On to Roma!

We spent most of the last day in Paris shopping and doing errands with Angie and Michael. Yeah, I know really exciting stuff – but it was a great way to get to know the city and the people. Every little stand that we stopped at in the Bio Market (an open air farmer’s market) was another French language lesson. – too bad my pea brain can’t retain all I learned! That and samples of everything – way better than a Sam’s Club lunch! We did however get everything we needed for dinner on the train – bread, wine, cheese, canard pate (duck meatloaf) and, of course, chocolate! After walking all the errands, we were famished so we stopped at a small café near their house for lunch. What a great city for enjoying food – there’s no such thing as a bad meal in Paris! Vicki had a nice grilled white fish (including head and tail!) and I had boudin and cooked apples – nothing like Cajun boudin, but it was excellent!

Then we left Angie and Michael to go to the Louvre and do some last minute souvenir shopping.

Finally, Angie and Michael went with us to the train station and we were on our way to Rome! The 14 hours on the train went fairly fast as this was an overnight trip and our seats converted into bunk beds. The lesson we learned from this train trip though was that we don’t want to sleep on the bottom bunk. It is the smallest of all of them. Of the six people in our compartment, 5 were born in the US. There were 2 girls in Rome for a semester and a man that has lived in Paris for 18 years and our 6th companion was a young lady from the Brittany section of France but living in Paris. She told us we must be French because we brought our wine, bread, pate and cheese with us on the train for dinner. We shared our wine and chocolate and had a wonderful time looking over our travel plans for Rome and getting advice on the best places to go and see.

When we arrived in Rome, we loaded on our backpacks and started walking to begin our quest for a place to drop those heavy things! Before we got too far we found a nice little Pensione, put down our bags, and started walking.

We started by seeing another church, Santa Maria Maggiore – imagine that, a Catholic church in Rome! The churches here seem much more light than the Gothic cathedrals in Paris. All the gold gilding was beautiful but we could only take a few pictures since Mass was being held.

As we walked along the streets of Rome, we both became acutely aware that we would have to follow our map very closely – this is the easiest city to get lost in I’ve ever seen!
Here’s Vicki checking our where we are on a bridge over the Tiber River.

There was also a wedding going on while we walked and it seemed that the wedding party was at every monument or site we visited. It must be a tradition to go from site to site and have your picture taken at each, blowing horns loudly as you travel!

Next we walked thru the ruins of the ancient main city of Rome.

Under the Arch of Septimius Severus,

down the Sacred Way

Thru the Forum


and the Arch of Titus


to the Colosseum – the same route that triumphant Legions would march as they returned from conquest for the glory of Rome!


Then it was on to Circus Maximus, where chariot races were run for the entertainment of the citizens of Rome (think the movie Ben Hur!)
Then we really started walking! Over to the Temple of Hercules and Bocca della verita – an ancient sewer grate that you put your hand in the mouth and the legend says if you have lied your hand will be bitten off – the lines were too long so we just watched to see how many in line were lying. None that we saw!!
Then over to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon – originally a pagan temple, converted into a church in 608 AD. It is the best preserved monument of Imperial Rome!
Wow! These guys didn’t believe in doing anything small! Here I am next to the doors of the Pantheon:
Then thru Palazzo Venezia, down Colonna traiana, to the Trevi Fountain –yes, we each tossed a coin into the fountain to guarantee our return to the Eternal City!


We had some gelato as we were strolling (life’s short, eat dessert first!) and dinner was a ham and mushroom pizza at Pizzeria Olympia.

As we walked back to our hotel, we passed the Piazza della Repubblica (opera).
Finally, after 9 hours of walking, we collapsed exhausted into bed! What a day! We need to go now though as we are off to the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican!

Ciao and a domain (bye & see you tomorrow!)

Chateau de Versailles - The Palace of the Sun King

Another early start - NOT! It was 1100 before we left Michael & Angie's house - guess we're really still on US time. We planned all day to see Versailles and it's a good thing because we still didn't see it all even though we were there over 5 hours!

We started by going to the travel office of the RER (the French Train System) to make arrangements for our travel to Rome. The lesson we learned here was to make reservations early! We could not get on the Friday night train like we had desired, but had to go Saturday night instead. Oh well, FORCED to stay another day in Paris - what a hardship - NOT! :-) This was actually a very fortunate turn as this way we got to see Michael who had been in Stuttgart GE for training and just got back tonight.

Anyway, what a beautiful day for walking the Palace and gardens of Versailles. This really is the most opulent, amazing site I have ever visited - especially for a placed that started out as a huntin' lodge! The entrance and roof line are decorated with statues and sculptures that if they were in any other museum would be in a room by themselves under heavy guard!

Each of the major rooms is named for a Roman deity like Zeus, Apollo or Mercury in order to link the King to the grandeur of Rome and reinforce his Divine Right of Rule. Each room's ceiling was decorated with a painting of that deity - here's an example of Mercury, the messenger:

In addition, the Hall of Mirrors is a huge room - about 150 yards long with mirrors on one side reflecting columned windows overlooking the gardens on the other. At the time the hall was built, a small hand mirror would cost half a year's wages so it's cost was astronomical!

And these guys didn't do anything small - I've never seen painting this big before! They're as big as a house! This picture of the coronation of Emperor Napoleon is over 650 square feet!

The gardens were so beautifully kept - even in September there are plants blooming all over! In addition, there were intricate fountains like this one.

Not sure why none of the fountains were spraying but guess that's a question for next time!

After walking around so much, we were both exhausted so we went & laid on the grass next to the Grand Canal and watched the people and row-boats go by like in a Monet painting. Just before we left this flock of swans came on shore & started chasing people eating sandwiches to get a bite.

To end the day we went back downtown Paris and walked around the Eiffel Tower and had another wonderful meal at a small cafe that we stumbled across called Le Cafe du Marche.

Kind of hard to see but that's Vicki & I hugging under the arch of the tower.

Well, it's after 1 AM so guess I better get to bed so we can start another early day!

V&V

Paris - the City of Lights

We're back from our night excursion to the Eiffel Tower.

It's a LONG way up, but up we went! HOO-BOY, are there a LOT of stairs! The top was closed because we got there so late but the 2d deck was plenty high to get amazing views of the city.

This is looking down the river Seine:
The pictures don't do the view justice, so I'm not going to post any more, but take my word the view was great.

OK, it's 1:30 AM, so guess we better go to bed. Another day another sight to see!

It's Thursday, This Must Be Paris!

What a day and it's not over yet!
Even though we slept until 1000, we got a lot done. Started the day with croissants and cafe Au Lait and then onto the bus and our first stop was La Madeleine, a huge cathedral that looks like something from Ancient Greece! Here's a picture:

Next we headed for Place de la Concorde where the American Embassy is located. To get there, we window shopped down Rue Faubourg St. Honore in all the designer stores. Vicki just had to go in the Gucci store but she really didn't want to pay 500 Euro for a blouse! The Place de la Concorde was the square where the guillotines were set up during the French Revolution and over 1,314 aristocrats were executed. The Obelisk on the left of the picture dates from the 13th century BC, Obelisque de Luxor, was a gift from the Viceroy of Egypt to Charles X. To the right of me is the Eiffel Tower.

Then onto the bus again for a short ride down to the area around Notre Dame. By now it was almost 3 though, so we decided to have lunch at a small place called La Taverne De La Huchette. Vicki had a crepe with chicken & mushrooms and I had Foie gras (goose liver), Margret de Canard (a duck breast with a rich brown sauce) and we both had mousse au chocolat - the best dark chocolate mousse we've ever had. Angie had Tarttiffette - cheese, potatoes & bacon casserole that was excellent!

The cathedral has just undergone a cleaning and is beautiful.

The stained glass and sculpture are amazing throughout, but we'll have to show you the pictures in person! :-)

Finally, we headed for the Champs Elysees and a walk to the Arc de Triomphe.

We were lucky that we arrived as the daily memorial to WW I dead was about to begin.

It's almost 9 PM so we've got to close for now so we can go see the Eiffel Tower by night! TTFN!

Well, we're here!

Arrived Brussels 10 AM, & started walking. That backpack you see Vicki wearing and the one just like it that I'm carrying is the only luggage we brought. Didn't think I'd be backpacking thru Europe when I was 50 but here we go!

First thing we did was stop & buy a chocolate covered waffle from a street vendor - YUM! Then we walked over to the Grand Place, "the most beautiful square in the world" as Victor Hugo said.

Then we found a great little bistro called Chez Leon that's been in the same place since 1893 to have "moulles & frites" - mussles & fries (with mayonase of course!) - where we really started our people watching. :-) After some more walking, we found the Cathederal of St. Michael and St Gudula, a 13th centruy gothic structure that took 300 years to complete. Wow! The stained glass and the Grenzing Great Organ was amazing. The organ is mounted high on the wall in a bird's nest position - the organist has to climb up to play! The carved pulpit was extremely ornate and huge - almost 15 feet wide.

No time to rest, cause we had to be on the TGV - a 250 MPH train that got us from Brussels to Paris in 1 hour & 15 minutes! In Paris we took the subway to the Courcelles stop where we were met by Angie McGurk - Michael is now stationed at the Embassy. What a georgous city and what a wonderful hostess! Here's a shot of Vicki setting in the window seat at their apartment.

Wandered around the city until after midnight. Walked up to the top of the hill where the Basilique Du Sacre-Coeur is located & saw the whole city before us then had dinner next to the Bastille monument where the French Revolution began.

Well, it's after noon and in the words of John Wayne, "We're burning daylight" so got to get going! More later!

Initial Post - We Leave Tomorrow!

Well, we're starting to get excited! Got the porch done enough so it will stay up for the 3 weeks we're gone. Vicki's almost completely packed but I haven't started yet. Will try to post to this site nightly as we tour Europe.

So, stay tuned for news!