Happy Holidays (Again)!
It’s actually Sunday morning, December 29th and we’re packing to head to Amsterdam. A 3-1/2 hour train ride touching three countries. How can you beat that?
Getting back to the excitement of Paris........
Day #5 Thursday, December 26 – Our Left Bank Walk (Latin Quarter) was pretty long, even our shortened version. We went by the Sorbonne (see photos), which doesn’t look anything like a U.S. college. It’s one huge building, though I believe there are some courtyards inside. By this time, Keaka and Sophia were reaching the end of the line. I believe Keaka’s operative phrase was “Who cares?” We stopped for some refreshments and headed on to Notre Dame (not the university in South Bend). Keaka did pose for a photo, which was prior to seeing the line to get inside Notre Dame (one overall photo). The wait turned out to be only 15 minutes, so it wasn’t too bad. We all agreed the Milan Cathedral was more dynamic. I suppose Notre Dame’s location on an island in the Seine River in Paris helps with its notoriety. Thursday night was a preplanned dinner at Le Coupe Chou restaurant near the Sorbonne, which has a great atmosphere and in which I had eaten maybe 30 years ago. It turned out well and we’re very pleased with the food here in Paris. Many more options than in the south of France, and obviously more opportunities in a city of 11 million versus Aix-en Provence with 160,000 people.
Day #6 Friday, December 27 – By this time we’re checking our list to see if we’ll get to everything we wanted to get to before arriving. We did not have on-line reservations for the Eiffel Tower and wanted to go at night, but we ended up setting the alarm, arriving at the end of the ticket line at 8:50 am, enjoying the cold, light mist. We spent about an hour in lines (tickets and security) before taking the elevator to the 2nd level (200 feet up). It was not only cold, but windy, so the upper level (900 feet) was closed. Only Keaka was interested in going up to 900 feet and I’m not sure he would have gone. Keaka says the Eiffel Tower has been his number one highlight to this point. It is a dramatic view of the city. I had forgotten that there is a downtown Paris with about ten glass high-rises. Does anybody go there, except business workers? Downtown Paris isn’t even mentioned in our 693 page Paris Guide Book! And, no Eiffel Tower pictures. It was a job just surviving the cold and wind. In the afternoon, Marlene wanted to got antique shopping. I did my best on-line getting some places to go and we took the Metro to an area of antique shops. I believe you need to get out in the countryside if you want to see anything besides small glassware and the like. Anyway, we walked around an interesting area (they all are) and I discovered a small American grocery store, which meant I had a cold can of A&W root beer. We also bought some sweet pickle relish. I got a photo of the back of St. Paul Church, showing a play yard with some kids playing soccer and Marlene was intrigued by the castle-like building we walked by. In the U.S. it would be a tourist site, but in Paris it’s just another building nobody pays any attentin to. On this evening we went to the Louvre Museum to see the Mona Lisa. It’s coming up.
The Wilsons
