8 Days in France-Day 2

Day 2 began with a bus sightseeing tour around Paris with a stop at the Louvre, a blast past the Arc deTriomphe, down the Champs Elysee', past the Opera House and a stop at the Eiffel Tower and theTrocadero.

This is where we got to get really up close and personal with it and where we began to hear the pretty much hourly mantra that we would hear during our entire journey "Keep you're money hidden and close, beware of pick pockets. They go even inside the churches!" Grim. I thought the states was bad.

Our next stop was the Palace atVersailles with our charming and very knowledgeable guide Thierry who someone said was so good that he was noted in Rick Steve's France guidebook.

I believe it. He knew so many things- times place, dates, but also shared funny little known tidbits about the French Monarchy, like how dirty they were because they thought at that time that bathing opened the pores and allowed disease to come into the body. That's why they used perfume so much and why the powdered wigs were invented. They were smelly and crawling with lice. The Palace, as beautiful and extravagant as it was, had no bathrooms. The King would defecateinto a chamber pot where it would be inspected and shown to the people. According to Thierry, our phrase, "How's it going?" originates from this 17th century ritual. So many people died from constipation and bowel related issues, that this greeting came about as an inquiry like, "Are you well? Are you moving?" So there was always great concern about the King. Priceless stuff that you won't get from a guidebook.

For more of my thoughts on the Palace itself, please read my earlier post "What are the French Thinking." Like the US, there was rampant commercialism every where we went. I as astounded at the Eiffel Tower however, that there was only one lonely little souvenir truck. If they were allowed to park around say, the Liberty Bell in Philly, I think there would be at least 10. Outside of the Palace at Versailles, there were at least 1/2 dozen Nigerians selling made in China trinkets. They would inch as close as possible to the palace gates to entice tourists with their wares by shaking things and yelling and would scatter when the police came riding up.

On this day, I had my first taste of a french baguette sandwich. I thought I had died and went to heaven. I think they could put dirt on a baguette and make it taste good. I got a chicken salad on baguette, (huge and very cheap) and Dyana and I sat on a stoop outside the Palace eating them in the sunshinewhile we waited for our bus and watched the comedy of the trinket sellers.

Next it was back to Paris with a visit the Luxemburg Gardens and to Notre Dame Cathedral. It was a beautiful day and we had a lovely stroll through the Gardens. Apparently the French solution to homelessness and the lack of hygiene that comes with it, was to install public baths around the Gardens. People can go in and shower and get clean, but to be sure that no one decided to camp out in there, the showers self clean every 20 minutes or so. Cool.

The walk over to Notre Dame took us through a little street that foreshadowed the medieval streets of Rouen that we would see the next day. I was enthralled with the little cafes, meat shops, bakeries and boutiques and wanted to stop there and order a glass of wine at a little table in the worst way, but alas, must keep moving!

The cathedral was stunning and everything I imagined it to be when reading about it in my art hsitory books. The line to get in was huge and I was afraid that we wouldn't make it, but it moved quickly and I was able to go in and marvel at this wonder of architecture. The feeling inside was so majestic and peaceful (except for the tourists who apparently couldn't read the "no talking" signs), that I was transported in time. I felt so small, yet hugged by coolness and ethereal precence.

After a brief time for dinner and souvenir buying it was back to our little hotel for some wine and shut eye. Tomorrow was another big day...

*8 Days in France-Day 1

I had the time of my life on my recent trip to France, a place I never thought I would see. I had never been to Europe and had no plans to go there when my husband called me one morning and asked me if I would like to accompany the singer in his band,(Dyana Cannon, Knowlton Point) on a trip with five of her students and some of her family. Apparently, because she had so many people going there was the opportunity for one more person to go at a VERY discounted rate and she wanted a roommate. Wow! I could not believe my ears and immediately decided that indeed, my notion that I was married to the sweetest, most generous man alive was true. That was in March. It seemed a long time until our June departure, but since it was really a dream to me, I didn't start to get really excited until the week of the trip. I have not in the past been a great flyer which accounts for much of my lack of travel when I was younger, but with the help of a wonderful free Fear of Flying Course, I was able to make this trip as well as one to Hawaii,Mexico (twice) Jamaica and Santa Fe. I am really getting to the point of enjoying it :0) Thanks Captain Chance! We flew overnight (British Airways, love them!) to Heathrow airport where we had a layover for a couple of hours. I was immediately impressed by the clean,glitzy airport and the sad lack of a good cup of coffee. We took a puddle jumper and landed at DeGaulle airport. Exhausted from the overnight flight, the last thing we wanted to encounter was a backup at the doors going into the airport. They had this weird revolving glass tube which only allowed people to get in every so many revolutions. Well, it wasn't revolutioning and people were getting very upset. Finally someone (American and impatient) just held the thing open and then walked through. I didn't know that doors and lav facilities would be an adventure all their own on this trip :0)

After a 1 1/2 hour bus trip to our hotel way on the other side of Paris, we disembarked at our hotel where we met our French guide Christine Brouillett who I would come to know as possibly one of the best guides in France.

Being that this was a school trip, (I was a chaperone on paper only), we also met up at the hotel with two other groups of students and teachers, one group from Washington State, the other from Newfoundland. Sadly,it was already late in the afternoon by the time we got there, so we had to dump our belongings in our dorm style hotel room and hike about 1 mile to the subway where we would take 4 trains back into Paris to get to the Louvre.

Even though I was really jet lagged and tired, I was so happy, because I couldn't believe that I had already seen the Eiffel Tower and the Seine on the bus on our way in and that I was really in Paris.

In fact, I was a little weepy for a couple of days. When we finally got to the Louvre, we only had an hour and a half to explore it. Fortunately, Dyana understood when I asked her if she would mind if I took off on my own, because there was so much to see and our time was so short. I made a beeline into the museum to see the things I wanted to see. Straight to the Winged Samothrice, then the Mona Lisa. Geez, what a rock star! The crowd of people that was around the painting, snapping away with photos was stifling. I took my picture of course, but I also took some time just to LOOK at it and BE with it.

Straight across the room is the Wedding at Cana, a huge painting which takes up almost the entire wall. My eyes kept going around from mini scene to mini scene inside the painting and I kept finding whimsical images of dogs and cats mixed in with the celebrating people. I found the image of the man below eyeballing this little tiny dog who is approaching his food as if to say "Oh no you don't" so endearing.

I ran around the museum at breakneck speed almost through the great hall of French monumental paintings ( I did stop to drink in some Delacroix) then made my way though to the Egyptian sculpture and the seated scribe. (He is much smaller than I imagined).

I have a new found sense of awe when looking at the ancient pottery now that I have become a potter. I asked myself, "who was it that figured out that if I put some clay on a thing and make it spin around really fast, that I can use my hands to make it go up and it will create a vessel that I can pout things in? Who decided that if I put it in a really, really, hot oven (kiln) that it will harden to the point that it will last thousands of years! I am lucky if my pots make it through the kiln sometimes! What had started out as a rainy windy day turned sunny and warm and I got to go outside in the courtyard and take in the full grandeur of the building. Breathtaking! Amazing to me that these people made a building so ornate and beautiful without any of the modern tools that we enjoy today. Such workmanship and skill. And then there is the Pyramid. Read my earlier post on Pop Art at Versailles and you will also be getting my thoughts on the Pyramid. I did enjoy the beautiful twisting sculpture mimicking a Gothic spire inside the Pyramid which you get to enjoy on the escalator on the way up.

After our brief but glorious visit at the Louvre, it was off to another part of town for dinner (something called Flam kuke) and the hour Subway ride back to our hotel. Needless to say, I was glad to see my bed, after hitting the hotel bar for a glass of 2 euro (I damn near fell off my chair when the bartender said how cheap it was!:0) red wine. I had practiced what I knew would be my most used and important French phrase "Vin Rouge Sec, Sil vous pleis" (Dry Red wine,please!) Stay tuned for more adventures in France right here on my blog every Weds. till I get to the part where I came home and slept for 4 days at the beach :0)!