Ham & Jam on the Day of Days

John reporting again. It's Monday evening and we've wrapped the first of two days immersion in D-Day history, one of the prime reasons Normandy made it on our itinerary. (I should note the kids were given the choice of Normandy or Provence, and picked Normandy!)

A quick note about our dinner last night. We've had pretty reasonable success finding places that had at least something Ben & Alexa would eat, which has included a few chicken nugget and pizza meals. (Actually, our lunch Sunday was in a delightful little neighborhood pizzeria in Pontorson, near Mont St. Michel.) But last night we went to a place Michelle had been eying since our cab ride to the hotel Saturday - La Boucherie, which looks to be part of a chain. La Boucherie means "The Butchery" and as the name implies, red meat was their specialty. But the kicker is the mascot - a cow, of course. Cow lamps, cow clocks, cartoon cows throughout the decor. Michelle was a happy camper, and everyone had food they really enjoyed.

It would be immodest of me to gloat about our ability to handle the French menus while the table full of New Jersians, part of a group of 35 who are staying at our hotel for three nights as part of a bicycle tour, had to go ask for the English version. Fodor's & Rick Steves phrasebooks, don't visit France without them. :) (And mentioning to the waiter or waitress that "Nous parles une petit peu Francais" salted with routine politenesses seems to earn us a fair bit of goodwill.)

Anyway, back to today and our sojourn, which was primarily spent in the British sector.

Hold up your left hand, palm toward your face, with the thumb extended up. That's more or less the shape of the invasion sector. Where we're staying in Bayeux is pretty close to the pad just inside your index finger. It was liberated pretty quickly by the British, late on June 6th or early June 7th, which is why so many medieval structures remain. Caen, located right about the first joint of your middle finger, was another D-Day or D+1 objective for the British, but it took them a month to capture it for a variety of reasons (two panzer divisions being nearby didn't help) and it was flattened, so pretty much everything there is new. And one of the newest things there is the "Caen Peace Memorial".

This is a really innovative and excellent war museum in many ways, though I have some quibbles with it. After taking one through the end of WWI and the rise of Fascism, it takes you through the course of the war. Things are pretty easy to follow up until the fall of France, but after a short (and well-handled) section on Vichy and collaboration, it opens up to the rest of the war. That section is still high-quality but hard to follow, as there's no clear organization to it - odd juxtapositions like a section about a British doctor, part of a sanitation & hygiene unit next to a display of weaponry. But almost everything is in trilingual form somehow - French, English & German. There's a lot of audio-visual stuff and there's a definite emphasis on how people of all types got by. As Michelle put it, it balances the desire for peace and the horror and suffering brought on by any war against the need to stand up to truly evil regimes such as the Axis of WWII.

The museum shows a couple of movies which take you through D-Day itself (which cribbed a lot of footage from The Longest Day intermixed with actual battlefield film), followed immediately by one that covers the roughly 100 days from D-Day to the full liberation of France. Both are well-done, though Michelle found it hard to stay awake in the first one and I spotted some glitches in the CGI sections that display the progress of the front (US 401st Airborne? Huh what?)

After lunch in the rather nice cafeteria we descended to the lowest level, which is a former German command bunker from the war. It's been refitted as an excellent museum showcasing the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, and others who while not winners of the Prize who have worked for peace. As crowded as the main museum upstairs was, we had this section to ourselves and didn't encounter anyone else until we were heading back up to depart.

Our next stop kicked off the actual battlefield tour at Pegasus Bridge and the British Airborne Museum & Memorial. (Using the hand-map, move up to the middle of the joint-crease of your index finger.) This was the first objective seized by the Allies a few minutes after midnight on D-Day, with British glider troops landing in a coupe-de-main attack scant yards from the bridge, capturing it intact. The museum is relatively new and on its grounds is the original bridge, moved there when it needed replacing. I know quite a bit about the action here from my wargame playtesting days, and showed Ben where some of the early fighting took place as the Ox & Bucks fought off the Germans in the lonely pre-dawn hours. We had a quick snack at the Cafe Gondre, still run by Madame Gondre who was a child living within on D-Day - still as formidable as ever from what my old ASL pals Perry & Brian told me. (Ham & Jam were the code words for the two bridges in the area, and after both were seized the British radio operator continuously sent the message "Ham and Jam, Ham and Jam" to let command know they had succeeded.)

We stayed in the British Airborne sector a bit longer and visited the Merville Battery. (Center of the pad of your index finger.) This site has four original bunkers which on D-Day held 100mm guns and could have rained fire down on Sword Beach, the easternmost beach, and on the ships offshore. 600 British paratroopers were assigned to attack it, but they were badly scattered and when the time came to actually attack, only 150 men with a small fraction of their equipment had assembled. The paras cleared the mines on their bellies by hand, used their own bodies as bridges across the barbed wire, and took the battery in 20 minutes of hard fighting - but took over 50% casualties in the process. The site is almost pristine, with all four bunkers still present and a nice walking path with explanations through the site.

Back west across the Orne River (the crease of your index finger) for a driving tour of the British beaches. Today, these towns are fairly built-up as beach resorts and overall quite pretty. There are museums and memorials scattered along the length. Moving westward, the middle part of your index finger would be Sword beach; the first part, Juno Beach, the Canadian sector; then the side of your knuckle is Gold Beach, with the town of Arromanches just inside your knuckle. Here the Allies did something really remarkable - they built an artificial harbor through which they poured several hundred thousand men and huge amounts of vehicles and equipment. You can see the remnants of that harbor (called a Mulberry) above, and a good look down the British beaches.

After a small gap, along the section between the base of your thumb and your knuckle lies Omaha Beach, where we ended today's tour. We didn't make it down to the beach itself, but did get to the American Cemetery & Memorial (the one shown in Saving Private Ryan) about a half-hour before it closed. Even the normally ebullient Ben was strongly affected by the sight of row upon row upon row of crosses (with the occasional Star of David). We were able to spend a few minutes on a viewing platform overlooking the Coleville Draw and part of the beach itself before being literally escorted out (along with a number of other visitors, including a trio of what I believe were Buddhist monks!) by the security guards as it was 15 minutes after closing time.

I had a few minutes alone overlooking the beach while Michelle & the kids were hunting for a restroom after we arrived, and looking down that draw with a trained soldier's eye, I marveled at the sheer guts and tenacity of the men who clawed their way across the sand and up the draw and hillside under murderous fire.

Tomorrow we have a guided tour of the thumb - the American Airborne sector & Utah Beach.

Medieval Sunday

We spent the day in the middle ages ... sort of. We began our day with a trip to Mont Saint Michel, a small rocky island with an abbey named after the Archangel Michael. The first things were built on the island in 708, though parts of the abbey are new - built in the 1500s! Its about a 90 minute drive from Bayeux, where we are staying (we have a lovely rental car - a Peugot with a sun roof). We arrived about 9:30 (you can do the math - we even had breakfast before setting out so we were ambitious) and were glad to beat the crowds of tour buses.

You can see 'the Mont' from miles away, sitting out in the bay. You need to take a causeway to get to the parking area and then walk the rest of the way through the town and to the abbey. The streets are narrow and lined with many opportunities to spend one's Euros, from the upscale (60 E omelets and Saint James clothing) to the downright tacky (orange and green plastic swords made in China). The hike up through the town (or along the ramparts, where John and Ben went) is steep but well worth it to get to the abbey. Apparently, only about a third of the visitors to Mont Saint Michel actually go IN the abbey (because the climb is daunting), but we did and were so pleased. The views are spectacular and the building itself is sparse but lovely. It befits the cloistered monastery it was (there are still a few monks living there, and we saw one of them as he dodged into a hallway). Mont Saint Michel is part of a worldwide celebration of sacred mounts and as such there were photos within the abbey of people climbing similar heights in Ireland, China, etc. It was really moving to think about others around the world making similar climbs to see sacred spots.

This afternoon we visited the Bayeux tapestry, best described as the story of William the Conqueror told in pictures on fabric. It is very long and thin and is amazing in its detail. More amazing is that it is about a thousand years old. The people of the town treat it with the respect and care it deserves - the visitor's center is wonderful and they even have a children's audio tour which tells little stories of interest to kids. There are no pictures posted of the tapestry because cameras are prohibited - you'll have to wait until we get home to see the book we purchased. Bayeux itself has been populated for 2,000 years - it is mind boggling to think that people have been living in this spot for that long and that some of the buildings here date to the middle ages.

I finished the day doing laundry at two laundromats - yes, two. I did the wash in the first but then the machine that takes the money stopped taking money so I had to move to a different one to dry it. But hey, at least I had dryers available (not to mention automatic washers)! Met some lovely French women in the laundromat, and managed to figure out which machines were for washing (lavage) and drying (sanch-something), even though nothing was in English.

Two final notes (particularly for the Gingrich family members): First, we bumped into a group of people from southern Ohio and Kentucky staying at our hotel, all Kentucky fans (they went there together). We had a great chat with them about Sam Bowie and basketball in general and I told them that my grandpa taught me to cheer for UK. Second, we are seeing tons of cattle and sheep and I keep thinking how much Grandpa would love to see the small farms. We took a picture of a sheep crossing sign for Martha.

The Boys Stayed Back In Town

John's turn again. We're comfortably settled onto our train, departing momentarily from Gare St. Lazaire in Paris to Bayeux in Normandy. Big comfy seats, plenty of baggage space, airily designed-cars - should be a fairly relaxing trip. I may not finish this entry before we get there, as I do want to see more of France!

Flash-back time to yesterday (Friday, June 27th). As Michelle wrote we split up for the day - she & Alexa on their Versaille trip while Ben & I visited a few more sites in Paris. Since we'd been up fairly late the night before he & I got a late start, and ran into some delays at Gare d'Austerlitz procuring Metro passes for the day. Friday is a BIG travel day in France and it seemed everyone was trying to get out of town.

Our first stop of the morning was the Rodin Museum, located just across the street from the Invalides complex. The museum occupies the house Rodin lived in during the later part of his life, as well as the extensive gardens behind the house, separated by a tall wall from the rest of Paris. Sculptures by Rodin, his companion Camille Caudill and a few works by his friends (we came across a painting by Monet and another by Van Gogh) are located throughout the house and gardens. Ben took some really terrific pictures including the one above of his favorite sculpture, The Tower of Labor. We spent a few minutes in the garden cafe having a drink and a bit of bread (Ben is definitely the bagette-powered boy!) but the lunch offerings weren't to his liking, so we ate lunch at a cafe across the street from the museum.

I'm not the art fan Michelle is, but I'd wanted to visit this museum since I'd first heard about it. Rodin's mastery of his chosen form struck me very viscerally - one small piece, The Cry, shows little more than a male head clearly crying out - in anguish I thought, but another might see exaltation. The Gates of Hell, located in the garden, is simply phenomenal.

After lunch we returned to the Invalides complex to what seems to be a little-visited section of the museum - the Musee des Plans Reliefs. Its location on the fourth floor (no elevator) of the east wing, which is undergoing renovations, is probably the main reason it was almost entirely deserted for the hour that Ben & I spent in it. The contents? An extensive collection of scale models, incredibly realistic, of various citadelles, fortresses and fortified towns in France. Some were relatively small, a few feet on a side, but several were over 10 feet across. The oldest dated model I found was from 1700. Apparently these were maintained secretly by the French Army until the 20th century. Ben was fascinated by the models, and we spent a while discussing the science of this kind of military engineering (the ideas of bastions, lazarettes, why you'd put a separate citadelle next to a fortified city, etc.).

We departed Invalides for good, getting into a glimpse of the Eglise St. Louis which shares a wall with Napoleon's tomb. From there we hopped onto the Metro and across to the Right Bank of the Seine for a visit to the National Maritime Museum at Trocadero Square.

More models here, but this time of ships - everything from 64-gun ships-of-the-line to France's modern aircraft carrier, the Charles de Galle. The explanations are only in French but we were able to puzzle things out well enough. There's also a big collection of nautical-themed art, from some panoramic paintings of various ports to scenes from famous battles, Trafalgar among them.

We popped out onto the plaza on Trodcadero square and discovered that the guidebooks were correct - it's the best view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Definitely tourist central! Ben finally got a vanilla-chocolate ice cream twist he'd been wanting but been unable to find (the soft-serve stuff is known as glace itallienne, by the way). We had a couple hours yet to kill before meeting back up with the girls, so we found some bench space and did some people-watching while Ben played with some of the toy knights he's picked up. I probably could have offered to take pictures of groups for a euro a pop and paid for our Metro passes for the day!

We ventured into the Metro again to the Latin Quarter and our designated meeting place, the church of St. Germain de Pres, parts of which date from the sixth century - yes, parts of the walls are 1500 years old! We staked out the entry from a cafe across the street while Ben had build-your-own hot chocolate & I had tea. After rendevousing with the girls we hacked our way down Blvd. St. Germain to a family-friendly restraunt we'd eaten at earlier in the week, and Italian chain called del Arte. Then back to the Chalik, where Michelle & I packed while two tired kids rested!

We did our final packing this morning; Michelle in her wizardry only needed to pop out one of our spare bags, and that mainly for dirty clothes. We "checked out" with Mssr. Valat who helped us maneuver our luggage off the boat and gangway onto the quai. We said our farewells, crossed the street to the Gare and caught a cab to Gare St. Lazaire, where this train awaited us.

We're now zipping through beautiful countryside and occasionally very small towns. We'll be in Bayeux in about another hour or so...

Addendum:

We arrived in Bayeux a little at about 3:15 today. The Bayeux station is tiny, just a few older buildings next to the tracks and absolutely no line at the counter. The available taxis were all snatched up before we made it over to the taxi stand, but it's a small town and one swung back by a short time later to take us to our hotel, the Hotel d'Argouges. It's a 16th-century townhouse built by the eponymous Lord d'Argouges. We're in one of their apartments, in the main building, with the window of the master bedroom overlooking the garden. What's really neat is that despite being located on the main east-west street through town, the house itself is actually set back from the road and from our window, the only things I hear this moment are the birds in the garden. (Well, there's some horns honking a good ways off, but it's still pretty peaceful.)

Aside from a bit of exploring Ben & I did around the block, and a nice walk to and from dinner, we've pretty much taken the night off. Tomorrow we plan to get up early to make the trek to Mont St. Michel before the hordes of tourists arrive, and then hopefully see some of the sights in Bayeux in the afternoon, with some country driving in between.

Michelle's Addendum:

I've added a photo of the hotel where we are living in the lap of luxury. Two items John did not mention -1) there is a Christmas card (the photo type) from Rick Steves hanging in a nook in the reception area - he stays here every year (for those who don't know, Rick Steves is THE authority on European travel and has a PBS show and writes guidebooks; we are traveling with two of his guidebooks, one of his backpacks, and a money belt sold by him); 2) apartment here means, essentially, two bedrooms with a bathroom. It's roomy (particularly given French standards), and has a BATHTUB. WOOT.

Also, a totally cute thing from our journey this morning. There was a family near us in the train station with a son who looked to be about Ben's age. So I urged Ben to go up to him and ask if he spoke English (in French, of course). Turns out they were from Texas so the boy and Ben hung out together trading Gameboy tips. Yet another cool encounter from the road - we've met all sorts of interesting people from many countries (including Australia - a mother and daughter on the tour bus in Paris who were traveling with a choral group) who strike up a conversation when they hear you speaking English.

Finally, I forgot to mention an incident a couple days ago that shows how 'unplugged' I've become. We were eating breakfast at the train station (the only breakfast outside the boat when we were in Paris), and the waiter, upon hearing us and hearing where we were from, asked us (in a very French accent just after taking our order) "Hillary or Barak Obama?" Between the accent and the timing and my being totally out of the political scene - I totally had no clue what he was talking about. It took at least three times before John told me what he was asking. Apparently the French (like much of Europe, I hear) thinks our election was between just those two. Also, I am apparently able to totally get away from it all... we had no TV for a week without any real pain. Go figure.

The Girls' Day Friday

So, a few posts ago we noted that the Army Museum could easily take more than 3 hours for the men in our family... today they proved that correct! They went back (yup, and I'm sure one of them will blog about it later).

Since Alexa and I (Michelle) wanted to see Versailles and John and Ben did not (and John and Ben wanted more Army Museum, plus the Rodin Museum and the Trocedero), we split up. Yes, you heard me right, and we did it the old fashioned way, without cell phones!

Versailles is a 40 minute or so ride outside of Paris via train. There were masses of people headed there today, plus buses carrying half the children of France, I think. Alexa noted that it is proof that there was too much money and too much in-breeding in the French royal system, as you would have to be insane to put that much gold into a place.

All that aside, it is amazing and I got goosebumps seeing the Hall of Mirrors in real life (as opposed to my Art History books). The gardens are huge and impressive, somehow combining very tailored, manicured shrubbery with wild flowers, plus ornate fountains and statuary. We ate lunch at a cafe next to the canal where you can rent row boats. Alexa and I decided that if you combined Williamsburg, VA with Newport, RI (as in the mansions of Newport), you might get close to the guest quarters at Versailles.

After we left Versailles we headed back to Paris to try to take advantage of the famous Soldes - the summer sales! We went to Paris's oldest department store, Le Bon Marche (http://www.lebonmarche.fr/#home) - in a building designed by the builder of the Eiffel Tower! We were amazed to find a few choice items - a Pac Man pashmina (yes, as in the video game layout put onto a shawl, selling for only 85 Euros on sale), electric neon pocket knives, and a plain white nightshirt on sale for 80 Euros. We were amazed at our restraint - I really wanted to buy the first two items for the kids! We found out that Paris is where the department store was invented, and like the big stores in NYC, this one's first floor is devoted to perfume. Unlike those in NYC, the top floor had the most lovely and amazing sewing department - imagine a Sak's Fifth Avenue-like display of buttons (in drawers and jars), thread, embroidery floss... it was amazing. I asked if I could take a photo but of course its not allowed.

Its sad to be packing up to leave Paris already, but Normandy awaits!

The city of lights

We finally stayed out past dark (which is kind of tough, because it doesn't really get dark here until about 10 pm and the thought of both keeping the kids up that late and dealing with the Metro that late were daunting). It was well worth the tired kids and the 15E cab fare home.

We went to see Sacre Coer (a church atop the highest hill in the city). We actually didn't go IN the church, but we did see the outside and the spectacular view. We rode a finicular (an elevator up the side of the hill) to get up there, then walked down steps to a restaurant (with a menu of almost exclusively French cuisine - I had a really great traditional veal dish I would never have tried a week ago, and Alexa and John had cheese for dessert). Then, Alexa and I walked back up the steps to see the view with the lights.

The above photos are: the view from Sacre Coer just before dusk, the restaurant we ate at (the one on the right), Sacre Coer at night, the view at night, and the flame twirler at the 'party' at Sacre Coer (yes, flame twirler... there were hundreds of people watching it and listening to a guy singing Beatles songs).

Its the stuff you don't plan that can be really fun

So, our plan for today was to see the spot the Bastille was on, to see the Victor Hugo House, and to see the Opera. We did all three of those. However, we got some neat surprises.

First, we stopped at the train station to make reservations for our travel to Normandy on Saturday. The line was long (as the woman behind us said, you know its not a good sign when they put chairs in the line), but we passed some of the time talking to a pair of young people in line behind us. She was a student at UMass Amherst (we had a little academic advising session in line - these students and their double degrees, yeesh). He was in the Air Force at 'weather school' in Germany. It made the time pass (and I think we got a better explanation of the weather, to boot).

In the end it was good that it took so long at the train station because as we were walking down the street on our way between the Bastille and the Victor Hugo house, we bumped into a mounted band (as in a marching-type band on horses). So cool.

Finally, we saw the neatest Metro station between the Pompidou Center and the Opera House - it had walls that made it look like you were inside a copper chamber, and there were neat little portholes with replicas of, among other things, a sattelite.

As a side note - the Opera House is spectacular. Its easy to see how someone (like a Phantom of the Opera) could live there and not be noticed, it is HUGE. We were not able to see the actual auditorium, but we still spent an hour there. Magnificent ceilings, sculptures of famous composers and performers, and grand spaces.

We didn't really spend too much time in the Pompidou Center (too many of us were tired, grumpy, or uninterested in modern art), but the fountain outside was really quite neat. It is whimsical and fun and shows a cool part of modern art, if you ask me - conveying a spirit and feeling in a unique way.

We are now off to the Monmarte section - the highest part of the city - to get a view of the city at night...

Waterlilies

Its clear that when I let the guys do the blogging, you miss out on the arty commentary, and it would be a shame not to comment on the waterlilies and the gallery built just for them.

We saw Monet's waterlily paintings (many of them, actually) yesterday when we visited the Orangerie, a museum dedicated to Impressionist art. They are displayed in two oval rooms that are all white (you can see one of them in the photo in yesterday's blog), with filtered light (both natural and artificial) from the ceiling. It is truly lovely and breathtaking, one of the most beautiful sights we've seen here, in my opinion. I'm so glad that John has planned a trip to Giverny (where the gardens that inspired it are) while we are in Normandy.

Though the Waterlilies are the most famous of the items in the collection at the Orangerie, there are lots of other lovely works. Its kind of funny to say, oh yeah, there were some works by Picasso, Renior, and Matisse there too, but there ya have it. Alexa was happy to see the painting depicting the comedia del'arte actors (she is in a photo with the painting in yesterday's blog).

When we were on the Champs E'lysse (I'm too lazy to look up the correct spelling), I was struck by how interesting the layout was - there are the stores with a sidewalk next to them, then a line of tress, then another sidewalk wide enough for several people across. The car dealerships were interesting - not just the Peugot and Renault, but also Lexus and other high end brands you see in the US.

Ou est de toilette? And what's up with those Weather Channel monkeys?

Well, not in the Tuilleries, per se... so we headed to the Orangerie to use that one. And the one on the Place de la Concorde was occupied by men who were in no hurry to leave, so John and Ben used the one in the Museum level two-thirds up the Arc De Triomphe... (End Mom introduction.)

By the way this is Ben speaking (with some Dad editing) and if you are wondering about "Da Monkeys", yes that's what I'm calling them. We decided that the Weather Channel is having monkeys throwing darts at walls and pulling cards from bins and what they say goes (as far as the forecast - it was supposed to rain today - Dad). Oh and Dad and I made it to the top of the Arc De Triomphe as shown in the bottom pic.

Dad and I (The Great Stair-Climbers) wandered a park (the Tulleries - Dad) for 20min trying to find a bathroom.

We also went to the Orangerie and I guess the paintings were nice. And if you expected more you have come to the wrong universe. This is Ben signing off.

Dad addendum: We also wound up using one of the double-decker tourist bus lines later in the afternoon. There were pros and cons to it. We got some great views of the city, and the intermittent automated commentary (you get earphones to plug in near your seat) had some interesting details. But the top-level seats were very uncomfortable for me - not a width problem but rather a depth one, as my knees were wedged against the seat in front of me. It was nice to see a lot of what we've missed out on using the Metro and RER so much.

The view from the top of the Arc De Triomphe is amazing and worth every one of the 268 steps (each way). Seeing the resting place of the original Unknown Soldier was also quite moving.

Tomorrow's plan - Place de la Bastille, Victor Hugo's house, and either the Pompidu Center or the Opera (maybe both depending on how everyone holds up). We're down to seeing what we can fit in our last two full days in Paris without wearing ourselves out for Normandy.

A note about laundry

You'll soon start seeing us 'repeating' clothing, so a note about the laundry situation. We have a washer and three Rick Steves travel laundry lines (very cool, with velcro loops to attach them where ever and braided rubber lines that mean you don't need clothespins) - no dryer. Because we attempted to pack light (and hey, we're gone for 2 weeks - it would be frightening to bring clothing for 4 people for 2 weeks, even if we did have large enough wardrobes), we need to do laundry while here. We have a fairly reasonable system going - one load in at night, hung during the day; another in during the day, hung at night.

I'm sure M. Valat is frightened by the amount of water we use, given that we shower every day and change clothes daily too, but its been hot for much of the time we are here. We're trying to re-use the dark pants that don't seem too dirty.

When we get to Bayeux (Normandy) there will be a laundromat close by (and I am secretly crossing my fingers that either the hotel or the laundrette will have a service that could do it FOR us, but I'm prepared that the odds are not in my favor).

Now that the laundry is hung, its off to our adventures for the day....

The post Alexa promised

So, Alexa said she'd rather have me post the pictures and fill in the rest of the details of the day... so here's my perspective (Michelle).

The Musee d'Orsay was lovely - it used to be a train station and was renovated to pick up where the Louvre leaves off (that would be Pre-Impressionism through the Munch/Klimt era). We went today knowing it would be full because so many other attractions are closed on a Tuesday, thinking - hey, we did the Louvre on Sunday how bad can the Orsay on Tuesday be? Welllll... it wasn't terrible but the Orsay is on a much smaller scale (in terms of physical space) than the Louvre. John tried to rouse us out of the boat earlier, but we were running about a half hour late. So instead of being there before they opened and waiting, we got there about 15 minutes after opening and saw ALL of the school children (or daycare groups or whatever). We keep seeing these groups and thinking about what it would be like if Joy in Learning (Ben's old daycare) took this kind of field trip (Ben says it would be a disaster because the kids are not good at keeping their hands off things).

Anyway... we headed straight for the back and top sections of the museum and got a reasonably crowd-free viewing of the major impressionist works. I think that the highlight for me was standing in front of the actual Renoir from which a print hung in my college apartment (that would be the one that Ben and I are standing in front of in the photo above). Ben and Alexa are not the art fanatics that I am, but they were troopers and listened to art lessons from John and I (I mean, when you are standing in front of one of the paintings that prompted the Impressionist movement - the Manet of the picnic in the park - how can you NOT tell them about it?). The second photo is the view from a balcony of the Orsay looking over the Seine at the Louvre.

We had a lovely lunch at a cafe/brasserie near the museum - omlettes for most of us and then headed for the Luxemburg Gardens for some much needed down time. Imagine Central Park but with a palace in the middle, a grand fountain, and lovely sculptures. As John noted, the most impressive thing is that there are these chairs all around that you can pick up and move to where you want them, and they remain within the park and clean. Ben enjoyed playing at this great playground that contained at least two pieces of equipment you would never find in the US these days - a big climbing web/tower (in the photo above - Ben did make it to the top though the photo does not show that) and a zipline track. And no one seemed worried at all about the possiblity of being sued for safety reasons - they just let the kids be kids. There is an area where bands (like the high school concert type) play music and the look on John and Ben's faces when they heard the theme from Star Wars was priceless.

Alexa has told you most of the high points of the Pantheon. She's reading Les Miserables (a birthday gift - the novel by Victor Hugo) and several Moliere plays (a purchase at Shakespeare and Company books in Paris - a store that made even John and I gulp when the purchases were totalled - our kids have learned that books are always OK to purchase and 'free' to them as Mom and Dad foot the bill). Anyway, she was hoping to see both graves, but Moliere is buried somewhere else... but clearly she still liked it. What she didn't mention was the pendulum in the center of the Pantheon. Essentially, it tells time - and impressively Ben figured out how. The pendulum keeps to the same path throughout the day, but the earth is rotating so the spot in the ring where the pendulum hits changes (and its got little time markers). For more on this, do a search on Foucault's Pendulum. I walked out of the Pantheon amazed at the sites but really thankful to have children who could clearly understand and appreciate what they saw.

Finally, a note about our dinner this evening. You should know that John has been an excellent student and researcher on how to be a good tourist in Paris and he's passed on that knowledge to us because he did not want to be part of the 'ignorant American' stereotype. We got emails with helpful phrases and several lessons (including French meals to acclimate us to the cuisine) in the months and weeks leading up to the trip. Tonight we had an experience that made him wish he had memorized the phrase "I apologize for my fellow countrymen, we aren't all like that."

After leaving the Pantheon, we walked down a sidestreet and headed toward several cafes and restaurants. There was a rather large group (more than 20) of people on a tour organized through their church in Somerset, New Jersey (this was obvious from the t-shirts a couple were wearing but also because it was easy to hear their conversation). We tried dodging them but ended up in the same restaurant and seated right next to a group with the lay leader and the monsignour. They never even attempted a "bon jour, madame" just started asking questions (and even making demands) in English. There was only one waitress (poor thing) and she did not speak much English which made it take twice as long for her to take their order (because, of course, though the menu was your basic Italien dishes, it was printed only in French so they had to ask if they had certain dishes). It was frustrating to listen to, but John was literally at his limit when one woman, irritated that she hadn't been approached soon enough, yelled "Garcon?" at the newly arrived backup waiter; this apparently is rude (garcon means boy as well as waiter; the appropriate phrase, for those who wish to know, is "s'il vou plait, monseiur/madame"). When we ordered (in French, after properly addressing the waitress with a "bon jour, madame"), I think the waitress was ready to kiss us - in fact, she giggled with us later... John tried to tell this table that addressing someone as "garcon" was rude and that their demand for "plain water" would be more effective if they asked for tap water (pronounced low dew roh bee nay), but we couldn't get their attention. I told John not to look too smug, but I admit I did feel pretty darn good about our attempts, however feeble, at communicating in French. The restaurant is in the photo, and you may even be able see some of the not-so-innocent New Jersey-ians.

A side note - for whatever reason (perhaps because I was wearing a polo shirt-dress?) I must have looked like a native today, because I was approached by two people today and asked questions in French... and, for the record, I was able to figure out the ice cream flavors at Berthillon's and to purchase apple juice (juis pomme), which I couldn't find right away and had to ask for, without speaking English... I'm getting better.

With any luck, the fireworks to celebrate the festival of Saint John the Baptist will begin in moments and be visible from our boat... so its time to sign off...

The Great Quest for the Ice Cream

Hi, everyone, this is Alexa. Your daily update and pictures are coming in a little bit. Anyway, today we went to the Musee d'Orsay (Mom was very happy), the Pantheon (Dad and I were very happy) and Luxembourg Gardens (Ben was very happy). But we'd heard about a place on Ile St. Louis that apparently has the best ice cream in Paris from the guide. I'd been wanting to try the ice cream since we got here. And, at Luxembourg Gardens, they were advertising a ton of ice cream. Well, we were going to the Pantheon next, and it was close enough, so we decided we'd go there after dinner... But then Ben kept saying he was too tired... and we'd go tomorrow... Sob... After dinner, though, it was close enough, Ben had energy... For the record, the guide's right. That ice cream is fantastic, great, and insert other positive adjectives here.

And, since Mom and Ben sat out going to the Crypt, here's my report on the Pantheon - simply awesome. The murals on the top floor were beautiful, and it was really cool to see the graves of people who'd made such an impact on history. Though, in the end, we never got to see the Curies - the maps of the Crypt are confusing, and they weren't marked on it. Still, you can tell someone who likes theatre was there already - A bouquet of flowers was on Victor Hugo's grave, and a rose was on Voltaire's. Plus, we were tired already and only saw a couple spots before going upstairs again. Ah, well.

See you when we get home!
Alexa

We swore we wouldn't set foot in the door, but...

... when you need a bathroom, McDonald's is a reliable stop.

Let me explain - the pump for the bathroom went temporarily out of order last night (Monday), discovered when Ben's shower did not drain. Of course, both Alexa and I were in need of a bathroom ... luckily there is a McDonald's right down the street.

We bought frites (fries) so we could use the facilities without guilt. Noticed the following: swiss cheese for the burgers, chocolate mousse dessert, two kinds of potato options (wedges and frites), and a vast variety (well 5) of options for McFlurries (including Kit Kats).

Did you know that they serve beouf par excellence?

Chock Full o'History

John taking over the posting duties briefly.

As Michelle wrote earlier, today's two sites were the Cluny Museum (formally know as the Musee de la Moyen Age, or Musuem of the Middle Ages) and the Invalides complex which houses the French Army Museum and Napoleon's tomb (along with a few others).

A few more facts about the Cluny - the building itself was a medevial abbey, which itself was built atop the remnants of a Roman bath. The bath has been excavated and normally you can enter it, but it's closed for "travail", or work, right now. From the street it looks like they may be excavating more of the Roman ruins on the lot.

The Cluny is also a rather small musuem, and even if it had been completely staffed and open, it wouldn't have taken a full two hours - but what it contains is still pretty amazing. Many rooms have small plastic or laminated cards with explanations of the contents of the room in various languages. (So far English & Spanish are the most common alternatives to French we've seen, but the Cluny has guides in German, Polish and other tounges.)

The Invalides complex is simply massive. Louis the XIV built it as a hospital for wounded and disabled soldiers, and part of the complex still fills that purpose today. It's actually a French military post right smack in the middle of southwest Paris - the security is provided by armed gendarmes (they all wear sky-blue shirts with "GENDARME" across the back). In fact, some sort of change-of-command ceremony took place today in a different part of the complex - I doubt we could have gotten in to see it, as part of the complex is restricted-access.

The medevial arms and armor section has a huge - and I mean HUGE - collection of weapons and plate armor on display. Swords of all varieties, lots of pole arms, many primitive firearms - including and arequebus that looks like it could shoot tennis balls. Ben found the combination boar spear - pistol contraptions fascinating. They also have a small selection of arms and armor from the Orient, with one small room devoted to Japaneseweapons and armor.

There's a number of wall placards with explanations of what you're looking at - most have the main text in French with English, Spanish and German translations in a smaller font. There are also pamphlets you can pick up at the ticket office, though with our museum pass we had bypassed that initially and didn't see it until the end of our visit.

Still, the medevial sections are pretty much in the static-display category - glass cases full of stuff with captions. Interesting stuff, sometimes beautiful stuff, but basically heaps of stuff.

Last note about the medieval section - many of the halls are full of what looks like original artwork commemorating the Sun King's military victories (well, the ones his generals won for him, anyway) and others simply glorifying Louis.

The WWI & II sections are a lot more interesting and educational. This section actually starts with the 1871 Franco-Prussian war and proceeds from there to the end of WWII, covering multiple floors and many exhibit halls. (General Paris note - very few escalators and elevators. Come prepared for many, many steps.) Lots of film clips, some made of up still photo montages, many either alternating languages or with push-button activation in your language of choice.

These really try to explain the origins and courses of both conflicts, but still have lots of weapons, uniforms and equipment to bring things to life. We spent a long time in the WWI section. We were all getting a bit footsore by this point and we're going to be immersed in WWII next week, so we blew through thzg section pretty quickly - though we did stop to watch a short film about what the French seem to consider the three turning points of 1942 - El Alamein (check), Stalingrad (check), and Guadalcanal (interesting as the popular American viewpoint is that Midway was the turning point in the Pacific). Being very well versed in the American and to a lesser extent the British views on these events, it's very interesting to get a slice of the French perspective.

We wrapped the touring part of the day with a visit to Napoleon's tomb, which occupies a place of prominence beneath the golden dome of the eglise (church). Several other French military heroes including Vauban (the master of military engineering and field fortifications) and Marshal Foch (Supreme Allied Commander at the end of WWI) are entombed in satellite niches. This was one of the places I really wished to see - it's a connection with some of the grand sweep of history.

The US Army really needs a museum like this, I think.

Random Paris notes:
- If you're going to see more than three musuems, get the Paris Museum Pass. It grants you free access to dozens of sites around the city, and literally pays for itself in three stops - less counting the Lourve, I think.

- Kids under 18 are admitted to most museums free.

- Forget whatever you've heard about all French or all Parisians being rude. We've had numerous wonderful interactions with the locals, everything from taking our pictures to giving Ben access to the staff bathroom in the Metro when it was urgently needed (merci, Annabelle!) If you have even the most rudimentary bits of French - greeting people properly (Bonjour, monsiuer/madame) and saying please (si vous plat), you'll do just fine and better than you might in New York or DC.

- Steps. And more steps. And still more steps. Not a good place to be if you have mobility problems, as there's not many elevators at all and few escalators as well. My knees are OK but Michelle & I are both suffering from tender ankles at the moment.

- The French really seem to appreciate kids. The two older women sitting next to our table on Sunday burst into big smiles when the waitresses brought out Alexa's desert with sparklers, singing "Bon Anniversarie" in French to her. Ben and I were on the Quai d'Austerlitz Sunday night, returning from mailing some post-cards, and he got a chuckle and wave from a passing cyclist as he practiced his fencing advances and lunges on the path.

All for now - it's 10:45 PM Paris time (or 22:45, in the Euro mode).

A Unicorn, some knights, a rainbow, and a sub, only Frenchy-er

So, before we tell you about today - yes, we do have to walk over the boat where M. Valat (Georges) and his daughters live to get onto our boat. This is no problem, though it is good that none of us is on crutches or otherwise impaired.

Now, for the name of this post - today we went to the Cluny Museum (where we saw The Lady with the Unicorn tapestries), and l'Hospital Invalides (the French Army museum and Napoleon's tomb), saw a rainbow from the boat when we got home, and ate our cheapest meal yet - quiches for Alexa and I, baguette sandwiches (a sub, only Frenchy-er as Ben says) for Ben and John.

I never really had an opinion about medieval art - not a fan, but didn't hate it - until today. We saw the most amazing tapestry, sculpture, and altar pieces at the Cluny - including some of the heads of the statues that were cut off of the Notre Dame facade. It is amazing to think about how long these works must have taken to create, given the limited supplies, and short life spans of the time. Ben was a bit bummed that the rooms with medieval weaponry were closed (the staff did not show up so they had to limit the exhibits), but we more than made up for that later. I (Michelle) got an early birthday present from my Aunt Martha before I left and it was clear that a tapestry pillow cover was a great use of it - I was enthralled with the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries (there are 6 - 5 depicting the five senses and a 6th demonstrating the magnificence of the series).

After a brief stop for walking shoes for Alexa (the Nike slip-ons she brought weren't cutting it, so its a good thing I know her European size) followed by lunch, we were off to the Invalides museum. John and Ben were the total "war geeks" (that's Alexa's term for them) and we were all amazed at the quantity (and quality) of armor. Its clear from this museum (and the attached tomb of Napoleon), that Louis XIV and Napoleon have a special place in French military history. By the way, if you ever go - Rick Steves is correct that this is a museum that takes 2 hours for women and 3 for men.

On the way out we saw many Smart Cars parked on the street (and the sidewalk) and met a family that took our photo at this great spot with the Eiffel Tower in the background. We picked up dinner on the way home and were lucky that a light rain came while we were sitting on the terrace, prompting John to look for a rainbow (as it was also somewhat sunny as well). You can see that he found it - a full one at that (not sure if you can see it, but there was also the beginning of a double rainbow as well).

A few random suggestions for those of you contemplating a future visit: books are amazingly expensive in Paris (we spent 77 E for two of them in the museum shop), the Weather Channel is an amazingly unreliable source for forecasts, and international calling cards are far more useable if you purchase the ones for the US and Great Britain (as the recorded directions are in English on those, rather than French which is what you get with the generic international calling card).

Finally, for those who know about my sheltered culinary existence - sit down. I have tried fried nims (a roll filled with spicy pate), creme brulee (quite tasty, don't know why the texture put me off before), and a quiche I had limited knowledge of what was in it (quite tasty - salmon and broccoli, which is what I thought it would be - my limited French is growing!) Oh, and we totally randomly bumped into a Games Workshop (the company John's brother and cousin both work for) store - Ben wants to go back when its open to shop, but his Euros are going fast ...

No Diet Coke in Paris? And timing on blog posts

Two notes - yes, I, Michelle, am surviving without Diet Coke in Paris - thats because its called Coke Light...

And, the times on the posts are not based on Paris time - just an FYI - no clue what the actual time zone of the blogging site is, but...

Thoughts from the kids

From Ben:

At Hippopatomus we got cute little hippos for stirrers and toothpicks. You're expecting me to say more?

From Alexa:

Well, my birthday was yesterday, we got books, we saw about two-thirds of the Louvre and Notre Dame, and the happy hippos of joy came. Eh, not much to say. I was very tired from all the walking.

A note - this was posted at 8:35 am Monday, June 23 - Happy Birthday Nana!

One Day More

... er, I mean one more day (giggle for those Le Miz fans).

These are pictures from our first day, its just that we were so exhausted we didn't manage to get them up .... exhausted children at naptime, Eiffel Tower.

l'Anniversary d'Alexa

OK, I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling, but the gist is - Alexa's Birthday in Paris...

We had a lovely day to celebrate Alexa's birthday. She can now say that she heard the bells of Notre Dame, saw the Code of Hammurabi, and had "Happy Birthday" sung to her in French on her 15th birthday!

We got to Paris yesterday and, though we were tre fatigue (very exhausted) from the flight, we fought to stay awake. Well, sort of - we took a nap after lunch (on l'Avenue Hospital at a lovely Brasserie) and then headed out for the Batobus (water taxi) down the river. For those who don't know, we are staying literally ON the Seine, on a canal boat (peniche) circa late 1800s - its in the foreground with the yellow stripe.

We took the Batobus to the Eiffel Tower and got a feel for Paris along the way. We had a fun adventure 'joining' a group of Parisians looking to purchase the Batobus tickets at a discounted rate that required 20 people (and they were 3 short). So we felt like part of a crowd... which was nice because we all boarded together - a benefit when you consider that the French have a rather relaxed attitude toward lines. Had a dinner of crepes and ice cream (ya gotta love vacation food) and were home and in bed by 9:30.

Today, we celebrated l'Anniversary d'Alexa with a trip to the Louvre (I NEVER thought I'd get there and I must say that I had goosebumps when I thought about it), Notre Dame, the Shakespeare and Company bookstore (her ONE request for her birthday), and dinner at Hippopatomus in the Latin Quarter (her request for dinner). A good time was had by all (though we learned that its wise to check the bill BEFORE providing your credit card - a 25 Euro lesson as we didn't even try to resolve the bill because our waitress spoke about as much English as we spoke French - but the waitress did run out of the restaurant to give us the camera we left, which was priceless).

Now, we are headed to the terrace to watch the boats and drink the wine M. Valat (the man we are renting the boat from) gave us when we arrived - he is originally from the Loire Valley. Ben's first taste of wine (Alexa is not so adventurous).

Bon soir!