Wednesday, August 31, 2011
I think there is something seriously wrong with my legs, feet, back, etc,,,
Morning is not a pretty picture. I usually have a size 9 - 9 1/2 foot (shoe size that is). I think they are a good size 15 or 16 now. And if one more 6', 160 lbs. 70 year old Parisian guy blows by me on the sidewalk again, I am going to have to purposely step in his way and ask where the closest MacDonald is. ( Even though I already know. I only ate there once and it was because I didn't want to miss my bus).
As for the post I was so rudely interupted in. I see where I neglected to give the name of the Cathedral. It is the Sacre Cleur De Montmartre. As I mentioned the funicular is like a small tram which runs up the side of the mountain. It is only a 2 or 3 minute ride but takes a half hour waiting for your turn to pile in the car. Holds about twenty. When at the top, I went in the Cathedral because it was open for a Mass being said. The tourist, a continuous line of people, were guided along the left side of the church, around the back of the alter, (these places are huge), and then along the right side to the exit door. I did get a chance to purchase a gold(ish) coin with the Cathedrals emblem on it. There were 4 vending machines behind the alter in which you dropped 2 Euro and out came the coin. I like souveneres like that. No Ethiopian or Iranian guy you have to keep saying no..no..Opps sorry. The only trouble with the vending machines is each one has a different church symbol on it. I couldn't decide which one I wanted so I bought, no, not all four, just two. There were also huge racks of votive candles. You could purchase a small wax disk in a plastic holder with a wick in it. It was 10 Euro so I passed on that. They literally had STACKS of boxes of candles right next to the rack. Hundreds, no, thousands of them at different racks throughout the Cathedral.The donation is all on the honor system. You put the money in a wooden box and light the candle. The parish congregation ( not sure if that is what catholic's call a group, it sounds Protestant to me, but) were all seated in the center two columns of chairs. A few hundred people. They had also put some chairs on the outer edges of the columns for anyone to sit and watch, relax or whatever. I wonder how many Hindu's have been converted there. I'm not kidding either. It has a holy-ness and special feeling to it. Truly eccumenical.
After walking thru the mideival part of town, I caught the bus which brought me close to the Metro stop I needed. I was a little twisted around (not lost) but the bus driver, a black guy with dreadlocks down to the middle of his back, spoke enough English to tell me which way to go. I got back to St. Germain des Pres and it was a couple of blocks to my hotel.
As for the post I was so rudely interupted in. I see where I neglected to give the name of the Cathedral. It is the Sacre Cleur De Montmartre. As I mentioned the funicular is like a small tram which runs up the side of the mountain. It is only a 2 or 3 minute ride but takes a half hour waiting for your turn to pile in the car. Holds about twenty. When at the top, I went in the Cathedral because it was open for a Mass being said. The tourist, a continuous line of people, were guided along the left side of the church, around the back of the alter, (these places are huge), and then along the right side to the exit door. I did get a chance to purchase a gold(ish) coin with the Cathedrals emblem on it. There were 4 vending machines behind the alter in which you dropped 2 Euro and out came the coin. I like souveneres like that. No Ethiopian or Iranian guy you have to keep saying no..no..Opps sorry. The only trouble with the vending machines is each one has a different church symbol on it. I couldn't decide which one I wanted so I bought, no, not all four, just two. There were also huge racks of votive candles. You could purchase a small wax disk in a plastic holder with a wick in it. It was 10 Euro so I passed on that. They literally had STACKS of boxes of candles right next to the rack. Hundreds, no, thousands of them at different racks throughout the Cathedral.The donation is all on the honor system. You put the money in a wooden box and light the candle. The parish congregation ( not sure if that is what catholic's call a group, it sounds Protestant to me, but) were all seated in the center two columns of chairs. A few hundred people. They had also put some chairs on the outer edges of the columns for anyone to sit and watch, relax or whatever. I wonder how many Hindu's have been converted there. I'm not kidding either. It has a holy-ness and special feeling to it. Truly eccumenical.
After walking thru the mideival part of town, I caught the bus which brought me close to the Metro stop I needed. I was a little twisted around (not lost) but the bus driver, a black guy with dreadlocks down to the middle of his back, spoke enough English to tell me which way to go. I got back to St. Germain des Pres and it was a couple of blocks to my hotel.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Adjusting to the time and feeling leg mucles I had forgotten about,
What a great place. It is so visitor oriented but still carries on its day to day activities. I find it remarkably clean, contrary to what I have been told. It is warm during the day and cool, chilly actually, at night. Yesterday was a little overwhelming with the amount of walking I did. It seems the French like to put escalators where there could be stairs and stairs where there should be escalators. It is 4 full flights of stairs (20 per flight) from the underground Metro station near Norte Dame, (they are also very considerate where they locate benches). Ay my hotel, I am on the fifth floor. What we call the 1st floor is the ground floor here and the 1st floor would be our second floor (they do like to keep you guessing). Again, it is 20 steps, (yes, I counted) per floor. I could use a bench on the 3rd/4th floor but no such luck. I just tell myself, one...more...floor... There is an elevator, kind of. It fits a person and one suitcase. I only used it when I arrived though! I hate the thought of getting stuck in a telephone booth size anything.
Yesterday was fantastic seeing all the great statues and art at the Louvre. If you like statues, all shapes and sizes, this is your place. I had 8 specific pieces I wanted to see and I accomplished 6. The other 2 were in areas I had covered but missed them and I did not want to walk the 27 kilometers back to them. I do plan a return visit. I did visit the Mona Lisa. You have to wonder what the attraction is, I mean I know it is by Leonardo (Davinci, not Decaprio) and it is 600 plus years old but, well, I don't mean to be a little off color here, so to speak, but whats up with the Indian lady, who is obviously Hindu, elbowing her way up to the front of the mob to get a photo of it on her Android? If I was a Indian Hindu would I be into Leonardo and Mona? Well, what just shows to go ya that are appeals to many people for many different reasons. She is beautiful by the way. I actually knew a girl once who was named Mona. The only two Mona's I ever knew of. Why would you name your kid....oh well.
Then I went to see Venus Demilo. I have to do a little research on this statue, I know it is ancient and Greek but thats about it. And I know it is an amazing sculpture. She is not cast, like a statue but carved out of stone by hand. Chiseled and chipped and smoothed all by hand. Truly amazing. I had lunch at the Louvre thinking it would be 2 or 3 time more expensive than a street side Cafe gut it was not. Actually it was a little more reasonable. There is a post office there too, actually an entire underground mall. I went in to get some airmail postcard stamps its been a long time since I needed or purchased stamps. The postal agent told me it is cheaper and faster to put the postcard in an airmail envelope. They are even made to fit postcards. To my left was a line of people waiting to get there mail / postcards cancelled with a Louvre Museum seal. I just watched as the Indian Hindu person elbowed her way yo the front. I took a quick look at the mall. Had a Starbucks coffee and took a photo of the huge Apple store. The French like the electronic gadgets too. I don't mean to sound "old" or anything but when you can rent a tablet with all the info you need to know and more at the sites, it really makes you stop and think. I just go along with my MP3 and listening to the free downloads from Rick Steve's travel site at the museums. So what if there obsolete and they moved an entire wing. I can figure that out.
After the museum, I thought about purchasing a tour bus ticket for about $30.00 that drives around the city and stops at about 40 or 50 spots. You can get on and off all day at whichever sight you want. But...I said myself, I am only wanting to go to one specific place across the city, why spend $30.00 on that? Fir 1,25 Euro, about $1.83, I could take the bus and another bus and another bus. (one thing really, really nice about the cost of things here, there is no .98 or .99 cents of anything. Its 1,10 or 1,50 Euro. The bus trip was very easy. I could even make out the stops names and got to see much of the city and sat with actual French people on the bus. There were tourist too, they are everywhere. I went through 3 or 4 neighborhoods or sections of the city which they actually have a very difficult name for which I am not even going to try to spell. The neighborhood is an old Gothic part of the city. Many buildings are hundreds of years old, businesses and homes. There are old windmills and a hundred years or so ago, Paul Cezzan and Vincent Van Gogh had lived and painted here. There is a cathedral built up on a hill which overlooks Paris now. It is the highest point around and provides a great view. The Cathedral, which is about 1000 years old was established by monks who must have stayed up in the Monestary because I can't imagine anyone walking up and down all those stairs all the time. I am sure the faithful brought them all their needs. I walked up to one of the landings, lookout spots and then spotted a "fanicular" going up the side of the hill.
OPPS, I hit spell check and it tried to change everything to French again, forgot about that, When I undid spell check it deleted my last few paragraphs. To be continued. It is 2:00 AM here.
Yesterday was fantastic seeing all the great statues and art at the Louvre. If you like statues, all shapes and sizes, this is your place. I had 8 specific pieces I wanted to see and I accomplished 6. The other 2 were in areas I had covered but missed them and I did not want to walk the 27 kilometers back to them. I do plan a return visit. I did visit the Mona Lisa. You have to wonder what the attraction is, I mean I know it is by Leonardo (Davinci, not Decaprio) and it is 600 plus years old but, well, I don't mean to be a little off color here, so to speak, but whats up with the Indian lady, who is obviously Hindu, elbowing her way up to the front of the mob to get a photo of it on her Android? If I was a Indian Hindu would I be into Leonardo and Mona? Well, what just shows to go ya that are appeals to many people for many different reasons. She is beautiful by the way. I actually knew a girl once who was named Mona. The only two Mona's I ever knew of. Why would you name your kid....oh well.
Then I went to see Venus Demilo. I have to do a little research on this statue, I know it is ancient and Greek but thats about it. And I know it is an amazing sculpture. She is not cast, like a statue but carved out of stone by hand. Chiseled and chipped and smoothed all by hand. Truly amazing. I had lunch at the Louvre thinking it would be 2 or 3 time more expensive than a street side Cafe gut it was not. Actually it was a little more reasonable. There is a post office there too, actually an entire underground mall. I went in to get some airmail postcard stamps its been a long time since I needed or purchased stamps. The postal agent told me it is cheaper and faster to put the postcard in an airmail envelope. They are even made to fit postcards. To my left was a line of people waiting to get there mail / postcards cancelled with a Louvre Museum seal. I just watched as the Indian Hindu person elbowed her way yo the front. I took a quick look at the mall. Had a Starbucks coffee and took a photo of the huge Apple store. The French like the electronic gadgets too. I don't mean to sound "old" or anything but when you can rent a tablet with all the info you need to know and more at the sites, it really makes you stop and think. I just go along with my MP3 and listening to the free downloads from Rick Steve's travel site at the museums. So what if there obsolete and they moved an entire wing. I can figure that out.
After the museum, I thought about purchasing a tour bus ticket for about $30.00 that drives around the city and stops at about 40 or 50 spots. You can get on and off all day at whichever sight you want. But...I said myself, I am only wanting to go to one specific place across the city, why spend $30.00 on that? Fir 1,25 Euro, about $1.83, I could take the bus and another bus and another bus. (one thing really, really nice about the cost of things here, there is no .98 or .99 cents of anything. Its 1,10 or 1,50 Euro. The bus trip was very easy. I could even make out the stops names and got to see much of the city and sat with actual French people on the bus. There were tourist too, they are everywhere. I went through 3 or 4 neighborhoods or sections of the city which they actually have a very difficult name for which I am not even going to try to spell. The neighborhood is an old Gothic part of the city. Many buildings are hundreds of years old, businesses and homes. There are old windmills and a hundred years or so ago, Paul Cezzan and Vincent Van Gogh had lived and painted here. There is a cathedral built up on a hill which overlooks Paris now. It is the highest point around and provides a great view. The Cathedral, which is about 1000 years old was established by monks who must have stayed up in the Monestary because I can't imagine anyone walking up and down all those stairs all the time. I am sure the faithful brought them all their needs. I walked up to one of the landings, lookout spots and then spotted a "fanicular" going up the side of the hill.
OPPS, I hit spell check and it tried to change everything to French again, forgot about that, When I undid spell check it deleted my last few paragraphs. To be continued. It is 2:00 AM here.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Their is a thing called Jet Lag
I read and was told to get on the current time zone as far as activities and waking /sleeping hours go. I did hit the hay last night at 11ish PM, which is 5 PM at home. I woke up at 7ish, Paris time 1 AM at home. I was pretty blurry, head and eyes. Fell back asleep until 10ish Paris time and 4 AM home awoke pretty blurry, head and eyes. (at lease I have an excuse over here). I went downstairs to have a cafe Americana (thank goodness). Breakfast is to be served until 11but they must have run out of Omellettes as I was the only one there. (The Germans staying here ate all the food and were out and about by 7. It's only an hour time difference to them. See how they'de do in NYC). So I walked down to the Tourist Office to convert my vouchers to tickets. Stopped for, well, some lunch by now. Ham and cheese sandwich sounded good. Yes, 80% of the menu's I have seen so far are in French and like I was hoping, in minute English underneith. I think the farther away you get from this tourist area the more and more the Francofil will begin to dominate. I did have a run in at a Barrista ordering a cafe (coffee - sort of). He asked if I wanted Espresso, I told him no, just a cafe, noir. (noir means black in French, I thought). He looked at me and in his best French accent, said "eh?". I said black, with sugar dead (givaway you are from US). He said "Ah, black with sucre"! I drank it and gave him the 4,00 Euro's ($5.84). Anyway, the ham sandwich comes and it is a...a....a slice of ham and a piece of swiss cheese on a bagette that is as round as tour wrist and about a foot long. I took the slice of meat off one half and put it on the other half, ordered a Coca-Cola...with ice and ate. All the Coca-Cola's (not Coke) come with a slice of lemon or lime in it. No rum, you have to ask for that. I would go on...and on, and on. But it is 1 AM ish Paris time and 7 PM at home, so I better go to bed so I can beat the Germans tomorrow at 7 AM ish Paris time and 1 AM at home. Oh, all the info about getting used to the current time zone says, don't think about what time it REALLY is, at home.
(Sorry about the spelling, the spell check here tries to convert everything to French. I'm not kidding!)
(Sorry about the spelling, the spell check here tries to convert everything to French. I'm not kidding!)
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Getting ready to pack up the laptop and head out to Boston. I did not think I could over pack but I have to do an edit to my suitcase and carry on. I always think I will want this or that when I get there and then when there, you look at it and say "why did I bring this"? I probably will not need all six guide books I am bringing. I will be overwhelmed with information when I get to all the tourist sites, I am sure. (Maybe the pages in the back will be in English).
One thing was obvious to me and kind of curious (to me also), was the fact that on all the tourist web sites for Paris and France, many were in French when you opened the site. There usually is a language choice bar somewhere on the page, represented by national flags. For English translation of the pages, the icon is the British flag. Very rarely was it the US flag. Now, I do not mean to sound like the "arrogant American" I will be while visiting Paris, I would bet that for every British visitor to France there are AT LEAST ten Americans who probably spend twenty times as much money there. AND we did bail there butts out of the Nazi occupation.... Oh well, It is slowly turning into a global community now. After all the countries of Europe are all part of "The Union of the European Economy". The Euro has trumoed the Franc, Dutchmark, Liara etc...Not the Pound Sterling though, the brits are holdouts, just like in WWII. Maybe the french use the UK flag as a neighborly gesture. "Au diable les Américains arrogants"!
See you on the Left Bank.
One thing was obvious to me and kind of curious (to me also), was the fact that on all the tourist web sites for Paris and France, many were in French when you opened the site. There usually is a language choice bar somewhere on the page, represented by national flags. For English translation of the pages, the icon is the British flag. Very rarely was it the US flag. Now, I do not mean to sound like the "arrogant American" I will be while visiting Paris, I would bet that for every British visitor to France there are AT LEAST ten Americans who probably spend twenty times as much money there. AND we did bail there butts out of the Nazi occupation.... Oh well, It is slowly turning into a global community now. After all the countries of Europe are all part of "The Union of the European Economy". The Euro has trumoed the Franc, Dutchmark, Liara etc...Not the Pound Sterling though, the brits are holdouts, just like in WWII. Maybe the french use the UK flag as a neighborly gesture. "Au diable les Américains arrogants"!
See you on the Left Bank.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Getting Organized?
I can't believe how much paperwork I have to sort through for my trip. Besides the 200 or 300 pages I downloaded from various travel sites, I have a huge amount of papers with barcodes printed on them that must be scanned at he tour operators location to be able to retrieve my tickets. The papers I have printed are called "vouchers"
I have vouchers for the two museums I am most interested in Paris, a voucher for a Seine river tour, a voucher for the trip to Monet's house, studio and garden in Giverny, theirs one for the day trip to London and one for the day trip to Normandy. Interestingly, the paperwork for the Eiffel Tower is the actual ticket (at least I am reading these things, I usually "assume" that I know what they are and then find out later...opps). Most of the vouchers are two pages. Being somewhat compulsive, I am carrying two sets of all of them in two different places. Suitcase and my carry on satchel. The plane, not ticket but voucher, must be scanned at the airlines kiosk when I get there. I think this means I have to go to the ticketing are even though I already have purchased it. Maybe there are ticket scanner and printers all over the airport but I doubt it. I guess having an assigned seat is Ok rather than having to print a ticket one minute after the 24 hours are before a flight (Southwest has this). No mater how early I have accessed their ticket site, at the exact moment even, I never got higher that a A21. Who gets the A1 seat anyway?
So, I am on my airlines web site, just screwing around and on my flight info it says "see what amenities and entertainment is on your flight". Well, it says "personal entertainment" which I believe is a in the seat back screen with multiple options of programming to watch (for $3 to $4 dollars each movie)! I think some shows are free but that remains to be seen. It also indicated "wifi", I clicked on that and it then tells you it is available for $12 for the flight (24 hours actually). If you purchase it before your flight, it is $9. I thought the wifi was free on the flights, like everywhere else but no it isn't. I went ahead and purchased it. I download my PAPERWORK with the access code on it and then I notice a little line of type that says (available while flying over the continental US only)! Why would they even offer it on the flight information area when your departing from BOSTON! Of course I did not read one bottom line on one of the screens which actually stated that info. There, that's more like it Bill! Now I have to call for my refund or maybe sell it on ebay. I don't think the refund will be hard to get, it is not the airline that provides the wifi, its an independent company called yoyo or togo, bobo? I forget but I have the paperwork. Why can't I think of one of these, probably relatively easy business venture to set up and without having to do anything, the money just rolls in? What the heck can a satellite link cost and then access to every major airlines aircraft anyway? I bet its a pseudo company owned by the CIA anyway. I just don't want to forget my passport!
I have vouchers for the two museums I am most interested in Paris, a voucher for a Seine river tour, a voucher for the trip to Monet's house, studio and garden in Giverny, theirs one for the day trip to London and one for the day trip to Normandy. Interestingly, the paperwork for the Eiffel Tower is the actual ticket (at least I am reading these things, I usually "assume" that I know what they are and then find out later...opps). Most of the vouchers are two pages. Being somewhat compulsive, I am carrying two sets of all of them in two different places. Suitcase and my carry on satchel. The plane, not ticket but voucher, must be scanned at the airlines kiosk when I get there. I think this means I have to go to the ticketing are even though I already have purchased it. Maybe there are ticket scanner and printers all over the airport but I doubt it. I guess having an assigned seat is Ok rather than having to print a ticket one minute after the 24 hours are before a flight (Southwest has this). No mater how early I have accessed their ticket site, at the exact moment even, I never got higher that a A21. Who gets the A1 seat anyway?
So, I am on my airlines web site, just screwing around and on my flight info it says "see what amenities and entertainment is on your flight". Well, it says "personal entertainment" which I believe is a in the seat back screen with multiple options of programming to watch (for $3 to $4 dollars each movie)! I think some shows are free but that remains to be seen. It also indicated "wifi", I clicked on that and it then tells you it is available for $12 for the flight (24 hours actually). If you purchase it before your flight, it is $9. I thought the wifi was free on the flights, like everywhere else but no it isn't. I went ahead and purchased it. I download my PAPERWORK with the access code on it and then I notice a little line of type that says (available while flying over the continental US only)! Why would they even offer it on the flight information area when your departing from BOSTON! Of course I did not read one bottom line on one of the screens which actually stated that info. There, that's more like it Bill! Now I have to call for my refund or maybe sell it on ebay. I don't think the refund will be hard to get, it is not the airline that provides the wifi, its an independent company called yoyo or togo, bobo? I forget but I have the paperwork. Why can't I think of one of these, probably relatively easy business venture to set up and without having to do anything, the money just rolls in? What the heck can a satellite link cost and then access to every major airlines aircraft anyway? I bet its a pseudo company owned by the CIA anyway. I just don't want to forget my passport!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Reading About Paris
My sister, who works at a library, took out and loaned me one of the more famous memoirs, written by Ernest Hemingway. I have tried reading his writing before, without much success. I just am not in tune to his style of writing. I actually think that Hemingway's continued reverence within the literary world is perpetuated by the continued word of mouth of his, greatness as a writer, which was started decades ago and is just believed in "our" time by just believing what was said in the past. Now, that being said, I decide to read the book by Hemingway called "The Movable Feast". It is his recollections of his years in Paris with his wife, Hadley, a decade or so after WWI. He wrote the book in the 1960's at his home in Idaho.
I thought it would be a good story to get the flavor of an American in Paris in the 20's. I can only refer to my previous comment about Hemingway. His greatness escapes me. Even with his being one of the characters in Woody Allens' newest movie, "Paris at Midnight". He is portrayed as the emotional writer of the day that he was. I will read more of his books (at least one more, the one about his time in Italy as an ambulance driver (volunteer) during WWI. He was injured and this eventually lead to his going to Paris. I will try to read this story before I completely pass judgment on his writing. It just might not be my vintage.
I do want to mention though, that while reading the chapter "People of the Seine" he writes of bookstalls which are set up along the Seine. He writes about where the booksellers accumulate the books they sell. There is a paragraph which he has a small conversation with a woman whom he knows, who sells books written in English. He mentions that the books sometimes come from the Hotel Voltaire, which has a wealthier clientle. The books are left behind and the staff collects them and sells them to the booksellers. I mention all this because, coincidentally, that is the Hotel which I have reserved for my stay in Paris. I find coincidences like that fairy interesting. But I still don't like how he writes. The story, by the way, is of such a personal nature that it really does nothing to "put" you in Paris while reading.
Previous to Hemingway, I was reading, and have yet to finish, Eiffel, the story of Gustaf Eiffel and his Tower project. His own idea to construct. The only other "tall" structure in the world at the time, 1878, was the Washington Monument in DC. 500 Ft. Eiffels tower is over 1,000 Ft.
The David McCullough's book is about the American exodus to Paris in the 1830's. The US was still a young country without many educational opertunities for the advancement of Medicine, Art, Education, etc...Paris was the world leader in these and more areas of study at the time.
The book I am reading now, was written by an ex-patriot (American) who has lived in Paris for twenty years. I just started it but it seems to be what I am looking for regarding the day to day life in Paris. One bit of information I found interesting was about the water supply for Paris. It is the river which runs through the city, the Seine. It is a little joke among the residents of the city that when you drink a glass of Paris water, it has already been through five other Parisians. Bottled water for me thanks, and when I drink a coffee at a cafe, well, I just will have to realize, it won't kill you!
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