Bon Jour!

PARIS....what can I say about the City of Lights other than WOW! I must have said it at least a hundred times this past weekend. From a welcome rainstorm to an all day bike tour to the Mona Lisa, Paris was simply beautiful and utterly romantic.

The Eurostar and Chunnel
The Eurostar is inside Waterloo Station (although it will move to St. Pancras Station this year), which is a very convenient 20 minute train ride from Richmond. Because I had pre-purchased the tickets, all we did was walk up to the self serve ticket kiosk, punch a few buttons, and voila...we had our boarding passes. The Eurostar does have a security check point, but was nothing more than walking through the detector and running your bag through the machine. Not a hassle at all. The train itself was nice. Large comfortable seats and large windows to view the countryside. The ride through the Chunnel is 20 minutes in a long, dark tunnel. Before you know it, you pop out the other end and you are in France! After a 2 hr 45 minute journey, the Eurostar stops in Paris at the Gare de Nord station, which is quite busy and very large...although fairly easy to navigate.

A Welcome Rainstorm
Upon exiting the train station and beginning our five block walk to the hotel, it came the storm of the century! Thunder, lightening, and a torrential rain were our welcome to the City of Lights. I guess I should be glad to have had such a spectacular introduction! We arrived at the New Orient Hotel a little wet, but happy to settle in. After an hour the storm had passed and we were not to be deterred from our plans...we headed straight for that beacon in the skyline-the Eiffel Tower! The hotel receptionist gave us perfect Metro (that's the underground system) directions and we exited at Trocadero Square. When we popped up out of the station, I had no clue where I was and I couldn't see the Tower anywhere. There was a huge building to left of us giving us only a partial view of the skyline....and then I began to see it, crowds with cameras...it could only mean one thing! Edgar is a few steps in front of me and I see a huge smile come across his face as he turns left. I creep forward very slowly and start saying with anticipation..."Is it there? Is that it?"....and then I step into the clearing, look to the left and take a quick gasp of air as I see the Eiffel Tower for the first time. Majestic, beautiful and just as grand as I thought it would be. The rainstorm had driven most everyone back to their hotels, so we were lucky enough to have beaten the crowd back out after the rain had stopped. We only waited in line for 10 minutes to get our tickets to the top...lines the next day were probably 3 hours long. The view was amazing and we were lucky enough to get to the top right at dusk, so we were able to see the changing colors of the sky as the sun went down.

Back at Trocadero Square, on our way to the Metro for our return to the hotel, we stopped to admire the view one more time from this amazing vantage point. All of a sudden, the entire Tower began to sparkle...thousands of white flash bulb lights twinkling the entire length of the structure. It was so beautiful and a completely unexpected surprise. Apparently it does this for ten minutes every night on the hour from 9pm-11pm.

Fat Tire Bike Tour
Saturday was our big bike tour day. Our friends Lilly and Aron had recommended Fat Tire Bike Tours, so we knew we couldn't go wrong. Thirty of us set out at 11am on big California cruiser bikes with Brian, our fearless leader, leading the way. This bike tour company is Texas owned-Aggie owned actually. We had a great time seeing many of the major landmarks in the city and relaxing for lunch in the Tuillery Gardens just outside the Louvre. This morning tour concluded at 3:30, and since our evening tour didn't start until 7pm, we rented our bikes back and set off for Napoleon's Tomb at Les Invalides. It's a beautiful building with real gold on the top of the dome (one of only 3 places in Paris with real gold) and amazing frescoes adorning the ceiling and walls.

After a relaxing dinner, we headed back to the Fat Tire shop to begin the evening portion of the bike tour. This tour included stops at the Louvre (more on that later), Notre Dame, ice cream!, St. Germain Blvd., and a boat ride down the Seine River...of course we sipped some wine as well. Along the river, we saw Lady Liberty...an exact replica of the Statue of Liberty offered to the French by American residents in Paris to commemorate the Centennial of the French Revolution. It was inaugurated on November 15, 1889.

We met an amazing family from New York on this evening tour. Matt, Joanie, Carla, and Kevy were so much fun and were celebrating Matt and Joanie's 27th wedding anniversary as well as Kevy's graduation from high school. We were surprised to learn that our hotels were just down the street from one another, so we took the Metro back to Villiers (our stop) and had some drinks and dessert to cap our night. Jennifer, on vacation from California and also on the bike tour, joined us as well. After 11 hours on the bike, we were exhausted, so we said goodbye to our new friends, headed to the hotel and collapsed into bed only to wake at 9:30am the next morning for another adventurous day.

The Louvre and Notre Dame
Thanks to Rick Steves, we had a free podcast for our iPod to lead us around the massive expanse of the Louvre. If you were to spend just one minute at each article in the Louvre and not stop for sleeping, eating, etc., you would be in there for 8 1/2 months! That's how big this place is! And it is truly amazing. We saw Greek artifacts dating from 3200 B.C. and some amazing artwork. Highlights of the Louvre were the Galerie d'Apollon, Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, several sculptures by Michelangelo, and paintings by all the famous artists including Raphael, Messina, and of course Leonardo da Vinci. Yes, I have seen the Mona Lisa with my own two eyes! She was beautiful. And for all of you Da Vinci Code fans, it was pretty cool to see the Pyramid at the entrance and all the major structures that Dan Brown writes about. I could write about the Louvre for days, it was that amazing. But in the interest of time, I will go on to....

Notre Dame. I didn't know that Napoleon was crowned, not King, but Emperor in this Cathedral. He didn't like the Gothic look on the inside, so he had them create a "stage set" of velvet curtains and a grand altar for his coronation. Although it is debated, word has it that Napoleon actually took his crown from the Pope, who had endured a long and arduous journey to get to Paris, and put it atop his own head. This scene is depicted in a painting by David on display in the Louvre and the Pope does not look happy! I didn't know that Notre Dame was actually to be demolished at one point in history and was saved when a book called The Hunchback of Notre Dame created renewed interest and the authorities in Paris saw a cash cow in the making.

Moulin Rouge Area
Because of a logistical error on my part, Edgar and I wound up in the Moulin Rouge area. We had dinner reservations at a highly recommended restaurant named Chez Georges. Well, guess what? There are two restaurants by that name in Paris, and wouldn't you know I got directions to the wrong one! No big loss, we weren't that hungry anyways after eating french onion soup and banana/nutella crepes for lunch. We saw on the Metro map that we were close to the Moulin Rouge, so off we went. If nothing else, we could have drinks and people watch. Now I am a pretty open-minded, liberal person, but I have to say that this area held no attraction for me. I won't really say much about it other than that there is a reason the famed windmill of Moulin Rouge has RED LIGHTS...maybe it has something to do with the DISTRICT? We were back in the Metro station about as fast as we got there.

On Monday morning, we were very sad to be packing our bags for home. After a quick trip to the Sacre Cur, a cathedral even more beautiful than Notre Dame, we were off to the station from which it seems we had just arrived. Paris was an amazing city and I would like to spend more time there in the future. Perhaps, after some art history lessons, a little more time in the Louvre or a re-read of the Da Vinci code to take in all of the famously talked about landmarks.

TidBits
In Paris, each district is required to host a street market at least twice a week so the people in the neighborhood can buy food and goods. These are great places to pick up a picnic and laze about in one of the parks in front of the Eiffel Tower...this will definitely be on the next agenda. The Parisians were so nice to us. We were always greeted with a smile, even when biking down the streets. It amazes me how communication will always find a way to prevail. We had a waiter grab a small toothpick in an effort to explain to us that the special of the day was skewered veal...pretty creative! Paris is a very bike and pedestrian friendly city. They have whole lanes dedicated to bikes and large, wide sidewalks for biking or walking when the lanes are not available. Romas (the PC term for gypsies) are everywhere. They are a quite organized group of people with a "Don" who acts as the headmaster. If they ask you if you speak English, always say no. If you say yes, they hand you a piece of paper with a sad story and ask for money. As soon as they find out you are American, the flock swarms. Always beware of pickpockets at all times...they are pretty sneaky. Never let anyone put a bracelet on you for demonstration. Before you know it, the thing is tied tight around your wrist and someone is asking for money....especially in the Sacre Cur area. We were fortunate enough to avoid these pitfalls, but have heard and seen the horror stories. Paris is full of interesting smells...the good, the bad and the ugly. They have a high unemployment and homeless population who seem to like living in the underground. But the underground can be like a city in itself...there is always a musician or a singer there to entertain you. The Eiffel Tower lines will be long. Just grin and bear it, or hope for rain! Last but not least, always eat the crepes and have a chocolate/almond croissant for breakfast...with espresso.

Edgar and I have decided that since we will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary this year, we might as well celebrate all year...why save it for just one day? So, as we were cruising down the Seine River drinking our little cups of French wine watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle in its greatness, we reflected on how far we have come since the days of playing soccer with empty water bottles in his office at the SWT Student Center. We would never have thought that our whispered dreams would become such a surreal reality. We are truly grateful for our experiences and consider ourselves blessed to be sharing them with you.