Monday,
June 18 – on the train home from Bayeux
Thursday, June 14 (Edinburgh to
Paris)
A relaxed start to the morning. We were
able to sleep a little later and have a nice breakfast before
catching a taxi to the airport, on our way to Paris. We had to do a
little juggling of luggage because the airline we are flying
(Easyjet) has a VERY strict policy of one piece of carry-on baggage
per person (including purse, camera, etc.). We tried to cram extra
carry-on items into single bags. Unfortunately Starla's carry-on was
too big and they forced her to check it at a cost of $60.
We arrived in Paris late afternoon and
had a driver waiting for us. It took just under an hour to drive from
Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to the apartment we are renting in
the center of Paris. We immediately felt the difference of being in a
foreign country. In England and Scotland we didn't feel too out of
place, since everyone spoke English and all the signs were in
English. Now suddenly we can't read the signs and everyone around us
is speaking in French.
Our apartment is modest by American
standards, but very luxurious for the heart of Paris. We have three
bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen.
The kids were exhausted from our days
of traveling, so they all stayed in the apartment as Laura and I went
out to get groceries. We had thought about going to a restaurant for
dinner but we ended up getting take-out Chinese to bring back to the
apartment.
Friday, June 15 (Paris)
A walking tour through the center of
Paris today. We started at the Conciergerie. After looking around
briefly we realized there wasn't much to see, so we moved on to
Saint-Chapelle. There was a line to get in, so we decided to stop and
get some coffee at a cafe. Unforunately the line got a lot longer
while we were in the cafe, so we ended up waiting almost an hour to
get in. It was well worth the wait – although it is fairly small,
this church has the most amazing stained glass windows that we've
ever seen. Highly recommended!
From there we went on to Notre Dame.
The crowds there were huge but moved quickly. Amazing architecture. A
mass was taking place as we walked through – not sure if that
always happens, but there were several hundred people taking part,
and they were oblivious to the hundreds of people walking around the
outside perimeter.
Next we crossed to Ile-Saint-Louis
where we stopped at Berthillon for ice cream. They are world-famous
for their delicious ice cream made fresh at the store every day. Just
around the corner we stopped for a quick lunch of crepes.
Much of the rest of the day was just
walking and seeing the sites of the Latin Quarter (5th
district) and St. Germain (6th district). We stopped at
Lauderee for treats, Cafe Flore for apertifs, and Cafe Procope for
dinner. Finally after that a long walk home – about 12 miles of
walking in all.
Saturday, June 16 (Paris)
Today begins at the Louvre. If you've
never been here its hard to describe how truly big it is. The museum
is housed in a former palace of the king. We were there at the
opening and went straight to see the Mona Lisa. It was a good plan –
usually the crowd around that painting is huge, but there weren't too
many people here yet and we had a good unobstructed view. We had a
little over two hours to see some paintings, but then had to leave.
We've been told it could take three full days to really see all that
there is in this musuem, and that seems about right.
After stopping for lunch we began
another long walking tour. This one took us through Jardin de
Tuileries (a large beautiful park), a stop for some gourmet
chocolate, then down the Champs de Elysees (with a few stops along
the way), to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed the stairs to the top of
the Arc and enjoyed the amazing view of the city.
Next we walked toward the river, where
we boarded a dinner boat cruise that took us the length of the city
and back.
Finally we ended up at the Eiffel
Tower. We had arranged a tour ahead of time that allowed us to skip
the 4-HOUR line of people waiting to buy a ticket to go up.
Our guide gave us lots of amazing facts as we went along. We stopped
at the first and second levels, then finally made the trip to the
top. The sun was just setting a little after 10:00 PM and we were
able to still see the city before it got dark. After we came down (at
11:00 PM) they turned on the “sparkling” lights for five minutes
– what an amazing sight!
Sunday, June 17 (Paris)
This morning started early with a trip
to one of the best-known flea markets in Paris. After stopping for
crepes and cofee we browsed the long streets of vendors selling
beautiful antiques. Laura was desperately wanting to buy paintings
and china she found, but our luggage won't allow it. She did find a
beautiful tapestry that she may use as a rug.
We had avoided the Metro until now,
after our firsr attempt at it was frustrating and confusing. However,
now we had to get a long distance across town, and there were no
taxis in sight. After we figured out the ticket machine we discovered
it wasn't that hard to use, so we took the Metro across town to
Montmarte, where we met a group tour of the city.
It turned out that the group tour was a
dud – the tour guide spent long stretches rambling on about the
detailed lives of painters who had lived in the city. So, after
awhlie of that we split off and walked the streets of the town on our
own. Although this area is now technically still inside the city of
Paris it has the feel of a small town on the hillside. We enjoyed a
cafe lunch on the street here before taking the Metro to our next
destination – a bike tour.
We started at the bike tour office,
which is near where we are staying, but the tour took us to the south
part of the city – districts 13 and 14, which are outside the areas
that tourists normally see. Very interesting, and very different from
the much busier and noisier center of the city.
After the bike tour we picked up some
groceries (we are making our own breakfast at home each morning
before leaving for the day), then walked back over to Ile-Saint-Louis
to have more of that delicious Berthillon ice cream before going to
dinner.
Monday, June 18 (Bayeux)
Got up early this morning to catch a
train to Bayeux. We arrived shortly after 11:00 and had a little time
to stroll around the town. There is a HUGE medeival cathedral in town
(Notre Dame de Bayeux).
We met our tour guide at 1:00 and took
a 4-hour drive around the Normandy beaches at the site of the D-Day
landings. I didn't realize there are still many German bunkers left
in place, including some with the guns still in place. Our guide gave
us some great background to the whole operation. We visited the
American cemetary at Omaha Beach where over 7,000 American soldiers
are buried. We found one cross with the name “Pvt James Ryan” who
died on D-Day (June 6, 1944) and we wondered if we had found one of
the brothers from the story in “Saving Private Ryan”. However,
our tour guide informed us that the actual name of the family the
movie was based on was Neeland, not Ryan.
Now we're on the 3-hour train ride back
to Paris. We leave early in the morning taking the fast train to
Marseille to continue our journey to the south....
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