Tuesday in Paris - Buses, roads, rivers and boats

Tuesday We tried to get up early, well I did, but this morning it was SKs turn to delay our departure. He was exhausted, still, and when I woke him up he seemed a bit confused. He admitted he had been dreaming were we in Paris...oh, wait, we are. Today we decided to take it a little easy on the feet that are not used to walking so much. We did Les Cars Rouges, a hop-on, hop-off tour of part of Paris. We got on at the base of le Tour d'Eiffel, it took us around to the other side, stopped for a few seconds for the photo op and to pick up more passengers. As we head away from the area of le Trocadero, I notice a restaurant that SK has been looking for. The streets of Paris are amazing. There are the small, charming alleys, roads with rows of buildings with many windows and roofs bristling with chimneys. There are huge avenues, where cars careen chaotically from one side to the next, the monuments ignored by the motorists. Huge monuments line massive squares, that in earlier ages provided armies an area to parade. The traffic is amazingly horrific. Cars zip by, cutting each other off, motorcycles and scooters rush to the front, bicycles are out there too, zooming by. The bus stops and starts sporadically as the lights change and we move forward to the next intersection. The Place de la Concorde is breathtaking in is grandness. It is huge, with huge monuments, including an obelisk that was a gift to France from Egypt. We head north along la rue Royale toward the place de la Madeleine and l'Opera. Both of these buildings are amazing. The church is surrounded by pillars, somewhat like the Parthenon. The doors are so amazingly huge. You could ride giraffes through the doors and there would be plenty off room for fancy , really tall headdresses on the giraffes. When we had noted the building on Monday, the doors were closed, today they were open and we wanted inside. We never did make it back. Maybe next time. We wind through the narrow streets of Paris, entering the chaotic roundabouts, turning until we find our exit to the next destination. The Champs Élysées is a parade route from the kings of France. It is wide, tree lined , lined with shops of every kind and leads straight to the Arc de Triompe. It's huge, magnificent, grand, amazing. And how do you get to it? We didn't stop to visit, though I would like to do that if I return, and I found out later that you have to use an underground tunnel to get to the Arc from the outer walkways. From the Arc we returned down the Champs Elysees and stopped at Les Invalides where there are museums of the Navy and Armed forces. The buildings are beautiful, the statues commemorating heroes of war from around the world are golden. From there we returned to La Place de la Concorde and around to the road leading back along le Riv Droit (Seine River) passing by le Louvre and toward Notre Dame. Another amazingly huge building. The details are amazing and plentiful. We then returned along le Riv Gauche, passing by le Musee d'Orsay. Le Louvre is HUGE. We walked around most of the building the day before, but would wait until Wednesday to go inside. The Musee d'Orsay was where we had encountered the ring-finders. Now it was crowded with people going into the museum, no ring-finders in sight. We returned to the Tour d'Eiffel and decided to get some lunch. We tried to find La Terrasse, but found another cafe instead. One suggestion made by one of SK's coworkers was to order a "pichet" of wine. A bottle of wine is usually 75 cl (or 750 ml) and contains about 6 glasses of wine. If only 2 people are drinking the wine, that's quite a bit of wine. A pichet can be available in multiple sizes, usually 25 cl or 50 cl. SK and I enjoyed the 50 cl size, and usually ordered that or the 25 cl size during lunch. You have to ask for water at meals, it is not automatically served. The Parisiennes tend to order bottled water, Evian is popular. We tried a few of the mineral waters, AM didn't like them much. I found them flavorful, some more pleasant than others. Most of the water is also carbonated. I preferred the "still" water. Almost every sit-down cafe serves crepes or sandwiches. Take-away stands will sell wonderful ham and cheese warmed baguette sandwiches. After lunch we continued our sit down tour of Paris by taking the boat tour. The boat was boarded at the foot of the Tour d'Eiffel. We traveled west along the Seine seeing beautiful buildings and sights. Many Parisiennes sit along the banks and wave to the boats as they go by. We turned around and returned along the left side of the river.

Wednesday in Paris - Cathedrals, ruins, museums and subways

Wednesday We tried to visit the insides of places today. We visited Notre Dame, the Museum of Public Health in Paris, the Museum of the Middle Ages and the Louvre. Notre Dame is amazing. It is old, it is beautiful, it is full of detail and history.We spent a good deal of time here, walking around the outside, walking around the inside, being awestruck by the age and beauty of the place. It also holds a bit of sadness. Sadness that we have spent so much time, energy and resources in making such places to continue the brainwashing of people. I tried to ignore that part and just enjoy seeing such new (to me) things. Of the three museums, I enjoyed the displays, and the fewer people, of the Musee de Moyen Ages. The Musee d'Assistance Publique de Paris was a lot of pictures, very few artifacts. The few they had were really cool. The early EKG machine was an amazing contraption. It didn't state it on the description, but I knew that it required the patient to sit with their feet in buckets of water to help the machine pick up the electric currents of the heart. The instrument sets were filled with recognizable instruments (to me). There are very few buildings which have air conditioning. Most of the museums were so warm we were getting over heated. It was refreshing to go back outside into the 80 degree weather. The Musee de Moyen Ages was inside a building that harkens to an older time, though I don't think it was actually that old, maybe it was. It was filled with artifacts, paintings and armor from long ago. Some of the items were amazing. We were there late and SK and I were hurried out without seeing the last half. We discovered that le Louvre was open late tonight, so we decided to brave the lines. Before leaving for le Louvre, we tried to find an ice cream shop SK was told about. After wandering around a bit, we did manage to find the shop, closed. Nearby shops that were still open sold their ice cream so we managed to get a scoop to share. It is very good ice cream. Taking the hop-on hop-off bus we made it back to les Invalides (where the bus stopped for the night). We walked across the bridge to le Tour d'Eiffel, then decided to find La Terrasse. I remembered to look at the details while on the bus and found it fairly quickly. It still involved much waling. The food at La Terrasse was, as expected, wonderful. We then tackled le Louvre. Finding simple cool drinks and restrooms in Paris proved to be challenging at times. AM took off into the museum, SK and I looked for some ice tea and a rest room. We found a wonderful tea shop, with a magnificent selection of teas both chauds and froids. Thinking back, I believe this shop was the one I was directed to at a later date by the Mariages Freres tea shop when I asked for iced tea to go. We refreshed ourselves then tackled le Louvre. Getting in required a security check. Then we had to decide what to go see first. As it was we only saw part of one wing, and even that we rushed through, stopping to snap a picture or two or discuss the history of a piece of art. Our time frame was to meet AM outside in 2 hours. This concept of giving ourselves a half hour, an hour, 2 hours in a museum seems nice, but really is impractical when you are talking to an artist who has studied the history of many of these artworks, and someone who is trying to live a dream of visiting such a wonderful place. We had a limited amount of time, and we managed to see some of the highest priorities. We missed seeing the David sculpture, never found it among Michaelangelo's collection because it was in a different gallery. I can tell you, the best part of the Louvre was having along my own student of art who talked to me about the history of certain themes and art styles, the ages of sculptures, the influences of this art style, why this particular artist was so innovative... After le Louvre, we found our way back to the Metro under a very art nouveau sign. It was during this trip "home" that I had an experience that I had heard about in other countries, never really wanted to experience myself, and now, having experienced it, never want to experience it again. As we waited for the Metro (subway) to take us to a station near Les Halles so we could transfer to the RER to Goussainville, the crowd grew continuously, a few people here and there until the platform was full of people. When the train arrived there was a massive push of people through the open doors. We had arrived early so we were near the front and were shoved right onto the train. We had only one stop until ours so we tried to stay together near the door. People kept pushing their way onto the train until we were packed so tight you could barely breathe. At this point I was getting very uncomfortable, strangers touching me on all sides, can't even turn around, if someone managed to open my backpack and take something out, I wouldn't be able to do a thing about it...I can barely breathe we are packed in so tight. I almost started to try to get back out before the doors closed, but the alarm sounded and the Metro is automated, so they warn of injury if you try to get through the doors after the alarm sounds, and people were still trying to push their way on! The doors closed and we started moving. I had a hold of the pole, so I could maintain my position, not that it really made much of a difference, I wasn't going anywhere the people were packed to tightly. During the short, which seemed very long, trip to the next station my mind wandered to wondering what could happen if the train got in an accident at this point. All these people panicking if the lights went out, or the train suddenly stopped or broke down...PANDEMONIUM would surely erupt. I really didn't want that to happen, not with me right in the middle of all these strangers who wouldn't understand me as I tried to calm the chaos. Yes, I don't ever want to be on a train that is so tightly packed with people again. I would rather walk to the station I want, or wait until the crowd lessens so the train is not so crowded. At the Les Halles station we pushed our way off the Metro and tried to get oriented. We identified the "Sortie" toward the RER platform and headed in that direction. The crowd thinned out and we were suddenly alone in the subway tunnels. That seemed to indicate that the RER would not be quite to crowded, that was a relief. The rest of our trip home was uneventful, though I noticed transportation security at every station, including our own. They seemed to be providing a presence, and to prevent the young men who are constantly hopping over the ticket taking gates. We made it back to the hotel without further events, except we walked around the field since the puddle was big from earlier rains. I found a slab of marble that had been tossed into the grass. The slab had shattered, so I picked up a few pieces to bring home for KW.