Paris Encore and Au revoir

 

On the morning of the 9th of September we had a great breakfast, packed up our room, and the ship desk called a cab for our short ride just beyond the tower to our next hotel. This was our view that morning from the ship as we waited for the cab.

 

After a short ride we arrived at the Hotel l'Academie just off the Boulevard St. Germain in the 6th Arrondisement. The hotel was a mixture of old French charm and all the modern electronic devices we are used to today. A very large room by local standards and very well appointed.

The exterior of the place on the corner with dozens of cafes and shops within a short stroll.

 

And stroll we did. We hiked a dozen blocks in each direction looking a some of our old haunts and just enjoying Paris on a couple of cool but pleasant days. We walked over to the Notre Dame and Ille de Cite of course and also went into the department store called Bon Marche. Bon Marche literally translated means cheap, but the store is way beyond cheap. It has many floors of all the top named merchandise plus many art displays. The one below is a functional bicycle pedi-cab made from a 1940's Italian car that was cut in half and is for sale for a mere 39,000 Euros ($50,000 or so).

One day we spent touring the Musee d'Orsay which has the largest collection of impressionistic art in the world. The whole interior has been redone since we were there eight years ago but the Monet collection is as wonderful as always. We had to go back to the museum now that we had just seen most of the places that Monet captured in his paintings and it really brought them new meaning.

On the evening of the 11th we decided to have a nice dinner and simply went around the corner from our hotel to the Perron restaurant on Perronet street. Earlier in the day on one of our walks we had stopped by and talked to the owner and he said that he prepared sabayone as a desert so we were sold.

After a perfect dinner of Italian special dishes the food gourmet below samples this melt-in-your-mouth delicacy. This time consuming desert is made from egg whites, some vanilla, and sugar, beat for about ten minutes over a low flame, and the froth poured over some Grand Marnier until it flows into the plate below. Whole dinner of three courses and four glasses of wine came to 111 Euros or about $130.

On the morning of the 12th we went about a block to Boulevard St. Germain again for breakfast and stopped into the world famous Les Deux Magots restaurant. Below is an artistic rendition of the place of famous artists and literary greats.

Our waiter was charming and actually quite funny as he got our ham and cheese omelets, croissants and coffee. When we told him we spoke a little French and then that we were from Texas he said, "Ah you must speak Cowboy as well, eh?"

 

That evening we cabbed over to the Hilton at the airport, then next morning hopped our sleeper ride back to the US, spent another night at the Embassy Suites at Detroit airport and then were back in Barrie on the 14.

What an adventure that went perfectly for our anniversary ... where to next, eh!?

 

Cruising, Eating, Dancing, and Loving

 

On September the 7th, our 6th day of the cruise, we stopped at Conflans, just outside the city limits of Paris to see Malmaison, the house that Napoleon and Josephine lived in when not in the city.

 

As far as palaces go this one was not that flamboyant as the Versailles Palace for example. This is a simple manor house with very low key furnishings. Josephine was the one who spent the most time here and her touch is everywhere. She wanted the most beautiful garden in Paris and her roses and rare plants are quite nice ... but not massive or flashy.

 

This is reflected in the dining room with a very simple table and chairs.

 

Her bed was a bit ornate with the walls covered to look like a tent and with the blue sky above.

 

At noon the ship sailed again and we landed at our port in downtown Paris. That evening the captain held his farewell dinner that was more of a dress up affair. After dinner and a bunch of wine we ended up dancing quite late with the view of the Eiffel Tower not far from the boat.

The next day was our anniversary and we were reminded by some towel art swans which appeared in the afternoon on our bed. We opted out of the ship tours and just spent the day walking along the Seine and went over to one of the indoor malls close by to stock up on some food and wine to take to our hotel the next day when the cruise was over.

 

 

Somebody tipped off the staff and at dinner that evening we were presented with this rocket cake ... quite an anniversary treat. We found out that our new friends Jim and Carolyn had put the staff up to the presentation and obviously we were surprised and acting a bit goofy, eh!

 



 

That evening we took a late evening bus tour of the city to view the lights and enjoy the last evening of the cruise. The weather held out for us and the Arc de Triomphe was lit up just for us.

As was the pyramid at the Louvre ....

... and the magnificent tower itself. It's hard to capture photographically as the thing sparkles with intermittent strobe lights that are really awesome.

And on the evening of the 8th we settled into our now familiar room on the River Seine for the last night as the next day we would be off to a hotel and district of our own choosing for the remainder of our stay in France ... Vive la France!

Rouen

 

On day 5 of the cruise, the captain turned the ship around and headed back down the Seine, stopping at the city of Rouen. Rouen, which is the capital of Upper Normandy, is best known for its connection to Joan of Arc, who lived, was imprisoned, and burned at the stake in the marketplace in 1431 at the age of 19.

 

First we took a walking tour of the town which reminded us so much of the German style yet with the obvious French architectural influence. Below is the Gros Horlage astronomical clock dating to the 16th century. Still a bit rainy and cool but great for walking and sightseeing.

 



The churches of Rouen were the subject of several of Monet's paintings and walking through them was a real treat. The picture below was also fascinating. This explanation was on an easel and explained one of the stained glass windows above you in one of the cathedral. It's really a story, read from bottom to top of the life of a resident of Rouen (Julien l'Hospitalier) who murdered his parents and then became a saint ... I'll let you work out the details on your own.

And then on to the market place in the center of town. This more modern church is remarkable for the Norse styling with sails and the market has the same theme. The real historical part of this spot though is that it's where Joan of Arc met her fate supposedly where the statue of her is standing in that alcove of the church

We continued walking around the market and were impressed by a lot of the half-timbered houses ... this one being the most ornate and appeared right out of the Black Forest in Germany. Now it's a pricy restaurant on the square.

The little carousel was charming and the rules were, "Put your child on the animal of choice and then the wheel to the left is spun and if it hits the picture of that animal, the ride is free." Cool.

And as we concluded our walk through town this shop of fine ceramic wares caught our eye. Yup, expensive hand made porcelain bed pans .... gotta have one, eh.

After another wonderful lunch on the ship and of course nap time, we spent the afternoon exploring the vessel. Below is our captain explaining his trade in his "office." The first question of course was, "where's the big wooden wheel?" He's pointing to today's version ... a tiny silver joy stick. The many flat panel displays gave him a multitude of inputs from many sensors, satellite and on board, that helped him guide us down the river. A side note here. Just above his head is a sliding hatch. Because the bridges can be quite low, the whole glass portion you see here slides down so that it touches the top of the dash, and he can still guide the boat by sticking the top of his body up through the hole!

And finally two stories below the wheelhouse was the kitchen with our young and animated chef giving us the tour. This place isn't much bigger than a kitchen in a large home yet had to churn out gourmet dining for 100 folks three times a day plus other eats 24/7.

The signs on the fridge were particularly interesting ...

D-Day at Normandy

 

The next day was a full day of exploring and remembering the massive sacrifice that took place here in June of 1944. I'll let you do all the history if you haven't done it before as it is written in tens of thousands of pages of documentation about the tens of thousands of lives given up here.

 

There were three contingents on our cruise ship, one for the British landing beaches, one for the Canadian, and one for the American ... oh yeah, and one Aussie. So we split up to visit the respective landing beaches.

 

Our first stop was at Pointe du Hoc lying between Omaha and Utah beaches. Below is the German view of the cliffs between the two beaches with Omaha beach to the east around the point.

 

Above these cliffs sat this observation post which was crucial to the Germans as they could see both of the Allied landing beaches and direct gunfire at any force approaching across the English Channel.

The promontory was heavily defended and the allies had bombed it steadily just before the invasion.

But that didn't make it easy for the US Rangers as they tried to scale the cliff and knock out the position so the landing could take place. Lt Col Earl Rudder of Texas commanded 225 rangers climbing up to here under heavy fire and when they were finally successful on the third day to take it out, only 90 men were left.

The monument below is a copy of the grappling hook used by the rangers to slowly crawl up the sheer face of the rock and here you have the commanding view of the English Channel.

The place is marred by hundreds of bomb craters with Jo-Anne standing by one of the destroyed gun emplacements.

After that we went to the American Cemetery and Museum. A beautiful place of remembrance for so many of our parents and loved ones who gave their lives within a few miles of this place.

The 9,900 Americans buried here represent a small portion of all who died on these beaches and then the slow trek inland to secure the French coast for invasion. And you cannot forget the 35,000 German soldiers buried near here who died defending what they believed to be their homeland for their loved ones.

And then to walk on Omaha Beach and look up at the hills where the German forces were positioned was pretty chilling.

 

With the monument to all of the international soldiers, sailors, and airmen who gave their lives not just for this pretty stretch of Normandy beach ...

... but so we as their children could continue the way of life that promised freedom from dictatorship and tyranny. No dry eyes for this day of touring.

Monks and Beer

 

On the fourth we sailed up the river to the little town of Caudebec. We stopped for two nights there as it was the furthest north we would go on the Seine. Actually Paris is only 80 miles away if you go by helicopter, but on the river we had traveled about 160.

 







 

We opted for a leisurely tour of the little town with its half-timbered houses and then a tour of a Benedictine Abbey. Other passengers went on a longer bus tour of the coastal town of Honfleur but we decided to chill it a bit.

 

 

In the town was this former gas station now converted into a restaurant. The menus were inside the gas pump fronts ... not particularly historic but really innovative.

Then on to the Jumieges Abbey which is an ancient ruin and then to the Sainte-Wandrille abbey where we were escorted around the place by one of the Monks who had been a plumber in his civilian life. He was quite a character and actually funny as he explained their role through the past centuries and what they contributed to the village.

The main area of the church was particularly stark and functional compared to most other churches we have toured in Europe. These are Benedictine Monks living, working, and worshiping in this particular abbey.

After the abbey tour you have to go to their gift shop of course and logically I bought a bottle of one of their beers, the Sainte-Wandrille named after their abbey.

A really relaxing day and a nice beer before we went off to the Normandy beaches the next day.

 



Giverny and Monet

 

On the 3rd we stopped at Giverny which is the Place Claude Monet lived for 43 years and did most of his iconic paintings of outdoor scenes like the Japanese Bridge below on the Lily Pond. The tiny town itself is almost wholly composed of Monet related museums and gardens.

 

As you walk around the pond the amount of foliage of all types is simply breathtaking.

 

 

Below is the scene of the boats that inspired the painting of the same name.

 

Leaving the pond area you walk over to the main gardens and house itself, here framed by the arbors. The gardens are maintained by 12 full time gardeners and are, like the pond area, spectacular with many rare and different types of flowers.

 

 The house is also a real treasure as you can see almost every room as he and his wife lived in it around the turn of the 20th century. Because of the easy access to the house all of the real paintings have been moved to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, a must see for any art lover.
 

In the afternoon the boat continued down the river and we stopped at the charming village of Les Andelys. One tour was a daunting climb up to Chateau Gaillard built for England's King Richard the Lionheart in 1196.
 

Instead we opted for a tour of the charming town of Les Andelys. The weather was about 65 degrees and an occasional sprinkle or two.

 

 

If you have followed our adventures you know there must be some animal feeding involved,

 

 

so Jo-Anne didn't want you to be disappointed ... the ducks on the Seine weren't either. More to see and do down the river the next day but remember there's always gourmet breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the boat every day.

Cruisin' in France

 

We've done several anniversaries in France so we decided to use up some frequent flyer miles this summer and do it again for our 45th; this time with a river cruise up the Seine and back from Paris.

 

On 1 September we arrived at Detroit's DTW airport. The night before we stopped in Port Huron and then the next day went by the allergist for Jo-Anne in Mt Clemens and then on to Detroit. Our flight was non-stop from Detroit to Paris and the sleeping accommodations in the business class pod were obviously ok ... blogster at 38,000 feet is oblivious of the paparazzi flashbulbs. 

 

After a very smooth flight to Paris we were whisked by the cruise company to our first night's hotel, the Pullman Eiffel Tower. We added the extra night before the cruise to un-jetlag as we had learned from experience. Because the flight arrived at 8am we deposited our bags with the hotel and wandered the two blocks over to the tower itself, had a baguette and some wine and waited to check in.

Finally the hotel was ready at about 3pm and we had a pretty good night. The Pullman is a modern hotel, probably built in the 1960's with no French charm, but it was picked by the cruise company ... won't do that again.

The next day though we arrived at our new hotel on the Seine River, the Avalon Tapestry II. Our room was on the upper row of windows about half way back.

The room itself was about 200 square feet and while there is no balcony, the sliding doors roll fully open making the whole room a balcony and you can lie in bed and watch the French countryside flow slowly by.

Here's the blogster looking at the planned schedule for the trip.

 

As we boarded the ship at about 4pm, time in the room was short and we headed to the piano lounge for a scotch on the rocks and a chocolate martini. Life's getting better by the minute!

Then a quick glance at the dining room and up to change for the Captain's welcome dinner at 6.

After our welcome and introduction to the entire crew and a wonderful three course meal we headed back to the room for our first night. The room was remade, the orchid beautiful, the "love notes from cruise director Sylvia" were on the bed, and the TV tuned to a crackling fire.

There were 108 passengers in this floating hotel served by 35 really enthusiastic crewmembers. When we got back to the room, I peeked out and realized we were already gliding motionless along the river and we watched the Paris suburbs dwindle in the darkness. Much, much more to follow ...