A little gallery art, a little street art, and a whole lot of my photos. A little long (just over 5 minutes), but I promise it will make you want to book a flight and breathe Paris!
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On our last evening in Paris (Friday) we headed down to the Seine to watch Eiffel's tower glitter one last time. Now we are safely home. Paris was fabulous, but being close to family (and our dogs) is super-fabulous. You are Always in My Prayers. Love Mom. Quite a contrast in our activities for today:
First, we did tons of Louvre. It is unbelievable how much we still haven't seen after a month. Today we came across a previously undiscovered grand staircase. There didn't appear to be anyone around (this is unusual for the Louvre). Dad pulled up the Pomp and Circumstance clip from one of our organ concerts--we linked arms and descended the staircase. Dad can be corny that way--and I loved it❤️ Secondly, we went to a fashion show at the Galeries Lafayette of spring and summer ready to wear. Please note that I was not the least fashionable one there (close though) and that, unfortunately, the male models led Dad to believe flowered shirts are back in. Finally, we headed over to Deyrolle taxidermy. This shop is way cooler than it sounds. They are world wide experts in taxidermy. They let you wander around the shop where you can see everything from lions and zebras to tiny birds and butterflies. No pictures allowed, however, I did receive permission to take one photo in their downstairs shop (a huge thank you to Deyrolle). Being our last night in Paris we treated ourselves to Creme Brûlée at a sidewalk cafe. Dad loves to crack the sugar with a spoon and make a wish. I hope he wished that someday we would return to Paris. Home soon. Still Living and Loving the City of Light. You are Always in My Prayers. Love Mom. Today is our last day for mail. Six of the last remaining 9 postcards arrived--yeah! Thank you MDHS for this special treat. We are leaving an international stamp and envelope for our landlord. Hopefully, if the last three come, he will forward them to Canada. The cards I have will be travelling back to Canada tomorrow. See you soon. Mr. & Mrs. H M&C In real life Starry Night is magnificent--you can almost see it sparkle. Yes, Mr H will run another marathon, but not too soon. His next big run will be the Scotia Half in TO in October. EV Yes, I know you aunts and probably a few cousins and uncles😄 RM When you come to France a small apartment is a good idea. There are also youth hostels, which I'm just a little too old to sleep in a dormitory. C&M Greeting....as I said.. Too much choice M...you will just have to come pick one out yourself😄 EW Paris is as grand as they say. Yesterday Mr. H was talking about a "little" church (St Genevieve), then he was like "wait a minute...that is at least 6 times as big as anything we have in Listowel." M&E My vocabulary is improving in what I read and hear. Speaking is harder to improve because when they hear my accent they switch to English (if they can). Yesterday we were trying to return a ticket (because of the strike) on the Opera's official resale site. I can do most "normal" on line stuff in French, but this was really complicated. We still haven't figured it out! I finally got a ticket for the Opera Rigoletto today and Paris strikes-yes, Paris literally strikes. Now, I get it--Parisians like to strike. However, this isn't the first time that my plans have been changed by a strike in France. Remember that time we (Caleb and I) were stuck in Charles de Gaulle airport from Monday to Wednesday on an LDSS choir trip? Lightning isn't supposed to strike twice (pun intended). Anyways, I suppose I like a good travel tale almost as much as the Opera, and this one will go down in infamy😄
So, instead of the Opera we headed off to see a different face of Paris. La Défense is located on the outskirts. Although primary a business district, it is definitely worth a visit to see the results of an urban plan hatched in the late 50's. Here you find modern high-rises and pedestrian walkways (almost all vehicle traffic travels underground). Along with the space-age architecture, the area also houses an open-air museum with 70 statues and pieces of modern art, including a sculpture by Miro. In spite of the modern feel Dad managed to find a gigantic French pastry (his second of the day--he is running out of time to try them all😄). Living and Loving the City of Lights. You are Always in My Prayers. Love Mom.
How exciting! We found twelve postcards in our mailbox today. A huge thank you to all of our bons amis at MDHS. We will bring them back with us when we come to visit so you will have a keepsake that travelled all the way to France and back. I hope you can see all of your cartes postales in the picture (I purposely positioned them so I wasn't spreading your smiling faces all over the web).
Here are the answers to your postcard questions (at least one per card)--I'm going to answer in English today so I can get through all of them. B&A I think there are some Eiffel tour pics on the site now--let me know if you want more. The food isn't too weird here--they eat a lot of duck though. We can't wait to share our adventure with you...we will set something up with Mrs. B LT&MB The chocolat chaud is amazing everywhere here. Yes, we are coming to visit the grade nines. DB&AP Yes, Mr. H did do great on tithe marathon for an old guy. My favourite part of the trip is being able to take our time seeing things. Mr. H is baguette crazy. We leave on the 30th of April. G&S&S Yes, Going up the Eiffel Tower ranks up there as one of the favourite things. Mr. H had never been up there before. I had never been to the top and It was definitely my first time on the glass floor😬 J&M I do have more photos...way too many more photos! After all, how many photos do you need of the Eiffel Tower. If you want to see something specific just drop me a post. K&E When we are out walking our favourite place to stroll is along the Seine. At night the reflections are spectacular and you can also always see a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower lit up. C&S Yes, Paris is beautiful. Almost everything is extravagant--almost over the top. But like any city, they have their poor. The church in our area that we go to Sunday organ concerts at has a feeding program. You can see the homeless camped out. L&K Yes, they do have ice-skating on the Eiffel Tower, but not at this time of year. They do make it sparkle every hour-on-the-hour after sunset. That is really cool to see. B&A Versailles, Chartes, and St Denis were fantastic, but your are right, my favourite day trip was Girveny. It was just so peaceful riding our bikes through the country side. Very different than riding our bikes in Paris. B&B After travelling I am always happy to be home. Broadening your experiences makes you appreciate what you have in Canada. AY & SY I was at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann yesterday taking a picture of their dome. The price of clothing there is crazy. Just for the fun of it looked at the price on a little cotton blouse--it was 249 euros. There are some very up-scale commercial zones here. T&Z If you like chocolate--you need to come to Paris😄
It almost doesn't sound possible, but the choicest part of our day was spent touring the sewers of Paris. It did stink down there, and it was damp and gross--but that was what made it such a novel experience. Did you know that Victor Hugo's description of the Paris swear system (Les Miserable) is considered historically significant? Hugo was friends with the sewer inspector and was able to base Jean Valjean’s adventures on factual information. Anyway, in spite of our morning activities we still enjoyed our fresh baguette traditional for lunch.
Living and Loving the City of Light. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. |
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Ray & Diane
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