Pictures April 7

1. Raspberry Mojito HR Cafe
2. Ministiere de l'Economie
3. Palais Omnisport de Paris-Bercy
4. Gare de Lyon

Saturday April 7, 2012

Today I planned to do the other two tours of the Hop-on-Hop off, which took me by the Sorbonne, which to be honest I missed as we drove by.  I expected something big and imposing and it was just kind of lost among buildings.  I did like the Palais du Luxembourg, which was beautiful.  We passed the Observatoiri de Paris and the Cimetiere du Montparnasse which is a big cemetary with many famous french people buried there.  We also passed the Tower Montparnasse.  I probably should have done this tour before the grand tour since many things along this route paled in comparison to seeing the Louvre, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower.  

The final tour I took was the Bastille-Bercy tour.  This went into the southern part of Paris and much of it ran along the Siene.  This appeared to include  newer parts of Paris. 

This tour started off along the edge of the Latin Quarter where I'd been the night before and passed the St-Nicols du Chardonnet church, a very old and beautiful church.  We continued on to the Opera de Paris Bastille, which was opened in 1989 and the tour said the President of France had asked for new and exciting architecture.  My first thought was how could they get any more exciting than the wonderful architecture they already have, so it seemed out of place and I found it underwhelming.

From there we went to the Gare de Lyon which has this beautiful clock tower.  We continued along the Siene where we saw one of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France - the national library.  It is four "L" shaped buildings each on the corner of a rectangle.  In the center is a garden that is not open to the public that preserves a variety of plantlife from around France.  But it is the library itself that is amazing.  I houses over 80,000 books, has modern and ancient books/manuscripts and an entire digital section.  I surmise it is comparable to the Library of Congress. 

We crossed the Seine and passed the Ministere de l'Economie - a new building that now houses most of the Ministries of France that up until recently were housed in the Louvre.  It is an architecturally stunning building, but again I thought so out of place with all of the marvelous architecture of France.  We also passed Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, which is a 17 thousand seat sports arena.  It is covered with grass and the top appears to be glass.  They said it was used for sporting events, including a US Football game, concerts and a big truck rally for which they removed the roof.

 We finished the tour at Notre Dome and I took the bus back to the Opera Garnier, one of my favorite places.  I walked home from there with a stope at the Hard Rock Cafe to buy pins for a friend and a Raspberry Mojito (and some dinner) for me. 

Friday April 6, 2012

It's Saturday night and I'm playing catch up.  Yesterday was awesome, I started my Hop-on-Hop off tour.  I got my Starbucks (4.05 euro) then walked over to the bus stop, which is a block from Starbucks and about 6 blocks from my apartment.  Got on the bus, it wasn't crowded, and started my first tour.

We left the Opera House and headed down Boulevard des Italiens.  This is where we saw the Academie de Musique, which is the top picture.  Lining the top of the building are busts of famous composers like Bethoven and Mozart.  When we got closer, I got a picture of each bust with their names.

We went up the Rue de Clichy that took us into area of the artists, or bohemians, where we saw the Moulange Rouge (second picture) where the CanCan was created and the movie Moulin Rouge was filmed.  I'll be honest, I expected something big and if you're not paying attention you miss it. We continued on to the Gare du Nord, which is their main train station.  It looked like an ant hill with people coming and going with their luggage.  Another few blocks and we reached the Gare de l'Est, which is another train station.  They told the story of how a queen was coming in (I have to confess, I remember Marie Antoinette and Napoleon and all the other Kings escape me) and the train station she was coming into wasn't considered appropriate for someone of her stature, so they laid special track to the Gare de l'Est so she would arrive at an appropriate train station.

We made a circle to head back to where I was a picked up and passed the Porte St-Martin and Porte St-Denis.  These are arches that remind you of small versions of the Arc du Triomphe and were actually entrances to the city at one time.  We passed Pizza Hut, McDonalds (2 actually in short span), Starcucks and Hard Rock cafe before reaching the point where I changed buses to head towards the museums and Eiffel Tower.  We went down the Ave de l'Opera and saw another opera house and passed the Palais Royal to arrive at the entrance of the Louvre, which is structure that creates mini tunnels that are just big enough for the buses (3rd picture) and I surmise were built because the Louvre was originally a military complex and until recently housed many of the ministries of the French govenrment.  Once through we could see the Louvre complex and the pyramid (4th picture).  From the Louvre we went across the Seine past the Conciergie.  It got its name because it became a prison and the name was derived from the staff who took care of the prisoners, or the Concierge.  We continued on to Notre Dame, which was just amazing.  From there we went along the Seine River past several museums including the Musee d'Orsay.  We crossed the river and went on to the Champs-Elysee and up to the Arc de Triomphe.  Looking up the Champs-Elysee was amazing.  It was a Friday mid afternoon and we just crawled up the three lane street to enter the free-for-all around the arc.  Lots of little cars but they have the courage of a semi truck.  In addition, all the motorcycle riders weave in and out of the cars trying to move forward.

From there we headed over to the Eiffel Tower.  I read a travel post from someone who said going to the top was OK, but don't forget to look at the tower, that is what is really amazing.  Now I know what they meant.  As you approach it you can see it rise above the buildings.  As you get closer it looks amazing, the you drive up to it and it is awe inspiring. They said (we have a recorded tour available in 11 languages) that the Tower was built for an exposition as the tallest structure in the world and after the fair was over, angry Parisians wanted the "eye sore" torn down.  Slowly support for it grew and it remained.

We continued along the loop and passed the Hotel Biron, which is now the Musee Rodan.  The hotel was abandoned for years and artists moved in.  The state finally bought it and Rodan donnated his paintings in return of the favor that they would never be removed from the building and thus it became the Musee Rodan.

We passed the Musee de l'Armee with a row of cannons in front of it.  We were supposed to stop here and I was going to catch the bus that would take me to the Latin Section, but it turns out our driver was preoccupied with her cell phone and we didn't stop.  Actually, she didn't even turn on our audio, I learned a lot today when I was coming back from  Bastille and Montparnasse tours and we had a driver who was actually paying attention. So I retraced a small part of one of the tours then walked over to the hotel where I met Cindy and Lon Bruso for dinner (last picture)

We walked around the Latin Section and had cheese and bread and wine and beer served by a young man from Columb who spoke French and Spanish but very little English so we ordered in Spanish.  We continued to wander through the Latin Section, which was narrow streets and cobblestone streets and lots and lots of restaurants, very few of which were latin. There were Gyros and Greek and Morrocon.  We saw a suckling pig on a spit and later on saw a lamb on a spit.  We finally settled on a place where we had the menu prix.  I had a Sangria that was almost as good as the Sangria my sister Cindy and I had in a Chilean restaurant (NY), snails in the shell (a first for me) they were yummy but now I understand how Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman could send one flying across the room. We all had beouf bourguignon with noodles and it was amazing.  Cindy and I both had creme brulee, which was truly the best I've ever had and Lon had this amazing trio of sherbets that tasted like a bowl of fruit each sherbet was made from.  They walked me to catch a cab and it was a full moon over the Seine and the moon appeared to be sitting next to Notre Dame which was lit up, it really looked amazing.

I'm working on an online album of my pictures and will share with anyone who is interested.  I'll write about today and post more pictures tomorrow.  Since I haven't figured out what button in French lets me preview this, I'm just posting and if I missed a word/missspelled a word, I apologize in advance.

Today was planning day.  Those who know me well know I don't do well without a plan.  I walked down to Rue Bonne Nouvelle which is where Starbucks is, the stops for the bus tour I'm starting tomorrow and the metro stations to get around town and to the river cruises I'll be doing over the weekend.  The pictures are of unrefrigerated eggs on the shelf (once publich health always public health) although I don't know if they have salmonella here like we do in the States.  The next is from the window of my apartment.  Earlier two men playing trumpets were walking down the street.  With the closeness of the buildings, it sounded like an entire band.  The last is the corner of Rue Bonne Nouvelle and Rue Poissonniere which, as you can, has a McDonalds.  I've also seen a Pizza Hut and Office Depot.

Sorry about the picture being sideways, for some reason having a problem uploading pictures tonight.

I made it to Paris.  The flight was bumpy somewhere over the midwest, I assume the edges of that storm that was beating up on Texas.  I had a pod with a seat that moved up and down to create a bed and it wasn't bad.

They served us dinner on the plane, choice of two appetizers, four entrees and three or four deserts.  The picture is of my starter, poached lobster on a salad of seaweed and edamame with a sweet chile sauce.  Absoluteley delicious and I'm not usually a fan of lobster, but I did want the seaweed salad.  Had seared sea bass with butter broccolini and cous cous.

Made it to Heathrow and terminal 5, the terminal for British Airways, is so nice.  I made my way to the lounge again where they had a self serve bar (I stuck to water and ginge ale since I hadn't slept much) and they had a nice buffet of cold and hot things.  Since I was still adjusting to the time change, just had a bowl of cereal (a favorite of mine) to go with my water and gingerale.

Caught my plan to Orly Airport in France.  Their "European Club" or whatever it is called was just regular seats but they didn't put anyone in the middle seat.  Although they served this nice little chicken and potatoe salad plate with water crest and some rolls which really improved how I felt (travel weary).

I finally connected with my shuttle driver - Super Shuttle is not blue in Paris.  It was funny because I met this nice lady from Australia who couldn't find her ride and realized she printed out the email without a phone number.  Turns out she had booked through the same company that I did and when she climbed into the van and we saw each other we just burst out laughing.  She was a school teacher (math) from Perth, Australia (opposite side of the country from Sydney).

Got to my apartment which is on this long narrow street with other apartments and what looks like a residence hotel.  There is a nice neighborhood grocery store a long city block away so I have food for breakfast and the bonus is they take credit cards.  The apartment looks exactly like the pictures.  I had contracts I was told I had to bring along with my deposit and after I met the representative (not sure if he owns or just manages) and he counted my money said that was all he needed and left.  In the morning I'll take pictures from the french doors that open and serve as the windows of the place.  Nice view and gives you a good view of the surrounding buildings.  Nice bonus - it has a fan.  I sleep with a fan so it was nice to find in the apartment.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have first pictures of the city.  Now I'm trying to figure out how to preview since the entire blog menu bar is in French.

Admirals Club DIA

I'm at DIA.  Fretted all day about forgetting my passport.  The young man who took me to the airport said he had driven a lady who was going to Italy and she said she woke up every night a week before  her trip after dreaming she lost her passport, so I guess I'm in good company.

I'm in the Admirals Club.  For my sister the world travelor this is old hat, but for me it is a new and exciting adventure.  I ordered a drink from the bar (bourbon and coke of course) and when I handed her my boarding pass she said "Oh, BA, I can give you better bourbon than that", threw out my drink and poured me my choice of bourbon with enough bourbon to last me a week.  We also could get a snack, so this is my exciting fruit and cheese platter, but the price was right - free!  I did notice that the bartender dipped her glass into the ice bin rather than using a scoop.

So just hanging out until it's time to take off.  My next entry should be from London.

Millie, my dog, came upstairs while I was packing and has posted herself on the walk ever since to be sure I don't leave her.  Recently she took her toy with her, so now she and her toy are posted on the side walk.

She made the trek to Conifer to stay with my sister, Cindy, her hubby and son and their three very large dogs tonight.  I have stifled myself - I have only called once tonight to check on her.  Jackson, the oldest, is the man of the house and Millie is challenging his status as "alpha" dog.  Cindy's other two dogs, Lola (a Newfoundland) and Shelby (St Bernard) do whatever Millie says.  Last time we had a doggie play date, Millie had everyone stopped on the stairs because the two biggest dogs could not get past Millie who was standing at the top of the stairs and refused to move or let any of the other dogs by. 

So tomorrow I leave.  I won't have wifi on the plan but should have it at my apartment in Paris.  I hope to make my first post from Paris Wednesday night (their time) and hope to tell you about my great trip across the ocean.