Paris – Friday, March 27, 2009
Started out this morning with the hotel breakfast again. We’ve decided that we do like nutella! (Judy already knew this. It was new to Debbie & me.) We decided to get our Paris L’Open tour bus passes this morning and ride the bus 2/3 of the way through the tour, then get off at Notre Dame and visit there. The L’Open passes were for two days which doesn’t make any sense for Judy and Debbie as they could only use one day (the voucher was dated today so we couldn’t get them any earlier.) It’s great for me as I can take some of the other tours tomorrow after Debbie & Judy leave. The buses have an open top so you can see without windows, plus headphones so that you can listen to a guided tour of what you’re seeing in your own language. We caught the bus on the Champs Elysees and rode past the Arc de Triomphe; Eiffel Tower; Invalides; Place de la Concorde; Opera Garnier; Louvre; across some of the bridges; and ended up at Notre Dame.
We were able to enter the cathedral, after dodging the scammers, where we started out by lighting a candle for our brother, David. I know that Baptists don’t really light candles in memory of dear ones, but I felt I wanted to do this anyway. I had also lit a candle for David at St. Paul’s in London, not sure if I mentioned that when I wrote about our visit there. There was a service going on, so we were still allowed to walk around but asked to do so quietly. Beautiful stained glass and stone work all around. Hard to think that this was all done without machines. We walked all around the outside of the cathedral after we left. We saw the line for the guided tour but it was pretty long and the museum pass didn’t give “front of the line” privileges so we opted not to go. Besides, lots of steps and walking, Debbie would not have been up to it. We stopped in a small park behind the buttresses where there was a scenic restroom. Smelly but scenic. There were a group of school children playing in the park, interesting to watch their games while waiting. After we’d walked around the entire cathedral, we started back down the side street to finish souvenir purchases. I think all of our loved ones will be receiving something from their respective wife – mother –grandmother. We also stopped at a stand and had crepes again. This time we were able to watch the crepe being made – with a machine called a “crepe-o-matic.” I kid you not. Saw the label on the machine. They were long and rectangular instead of a round circle. Debbie had nutella, I had nutella and banana, and Judy had jambon et fromage (ham and cheese.) Hers was the best, I think if I have another crepe that will be the one to try.
As it was too cold to go to the Jardin de Luxembourg as we had planned, we decided to get back on the green bus again, take it up to where we could transfer to the yellow bus, and tour the Montmartre area. We didn’t pay close attention to the color on the front and ended up on the blue bus instead, which took us on a tour of the Latin quartier and the Marais, including the Bastille monument (the Bastille itself was destroyed in the revolution.) Not quite the plan but we did see some interesting places. We were chased to the bottom level of the bus when it started hailing (small balls but hail nonetheless, it was getting cold.)After we made the full trip back to Notre Dame, we transferred to the green bus and rode it the rest of the way back to the Champs Elysees where we got on in the morning. We saw a bit more of the Latin quartier, mainly by the Seine, and also the Musee d’Orsay, as well as the entire length of the Champs Elysees. We got off at the Avenue Kleber stop off the Etoile. While Debbie and Judy walked over to the Ave de la Grande Armee to find the Harley dealer, I tried to find a geocache that was supposed to be nearby. No luck. I think it was at the bus stop but that bus stop was fenced in for renovations. So no caches today. I plan to try some more tomorrow!
I walked over to the Harley dealer to meet Deb & Judy – stopping at the Honda dealer across the street first to see if they had any Paris-specific Honda t-shirts. Equal time for Gold Wing riders! None to be found, though. I tried! We walked back up to the Arc de Triomphe, and since Debbie needed to buy another suitcase to haul some of her purchases back, we decided to walk down the Champs Elysees to the Monoprix store that we’d seen while coming up the street before. It was a bit farther than we thought but once there, Debbie bought a bag, I bought some miscellaneous stuff as did Judy. We got separated in the store for a while but eventually found each other. Decided to wait for the L’Open bus to ride back up the street but it never came so we finally figured out that a #53 bus would take us the same way.
Got off at the Arc De Triomphe again and walked down to the hotel, dropped off our bags, then headed out for dinner. It was only 7:30, quite a bit earlier than the night before! We ended up at Hippopotamus where Debbie had a Hippo burger, I had a Hippo steak, and Judy had tilapia. Our meals came with an entrée (appetizer) or dessert – Judy had a salad, Debbie had chocolate mousse, and I had Tarte Tatin (an apple tart w/ice cream on the side) that I’d heard much about. Had to say the plats (main courses) were great but my tarte tatin wasn’t as good as I’d heard it was supposed to be. Oh, by the way, it was not hippo meat, just named after the restaurant.
We walked the short distance back to the hotel and all of us had to organize our suitcases. Debbie & Judy for the trip home, and me for the move to my new hotel tomorrow. They are worried about me being in Paris by myself for two days. I’m not. I’m feeling perfectly comfortable here and should be fine. I’m taking the necessary precautions with my possessions and am not going to go out alone after dark. I know how to use the metro and know enough French to communicate, though I’m not perfect in the grammar department. Sorry, Mr. St. Clair, it’s been too many years, those verb conjugations are just not coming back quickly enough.
We have an alarm set for two hours before the shuttle is to come for Debbie and Judy – they are both packed and ready to roll. Judy is optimistically thinking that security is going to let her carry on a jar of nutella. I’m thinking they will say “non.” We’ll see. I plan to leave my luggage at the hotel and do a bit more exploring in the morning, then go to my new hotel, check in, and do some more exploring over in that neighborhood. Hopefully have some wifi time that is not rushed because I’m feeling bad that Debbie & Judy are just sitting there. We did go to MacDo’s this morning because Mom had to call our hotel to see if we made it since we didn’t get to use any wifi in Paris before then.
There are lots and lots and lots of pictures. All I’ve done every evening with them is download them from the memory cards. Mine, Debbie’s, and Judy’s. I plan to take some time either in the evenings in the hotel, on the train to and from Germany, in the airports, and on the plane to go through them all – turning to vertical when needed, cropping and fixing, and deleting duplicates and bad pictures. Once I have things sorted better, I’ll burn DVD’s for each of us.
To give you an idea of quantity – I’ve filled up my 1 GB card and finished filling my 2 GB card tonight. I put in the 4 GB card, hope it lasts the rest of the trip. I really don’t want to erase any of the cards until I know for sure everything has made it home ok. I gave my 2nd 2 GB card to Debbie at the start of the trip as her camera only had a 128 mb card in it.
It’s getting late and tomorrow promises to be a full day so as I listen to my sisters softly snoring near me, I’d better shut down for tonight.
Started out this morning with the hotel breakfast again. We’ve decided that we do like nutella! (Judy already knew this. It was new to Debbie & me.) We decided to get our Paris L’Open tour bus passes this morning and ride the bus 2/3 of the way through the tour, then get off at Notre Dame and visit there. The L’Open passes were for two days which doesn’t make any sense for Judy and Debbie as they could only use one day (the voucher was dated today so we couldn’t get them any earlier.) It’s great for me as I can take some of the other tours tomorrow after Debbie & Judy leave. The buses have an open top so you can see without windows, plus headphones so that you can listen to a guided tour of what you’re seeing in your own language. We caught the bus on the Champs Elysees and rode past the Arc de Triomphe; Eiffel Tower; Invalides; Place de la Concorde; Opera Garnier; Louvre; across some of the bridges; and ended up at Notre Dame.
We were able to enter the cathedral, after dodging the scammers, where we started out by lighting a candle for our brother, David. I know that Baptists don’t really light candles in memory of dear ones, but I felt I wanted to do this anyway. I had also lit a candle for David at St. Paul’s in London, not sure if I mentioned that when I wrote about our visit there. There was a service going on, so we were still allowed to walk around but asked to do so quietly. Beautiful stained glass and stone work all around. Hard to think that this was all done without machines. We walked all around the outside of the cathedral after we left. We saw the line for the guided tour but it was pretty long and the museum pass didn’t give “front of the line” privileges so we opted not to go. Besides, lots of steps and walking, Debbie would not have been up to it. We stopped in a small park behind the buttresses where there was a scenic restroom. Smelly but scenic. There were a group of school children playing in the park, interesting to watch their games while waiting. After we’d walked around the entire cathedral, we started back down the side street to finish souvenir purchases. I think all of our loved ones will be receiving something from their respective wife – mother –grandmother. We also stopped at a stand and had crepes again. This time we were able to watch the crepe being made – with a machine called a “crepe-o-matic.” I kid you not. Saw the label on the machine. They were long and rectangular instead of a round circle. Debbie had nutella, I had nutella and banana, and Judy had jambon et fromage (ham and cheese.) Hers was the best, I think if I have another crepe that will be the one to try.
As it was too cold to go to the Jardin de Luxembourg as we had planned, we decided to get back on the green bus again, take it up to where we could transfer to the yellow bus, and tour the Montmartre area. We didn’t pay close attention to the color on the front and ended up on the blue bus instead, which took us on a tour of the Latin quartier and the Marais, including the Bastille monument (the Bastille itself was destroyed in the revolution.) Not quite the plan but we did see some interesting places. We were chased to the bottom level of the bus when it started hailing (small balls but hail nonetheless, it was getting cold.)After we made the full trip back to Notre Dame, we transferred to the green bus and rode it the rest of the way back to the Champs Elysees where we got on in the morning. We saw a bit more of the Latin quartier, mainly by the Seine, and also the Musee d’Orsay, as well as the entire length of the Champs Elysees. We got off at the Avenue Kleber stop off the Etoile. While Debbie and Judy walked over to the Ave de la Grande Armee to find the Harley dealer, I tried to find a geocache that was supposed to be nearby. No luck. I think it was at the bus stop but that bus stop was fenced in for renovations. So no caches today. I plan to try some more tomorrow!
I walked over to the Harley dealer to meet Deb & Judy – stopping at the Honda dealer across the street first to see if they had any Paris-specific Honda t-shirts. Equal time for Gold Wing riders! None to be found, though. I tried! We walked back up to the Arc de Triomphe, and since Debbie needed to buy another suitcase to haul some of her purchases back, we decided to walk down the Champs Elysees to the Monoprix store that we’d seen while coming up the street before. It was a bit farther than we thought but once there, Debbie bought a bag, I bought some miscellaneous stuff as did Judy. We got separated in the store for a while but eventually found each other. Decided to wait for the L’Open bus to ride back up the street but it never came so we finally figured out that a #53 bus would take us the same way.
Got off at the Arc De Triomphe again and walked down to the hotel, dropped off our bags, then headed out for dinner. It was only 7:30, quite a bit earlier than the night before! We ended up at Hippopotamus where Debbie had a Hippo burger, I had a Hippo steak, and Judy had tilapia. Our meals came with an entrée (appetizer) or dessert – Judy had a salad, Debbie had chocolate mousse, and I had Tarte Tatin (an apple tart w/ice cream on the side) that I’d heard much about. Had to say the plats (main courses) were great but my tarte tatin wasn’t as good as I’d heard it was supposed to be. Oh, by the way, it was not hippo meat, just named after the restaurant.
We walked the short distance back to the hotel and all of us had to organize our suitcases. Debbie & Judy for the trip home, and me for the move to my new hotel tomorrow. They are worried about me being in Paris by myself for two days. I’m not. I’m feeling perfectly comfortable here and should be fine. I’m taking the necessary precautions with my possessions and am not going to go out alone after dark. I know how to use the metro and know enough French to communicate, though I’m not perfect in the grammar department. Sorry, Mr. St. Clair, it’s been too many years, those verb conjugations are just not coming back quickly enough.
We have an alarm set for two hours before the shuttle is to come for Debbie and Judy – they are both packed and ready to roll. Judy is optimistically thinking that security is going to let her carry on a jar of nutella. I’m thinking they will say “non.” We’ll see. I plan to leave my luggage at the hotel and do a bit more exploring in the morning, then go to my new hotel, check in, and do some more exploring over in that neighborhood. Hopefully have some wifi time that is not rushed because I’m feeling bad that Debbie & Judy are just sitting there. We did go to MacDo’s this morning because Mom had to call our hotel to see if we made it since we didn’t get to use any wifi in Paris before then.
There are lots and lots and lots of pictures. All I’ve done every evening with them is download them from the memory cards. Mine, Debbie’s, and Judy’s. I plan to take some time either in the evenings in the hotel, on the train to and from Germany, in the airports, and on the plane to go through them all – turning to vertical when needed, cropping and fixing, and deleting duplicates and bad pictures. Once I have things sorted better, I’ll burn DVD’s for each of us.
To give you an idea of quantity – I’ve filled up my 1 GB card and finished filling my 2 GB card tonight. I put in the 4 GB card, hope it lasts the rest of the trip. I really don’t want to erase any of the cards until I know for sure everything has made it home ok. I gave my 2nd 2 GB card to Debbie at the start of the trip as her camera only had a 128 mb card in it.
It’s getting late and tomorrow promises to be a full day so as I listen to my sisters softly snoring near me, I’d better shut down for tonight.
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