Paris

Back at the bro-in-law's place with an oh-so-wonderful American keyboard, so I thought I'd write a bit more about Paris. As I alluded to in the previous post, the drive to Paris from Barr took forever! One would think that I've learned from previous travels that car trips in foreign countries always seem to take longer than I would plan for in the states, but apparently I forgot.

The main detour involved a gas stop. Eric's brother (since he's stationed here for the military) has this nifty card that gets him gas at American prices at Esso (a chain gas station here) stations in Germany. Since we were close to the German border we thought, "Not a big deal to cross back over to Germany to get get cheap gas on the way to Paris, right?" Wrong. An hour and a half later, we finally had gas. That, coupled with some bad traffic and road construction, turned a four-ish hour drive into a seven hour one.

Our first evening in Paris was quite entertaining. We stayed in a suburb-type neighborhood and walked down to an Italian place to eat. Next to us on the outdoor patio was a French family who, in the course of the meal, decided we were American. When we were finishing up, they started a conversation with us. "We love Americans!" (which they really did, so that was cool). These people (a couple in their 40's with their daughter and a couple who were their friends) loved to talk. They've traveled a lot in the states and couldn't believe that we'd never been to New York City and some of the other places they talked about. I think they forget that us going to New York is the same distance and them visitng Russia :) Anyway, high entertainment value, to say the least. We ended up talking with them for at least another hour or so. They even bought us drinks...cognac is quite stout :)

Scott and I spent our day in Paris partly by ourselves. We began (after a bus and subway ride) at the Arc de Triumph. I would not want to drive my car in that roundabout. Twelve roads leading into a roundabout that's at lest 6 lanes wide, I'd guess...insanity!

We then strolled down the Champs-Elysees, "Paris' grand boulevard" (according to my trusty guidebook). High end shopping, resteraunts, excellent people watching. I resisted the urge to enter any stores :) Hard to imagine that the Nazis' once marched down that street in victory and hung a Nazi flag on the Arc de Triumph at the end of it. Puts history in perspective, you know? Makes me understand a bit more why the French don't like the Germans sometimes. Not that I'm saying they should hold a grudge and not that their reactions to Germany after WWI didn't contribute, but you know...

On to the Sainte-Chapelle, the chapel built for Louis IX. (Don't think I'm too cool with all this history stuff...have my guide book sitting open next to me...now you know my secret :) Small-ish church with AMAZING stained glass. Over 1,100 bible scenes depicted in the 15 windows. Wow!

After grabbing a light lunch at a small bakery (I'm going to miss the bakeries here so much...this bread-lover is in heaven), we headed to the Louve. The Louve is massive, to say the least. Scott was the one with the agenda there, so I just tried to keep up with his race inside. I also was responsible for finding the reading the room number signs because the place is a maze! It would not be hard to get lost in there. The Egyptian items were my favorite, I think, along with the Venus de Milo and the Victory statue (you know, the winged lady without a head...I can't think of it's official name right now). I did my duty and saw the Mona Lisa, but, to be honest, she's really not that impressive. Small painting behind a huge piece of plexi-plastic, behind a velvet rope, surrounded by a huge crowd. Makes me wonder this: just who decides what pieces of art will become famous? I'm just not cultured enough to appreciate good art, I guess :)

Norte Dame catherdral was up next. Although the bell tower was closed (bummer!), we did arrive during the Saturday evening mass and so were able to hear the pipe organ play...wow! They don't close the doors to tourists during church, so here you have hundreds of people wandering around the sides and back rows during church. Would that be weird if you actually went to church there or is it just part of the norm? Deep thoughts...hmmm...

We ended the day at the Effiel Tower. And I do mean ended. We didn't arrive until the sun was setting, and after waiting over an hour in line for the elevator, we arrived on the top floor (some 900 feet up) at 11 pm. The city at night is beautiful, but if I did it over, I'd go during the day so I could really appreciate how far up we were. Still, though, pretty stinkin' cool. It was after midnight by the time we made our way down, and another hour of riding and walking before making it back to the hotel just before 2 am. Scott and I lifted some snacks from the breakfast bar stuff that was already put out and fell into bed. I would love to know how many miles we walked.

Sunday afternoon we visited Versailles on the way back to Germany. It's about 30 minutes outside of Paris and was the home of the kings of France for about 100 years before the French Revolution. I can see why the people revolted! This place was enourmous, with paintings, gold, marble, etc, everywhere! Really, how could one actually live somewhere that big? No rooms that seemed cozy/homey. We didn't have time to explore the gardens (which stretched for acres behind) or the other palaces on the grounds, so this is definately going on the "visit on the next trip" list. Will there be a next time? I hope so...even if it is when I'm 80 and riding on one of those scooter things :)