PARIS DAY 1: I actually slept on the plane. Of course, the two double gin and tonics may have helped. I pulled a Lou right after dinner and a movie (Identity Theft … not a do over) and awoke groggy after about three hours of sleep. It was a pretty uneventful flight and for once we didn’t sit near anyone obnoxious. Once we arrived it took about an hour and a half to get to our hotel. The train ticket to leave the airport is a different and much more expensive one than the ones you need to get around the city. They were 19EU each! The first day here was rainy. We waited in the concierge lounge for our room to be ready. Such is the life when you take an overnight flight. I didn’t bring my Kindle because I had downloaded a couple of books onto my Ultrabook, but when I opened the app it told me that its not ready for off line reading, which means the only way I can read any of my books is when wireless is available. How bogus is that? I tried to take little nap once our room was ready. Too bad I didn’t know this was the plan before I had a double mocha espresso cappuccino. Eventually I did get to sleep but awoke still feeling a little groggy and hungry. Lou and I had a little snack at the restaurant downstairs before heading out towards the Seine. Our bartender made me a fresh mojito and was quite talkative. We learned he’s from Poland and speaks four languages and uses the phrase “for example” a lot. When we were almost to the Seine we saw rows and rows of police cars and wondered what was going on. It didn’t take long to find out that there was an electronic music festival parade of sorts with thousands of young people marching and drinking and drugging right next to the floats. Some of the young men were shirtless. None of them had hair on their chests. Are we breeding this out of future generations, or are they just shaving it off to show off their toned muscles? One thing I was reminded of on our walk was how common it is for men to urinate in public here, some of whom barely bother to hide what they’re doing. Once at the river we walked along for about two miles before heading back to the hotel and dinner. It was on the return trip that my calf began to hurt again. As I wrote this I was lying in bed with an ice-pack trying to get the cramping to diminish. So much for my lingering hopes of running the marathon in November. It rained a lot here today, and we struggled with the art of two people under one umbrella borrowed from the hotel. We finally broke down and bought one of our own so we could each have one. It was over priced but slightly less frustrating.
PARIS DAY 2: 14 hours of sleep! Well rested enough to climb the hills of Montmartre. We saw a lot of people walking around with musical instruments strapped to their body and/or cigarettes between their fingers and/or lips. Outdoor dining is very popular every where here, as is smoking at said outdoor dining. I wonder what the rate is of deaths by 2nd hand smoke is in France as compared to the US? We eventually had to leave and find another restaurant which had plentiful indoor seating. The food was good, but the red sauce seemed to be in short supply. I ordered a carbinara dish and did the best I could to leave as much of the fat behind as possible, because it simply wasn’t acceptable to ask for the sauce on the side. I washed it down with another delicious mojito from the Marriott bar.
PARIS DAY 3: Its hard to get used to unisex bathrooms, the smell of piss, B.O., exhaust, and constant noise. While I love to visit, I could never live here for long. Climbing the Eiffel Tower stairs was a unique experience. There was at least an hour wait for the elevator, but none for the stairs. The views were quite spectacular in all directions, even with the rain and clouds. Quick brain teaser: How many men does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: It takes two people with nerves of steel, safety ropes and lots and lots of crampons.
PARIS DAY 4: This was Lou’s first day in meetings, and my only morning to do as I pleased. Of course, I went to the gym. Unfortunately, my running shoes which got wet on day one still smelled like street pee. When Lou first smelled them the day before he didn’t think they were that bad. However, he had a cold so wasn’t the best judge of smells. The smell was pervasive in the gym and got only worse as I continued to exercise. After about 20 minutes I couldn’t stand the smell so went up to the room to change and wash them. The people I encountered in the elevator made wrinkly nose faces at me, which was a good indication that it wasn’t all in my imagination. Rather than toss out my fairly expensive running shoes I decided to try giving them a good soak in the tub with a full bottle of bathing gel. I repeated the washing the next day. Despite my best efforts, we were never able to get rid of the smell, so left behind the shoes when we moved on to Prague. Once I was finished dealing with the drama over my shoes for the morning, I walked to meet one of the other Forum wives for tea and to make our tourist plans for the next two days. When I arrived at her hotel, she excitedly told me that she had found a Starbucks around the corner from her hotel. Being from New Zealand, a Starbucks was a very big deal to her so to Starbucks we went. We met up with the guys a little later for a hosted dinner at a very exclusive and very traditional French restaurant. It was one of those places which serves its meals in multiple courses, each taking a half hour in length. It was probably the best meal we experienced on our trip.
PARIS DAY 5: Letitia and I had decided the day before that in order to beat the crowds we should start at the museums early in the morning. Therefore, we hit the L’Orangerie at 9:00. Sure enough, there were no crowds and we were able to enjoy the works collected by Paul Guillaume of Matisse, Rousseau, Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Laurencin, Derain, Modigliani, Monet, Utrillo, Soutine, and Sisley in relative peace. One thing that came to mind that I’d like to research further is who makes the frames? Who selects them for the painting? The frames were artwork themselves. My favorite quote of all the painters was one by Renioir: “If God had not made breasts I would not be a painter.” My second favorite was “I like skin,” by the same artist. When we were finished with this museum we walked up the Champs d’Elysee to the Arch de Triumph and over to the Eiffel Tower, were I climbed the stairs once again. This time we saw the light bulb changers on the way up instead of the way down. Afterwards, I took the metro back to the hotel and had a late dinner with Lou again at R’Yves, which was the 2nd best meal of the trip.
PARIS DAY 6: Letitia and I had planned to attack the Louvre the way we had attacked the L’Orangerie: first thing in the morning. When I arrived at Lou’s meeting place her husband said she was back at the hotel, which was over a mile in the opposite direction. We both called and left a message for her to meet me at the Louvre at 11. Meanwhile, I walked over and started making my way through the exhibits I hadn’t yet seen while I waited. I love the Louvre, but next time I got it will be during a slow touring season. I was absolutely disheartened by the hordes of people who’s only interest in art history culture is taking selfies in front of it, ruining the view for those of us who appreciate at what we’re looking and learning about. Don’t they know pictures of this stuff are abundant on the internet? It disturbed me probably beyond reasonable when they expected me to get out of the way so they could get a photograph of them standing in front of something they would never appreciate in pictures the details which can be seen only in person. Take for instance the Saint Marie Madeline by a German sculptor, which looks exactly like Jessie’s friend, Alyson, complete with dimples. I expected her to start talking to me then and there. And Loreno Bartolini, who’s sculptures were so smooth it was nearly impossible to believe they were carved from marble. I came away from the sculpture section wanting to know the life story of so many of these figures, including Sophie Arnould. Who was she and why did she inspire someone to spend so much of their time carving her face into stone? Also, why do so many of the figures in stone and canvas touch their mouths? There must be some significance to that pose. If you ever go, there is on thing you should never worry about, and that is how you’re dressed. Everything goes here. Some were dressed in gym wear while others walked around dressed as though they were part of the exhibit and that people should be noticing them and not the art work. I never did hook up with Letitia, despite both her husband and me leaving another message about where precisely to meet up with me at the Louvre. I was supposed to join Lou and the Forum members to tour the Museum of Technology and to have dinner with the group around 5:30, but after six days of walking an average of seven miles per day I was just too bushed, so I went back to the hotel to prop my feet up and ice my calf. When Lou returned from visiting the Museum of Technology we opted to dine in at R’Yves again rather than make my feet travel too far from home.
Prague continues in a separate post …