pyramid to exit (check out the video!).  Bill's lift & cane helped us line-jump every huge museum cue.  As the week progressed, the crowds got larger (closer to New Year's Eve).  I mastered the "concerned wife" look to avoid any disgruntled non-believers...

For dinner we returned to Le Flore en L'Ile for a repeat of French onion soup, bread, cheese and wine.  We are not tiring of that repast!  Relaxing and lovely end of the day.

Bill's POV:

Place de la Concorde - Orsay - Brasserie Terminus - Louvre

Site of execution by guillotine!  Could not tell about its past.  Orsay is a stunning collection of Impressionist era paintings and sculpture.  They did more in sculpture in marble than I had known, mostly with classical themes.  Cafe was a classic busy and crowded place, very good,café crème in a soup bowl (size large for an American?). Louvre was a maze of Egyptian artifacts.