Thursday, 20241010
This was one of those days when things go wrong. Initially it all looked good, we got up, had breakfast, then did a little shopping. So far so good. We had booked a walking tour of the Latin Quarter, and since it seemed a bit far I ordered a cab. But when we went out to meet the cab, we learned that it was parked about 10 blocks away at an address I certainly never gave them. We tried to get there, but when we arrived there was no cab in sight. We thought we might just be able to make it if we hurried, so we hauled butt across Paris to try and meet the appointment. But when we got there there was no tour group. I called the company, and discovered that I had gotten the time wrong, and the tour had left 15 minutes before we arrived. By now I was hot, sweaty, tired, and my back hurt, so we grabbed a cab back to the apartment, where I had a cup of tea and took a couple of Tylenol. Then we had dinner, and that was our day. Did that take up the entire day? No, of course not. But as two seniors in our seventies, we have a rule that we are only going to do one thing each day. And part of the idea of being here for a month is that it gives us time to do a lot of things without killing ourselves. So after dinner we went to bed, tomorrow is another day.
Friday 20241011
It is a bit colder in Paris today, but not raining at least. Eileen and Felix are due to land at 11:10, and should be here around noon. But Cheryl and I had our breakfast and relaxed waiting for them to arrive. It was early afternoon by the time they got here, and after freshening up and getting settled, it was time to do some shopping for dinner. A fully-cooked chicken, salad, vegetables, cheese and bread (for Eileen and Felix) did the trick. Then it was early to bed for Eileen and Felix, and we followed a bit later.
Saturday 20241012
We got up and had breakfast at the apartment like we do every morning, but Eileen and Felix opted to go to Montmarte (about 15 minutes away uphill) and go to a cafe and then sightsee. So Cheryl and I decided this might be a good day to visit the Rodin museum. Around 10am we headed out, and walked down to the downtown area. We passed through the Place Vendome, which has a tall column erected by Napoleon to commemorate the Battle of Austerlitz. From there we toured the Tuileries Gardens, noting that the Musee l’Orangerie is located in the corner of the Tuileries right by the Place de la Concorde. We took a look at the Obelisk, which came from Luxor and is devoted to Ramesses II. It was donated to France in 1829 during the reign of Louis Phillippe.
Then we crossed the river and went to the National Rodin Museum. Although Rodin is considered one of the great sculptors of all time today, in his day he was thought to be radical, and many of his sculptures were rejected in favor of more standard works by others. Of course, those others are forgotten, and Rodin has a national museum. It was interesting to see how Rodin worked. He would usually start with a clay model, then often a plaster version, before doing the final version in marble or bronze. And often he would reuse figures. For example, has bronze doors called The Gate of Hell had a lot of figures, and he would then pull out one of those figures to be a solo piece by itself.
Finally we took a cab back to the apartment, did some shopping, and had dinner. Eileen and Felix were out and about enjoying themselves, but we had done enough for one day.
Sunday 20241013
As before, Cheryl and I had our breakfast at the apartment and Eileen and Felix went out to eat. The morning was free, but after all the walking we did yesterday I opted to stay in a chill for a bit. We have a planned excursion this afternoon courtesy of Eileen. It seems that one of her clients at Newbury Court has a daughter who lives in Paris, and Eileen worked closely with this daughter in moving this person in. And this daughter lives in Paris, and offered to give us something of a tour, so that is what our afternoon is going to be. I booked a cab to take us down, but otherwise relaxed for the morning.
Amy and her partner Marc turned out to be lovely people. Amy moved to France and now has French citizenship, and Marc is French. This trip was Marc’s idea, and it was a canal cruise (with Canaurama) that we would never have thought of doing, but it was delightful. The cruise first went through a mile-long tunnel before coming out into the city, and then we had to go through 4 pairs of locks. Each lock raised the boat by about 3 meters, so with 8 of them we went up a net of 24 meters. Soon we were traveling along the streets of Paris, with the boat sometimes above and sometimes below the street level as relative elevations changed. The cruise lasted for about 90 minutes, and we got off at a park with rides and amusements. We were told it was a park dedicated to the arts, and across the canal was a park dedicated to the sciences. We then went into a cafe and we had coffee while Amy and Marc had wine. We spent about an hour in conversation,and Felix was loving the chance to converse with Marc in French. Amy and Marc were planning a trip to the Grand Canyon in December, so Amy and Cheryl exchanged contact information and Cheryl will give Amy some more information about things to do in that area.
Then it was time to return. Coming back we took the Metro, which was our first time in Paris, but all subway systems are pretty similar, and we have ridden them in Boston, Washington, D.C., and London, so it felt pretty natural once the ticketing was explained. I feel certain we will use it again. And when we got back to the apartment Cheryl and I made our dinner, while Eileen and Felix went out gallivanting again. Felix had visited Paris while in high school, and really wanted to share some of that with his mother, so that was part of the rationale for this trip. Besides, Cheryl and I are a bit older and don’t really want to run around that much. One thing per day is our objective.
Monday 20241014
Mont Saint-Michel! I got up at 4:30 am so I could shower and have breakfast. We have one bathroom for four adults, so it made sense for me to get up earlier than the others, who pretty much all started to get up at 5am. Our taxi was set for 6:15 am to take us to the pick up spot, which again was Eglise Notre Dame de Compassion. We got on the coach and off for another 4+ hour drive.
We arrived at Mont Saint-Michel around 11:30. You park in a parking lot on the mainland and take a shuttle down the causeway to where you enter the village. The path from here winds around the Mont like a spiral, and the shops on either side were as much as 1000 years old in places. Then the stairs start. It takes 300 of them to get up to the Abbey, so you are pretty beat when you get there, but we rested a bit before moving into the Abbey. There are Benedictine monks there, but we didn’t run across any. The building itself is very old and medieval, and at one time withstood sieges. There were even gun ports for the 12 guns they once had. But the Mont was never captured.
After touring the Abbey we went into the gardens, and then started down. We saw an older woman being very careful with the stairs, and offered to help. We ended up escorting her down the Mont and back to the coach. Eileen and Felix got caught in a long line for the Shuttle and barely made it back. When we got back to Paris we got our lady friend into a taxi, then got one for ourselves, and back to the apartment where we went over plans for the next few days.
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