Last Call for Fontainebleau 9-18-15

Today we made what is likely our last trip out to Fontainebleau this year.  Pat and Barb wanted to see a chateau and Pat also wanted Barb to have a train ride into the countryside so this fit the bill perfectly.   We got out at 9:30 and caught the Metro down to a stop that is a 5 minute walk from Gare de Lyon where we boarded a train that would take us to Fontainebleau in only 3 stops.  We had about 5 minutes to spare before the train left and within 40 minutes we were at our destination, it was about a 10 minute bus ride to the stop directly next to the chateau.
When we got off the bus we went into a boulangerie and bought sandwiches and drinks for a picnic in the "queens garden" which is directly behind the north wing of the chateau.   We were a bit surprised that there were so many high-school aged students around but later found out that today was the day that about 10 busloads of them were taking guided tours.   They're a bit loud and pretty dramatic but overall they're just good kids, and we enjoyed their antics.
After lunch we walked out of the garden and into the front courtyard to look at the facades. This weekend the chateau is presenting two performances of La Traviata in a side courtyard, which would have been great fun, but it sold out in 4 hours and we weren't even aware of it until today. Before going into the chateau, since the weather was sunny and breezy we walked behind the chateau into the gardens and spent almost an hour sitting and walking around.  As we were going towards the chateau entry it started sprinkling so our timing was just right.
The self-guided tour took us through the Napoleon Museum which is a group of room dedicated to his memorabilia.  It has clothing, arms, tableware, furniture, etc. that formed part of his possessions during his reign.  After that series of rooms we went to the next grouping of rooms, which has been the apartment of the Pope, Pius VII, where he was kept prisoner for several years by Napoleon.  But it wasn't open!  There was evidence of refurbishment going on the last time we visited and I guess that they closed the rooms after the summer rush to continue with that.  So the tour took us into what was the front reception hall of the chateau.
From there we were able to go directly into the Gallery of Francois Premier a long room with south facing windows done during his reign, and supposedly his favorite room, both Deb and I like it best of all too.
From there it followed the normal  tour that we were used to, going through all the period rooms of the various monarchs from Francois through Napoleon III.  It is the longest continuously inhabited royal chateau in all of France, barring that silly little period called the revolution.
We hop-scotched with the student tours for a few rooms at which point we just rooted ourselves in one room and let them pass by and out of sight, after which we completed our visit in peace.  We were caught in a rain squall as we left the chateau but by the time we caught the bus for the train station it had passed and the rest of the trip back was in partly cloudy weather.

Next up at the Louvre 9-17-15

Today our plan was to go to the Louvre and see things that were of interest to Pat and Barb, so we got on the bus and headed into town only to be dumped out early.  It turned out that there was a street demonstration going on that was blocking the Rue de Rivoli, the unions associated with one of the hospitals were protesting some, to us, unknown issue and they had the street blocked for several blocks.  So we had to walk from where our bus terminated to a spot beyond the demonstrations and catch another bus that was running from that point to a stop near the Louvre.
We were pretty surprised yesterday when we saw that they had changed the way the line works for getting into the museum, they have built an entire building just outside the pyramid and they are making everyone go through it for a security check.  Hopefully it's a temporary situation because the building is really an eyesore.   Knowing this and having previously bought tickets we were able to go into a special side entrance for members and take Barb and Pat with us so it took virtually no time to get in.   Our first objective was to take them to see La Gioconda (Mona Lisa) so we found an elevator that took us right up to a room that opened into that gallery.   Deb and I gave them a strategy for getting up to the front to be able to see it most advantageously, and within 10 minutes they were able to move to the front and get a good look and take a closeup.   After they got out of the melee we looked at the beautiful "Wedding Feast at Cana" of Veronese for several minutes before going out into the long gallery to look at the 5 additional Da Vinci paintings owned by the Louvre currently on display.  Some of them are certainly the equal of the Mona Lisa, but they don't get the same press.
 Next we made our way through the gallery looking at several paintings and chatting about them, before we arrived at the "Winged Victory of Samothrace" (Nike) where we spent several minutes looking at it.  Deb explained to them why it's so important and artistically extraordinary.  
Pat expressed interest in seeing Roman and Greek sculpture so we went over to begin with the Venus and work through several galleries looking at beautiful works.  I was taken by this bust of the Empress Livia, it looks as if it could have been sculpted in the 1930's


Next on our agenda was a trip through the Egyptian collections to see many of the sarcophagi resident in the museum, which was Barb's interest, how could we go wrong? We had a wonderful stroll through the Egyptian collection looking at virtually everything on offer.





Finally, we took them through the Middle-East collection to see the beautiful stuff from Darius' palace at Susa, and the entry gates from the palace at Babylon.



We were pretty well played out by the end of this little expedition and opted to head for home after this.

A Double Header today 9-16-15

Today's play was a double header, with one museum in the morning and a second museum in the afternoon (relatively speaking of course).  The day was forecast for rain all day and it didn't disappoint on that issue, as it rained from about 9:30 until after 5:00.  I was first out with a visit to the doctor to get my prescriptions reissued for France and then planned to meet Deb, Barb, and Pat at the bus stop next to the Pompidou Center.  I called Deb and told her I was finished and she told me that they would be on the bus to meet me.
Unfortunately she got the address mixed up with my dentist and figured it would take me a long time to get to the meeting spot, so they kinda dallied around a bit and I ended up waiting at the bus stop for over an hour in the rain.  But we did finally connect at which point we walked over to the Musee de la Chasse ( museum of the hunt).  This museum is so interesting in that it has paintings, sculptures, guns, knives, powder horns, musket ball forms,etc all related to hunting.
They are arranged in a series of rooms dedicated to various game animals such as wild boars, deer, bear, exotics like lions, and birds of prey.  There is also a variety of mounted specimens from all the continents.  We had a very nice visit after which we headed out into the rain and found a pleasant Italian restaurant for a good lunch.
After lunch we walked back to the bus stop and caught two buses over to the Musee d'Orsay to visit the Impressionist exhibits.   The Impressionist were a totally new experience to both Pat and Barb and it was fun to go through it with them to see the art from a different viewpoint.   I think both of them were a little shocked because they have been exposed to art of a more traditional realistic type than what these artists were painting.   So we went through and tried to help put the paintings into a framework that would help them begin to understand what the artists were doing.  It was an interesting excursion and well worth the time.  


After the museum we walked back through the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre courtyard to our bus for the trip back to our apartments.

A Chateau by Any Other Name 9-15-15

Well here it is, the second half of September, my how time flies.  Pat had expressed interest in seeing a "castle" as one of his must see items.  We took him out to Provins on Saturday to see Cesar's Tour, which is medieval but not a full blown castle.  So today the goal was to go see the Chateau de Vincennes, the fortress built by Jean le Bon in the 1300's it is by god a real castle.  But before we went to the chateau we wanted to take Barb to one of the really good markets in our area.
So we started by taking bus up to Place des Fetes, where on Tuesdays there is a full blown street market.  They have everything from food to furniture and in between,  there are clothes, shoes, small hardware sundries, etc.  We wandered around the market for an hour or so looking at the seafood, the meat and poultry, the vegetables, and fruit.  Barb bought some luscious dates which we started consuming on the spot, delicious.  But as I said after an hour or so we continued on the bus until we came to a stop that coincided with the tram which would take us to the Porte de Vincennes, which is the edge of the Bois de Vincennes and the location of the chateau.
Deb and I have seen it from outside but we had never taken the opportunity to go in and tour the chapel and the castle keep until today.   The first stop was the Holy Chapel, modeled on the famous Sainte-Chapelle on the Ile-de la Cite in the heart of Paris.  It had 15th century stained glass in all the windows until a major wind storm in 1999 destroyed almost all of the side glass.  It is also the tomb of the Duc d'Enghien who would have been the successor to Louis XVI had he not been assassinated on the orders of Napoleon.  It was characterized as the biggest mistake of Napoleon's reign by Tallyrand.  Next we we toured "the Keep".
It is the real "castle" portion of the chateau, built in the 14th century by Charles V it is a square building of 4 stories surrounded by a curtain wall, a moat, and a draw bridge.  It is 50 meters high and is the highest medieval keep in France.  We toured the interior room, some of which still had vestiges of the original paint used to decorate the stone.  It is very interesting to see how modest the rooms really are in size, because when we think of a castle we think of gigantic banqueting hall sort of affairs.
 It is not the case with this keep other than the center rooms, the satellite rooms are all pretty small, about like a bedroom might be in a modern house.  We went through all the open areas and enjoyed the views from the high windows before heading down to the courtyard area and back out to the street for the bus ride home.  Great experience for Pat and Barb and us to have seen this edifice together.  A first for all of us.

An interesting day on the Seine 9-14-15

Today was kind of an interesting day weather wise, it was a mixed bag of wind, rain and bits of sun. We decided that a trip on the Batobus would be a good way for Pat and Barb to see Paris because the river flows past so many of the interesting places.  So we took the metro down to the stop next to the Seine and walked over to quai where we could buy tickets and catch the boat, on the way there was a person that flashed us a BA, but hey this is Paris and who hasn't seen a bare butt before.
Since we were relatively early we decided we would try to see Notre Dame before the crowds got too large so we alighted at the next stop and walked over.  A pretty good idea since we only had to wait about 5 minutes to get in and at that point the sun was out again, the rains comes in squalls.
So we had an interesting visit wherein we drone on and on to Pat and Barb about the history and architecture of the building, but they said they enjoyed it.  After out visit to the cathedral we walked around the exterior and looked at the outside as well, then went back across the Seine for lunch.

We stopped for lunch at Le Trumilou, a really good little traditional restaurant that we love.  It didn't disappoint and it was a good introduction for Pat and Barb to the joys of inexpensive Parisian cooking.  During lunch a squall blew through that was so intense that it blew branches of the trees, it must have been a micro-burst or something because the rain was falling sideways.  By the time we finished the sun was out again so it was back to the batobus and on to the Tour Eiffel.
The sun stayed out the whole of our cruise down the river to the stop for the Eiffel Tower so we were able to see all the landmarks in good detail.  Barb is pretty tired from her tour of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria so we're planning less strenuous activities for a few days.
Once we arrived at the Eiffel Tower we got out and walked under and through to the Champs de Mars (the park behind) to sit in the sun and inspect it, and watch the other tourists and street vendors. It was after 5;00 when we boarded the boat back to the east so we opted for a ride home on the metro from Gare d'Austerlitz when we got off of the boat.  We got back to apartment and had a light dinner of fruit, cheese, and cold sausage, with of course a spot of wine.

Now We are Four 9-13-15

Today we completed the roster for the visit from Pat and Barb Herbold.  Patrick arrived last Friday from Denver and today Barbara arrived from Munich after completing a trip she had taken with several girlfriends.  So we can begin a Paris tour in earnest, they opted for staying in a separate apartment just a couple blocks from us.  It was the apartment that Deb and I stayed in last October when we came over to look at this apartment before signing a lease.  It's a studio but it's quite spacious and has nice amenities, a small kitchenette, a large bathroom, a big screen TV, and a king-size bed, a nice setup.
This morning before going to the airport we took Pat down to our markets to pick up some basics for the apartment and brought them back to the apartment before leaving to meet Barb at the airport.  Her flight was right on time and we met her at the arrivals exit before heading back to the train station to get back to Paris.  Interestingly, Deb had inadvertently purchased the second transportation pass when she helped Pat get his on Friday, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because when we went to get them renewed for next week the line for tickets was in several switchbacks in the office and well out into the hall.  So because we already had the pass we were able to just board the train and plan on renewing them tomorrow saving us at least an hour.
Quick and easy commute back to the apartment, an open bottle of wine a bit of a toast, and then Pat and I went over to take possession of the apartment.  A bit of a glitch when we we forgot the damage deposit but that was remedied with a trip to an ATM and then we got their stuff situated in the apartment.  We have a bit of an issue with the toilet seat but we've emailed our renter and expect to hear from her soon about a fix.
Pat and Barb joined us for a light evening meal before heading back to their home for the next 8 days.

Rainy day at Arts & Metier 9-12-15

Today dawned cloudy and grey but by the finish of breakfast it was raining.  Based on the forecast yesterday we decided we would go to a couple museums, Arts & Metier and the Musee de la Chasse (hunting museum) so we took the bus down to Arts & Metier to begin our day.
Pat was immediately taken by some of the first things we looked at, like the 1986 Formula 1 grand prix car driven by Alain Proust.  In the same large room is also the Bleriot Flyer, the first plane to fly across the English Channel and Foucault's Pendulum, he was hooked!   We went through this room, which is located in what was the 14th century church of St Martin des Champs, looking at all the displays of old cars, steam engines, and rocket engines before setting off into displays of  models of historic conveyances of all sorts.  They have models of ships, trains, carriages, balloons, etc. in this hall and everyone of them is beautiful, and we drooled over them before heading into the attached restaurant for lunch.
After lunch we went up to the top floor and walked through the exhibits charting the progress of science through French history.  There are telescopes, devices for measurement of  length, weight, volume, time, luminosity, explosive force, barometric pressure, temperature, all endeavors of in a scientific vein.  We had a wonderful time going through and laughing at how Deb's father would have gone in to this museum and we would have only gotten him out with a crowbar.  He would have been able to explain probably 90% of the exhibits that are here, in detail.
Pat and Deb and I finally got through the museum late in the day and the Musee de la Chasse will have to wait for another day.   We walked from Arts & Metier down past the Pompidou Center and had a quick tour of the Eglise St. Merry right next door.   Then a short walk down past the Hotel de Ville to the Seine where we chatted a bit about this area of Paris and then on to the bus for the trip back to the apartment.
Pat spent part of the evening helping Deb to get her new laptop setup, since the laptop she brought over is on the fritz and the "a" and "1" keys no longer work.