Day 3, April 7

Monday, April 07, 2008 1930

Good afternoon. It is time to make my diary now. Luke and I woke up on our own time at about 0800. Luke showered. We ate fried potatoes, a fried egg, fruit, oranges and apples, and of course the most needed- coffee. I drank too much. I got kind of sick.

We planned to go to the historic Paris walk. We took metro to Notre Dame area. We exited the metro, and walked around a flower market at the Cite’ Metro stop, the one that had the art nouveau Metro sign. From here we separated from Rodger and Beth because we had already seen the Notre Dame church innards and park. We actually were at the back end of the Paris Walk, so we decided that maybe we should just do it backwards. That sounded fine to us.
The Pont Neuf was a block down from where we were at, and we actually saw some interesting signs across the Seine, so we trekked across the seine and weaved our way to the Pont Neuf Bridge. We found there to be many pet stores along the way. I thought that the pet stalls were going to be ON the Pont Neuf. In the pet stores there were all kinds of puppies, birds, bunnies, cats, rats/rodents and we also saw some small white squirrels (we thought it was a squirrel, he had a long body with a thin long brushy tail). We whistled to some parrots and they whistled back.

Once, we walked into one, and we heard a rooster crow. (What the heck?) Sure enough, they had a couple of roosters in the back of the store along with some ducks! We saw some Kaiser JRT doggies they were like 390 €. Half the dogs were dead asleep, and the other half were frolicking around and playing with each other. It was about the same for the cats as well. We felt bad for some of the animals; because of course they were caged. One was a Yorkie that was pacing back and forth like a caged fox. After the pet stalls, we finally crossed the Pont Neuf (New Bridge) and read about the history behind it.

So off we continued on the backwards Rick Steves Paris walk. We walked towards this little gravel park. We saw a loose dog at a store that was sniffing at something, and right next to him was a huge fat yellow lab that’s only activity would be to raise its head to see the people walking by. During the time we were in the park we saw the little dog run past us to find a spot to play/poop/pee at. No owner yelled at him or chased him, so either he was loose or trusted. A man left an apartment that was in this park with a young yellow lab, and the lab took off after the little dog to go and play, and all of this was going on right next to a sign that showed a picture of a dog on a leash, HA! This park was very small, but quaint, and quiet. All of Paris was almost shut out when we went in there. On our way out, we passed by the Police Station. I think it was more than just a police station, almost like H.Q. for the French/Parisian Police.

We then went to the Concergerie. We bought our 4 day museum card there for like 45€ a piece. It was a police type station in the Republic times where Marie Antoinette was held captive. They had some dummies placed in cells and a vignette of Marie and her soldiers keeping watch over her. After she stayed for about two months in a wallpapered jail cell, she was taken away to Place de la Concord where her head was chopped off. It was kind of a crummy little place. They had a few 3 minute long informational public TV quality movies playing. Oh, and the interrogation area had these giant gothic arches. Just like in Notre Dame. Beautiful, and they were lit well too, I hope I got some good pictures of them.

We tried then to go into St. Chapelle- which is the parliament building. There was line and we were there over the lunch type hour and a sign pointed out that it was going to be closed for that time. We decided not to wait for it to open.

So, again, on we continued on the backwards tour back across the seine to Saint Michelle Place. It was a fountain that was put up to commemorate something, and it turns out that is basically the gateway to the bohemian culture (free thinking, free spirit, beauty, truth and love) and there were a lot of revolutionary things that went on there. One such revolt was when the Parisians were pissed at the Nazi regime. Once we got to this point, we couldn’t really keep concentrating on history, so we started slowly noticing food stands/restaurants. Lisa noticed a creperie. I knew exactly what kind of crepe I wanted, but we also wanted to get a sandwich because it was basically lunch time. We ordered a nutella/banana crepe €3.50 and a sandwich with cheese and ham and tomatoes for about €3 also. We walked into a food type district and were inundated with food shops.

Luke saw a falafel house and was enamored. He bought a falafel were you add your own greens and stuff. It cost €4. It had a spicy mayonnaise and the falafels were a bit spicier than I had had before. I (Luke) was a little miffed at what you could put on the falafel. In fact, it was kind of a crappy little place to get food, because it was backwards. You walked in past the veggies, ordered whatever you were getting, and you both stood there and waited, or you sat down in one of 10 chairs with tables. So I basically waited while more people came in. I got my falafel though, and then walked back towards the door to put my veg. on it. It was a little confusing, but I think I figured it out. Lisa wasn’t much interested in the falafel as I was, so I ate most of it. After we emerged, we wandered around some more in the area and saw about 300 other places to eat. I believe we will be back. There is nothing like quick good food, especially from locals. I think most of my memories from all my trips that deal with food were of the little stands that I got food at. It often times is fast, cheap, and delicious. Maybe my mind thinks that it is good because it is so cheap.
Anyway, we ended up getting one more treat on our little excursion: French fries. Which I just realized that when we ordered them, I didn’t realize I was ordering French Fries. We got them with mayo and ketchup.

Finally we ended up crossing back towards Notre Dame because we were going to go to the Deportation Memorial. It was a memorial built for the 200,000 people that died due to the Nazi “deportation” or concentration camps. We got in free due to our Museum Pass. Well, I guess we technically didn’t get in free since we paid €45 for the four day pass. It was located behind Notre Dame in a gated park. We descended some stairs and through this narrow hallway and saw an inscription on the floor. Then you looked through this prison cell type iron door to another stone hallway- to see 200,000 lit “crystals” to demonstrate all that died in deportation camps.
Next we agreed to take the metro to a food place that we researched. The difficulty is that Luke only marked the location on the map, not the name of the store or what kind of store it was; like kitchen store or fromagerie or artisan bread place. So we went blind.

What slowed us down was the metro. Usually the metro keeps us on time. The metro had some breakdown or difficulty on our line. There was a French message overhead and we didn’t know what to do other than take our cues from the fellow local passengers. We eventually moved to a different line that required lots of walking up and down and on moving sidewalks. We even had to wait for line difficulties at our alternate route. Oh, well at least it was running. We exited 1 stop too soon. But we did find our sought after food place…..it was closed. Closed. There was a chance it could have been closed for lunch so we waited around a bit and shopped at a neighboring grocery store. Bought some nutella, senape, Buenos, etc. Then took metro home.
Mom and Dad arrived about 15 min after we arrived home. We all went out to explore the Rue Cler a bit. We bought some bacon for a gratin potato dish. Luke made white asparagus soup. We are about to eat now.

Dinner was great. I have on my list to talk about a few more things. One is the weather. It has been cool and rainy off and on. Mom woke up last night and came out here to look out the window at the Eifel tower (which you can see from our apartment) and she said it was “snowing to beat hell.” “big flakes!” She also said it snowed for a little bit during the day when they were touring. We must have been in the subway at that time. Anyway the rain has kept the sun away and the temperature in the low 50s/high 40s. It was certainly enough for a windbreaker, a sweater, scarf and mittens if you were lucky.
Here in Paris, they have only 1 color of TP for the consumer. PINK. PINK TP? Who prefers pink tp. Just thought I’d vent.

We have been to some grocery stores Leader Price is our favorite. They have a lot of frozen stuff and ready made stuff, like take it home and warm it up. I suppose they have to because there are basically no cooking facilities in the apartments. They don’t have biscuits or gran cereale like we had hoped to see. They have quite a bit of wine as well. The prices are slightly more than Italy, I think. The meat is exensive, like 4-5 pieces of ham in a package for like 3.00€. They don’t have much fresh stuff, or if the do it is out their front doors and only in the AM.
We bought a Carte l’orange card to get us from a-b day after day for 7 days. It is only good Monday –Sunday, for a given week. So if I buy it on Tuesday I will only be able to use it until Sun before I have to go buy another one. We paid €45 each! EACH! It should pay itself.
I haven’t been killed with kindness here in Paris. People have been short with us and not smiling or greeting us in the grocery stores. This could be normal in any big city in the world. They haven’t been nasty to us though.

Paris hasn’t been particularly dirty or particularly smoky, so that is fantastic. Ok. That is enough observations and miscellaneous stuff for now.

Day 2 April 6

Sunday, April 06, 2008 1800

Hello. Here we are again. We all have our roles. Luke is cooking dinner per usual, and I am now writing per usual. This morning we got up at 6.30. I woke up and was rolling around in bed. I started rubbing Luke’s back and talking to him. He then asked me when the alarm was going to go off. He was so tired he didn’t hear it even ring.

The bed we slept in was A DREAM. We have NEVER slept in a bed more comfortable, and it wasn’t because we were so tired. It is like a foam top mattress- like tempur pedic. I can’t wait to sleep tonight.

Luke packed lunch, made coffee and fixed me a commercial croissant with nutella on it for breakfast while I showered and dried my hair. He made a whole pot of espresso to put in our thermos. We were on the road and arrived via metro to the Louvre as the door opened at 0800. It was so easy to get there. There is a direct door from the metro line. As you exit the car you walk 100 feet and you are at an entrance to the museum. How slick. We walked to the entrance to the museum and were like the 10th people in line. We waited a bit until 0900 opening. The entrance price was free today since it was the first Sunday of the month. Yippee.

We followed Rick’s tour by the book. We first went to the Denon wing and saw the Venus de Milo. I believe we saw a copy of that in a museum in Italy. She wasn’t so impressive. We then saw winged victory. Rick Steve’s made a comment about her dress and the sea spray; I think it had something to do with a wet T- shirt contest. Rick what a weirdo in normal people’s clothing. Her hand was missing and was found buried in Turkey, how they knew it was hers I’ll never know.
The louvre used to be a French palace. They built on the Grand Galley to connect it with another palace. We saw some French royal jewels and crowns. I was so jealous. Saw Mona Lisa from about 30 feet away. The crowds were pretty thick, we had to push a bit to get closer. It was a bit of a let down. We saw some Caravaggio, enjoyed that.

Saw the Hermaphrodite greek statue lying on a cushiony mattress, a beautiful woman until you walked around her you saw her penis. Whoa. I took a picture. Saw some renaissance stuff, we actually recognized them. Then we also viewed Madonna on the Rocks, the Frenchman David’s (DA-veed’s) rendition of Napoleon’s Coronation. Saw Giotto’s St Francis of Assisi where he gets JC’s stigmata. Saw Michelangelo’s statue’s “slaves.” I liked those better than the ones in the Academia. I liked Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres’ La Grande Odalisque- it is a lady reclining on a bed with an unnatural S curve to her back. She was beautiful.

A funny painting, (that we couldn’t stop laughing about) was a picture of Jesus coming down from heaven to do something….Anyway Luke thought it looked like he fell out of the tree he was standing in front of. Like huhhheaaahhh! We kept giggling about it. I am Jesus probably has a sense of humor.

We had an espresso (from our thermos) in a stairwell, and that served as a nice pick me up. We finished Rick’s tour in 2 hours as he said. We walked on and went to see some Durer, Rubin and I don’t know what else. We walked around and around looking to find Hammarabi’s code. It turns out they had it in a special exhibit that had to be paid. We weren’t going to see it.
We made our way to the exit. We ate our lunch in the shadow of the Grand Pyramid. We ate cheese and butter sandwich, dried berries, hard boiled egg, pretzels, h2o and coffee.

The next thing on the list was to go to the Arc du Triomphe. On the subway we saw all kinds of people dressed for a running race. We figured out where they were headed- the Champs Elysses. That is the street the Arc is on. The Arc is a monument that Napoleon had constructed in honor of a big French Victory- I think it was Austerliz.

The monument was flooded with runners and tourists. There were tons of people watching to be had. We didn’t really think it was spectacular, but just OK. We did see a little boy pee on the monument. He had his mom hold his wiener to pee in public, as he must have had to go real bad. I couldn’t believe it. I guess public urination is OK when there are so few toilets around.

Then we decided to go to Notre Dame to see the organ concert. We dinked around outside and read the tour Rick provided. We wandered up a street filled with street vendors. They sold books and prints and trinkets, it was very worthwhile because they didn’t hassle or bark at us as we passed. We did some people watching along the Seine. A little J.R. doggie and his owner were on a walk down there. The doggie stopped and sniffed at this one spot for a while. The owner thought he was going to poop. He just kept sniffing; she decided to pull him on if he wasn’t going to do business. The doggie did the mule and dug his paws in to resist. She gave him another chance to poop, but kept sniffing, she pulled again- dog did the mule action and the lady wasn’t going to have it-she pulled the little dog and pulled him against his will- about 8 inches before he gave in and walked on his own power. We had some time to kill before entering Notre Dame. We walked around the neighborhood and found an artisan baker; we stopped in and had a jambon quiche and a croissant. The quiche was kind of spicy like taco seasoning, maybe it was coriander or something. It was pretty good. It was about 4 inches round with a pie crust type crust. It was served to us in a paper wrap. We should have bought croissants! They were so good and dark brown, I like the burnt part.

Then, in front of Notre Dame we stood at the zero point, the old exact center of Paris. It was marked by a brass marker in the ground. We took a picture of a bored gargoyle. Also took a picture of some of the statues outside of the church, got some flying buttresses etc. The interior of the church was relatively unremarkable except for the pretty arched ceilings. Saw the Rose window, took a photo. We waited in pews for the concert to start. Then we saw Mom and Dad! They came upon us quickly and in a surprise. We had gone our separate ways today and here they found us! How neat. The organ concert was putting many people to sleep. My husband and I were included, 2 people in front of us had fallen asleep. Mom said she was getting tired too. We left a bit early headed home and Luke started.

Luke made beef stew/soup tonight. We had fresh baguette bread, oranges and strawberries. The base that Luke made the soup with had a disclaimer- “ may contain fish or crustaceans” What a crock. Poor mommy, so needless to say she didn’t eat any stew. Luke made her noodles and butter.

I am hoping we will decide more concretely what we will do tomorrow. We did part of tomorrows walk today. Ljf

Paris Day 1-

Saturday, April 05, 2008 2140

We finished the day’s worth of activities. We safely took Iceland air to Reykjavik. It was a spectacular once in a lifetime flight because we were able to get the exit row AND there was no one in the third seat next to us. We had ample knee room and ample sleep room. I had an easy time falling asleep. The food wasn’t as great as past. A rolled lasagna type noodle with coarse chicken and what tasted like salsa, then a krab salad and a bun. Not to excited. The alcoholic drinks were not included. Luke and I did not know that. We ordered and the lady said 12€. I said no thank you. Thank goodness she didn’t crack the top. She took it back but left the mixer. It was great. We didn’t get a snack or breakfast. No movie. Mom didn’t get her fish free meal. She got weird vegetarian.

We arrived in Reykjavik and went through security. Got our passport stamped. Dinked around for an hour and walked. We boarded our next plane to Paris. This flight was 2.5 hours. We were served an omelet type thing, with breakfast potatoes and a lamb sausage with juice. I was REALLY hungry and thirsty. I asked for extra water. We arrived in terminal, collected our luggage and toileted. We tried to phone our apartment lady and we did not have any luck we did loose about 4 € in the process. We slowly proceeded to our apartment via the RER B cost €8.20. We bought our tickets at a machine, a book of 10 (€11.00). We boarded the RER B and took us to Gare du Nord, then took line 8, and then line 6 to our apartment.

We found the apartment right away, typed in the security code and then did not know what to do when we couldn’t find Isabelle. Well she came down and found us. I felt bad that we didn’t call. She showed us around way too much and for way too long. We paid the balance 1200 and €1000 security deposit. She offered to help dad find a bank where he could exchange his vast 40 kilo of Euro coin. The bank she took him to was closed. Luke and I went to the grocery store to get some food. We bought wine, cheese, some fruit, yogurt, a six pack of UHT milk, some crummy bread, and preservative loaded shelf stable croissants, generic nutella etc.

We ate a quick meal of pretzels bread chocolate, croissant, chocolate covered raisins and coffee. Then we decided to go for a cruise on the Seine €11 each. The metro was a rig a ma roll to get through and it felt like we could have walked it faster. Now we know. The boat tour was an hour long; we went up and down the Seine. It was very cold. We all had our hoods up and hands in pockets. The tour was a little bit too long. Luke even closed his eyes for a moment when we finally went indoors after we were so cold.

The boat ride dropped us off back at the Eiffel tower. We walked around a bit, Luke at a baguette hotdog. The baguette is pierced and mustard, mayo and ketchup squirted in the hole and then stuffed in the wiener. Luke and I gazed at the now lit Eiffel tower. We tried to take some good pictures;

we’ll see how they turned out. Luke and I walked home on our own and took a wrong turn. We both agreed in our minds that we had to take a right at the Invalides museum and we were wrong. We walked quite a ways out of our way before we checked the map and had to back track. It was a long brisk walk. Mom and Dad got lost on the way home too and they got home just moments before we did- 2030.

Luke quick fixed spaghetti and jar sauce that was VERY good. Luke just added herbs de province to it. Yummy! We ate big on that, ate some white cheese called comte’. Dad drank too much wine for his sleep deprivation. We ate some bread and butter and orange and apple for late dinner. Now Luke is lounging on the couch, dad is rambling and I am cramming to get this written. I think we are done for the night. Free day at the louvre is tomorrow. ljf

Paris Day 0 En Route to Paris

Friday, April 4 2008 1745

Here we are on our way to Paris. Last night as we were preparing our last minute packing stuff we decided we could either could watch TV or go to Barnes and Noble. Luke decided he would feel better if he could have his hands on a map. So we went to go pick one up. We enjoyed a cup of coffee and some travel books and cook books. Mainly we were looking for restaurants and food ideas. We stayed until closing, accumulating quite a stack of books.
We went home and then shortly went to bed after petting the dog.
This morning started with petting Kaiser. Luke had to get up early to go give blood. I stayed home and tried to pick up a little. I packed and double checked all the odds and ends.
At noon we dropped off Kaiser to Mike and Joan’s house. We gave them all the low down about his habits etc. My poor little doggie. He had his blankie and his kennel. It was sad to leave with out him.
Rodger and Beth arrived at like 1300 or so. We talked and snacked a little bit and then all of a sudden it was time to leave for the airport. Luke drove us promptly. We parked in EZ air park parking lot. Went to Humphrey terminal, checked bags etc. I got my yogurt and canned pineapple taken away by the TSA. I was kind of sad. They are so obsessed with liquid that they missed a knife, spoon and fork set we had in the backpack. Whatever, I guess. Dad got through security with about 42 lbs of coins. Poor Rodger.
Luke and I went for a walk, filled up our water bottle and are now seated waiting a half hour or so for boarding. We got an exit seat, so Luke will have some room to spread his legs.
Luke is sharing our sandwiches with Dad, we don’t have any pineapple or yogurt to eat, but oh well. Soon we’ll board, likely we’ll write when we arrive to Paris after we dink around on the Rue Cler. More later.

Charlotte's Web

Luke and I had company in March! We had the local nieces and nephews over for an outing to the theatrical play Charlotte's Web, performed by the Rochester Civic Theater. We had Ava for the weekend, Baden and Chloe for the day. It was lots of fun! We couldn't have taken any more children in our car!


Meet neice Olivia Kennedy Robinson! She's just a few months old at best here! What is very remarkable is that Luke is holding the baby! He didn't even give me dirty looks when I handed her to him. He doesn't like it when I force children on him!
Chloe and Ava played until 8pm. They were laughing and playing for the whole evening! I was eccstatic that they were keeping each other occupied!
Here is just a funny picture of Kaiser. He is loving this season of the year of ample sun! He was good with the children too. He was upset that we had to leave him home from the play!

Our Itinerary

April 4- 7 PM Depart MSP airport- to Rejikavik, Iceland. Don't worry, we'll be there way too early! Hopefully there won't be a passport scare! Katie couldn't immediately find her passport once when we were checking in and she spat nails and venom at me and accused me of taking her passport out of her purse. It turns out that she did have it, but for a moment we were all brainstorming as to how we were going to get her on the plane (eventually). Note MSP airport on the left and Iceland on the right.

April 5 - Early AM Rejikavik to Paris.

April 5- 1300 Arrive Paris Charles DeGaul airport. We'll try to figure out the metro to our apartment. Hopefully we'll be on time to meet our apartment attendant to receive the keys. Then we will have to hustle to look around the neighborhood while the Rue Cler Market is still open. MAYBE if we are still functioning after a short nap we'll be brave and take the Nighttime public bus tour to see the Paris sights lit up at night.

April 6 Today's big event is the Louvre! We'll seeDaVinci's Mona Lisa, and all the rest! How exciting! The best part is that today admission is FREE! It will be busy but we can spend all day there if we can last! This is the worlds most crowded museum! Then if we still can walk we'll go to the Arc de Triomphe and then to the place where the first shopping mall was invented the Print Temps. Then if we can make it to Notre Dame in time to hear a free organ concert at 4.30.

April 7 We'll see downtown Paris on Rick Steve's Paris walk. The stars will be Notre Dame, some museums, St Chapelle and maybe some street markets. Then in the afternoon we'll hike to a different area and do Rick's Monte Marte walk- Here we'll see the real Moulin Rouge, a few museums, the Sacre Coeur Church and a GREAT view of Paris as it is up on a hill!

April 8 We'll go see yet a further area of Paris on Rick's Marais Walk, we'll see a Holocaust museum, a Picasso museum and a Modern art museum (1900s). Then we'll head back toward the apt and spend the afternoon turning to evening on or looking at the Eiffel Tower.

April 9 This is our first and only day trip out of Paris. We are taking a 30 min train to Versailles. This is the palace of all palaces. This is the opulent building that sparked Le revolution - they taxed the poor and middle class for funding. They got sick of it and started civil war. This photo is of the extravagant fountains and gardens.

April 10 Today we see lots of Impressionists at the Orsay, and The Thinker at the Rodin Museum. We'll round out the day of museums at the Army museum which I guess is a MUST see according to our book. I think there is a lot of Napoleon stuff. Hopefully if we get through the museums we can take the metro to a street market and do some shopping.

April 11 This morning is "free." Later more impressionists at the Orangerie and Marmoton Museum. This photo covers an entire wall. As Monet aged, his eyesight deteriorated. To compensate, his canvas' got bigger and his brushstrokes broader- so the work is best viewed from a distance, rather than up close.

April 12 Take Metro to Charles DeGaul airport for an early afternoon flight to Iceland- with enough layover to have Luke stuff his belly with his most favorite hot dogs in the entire world! I am sure I'll take a few pictures to commemorate this event! Then Iceland to Minneapolis and then drive home!

Springtime in Paris is only 30 days away!

We have officially started to pack our bags! I have the suitcases open and packed some of the travel specialty items; the all purpose windbreaker /raincoat, umbrellas, travel pillow, converters, day bag, etc. We'll bring along some dried cranberries, cherries, granola, crystal light packets and other miscellaneous items that will travel well. I packed the salt and pepper and sugar free sugar. One addition I am packing is....a thermos! A small one that will be perfect for a pot or 2 of espresso. To keep us awake during the museums! The first museum in the itinerary is....The Louvre. So hopefully we will be able to survive it!

Luke and I need to do some work on the Itinerary. Right now it does not match up AT ALL with my mother and father's. Some overlap would be nice. Some.

The weather right now in Paris is a high of 50 F and low of 35F. Sounds just like spring to me! Fantastic.

We'll try to post our Itinerary with some generic photos so you can see what we'll be doing!