Viva La France!

Friday Flying to France...
We headed off to the city of light — Paris! — on Friday, and it was a long travel day, though not too difficult. A lot of waiting. It strikes me that there is more going-and-waiting when traveling from one place to another than I’ve thought about before now. Once we landed, the traffic into the city was familiar; it was Friday afternoon! But we arrived at our apartment and were shown the gadgets and ways of things by our host, Mr. Lilian. A nice guy who was friendly and pleased to share about the area and info to help us, which was great! Our apartment is in a word, cozy. But I like it — it has all that we need with everything in its place. It’s cute like that! Pretty sure we couldn’t live here long-term (Ha!), but 4 nights, no problem. And it even has a dishwasher (mini one) and a washing machine!

We hit the ground running, and after settling in, headed out for dinner and to the Eiffel Tower. We successfully navigated the subway, found ourselves at a neighborhood, family-run restaurant featuring pasta/Italian style food actually, and it was delicious! Then, walked on to the Tower through the park in front of it. Our first view of it stopped us short; it’s so striking—bigger than life it seems. There’s a lot of construction around, which detracts a bit, but not enough to hinder the overall feeling. We headed up to the second summit and what terrific views. Truly a lifetime experience. India and Clark went all the way to the top, while the boys and I hung out and waited for them. By then, it was after 11 p.m, the lights were glittering yellow and blinking away all over it — extra fantastic! We’d seen the sunset and the Tower lit. Too cool! By the time we made it “home” via taxi with a super kind taxi driver, it was near 12:30 a.m. and we were bushed! But what an intro to this city and country.

Day 2: Palace at Versailles ~ In a word, Opulent. Another, majestic. A third, excessive. OMDL!!!
Gold and gold leaf and paintings 20 feet tall, and on ceilings and boy, Louis XIV thought something of himself!! Gorgeous gardens. The Hall of Mirrors was my favorite, probably all of ours. The war room that tells the history of France provides great information in such an interesting way, as it’s in paintings. And we thought about how major treaties were signed in this location and what historical figures came here for those meetings, were likely in the rooms we walked through, like the Council Salon. Cool!

We made our way there easily through subway and train and were struck by the masses of people. We had reserved tickets and still waited 1 hour to get through security before making entrance. When we left, the line was more than twice as long as when we were in it hours before!! This is the only place we’ve waited so very long, and we definitely felt the mass of folks. While glad to have gone, that kind of crowd was not so pleasant. We returned to the city and enjoyed lunch at a traditional Parisian cafe —sitting outside, on the sidewalk like you do. We’ve encountered lovely Parisians who are helpful, as we don’t speak French but try to be polite, and they are genuinely kind and usually speak fair amounts of English, if not a lot even, and well, too! I wish we did. We enjoyed our meal and returned home to catch up on rest. Clark and I explored the local grocery, which was fun.

Bastille Day: Or as it’s called here —Fete Nationale. July 14th is France’s “Independence Day” (like our July 4th!), and it was Sunday. They hold a huge parade on the Avenue Champs Elysee, President Macron came, 3500 military troops, helicopters, etc...and while all that was going on, we avoided the crowds there and were 4th in line at the Musee d’Orsay. This museum has art from 1848-1920 or so. All the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists greats!! Monet, Manet, VanGogh, Renoir, Pissarro, Cezanne, Seurat, Cassatt, and the best sculptors—Rodin and Degas especially. WOW WOW WOW!! It was splendid and beautiful, and we loved it! This was a lifetime experience for me. I absolutely love these artists and their work. Bonus—the limited special exhibit was the work of Berthe Morisot. Lesser known but important female artist, who also was a patron, helping the other impressionists to get their work shown. The museum is showing her work to highlight women and their role in the arts. Viva la femme!  The museum itself is in the old train station, and that makes it fabulous, too. The large clocks on the building are still working and awesome! We ate at the cafe that is art nouveau in decor—so chic. And yummy food!

We walked along the Seine toward the Ile de la Cite, where Saint Chappelle and Norte Dame stand. Lovely walk. Beautiful river views with all the bridges! We made it to Saint Chappelle and the stained glass is nothing short of magnificent. Some 1000+ biblical stories depicted. Truly unreal. And we walked as close to Notre Dame as possible — still beautiful. But wounded. We could see the light  of the sky through the side windows now and the exposed flying buttresses...strange really. But kind of neat to be able to see before all the massive scaffolding and reconstruction materials that will surely be covering it soon and likely for years to come.

We made our way home, walking all the way — glorious really to stroll through Paris as a family seeing all these fantastic sites together. Our Bastille Day ended with hanging out together and venturing out again for shorter night walk and ice cream. Seems like a good way to finish a grand day. We’ve one more full day, and the Louvre is on the menu. Can’t wait. Paris is treating us well!