Day 16 - Paris

This morning, I went into the city on the bus with the rest of the tour, but got off when we picked up our local guide at the Opera Bastille. From there, I took the metro to Abessess stop in Montmartre and walked up the circular stairway to the top (the elevator was taking too long). I started walking around and came across Maison Collignon, the grocery from the movie Amelie, I was delighted. There’s a picture of Amelie in the front of it and it looks just like the movie.


I continued to walk around the area, which once you leave the Sacre Coeur is very inviting, there are some homes that are behind gates that I would love to see inside. I walked around there looking for art, but apparently 10 am is too early for the artists. I walked down to Place du Clichy toward the Moulin Rouge, through Pigalle and all the sex shops, including an erotic museum, with artifacts in the window. It’s so blatant it’s almost comical, like they’re trying too hard. I took pictures of the Moulin Rouge, then boarded the metro toward Boulevard Malesherbes; I had seen that area from the bus our first night of the tour and wanted to visit it.



Exiting the metro station is a fairly large park - Parc Monceau; it is gorgeous, had free wifi, so I sat there for a few moments and did some research using google on my phone. From there, I walked down Boulevard Malesherbes and made a left turn at Hausmann to Printemps department store (so I could use a nice bathroom without paying a fee). On the way back to Boulevard Malesherbes, a protest March was going on, complete with police escort. They wanted to free sombody and they had signs and noise makers that said Alice on them. Their Free ----- banner didn’t say Alice, so I don’t know what it was about. I took the Boulevard down to Place de la Concorde and walked right past Maxim’s, another highlight.

The Place de la Concorde is where they hung people during the revolution, but then they renamed it, probably to give it a better vibe - it also has a 3000 yr old Egyptian Obelisk. I walked across the street, which was taking my life in my hands as there was gridlock and I just had to cross the street when I felt like it, walking between cars. Quite the experience. I almost got caught in a con - A young girl picked up a man’s gold wedding band and asked me if I thought it was gold, there was a stamp on the inside, so I said yes. She gave it to me and said it was my lucky day, she couldn’t keep it because her religion does not permit her to wear jewelry. She said it was her birthday and she was going to give it to me as a present. I kept trying to give it back, but she wouldn’t take it, until she asked me for something to compensate her for giving me something nice on her birthday. I put it back in her hand and walked away, suddenly her religion didn’t matter.

I walked along side the Tuilleries and the Seine as a strong wind was blowing and I didn’t want to get dusty. While I was walking, it started to rain big drops and I did not have an umbrella. I knew that Samaritane was close by, so I made my way, only to find out that they are closed for security remediation. On the way back, I looked at some vendors and bought a small oil painting.

It rained some more, so I stopped into the Cafe Louvre, underneath the pyramid for coffee and a cookie. The coffee was divine, I could have had endless cups, well at least until the law of diminishing marginal returns set in. After resting for a while, I asked for the check and the waiter forgot to put the cookie on the ticket, he told me it was free, for which I gave him a tip, still less than the cost of the cookie, but more than he expected, he was visibly appreciative.

Since it had stopped raining, I walked up to the neighborhood where I had stayed the last time I was here. It felt very familiar and comfortable, the cute jewelry store was still there and I walked past my hotel. I got on the metro at the Bourse station, went back to Montmarte and found the artists. I found a painting I really liked, but it’s larger than my suitcase and already stretched on a frame. I needed time to decide what to do, so I got dinner at the Cafe La Boheme, called my parents and talked it over. I quickly ate my roasted chicken and pomme frites dinner (hey, I also got a salad), the frites were excellent and headed back to the artist. I worked with him some more and almost went for another painting that was much smaller. He’s a dealer and threw the other painting in for only 20euro. Who knows if any of them are “a deal”, but I like them. Now I need to get them back on the plane.

As if my day was not exciting enough, I now had to get my monstrosity back to the hotel and make it back into town within 2 hours. It took me 15 minutes to walk to the metro and another 15 minutes to get to the train station to get to the hotel. Luckily, it only took 15 minutes to get to my destination, so I had 1 hr 15 minutes to return to see the opera. I exited the train station, only to find myself in a walkway that appeared to go on without exit for quite a while. I needed to get back into the train station, but my ticket had already been used, so I followed someone in at the gate (not an easy thing to do with a large painting), but once in, needed a valid ticket to exit. When I got to the right exit a guard was holding a special exit open for someone else, when he started to close it I yelled “pardon” over and over, it startled him and in English I excitedly explained that I accidentally went out the wrong exit. I doubt he understood a word, but with my panicked face, he didn’t question or stop me.

I deposited my paintings and returned to the city (in 20 minutes) and found out that the opera - Rigoletto started 30 minutes later, no worries, as I could use the time to sit down. The Opera Bastille is very modern and very dark. My seat was  a fold up seat on the end that was well padded, but every time I crossed my legs, the seat tipped. The two seats next to me were not taken, so as soon as the lights dimmed, I moved into one of the empty seats. Another lady took the other seat.

The opera was great, I love the voice of the gal singing Gilda and would like to learn her aria in act 1. There was a 30 minute intermission and before the second act started, I sat in my fold up seat in case the owners of those seats claimed them, when the lady sitting next to me asked me if I mind sitting in 2 seats from the end so her husband can sit on the fold up seat. I thought that perhaps those were their seats and said, no, I shouldn’t do that, but then they explained that those were free seats since the people didn’t show up. I thought that was very nice as they could have taken both of the good seats. The second act was as good as the first (although sometimes the orchestra drowns the singers).

I took the metro/train back to the hotel and this time exited the right way. I walked into the hotel lobby and all the young gals, Jack, Andre the driver and Brian the tour guide were having a drink. I stopped and chatted with them, gave them hugs goodbye and came up to the room.

Tomorrow, I need to be on the bus at 7:15 for the airport, even though I’ll have 6 hours to kill at the airport. The other bus doesn’t give me much time to check in and I’ve had enough excitement, I don’t need to manufacture it.

So this is my last post. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and much as I’ve enjoyed writing and experiencing it.

Day 15 - Deauville - Honfleur - Rouen - Giverny - Paris

It rained hard last night and the wind blew hard. This morning we boarded the bus at 7:45 and drove to Honfleur, a quaint seaside town that the impressionists used to paint. We arrived there at 8:20, when absolutely nothing was open. We took the long walk and in 15 minutes had done the loop. I asked “Do we have to stay here until 9am?” Brian said we didn’t have to and took a vote and we got back on the bus.


From there, we drove over the Pont du Normandie to Rouen, it rained a bit while we drove there. We saw the cathedral in Rouen that Monet painted many times. From there, Kate, Erin, Butch, Judy and I walked to the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. There’s a very modern church there, but we didn’t go inside as we were afraid we’d miss the train to Giverny; the next train was 2 hours later.

Yesterday, around noon, my phone said no service. Since we were in the middle of nowhere, it didn't seem odd to me. But when it hadn't returned by the time I reached Rouen, even though I was standing outside the France Telecom office, I turned my phone off and on; I received a text message from my brother a day later. Oh well, it was appreciated, regardless of the delay.

To get to Giverny, we took the train to Vernon, then hopped a bus for the 15 minute drive to Giverny. We had problems finding the way from the bus stop to the town, but Kate got us going the right way. We walked to Monet’s house and Garden and bought tickets. We walked through part of the garden to his home. His home was painted in yellow, sky blue, mint green and lavender. His house was much larger than expected, particularly the kitchen, but then again, he was married, so he had to provide something livable. While were inside it rained quite hard, but then stopped by the time we left (10 minutes later)






The gardens are amazing, kind of messy, but blooming and full of color. It is large and intense in it’s concentration. We took the tunnel under the road to the water lily garden. I couldn’t believe I was standing where those paintings were painted. Lush and green; very tranquil. We took our pictures on both bridges across the water lily pond, but figured it was the second picture that counted. We walked back through more gardens to the gift shop, then Kate and Erin ran to his grave while I waited for Butch and Judy. We met Kate and Erin at the parking lot and took the bus to the train. Kate couldn’t find her bus ticket and had to buy it again.

The train to Paris took us into Gare St. Lazare. I asked Brian how to get from there to our hotel. He told me to take the A train (just like the Duke Ellington song) to Fontenay-sous-bois. The A train doesnt go to Gare St. Lazare. So after asking several people in information booths, we decided to walk a few blocks to the closest A train station. (When I asked one of the people in the information booth if he spoke English, he said “sometimes.” Well, at least he was honest.) The A train forks and we took it to the station we were told by Brian. We exited the station and couldn’t find the street our hotel was on. When I asked Brian how to get to the hotel, he said it was right at the train station. After a few minutes, I asked the woman at he information station where Avenue Olympiades was and she said another stop, which was at the opposite fork. Ugh! We took a bus up to that station and sure enough, there’s our hotel.

Although our suitcases were outside our rooms, we had to wait for the bus to get our carryon luggage. After I got my bags, I let Brian know that he told us the wrong station. He started to argue with me until I showed him that he underlined the wrong station. He apologized. I went up to my room for a few moments and when I returned, he apologized again and said he realized it was a bad thing to tell us the wrong station. I told him I accepted his apology.

I walked across the street to the station and bought a ticket. I was going to go into the city on my own and just as I was going to enter the gate, Maria and Leo called to me. I helped them get a ticket, then we went into the city together. I was going to go to Montmartre to see it at night, but they are going to go there tomorrow night, so I changed my itinerary and went to see the area around the Ile de la Cite. I had seen Notre Dame and all by night from the boat, but wanted to see it again. We walked to the Georges Pompedieu Center - a very modern building, Hotel de Ville (city hall), Tour Saint Jacques, Notre Dame, Conciergie, walked along the Seine to the Louvre and saw the courtyard and pyramid illuminated, down Rue du Rivoli and then up to a lovely park like walking path and over to the train station. Paris is such a beautiful city at night; they’ve done a superb job lighting buildings. Maria and Leo are lovely people and a lot of fun to be with. They appreciated hanging out with me and said they saw more with me than on previous tours. I hope I didn’t wear them out.

Tomorrow, I’ll likely go into the city on the tour bus, but I’ll want to get off around the Place de la Concorde, so we’ll see. I’m really excited to go to the opera tomorrow. I wish it was the Opera Garnier, but seeing an opera in Paris is one of my dreams (along with la Scala, Vienna, Covent Garden, etc.)

Day 14 - Tours - Mont St. Michel - D-day Beaches - Deauville

Last night at about 9:30, Kate, Erin and Kylie came to my room and we tried to reserve 4 tickets for the 9 pm show at the Moulin Rouge Wednesday night. Although it appeared that 4 were available, it wouldn’t let us reserve them. We decided to try again in the morning.

I received a birthday phone call from my parents at 6 am, and three e-cards. Two of the cards were offbeat humor, which I greatly appreciate. The call and the other card were touching. We needed to leave at 7:30 today and had a 6:45 breakfast and baggage call, so the 6 am call was no problem.

Kate came by around 6:30 and we tried again to reserve tickets but wasn’t successful. At the first rest stop, Monique called for us to reserve (since after a week of asking, Brian was less than cooperative) and we found out that only the 11pm show was available. Our hotel is on the eastern side of town, on the outer ring and I really don’t want to travel from Montmartre to our hotel at 1am. Kylie said my age was showing, I said, yes probably so as wisdom is preventing me from doing something so risky. The girls are really disappointed that I won’t be going, it was very sweet. I have to say, this is a great group to travel with, in such a short period of time, we have become very much a community, taking care of each other and appreciating each other's company.

I went outside to wait for the bus and while I was waiting a Japanese couple were taking pictures outside the hotel. The wife wanted to take a picture with me in it, so I complied. Afterward she said "merci" and i responded with "doytashmashte" (or however you spell "you're welcome" in Japanese), she was tickled. I then realized she thought I was French. I didn't have the heart to tell her I was American.



At 11:40, we reached Mont St. Michel and had an hour 50 minutes to visit. Mont St. Michel is an abbey and town built on a rock. It’s on a tidal river that goes out quite a bit making it available. When the river is in, it’s an island. At first I didn’t think I would see the abbey, but figured, why not, I’m here, I might as well. Kylie, Kate, Erin, Heidi and I headed up to the Abbey, only Kate, Erin and I went in. It is very impressive, very old and rustic, but full of chapels and room after room. There are supposedly 300 steps up to the abbey, I believe it, I could feel the burn as I walked up to it. We were enjoying our time, but then realized we had only 30 minutes to descend those 300 steps and get something to eat. We were still deep into the abbey, so we had to essentially run through the rest of the abbey. On the way down, we grabbed a crepe and I got an open face hot sandwich of tomato and chevre.




Back in the bus and on the way to the D-Day beaches, it rained much of the way there, sometimes quite hard. Normandy is very beautiful and has lots of stone houses and buildings. I’m sure that much of it looks the same as it did 60 years ago. I get the feeling that although our guide was born and raised in America, is anti-American. I understand that many nations were involved in the D-Day invasion, but he greatly downplayed the American role. We only had an hour there. I could not believe it. It was cold and windy when we arrived, but not raining. I went immediately to the cemetery and started walking among the graves. It was very moving, beyond words really. When I saw the grave about the comrade in arms known only to God, I almost cried. I took pictures of the beach from the cemetery, then walked to the chapel and the memorial. It began to lightly rain. I saw Kaz and Monique walking back from the beach and asked them if I had time to go down to the beach and they said that 25 minutes was not enough time to walk down and back. I went to the museum, but it wasn’t enough time for that either. Looking at the exhibits and reading the descriptions I nearly broke down again. I wish I had another hour here as well. We then drove to Gold and Juno beaches where the Canadian and British forces fought. It was very windy and we only had time to take a few pictures. Then back on the bus to drive to Deauville.

We arrived in Deauville at 6:45, an 11 hour day, all but 3 hours and 10 minutes of it spent inside the bus. Deauville is very charming, I would love to have time to walk around, but had to wait for my luggage to arrive and then be to dinner by 7:30. I checked e-mails instead had had two more birthday messages, very nice. Dinner was passable, I’m still craving those green vegetables.

It’s been a nice birthday, different than any that I’ve spent before and very memorable. Thank you to everyone who has remembered me either through phone, e-mail or the blog. I miss all of you.

P.S. if you double click on the pictures they enlarge

Day 13 - Tours - Loire Valley

Today was a wonderful day. We started off through the Loire Valley at 8:30 a.m. We have a local guide - Carol - who is not only a delightful personality, but full of knowledge of the history of the area and the chateaus. The drive up to Chenonceau and then to Chambord was along the Cher river. Very lovely, lush and green. People have built homes and wine cellars into the limestone caves. These are called Troglodyte homes. I asked if Troglodyte had a negative connotation and she said no, it was just a type of home. The first Chateau we visited was Chenonceau. This chateau was given by Francois the 1st to his mistress Diane de Poitier, 20 years his senior, but infinitely more pleasant looking than his wife, Catherine de Medici (who was not only less attractive, but sour looking as well.) Although Catherine and Diane had a good relationship while Francois was alive, when he died Catherine threw out Diane and moved in there herself. They each had their own gardens, but Diane's was bigger and much more attractive than Catherine's. The kitchen area was quite large and well designed, my one thought while I was in there was I would hate to have to polish all that copper.



In Chenonceau every room had gorgeous floral arrangements, using fresh flowers from the chateau’s gardens or nursery. Diane de Poitier built a bridge on the backside of the chateau, which Catherine covered over and made it into a hall. The hall was used by the red cross during WWI to treat over 2000 soldiers.



From there we went to Chambord, the one chateau I've wanted to see for years and years. Brian, our normal tour guide said that we wouldn't be able to go inside, but Carol, got us in for a discount rate. I was so happy. It is massive, the wall around the grounds is 20 miles in circumference, the chateau had 426 rooms. It was started in 1519 but wasn’t finished until 1685. Francois I built this to show the grandeur of France. It was originally supposed to be a hunting lodge - he only spent 72 days there. He obviously didn’t see the finished product. The best part of it is the double helix staircase - there are two different spiral staircases separated by a hollowed out column. The column had windows, so you could still see someone on the other staircase. It was very cool and lived up to my expectations. I took that up to the roof, which was very cool as well. There are many towers and chimneys and each of them has a purpose, although they are also decorative.

Here are some interesting facts about the times. They used to take baths until the 17th century, but then they thought that germs would come in through their pores, so used to perform a dry toilette using only powders and perfumes. Louis XIV had only 9 baths in his 78 years of life. Yech. It’s amazing they had any children at all.

We learned that Charles the 8th died a stupid death. At the age of 28 he walked into a doorpost, hit his head and died. He was only 1 meter 52, which I think is under 5 ft. tall. He had fathered 4 children with Anne of Brittany, but they all died in infancy.

The drive from Chambord to Amboise was along the Loire river, lovely as well. Between all these chateaus we saw others, but perhaps the most impressive was Blois as the city surrounding it was larger than others.

Amboise was the last chateau we visited, which I had been to before. Amboise is where Leonardo daVinci lived the last 3 years of his life and died at the age of 67. He is buried in the Amboise chapel. We could see from distance the house where he lived, it’s probably about ¼ mile from the chateau. There is an underground tunnel between the house and chateau as Francois I wanted to be able to visit Leonardo whenever he wanted to without a lot of brouhaha. Also in Amboise, they “tried” the Protestants and used to hang them from the iron balconies.

After we returned to the hotel, Olga and I walked about ⅓ mile to the supermarket to pick up some groceries for dinner. There was a special tour into Old Tours and then dinner. I had already spent a lot of time in Old Tours, seen the cathedral, and wasn’t interested in spending $90 for another meal I would have paid maybe $20 for back home. It’s also nice to have time to relax outside of the bus. So what did I have for dinner? It might not sound like much, but it’s what I was craving - Chevre and crackers (chevre is a local cheese) and salad. Oh my goodness. Usually I crave Mexican food when I travel, this time I am CRAVING green vegetables (other than haircot vert (green beans)). Yes, it was a light dinner, but all the food we have on the tour is so heavy I was not hungry.

Day 12 - Bordeaux - St. Emillion - Cognac - Tours

We had a later start this morning - 8:30 and drove to the small town of St. Emillion. It’s a town like many others, steep, narrow, cobblestone streets; although, this one might be different than some due to the high concentration of wine stores. The church is also ancient and was originally built into the cliff wall, the later church was built on top of that. The church was also a good example of the symbolic beheading that occurred in the Revolution as all the people engraved over the doorway had their heads taken away.

We stopped at a rest stop and had a decent meal; I had a slice of quiche lorraine. We then drove to Cognac and toured the Chateau Otard. There are no living decendents of the Otard family, so the business was sold to Bacardi in the early 1990’s. The first part of the tour was about the history of the area and Frances I. The most interesting thing we learned about Frances I is that he had a married mistress whose husband wasn’t happy about the affair so he intentionally contracted syphillis, gave it to his wife, who gave it to Frances I. The husband died of syphillis 3 days before Frances I did.

Cognac is quite a process, 2 distillations, aged in casks in a dry cellar and then in a humid cellar and then put into casks that are hermetically sealed and stop the aging process. I need to mention that 3 - 5% of cognac evaporates into the air and the entire time we were in the Chateau, the smell of cognac was in the air, it’s called the angels share. It got stronger when we entered the rooms with the casks. The buildings are black both inside and out because of the evaporation of the cognac into the air. We got tastes of VS and Napoleon, the Napoleon being the midrange version - that one was the best.

Tonight we are staying outside of Tours. We have had beautiful warm weather (I'm guessing mid '70s), we continue to feel blessed.

Just now, Kate and Erin, two young gals from Australia asked me if they can join me on my side tour to Giverny, I said absolutely. I'm also going to be joining them and Kylie to see a show at the Moulin Rouge on Wednesday night. We were talking to Brian to get him to try to arrange it for us and they let him know that they won't be doing the Versailles trip. He gave them a guilt trip that he'll have to cancel the Versailles trip. I told him that's not fair to put that on them. Kate's fine with it, but now Erin feels guilty, which is of course what he was going for.  Kate told him, "We're having to make an effort to see the things that we want to see, I guess that they'll have to make a special effort as well if they truly want to see it." Good for her.

After dinner, Howard got Jack to talk about his experiences as a member of the Dutch Resistance in WWII, so 9 of us gathered around him in the lobby for 2 hours to listen. Very interesting and exciting. Some of his experiences you would not believe if it was in a movie. It is now after 10:30

Day 11 - Lourdes - Saint Jean de Luz - Biarritz - Bordeaux

This morning started quite early for me as there was another group in our hotel that had a wakeup call at 5am. I thought it was my phone ringing, and answered it, it was the room next door. The walls were paper thin, I heard everything while they got ready. We left the hotel at 7:30 to head for the funicular up the Pyrenees. We were supposed to be there at 9:30, but didn’t make it there until later. We then were planning on the 10am train, but got behind people learning to ride a scooter. We arrived and parked at 9:58 and watched the train take off 2 minutes early. Brian our tour guide ran and tried to get them to come back, but they wouldn’t. We waited ½ hour for the 10:30 train, which left 5 minutes late.

The town is very different from the rest of France, it almost looks Germanic, although it is basque.

The funicular trip was quite steep; we saw people walking up the mountainside, very strenuous. There were wild horses and sheep along the tracks amongst a forest of ferns. One of the horses could barely be seen above the ferns.

The top had incredible views, although it was quite hazy, so the photographs are not as spectacular as I would have hoped. Half of the top is in Spain and half in France which is why there's a picture of me straddling a yellow line. We stayed there for a half hour, then came back down.

From there, we drove to Biarritz for lunch. Now, I think I’ve found where I’d like to live. The ocean was the beautiful turquoise blue in the mediterranean, but the buildings were far more impressive and sophisticated than Monte Carlo. There were surfers in the ocean, although the waves were maybe 6 inches. It’s funny to me that they consider this a surf town. It is quite a shopping town and all the stores had sales out on the sidewalk.  Expensive clothes, even on sale. On my walkabout, I came across a chocolatier and walked in to buy some chocolate (I really wanted ice cream, but couldn’t find a glacier). The gal asked me what size box I wanted and showed me the prices, a ½ pound box was 74euro. I said I only wanted 3 pieces, she said the minimum was 10 pieces, I said thank you and started out the door, she said I could have only 3 pieces. I’ve had two so far, they were delicious.

It is quite warm today, even up at the top of the mountain. We have had wonderful weather the entire trip, we are very fortunate. I had a salmon sandwich on pita bread while I walked around. Just as I didn’t eat pizza for a year after I came back from Italy, I don’t think I’ll have a sandwich for a year after I return from France.

The drive from Biarritz to Bordeaux was very flat and full of pine trees. Bordeaux appears to be a lovely city, and we saw a little of it from the bus. We got out of the bus to see a fountain that was erected to the victims of the revolution, people that were executed because they weren’t revolutionary enough. Most of us wish we had more time in the places where it would be nice to spend time, instead of spending so much time in the places that aren't all that interesting. Bordeaux is a place I'd like to spend at least a day.


We had a ½ hour before dinner to go explore, so I went to the mall, to the supermarket for necessities. And super it is. It’s two stories with the first floor food products and the second everything from TVs to body lotion. At dinner, I was showing the group how I got a 1.5 liter of water for 17cents (they go for 2euro to 2.5euro for a half liter on the street.) A group wanted to go there too, so I led them after dinner, showing them the shortcut that I found. Olga thinks my mission in life is to organize companies and governments. Ileana and her husband think that I should get the tip for today, and that I should become a tour director. I think that sounds like a perfectly horrible idea. I can’t imagine visiting the same places twice a month and saying the same things over and over.

A couple of you have asked if I'm aware of the politics and financial meltdown, yes. The English TV stations at hotels are either BBC or CNN. We don't talk about it too much on the tour as we are all very polite. I am sorry to hear that Paul Newman died, he was a wonderful actor.

Day 10 - Sete - Carcasonne - Lourdes

We left Sete at 8 am and drove to Carcasonne, a walled city that was used in the movie Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. It is one of the most visited sites in France, so it was good that we arrived early (around 9:30). We walked the streets and around the outer walls. While I was looking at the castle, a cat come out of one of the breaks in the stones, walked the stone wall to another area, and then jumped down. It was very impressive. It was the first I’d seen a cat since I’d been here. Later, while walking around the town, I saw another one that ran away from others that approached, but I meowed at it, it meowed back and let me pet it. I met up with several different groups from our tour and ended up having a chocolate crepe and coffee with Jack. I’m glad I had the crepe here in France, but think that my crepes and chocolate sauce are just as good.

From there, we drove to a rest stop for lunch. If there’s a cafeteria or a sandwich shop, from now on, it’s going to be the sandwich shop. I payed 8euro for one of the worst pieces of lasagna I’ve ever had. From there we drove about an hour to Lourdes.


Lourdes is in the Pyrenees and could be very beautiful if it wasn’t for all the souvenir shops and hordes of people. My only comparison for the crowds is Disneyland on a holiday weekend. I’ve never seen so many souvenir shops in one place, most of them with the same merchandise. We walked towards the grotto and were overwhelmed with the crowds. Looking at the queue, Heidi and I decided to leave. We went into the basilicas (both the old and the new) and started to walk the stations of the cross. It’s on a steep hillside next to the basilica. At each station, there appeared to be a service going on and one couldn’t get past the crowd. Heidi felt uncomfortable plowing through, so we turned around and headed back to the town for a cup of coffee. We found a place not to far into the crowds, bought a cappucino as take away and walked to the bridge. About 30 yards away, the silence is noticeable and appreciated. After returning to the bus, Stephen from Australia pointed out that at the Catholic Alliance I could buy a candle (about 18 inches long) for the candlelight procession for only 75 cents, it’s the best deal in town. So that’s what I did.

We ate dinner in the hotel, it was a 4 course meal. 1st course was a soup, I thought it was mostly lentils, but someone else thought fish. 2nd course was a piece of pizza about 2x3 inches long. The main course was a large Gorton’s fish stick (at least that’s what it seemed like), and a cauliflower gratin (that was very good). Dessert was profiterole, only with chocolate sprinkles instead of chocolate sauce - very good.

After dinner, about 10 of us went to the candlelight procession in town; the service started at 9 p.m. Howard wanted to stay back, so Elaine and I went together.

We went to the square in front of the basilica. The pathways up to the top basilica were lined by folks with candles and along the sides of the square were people in chairs with candles. We were standing in the front row, along side Kaz and Monique and had a very clear view of the entire thing. They started a procession of a statue of Mary inside a lit box with poles. It went from the front of the basilica, through the square to who knows were. Coming from the grotto area we could see a lot of people making their way away from the grotto, going to we don’t know where. After about ½ hour, the box with the statue of Mary in it came back and it appears that those people we saw walking away from the grotto were people in wheel chairs being pushed by their supporters following the Mary box. The square filled up with thousands of wheelchairs. No exaggeration. In the meantime, they’ve had a service going on where we went through the stations of the cross, in 6 different languages. After 45 minutes we’d only gotten to the 5th station, so I told Elaine we could go whenever she felt like it, and we headed back to the hotel. The only thing I wanted to see was what was going to happen with all the wheelchairs. I wanted to know if it was going to be like a Benny Hin healing service, or did they just get special treatment? I’d prefer to think it was the second. Not that I don’t want them healed, I just don’t want it to make a mockery of healing. (I found out later, the bishop gave them a special blessing.)  The real miracle was that my candle stayed lit the entire walk back to the hotel.

My hotel room was tiny and cold with no discoverable thermostat.  Standing in the bathroom, I could not fully extend my arms.  To keep from freezing, I placed my coat under the covers, on top of my legs.  

Day 9 - Nice - Arles - Sete

This has been quite a day.  I left the hotel at 7:20 and walked about 2 miles to the train station, it was nice to walk through some of the non-tourist areas of Nice.  I took a train to Marseille where I had a 1 hour layover before my trip to Arles.  I decided to have a McDonalds hamburger, it was a great idea.  Granted, it wasn't cheap, 6.7euro (or about $10) for hamburger, fries and a coke, but I wish all McDonalds hamburgers were like that.  It was on ciabatta roll, with fresh green leaf lettuce (not that white iceberg stuff), beautiful tomato and Swiss cheese, no secret sauce.  The fries (frites) were up to Mickey D standards, delicious.

The trips to both Marseilles and Arles were beautiful.  About half the trip to Marseilles was right along the Mediterranean.  Between Cannes and Raphael, there were craggy rock formations (they looked volcanic) that were both close to shore and a little ways out.  Who needs the crowds and status of Cannes and Monaco, I'll take that area.  I'm also surprised at how many vineyards there are in Provence, I expected to see more open fields where the lavender normally is, but I've mostly seen the vineyards.

Arles was originally an ancient town and still has Roman ruins, an arena from 90AD, a theatre and Constantine baths from the 4th century.  But of course, the real reason I wanted to go was to see where Van Gogh lived.  There is some tourism, and the map notes where Van Gogh lived, the cafe in one of his paintings, the asylum where he was committed, but it was very uncrowded, kind of quiet, I felt like I was truly with the locals.

I think I know why Van Gogh went crazy, claustrophobia (I know, he was probably bi-polar).  I was so excited that I was going to see his room, almost giddy, but then when I got up there, I found out the building was bombed in WWII.  Oh well, the reproduction is supposed to be to scale.  I think the room was 6 x 8, with a narrow spiral staircase that led up to it.  I'd go crazy if I lived there too.

I'd like to make you feel good about some things you probably take for granted.  You'd think that in a socialist state where the government is supposed to provide everything, you wouldn't have to pay for toilets, but no.  I'm looking forward to not have to pay 50 cents every time I need to use the toilet or wash my hands.  Other than the train station, Arles had only 1 public toilet and while the one in town was free, there was no toilet paper and I'm not sure it had been cleaned in the last year.  I literally rolled my pants legs up above my knee before I went, the bathroom floor was that gross.  Needless to say, it didn't have soap either, and it was a few hours before I was at a bathroom where I could really wash my hands.  The other convenience I take for granted is paper towels.  There are none here in France.  Now, they can't be all ecologically minded, I don't see any recycling bins, but apparently, they only believe in the air blowers to dry your hands.  I'm using 5 times as much hand creme as normal.

I was getting tired and decided to take an earlier train to the hotel in Sete.  I bought a new ticket, waited a half hour and got on the train.  Right before the second stop, I saw something I wanted to take a picture of and realized I left my camera in the ticket office.  I got off the train in Nimes, stopped a station attendant and spoke in broken French to him that I left my camera in the ticket office in Arles and I wanted to go back there.  He repeated back to me that my boyfriend was staying in a hotel in Arles.  I held my hands up like  I was taking a picture and repeated it again, he then understood, but didn't know how to help.  He had me talk to a young woman who called Arles, they would call back in 10 minutes.  In the meantime, I am praying  like my life depended on it.  At 15 minutes, the gal called them again, they did have it, but before she would tell me whether or not I should go pick it up, I had to wait 5 more minutes for another phone call.  10 minutes before the train left for Arles she told me "Go!"  

I was praising God the entire 20 minutes back to Arles and adding a new request that I would be able to pick it up and then make my original train to Sete.  There was only 10 minutes for me to race across the platform, down the stairs, under the tunnel up to the ticket office, get my camera and then get on another train back the way I came.  When I got to the ticket office, they told me it was locked up and I would have to come back tomorrow.  Oh my goodness did I panic.   I was almost crying as I pleaded with them since I couldn't come back tomorrow.  I said it didn't make sense that it would be locked up since they knew I was coming right away to retrieve it.  I pleadingly asked if I could talk to someone else and one of the gals made a phone call.   She then told me that they had my camera and to follow her.  It was in another office and I got my camera 1 minute before the train was to depart.  They told me not to worry, they would hold the train for me.  I don't think I've said Merci so much at the same time or with as much passion.  I also thanked God over and over (but probably not enough.)

On the train, I made friends with a 3 yr. old sitting behind me.  Her name was Thalia Modeau (guessing on the spelling).  We had fun playing hide and seek, patty cakes, her patting me on the head and talking.  Not that I could understand much of what she was saying.  I took a picture of her and she kept saying a phrase with "deux", but that's all I could understand.  A lady sitting across from me said she wanted me to take a 2nd picture, so I did.  I said "non" when she asked for a third. 

The lady across from me asked me where I was getting off and when I said Sete, she said she was getting off there too and I could follow her.  When I left the train and said "au revoir" to Thalia, she reached for me and gave me a kiss on both cheeks.   When I got out to the platform, I knocked on her window and waved goodbye.

The hotel is outside of Sete, in the country almost.  It has a nice sized room, with a full size closet (not that I need that) and as one of the ladies on the tour said, you could dance in the bathroom.  We are eating at the hotel and when I arrived, the entire group greeted me with a cheer, I felt loved and by people I hardly know.

I'm going to go to bed early this evening, I'm looking forward to recovering from all the excitement today.  By the way, I enjoy hearing from you all as to what's going on back home.  Thanks to you that have written to me at singndance70@gmail.com.  Please keep them coming.

Day 8 - Nice - Saint Paul de Vence - Eze

This morning was very relaxed, I took my time getting up and getting ready, but was still downstairs by 7:15.  I blogged, then had breakfast with some folks from the tour.  About 10:15, Olga and I left the hotel and walked down towards the promenade along the beach.  The beaches here have pebbles instead of sand, but people lay on them anyway.  After walking for about 30 minutes, we separated and I took a walk to the train station to buy my ticket for tomorrow.  On the way there all the street names were composers, French, German and Italian.  I walked back from the train station down the main street, bustling with not only tourists, but locals as well.  I stopped in at H&M, just to check it out.  Pat me on the back, I didn't buy anything.

A group of 16 of us left the hotel at 1:30 to drive the Grand Corniche (the road Grace Kelly died on), which goes high up the hill.  There are great views of the city and the ocean from this road.  We went to Saint Paul de Vence, a quaint village perched high on the hill with steep, narrow, cobblestone streets.  Some of the cobblestones are arranged in the shape of flowers.  It was full of shops with original art and handmade crafts.  We were able to spend 1.5 hours there, which was just the right amount of time.  It was nice to not be rushed back to the bus.

From there, we went to Eze and the Parfumerie.  The entire presentation was a sales pitch; we learned a little about how perfume is made, but mostly about how costly it is to create.  After the 15 minute presentation, they directed us to the shop, we smelled so much perfume, it was overwhelming.  Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.

We took a short drive to dinner.  The restaurant was not fancy, but had good food and a good view.  I sat at a table with the couple from Indonesia and Heidi from South Africa.  The couple from Indonesia are in a singing club and the wife broke into "Smile", I joined her.  Soon after, an accordion player came around and the entire restaurant was singing along with him to songs like "Bicycle Built for Two", "Beer Barrel Polka", "Volare", "You are my Sunshine", etc.  The husband at our table drank an entire bottle of wine by himself and sang "It's Now or Never" as a solo with the accordion player accompanying him.  We had a grand time.  We arrived back at the hotel at 9pm

Day 7 - Lyon - Avignon - Monte Carlo - Nice

Today was a long day, most of it in the coach. We left the hotel around 8 am and headed towards Avignon.  We had 2 hours in Avignon, which was not nearly enough time, since we needed to eat there as well.  After looking at the Palace of the Popes and the view from the top of the hill, I met up with two of the girls on the trip to eat lunch, we chose a sit down outdoor cafe.  Shortly after we sat down, the couple from Canada joined us.  We had a lovely visit, but ended up being late for the bus - and didn't get to visit the town.  That is too bad, because from what I could see from where we were sitting, it looked to be quite charming.

We then began the 5 hour tour to Monte Carlo.  The countryside was beautiful and the Nice/Canne area very mediterranean, with houses built on the hillsides and cliffs.  I spent quite a while talking with Olga, a woman from Australia whose family was originally from the Ukraine, moved to Germany during the war (I don't think voluntarily) and then moved to Australia after the war. I also sat in the back of the bus; they made me their representative for requests to the driver and tour director.  When we hit a lot of traffic and it looked like we might not get to spend much time in Monte Carlo, one woman asked me if I was a lobbyist as I was querying the riders on their preference and convincing others we needed more than 15 minutes outside the bus.  We ended up with 45 minutes to walk around the casino area.  Then back on the bus for the drive to our hotel and dinner in Nice.  As we arrived after 7pm, we went straight to the restaurant without checking in or freshening up. 

As much as I don't like Orange as a WAN provider in the states, their internet rates here are outstanding.  15euro for 10 hours (as opposed to 8euro for 30 minutes).  The only problem is in my room, I can't get a signal long enough to register, I'm typing this in the breakfast area.

Day 6 - Paris - Beaune - Lyon

Today, we left Paris around 8am and drove to Beaune, arriving in Beaune around 1 pm.  Beaune is in Burgundy and the area surrounding the city is beautiful and hilly.  The town is very small and has some ancient buildings.  It's famous for a hospital that was built around 1428 to take care of the elderly and orphans; it's still operational.  We had 2 hours in Beaune to eat lunch and wander, of course, most of the stores were closed until 2pm and even then, only a few reopened before we left.  We only needed 1/2 hour here, but we are required everyday to stop for 2 hours to give the driver a break.  I finally had a croque monsieur, but wasn't all that impressed, mostly because it had been pre-made and then reheated in a microwave.  Unfortunately, the center was still cold.  I ate my sandwich with two of the gals on the tour, but got separated as we wandered the town.

We then took a drive down to Lyon and arrived around 5pm.  We are staying on the outskirts, right on the river and next to the freeway.  The room is lovely and large by European standards.  They've made it quite modern with light wood and a flat panel TV in a special wall unit.  Of course, the only English speaking TV station is BBC.  They have all kinds of american TV programs, but they have been dubbed in French.  They're even playing 20 yr old programs.

On the way down, I listed to R. C. Sproul talk about Providence, then switched to music.  I tell you, it is really hard to listen to good music and not sing.  I wonder if I'll be able to make it for another 2 weeks.

There are a lot of lovely folks on the tour, 7 from Australia, 11 from America, 3 from Canada and a couple from Indonesia, 1 from South Africa.  Our guide is a man about 30 yrs old that is originally from the U.S. but now lives in Dijon.

This evening, about 16 of us drove through the town, then went to dinner at a small restaurant in Lyon.  As part of the tour we went to the Basillica La Fourviere, an amazingly ornate church.  Dinner was delightful, I sat next to a couple from the Phillipines now living in San Francisco, a couple from Missouri and Jack, an 85 yr old man originally from Holland, but moved to Canada.  We had 3 selections for 3 courses.  My first course was duck confit and Fois Gras (delicious), second course was veal with mushrooms and mac and cheese served in a ramekin (no kidding), the final course was floating island, a meringue floating in a creme sauce with carmelized sugar on the top.  We returned to the hotel around 9:30.  I didn't post this night as internet access is 8euro ($12) for 30 minutes.

Today was actually disappointing as I found out that the optional excursions that sold me on the trip are not available or that we we would not be spending time in places I really wanted to see.  There is a difference between "see", "view" and "visit".  I signed up for this thinking that I would be able to go to Arles, see the inside of Chambord spend time in Rouen and go to Giverny.  Well, surprise, we aren't doing any of those.  I don't know how I'm going to see the inside of Chambord (it has a cool double helix staircase), I didn't get to see it the last time I was here as I didn't count on not being able to rent a car on a Sunday and don't want to miss it again.  I have figured out how I will be able to do Arles, Rouen and Giverny, but it will require me to leave the tour and take trains and taxis.  I'm fine with being independent, but disappointed that I need to spend even more money to get these in.  I may have the couple from Missouri join me on the trip in Rouen and Giverny.

Day 5 - Paris

Today was quite a full day, with a variety of activities.  I left the hotel around 9:30 and took the metro to the Jardin du Luxembourg.  It was lovely and peaceful.  There were runners that run the exterior and inside the park there were those strolling, parents with young children, and quite a few doing Tai Chi.  There were pony rides and in a small section tennis courts.  After strolling through the park, I took a walk up the street to the Pantheon and visited my favorite painting of St. Genevieve.  From there, I walked through the left bank to the Seine.  I love that part of town, it is full of energy and life.

Strolling along the Seine was delightful, passing by all the book and art vendors.  I went back to the Louvre to catch the rest of the Flemish and Dutch painters.  From there, I walked through the Jardin du Tuilleries and took time to just take it all in.  As the weather was lovely and sunny, the Tuilleries was packed with sun-worshipers on the chairs surrounding the fountains.  I walked to the Place de Concorde and started up the Champs Elysee to the Grand Palais.  I had seen it from afar and had to check it out.  It is a beautiful building.  I'm not sure what the purpose is, although I think there's a museum.  Since the entrance fee was 20euro, not covered by the museum pass and I wasn't sure what was inside, I decided not to enter.  I did walk across the street to the Petit Palais,  it contained some wonderful art as well as furniture and tapestry from Louis 15th.  There was a large painting of the Good Samaritan that was very moving.  It showed the man helped by the good Samaritan as naked and weak, riding the good Samaritan's donkey.  The Good Samaritan is supporting him and looks labored.  I always think of the Good Samaritan like a Sunday School flannelgraph, yet this is probably closer to the truth. 

After the Petit Palais, I walked back to the Tuilleries to visit the L'Orangerie.  This museum contains a lot of impressionism, but also Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani.  On the first floor are two rooms that are probably 50 - 60 feet long and oval.  Each of the walls contains Monet water lily paintings that are the length of the wall.  Stunning.  Down stairs were the other paintings.  All that I have to say about Matisse (based on the pictures displayed there) is that he probably would have received a failing grade in art class.  The Picasso's that were there actually looked like people.  

I returned to the hotel about 4pm for the tour orientation. There are 24 of us on the tour, they normally have 40.  This evening, I took the optional event of going back into town, eating near the Arc de Triomphe and then taking a cruise on the Seine.  After eating dinner, I walked to the Arc, there was a procession of veterans with French flags marching up the Champs Elysee to the Arc, while a marching band played. 

The river cruise was beautiful, of course Paris is beautiful at night.  The Eiffel Tower is lit blue at night and when we pulled in, it also had twinkle lights going up and down the tower.  What a spectacular conclusion to an already wonderful day.

Since this is the Lord's day, I'll finish with what I am reading. I'm catching up on my One Year Bible - the way I was going, it was going to be the One Year and a Quarter Bible.  I've been in the book of Kings and what I've noticed is that David might have been a man after God's own heart, but he was a mess.  Not only did he sleep with Bathsheba and have Uriah killed, but he was a terrible father.  One of his sons rapes one of his daughters and he does nothing about it.  One of his sons chases him out of the city and into exhile, and the list goes on.  Yet, this is someone that God wanted Jesus to be a descendent of.  Isaiah says that God's thoughts are not our thoughts or his ways our ways, that's for sure.  But how reassuring to know that God loves us even when we are lame or failures. 

Tomorrow starts the tour.  In a way, I'm looking forward to taking it easy, we'll see how long that lasts.  :)

Day 4 - Paris

My feet feel better today after a good soak, but I'm taking it easy by only visiting museums.  Yes, there's a lot of walking at the Louvre, but it's easier that what I would have done by walking the neighborhoods and I also have more opportunities to sit down.  Not that I did, at least not as much as I should have.  This is my second time to the Louvre and Musee D'Orsay, some of it was familiar, but some of it was new or at least forgotten.  It was fun to see some favorites from the last time, such as Bottecelli murals and Peter and John going to the tomb Easter morning, but sad that my favorite room in the Louvre with Etruscan art was closed.  There were some other favorites that I couldn't find.  There are some new favorites, like the painting of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.  It's the most realistic painting of them I've seen,  Jesus looks like a real baby, and isn't laying on his back with his arms and legs in the air like those baby dolls that don't have knee or elbow joints, Mary looks like a teenager and Joseph, well, he looks a little old, but they don't glow as if they were on "Touched by an Angel."  I finally saw the Egyptian exhibit and the French and Northern European paintings.  There were 2 rooms of Corot.  Napoleon wasn't a bad looking guy before he went with the goofy hairdo.  They also displayed Napoleon the III's apartments.  Talk about excess, the Grand Salon makes Rock Hudson's apartment at the end of Pillow Talk look tasteful.  I'm amazed at the painting of the wedding at Cana, it is about 20 feet hight and has wonderful perspective, the faces are lifelike.

Afterward, I went to the Galleries LaFayette and bought some new shoes, moderately ugly, but very comfortable.  That store is quite a show.  The floors have names like "Creative Apparel", "Contemporary Apparel", and "Seductive Apparel".  That last floor was obviously lingerie.

The French continue to display graciousness towards me, from the woman that helped me find the bathroom after only working at the store for 2 hours, to the young woman on the metro that allowed me to lean against a seat, even though she had been on the train longer, to the man that held the door, motioned to me and helped me squeeze into an already overcrowded metro.

Let's talk about the Metros.  I have ridden trains in Tokyo, which are noted for being crowded, and they are, but they are nothing like the metro in Paris.  Oh my goodness.  There are times when I think we couldn't fit in another body, people were literally hanging out the door, but the doors would close, we would crush in closer together and the train would proceed.  Surprisingly, no one gets testy, it's just the way it is.  I also have a theory that the reason they smell isn't because they don't bathe, but because they sweat so much while riding the metro.  

Looking forward to tomorrow.  Hope that you all are enjoying life.