Grumpy Ghost

Paris, Days 7, 8, and (what?) 9

2008-11-18T10:44:00.001-08:00

We were really exhausted by Friday, our last full day in Paris, so we decided to take the day slowly and explore and just see where the day took us. We got on a bus and went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

I needed to pay my respects to Oscar Wilde.

It was very exciting to see his grave. Of course, it was very, very different from the design of everyone else's grave and covered in lipstick kisses. I brought him a flower, a strange cabbage-like blossom, that I found at a local shop.

It's a beautiful cemetary, and massive. It was rainy and we were too tired to see it all, but we did see Edith Piaf's grave (not the one above, that's just some beautiful sampling of what was around us).

We got back on the bus and headed to the Marais area, where we explored a bit before being deluged by a rainstorm that the weather service promised wouldn't happen. I drooled my way through Antik Batik and we finally hid from the rain (it was the one day we didn't bring an umbrella) in a cafe.

David had the escargot. I wanted to try but just couldn't get myself to do it. My stomach drew the line. He loved it, however.

We then walked to Sainte-Chappelle.

It was stunning. A private church made just for the king, and encased entirely in stained glass.

I am so glad we didn't miss this place. It was filled with people but there was a stillness, a silence of awe at the beauty of what we were seeing.

The chapel dates all the way back to 1248 and is in amazing condition. It is utterly shocking that it somehow survived the French Revolution. Some of the stonework outside was pulled down but somehow the people had the sense not to destroy this incredible work of art.

Our pretty subway entrance on the Bastille

We had breakfast on our last day at this cafe on the Bastille. We were fooled by the term "French Toast" on the marquis. When a plate of regular toasted white bread appeared at our table, we realized our folly.

There was a craft fair at the marketplace that morning and I was able to get some cool and unique Christmas presents.

We then went to take drooly pictures to remember the food at Le Notre.

We got lots of chocolates here to take to our co-workers. They were very happy. Here's the weird, bizarre happy ending to the Le Notre story: upon returning home and bemoaning our missing their food, we found out that, for reasons beyond my ability to comprehend, there is an official Le Notre bakery at the Paris Las Vegas resort, WHERE WE ARE GOING THIS VERY WEEKEND. So in but a few days time, we are going to get the exquisite luxury of gorging on these delicious baked goods. I really don't know if it'll be as good as the one in Paris but here's hoping.

So it was at this time that we got our belongings and sadly left our lovely apartment behind to get to the airport. A lovely man drove us who was very kind and we worked hard on understanding each other in French. We got to the Air France counter, the requisite 3 hours early, to discover our seats had been given away and the flight was overbooked. Wait...what? Yeah, apparently that happens. Obviously we were not dying to get back to Los Angeles immediately, so we volunteered to be bumped. A very kind Air France man offered us Business Class and Air France VOUCHERS if we returned home the following morning. Um, YES!

So...we had a small reprieve. We were sent to a Holiday Inn Express in the tiny airport town of Roissy-en-France (BEST NAME EVER!). The only thing to do in town was a small local theatre that was offering a live music performance called Amoyal Et Buffo. A MIME SHOW. You'd better believe we were right on that. It was amazing to sit in this small town hall auditiorium and hear the mayor speak about how proud they were of their community and then hear classical music being butchered by mime antics. It was such a perfectly French, perfectly surreal evening, and a hilarious way to end the trip.

Can we talk for a moment about Business Class?
HAVE MERCY. It's going to be hard to ever go on a transatlantic flight in Cattle Torture Class again after experiencing the joys of Business Class. Fully reclining automated bed seat with built-in massager, two four-course meals with extremely expensive wines and champagnes, a travel kit with Clarins facial creme, silk socks, room to actually fit one's whole body, etc etc etc. It was fancypants. Always try to get yourself bumped, my friends.

It was hard to leave but it was less hard knowing we have flight vouchers that we have to use in the next year. And we will use them. We're not sure exactly what it will be, but the adventure continues in 2009.

Paris, Day 6

2008-11-13T11:40:00.001-08:00

I must admit, we were getting pretty trashed by this point. Still, the pain au chocolat did flow, and we headed to the Musee d'Orsay to see some of the finest art this planet has ever put forth.

The museum itself is just so beautiful, housed in an old train station and home of many of the great works of the Impressionist movement.

It would be impossible to list everything that held our attention at the museum, but one piece that come to mind is Rodin's Gates of Hell, which was just stunning. Next time, I'd really like to make it to the Rodin museum down the street to see the bronze version.

Cross-section of the Opera Garnier

View from the cafe

David sort of went insane over this bed. We fell in love with Art Nouveau then and there. The picture is alright, but there was something about standing next to this furniture that was absolutely electrifying.

Pompon! I utterly fell in love with L'Ours Blanc. He is so adorable and beautiful! What's even more amazing is learning that Pompon's technique involved carving animals in stone with exacting detail including all the nuances of fur, claws, etc, and then slowly smoothing the entire sculpture out until one is left with with the essence of the animal.

Want to see the essence of an animal? This sort of sums up how sick and tired poor husband was. I asked him to pretend he was feeling better and I got this:

Not all that convincing, in my opinion.

So we then made our way to the Quartier Latin to meet up with my "Uncle" Bob (he's my Uncle's brother) and his wife Luisa.

We walked around together and saw the Pantheon.

We then had an absolutely lovely Italian dinner nearby. It was wonderful to meet up with friendly faces on our trip. They regaled us with stories of how they met and the process of moving to France from the United States. We had a really nice time together. Bob walked us around the area a bit more and we then parted, walking through the bustling nightlife of the Left Bank and then making our way home.

This was our lovely apartment! It was beautiful, in a great area, and way better priced than a hotel.

View of kitchen

View of bedroom

Passed out. It was at this point that I realized there was no way we were going to be able to spend our last day going to Versailles. It would have just been too much. You win this round, Paris!

Paris, Day 5

2008-11-11T14:49:00.001-08:00

We started this day with the discovery of the bakery Le Notre in our Bastille neighborhood, which was a bad, crazy, dangerous thing. Once you taste their pomme chaisson, you're sort of broken for life, as David found out. I think he almost had an out-of-body experience whilst eating it. We just found out that, strangely, Le Notre has a bakery at the Las Vegas Paris resort and we are going there NEXT WEEK for the express purpose of eating their baked goods. Now, if only we could get some Fauchon love over here, we'd be set. Annnnyway, that morning we went back to the Opera Garnier to get the full behind the scenes tour in English.

Charles Garnier worked his name into the design on the ceiling.

Beautiful nymph of Apollo

The colorful, cacophonous Chagall ceiling in greater detail

View from the Orchestra seats

I waited very patiently through the tour and finally, feeling like Pee-Wee at the Alamo, had to ask where Box Five was. The guide was great and while pointing it out, started to tell the tale of the Phantom and a young singer named Christine.

The Grand Foyer by day

The view from Box Five

Box Five door marker. I wish I had this for my own door.

With that, we bade this beautiful place farewell...

...and made our way to the Louvre.

Venus de Milo

Beautiful

Winged Victory of Samothrace, absolutely stunning in real life.

This looks somewhat familiar, but I can't remember the name.

We had a really wonderful Louvre-going experience, even though we were utterly exhuasted and sick. We made it through every wing and covered most galleries, all in an afternoon. Some standout pieces for me were Delaroche's La Jeune Martyre and Delacroix's Liberty Leading The People, among many, many others.

We had this amazing experience where we were extremely tired but decided to go through one more gallery. It was very late and there was almost no one left in the entire museum. We got to the very last room at the end of the very last hallway, when we heard some young people discussing a painting. This painting, in fact. Rousseau's L'all�e des Ch�taigniers, the Alley of the Chestnuts. They were speaking in an elevated manner and we soon realized they were actually actors performing guerilla theatre. They were there simply to discuss and praise the painting. As our attention was drawn to it, we were pulled further in to its mystery. That link does it absolutely no justice. It's a dark, sprawling piece that pulls you in and takes you down the Road Less Travelled. Because they were speaking in French, we only caught pieces of what they were saying technically, but the tone was what was important. They seemed to speak of the human condition, of finding life and light in the darkness, and loving the mystery of what lies ahead on that long, beautiful path.

We left feeling blessed and exhilarated by that perfect moment of happenstance and synchronicity.

Paris, Day 4

2008-11-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

I WILL finish this!

After our daily heavy doses of pain au chocolat, croissants, and quiche from our local patisserie, we did the last part of our bus tour to the Montmarte area of the city.

This is Sacre Coeur, the basilica at the top of the hill. It overlooks all of Paris and has a fascinating history dating to the time of the Paris Commune when people were starving in the streets and hunting rats for food. Yum! These are the steps where Amelie courts Nino.

The view from above. The hideous black tower in the upper right is the Montparnasse Tower and is a blight on the city. I snarled every time I saw it. Anyway, it was lovely to be in this neighborhood, which is considered the bohemian area. I would have liked to have spent much more time here, especially for the shopping, but David was really struggling with the sick and it was cold and rainyish. I did get an amazing ring and earrings from a local designer here. It is sort of the Los Feliz of Paris but about 10,000 times cooler because it is in Paris. We also got to witness the very aggressive Nigerian string bracelet scammers here.

We then made our way back to the Paris Catacombs. This was just so amazing and I highly recommend making a special trip to see this. It starts by what feels like a never-ending staircase going down, down, down to what feels like the core of the Earth. The journey begins with these carvings of buildings from memory that were done by the makers of the ossuary in the late 18th century.

You then walk for what feels like miles and miles through corridors and passageways under the city. There are vast networks of these corridors that can't be seen by the typical tourist that span the length of the whole city. Some day I hope to meet someone who will show them to me.

The black line on the ceiling dates to Victorian times when tourists would come down to see the ossuary. They'd follow the line through the tunnels. The line would bring you here...

The portal says, "Stop! Here Is The Empire Of The Dead."

Crossing past that portal took a bit of courage, I must admit.

Everything down there was so beautiful and still.

And then...

Bones. Thousands and thousands and thousands of bones for miles.

In the late 18th Century, the cemeteries were overflowing, so the dead of Paris were brought here and arranged elaborately, forever interred as a nameless, faceless collective of beauty and wonder.

The camera DID NOT want to take pictures down here! We got very few. We were also being quickly shepherded along by some dark and strange gentlemen who were trying to close the place and wouldn't let us linger. We had to go quickly through the entire bone section. Looking back on it, this was probably a small blessing, as the enormity of what was taking place was somewhat overwhelming.

It's just walls of this for miles. I got some video that I hope came out.

People must leave their own marks.

Then, as suddenly as it began, you climb up, up, up, and out into the ordinary outside world. The only evidence of the place is this non-descript door on a side street marking your exit.

We decided to end the day at La Tour Eiffel.

We had dinner at Altitude 95, the restaurant on the first level of the tower.

This was the view of the Trocadero from our window.

The food was pretty, and we were glad of a chance to relax and just sit and enjoy the evening.

And then, of course, we made our way up to see the view.

Breathtaking. Beautiful. Amazing.

An Italian man took this for us.

What can you even say? It's Paris! From above! On a beautiful, misty night!

Coming home to our little private gated street where we stayed.

Paris, Day 3

2008-11-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

At this rate, I will be reporting on this trip until the End Of Days. Annnyway, here's some more.

We took a Seine tour for the first part of our morning.

Anarchy cherub on the Ponte Alexandre III

We actually saw the famous ring scam being performed on some unwitting tourists right before our very eyes. It was awesome!

Then it was back on the bus tour for exploration of the Left Bank.

Le Jardins Du Luxembourg. Unfortunately, this was the most we saw of it. We then tried to go to the Catacombs but they were closed. Also they don't make it easy to find the entrance. Which is kind of neat and adds to the intrigue.

We made our way back to the Opera Garnier for our tickets to see the Homage a Jerome Robbins.

It was better than I imagined it. And yes, I've imagined it quite a bit.

I was just wandering around sort of in a dream-like state.

The Grand Foyer. Like a golden jewel box.

This was the view of the stage from our box.

"She is singing tonight to bring the chandelier down!"

The look of finally making it to one's personal mecca.

The ballet was absolutely stunning. The dancers were all just breathtaking and the pieces were all really interesting. The stage is absolutely enormous. I could have stayed in that box forever.

"Oh, to-night I gave you my soul and I am dead!" Christine replied.

"Your soul is a beautiful thing, child," replied the grave man's voice,
"and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift.
THE ANGELS WEPT TONIGHT."

Paris, Day 2

2008-11-03T12:07:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween weekend. And now, back to regularly scheduled trip recap.

I should start by saying that the very first thing I saw upon exiting the train in Paris was a woman in a beret eating a baguette. "Yup, this must be the place," thought I.

On Sunday morning, after gorging ourselves at the local boulangerie (HELLO, PAIN AU CHOCOLAT!), we got another hop-on, hop-off bus tour for Paris. Unfortunately, poor David had gotten the cold I had, so it was his turn to be sick. It was much more difficult to find herbal remedies in Paris than in London, partly because of the language barrier ("Je...veux...la...vitamine...C?"). But we forged ahead.

Such a different city from London. The architecture is so much more emotional, grand, and ornate.

The Musee Orsay.

Le Grand Palais

I'm pretty sure everyone knows what this is.

In the 20s people would fly planes through the Arc. That is nuts.

Art Nouveau everywhere!!

Wait, what is that in the distance??

Classic

Les Invalides

There really were lovers all over this city! It was fantastic!!

Le Place De La Concorde's Egyptian obelisk.

And then...this. This is the part of the story I probably can't explain very well. There is a lot to this. This is years and years and years of buildup. This is about nineteen years of longing and hoping and wishing to see this place, and then finally actually doing it was so surreal. It's like it was an abstract concept in my mind that finally became a real, manifest one, and my brain sort of broke. A flood of emotions of every variety hit me in this moment of finally seeing the Opera Garnier. It was a huge release followed by what I can only describe as a new, blank slate. I have done the thing that was in the back of my mind nagging me for my entire adult life, and now the whole world is open to me. There was this incredible sense of release and newness and letting go. I felt my mom very closely in that moment.

Anyway, we didn't go in that day. I couldn't even really properly think straight or look at it closely. David had to take me to a cafe and make me sit for a while and sort of process. I felt like a robot with circuit overload.

We got back on the bus and went by the Louvre.

We then made it just as the sun was setting to Notre Dame cathedral.

We were fortunate enough to be there as a huge mass was taking place.

The dying light of the day filled the stained glass windows.

The organ was playing as a large choir sang.

It was absolutely stunning. I have never in my life been so spiritually lifted and affected by a church's architecture. There is a reason this is the ultimate gothic cathedral (quiet, Chartres, we haven't seen you yet).

Just...breathtaking.

We left that place elated and dreamy.

I was so in love with the gargoyles.

View from the Seine.

Our first full day in Paris ended with being serenaded by an accordian player on the bridge over the Seine.

Happy Halloween from Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett

2008-10-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

...a brief break from trip recap to wish you all a delicious day.

Glastonbury, Stonehenge, and On To Paris

2008-10-28T14:30:00.001-07:00

We bade Glastonbury an early farewell at one of its legendary thorn trees and headed back East.

The fields were misty and serene and dense with fog.

And then, there it was, rising up simply and beautifully in the fields near Salisbury.

It was just so unreal. I had to keep reminding myself, "I am at Stonehenge. This is Stonehenge."

We applied a few months previous to have private Stone Circle access but unfortunately they were already booked. Next time we are DEFINITELY going to do that.

And yes, the Spinal Tap song was unfortunately running on a loop in our heads the entire time.

The Heelstone

Suddenly a bird convention started taking place.

I so wanted to stay and wander the long paths that form the full henge. I'd also like to go to Salisbury and see the artifacts that have been excavated from the site. There is a lot of new information about Stonehenge coming to light just in this last year from a brand new archeological dig so there is still so much to learn.

We then got in our car and brought it back to London, returning it at the car rental place near St. Pancras station (by then driving was a breeze and the traffic getting back into town was nothing an Angelean can't handle). It was time for the second part of our journey.

The station has recently been completely renovated for the Eurostar and it is lovely. Even though the Chunnel had recently had a huge fire, the trains were running on time and they got us on board right away.

Still glowing from our amazing adventures in England. The train trip was a breeze and extremely comfortable with absolutely delicious food. Highly recommended.

We arrived in Paris in the evening and it instantly felt like a very different place. We had to whip out our newly-learned and extremely minimal French skills, which went well enough in the taxi that our driver was charitably impressed that we were Americans. He said we spoke well and our accents were great, "not like people from Texas." NO KIDDING, in our travels we heard some absolute slaughtering of even basic words like merci (MERCY!) and pain (PAYNE!). Contrary to popular legend, no matter where we went, French people were extremely hospitable and kind to us and always appreciated our trying to speak their language, which was really nice.

We got to our apartment, had a look around our fabulous Bastille neighborhood which was absolutely alive with clubs and cafes, and promptly crashed.