Giverny

Since the initial planning of our trip we looked forward to seeing the home of  Claude Monet and the famous ponds where he painted the water lilies. Our first view was of the magnificent flower gardens with Monet’s home in the background.  Here we learned of the artist's passion for his gardens and his experimentation with light.  When not painting, he spent much of his time tending the lush flowers.  It was important to him to surround himself with the glorious color that inspired his paintings.

 

 

 

We could have walked the grounds for hours, and were told by our guide that no matter how many times a person visits the gardens they will never look the same, depending on what has been planted that year and what season, what week it is and what the weather conditions are. We were struck by the unusual flowers, among the many flowers that we also find at home, and wanted to linger and photograph each of them. Of course there was not enough time to see all that we wanted to see and the place was packed with tourists, making it difficult to enjoy the moment. However, we will carry the images in our minds. 

The size of the lily ponds was much greater than we expected but the blooms were not quite as colorful as we had anticipated.  Still, just to be in this place where the paintings were completed and to see the famous Japanese bridge and lush foliage was beyond our greatest dreams.

 

 

It was here that we were able to interact with several exchange students and chat with them about their studies and homelands. Several were from China and another from Mexico. These interactions are always our favorite part of any trip.

While others in our group had been to Giverny more than once before, and decided to visit the nearby museum where the art of Americans who had come to study under Monet was displayed, we found that we had to rush to even see the ponds and gardens on the grounds.  The house also was open for touring and we had complimentary tickets but found it extremely crowded and with very difficult narrow winding staircases, so we decided to skip that part of the tour.

Our last stop before leaving the area was the gift shop where we could buy prints and other fairly inexpensive souvenirs. We were hoping to buy something for ourselves that we could frame and hang in our house but nothing seemed to fit the bill.  We were reminded at this time that we made fewer purchases on this trip than just about any trip we had been on.  There were no salespeople hawking their wares or serenading us when we disembarked at each port or lining the sidewalks at the various touristy areas.  We didn't miss that!  But on the other hand it was kind of fun to remember those experiences in Russia, Eastern Europe. Egypt and other places we have visited.

Back on the boat, it was time to sail toward Paris with a trip to Versailles on the way.

 

Versailles

Arriving at Conflans, a major river barge terminus, we had a choice of a walking tour of the city or an excursion to Versailles. We considered waiting until Paris and arranging a half-day tour to Louis XIV's "hunting lodge". However, as we looked at our crammed schedule in Paris, we decided to sign up for the $90, 41/2 hour bus trip.

After a 11/2 hour ride we arrived at Versailles and were lucky enough to find a parking space convenient to the entrance. Leaving the bus, we were met by a swarm of vendors, all selling Eiffel tower replicas of all sizes. This was the only time during our trip that we were confronted by so many vendors. Almost all of them appeared to be from former French colonies in Africa. They were persistent, but easier to deal with the hawkers in Egypt or India. The most effective strategy was to avoid eye contact and to keep on walking. Unless you are interested in buying something. stopping and looking at the choices is not recommended!

We were introduced to our guide, who turned out to be exceptional. The company for which she worked employed a technology we hope others will introduce for their guides. Each of us was given wireless headphones which were tuned to our guide's headset. Without this system of communication it would have been impossible to hear her in the crammed, teeming, noisy interior of the palace.

To Tom, Versailles is a monument to the arrogance and waste of a monarchy. Situated on 1750 acres, 30 miles from Paris, the 1200 room chateau housed as many as 20,000 people. It was built between 1662 and 1690 at a cost that nearly emptied the French treasury. Today, the buildings are undergoing a 17 year, $500 million  restoration which will presumably be paid for mainly by the 3 million annual tourists.

 

 

 

The size of the buildings and the opulence of the interior are not only difficult to describe, but nearly impossible to grasp on a walking tour because of the crowds. An example is the Hall of Mirrors, the most famous room in the palace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paris

 Approaching Paris, our first view of the Eiffel Tower, with a replica of the Statue of Liberty in the foreground ,brought all kinds of emotions. It was a reminder that the Statue of Liberty was a gift to the US upon the celebration of our centennial. We felt excitement to finally see the Eiffel Tower in person, sadness and frustration at the state of the world and the divisions brought about by US international policies and chagrin at the vicissitudes of the countries of the world. How quickly countries go from being friends to being enemies to being friends! How we wish for peace and friendship among nations and the realization that all of us are God's children!!  How naive of us but still it is our prayer...Seeing this view reminds us that differences are not caused by distance, but from our failure to recognize that others may have valid views.

It was sad to contemplate the state of the relationship between the US and France. The two countries have much history to share. Every nation is going to follow what it thinks is in its self-interest, but beginning with the American Revolution and continuing to WWI and WWII and the Marshall Plan (which helped to rebuild the French economy) the two countries have been linked by coming to the other's aid in times of crisis.

We docked on the Seine between the two landmarks, with the Statue of Liberty behind us and the Eiffel Tower less than half a mile in front of us. We would be there for two days before moving into a hotel for our last days in Paris.  After docking we chose to walk to the Eiffel Tower to explore the area at our leisure, even though it was threatening rain.  We had been lucky all through the trip not to be effected by the  rain. While we were on our excursions, the skies opening up after we returned to our ship. However, on this occasion we were caught in the rain and were able to get this stunning view with the tower's reflection in the sidewalk.

 

The sheer size of the tower is difficult to envision without being there in person but we wanted to try to capture it as best we could, so we took this picture of just one leg of the base.  Check the size of the people to get some idea of the scope of the tower.

When the Eiffel tower was built by Gustave Eiffel for the World's Exhibition of 1889, Parisians thought it was ugly and that it didn't fit into the style of the city. Eiffel said that if people still didn't like in ten years, that it would be torn down.  Obviously, when its concession expired in 1907, it survived that deadline and now is the beloved symbol of Paris. Our most memorable image of this magnificent structure is the light display marking the turn of the millennium on New Year's even 1999.

 

 

The tower can be seen from so many different points of the city and we took loads of pictures from different angles, but found it most breathtaking at night when it is a sparkling display of lights and for 10 minutes every hour there is a lightshow amongst its girders.  We were fortunate to see this display when we took a river cruise on the Seine to see Paris at night.

 

 

 

 

 

As we cruised the river and saw all of the landmarks that we had only read about and seen pictures of in the past, the many bridges, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Sorbonne, and so much more, we were choked up.  We didn't expect it to be quite this breathtaking...

 

The following day we had a bus tour of the city in the rain where we caught this image of the Arc de Triomphe through the bus window... We were on the Champs -Elysees! ...

 

and we saw most of the same sights that we had seen the night before from the river, we well as many others, including Napoleon's tomb.  This is the huge monument where Napoleon requested his remains be placed in, as he was afraid no one would visit him if he was buried in his place of exile, Elba. The building was quite impressive and the gardens even more so, but what hubris!

Our last meal aboard the ship was memorable and for more reasons than the cuisine at the traditional Captain's Dinner, with its many showy and mouth-watering courses.  Just as we were finishing up the baked Alaska and awaiting the final course of petit fours, three police cars pulled up alongside of the boat, police officers jumped out and ran onto the boat.  Next thing we knew, an announcement was made that the passengers and crew needed to evacuate the ship immediately..  We filed out and waited and milled around on the dock with no idea what was going on but with much speculation, as is wont to happen on cruises.  We knew that it was the night before the national elections in France and we wondered if there was a bomb threat or some other such thing.  When we were finally allowed back on the boat we were told that a lock had broken 100 kilometers upstream, and they were worried about a tidal surge, but two other locks were able to contain it and we were safe.  Still we wondered why other boats continued on their way downstream and we seemed to be the only ones affected.  Of course we will never know exactly what happened but it added a bit of excitement to the adventure and lots of conversation to the petit fours.

More in-depth tours followed when we had a chance to visit the Louvre, St. Chapelle, and Notre Dame, but first we had to leave our ship and check into our hotel for the last three days of our trip.

Our hotel, Le Littre, was a disappointment to some of our fellow travelers, who had their hearts set on staying in the promised more modern hotel with 1500 rooms. Le LIttre, in its faded glory, had only about 90 rooms and was a traditional Parisian hotel and was more centrally located for our walkabouts. It was more our style. It would have helped if both of its two elevators were functional, but we really didn't mind using the five flights of stairs when we had a long wait for the one elevator that did work throughout our stay there.

We checked into the hotel on a Sunday, when all the shops and many of the patisseries, brasseries, and cafes were closed. We wanted a light dinner, not a big sit-down restaurant meal and so we explored the streets until we found a small Parisian fast-food style shop -- with pastries, sandwiches and Diet Coke in the can. (Now Marie could add to her international collection of Diet Coke cans and also have the real thing to drink.) In the next couple of days we got to know the workers in that little shop pretty well and were rewarded with an extra pastry thrown in at not cost. Those things melted in our mouths. We could easily become addicted to the pastries in France, but amazingly we both lost weight on the trip.  The food was lighter than we expected and the portions were small, plus we were getting lots of exercise. We never did see any obese Parisians. The only overweight people we saw were American tourists.

 

Louvre

Our initial view of the Louvre had been on the first bus tour and from that distance we could see the famous I. M. Pei pyramid that looked incongruous to us at first.  It didn't seem to go with the architecture of the rest of the building, but what do we know?

 

 

We knew that we would only get to see a fraction of what we wanted in the Louvre and that there were other neighboring art museums that are more compelling, but since we might only this one chance we couldn't pass up the guided tour that we had already paid for.  What a mob scene.  We arrived early in the morning and spent more time waiting in the basement, and in lines to get in than we spent in the museum itself.  Then just as we were ready to leave the common area, filled with shops, an alarm sounded and a huge steel wall closed in front of us, cutting our group in half. We had no idea what was happening, but had no choice but to watch and window shop for what seemed like at least half an hour as firemen swarmed through the area, looking very concerned.  (At this point, someone in our group, said, "So we've had the flood and fire.  What's next? Locusts?")  All in all people remained in good spirits and waited patiently as the security drill played out,  but it did cut down significantly on the amount of time we had left to tour the museum.

From this view in the basement of the museum you can see the base of the pyramid and the crowds lined up to enter the museum. Try to imagine the sounds reverberating.

 

No pictures were allowed inside the museum except for a few exceptions, but of course that didn't keep people from taking flash shots all over the place. We are always struck by how rude that is, and the officials demonstrated a lot of frustration with the unruly tourists. Signs proclaimed, "If you want to see pictures of the exhibits every one is on the museum's website." We saw "Winged Victory" and a few other famous works of art, but "Venus de Milo" had been removed for repairs. Michelangelo's "Mona Lisa" did not disappoint. While it was displayed behind heavy glass and people couldn't get too close, it was still mesmerizing and we were struck by how vivid the colors were. 

 

Sainte-Chapelle

 

There is not much to say about this 13th century church. You just need to enter it and look in awe. There is 6500 square feet of the most spectacular stained glass windows imaginable which portray hundreds of biblical stories.

 

 

 

 

Notre Dame

Begun in 1163, the cathedral remains in remarkable condition, thanks to an 19th Century renovation project, inspired in part by Hugo's, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed inside so you will have to go to Paris and see it for yourself!

 

This metal disc in front of Notre Dame is the point from which all distances to Paris are measured.

With plenty of time to explore on our own and see things at our leisure, we found that Paris is a good city to see by foot, and easy to navigate.

 

One of the unique features of Paris is the number of cemeteries with the graves of famous people which are open to the public. We were fortunate that one was within a short walk of our hotel. We found it easily enough and were enjoying browsing and looking for tombstones with  the familiar names. We were on our way to find the grave of Alfred Dreyfus, when we heard the shrill sound of a whistle. We continued to walk and only figured out the puzzle when we saw a man blowing the whistle very intently. From his gestures and actions we realized that he was signaling that the cemetery  was being closed for the evening.

 

Before long it was time to say good-bye to new friends.  Especially Joyce and Neil. We had first met them when we were waiting for our flight to Paris in the beginning of the trip. From that first meeting we felt like we had known them forever, even if we hadn't had a Philly connection!  It was the first international trip for Neil but no one would have known it, since he became the unofficial guide for all of us, and a good emissary of the US. (And now we understand that he has gotten the travel bug in a big way).

On our last night in Paris the four of us decided to splurge with an expensive meal in an elegant restaurant and we did.  Prior to that occasion, none of us had drunk the expensive champagne we shared and the chateaubriand was excellent, as was the d'orange duck. Our waiter was over the top and so were the desserts.  All in all it was fitting way to end a good trip and toast new friends.

Before leaving we vowed to return for much more, but...

Au Revoir for now.

 

Meanwhile, we hope to next write about our trip to South America and Antarctica...Keep your fingers crossed for us. After having to cancel the trip twice before, we hope this time it will really happen.