April 5, 2010 (Monday)

We’re downstairs by 7 am for breakfast so we can get to the Louvre for tickets at 8:30 am. We walk to the Louvre and go to the underground Carousel shopping area (our hotel manager told us about this entrance which is out of the weather). The ticket machine won’t be activated until 9 am, so we go down the escalator and wait in a short line to buy tickets and then wait for the Louvre to open. Maybe 25-30 people are ahead of us. This line is a lot better than the line of 1000+ yesterday! We enter the museum at 9:30 am and find our way to the Mona Lisa. She is exquisite. The crowd is small, so we can get to the front and stay a bit. And, we can take pictures! Amazing! We viewed the Wedding of Cana on the opposite wall which is a huge work or art. Then, off to find the Venus de Milo. She’s gorgeous as well. We next go to the Graeco Roman area. So many artifacts to see and so little time! We also see the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Athena, Minerva, etc. We get a lunch inside the Louvre and buy a few postcards and magnets at the shop. The Louvre is now filled with people. On the way out, we stopped at the Apple store in the Carousel, but they have no iPad to see yet—first release is only in America.

After finishing the Louvre, we go across the street to the Royal Palais and take the long Metro ride to the Eiffel tower, which is not conveniently located to anything is Jerry’s opinion. We walk around the park area along the river to view the tower. We see beautiful blooming flowers and statues along the avenues. We decide we do not have time to go up into the tower. The weather has cleared, and the day is beautiful!

After seeing the Eiffel tower, we go back to the Metro. The ticket machine doesn’t work with our tickets. Oh no. Finally the machine does take Jerry’s ticket, and he goes through, but now my ticket won’t work! I’m stuck on the outside, and I’m a little nervous about the situation. We tried my ticket multiple times, but it just won’t work, so Jerry told me to crawl under, which I did with a security camera pointed straight at me. No police appear, so I guess we’re okay.

We get back to the hotel and freshen up for our dinner cruise and illuminations tour tonight. We get a taxi to the tourism office, and after a wait, get on a van and are taken to our cruise boat. Our table is near the front of the boat, so we can see really well. Going up and down the Seine River, we pass famous buildings, including the Louvre we had visited that morning (which is in the background of the picture of Jerry), and go under beautiful bridges. It’s a great trip. The scenery is stunning. The sky is clear. The food is great. We have a wonderful time.

After the dinner cruise, we have about 45 minutes to wander around before getting on the bus for the illuminations tour. We stumbled on the “Bourbon street” of that area, one street off the main street by the river. We walk through this “Bourbon street” district feeling quite at home and come out at the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is even more beautiful at dusk. We take a few photos, Jerry hoping one of them turns out nicely, and then head back for the illuminations tour.

The tour is on a big double decker bus. Fortunately, we can sit downstairs because the brisk night wind on the top and open deck of the bus is very chilly. Paris—the city of lights—so beautiful. We go past the Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triumph, Champs de Elysses, National Academy of Music, and many other sights. At the Eiffel Tower the lights begin sparkling, and the display is spectacular.

We got off the tour bus at the Louvre, where we started our long day in Paris early this morning. We enjoyed a nice leisurely walk down Paris streets back to our hotel, reminiscing sights and sounds of the day. We have to pack and get ready for the early train to Angers tomorrow morning. It’s midnight by the time we’re finally off to bed.

Here is a video of the Paris action today:

April 4, 2010 (Easter Sunday)

Well, that taxi “arrangement” on the part of the hotel? Maybe something like, “We’ll have a taxi waiting for you at the front door early in the morning”? Not on your life! The “arrangement” was for us to walk down to the street corner in the cold, damp, wind to stand around trying to hail a cab on Easter Sunday morning. The only problem is, it’s EASTER SUNDAY MORNING, and there aren’t any taxi cabs! There’s like, no traffic on the streets at all. After the hotel proprietor himself tried for a while on the street corner to help us get a taxi, he gave up and gave us walking instructions so we could hoof it to the train station “rolling our bags”—like we’d seen so many people in London doing over the past few days. Now we’re one of those bag rollers! When I say we walked fast, I mean fast for a long time and at a pace that could rival the Olympics. We simply did not know how far the train station was nor how long we would take to get there on foot when we were supposed to take a taxi. [I was real proud of Jean, because she really hung in there! I could just see all Jean’s extensive plans for getting us to Paris going down the drain—we already had purchased our chunnel train tickets and everything—and I was heartsick the whole time we were fast walking to think we might miss the train.—Jerry] We made it in time for the Chunnel, but I may be crippled for life. My feet will never be the same after that 20 minute fast walk.

We finally get to the station, exhausted, and locate the platform. We boarded and are off to Paris. I bought us a snack on the train. One of the things I got Jerry was a Twix candy bar, and he loved it. I think he’s hooked now. We settle back and 2 ½ hours later we are in Paris.

After arriving at the Paris train station, we que up for a taxi, and when we finally get in one, wouldn’t you know our driver has horrible B.O.! It’s so bad it could have stopped the train. Today is not starting too well. What is wrong with these Europeans?!! We try to hold our breath as much as we can.

So, after almost expiring from asphyxiation, we finally get to our boutique hotel within walking distance of the Louvre. [Way to go, Jean!—Jerry] We drop our baggage in the hotel lobby and catch a lunch at the bistro next door and then back to hotel to get into our room. Oh no I think we’re still in London. It’s Lilliput Lane! The elevator literally is almost too small for us and our two bags. When we get to the fifth floor and try to get out of the elevator, we can’t get our bags and our bodies into the hall at the same time! The room itself is tiny like everything else. If either one of us weighed one more ounce we wouldn’t be able to get into the shower door opening. We thought about Easter Sunday worship at our home church, which we were starting to miss, and called our minister of worship, Robert Comeaux, using Skype and left Easter wishes.

We then headed off to the Louvre! It’s a short walk to the museum. We arrive at the Louvre and are overwhelmed at its size. It’s beautiful and massive! No words can describe the size of this place. However, we do not realize until later that we were only on the back side of the museum!

When we get up to the que line, security guards stop us and say they have closed the line for the day. It’s the first Sunday of the month, so entrance is free, which we did not know, and Easter Sunday, so everyone is off work, and , thus, the 1000 people or more in line waiting to get in. We were not getting in the Louvre today! This day just really is not working all that well.

Jerry went ahead scouted around the interior court of the connected buildings and took some pictures. Suddenly the sky clouded up, and Jerry quickly took me to a corner overhang just before the dark sky opened up. It rained really hard in sheets sideways, and all those poor people in line got drenched. Thanks to my “boy scout,” who immediately sensed what was coming, I was perfectly dry. After the hard rain stopped, we walked around the courtyard and saw the famous glass pyramid of the Tom Hanks movie, “The DaVinci Code.”

In the courtyard we ran into a couple from California who told us they couldn’t get in either, and their concierge had told them the Louvre would be closed tomorrow on Monday. My heart is sinking. What will we do if that is true? We do not have hardly any time for error or change in our tight schedule. I found a security guard and ask (in my broken pitiful French) about tomorrow and thankfully am told (and shown a sign) that the Louvre is open on Monday but closed on Tuesday! Yea!

But, what to do now for the rest of today? We need to improvise our schedule to redeem the time. On the way back to the hotel to review our sightseeing plans, we go see a pretty church across the street on the backside of the Louvre (St. Germain). Jerry liked the architecture and took some pictures.

Back at the hotel, we review our tour guides and decide we should try to see Notre Dame Cathedral before it closes. The afternoon is late by now, so we have to make a fast walk to try to make the cathedral in time. Unfortunately, in walking so fast, Jerry stepped off a high curb in just the wrong way and pulled a muscle in his right leg so badly that now he’s in significant pain and limping seriously. Today just has not been a good day on the whole.

We get to Notre Dame, and the sky has clouded up ominously again, but shortly thereafter looks like the sun might pop out again, and it does! The que to get into Notre Dame is very long too. To take advantage of the unexpected afternoon sunlight, Jerry first decides to go ahead and take pictures of the building and statue of Emperor Charlemagne outside before we think about whether we will have a chance to get in if we que up in the long line.

We decide after taking pics to get in line and see what happens. The line starts moving pretty well, and we are relieved. Maybe we’ll get in under the wire after all! As we approach the door, I begin to hear beautiful singing. Easter mass is underway! So, we join in. The liturgy is in French, but the program has translations in about 8 languages. The organ music is so moving! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! So, I have to wonder. Were all today’s missteps, from no taxi early this morning in London to Jerry’s lame leg getting to the cathedral this afternoon, actually the path to worship—really meaningful worship—on this Easter Sunday? Praise be to God! Worship at Notre Dame Cathedral on Easter Sunday! Already one of the great highlights of the trip.

After services, we stayed around outside for a while and then start back to the hotel looking for a restaurant as we go along. We settle on a cute place that has omelettes. Just what we needed. The food is delicious. While we were eating, a luscious banana split was delivered to the table behind us. We can’t resist so we order one! What a great way to end a day that started out so badly. We walk back to the hotel, and the Louvre is beautiful at night. We’ll plan to be at the Louvre when it opens tomorrow to be sure to get in without too much of a wait.

Here is a video of the Paris action today:

April 3, 2010 (Saturday)

Bummer, it’s another dreary, rainy, cold, wet day outside! Have breakfast at the hotel, and then, armed with instructions for taking the “tube” to Big Ben from the hotel proprietor, we head out. Before going to the tube, we go to British Museum to take a few outside pictures. We then found the tube stop on our way for a “walk-a-bout” to see the traditional sites.

We arrived at the Big Ben tube stop and what do you know? The sun popped out! Yea! Thank you God. We really needed a weather break. We’ve got blue sky for pictures of Big Ben and Parliament. We first get a shot of the World’s Fair ferris wheel on the bank of the river.

We tried to take self portraits at Big Ben by holding the camera out ourselves with some very funny results, but finally got a good one. Well, we got some good laughs out of that process.

We then walked over to Westminster Abbey. What a magnificent church! There’s been an operating church on this spot for over 1000 years. The architecture is intricate and just aesthetically perfect. We spent several hours until lunch time in the Abbey. Pictures were not allowed inside, so these are scans of postcards.

As we were leaving, I asked a guard if he knew of a good place for lunch close by. He recommended the Albert Pub on Victoria Street which he said was about a 5 minute walk. So, we had our “English pub experience,” and the meal was quite good. Jerry had Italian chicken and I had a Caesar salad.

After lunch at The Albert pub, we headed off to find the “tube” system again to go to the Tower. Some of the tube lines are not working today so we had to get instructions for an alternate route. We finally got to the Tower and walked around taking pictures. We decided not to do the tour. The day has turned off pretty, so we’re happy to be outside looking at the Tower and Tower Bridge.

On the way back to the tube station, we stopped at the Fire Monument (the monument on Pudding Street where the great London fire started at a bakery). Jerry climbed the 311 steps to the top while I sat outside at a sidewalk café. I just didn’t think I could make that climb at this point in the day. Jerry loved it and took lots of pictures from the top.

Off to the tube again and back to the hotel. After freshening up, we headed over to TAS Restaurant for dinner which was delicious again. Jerry had some great rice pudding for dessert! We went across the street to a Baskin Robbins and bought a bottle of diet Coke and then back up to the room to “charge up” everything.

I paid our hotel bill and asked about arranging a taxi for the next morning to the chunnel for our train to Paris at St. Pancreas station. The hotel tells us getting a cab will be “no problem” in the morning, and they will help us catch one. So, off to bed.

Out with the “pounds” and in with the “Euros.”