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France - April 2003
On Monday, April 21, 2003 we
drove to Dulles airport for a non-stop flight to Paris. We
arrived there early on Tuesday morning and were picked up at
the airport and taken to the Novotel Tour Eiffel Hotel. It is
on the Seine just a couple of blocks away from the Eiffel
Tower. There was a brief orientation tour to show us where
the nearest supermarket and subway stops were and then we
were on our own until the evening. We walked around the
neighborhood, which seemed very diverse and active, took a
nap, and went to an orientation briefing. After the briefing
we had dinner in a neighborhood bistro. Ron had the onion
soup and a croque messieur, basically a grilled ham and
cheese sandwich. Glenda had fish. We talked with Alain and
Martine and made arrangements to meet them at their apartment
the next night for dinner.
Wednesday morning we had a city tour which gave us a good
overview of the city and ideas of what we might like to do in
our free time. Paris really is a beautiful city. In the older
part of the city the buildings are the same height as the
streets are wide. The proportions are part of what makes it
so pretty. In the afternoon we toured the Louvre Museum. The
most famous painting there is the Mona Lisa. It is behind
bullet proof glass since it was attacked several years ago.
The crowds were remarkable and it was not easy to get to a
place where you could see it well. We also saw Venus de Milo.
This was the first time we had visited the Louvre since the
American architect, I.M. Pei had designed the glass pyramids
for it. It appears a little strange at first, but it does let
in a lot of light and there is a nice food court and shopping
area underground. When the French were doing the work, they
discovered the original walls to the moat of the original
castle on the grounds. They left them exposed and they are
now part of the museum.
In the evening we took a taxi to Alain
and Martine’s apartment. It took about fifteen minutes
longer than it should have. We got stuck behind a
garbage truck on a narrow one-way street and had to stop
every 20 feet or so until we finally found a place to
turn into. From the street you might not recognize their
building as apartments. The door opens into an open
courtyard. There are two buildings you can access. You
push a button for the apartment you want and they have
to buzz to let you in. There is an elevator, into which
you can squeeze three friendly people, to take you to
the fourth floor. Their building used to have offices,
and, before that, a clothing factory. It has now been
converted to apartments. The location is great! It is
two blocks from the Louvre and the apartment has lots of
character. Martine served us a great meal, and we talked
until about 1:00 am and then they took us back to the
hotel.
On Friday we started at Musee D’Orsay
which has a large exhibition of the impressionists. It
is in an old train station and they have really done a
good job converting it into a museum. It is very popular
and we had to wait in line for over an hour to get
inside. After lunch we visited Sainte Chappelle on Ile
de la Cite (closed between 1200 and 0200 due to a
strike). It was built in 1248 by Louis IX. From there we
walked to the flower market and Notre Dame Cathedral.
Also on Friday we went to Montmartre where the impressionist
artists used to gather (and current artists do as well). We
took the funicular to the top of the hill where the basilica
of Sacre Coeur is located. We visited the basilica then
walked around the neighborhood. The paintings were very
pricey, but there was a nice variety of styles and it was fun
to explore the area. In the evening we meet Alain and Martine
on the Champs-Elysees for ice cream.
Saturday morning we toured the Marais
district. This is the area where Victor Hugo lived and
his house is now a museum of his life and work. We
visited the Musee Carnavalet which is devoted to the
history of Paris. It was pouring rain in the morning so
we spent more time in the museum than walking in the
area.
In the afternoon we went to the ship, the M.S. Bizet. Our
tour was to consist of a cruise up the Seine from Paris to
the English Channel.
It took us all of about 10 minutes to
explore the ship. The rooms were small but comfortable.
The beds folded down from the walls at night. The ship
had a lounge/bar, a dining room, and a small library.
The upper deck is a sun deck (not that we ever got the
chance to use it). Our cabin also had a small balcony.
We were told when we boarded that there was a mechanical
problem and that our 1pm departure had been delayed until 5.
At 6pm when we went to dinner, we noted that we had not left
the dock. After dinner the captain announced that they were
going to have to bring someone from Holland to fix the
problem with our bow thruster. (The right thruster didn’t
work and we couldn’t navigate under the narrow bridges
without it.). The next guess was that we might leave the next
morning.
On Sunday we awoke to find that we were
still in Paris. So, we went by bus to Fontainebleau
Castle. It was generally used by French royalty during
the autumn for hunting. From there we drove to Barbizon
which became popular with landscape painters in the
mid-19th century. We had a nice lunch there and enjoyed
walking through the village. We returned to the ship
(still moored in the same place) and since it was
raining, we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon of reading. In
the evening we took a river boat tour of Paris by night.
(No, it was not on our ship.) We were told that yet
another person had to bring a part from Holland to
repair our ship and that we might be able to leave on
Monday.
Monday morning we again boarded the bus
in Paris. This time it was to drive to Auvers sur Oise.
This village was a subject of numerous artists. Some of
the best known are Daubigny, Cezanne, and Van Gogh. Van
Gogh was there the last 70 days before his death. He
painted about a picture a day during that time. The
village had posters of some of his paintings placed at
the scene he had painted and it was interesting to
compare the original scene with his depiction of it. We
returned to the ship and had the afternoon at leisure.
There was a very pretty park right next to where we were
moored, so we spent part of the afternoon exploring the
park and watching the Parisians at their leisure.
Early Tuesday morning (about 4:30 am) we
could feel the ship moving. The problem was fixed, and
we were on our way! Glenda was up with about four other
early birds to watch as we left Paris for Normandy. It
rained frequently in short bursts so we watch the shores
passing from the comfort of the lounge. In the afternoon
the ship docked and we were bussed to Giverny. This
village is famous due to Claude Monet who lived and
painted there and is where he developed his water lily
garden. There were many varieties of flowers in bloom
and the gardens were truly beautiful. The sun shone on
us during our whole stay so we were very fortunate. We
also visited the Musee d’Art Americain in Giverny. The
ship kept moving while we were ashore in order to make
up time. We stopped at Chateau Gaillard which has a very
scenic overlook of several loops of the Seine, then
boarded the boat again in the afternoon. In the evening
the crew entertained us with some singing, dancing, and
short sketches.
The next morning we got off in Rouen. This is where Joan of
Arc was burned at the stake in the 15th century. She claimed
she continually heard voices telling her to lead a campaign
to drive the English out of France during the Hundred Years
War. Some would call her divinely inspired, others might
gently suggest that she was schizophrenic. She was captured
by the British at the age of 19 and burned at the stake as a
witch. The French rehabilitated her posthumously and she was
made a saint in 1920. Rouen has much of the old city left
with a clock tower, a cathedral, and lots of old timber
houses. We went to a concert in the cathedral.
Thursday morning we arrived in Honfleur
which is where the Seine joins the Atlantic Ocean. It
was a lovely town with an old port filled with yachts. A
lot of the houses have slate siding to protect them from
the salt air. We walked around town and visit the
numerous art galleries in the morning, and visited The
Benedictine Palace in Fecamp in the afternoon. There is
an interesting museum and the distillery for
Benedictine, an herbal liqueur which contains 27 herbs
and spices.
We spent the night on board the ship docked at Honfleur, and
in the morning went to the ruins of Abbaye de Jumieges which
was founded in 654. It once housed 900 monks and 1500
servants. We also stopped at another 7th century abbey,
Abbaye de St. Wandrille. One of the current monks talked to
us about their life in the community. The monks attend
services five times a day and perform various forms of manual
labor during the rest of their time. In the afternoon we went
back to Honfleur where we visited the Musee Eugene Boudin. It
was another rainy/sunny day. The French say “If it is not
raining, it will be.”
On Saturday we disembarked. It was a nice
cruise even given the original malfunction. We got to
see everything we expected. We went to Caen to visit the
Peace Memorial. There was a very good film on the
build-up and invasion on D-Day. We then drove to the
resort town of Cabourg where we stayed at the Grand
Hotel. It is right on the boardwalk and beach. The beach
was very crowded, although it was cold for swimming.
In the evening, a British historian gave a talk on D-Day. He
was very entertaining as well as informative. He simulated a
meeting that was held between General Eisenhower, Winston
Churchill, King George, and numerous British generals. The
historian was able to give a good imitation of each of the
players – changing his accent as well as changing hats. He
would switch characters (and hats) as he quoted the various
primary participants.
On Sunday we went to the Invasion Museum
at Arromanches on Gold beach. This is where the allies
(English) built a port in a matter of days. It was a
fascinating story and they had interesting working
models of the port. After lunch we visited the American
Cemetery located above Omaha Beach. One of our fellow
tourists was a veteran who landed in a tank on D-Day. We
had a brief ceremony where he laid a wreath. We saw the
graves of two brothers whose experience was the basis
for “Saving Private Ryan”. Basically, on two consecutive
days, two of the four brothers were killed in action.
Then a third brother was listed as “missing in action”.
Believe it or not, there was someone in the government
who had a heart! They learned that there was a fourth
brother in combat in Europe and ordered him home
immediately. We also stopped at Pointe du Hoc. It was a
strategic target during D-Day consisting of many German
battlements. The bomb craters are still there and it
would look like a moonscape except for the grass.
Monday we went to Bayeux to see the famous Bayeux Tapestry.
It tells the story of William the Conqueror. It is frequently
mentioned in Art History courses. It was interesting to see
it in person. It is really an embroidered cloth rather than a
tapestry. It was very long with 87 scenes, but narrower. They
had a good tape recording that explained each of the scenes.
In the afternoon we went to Utah Beach and to St. Mare
Eglise. There was a great little museum about the 101st
Airborne who landed there. One of the paratroopers who
attacked the city got caught by his parachute on the church
steeple. The Germans thought he was dead, but he survived and
was rescued when the town was taken later in the day. The
church has two stained glass windows that commemorate the
landing and the airborne troops. The one on the right is the
Virgin Mary blessing the paratroops.
On Tuesday, we were on our way back to Paris. We stopped at a
typical Normandy village, Beuvron en Auge. It was very
picturesque and we were greeted by a representative of the
mayor carrying their typical butter cookies to share with us.
We visited a basilica in Lisieux and then a Calvados
Distillery. Then it was time to nap in the bus during the
3-hour drive back to Paris. We spent the night in a hotel
near the airport. We talked to Alain again. The tornadoes in
the Midwest had made the French news. Martine was coming back
from a short business stay in Detroit. The flight back was
uneventful, but we did get caught up in Washington's rush
hour traffic. It is always good to get home!
