Category: 2018 European Adventure

April 25

Actually, according to the audio guide on the Big Bus, Marie Antoinette never said, “let them eat cake” but it’s a good story. Anyway, today we took the train to the town of Versailles (about 30 minutes from Paris) to visit the Palace. As we saw at Fontainebleau, most of the rooms were over the top. At least what we could see. As you’ll see from the pictures, the place was crazy crowded. Luckily Lynn’s leg cooperated (at least until the end of the day) because it would have been virtually impossible to get around in a wheelchair. We saw a few people in them and felt bad because they couldn’t see a thing.

After touring the house, we spent a couple of hours walking in the garden and on the rest of the grounds. We took a rowboat ride in the lake and then walked over to Marie Antoinette’s house. We didn’t go in as Peter couldn’t find his ticket and we didn’t want to pay again. By this time, we were getting tired anyway and we had a very long walk back off the property and then to train. Ride on the lake.

On our way to the train, we stopped at the carriage house that had a handful of carriages from the early 19th century.

Once back in Paris, we had dinner and then strolled the streets. Just by luck we ended up walking on what seemed like the 5th Avenue of Paris. We passed a ton of high-end stores and fancy hotels including the Ritz Carlton. We ended up back in the Tuileries Garden then at the Place du Concord. We took the Metro back home from there. It was a tiring day (over 24000 steps on Lynn’s Fitbit) but fun.

Tomorrow is our last day in Paris, and we plan to visit Invalides as we never made it yesterday. We plan to make it an earlier day as we have another load of laundry to do before packing. Talk with you tomorrow.

April 24

We spent a good part of the day at the Musee d’Orsay. While the museum has a lot of different styles of art, it is most famous for its collection of impressionist art. This is very different than what we saw yesterday at the Louvre and 2 weeks ago in Amsterdam at the Rijksmuseum. There were dozens of works by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Renoir, Manet and the rest of the heavy hitters of the impressionist art world. Unfortunately, Lynn’s leg didn’t cooperate so, once again, we resorted to a wheelchair. Since we’re afraid of falls, it was the safest way to go. Later in the afternoon we found a collapsible cane which has helped a lot. Since not all of her weight in on her right leg, when the stabbing pain hits, she’s less likely to lose her balance. It fits nicely into her bag so it’s easy to take and only use when she needs it.

Anyway, back to the art. Some of the salons were crowded but nothing like yesterday at the Louvre so it was a little easier to get around. Here are some of the dozens of pictures we took. The lighting wasn’t the greatest and many of the paintings were behind glass, so we were also fighting a glare but some of them turned out pretty well.

Vincent by Don McLean

A couple more Van Gogh’s

Here’s the story on the Claudel sculpture. She was the lover of Rodin, but his other mistress wanted him to dump Camille. The other mistress was older than Camille, so the sculpture depicts an older woman pulling the man (Rodin) away from the love of the younger woman.

Some of the non-impressionist art; didn’t recognize any of them but they were beautiful.

The Impressionists

After about 3 1/2 hours, we had finally had enough, so we had our sandwiches along the river. Then we headed back to Montmartre, where we visited on Sunday. Lynn wanted to go back to the square where all the painters were working and check out some of their artwork. We bought a beautiful oil on canvas that reminded us of the many French villages we’ve seen in the last 3 weeks. The artist took it off the stretcher bar and rolled it over a tube then wrapped it in paper so it’s secure, but it’s one more thing to drag around with us for the next 4 1/2 weeks. We’ll stick it in the backpack for the flight to Copenhagen but then we’ll just put it in the duffle bag until we head home.

Some of the other artwork for sale on the square.

We strolled through Montmartre for a while longer, passing the Moulin Rouge while looking for someplace to have dinner. After dinner it was back to the Metro for the ride home. Even though it was about 7:15, the trains were crazy crowded but luckily it was a relatively short (30 minutes) ride home.

Tomorrow we’re off to the suburbs to visit the Palace of Versailles. It should be great.

April 23

Okay, so here we are at 6:30pm sitting in the laundromat doing a load of clothes. Not sure why the cycle is so freaking long but it’s going to take 56 minutes to wash one load of clothes. Then who knows how long to dry. (Postscript….only 20 minutes; yeah!) We’re going to be here all night. (No, we weren’t just until about 8pm) That’s why Lynn brought the computer and is writing this in Word. Then when we get home all she has to do is copy/paste into the website and upload pictures. Hopefully it will be earlier than midnight when she gets to bed. (Finished blog by 9:20 but had break for dinner.)

Today our main stop was the Louvre. Lynn has been having some right hip problems; stabbing pains that literally take her leg out from under her. Since Peter was afraid he was going to have to pick her up off the floor before we finished touring the museum, we got a wheelchair. For those of you who haven’t visited the Louvre, the building is a giant U shape. One of the long axis is the Denon wing and the other is the Richelieu. Virtually everyone heads straight for the Denon wing as that’s where the Italian works, including the Mona Lisa, are housed. As a result, the salons were crazy crowded. Everyone is busy looking either at their phones or the paintings (but mostly their phones), so it was very difficult for Peter to navigate through the crowded rooms. Normally we spend a great deal of time getting up close and personal with the paintings but today we could hardly get near them. The one benefit of the wheelchair, though, was that we didn’t have to navigate the scrum of over a hundred people trying to see the Mona Lisa. The first time Lynn was saw it in 1998, it was hanging on the wall like every other paining, and you could literally walk right up to it. When she brought mom in 2006, it was in its new place behind a glass wall and a barricade. No one can get within 20 feet of it. Then if you’re in the back of the scrum, you can’t even see it let alone study it. Since we had the wheelchair, we went to a special section in front of the scrum. We wheeled in front of everyone and stopped right in front of the painting. We were still 15 feet away and separated by a glass partition, but we got a lot closer than anyone else. Of course, Peter was feeling very conspicuous, so Lynn had to hurry to take a picture before he wheeled her away. We were there about 30 seconds.

Here are a few other things we saw in the Denon Wing.

After that we headed to the Richelieu wing to see the northern European paintings and were happy to see that it was virtually empty. There were also no rope barricades, so we get right up to the paintings. Here we saw more of the Dutch masters we loved so much in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Compared to these amazing works, the Italian paintings look very flat and one dimensional. The Dutch Masters are definitely our favorites.

After a bite to eat for lunch, we decided to get back on the Big Bus and visit Napoleon’s Tomb. There is also a museum there that Peter wants to visit. Once we realized that it would be almost 5pm before we got there and it closes at 6pm, we decided to save that for tomorrow. Instead, we got off at the Arc de Triumphe and went to the top of the monument. It was a clear day (but 20 degrees cooler than the weekend) so we had a very nice view from the top. Since we had only gotten to the Eiffel Tower on the Big Bus, we didn’t realize how close it is to the Arc de Triumphe.

Tomorrow we’re going to one more art museum, the Musee d’Orsay, to see the work of the French Impressionists. Lynn has never been there so it will be fun for her to see something different. Hopefully we can do it without the wheelchair. We’ll see how the leg is in the morning. Let you know how it goes. Night everyone.

April 21 & 22

All of a sudden, we’re having summer weather. This weekend the temp in Paris was in the upper 80s and sunny. It was hot in our jeans, but we loved every minute of it; so much better than 40s and rain.

We dropped off the car at Orly early Saturday morning and took the Metro to our flat. It’s in the 19th district so a little far from most of the tourist things but it’s a nice 1BR only a few minutes’ walk from the Metro so it’s perfect.

As soon as we got settled, we headed to tourist information to get the lay of the land. We spent about an hour sitting in the Tuileries Garden enjoying the beautiful weather and people watching. We walked around a little until 4pm when we could get our Hop on/hop off ticket.  We decided to get a 2-day Big Bus pass and since we got it after 4:00 we could use it the rest of Saturday then all day Sunday and Monday. The price also included a 2-hour night tour and a 1-hour Seine River cruise. We started with the full 2:20 minute full tour to get an overview of the city. It was hot as hell on the open top, but we weren’t about to complain. We got off at the Arc de Triumphe and strolled down the Champs Elysees, stopping for dinner. It was such a beautiful night we decided to take the night tour. It was actually a little over 2 hours, so it was almost 11:30 before we got off the bus. We decided to take the Metro home, so it was after midnight before we got back to the apartment.

This morning (Sunday) we took the Metro to one of the stops on the Big Bus blue line (we had done the red line on Saturday). This line went around the Montmarte area, which Lynn has never seen. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the bus stop, so we took a cab to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur. The cab couldn’t get all the way up, so he dropped us off in the middle of a crazy busy pedestrian area. There were tons of tacky tourist shops but also lots of artists selling their work. Some of them were quite amazing.

We walked to the Basilica and had to wait about 10 minutes in line to get through security. That has been the biggest change since Lynn was here last. Virtually every site we’ve visited has required us to go through security and the area around the Eiffel Tower doesn’t remotely resemble what Lynn remembers from her first two visits. It’s understandable given the attacks that have occurred, but sad all the same.

Anyway, the Basilica was beautiful, and we wandered around for about 20 minutes. Then we took the funicular back down the hill where we ate our sandwiches in a nearby park. Like yesterday, the temp was in the upper 80s and sunny, so it was nice to find someplace to eat our lunch.

Then we hopped back on the blue Big Bus back to the main center where we transferred back to the Red line. We decided to get off and visit Notre Dame Cathedral. This was one of the first gothic style churches in France and is, of course, one of the most famous churches in the world. It’s understated but still beautiful.

By the time we got back on the bus it was late afternoon, so we decided to get off at the Eiffel Tower and take the river cruise. We were one of the first in line, so we got great seats on the upper deck. River Cruise

Once we got off, we wanted to take a closer look at the Eiffel Tower but discovered that the security is very tight and there are short walls all around the Tower. Again, nothing like Lynn has seen before. It was a little disappointing, but we still got some nice pictures.

We had a delicious dinner at a sidewalk café where we chatted with a very nice young couple from Australia. By the time we were done, the weather had changed, and it was sprinkling just a little. We decided to take a cab to the start of the #11 Metro line which is where our flat is located.

So, now it’s after midnight, Cubs are winning (barely) in the bottom of the 7th and Peter is asleep. We have to go to the laundromat in the morning. Our flat was supposed to have a washer….it doesn’t. So, it’s a pain in the rear but because of the heat we haven’t been able to wear shirts more than one day. As you may have noticed from the pictures, we don’t have many shirts with us, so we’ll do laundry before we leave for our day of sightseeing. That’s said, it’s time for bed. Night all….

April 20

Okay, so we’re a few days late but we didn’t have a good internet connection on Friday, and we got home way too late last night to do anything but shower and go to bed. So, here’s what we did on Friday, our last day with the car.

We left Dieppe in the morning and drove almost 3 hours to Chateau du Fontainebleau. There was a medieval castle on the site in the early 12th century but most of it was rebuilt in the 15th century. It was the Chateau of Château of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici (as was the Chateau de Chenonceau we visited at the beginning of our French adventure. Eventually Napoleon Bonaparte I used it as his palace. It is a gigantic place and fully furnished with (mostly) original furnishings. There was also an interesting museum and portrait gallery.

After checking into our tiny studio flat and mailing back yet another box, we went back to the town of Fountainebleau for dinner. We had the most delicious pizza we’ve had (and we’ve had many) since we’ve been in Europe. Seriously, it tasted exactly as the pizzas we had in Italy….delicious.

As you noticed from the pictures, the weather has finally turned around. After 5 1/2 weeks of cold, rainy weather the sun is shining, and the temperature is in the 70s. We’ve had a couple of partly cloudy days but for the most part it’s been beautiful. We haven’t used our scarfs or gloves for almost 10 days.

So, let’s go back to catching up on what we’ve been doing this week.

April 17 Tuesday

We thought about going back to Reims but decided to hang around Epernay and visit the champagne caves. Turns out that Epernay is the center of the champagne region and has more houses than any other town. The caves, or cellars, are tunnels that run 10km (6 miles) under the city. So, as we walked on the street, we were actually walking above the champagne caves.

We visited the Castellane house. We walked around the museum before taking the tour. Since the only other people needed a tour in French, we had a private tour with Stephanie, a woman from the Netherlands who now lives in France. It was a fascinating tour, but we weren’t allowed to take any pictures. It’s a working house so in addition to see thousands of bottles laying around aging, we got to see the assembly line where the bottles were labeled, boxed, etc. The best part was the tasting at the end. Lynn likes a sweeter wine but their Brut was actually quite nice. Her favorite, though, was the Demi Sec, or semi-sweet. She bought a bottle to enjoy while we’re in Paris. As you probably know, the only wine that can be called champagne is wine from that region of France. Everything else is sparkling wine. Unfortunately, Castellane doesn’t sell in the U.S., so we’ll have to find something else when we get home.

We thought about going to a few other houses that offer tastings but after 2 glasses at Castellane, we’d had enough champagne. Peter gets silly and Lynn gets sleepy. So, we headed home for lunch and a little nap. Later in the afternoon we went out for a walk around town. There’s not too much there but we enjoyed being in the sunshine. We stopped in one of the local churches and it was very nice.

April 18 Wednesday

We were actually 3 days ahead of where we thought we’d be, so we took a look at the map to see where we wanted to go next. We thought about the Bordeaux region in the southwest, but it was a 7-hour drive, and we didn’t want to go that far. So, we decided to head northwest back to Normandy. When we left Caen a couple of weeks ago, we planned to visit the northern coast before heading to Rouen, but the weather was so bad there wasn’t much point. But now that’s it’s gotten better, we decided to visit. It was about 3 1/2 hours from Epernay, but we were settled into the house by 1pm. We’re staying 10 minutes from Dieppe so in no time we were walking around that beautiful resort town. We had lunch in an outdoor café across the street from the harbor. After lunch we took a 45-minute boat ride up the coast. This is known as the Alabaster Coast because of the white cliffs. It was a beautifully relaxing ride. Next, we headed to the beach which was quite crowded. There wasn’t anyone in the water as the English Channel is still very cold but there were people lying on the beach. Not sure if you can call it a beach, though, as there is no sand, only rocks….and pretty big rocks. We sat in a café on the beach for about 20 minutes waiting for someone to ask us for our drink order but left when that didn’t happen.

After strolling the pedestrian areas, we headed back for the car and a simple dinner of tomato soup and sandwiches with the most delicious bread on the planet.

April 19 Thursday

Okay, so now you’re caught up. Today we decided to drive west along the coast and visit a few of the villages. Our first stop was Varengeville-sur-Mer where we visited the English Gardens and park at Bois des Moutiers. This is the private residence of the Guillaume (William) Mallet family, but they have opened their gardens (at a cost of course) for the public. We had a very enjoyable one-hour stroll through the beautiful gardens and park.

Then we walked about 15 minutes to a small chapel on the cliffs. It was in the center of a local cemetery and had a beautiful view of the Channel.

Once back in the car, we headed to the village of Veules Les Roses, which according to tourist information, is the most beautiful village in France. We haven’t seen all the villages in France, but this one sure is the prettiest one we’ve seen. There is a tourist walk about a kilometer long that took us through the prettiest parts of the village. After lunch we walked to the beach where we enjoyed some delicious glaces (ice cream) for dessert. By the time we walked back to our car, it was already 3:30 so we decided to head back home. Originally, we thought we’d go all the way to Etratat to see the Elephant Rock but decided we didn’t want to drive that far. It had been such a relaxing day we didn’t want to spend any more time in the car.

Beach at Veules Les Roses

So, it was an early day. We’ve got a load of laundry in the washer and because it’s sunny, it should all dry before we leave tomorrow. We’re heading to Fountainebleau for one night before taking the car back and spending 6 days in Paris. It should be a lot of fun.

April 18

Hello everyone. No, there was no catastrophe here in Europe, we just took a little break from the blog. We had a very slow internet connect the last 3 nights so we wouldn’t have been able to upload pictures, so we decided to wait until we had a faster connection. So, we’re back and will get you caught up with the adventures we’ve had over the last 4 days.

Saturday April 14

We started the day in Luxembourg City and wanted to go to Fort Hackenberg about 20 minutes southeast. Unfortunately, it was only open from 2-4pm, so we headed west instead to check out where the WWI Battle of Verdun was held. There were 4 forts the French had built after the Franco Prussian War (Germany won), but General Foch decided to disarm them around 1912 or 1913. While they were in the process of doing that, WWI started and Foch decided to re-man them but, unfortunately, they didn’t have all the armament they needed to hold off Germany. It was only a couple of weeks before they had to surrender.

There are two forts that can be visited; we went to Fort du Vaux. There were a lot of trenches surrounding the fort, which was built into a hill. The fort itself, at least the part we could visit, was relatively small. Here are a few pictures.

We also visited the Verdun French Military Cemetery.

We debated about whether to drive the hour back to the east to visit the WWII fort but we decided that we really didn’t have any place special to be, so we headed back to the east. We’re so glad we did! Fort Hackenberg was built after WWI as part of the Maginot Line. The purpose of the Maginot Line was to have a series of fixed fortifications along the entire French border as protection against another invasion by the Germans. The line was heavily fortified along the French/German border and again along the border of France/Belgium north of the Ardennes Forest. The French felt that the Ardennes was a natural barrier as it is very hilly and heavily forested. They thought that would be enough to stop the Germans. So, at the start of WWII all of the forts along the Line, including Fort Hackenberg, were heavily fortified with arms and men. Well…the Germans decided that the Ardennes weren’t that big of a deal, and they waltzed right through the door the French left open…. oops. The war in France was over in 6 weeks and Fort Hackenberg was captured by the Germans. Many of the soldiers were held as prisoners. Others simply walked away and went home after the Treaty was signed but before the fort was captured.

In the fall of 1944, the Fort was recaptured by the Americans and that was when the only casualty occurred…a German soldier was killed. That’s also when all the damage to the exterior walls happened.

We had a 2 1/2 hour guided tour that was fascinating. Like the forts at Verdun, this one was built into the hill with only the gun turrets above ground. We walked around the living area before getting on a train that took us to one of the gun bunkers. The turrets still work, and it was very cool to see how they operated. We then climbed 120 stairs to get above ground to see the fort from the top. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour, so it was well worth the drive back.

We spent the night in Bliery, France at a small hotel we found online. The hotel wasn’t anything special but there was a restaurant attached where we had a delicious 3-course French dinner. It cost more than the room but was worth it.

Sunday, April 15

On Sunday we headed west again, past Verdun to Reims. We were staying in an Airbnb flat in Epernay, about 30 minutes south of Reims so we decided to visit the city before heading to the apartment. For those of you who know Peter and his love of all things WWI/WWII, this will come as a shock. Lynn knew something Peter didn’t!! The treaty that ended WWII was signed at SHAPE headquarters in Reims. Another copy was signed again in Berlin (Stalin was cranky that he wasn’t involved and made them do it again) but the original treaty was signed in Reims. Lynn knew that…. Peter didn’t. How is that even possible???

Anyway, this was the first place we stopped, and it was fun to see, not only the building, but the room that the treaty was signed. We had seen so many WWII memorials, battlefields and cemeteries that it seemed fitting to also see where the horror finally ended. It’s a small museum but it had a great movie and interesting exhibits, so we really enjoyed our short visit.

After the museum we walked about 20 minutes to the Cathedral of Reims, which is in the city center. It was badly damaged during the war but has been nicely restored. It’s relatively small and simple but is a beautiful cathedral.

After touring the Cathedral, we sat in the square and tasted some French champagne. This region where all the champagne is made. There are tons of vineyards all over and more than 1000 champagne houses. There were quite a few to visit in Reims but since we had to drive to Epernay, we decided just to have a glass in the square. It was a beautiful day, so it was a lovely way to spend a little time.

Before we left, we went to the Abbey of St. Remi which was founded in the 6th century. The present abbey church was consecrated in 1049 and contains the crypt of St. Remi.

Monday, April 16

Monday, we went to see our last WWI sites. Our first stop was the American Monument at Chateau Thierry. The US was a bit late to the war, so this was the first thing we saw that was dedicated to the American involvement. Well actually we saw a monument in Cantigny, but it was just a small statue. Anyway, the monument was beautiful and the grounds very peaceful. Then we headed to the American Cemetery at Belleau Wood, where the marines were involved in one of the major battles of the war.

On our way to Compiegne for our final stop, we stumbled onto the Chateau de Pierrefonds. We saw it perched on a hill so decided to take a break from the war and check it out. The castle was originally built in the 13th century. In the 17th century it was taken by French troops and partially demolished. Napoleon I bought it in the early 19th century and was restored later that century. It was mostly bare rooms, and all the explanations were in French, but it was a nice mid-day break.

Our final stop of the day was the last WWI site we plan to visit. Appropriately, it was the red rail car in which the armistice was signed that ended the war. The Treaty was signed in the Palace of Versailles which we’ll see next week when we’re in Paris, but this is where the war ended.

Well, actually it’s not the original car. After WWI ended, the French kept the rail car at the site. In June 1940, Hitler insisted that the treaty to end that war with Germany be signed in the same car. He then had it brought to Berlin as kept it in the middle of the city. When it became clear that Germany was going to lose the war, Hitler had the rail car burned. So, the car that’s in the museum is a sister car of the original. It’s from the exact time and looks exactly like it. They simply changed the number of the car and put replicas of the furniture inside. It was cool all the same.

Here are some of the artifacts/pictures from the museum.

Okay….I know we still have some catching up to do but it’s almost 10pm and I’ve been working on this all evening, so we’ll pick it up again tomorrow.

Love to all.