Random thoughts after two weeks in Paris…. (1) We have been surprised at the disparity among the cost of various items when compared to their relative cost in the United States. Some things are much more expensive: gasoline, of course (I had the pleasure of a $110 fill-up during the trip to Luxembourg), but also clothing (particularly men’s shirts, for some reason; common white cotton dress shirts run about $55 […]
My mother wanted to hear a free organ concert in a cathedral called St. Sulpice today. The concert (really just a mini-recital or something, it lasted about 25 minutes) was very good, the same sort of experience we had in the other church, with the huge organ pipes echoing sound all up and through the vast stone space. But unknown to (or unremembered by) me was the fact that St. […]
Today was our day to hit the stores. We took the Metro to Place de la Bastille, then walked around (delayed by several downpours) the Place des Vosges, where Suzie bought several prints, then walked to the Marais, where we found the best deal we’ve found so far in Paris for lunch, at a place called La Locandiera — an excellent satisfying lunch for 5, including coffees, for 25 euros. […]
The last two days were the most relaxed we’ve had. On Friday, we split up because Suzie and my mom wanted to shop. In the morning I took the boys to the Musee des Arts et Metiers, which contains exhibits about the invention of various things. Housed in a handsome cathedral built between the 11th and 13th centuries, it was very well done, displaying the artifacts according to various themes […]
Yesterday we did things that you’d expect tourists in Paris to do: We visited St. Chapelle (noted for its stained glass; it was beautiful, but somehow not quite as spectacular as I expected), climbed the towers of Notre Dame (the boys and I anyway, more on this later), and toured the Luxembourg Garden (by far the most beautiful spot in Paris, in my opinion). Our day started out, as it […]
This is a mini-post for my attorney friends in Santa Rosa. We visited St. Chapelle yesterday, which is surrounded by the French courts. As a result, we had to go through a thorough security check to get in the complex, but once we were in, we were free to walk about the complex. The boys and I got adventurous, and found our way into the main court building. I asked […]
Some have noted that I left hanging the question of whether we ever found the right parking spot (a critical part of this narrative, to be sure). It turns out that the Mechalis had written the wrong number on the information sheet they left us. Their space is 187, not 87, so we ended up in the right space after all.
You’ve heard about the cows, you’ve heard about the diabolical elevators, now here’s another one…. The trip back from Freudenstadt was very long and tiring. We had hoped to stop en route at Nancy, but it was overcast and intermittently raining, and we weren’t going as quickly as we had hoped (we weren’t on the tollways, so it was slower going). By the time we arrived in Paris (the last […]
We spent most of Wednesday at the Lourve. It took us six hours to see a tiny fraction of what’s there. I focused on older stuff, because I find that more interesting that froo-froo 18th century neo-classical French stuff (sorry if I’ve offended anybody). So the boys and I spent most of our time in the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Medieval sections. Those sections weren’t too crowded, but parts of it […]
and Dad forces us to pose in front of a naked guy. Thanks, Dad.