Paris - July 9, 2016

We’re all rested up and ready to go Saturday morning, so it’s up early and out the door by 8am to head for Saint Germaine, Ile de la Cite, and Notre Dame cathedral.  As soon as you exit the Metro station at St. Michel, you immediately see all of Notre Dame in front of you – it’s such an impressive sight!  It is located on Ile de la Cite, a small island in the middle of the Seine.  The towers didn’t open until 10am so we found a café and ordered the typical Parisian breakfast – coffee, orange juice, a croissant, French bread with jam and butter, and a crepe – I got mine with Nutella.  We still had some time after breakfast so we went inside the cathedral to have a look – what an amazing structure.  It was built in sections over several hundred years, dating back almost 9 centuries, and the stonework is just stunning – the details and the degree to which everything has withstood time is beyond belief.  We made our way around the entire sanctuary, admiring the domed roof, the massive pipes for the organ, and the various chapels around the outer walls.  Margo lit 2 different candles in honor of her mom and then we got in line to climb to the top of the iconic towers.  Because we had admired the inside of the church for so long, there was a line for the towers – we probably waited almost an hour and a half for our turn to climb the 422 steps to the very top of the south tower.  In between we got to stop and admire the view from a little more than halfway up.  We got a close up view of a lot of the statuary on the building’s façade.  Margo pointed out that gargoyles are specifically for diverting rainwater off the building while everything else is considered statuary.  We got to hear the bells sound for several minutes at noon, and then we got a close up view of 2 of the great bells, which are only rung on high holidays.  At the front outside corner of the south tower, you could choose to go down to the exit or climb higher for a 360-degree panoramic view from the top.  Magnificant!  Back down the 422 steps and on to the Crypt Archaeologique!

The Archeological Crypt is directly in front of Notre Dame but underground.  When they were excavating to install an underground car park in the late 60’s, they discovered the remains of walls from fortresses built centuries before to fortify the Ile de la Cite.  In the crypt, they have preserved those walls, as well as many of the artifacts that have been unearthed nearby.  It was like walking through history, reading about the changes the island has undergone over time.

Just down the street is Saint Chapelle, a gorgeous chapel built by Louis IX in the 13^th century when his palace was located in the Ile de la Cite.  The 15 stained glass windows have been undergoing restoration for some time now, and they are extraordinary in their detail and story-telling.  There are over 1100 images in the windows representing various scenes from the bible, as well as many more carved in stone.  The most stunning piece was the rose window depicting the apocalypse of St. John, but all of the glasswork was beautiful.

Next door to Saint Chapelle was the Conciergerie, which used to be a prison in the Palace of Justice.  It was converted to a prison in the 14^th century after Charles V moved his royal residence off the Ile de la Cite.  A concierge was appointed to run the palace and the prison, giving the structure its name, and between 1793 and 1794, over 2700 people were tried and many guillotined for opposing the French revolution, including Marie-Antoinette.  Her cell has been recreated here, just behind the chapel that bears her name.  She was one of the lucky, privileged prisoners who were granted private accommodations – most people were crowded together in small cells with stone floors covered in straw, subject to all manner of pestilence and disease.

Our last stop for the day was the Pantheon in the Saint Germaine neighborhood.  Originally commissioned by Louis XV as a cathedral to Saint Genevieve in 1744, it was converted in 1791 to a National Pantheon to famous French citizens who have brought honor to France.  Those honored with burial at the Pantheon include Voltaire and Rousseau, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, and Pierre and Marie Curie.  

Paris - July 8, 2016

Friday morning, Margo and I went to visit Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, which is very similar to what you might see in a shot of New Orleans – lots of large, above-ground crypts packed closely together, many with very ornate and decorative statuary.  Pere Lachaise is the resting place of many famous French citizens as well as some international celebrities.  We saw the graves of Rossini, Colette, Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, and Chopin.  Some graves are visited quite regularly, as evidenced by the tokens left behind.  Proust’s grave was covered with Metro tickets held down with small stones.  Oscar Wilde had red lipstick kisses on one side of it – people would have to stand on top of the adjacent grave to be able to reach over the barrier to kiss it.  Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas were a couple and are buried together – there are stones stacked on top of the headstone and someone used darker colored stones to write G + A in the gravel in front of the headstone, along with 2 interlocked women’s symbols.  Jim Morrison’s grave was blocked off by barricades so you couldn’t get near it but it was covered with flowers nonetheless, and someone had hung multiple colored woven lizards from the barricade, in honor of the Lizard King.

From Pere Lachaise, we walked down Rue de la Roquette until we reached the circle where the Bastille prison used to stand.  It was torn down and destroyed shortly after the French revolution, but a column now stands in the middle of the circle as a monument to all who were imprisoned there.  Then it was on to Gare de Lyon to meet my Dad and stepmom as their train arrived from Basel, Switzerland.  They had been on a Viking river cruise through Germany, originating in Amsterdam, and they were ready for a rest day, much like we had been the day before.  Once we got them settled into the flat, we got caught up on all of out adventures thus far.  Dinner and a walk down to the Eiffel Tower and back along the Seine was about all we could manage that night.  Got to save up some oomph for Notre Dame on Saturday!

Paris - July 7, 2016

WE've been going non-stop since we left the States, so today was a bit of a rest day.  We slept in until 9:30, which would be unheard of at home with the dogs around.  Then we planned a walking route to the storefront where we were to pick up our Paris Passes, which was a little less than 5km away.  Our route took us past the Gran Palais, the Petit Palais, and onto the Champs Elysees, where could see the Arc de Triomphe further up the road.  We made a right and could see a large ferris wheel, we think set up for Bastille Day next week as there were other carnival-style rides set up as well as we got closer. Past the Jardin des Tulieres and into the Place de la Concorde, we passed the Obelisk Luxour, which used to stand at the entrance to the temple of Luxor in Egypt, and under the ferris wheel, headed toward the Louvre and its iconic glass pyramid.  We wound through the streets a while longer to get to the Paris Pass office and then altered the route back so we strolled down the Boulevard de la Madeleine and the Rue Royale.  Then is was back to our Paris flat (through Airbnb) to map out the rest of our time here and try to fit in all that we want to see.  This evening we went in a different direction to find a place for dinner and found a number of small bakeries and patisseries to try later.  LOTS of French soccer fans parading through the streets on their way to the Euro Championships Fan Zone near the Eiffel Tower on the Champ du Mars.  They were quite loud and expressive, very excited for the semifinal match against Germany.  We settled on a little sidewalk table at a cafe just a few blocks from out flat, and I had by  my first food adventure fail.  Margo was safe with ordering a Croque Madame, an open faced egg, ham, and cheese sandwich.  But I tried to order something more daring, and I thought andouillette sausage would be something similar to the Andouille we get at home sometimes.  Wrong!  It was a chitterling sausage, filled with chopped pig and cow intestines.  I could tell as soon as I cut into it that I wasn't going to like it - the smell itself was off-putting.  But I tried a bite and forced it down, but that was as far as I got - Margo handed me some bread to keep me from thinking about it too much.  I finished my salad and fries and not wanting to offend the French server, Margo wrapped the sausage in our napkins and hid it in her bag for me until we could find a trash can!  Lesson learned.  As I type, France has gone up 1-0 on a penalty kick after Germany drew their third yellow card of the match - we can hear the fans on the street below celebrating as they watch at a cafe down the block!  Tomorrow we will meet my dad and stepmom when they arrive at Gare de Lyon train station, coming from Basel, Switzerland, and then the sightseeing will begin in earnest.

Travel day - London to Paris - July 6, 2016

With a huge thanks to our hosts, Kelli and Tim, and hugs all around, even though Tim hates them, we jumped on the tube to King's Cross and St. Pancras International train stations this morning.  Outside King's Cross there was a local food market with many stands peddling breads, cheeses, baked goods, and ethnic specialties.  Since we had a few pounds left over, we sampled a few things - a sauerkraut and mushroom pierogi, an English muffin, some apple strudel, and a chocolate hazelnut pan bake, all wonderful, of course.  Inside King's Cross, we stood in a much shorter line than last visit to get our photos taken at Platform 9 3/4 next to the Harry Potter shop - we didn't even have to fight over the Gryffindor scarf since they had 2, and we opted not to do a picture together anyway.  Across the street at St. Pancras International, we made it through passport check and onto our Eurostar train without any issues, and 2 1/2 hours later we were at Gare du Nord station in Paris.  It took a few minutes for us to acclimate to the Metro system, but we hopped 2 trains 4 stops total to within less than a kilometer of our Airbnb flat.  I gasped at my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, and Margo beamed from ear to ear, as this is what she has been promising me for close to 20 years.  Our flat is small, but perfectly functional, and it probably only took us 10 minutes to walk to the base of the Eiffel Tower.  All around were Portugal and Wales soccer fans - the 2 teams faced each other in Lyon tonight in the semifinals of the European Championships.  Wales lost, 2-0, but there's still Germany vs. France tomorrow night - perhaps our streak of being in the country of the winning team will work for France.  We walked back toward the flat along the Seine, just soaking it all in, and then found a place for dinner, the Bistro de la Tour Eiffel, just a block from the tower.  I had a wonderful salad with shrimp, smoked salmon, and avocado while Margo ordered a chicken club sandwich with French fries, which, sadly, were not anything different than we have at home. ;-)  No alarm set for tomorrow - we're just going to walk the area, pick up our Paris Passes, and maybe take in Boulevard Saint-Germaine.

London, day 5 - July 5, 2016

We're getting ready to take the tube one last time to King's Cross and St. Pancras train stations to catch the Eurostar train to Paris this morning.  We've had such a wonderful time in London with Kelli and Tim, I can't believe it's coming to an end already.  We had another full day Tuesday - first up was the tube to Richmond to the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens.  Kew is a vast expanse of grounds covered with all variety of trees and plants, some of them much older than the US is as a country.  We explored the Palm House, with its basement aquarium, and the balcony walkway, putting us even with or above the tops of the 30-foot palms.  Next door was a water lily greenhouse, with lily pads 3 feet or more across and long yellow gourds the same length as the lily pads.  There was the Princess Diana Conservatory, an alpine plants display, and a rock garden too, and that was just within close proximity to the entrance.  We cut across the grounds toward the treetop canopy walkway, checking out interesting trees as we walked.  One that Margo found fascinating was enormous and quite old, having been moved there in the 1700s - tall enough to have a lightning rod/cable installed on it.  There was also a grove of monkey puzzle trees, a species that we've seen in Ireland and Scotland as well.  The newest installation at Kew, which just opened in June, is called The Hive - it's a metal structure designed after a real beehive - which highlights the actions of and challenges facing bees.  The structure is somehow linked to the activities of one of the grounds' beehives so that their activity levels cause changes in the lights and sound at the structure itself.  At the base of the structure, you could use thin wooden popsicle sticks to feel and hear the vibrations and sounds made by bees in different situations.  Very cool!  All over the grounds, there were signs giving facts and tips about bees and how they collect nectar and pollinate vast varieties of flowers and food.


From the hive, we moved on to the treetop canopy walkway, with its staircase leading up to the tops of the British plane trees in that area.  What a gorgeous view!  At the base was a mosaic representation of the insects and fungi that live symbiotically with the trees in their roots.  By then we were ready for lunch  - fish pie, cauliflower gratin, treacle tart, tomato salad - all delicious and enjoyed at a table under the grapevines at the Pavilion cafe on the Kew grounds.

Our last stop on the London tour was Hampton Court Palace in Kingston-on-Thames, the palace Cardinal Thomas Wolsley built up and turned over to King Henry VIII and later used by King William III.  The palace is enormous, as are the grounds, including vast gardens of flowers, fruit trees, and vegetables.  We tried out the oldest hedge maze in Great Britain and managed to find our way to the center and back out again.  Then we toured parts of the palace with an audio recorded tour, listening to descriptions of young Henry's life and his marriage to Catherine of Aragon (which lasted 20 years, longer than all of his other marriages combined) as well as his dealings with Cardinal Wolsley; the palace kitchens and how they functioned to feed over 600 people in Henry's court; and Henry's sumptuous apartments and his later life and marriages to Anne Bolyn, Jane Seymore, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Parr, and Catherine Howard.  We probably could have spent an entire day at Kew and another full day at Hampton Court (especially since the Hampton Court flower show was going on too).  A quick tour through the various gardens, including the "Great Vine", a massive grapevine from Henry VIII times and a Guinness Book of World Records holder, and it was time to figure out how to get back home.  We had taken the tube and 2 buses (including a double decker!) to get to Kew and then Hampton Court, and we tried to reverse that, but our travel cards had dipped into negative balance so we couldn't get on the 2nd bus back.  So we bought tickets to take the regular train several miles to another tube station, adding to the variety of transportation we've tried here (including a classic black cab, where the driver's have to study for years to pass a test - they have to know every street in greater London!)  Back in Ruislip, we met Tim at Istanbul restaurant for some Turkish food for dinner, effectively wrapping up our last night in London.

London, day 4 - July 4, 2016

Wow!  43,000 steps yesterday and over 20 miles of running and walking!  Without the 10K steps, we rivaled that number today.  The plan for today was to do the more touristy stuff, and boy did we do a bunch.  Our first thought was to start at the Victoria and Albert museum, but then we realized that the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace started soon, so we decided to beeline there instead.  There were hundreds of people there to see this, but we were able to see the Queen's guards parade through the circle and into the gates of the palace.  Right across the street from the palace was St. James Park, a beautiful stretch reaching all the way to 10 Downing Street.  Not far from there we found Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the houses of Parliament.  Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside Westminster Abbey, but we did get to see the graves and memorials to such famous historical figures as Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, and a whole host of others.  We also saw the tombs of Mary and Elizabeth, as well as Mary, queen of Scots, and many other royals throughout history.  Also housed at Westminster Abbey is the coronation chair, the chair that British monarchs have been crowned on for centuries.  Outside, across the street from the abbey, was a small park with statues of Ghandi and Nelson Mandela, and a tribute of flowers, candles, and comments for Jo Cox, the Parliament MP who was murdered last month.  A short walk around the Parliament building and we were across Lambeth Bridge to the south bank of the Thames.

The walk down the south bank took us past quite a few sights.  We walked under the London Eye (it takes 45 minutes to ride it once around), past Shakespeare's Globe theater, the Millennium Bridge (destroyed by the death eaters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie), London Bridge, and the warship HMS Belfast, before arriving at the Tower Bridge.  We got an extra bonus, as we got to the Tower Bridge just in time for it to raise its drawbridge to allow a tall ship to pass beneath it.  Then we went inside to do the Tower Bridge Experience.  We climbed the 206 steps 45 meters up to learn more about the bridge's history and structure.  They also have a glass floor in parts of the walkways between towers - a little scary if you're afraid of heights!

 Out the other side, we were on to the Tower of London, home to the crown jewels and torture rooms.  We only had an hour left before they closed for the day, so we grabbed a quick selfie with a Beefeater guard and made straight for the crown jewels.  The opulence of the maces, scepters, crowns, and swords is beyond belief.  Altar plates 3 feet in diameter made of solid gold, tons of gem stones and pearls, and lots of heavy security inside a vault with doors over a foot thick.  Outside the crown jewels display, we bumped into some of the Tower ravens.  Legend says that if the 6 resident ravens (plus one spare) ever decide to leave, the Tower will fall, so the raven-keeper makes sure that doesn't happen by feeding them raw meat and biscuits soaked in blood each day.  They were quite friendly and happy to pose for photos with lots of people close by.  With not much time left, we checked out the Bloody Tower, which houses the portcullis used to open and close the water gate of the tower complex and also the torture chamber, displaying a plowman's daughter device, a rack, and a set of manacles.  The plowman's daughter was designed to keep you folded into a cannonball-like position for extended periods of time, while the rack was meant to stretch you beyond your limits until it tore you apart.  The manacles were just for hanging you up by your wrists for fun.  Not the best note to end on but oh well!  Long ride home on the tube during rush hour, but Tim had a wonderful homemade dinner of pea soup and a ham and cabbage salad waiting for us.  Last full day in London tomorrow before our train ride to Paris on Wednesday.