Hong Kong Disneyland

Sure enough, when I woke really early in the morning, the weather reports were looking better for Hong Kong, but the same windy conditions for Macau. I planned on just hanging around TST and going to a museum when it rained. But, then I woke up at 8 and looked again and Lantau Island was looking cloudy but no rain Mind changed! Besides the cable car, Big Buddha, and the airport, Lantau Island has one more site, Disneyland. I took my time getting ready because the gates to Disneyland don’t open until 1030. I walked to the MRT, feeling some unexpected sprinkles, and then boarded the familiar train, same transfers as before but at the end there was one extra train to take, just for Disneyland and when this one pulled up, I had to smile, it was the same subway line, but this one had Mickey shaped windows and inside there were plush blue seats and little metal statues in the corners. Very special. The subway takes you right there, and from the turnstile exits, it is 20 feet to the entrance to the park. It was another 3 minute walk to the ticket booth, along the way were food trucks where I got a breakfast of fish balls and ate them at a Moby Dick fountain while waiting for Disneyland to open. I had purchased tickets while on the train and just had to line up at the gate to scan my ticket.

Hong Kong Disneyland I think is the smallest of the Castle parks, from what I read. In the end, I would say that while it really reminds you of Disneyworld, there are a ton of differences (Whereas Disneyland Paris was almost an exact replica). Because of the protests, because it is winter, and maybe because the castle is being renovated, this Disneyland is practically empty. It didn’t feel that way while lined up to get in, but I remember what Paris and Disneyworld were like the last visits- and they can’t compare! Walking into Main Street, that felt most familiar and similar, though most Americans would be shocked that I walked in and immediately saw Minnie Mouse and the line to take a picture with her was only 10 people long (I should have done it!). Right behind her was a giant Christmas tree, lots of poinsettias, and the usual Main Street stops. My tradition now is to get a sweet right away on Main Street, this time I had a “Egg Waffle” filled with cream and topped with Mickey ears which I ate while I checked out the castle which isn’t too exciting all covered in scaffolding, but I could tell it is really different looking than Paris and Disneyworld- different colors and shapes. Turning left I went into my favorite, Adventureland, but immediately I could tell it was very different. There was a raft like transport to an island, but this where the Swiss Family Tree was- and it was called something else, and I didn’t go. I also passed by Thunder Mountain Railroad- also called something else and looked slightly different- but with a western theme. Here I ran into Jungle Book’s Baloo- and waited to get my picture taken with him then a bunch of school children swarmed him and they danced along the street. My first ride was “Mystic Manor” which kinda looks like the Haunted Mansion, but I had read before that it was different because ghosts are considered a taboo subject in Chinese culture- it would be like going on a ride with the devil going into hell, not something to joke about. You go into an elevator room like Haunted Mansion, but I don’t remember the portraits enlarging. The cars you get in are similar and it was almost like the movements were the same, but the ride was about going to Mythical places in the world and having things like mummies, tiki gods, etc chasing you . I liked how it was familiar, yet different. The Old West part of Adventureland was weird. The kids enjoyed the water gun shootout, but it just seemed weird to see Chinese people dressed up in western outfits walking around- do they remember that their race was enslaved to build the western railroads, etc? The next area was Toy Story land- which Apparently I had missed in Paris. The rides were mostly for little kids, so I just admired the little army guy parachute ride, the slinky dog carousel, Buzz Lightyear rocket ride. Very cute. Now, this part of the park was practically empty, I sat at a bench and didn’t see anyone for a few minutes. It was sprinkling off and on, but my jacket never got damp.

In the middle of the park, behind the broken castle, I went into an identical Phillharmagic show, and then Winnie the Pooh ride (always makes me smile) and then saw that Small World was set off to the back in a bigger space than Disneyworld, next to a little “Frozen” park. I wound my way through Small World to get to the boats, and there was no one in line! Unbelievable. I had the boat to myself. I can’t recall if the ride was the same layout or not, it seemed longer. But there were parts I definitely remembered, and little details that were different- like the pink elephant above the door was there, but he was not as friendly looking as Disneyworld. It’s still my favorite thing in Disney, it made me so glad I came.

Next was Tomorrowland and it is also now “Hyerspace Mountain” which I skipped. Instead of Star Wars having the simulator ride, this one is Iron Man, and it had the longest line all day- I waited 5 minutes. I did notice sitting here that the seats were extremely small- all day I had noticed that toilets and seats were very low, but this time I really thought about it and realized that most Americans might not fit in this park. Definitely not tall or obese people. I was hungry, and while I had noticed that not all of the places were open today, I had already picked where I had hoped to eat. Honestly, it is the same place I ate while at Disneyworld last time. If you are on Main Street, looking at the castle, it is the last place on the right- it has like a Victorian feel to it with interestingly shaped windows. I think in Florida last time, I had brisket with macaroni, but this time I had Singaporean Laksa with a chicken satay stick. The Laksa was full of giant shrimp, squid, mussels and scallops. Very satisfying and tasty.

I went back into tomorrow land for another ride- Ant Man- which was like the Buzz Lightyear ride where you shoot things as you ride along. There was a parade coming on Main Street so I went back there but then they announced that it was cancelled due to bad weather. Huh? The Sprinkles throughout the day never wet the pavement or my jacket completely, but I guess the characters costumes can’t handle a drop of rain, so instead we got “Mickey’s Rainy Day Express” with a few characters under the cover of a little train that lasted 5 minutes. The last thing I had planned on doing was back in Adventureland- they had a Lion King show- I think this is also in Animal Kingdom- and I had enjoyed that before, even though I waited around for almost 1 hour and watched the Jungle Cruise ride go around. The show was pretty good and worth the wait, leaving it the sparkles had picked up a little and it was getting dark, so I headed toward the exit. I checked out the shops along the way, enjoyed the tree again, and then slowly made my way to the subway station which was pretty empty. I noticed inside was a giant amphitheater like area that would hold tons of people on a busy day.

Headed back into he city, after the first leg of subway travel which was the very luscious Disney train, the rest of the trains were pretty full with evening commute. I stood up the entire way, I could have eventually have gotten a seat but the train is so gentle and the seats are so packed they would have been less comfortable. My evening dinner consisted of a coke float that I had in my Hotel cafe- I had a coupon for a free drink, and I figured the coke would keep me awake past 8 pm, I think I made it to 9. While laying in bed and checking the weather, I booked ferry tickets to Macau for the next day- I was ready to commit to going despite the fact that it still showed it would be a windy day.

so I could enjoy fish balls by the fountain

Mystic Manor from outside, not quite the Haunted Mansion

leaving the park at 5pm. not so crowded Main Street

this is how they feel. that last part says they want to be a “Hong Kong-er”

Hong Kong- Lantau Island

With my not so great ending to the HoHo bus ride yesterday, I was not excited to use it again, though I had purchased a 2 day pass. There was really only 1 area I hadn’t explored and that was Kowloon Island, where I was staying, and I had 2 more Star Ferry tickets that I could possibly use another day. The weather was something I was watching as there was potentially a rain day coming and windy days in Macau so as I went to bed last night, I didn’t have a definite plan. I woke up and saw that it was a sunny day, and that the next would be rain, so I decided to use this day to go on a Cable Car ride. This would mean my first day of using the subway.

I left the YMCA and headed into unchartered territory- which was really only 1.5 blocks from the corner I knew. It was a little fun as the area was busy with people walking, little stores were busy selling things. The subway is called the MTR in HK. There is actually an entrance right across the street from my hotel, but it is an elevator which is broken because of the protests. The entrance I used was in the bottom of a mall, and in the mall I saw a grocery store and decided to get breakfast. I saw my little Japanese sushi triangles and grabbed one and a candy bar- though I remembered that eating on the MTR is illegal (as most Asian subways). I bought my “Octopus card” which gives me about $20 of rides without having to keep buying tickets and I got on my first train- very clean, quiet, and comfy (not full). I had to change once and it was so easy as the next line was just across the way from my train. This last line went all the way to Lantau Island, which is also where the Airport is. The last bit of the line was above ground and the landscape was more open hills and nice white residential buildings. The subway ends a block or 2 from the cable car in a mall like area. While on the MRT I had purchased my cable car tickets and so when I got there it was a breeze getting on.

This cable car is called the Ngong Ping 360, and the ride is about 20 minutes long, and super smooth. I was glad I was here on a sunny day, the ride over the hills and over a little harbor was so pretty. The views also included looking down to the busy airport. Hiking is a popular thing on Lantau Island and below I could see the steep trails some with many floors of stairs to get you up and down. Now, the point of the cable car is that it takes you to Ngong Ping Village- which I think is a reconstructed Disney-esque commercialized place, but beyond that is a monastery with a big Buddha up on top. I think it is the tallest seated buddha in the world. I didn’t actually have much expectation when it came to getting of the cable car, but in the end it was my favorite day in Hong Kong. When the big Buddha was in view from he cable car, the Chinese folk in my little car got very excited and took lots of pictures. It was a magnificent sight to see, so naturally sitting up on the top of these green hills. Getting off into the village, it was so hard to make progress in walking through because every step was a cute little thing to see. First a Christmas display set up with the Buddha behind it, then a cute tea house with arched bridge. It was like one Main Street with little cafes, gift shops, lots of places to sit. I found it cute, not quite tacky, but nothing seemed authentic, so I didn’t plan on eating here. There was a little transition at the end and it was less pristine as you stepped into the grounds of the monastery- but it was equally awe inspiring. It isn’t an old monastery, but it had all of the criteria to make an eye candy type of temple- lots of flags, pretty arch ways, statues, the Buddha, and then at the end a pagoda. You can walk up to the Buddha- if you want to climb 200 some steps, the view from down below seemed fine to me- though I’m sure that from the top you would see the sea and other islands. The other random thing about this village are the buffalo- which are cow-sized- and they wander the town exciting the tourists. I did see one make its rounds and surprisingly it was a white woman who couldn’t resist the rules and she had to pet it.

The smell around the temple immediately took me back to Nepal and Bhutan, that calming incense mixed with cool mountain air. I didn’t make my way up the steps of the temple because honestly most Buddhist temples are similar with non-descript Buddhas and random statues. I had eaten my sushi triangle when I got off the cable car, but now I was ready for more, and I had read that there was a vegetarian restaurant as part of the monastery, so I headed to that. An “aunty” grabbed me to help, you had to buy a ticket in her office and then take it inside the restaurant to get served. She convinced me to get the “grand” set meal which was only $2 more than the other set meal, and then I went inside where food just kept coming at me. I had tea, a hot mushroom soup, a delicious tofu dish, a bunch of green veggies, a pile of mushrooms, egg rolls, maybe that’s it. I definitely couldn’t eat it all. My aunty lady came to make sure I was ok, and yelled at them for giving me chopsticks- she took them away just as I was trying to say they were fine, and she gave me a fork. Well, better a fork for those slippery little mushrooms. Oh, and aunty told me that if I got sick after the meal, to tell them. Hmm, that’s something scary to tell someone before they eat your food. It was delicious and I did not get sick. I was happy I ate in the monastery- I hope my money goes toward it.

I had to decide whether I wanted to take a separate bus to a little old fishing village, but because I had just been to Stanley and Aberdeen yesterday, I decided not to go, even though this one was older and more authentically kept. So, I backtracked, still taking Buddha and buffalo pictures along the way. I thought about dessert in the Ngong Ping village, but I was too stuffed. Lots of people were now hanging out in the little village amongst the open air tables and benches. My cable car ride back was pretty quiet, I shared with just one other Chinese girl. The winds had picked up and we had a few gusts that had us squealing. So pretty, and it was nice to have all the open windows to look out, watch the planes and everything.

With the timing of everything, I had the afternoon that I could now do the last line of the HoHo bus, so I could say I saw everything it had to offer. Today there was someone outside of the Peninsula hotel and I had to wait about 20 minutes before the bus came. So, this side of town on Kowloon Island is called TST- which stands for something I never could pronounce. It has more shopping and less business areas than Central. We went along Nathan Road which was THE shopping street 10-20 years ago, now it is less exciting- probably because the world now wants pedestrian only areas for shopping, not busy streets with cars on it. But, you could see big name jewelry and purse places amongst fast food type cafes and big shiny advertising lights, and then above all that were older residential place that were all concrete, AC units and old windows. There were 2 stops I considered but with the huge waiting times, I wasn’t sure, and it turned out I was probably too early in the day to see much action. One area they call “Ladies market’ and has mostly purses, clothes, but little food stands too and the other “Temple Street Market”. Now, traffic was also getting worse and by the time I got to Temple street market area I was kinda tired of seeing city sites, I wasn’t hungry, and the majority of stands were just starting to be set up. I guess I also had seen this great monastery already today and so a little temple wasn’t as appealing. So, I stayed on with a plan to get off at a part of the waterfront I hadn’t been to- it was a sunny day and I thought I’d enjoy the walk. But, wouldn’t you know it, the bus stopped 1 place before that and suddenly they said “30 minute break”. Grr. I was done with the HoHo. I got off and it probably added 10 minutes of walking to get where I was going, but it was scenic enough and there was a nice elevated walkway to get around (with an elevator), so I could pass over the highway and had open views of Victoria Harbour. Far to the left where I had watched the laser show, I could see that from here my cruise ship would dock pretty far down the harbor. There were also fisherman hanging out on this section, but the further I walked toward the YMCA the fancier the promenade got. After a long empty stretch- just the walkway- the first thing was a Starbucks and beside it was a statue of Bruce Lee, the star of Hong Kong film industry. They put him in a good spot, with his back to the waterfront, it was so pretty. From there, along the waterfront was this really neat new building with green plants growing all over it. I figured it was a hotel, but the sign said luxury condos, and on the other side of the building it continued into a fancy looking mall. The call this area the Avenue of Stars- like the Hollywood Stars, this had handprints and signs of the Hong Kong famous actors. This section was so pleasant, that I couldn’t help but smile and know that I would be back here. So clean, no bums, lots of flowers, pretty things, modern architecture and happy people. Sitting on one of the waterfront benches I thought about my evening plan, and how my jet lag would affect it. I made my way to the familiar planetarium building where the crosswalk took me to the Peninsula Hotel where I was going to have Afternoon Tea. I had read about it, and I love an afternoon tea, but it was expensive, so I was unsure- until my sister-in-law Barbara told me she had gone and liked it- and she is picky!

Walking past the pretty water fountain and special green Bentleys, I passed into the lobby which immediately makes you feel special. Inside was a giant Christmas tree and a little Gingerbread House and then on both sides is the “Lobby Restaurant” which is open seating around this area. I got a table right along the edge staring at their pretty tree. I started my afternoon tea on the middle tier which are little finger sandwiches which were good, not great, but there was an interesting mousse which was “scallop and chestnut”- very interesting with little red currants on top. Next I dove into my 2 scones on the bottom tier but most importantly the jam and clotted cream with them. One day I will have to figure out if clotted cream just means whipped cream- but it is like a stiff whipped cream- almost butter like. I am very picky about scones since I’ve been to Ireland, and these measured up. Then the top tier of delicious little desserts- a fabulous Cassis macaroon I ate first thinking it could’t measure up to my recent Parisian ones (but it did!), then a gingerbread like spice cake a fun little tart and then a little red velvet cake. My only disappointment really was that my tea wasn’t too exciting and my waiter never came back to refill my cup. I poured my own tea, spilling some on the table as the little pots were confusing, and I totally forgot I had to strain it so it was a little bitter. The waiter continued to be elusive despite me waving my credit car when it was time, I even thought of getting up to see how quickly they’d run to charge me. Eventually I just waved them down and they brought my last 2 items- little chocolates that were cherry flavored. Despite the poor service, I really enjoyed my fancy time in the Peninsula and I crossed the street to my humbler but very nice hotel to my little room oasis where I did watch the sunset and the light show from my room- and a little window down the hall by the elevator which had a better view- but then I swear I was in bed by 9! I watched the weather reports again- tomorrow is that bad weather day- I had planned to go to Macau by ferry, but with wind gusts to 30 mph, I’m not so sure!

end of the airport. I’ve landed here twice and you come in over the water and almost land in it

this must be a tunnel- it goes out and then just disappears

Ngong Ping Village, tea house on the right

cute, but I think this entire tree is plastic

or you can bring food or flowers for Buddha

the temple on the left- seems like it was a long walk when you look at it this way

Hong Kong- the Island

I was able to sleep pretty well, but waking up early starting my day with a well- needed shower. I was given 1 complimentary breakfast in the hotel, so I headed for that. In the day, the hotel was much more normal and happy looking with plenty of light and a giant Christmas tree in the lobby. The breakfast was buffet with so many yummy things including some Chinese dumplings which were delicious, but the coffee was pretty mediocre. I stuffed myself and decided that my day plan would be to use the Hop on Hop Off bus to get to know the city. It is a big city, and a big confusing with several islands and districts so I didn’t really know where to go “to see the city”, I just had a list of top sites but they weren’t all in the same area. My info stated that the bus stopped at the Peninsula across the street at 945, so I gathered my things and around that time I set out from the hotel. I went down the block looking, never found a sign or anything, so I stopped inside the hotel and asked and they confirmed I was in the right place, just to look for someone with a red jacket. I waited and then plotted my next plan which was to head to the ferry because the tour I wanted for the day was on that island. The street to the ferry was wide with a nice sidewalk which actually had a “non-smoking” section of the sidewalk. It’s typical in Asia that people from businesses step outside to the sidewalk to smoke, but it makes for a somewhat smokey walk that I hate, so I liked this non-smoking side. Next to the YMCA was a strange colonial looking area nicely decorated for Christmas, but I never figured out if it was a mall or hotel. The ferry terminal was a busy place where buses also hubbed, and beyond the railing I got my first full view of Victoria Harbour, looking across to the busy “Central” part of HK, and the main part of Hong Kong Island. It is full of skyscrapers and very modern looking, behind lots of tall green hills, there’s also a Ferris wheel along the shore. I found the HoHo bus people and got my ticket and then boarded the famous Star Ferry to cross over. People call this the cheapest scenic cruise in the world. It’s only 10 minutes across but you have great views looking to both sides of Victoria Harbor. I think it costs 50 cents, and the little green boats maintain their old look with wooden benches for the ride. Once on the other side, I was in the middle of a modern part of the city where the ferry terminal was part mall, I found the HoHo bus and hopped on.

The first part of the ride looped around the business area of Central- big bank buildings and then fancy shopping streets then cut through the middle of the island past the famous Happy Valley horse racing park. It’s apparently a fun night out, but I’m not sure I’ll go. A tunnel took us the rest of the way to the other side of the island where I was really shocked and amazed to see how beautiful it was. The road hugged the steep hills and I was surprised at how small the road was. We passed a few sandy beaches before seeing the luxurious town of Repulse Bay- such an ugly name for a gorgeous place lined with super fancy condos and nice looking cars. One really large building- ? Hotel or condo- looked like it leaned forward over the water. I could see this being the top address in town- it would only be a 15-20 minute drive into the city. We kept going and my goal for this morning was a town called Stanley. It used to be a fishing village and is famous for its market. The bus stopped at the top of a hill with a nice view and I realized we were at a mall which went down hill which was convenient to have an elevator basically down to the beach – about 6 levels. The mall was pretty quiet and very cutely decorated and the shops were more artistic and interesting than regular shops. At the bottom was a beach side open area gathering place amongst tall canyon trees and hibiscus. The beach was small and fishing boats dotted the shore. There was a nice promenade which I strolled around, admiring the flowers and cute beach side cafes. I walked as far as the market, which had little backstreet alleys connecting the stalls, but it was the kind of market with manufactured crap that looks the same from place to place, so I didn’t linger. Going back I walked along the front street with random Irish pubs and bigger restaurants and then headed back up to the bus stop.

The bus followed the coast back to Repulse bay and then kept going to my next stop, Aberdeen. This was also a fishing village, but it has remained that way because it is a protected harbor that is an official “typhoon shelter” meaning a place to take your boat when the typhoon comes. Surprisingly it was surrounded by tall residential buildings and a modern city. The thing to do here is to board an old junk boat and tour the harbor, but they were smelly and loud, and I wanted to just stroll the promenade and I was happy with that. This promenade was very well done with lots of benches to sit, lots of random statues along the way, a chess hall, and even lots of bathrooms. I was happy to see in HK I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a nice bathroom- and free! Along this promenade ships were moored- some were family fishing boats, some tourists boats, and some ferries that even went to ‘floating restaurants’. The family boats were fun to peak into and watch the old guys standing around with fishing poles. I walked to the fish market but it was closed up for the day- it was more of a processing center where fisherman brought their catch and it was quickly sold to businesses, just empty murky tanks were left. On my way back I basked in the warm sun and watched the chess hall action. I ended up waiting a while for the next bus and started planning the afternoon.

The next part of the drive was very urban and I think it was one of the most dense residential areas I have ever seen. Buildings were probably 20-30 stories tall all with apartments and there was hardly any space between buildings, but they did look nice. It’s crazy to think about how many residences you can fit in a spot like this compared to people in the US having an acre around 1 house. I really like the concept like this for big cities, there is just no other way to live and work without driving forever to the suburbs. While I did see some not so nice older corrugated metal type places in this area, I never saw a single detached house. I wondered a little about cars- obviously there were lots of them, but also obviously not one per person, I wonder what the percentage is.

Back at the ferry station I had made the entire loop on the “Green Line”, and I prepared to stay on one more stop but it was break time and I had to get off. Ok, I’ll get on the “Red Line”, but it doesn’t leave for another 20 minutes as well. Up until this point I was happy with the HoHo bus, though the audio commentary was especially uninformative compared to most. I eventually settled on taking whichever bus left first because they both went to where I wanted to go next- Victoria Peak. The Red left first, and while it had the disadvantage of going to a section of town I didn’t want to get off on, I was able to see this area by bus and that made me happy. This part of town was the busy shopping area of Hong Kong Central, and I had no interest in shopping but it allowed me to see the hustle and bustle that seemed fun. It was like riding through New York City. There was one big park there that would have made a nice place to hang out, maybe I’ll go back there. The last little bit getting to the Peak was annoyingly slow as afternoon traffic started to get bad, so I was so happy to get off.

Victoria Peak is a viewpoint place, and to get up there, you take an old funicular tram that is from the 1800s. I’d say it was one of the most steep funiculars I’ve been on, and you start to wonder how we aren’t sliding down backward! I think this is one of those old cogwheel types the clicked it’s way, getting little snippets of the view back on this city. Part of the reason I chose this time to go is that in the morning it was hazy and I saw that I’d be looking into the sun from the peak. It was still a little bit hazy now as the sun was getting pretty low on the Stanley side of the island. When we reached the top, we were confusingly put out into a mall and I wasn’t sure where we went to get our view. I went up and up the escalators and saw one small spot to step out for a partial view. Finally at the top was a terrace and at first I was confused because it looked like I needed to pay for another ticket, but eventually they showed me that my HoHo Bus ticket included it. Now on the roof of the mall we had a full view – on one side was HK central and beyond that Kowloon Island where my hotel was, and on the other side of the terrace was the setting sun along the coast where Abderdeen and Stanley were. Very nice view. After spending some time I headed back to the funicular for my ride down and planned on continuing the red line tour, and planned on getting off at a temple a few stops down. As I got off the funicular I saw the HoHo bus turn around, and I was happy that I hit the right time, but after it turned around it took off without stopping. Disappointed I got to the stop and looked at the app and saw that another bus wouldn’t come for 45 minutes! I waited and waited, fumed a bit when I did the math and saw that by the time the next bus came around and I got to the temple, it would be closed. There was nothing I could do- no subway close by- I guess I could’ve taken a taxi, but I waited and it was dark when the next one arrived. I continued the red tour which went through the rest of Cental, through the area they call “midlevels” which was a hillside area where the cross streets were often staircases and now the newer areas had escalators. These escalators go up in the morning as businesses open, and then go down at night for dining options. The restaurants and bars looked trendy and full of business people. Not the type of area that a solo traveler wants to hang out , but again, I enjoyed browsing past the area. The temple I wanted to get to was cute but dark and closed, maybe another time. We looped back to the ferry station and here I got of, as the buses ended around 630 I jumped on the ferry back to Kowloon, now ready to eat a little something.

At 8 there is a laser light show across Victoria Harbor, so I wanted to hang around for that, and it was getting close to 7. I walked along the harbor front part of the ferry station and grabbed one of my most favorite Japanese meals- it’s basically like a hand held sushi meal- usually folded into triangles. I got a typical one which is salmon and a bit of mayo – which is surrounded by rice and then a seaweed wrapper that is kept magically crisp and dry by a special plastic layer. I grabbed dessert which was also a typical Japanese thing that you never know exactly what you are getting- it is like a sweet bun with sweet bean paste in the middle. If you are used to sweet desserts, it is not that, but I kind of like them, and this one was strawberry flavored. I was fully ready to be waiting for the light show, but what I forgot was that it would be chilly at night when there is a little breeze. Luckily the promenade was very nice and comfortable with benches and walking area with lots of people. I went up stairs to a platform area which was nice because from here I could look back on our side of the island and see the pretty HK Cultural center and old clock tower which was part of the show. Also on Kowloon was the city’s tallest skyscraper which had a little Christmas light show going on. Across the way a lot of buildings had a Christmas theme to them. The actual laser show was a little disappointing. There was music to it, and the lasers were timed with the music, but it was just a lot of flashing and color changing lights and laser beams moving around for about 15 minutes. Overall, the view of the harbor without the show was just as good- so I wasn’t disappointed overall, it is such a pretty city and harbour area. Luckily my hotel was not so far away, I strolled along the water a little further and then cut over to a big round building I can see from my room which turns out to be the planetarium. From this spot, looking across the street, the Peninsula Hotel was so pretty at night. It is lit up, but also covered in snowflake lights and red Santas. The fountain out front is all lit up and made for a pretty picture as I walked past, what a neat location to be in! I made it this far in the day, but with my jet lag, I was definitely asleep by 10 pm.

View across Victoria Harbor, the little green boat is a Star Ferrry

Stanley market

Aberdeen

An example of how dense the residential buildings are

A big mall on top and a Monopoly Museum- didn’t go

The whole city

Busy downtown area

Old train station clock tower and cultural center on right

Laser show

The Peninsula is even prettier at night

Getting to Hong Kong

When I first started looking for a December trip, the protests in Hong Kong had started, hadn’t become horrible yet, but I was well aware of what I could be getting myself into. I watched the news, read articles, got advice from Jeremy’s friend who lived there, and read forums about where things happened. I made sure I picked a hotel in a convenient area, I case getting around by subway or taxi became a problem, and also picked a place that I could eat and even go to a pool without leaving the building. At the worst of the protests, the blocks around my hotel were hit with vandalism and some of the subway stops were closed. The weekend before I left there was an election, and while it wasn’t to allow Hong Kong to be free, it allowed people to choose capitalist minded people that would fight for less hindrance from China, so people were happy and things seemed to die down. I knew that people were still afraid to go, so I would have less crowds and I was fine with that. Techanically, the US travel warnings for Hong Kong were milder than going to Paris, so I was never worried about my safety.

My flight was Portland- Seattle- Tokyo- Hong Kong. I think 24 hours of traveling. No big deal. Jeremy dropped me off in the morning around 630 and I set out with my lounge pass to make sure I took advantage of it. The pass in Portland now included $28 at a whiskey store- and hey it was midnight in Hong Kong now, so why not. I had a taste of a few whiskeys and a Bloody Mary. Honestly I am very picky about whisky, and I couldn’t handle more than a few sips of the tasters- they weren’t good enough, so I washed it down with the mediocre Bloody Mary and headed to the breakfast cafe. Here I had a forrest mushroom omelette, thinking of Jermey and his new mushroom foraging hobby. Flying to Seattle isn’t my favorite thing- you don’t get very high and so you just bump around in the clouds, not worth even getting a drink of water. Seattle airport was under construction and pretty busy so I just went as fast as I good to the International Terminal and went to a pretty nice lounge, I had a 3-4 hour layover. Just enough time to download apps for my trip, make some last minute emails, enjoy some snacks and a gin and tonic and listen to the business people chat about Asian cities.

The flight to Tokyo was pretty long, on Japan Airlines. I was in a 787, one of my favorites because it is really quiet inside and the ceiling is high and spacious. I was in the middle section of 4, but the other middle seat was empty and really the seats were pretty spacious and comfortable, so I was happy. My memory of Japan Airlines was that it was hot and the drinks super sweet- and this one was the same. My strategy was to sleep early to acclimate best. I waited for my dinner, which was a really delicious set of teriyaki salmon and a bunch of little salads topped off with some ice cream- I was stuffed, perfect for sleeping. I think it’s a 10 hour flight or something, and in my awake time I was able to watch 3 movies and nap in between, get up and walk around to the bathroom twice, and then before landing we had another meal- they called it dinner and it was 5 pm in Tokyo, but it looked more like breakfast. I snoozed again as we started our descent, and I’m not sure but seemed to take forever and it was super bumpy- maybe we had to circle the airport or something, I would open my eyes to look at the map and couldn’t quite figure it out. Once we landed the skies looked heavy, so I guess that explains it.

I have enjoyed Tokyo Narita airport in the past, but this time it was full of construction and long walks. I had an hour layover, but by the time I got to my gate I never saw the lounges and it was 20 minutes to boarding, so I just sat there until the mad rush of people pushing their way to the gate prompted me to get on as soon as I could. This flight was a 777 and not as comfy- Cathay Pacific- and also pretty full. I was on the aisle of the side seats with a nice Hong Kong couple, the husband spoke perfect English. About 20 minutes into the flight our TV sets stopped working and despite them trying to reset them, I wasn’t able to finish the Lion King. Food was mediocre and even though I would be getting in at 1030pm, I ended up napping a lot.

Immigration was super easy, they didn’t even stamp my passport, just scanned and quickly got me out. So quickly that I got to the baggage claim way early and stood watching for over 30 minutes. Eventually bags stopped coming and it said my flight had already come out. Disappointed, I made my way to the baggage service, hoping that they at least got my bags by tomorrow. But, they were convinced that bags were still coming out. I took a bathroom break and when I came back out, they had my bag! Awesome, just a really long time wasted. There is a nice train that goes to the airport to downtwon- the quickest way to get there, but with the protests, the direct line was down and I would have to transfer a few times, no fun with a bag, so I had decided to take an Uber. It just took a while to get to the car park area, and finally I was on my way. There are big hills in Hong Kong, so it is hard to see around, so most of the drive I was excited to see the city but never did. You have to cross a big bridge, go through a tunnel or 2 and suddenly I was in my area and the driver excitedly figured out that my hotel was the YMCA.

It is a real hotel, also called “The Salisbury”, and I’m not sure if the hotel part is separate economically or not, but it is in the same building as the HK headquarters and it happens to have a giant gym and several pools. It is also under construction, which is why it was only $70 for a pretty nice hotel, right next to the most prestigious hotels in town, The Peninsula. From the outside, the construction scaffolding wasn’t appealing, walking inside there was a lot of wood in the decor, and it felt dark and strange, not like a hotel at all. I walked over to the desk and the clerk spoke English pretty well. I tried to get an upgrade to a “Harbour side room” which is what I heard people were getting because of the lack of tourists. I was upgraded from a single room to 2 singles- basically getting me more space and my view looked over to the Peninsula and I had a glimpse down the side to the harbor. I settled into the room and was able to fall asleep even though I had slept a lot while flying.

Scramble to go at PDX

Breakfast in Seattle lounge

Spacious Japan flight

Yummy Japan Airline meal

Breakfast?

Portland

Since the last bit of traveling, Jeremy and I spent the summer and fall in Portland. We went back to get an idea if we’d like to settle down there again. The short answer is that while we love our friends in Portland, the city has changed a lot, and we are not sure it’s for us. Plus, now that we have had a taste of sunshine in other states, the clouds and rain were hard to manage.

From the end of June to Thanksgiving we house sat most of the time, using the website Trustedhousesitters.com that we started using in Utah. It was a great experience for us, we love trying out different neighborhoods, and seeing little things in each house that gives us ideas for future houses. Plus, we usually enjoy the pets and love helping people out.

We started out in a million dollar giant redone house in Lake Oswego, having dinner with the family the night before they took off. This house was a dream, I could get locked in there for weeks and not care- they had great art on the walls, every book looked exciting, and many places to hang out. Yet, we only had 5 days and we were busy running around seeing some friends.

For the 4th of July we had a great party at our old roommates’ Lake House. It was my first time there and it was amazing. Jeremy, (the other one, we call him J2 and my Jeremy is J1) is an architect and has built several houses around a man-made lake on property his family has owned for years. The main house is being renovated to do wedding receptions and gatherings, and we stayed in the guest house, a perfect little 1 bedroom with a loft that overlooks the lake. Most of the evening we spent by the lake in the paviliion with a giant outdoor fireplace. With a group of about 10 friends, this was a great intro back to Portland.

Around this time, I had developed hives after some strange unknown exposure to my arms (maybe sun related, maybe a dog, who knows), and our next house sit in Vancouver I was a hermit as I didn’t want to go outside, or move, and I was on a lot of antihistamines. The house was a relaxing place to be, and the 2 cats were rarely seen.

My hives started to improve as I did a weekend cat sit in Seattle but I still didn’t feel like getting out much while I was there. Enough to see that the city is now huge and so busy!

Then we moved into a longer sit with 1 cat, but a really big back yard without sprinklers and 90 degree days. So, I almost an hour each evening watering by hand. The house was simple, but the fun part was harvesting food from their back yard. We ate blueberries and raspberries daily, a few delicious figs, and then the pears and plums started raining down on us. We canned some plum jam and I froze tons of pears and plums to use for smoothies for the next few months. We did a lot of work there, including making it cleaner than when we arrived, yet somehow this place was the first to complain to us- the lady said she was disappointed that a few plants died! We mulched for her, and I watered every evening! I think the things that died were just things dying back and some things she transplanted at the wrong time, but I don’t know what she’s talking about, give me back that plum jam I gifted you!

We had an almost 2 week break then and we were tired of bumming rooms from our friends, so we went on a road trip in the truck. Headed north to Washington to check our our current legal address. We hit Rainier on a rainy day, but the fresh air and greenness made us happy. We sat in the lodge at Paradise reading for a bit and ended up eating dinner in the truck because of the rain and chill. After that we headed east to warmth and sunshine, I got to see a lot of the places Jeremy used to rock climb. Wenatchee was a new favorite place. We had some amazing camping nights on this side- one was a simple dessert area where we had a great campfire and Jeremy took star pictures. Another was a state park which we had to ourselves for most of the evening, and the quietness was perfect. I made it up to North Cascades National Park, a great entrance but then the rains came and a super crowded campground was a bummer. We actually spent a few nights in a state park pretty close to Vancouver- just a convenient and cheap place to stay. I actually don’t mind sleeping in the back of the truck, as long as we are parked close to a bathroom! Jeremy is a great cook when it comes to campfires and using his camp stove.

Next, our favorite house sit, and it was a dog! This is a special house, special lady, and a very special Havanese dog. The house has a pool which is the focal point of the courtyard, and there is also a great outdoor living room. The house is just fantastic with vaulted ceilings, lots of windows, and so tastefully decorated. The lady is a hoot. Her name is Jane, she still has her North Carolina accent, and you can tell talking to her, she comes from a classy family. She has had a fun life of travel, lived through 2 husband, and looks amazing at 70. She owned a llama farm and BnB in New Zealand, has NZ and Italian citizenships, and is in Portland because her son decided to settle here and once he had a child she had to be here. She loves to travel and does travel photography (https://www.janemaupinyates.com/). Her brother is an author, and mid-way through our sit I googled him and realized just how famous he is, and started reading his books, especially his Autobiography where I learned more about Jane’s family. Javi is super smart, super funny, and super needy. I called him my little shadow. He attached himself to me after Jane left, and was my buddy up until Jane came back (and then she had to pry him from me). Unfortunately the weather was not the best during our visit, and while we did use the pool for a week or 2, it was a lot less than we thought we would. We had friends over- Jen and her kids, Kim and her kids, and then 2 big dinner parties, and even our chef friend. My favorite parts were the warmer evenings where we could sit outside and hang out. Javi was easy- he liked hanging out at the house, but with Jeremy he liked to go to the park, or run around downtown Lake Oswego. Jeremy is not a dog person (he is allergic too), but he loved Javi.

Squeak the cat was our last house sit. A great homey place, easy cat that loved playing and laying on Jeremy. The folks here also very nice, they are ex-climbers, so a lot in common with us. Their bathrooms were the best rooms in the house, though honestly the low water pressure ruined the experience for me. They are also big into bird feeding, and Jeremy was busy keeping up on the feeders. They have tons of hummingbirds to watch and the suet attracted lots of chickadees and bushtits. If only their bed was a little bigger and firmer, this place would be perfect. Somehow they must have realized we were doing a good job and before they even came home to a perfectly clean house, they already invited us back in April. If things work out, we will be back at Jane and Javi’s right before that, which will be fun.

Oh yeah, Thanksgiving day we moved to our real last sit, a place we had been earlier in the summer and I forgot to mention. Jeremy’s friend M&M asked us to sit, she lives really close to Kim’s house. When we went over to meet her cats before she left, she showed me some wound care that one of the cats needed. I took one look at the cat and realized she was going to die while they were gone. She just had that look, but I was fine taking care of her and helping her. The day before we arrived, M&M took her to the vet to be put down. Made the visit easier for us, and it was crazy to see how the transition affected the other cat Frankie. Frankie had always been shy and most people never saw her. With her friend gone, we saw more and more of her on the first week sit, and then on Thanksgiving day I walked in and she was following me around the house until I pet her. So cute. We cooked Thanksgiving dinner at our friend Rebecca and Aarons house, and J2 and Patty (old roommates) joined us. The following day Kim had a big party at her house, I got to visit with her parents, her sister, and my friend Ken. My last evening in Portland we got to see our favorite Portland musician, Tony Furtado, he did a double show. He’s been doing Thanksgiving shows for 10 years now, hard to believe, we were definitely there at his first one. Jeremy started following him in 2002, and we have seen him in Colorado a few times too. A few more friends joined us, and then as we drove home it was snowing!

So, in the fall Jeremy was planning his December ice climbing trips and I realized I did not want to go where it is that cold (Montana and Alberta), and Portland in December is grey and wet, so I thought about it and planned a trip to Asia! I’ll be headed to Hong Kong and then a 28 day cruise around Asia, ending in Singapore.

view from the roof- I had to go up there to water some plants

Aziza never left my side the entire weekend

Oh yeah, we had another dog! Kiley the Golden doodle. sweet girl but lots of work

I did quite a few sweaters, eventually 5

my friend Jen’s daughter Lucy, modeling a sweater i made

my niece Abigail modeling a sweater i made

Rebecca and we making Thanksgiving dinner

Last days in Paris

I didn’t have a lot of plans for my Sunday in Paris. I only had 2 more days and I asked Jeremy what he thought I should make sure to do and his answer was “get up early and watch the stores and stalls set up for the day”, which is what I did most days anyway since I would usually be awake by 6 and the city doesn’t really get started themselves until 10. But, being Sunday it was particularly quiet as I got started for the day but I did take note of what he said- the downstairs fruit and veggie stalls were getting brought out to the sidewalks and the little white delivery trucks were bringing in the stuff for the restaurants. The bakery across the street had the guys wearing all white puling baguettes out of the oven. The mostly pedestrian streets were pretty quiet so I preferred to walk along the road instead of the sidewalk. I was head back to the island where Notre Dame was to a different church and to see how close I could get to Notre Dame from the front, there is a big square there with an archeological museum and the “Point 0” of France.

Sainte-Chapelle is a special little chapel made for the king in the 1200s. Back then the royal palace was on this island, and the King wanted a place to put a very important relic there, the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus. Now, the validity of this relic is pretty sketchy and apparently there is no mention of Jesus wearing this at his death in early parts of the Bible. But a few hundred years later it was brought up and at some point someone went to Jerusalem and dug in and area and said “I have it”. And eventually it was passed on to this King Louis IX and he built this chapel for the soul purpose of housing it. I’m not sure why, but eventually it was taken to Notre Dame and it is shown there on special occasions, and recently made famous when the fire at Notre Dame happened and someone was able to run into the fire and take it to a safe place.

Entering the chapel, you can’t really see the whole building, now it is partially surrounded by other buildings including a national court. The line to get in wasn’t too bad, and we entered in the back to the lower chapel which was still very pretty with dark ceilings, low light and some pretty stained glass. A very unusual feel to the place being so dark and the whole church not very wide. This is where other members of the palace would come to worship, the upstairs was only for the royal family. To get upstairs the staircase was a ridiculously narrow spiral stone staircase and seeing the height of the ceilings in this lower chapel, I knew it wasn’t short, so I elected to go find the elevator which took me around the whole budding and came out with a later built balcony that led to a really pretty door. Stepping into Sainte-Chapelle was amazing, I have never seen such a pretty church. Almost every inch of the wall is stained glass, and there is an overall blue hue to the place. There are candle chandeliers hanging (now electric) and otherwise the light is coming in at a low level (especially on a misty day like today) to bathe you in a dark blue light. Besides the overall beauty of the place, its as amazing to realize that each window had scenes from the Bible on one side, and then the other side re-enacted the finding and brining back of the Crown of Thorns. The altar is even very different with a very high pedestal and this is where the Crown of Thorns would sit, the focus because it was the soul purpose of the place – to house and commemorate them. Turning around, the rose window was just gorgeous, I would love to have a painting or a t-shirt with this on it, such a pretty shape and colors of the stained glass. It took my time looking at this place, at times just sitting and staring at the light, it was very comforting. As I mentioned, it was a misty day and that actually made it nice because the light was homogenous, I guess on sunny days you have a bunch of light coming from one direction and it makes it more uneven. I was really surprised that I didn’t come here before- I guess I probably went to Notre Dame and figured nothing could beat it. Unfortunately today I cannot compare, but as grand as nice as Notre Dame is, I think Sainte-Chapelle is prettier.

Back outside, I started to venture toward Notre Dame and randomly found a “Festival of bread”. There were several tents and set up inside where various baker stations. You got to watch them roll out the dough, decorate, add ingredients, it was a really fun thing to happen upon. There were some pieces for sale though I wasn’t hungry yet, and then there was one tent with completion level displays of breads in a decorative way- with a music theme. The best part for me was to watch them unclose making it look simple.

I was using my guided tour in the book and another interesting surprise for me was that there was a flower market here, and on Sundays it turned into a bird market. Bird markets are a strange European phenomena, instead of pet stores there are these markets where shops bring birds in cages and display them outside, I guess it seems more appealing this way. I just think it is sad to see them in such small cages. There were some cute brightly colored finches that I really liked, but I just wanted to put them in a giant cage the size of a house, or set them free wherever they came from. The flowers were planted ones, like a small green house.

On the other side of this, the streets were all blocked off, so that was the end of the Notre Dame observation. Otherwise, it had started to rain a little more and I had to pull my umbrella out. The weather forecast was that it was supposed to clear this morning and rain in the late afternoon, so that was wrong. Along the side of the island was a big building that was the old prison from around the Revolution, this is where Marie Antionette was kept before she was beheaded. You could take a tour, but somehow I wasn’t in the mood to go to a prison and see old cells. I walked around it, much prettier out here with castle like turrets that made you think of princesses being locked away. The final tip of the island was a pleasant little park that was empty on this rainy day but would be really great on a sunny day. There were a few cafes around and I was thinking about lunch, but they were pretty empty, so the atmosphere wasn’t there. At this point I walked over to the bridge, still using my umbrella and started to assess the rest of the day’s situation. In the end I decided to head back home and have lunch and reassess in my hotel how the weather would turn out, my other option was going to a museum for the afternoon, but I was still pretty tired from the long museum day and almost 20,000 steps that day, so I didn’t want to push it. I crossed the Seine and went through that neighborhood with lots of art galleries and small shops, window shopping along the way and then the active cafe street popped up and there was a fun band of guys playing some lively music on there corner. I realized I had heard them some evenings from my room, so I stopped to enjoy them and give them a little money.

I remembered that last Sunday I had missed brunch at this one cafe and their menu looked good, so I headed back there to eat, Cafe de Paris, a little more upscale than my crepe place. Brunch was still going on but it was a little annoying that you had to also order a “brunch platter” to go with the dish I wanted. The platter was delicious but it was a coffee, OJ, croissant and baguette with some butter and jam. Then the dish I was there for, a salmon poke bowl that was really delicious, so I am glad I went back and it was worth filling up with the rest of their tasty food. I took my time and the rain did settle down to a mist again. I went back to my hotel in the early afternoon but the forecast didn’t look so good, so I actually spent the rest of the day at home.

My final day in Paris. So, when I had met up with my friend Erin in Amsterdam I had told her I had gone to the Van Gogh Museum that day and she told me about a Van Gogh exhibit her friend had gone to that looked really neat- it was like walking through his paintings. She showed me that it was located in Les Baux, which is a town way south in France and she was disappointed when I told her I was far from Paris. I never looked into it, but then randomly I was in the Orsay Museum and was chatting with a lady from the US and I asked her what her favorite thing in Paris had been, and she told me about a Van Gogh immersive video experience and I realized it was the same thing. She told me to make sure I booked it in advance because it was selling out, so on that Friday I looked and saw the only day open was Monday. The location of it was a little further north than the Bastille and the only other thing to do in that area was the famous Le Pere Cemetery where Jim Morrison and a bunch of famous writers were buried, it was supposed to be interesting and pretty to walk through. So, I planned on going there first, but I woke up to a changed forecast again and I didn’t want to walk through the cemetery in the rain.

My museum appointment time was at noon and I decided to find a coffee shop on the way to spend some time in. I took the bus and got off to find that the coffee shop wasn’t even open today. I searched around for another one and never found anything appealing, so I just headed to the museum early. I guess you can also show up and try to get in for the day- but there was a sign that said they were not accepting anyone else. I knew a little from the video my friend showed me, but really nothing prepared me for what I was about to see when I entered- the biggest reason I say that was the size.

This set up is in a giant warehouse, and while it is a rectangular room it has different shapes along the walls and then a few small rooms built into the center. I would guess there are probably 50 or more projectors displaying the “movies” onto the various walls, floors, ceilings and they are not all showing the same thing and some are overlapping. The actual movie is like an artistic combination of Van Goghs works of art, combined with some photographs, some letters to his brother, and then the background music which varied from classical, to jazzy, to modern. I walked in to the dark room and there was color and light all around me, and it was overwhelming to go anywhere as there isn’t really a main place to see it all, and there was one line of bench seats all full and then around some poles there were a few seats. I was watching the seats but realized that not many people were going anywhere, they were mesmerized and others were filming with their cameras. I tried filming some to distract me from all of the options, and then about 10 minutes later I found a seat for the last 5 minutes of the Van Gogh show. At the end of the show they show the last few paintings he did and had a chaotic “Please don’t let me be Misunderstood” song and then the last scene is the dark field with the black crows (I’m pretty sure not his very last painting, but in the last few months), and the crows get closer and closer until the black of the crow fills the room for the end, and then Vincent’s name in red is all that remains. As the credits rolled I felt more comfortable getting up to wander and check things out, behind me was a bridge and below it was some water where the movie was also projected, they had some bubblers in the water to make it move and this accentuated the movement. I had forgotten that there were other “showings” with this and next the one called “Japanese Dream” started which featured the old Japanese wood prints that were so influential over Van Gogh, Monet, and more. It started out with some pretty fans that moved a lot and then progressed into a strange forest where creatures moved around and warriors appeared and disappeared. There was this square area here that I finally realized was a little room, and I went in it to find like a hall of mirrors- well, one square room but so many mirrors it looked like there were 100s of me, and the mirrors were also on the ceiling, and they had a slightly reflective floor that bounced colors and light all around. At one point in the Japanese dream it was like a Kaleidoscope on the ceiling, it was so pretty! This made me want to explore more, so I set out to the other side of the room which featured a balcony area above it, and a lot of open space. So many people were on the stairs to the balcony so I figured it must be a good view up there. One other little room in the middle was a little disappointing- but it actually was projecting the pieces of art that the images were coming from with the artist name and dates. There was also a sign for a “bar” and I checked that out first, wondering if there was an elevator to the balcony from it. I walked into the bar and it was like a miniature theater there, little comfy chairs set around a wrap around screen and behind it was the bar with snacks and beverages. While I was there, the 3rd film started, called Verse, and it was really neat. It was about universes and it was a computer animated imagery that looked like a bunch of stars and then would zoom in to little explosions and pretty colors all to a very dramatic soundtrack. I sat down for a little bit and saw on the wall they had a clock saying how long until the Van Gogh show. At 5 minutes to go I got up and asked the bartender about the elevator and indeed they had one, so I had a behind the wall way up to the balcony. However, once I got there, it was pretty crowded. There was a line of chairs along the railing and then people standing behind the chairs, and I’m pretty short so it was hard to see a lot as the Van Gogh movie started, but I could see that from this angle, you could really see a lot of the show, though you weren’t so close up. Toward the end of the Van Gogh show I was able to get a seat and I stayed there for the next 2 movies. The Japanese one is really nice, there is one part that has these giant ocean waves- a common theme in Japanese art and then it transitioned to these giant moving fish that was really cool. The big disappointment was that the “Verse” movie was not that good on the big walls, I think it was just not detailed enough so all blown up it was not so good, and I could tell the people around me agreed.

I gave up my balcony seat and was excited to roam around now that I had seen all of the films from the balcony- I think the best thing for someone would be to enter at the balcony and watch there first, then wander around and it wouldn’t be so overwhelming. Now, wandering to the water area, the kaleidoscope room, finding which walls I liked best- usually not the big walls, this was the fun part. I was disappointed to find out that the kailedoscope room did not show kaleidoscopes during Van Gough- it was a lot of color but pretty boring. In the end, for color and excitement, the Japanese Dream was my favorite. So, in the end I spent almost 3 hours in there, or more, and watched the 3 movies 3 times. Fantastic, so worth it.

I walked out and the weather was not so bad, but I was really happy with my experience and didn’t want to go to the cemetery. I took the bus back to my neighborhood and was so hungry for lunch, but I also wanted to check out some pastry and chocolate shops. Luckily as I was walking from the stop, I found the perfect restaurant. It was called something “galette” and those are the buckwheat crepes I love, and I said to myself that if they had the one with scallops on it, I was going for it. And they did. And it was perfect. Giant perfectly seared scallops with a creamy leek sauce in the middle. A block later I got to the bakery I wanted, La Duree which I had checked out on the Champs Elyesses and bought the pistachio pastry to take home to eat later. I did a little siesta at home and then in the evening went for a stroll to do a little shopping. I have a sister-in-law having a baby later this summer, so I looked at baby clothes, bought some chocolate for my mother-in-law and macarons to share with mom. At 8 I made my way home and had one last dinner at the place around the corner that I usually eat crepes at. This time I went for the last French meal I hadn’t had yet- mussels. I giant pot of them in a nice sauce, but there were so many that the accompanying fries and bread were wasted on me. I also had my usual Eurepean cocktail- Aperol Spritz as a way to say good bye to the continent.

The next morning I had a successful bus trip to the airport and made my way to Maryland.

the new normal of Paris. check out that kid…

making Pain au chocolat which I eat most mornings at my hotel

pretty finches. almost like Great Grandma’s

seems like you can’t walk a block without seeing something this amazing

walking into the Van Gogh Immersive Museum

the one wall of bench seats- I never saw an opening

another one of my favorites, the petals would fall off and flutter around

Museums (and more) in Paris

I got started early today so I went for the rest of the guided walk around my neighborhood, which started at the church that was basically right behind my hotel, called St. Germain Des Pres which is considered the oldest church in Paris. It had its start as a Roman temple, then an abbey that was on the outskirts of medieval Paris, and now the neighborhood is named for the church. From the outside it is not very pretty, but the inside had a really nice blue ceiling with high gothic arches. Outside, there are 2 famous cafes here that used to be famous for writers going there, but now I think they are just tourist spots with big outdoor seating.

My next stop was the St. Sulpice church where I had gone to on my first night’s dinner walk., but today I was able to go inside. This church is on a really grand square and the front of the church has these giant colonnades and then 2 towers on either side, but not in a gothic style like Notre Dame. Just inside the first chapel had some paintings by Delacroix which were really nice- I like seeing art in a location that it was meant to be like this. The altar area had a really strange but neat statue of Mary and Jesus on top of a 3 dimensional rock and Mary was tramping on a snake. In another chapel is a copy of the shroud of Turin- it looks way too creepy to be real.

And, finally, my last part of the walk was Luxembourg Gardens, I had wanted to go here for a few days but it was always left to the end of the day and I was tired. My friend told me he loved coming here and watching the real Parisians hang out. It is a giant garden surrounding an old palace, and nowadays underneath the garden is a hidden complex that has the French secret service. Turns out there is not much of a “garden” here, more of the French style of gardens which is mostly trees and hedges in very straight lines and gravel paths to walk through- some pavement. It was very nice and tranquil though and I did find kids on some sort of scavenger hunt, locals reading papers on benches, and very active tennis courts. I tried to find the “chess playing area” and boules court but was unsuccessful, but some areas were roped off and some new things were bing planted, so I think they were just getting spruced up. The main event is a large pond that is directly behind the old palace and there are lots of different areas and levels here to hang out and relax. Here I did see an amusing thing- 2 middled aged ladies pretend sword fighting- not fencing but with heavy looking swords, mostly just like a coordinated dance with them- and I imagine this is a good workout, maybe it will be the next big thing. I circled around the pond and found some actual flowers that were very pretty, and soon I was at the exit and ready to take my bus.

I had planned on going to the Orangerie Museum this morning and then going to the Louvre in the afternoon. On my way to the Orangerie I realized that the bus stop was actually at the Orsay Museum, so I figured I should actually start there.

The Orsay is my favorite museum in Paris. It is set in an old train station, so you walk in and the whole place is very open and on both ends there are giant clocks. The center is open to the ceiling and features some sculptures and then the art rooms are off to both sides, and the art here is mostly post-1500s good stuff, especially in the 1800s Impressionist French art that I love. I used my guidebook’s audioguide to point out the important stuff and I liked how they focused on the transition of art. So, one of the first rooms was showing the old classical style of art- showing Roman Goddesses nude and perfect, but then in the 1800s the artists bucked the system and started showing nudes more realistically and in modern settings- this was very controversial and while I like both styles, I can see the goods and bads of both. I think that the old nudes were pretty but they honestly look like 12 year old girls and we shouldn’t show this as the idealistic beauty as it is not possible for adult women to look like this. On the other hand the modern nudes would show things a little too graphically at times, not so pretty- or it would seem strange to have a nude woman sitting in a French park with modern dressed men. I’m not sure of the purpose, but on one side of the museum there was a model of Paris that they put under a glass floor and it was interesting to see the layout of the streets. They also had a model of the Opera House of Paris, a place I haven’t been to but it was really amazing to see it as a model and they had a cross section of it and it was amazing to see that the stage area was like twice as big as the seating area, a lot going on back there.

Upstairs in the Orsay was my place- the Impressionists- who starting with Monet started painting things not so exact, but with little dabs of paint that might not look like much close up- not the usual exact black outlined images- but from far away they colors blend together to make a gorgeous painting. Monet, Renoir with his gorgeous innocent looking girls, Pisarro, Cezanne, Degas and his ballet dancers. Oh such pretty stuff. One of the Monets had me captivated it was a simple forest scene but the path and trees looked so 3 dimensional that I wanted to touch the painting and feel the velvety look of the bushes. I also enjoyed seeing the little French town I had recently visited, L’etrat in some paintings- the town with the big cliffs and arch windows. At the end of this floor I was ready for a break and some lunch and there was a nice cafe there that was pretty busy but I was able to get in and have a delicious salad and a little iced coffee to give me a pick me up. My final stop was lower in the building where there were a few Van Goghs, but none were my favorite after seeing so many good ones in Amsterdam.

Now I was ready to see the Orangerie Museum which required crossing the river and then walking through the big Tuileries Garden which ended at a giant pond where tons of people were sitting and relaxing- the weather today was pretty cloudy but still nice and warm. The special thing about the Orangerie is they feature a few giant canvases of Monet- of his gardens and a pond with Lilly pads. Jeremy and I went to his house and gardens on the way to Normandy, and we loved it so much. It was really fascinating to see the place where these paintings came from. I must say that last time I was here, I didn’t like these water Lillies so much, he painted them as he was going blind and they are very abstract, I like his paintings that you can see the scene. But, this trip was different, I had seen the source since then, and I tried a new technique. You can sit in the middle of the room surrounded by the 4 paintings per room (and 2 rooms), but what I found is that if you start walking by the paintings, it feels like you are there at the pond. There were tons of people sitting in the middle looking bored and unimpressed and I was walking along the walls glancing around like you would if you are taking a walk in the woods, and I had a big grin on my face, people probably thought I was crazy. Overall, it is a great example of art being shown in a place that they were made for, and the light on them was so nice.

Downstairs in the Orangerie there is another collection of art that came from a couple of high class citizens from the 1800s. They were friends with a lot of the painters and were often gifted things, and bought more, and now the family has put the collection together in one place. I like this sort of collection because it makes you think that these paintings were chosen because one person liked them all, so it shows you a little about that person. There was also a special exhibit that really blew me away. It was 2 different painters that were actually friends, they were both German and you could see how their styles developed and were similar to each other for a while, but in the end both were killed in WW1 in their young years. Their names were Macke and Marc and it was funny how at first I clearly liked one over the other, but then Marc came out in the end a colorful gorgeous painter that I was amazed that I had never noticed before.

I was on a roll with having a good time in museums and tonight the Louvre was open late, and on my way home anyway, so I decided to go for it. It was a 20 minute walk back through the Tuileries Garden to get there, but it was very busy and energetic, so pretty and fun to walk through. On the other end of the garden there was another giant pond with chairs full of people sitting- it is Friday night- and then some flowery section before reaching the big courtyard where the giant glass pyramids of the entrance of the Louvre. It was a bit of a circus there with people taking pictures and getting excited. Once I entered I did have to spend a little bit of time charging my phone while eating a sandwich. I used my audioguide tour for the Louvre to give me an overview of this massive museum. I think this is what Jermey and I did last time because otherwise it is so easy to get lost or not no what to really focus on. The problem was that still following this route it made me struggle to find out where to go, and while there are elevators in the museum, this was an old palace so there are so many little in between levels and hallways that it was hard to always find an elevator going where I wanted to go, so it was pretty tiring. I saw the big things in the ancient world- the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and walked through hallways of Greek and Roman statues. I headed to the main paining gallery which was a little uncoordinated as one whole section of the museum was closed today. This gallery was mostly old stuff- 1400-1600s but a lot of gems. The Louvre has the most Da Vinci’s then any other museum in the world, but it is a total of 5, but they are the jewels of the museum, including the famous Mona Lisa which gets its own room with a giant crowd around her. When I went in, the crowd wasn’t as bad as when I was there last time, and honestly I liked the Mona Lisa a lot better this time, she seemed bigger, smilier, and brighter than before. Maybe she was renovated since I saw her, or as my guidebook suggested, she is what you are feeling, so if you are happy then you will see that she looks happy. I backtracked the painting gallery which they say is the length of 3 football fields- and maybe I only saw 1 length of it. Even though the museum was open until 10, at 915 they started to push us out, so I spent one last moment in a big gallery with a bunch of French historical art. The last part of the audiotour would have been some Michelangelo statues, but I couldn’t find them in time before they started to push us out the door. But, for this type of museum I was happy with he 3 hours I got to spend there.

Outside I was treated to a gorgeous pink sunset that was happening across the way by the gardens. I made my way to a river bridge and from there the sunset got a lot brighter and was so pretty, so even though it was late and I had a long day, I had a smiling walk home.

I knew I needed to take it a little more easy after I overdid it on Friday, so Saturday I tried to sleep in and then was headed to another Monet museum. I got on the bus and was prepared for a 40 minute ride, but I didn’t get too far and suddenly the bus stopped and said it was the end. I prepared to wait for the next bus but the driver saw me and said, “no more bus”. I asked why and he said, “on Saturdays, buses can’t cross the Seine”. Well, that made no sense, but someone confirmed this and I looked and found no decent Metro way there- 3 different trains!- and to keep my plan I just decided to take an Uber. It was kind of fun because I had a nice driver and I did the Uber pool and in the back seat were 2 Missouri people that I chatted with all the way there, sharing tourist information along the way.

Finally at Marmottan, I was ready to tour- I had also been here with Jeremy and my friend Ken before. This was someone’s old mansion that they kept the original art in, and they were good friends with Renoir who painted their daughter in one of the main rooms. The special exhibit was about “Orientalism” which was an era of artists being obsessed with Middle Eastern culture- mostly in the 1800s. The funny thing is that a lot of the artists hadn’t been their so they would take clothing and jewels from there, dress up local women and then paint them, but you could obviously tell the difference. There was one major artist who did go and supposedly went to see a harem and made one painting of a woman bathing in a harem, and from this 1 painting so many people copied the patterns and looks. Some of my favorites were desert scenes from people who obviously had been there, you could see the intense heat in the skies they painted.

Downstairs its his museum is the greatest collection of Monet in all of the world. It is a collection that was from the Monet family, so very personal. The first one I saw is my favorite from lsat time, a lovely water scene with a sun so orange and bright you see it from far away and it looks unreal. The others I liked were a nice Dutch tulip field, and a train station that was amazingly active with big puffs of smoke and a giant old train. There were tons of water lily paintings- not as big as the ones in the Orangerie, but still fun to walk by and sit and enjoy from different angles and distances. It was amazingly quiet in this museum and I had this basement garden all to myself.

I decided that my other activity of the day was going to be to walk the famous boulevard of Paris, the Champs-Élysées. I found a bus that would get me there and the walk to the bus was through a nice park. I decided I would eat around here as the Champs-Élysées is pretty fancy, so it would probably be really expensive. I checked some reviews and picked a bakery that had nice sandwiches, though I was a little disappointed when I got there and it was a pretty small place with only 2 tables to sit for lunch, it was a busy bakery otherwise with locals picking up their daily baguettes and such. I had a quiche and as I was sitting there eating, I realized I hadn’t seen any buses on this street, and the bus stop was right outside the building, I started to wonder if the buses were running today and then just as I was finishing my lunch I saw one coming, so I ran out to catch it. I was cruising along and suddenly it was “everyone out, this is the end”, this time 2 stops from my planned departure. I looked and saw it was an extra 10 minutes of walking, so I just went for it. This was a nice area so there were clothing stores, fancy boutiques to look at along the way. The actual beginning of the walk I intended to do was at the Arc de Triumph, in the middle of a crazy traffic circle that we had to drive around on our last visit. It is a giant symbol of the city, made after Napoleon as a War Memorial. Being a popular tourist stop, it was surrounded by police and National Guard- though this also might be because it was Saturday and protests are very common in Paris. The Champs-Élysées starts here and then goes slightly downhill ending at the Tuileries Garden where I was yesterday. The boulevard used to be all about fancy dressed locals showing up to be seen, but overtime it was become more for regular people as well, but still is about strolling and shopping. The driving part of the street is 4 lanes wide and then the walking area was almost as wide on both side (though includes a bike lane). It was still pretty full of people despite the width and there were plenty of interesting things to look at though I was disappointed because fancy car dealerships have now moved out fo the area and it is mostly clothing, jewelry, and perfumes now. I was going to stop at a famous bakery- it was a super fancy building and I used their bathroom, but when I saw that a pastry was $5 extra to sit and eat, and I didn’t want to just walk and eat it here, I decided to wait until another time- there is a branch by my hotel.

About 2/3 down the walk I got to the “park-like” part of the Champs-Élysées and I noticed that they had it blocked off so you couldn’t drive there. I crossed over and then realized that police were also not allowing pedestrians either, which is strange because they were allowing people to walk out. I tried asking directions and info from the police and they just pointed to one side of the park. I started to walk there and realized I couldn’t go around either. Someone stopped to say it was because of protestors. I saw where I was and realized no buses would come here today, Uber I tried and they kept cancelling- probably because of road closures, so I was ready to get out of there and ended up walking over to a taxi to get a ride. Very nice driver, he was a young Algerian, but it was almost $20 to get home because the traffic was messed up, but I don’t think it would have been easy to get out otherwise, on the way I saw more and more road closures, but never any protesters, just the guards all ready for it with lots of big weapons and big police vans.

But, I had wanted an easy day, and here it was early evening and I decided to have another buckwheat crepe at the cafe by my place. It was nice weather and a fun afternoon activity to have that and a beer and take my time people watching. I grabbed a little tart at the bakery across the street and took it up to my room to have later in the evening when some thunderstorms came through and I could sit by the window and see the umbrellas come up and then see everyone start running when things got a little heavy and then the little streets became 1/2 filled with a river of water. I’m glad I was in for the evening!

that’s almost $1.5 million for 700 square feet

these old Citroens give people tours of the city

an example of the old type of art, the nude Greek Goddesses

I love these Haystacks, and recently one of Monet’s sold for $10 million

this image is distorted but this is the full size of one of the Water Lillies and there are 4 per room

one of the Macke abstracts in the special exhibit

this is how people hang out in the Tuileries

In the Tuileries Garden, this is one end of the Louvre

I like the Pyramid entrance to the Louvre, but when it was made it was not well liked by the Parisians. The architect that designed it, IM Pei, died today

all statues were modeled after her, the balance of the legs and arms is standard now

winged Victory. she is not in good shape, but this was considered to be the most important influential statue on all art (made 2000 BC)

the grand gallery that is supposedly 3 football fields long

I like this Da Vinci, something is suspicious about the face of St. John the Baptist

this lady taking the lead in the French Revolution is ficticious but is an important symbol for the country

the top of this photo is a picture Jeremy took at Monet’s Garden and bottom is Monet’s painting

Me on Monet’s bridge 10 years ago and Monet’s painting of it

inside the mansion of the Marmottan Museum

a Renoir painting of the owner’s daughter.

this painting started the fad that was Orientalism. Does this lady look Middle Eastern?

and is there much nudity in the Middle East?

this felt real, I liked it. Reminds me of Lawrence of Arabia

wow, you can’t capture my favorite Monet in a picture

a statue of Monet made by someone else, and one of Monet’s paintings

better angle standing on the Champs-Élysées

French Revolution. you can see a little “Winged Victory” combined with that one painting

it used to be all fancy, and now there’s a McDonalds! This one makes the most money in France

The Gendarmerie waiting for protesters- I never saw them

and from my window with my pre-storm dessert

Disneyland Paris

I don’t remember why a few weeks ago I suddenly remembered Disney was in Europe. I remembered it was in France, but that was all I knew, and I googled and realized that it was no longer called Eurodisney, but now Disneyland Paris, and it was an hour outside of Paris. I also remember that shortly after Jeremy and I vacationed in France for a few weeks someone mentioned going there, and I know I said to Jermey, “why on earth would someone come all the way to Paris and go to Disney?!” But, this time around I had many days in Paris and I suddenly wanted to see what it would be like. Reading reviews, things were mixed but that didn’t stop me.

Getting up early to make sure I got there early, the plan to get there was to take 2 trains, the “RER” trains like I took to Versailles, and the was so easy, so I was excited for it. The problem was that my first RER train was in an ancient train station. Luckily it was all down stairs, but there was not one escalator or elevator. I knew from looking that this same train station was the way to get to the airport, so I at least learned this in advance before going with my roller bag. And, the trains were packed, it was work time. I stood on the first train to go 1 or 2 stops and then was pleasantly surprised that the 2nd station had escalators and I was happy to quickly find the correct train, with he final destination listed with Mickey Mouse ears. AS this train went further and further away from the center of the city, there were less and less people on it and I was able to see suburban Paris which was almost as dense as the inside but with more modern apartments.

The great thing about taking the train to Disney, is that you walk out of the train station, walk 20 feet and you are at the entrance to the park. There are 2 parks one is Disneyland and the other is Disney Studios. With the studios is also a Disney Village, all of the entrances were right here. I had thought about going to the studios since it was so convenient, but figured it would be too much in 1 day. They say that Disneyland Paris is modeled after Disneyland California but I’ve either not been there, or don’t really remember it, but it definitely was different than Disneyworld. First we were in front of a big pink building that was the entrance, with a big Mickey clock on top. Pretty flowers and a fountain was in front making a grand entrance. Tickets are interesting, you can buy on the app the night before for almost 1/3 the price of walking in. Also, the park opens at 10 am, but I had read that people would get in at 930 and maybe find some rides not open, and it was now 915 and I lined up to get in and shortly things were open.

Main Street was great but was a little different than Disneyworld. Town Hall was to the left and then the shopping street wasn’t as long, and we all lined up to head down toward the castle, which was also different. I loved hearing the young kids when they first saw the castle, they were pretty amazed, and it is pretty, very pink. It was surrounded by pretty flowers and you couldn’t help but stop and admire it, take some pictures with everyone else. I had read that the best way to go through was to go straight ahead first as most everyone would start at one side of the circle or other, but I didn’t care, it wasn’t that crowded and I was starting with Frontierland. I stepped into it and straight ahead was a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a little bit different but very pretty on the middle of a pond. As I admired the view, I was surprised to see that just beside the lake was the Haunted Mansion, and then the big paddleboat came along and I decided to get on it. It was nice because everyone went to the top deck and I was all alone on the bottom, nice and quiet. The narration was a combination of English and French that was fun. It gave me a little overview of this area, there was a lot of open area where kids were playing and running around, then we went along the back where the park ended and I could make out some buildings that I think were part of Disney Studios. When we looped back around the railroad, there were some cool geysers that I don’t think are in Dinseyworld and a big Utah-like arch along the water. Going past Haunted Mansion I decided it was my next stop as it was the last thing on the loop. The line was not long at all, and my first surprise was that there was no cemetery with my favorite tombstones. You enter instead from the front porch into one little room, which was not the elevator room, so I was disappointed again, but then we left that room into the real elevator room. Perfect. I think that the ride was pretty much the exact same otherwise.

I had the app for the park as the best way to figure out where I was and what was available-it even had wait times. The rest of Frontierland was the shooting gallery and then some play areas, which led to Adventureland. The Swiss Family treehouse was connected to a big area of outdoor fun with waterfalls, hanging bridges, tunnels and caves. AT the back was an Indiana Jones roller coaster- I’m not into those, and then Pirates of the Caribbean which I skipped because of a long line and having been to Disney recently. I’m not sure the name of the next part of the park- but it was the pretty German style buildings and the Peter Pan and Snow White rides which luckily did not have long lines. I started to get hungry and found “Mr. Toad’s pub” and decided this is where I would have lunch, a very English Fish and chips. A few new to me attractions were next- an outdoor little boat ride and roller coaster like train but they seemed pretty short, so I just walked around the grounds of this area which had lots of ducks including lots of little cute babies. I also walked into a character meet and greet- here you can just line up, no appointment or anything, and I really enjoyed watching the kids. Here there was a princess, I think Cinderella, and the littlest kids were just mesmerized and kept giving hugs. They pick such good people to play the characters, and they were so good and patient with the kids and with posing. Another meet and great around the corner was Alice and Wonderland characters and I cracked up when this one little girl was telling the Mad Hatter a story but she refused to get her picture taken with them unless her dad held her. There was an interesting labyrinth here with hedges and little statues, I almost went through it until I realized it also involved crawling through some structures.

My big disappointment of the day was that “It’s a Small World” was closed. I had read that the park often had rides that closed, so I don’t know if this was temporary or not, but I never went back to check. I read one reviewer who said 2 separate rides stopped while they were on them! That has never happened to me before.

I did get to go on the Star Wars ride, not a long line at all but the most entertaining thing about it was that it was all in French and C-3PO had a great voice in French. I think Space Mountain here is also Star Wars related, they called it “Hyperspace Mountain”. Beside it, surprising me, was the Disney Philharmagic theater which I got right in on. After that I never got on any other rides, I had done everything I had wanted to. I wandered back to the castle wondering about shows and parades, but I never saw any or saw any signs or anything on the app, There was a stage with a giant Elsa crown, and while sitting here looking around I saw the princess Ariel walk around the castle and the kids got so excited to see her. The center castle has a lot to it here. Underneath you wrap around and go inside to a dragon’s layer. On the main level are some shops and some random forest creature scenes. Above one layer is a Cinderella story in stained glass, very pretty. I walked around and chilled by the castle thinking about my plan. The fireworks were at 1030, I had seen what I wanted to see and the afternoon cloud cover was making it chilly, it was 3 pm but I decided to make my way out of the park.

I spent a little time on Main Street, I shopped a little for a friend of mine’s little girl who loves Disney but in the end I couldn’t buy clothing because I knew she would grow out so fast, and I was unsure about the Europe vs US sizes, so instead I got her a card and a Disney pin. I was a little disappointed in the available snacks here, noting looked exciting. After a bit, I was done and wandered out of the park to the train station and had a pretty quick ride home. I decided not to take the second RER train with that ancient stained station and went for the known staired Metro station where at least the last set was an escalator.

On the way home I stopped for a delicious buckwheat crepe and cider at the cafe around the corner. Great people watching for a while until some really annoying girls were flirting horribly with these business guys-or maybe they weren’t flirting, they may have been paid company, but it was disturbing and they were loud.

I had one other thing on my mind for tonight. It is the 130th Birthday of the Eiffel Tower and a few days ago I randomly found this out and read about a nighttime laser show that was only going on for 3 nights. The first show was at 10, and I knew it was not going to be easy for me to see it as I was usually reading in bed by 9 each night. I figured that I could see it on the way back from Disney because I thought I would be coming back late, but instead I had a little evening siesta at home before going out at 9. I found a direct bus to the place called the Trocadero- this is where everyone goes to view the Eiffel Tower- it is up on an elevated area part of a giant palace I think- it is really neat to see from up on the Eiffel Tower as well, it is a giant semi-circle of grand columns. I was hoping I would get there early and be able to get a position on the balcony. But, when I arrived, it was already pretty crowded, and I didn’t reapply that there isn’t really a balcony- there is just the top platform and then tons of sets of stairs with little landings all the way down to the river. I decided I would go for the highest platform and just stand there, and I found a family to stand around with a few kids so that I had a clear view. Until the crowds got worse and at one point there were a bunch of people trying to butt in front of me to go down the stairs (even though here there were people sitting on the stairs), and when I stepped a little to the side to let people go, a Chinese couple got right in front of me! There really was no room for them, they fit only by the girl’s hair being right in my face and then they would occasionally turn around and do Selfies and I would glare at them for being so rude and taking my spot. Beside me was a little Spanish lady who din’t have a good view and instead kept leaning and pushing on me, so I had to surprise her with my Spanish and Kindly ask her to give me some space.

So, the show. Right before the show, the Eiffel Tower did it’s usual night time thing which as light up with yellow lights that then moved around like sparkles. It was like this even on our last trip and while I never got to this spot to see it, Jeremy went one night up here taking pictures and videos for me. Then, the special show which was 20 minutes long and consistent of altering songs and colors and moving lasers. I think the music was coming from the Champs du Mars, so it wasn’t super loud, but you could always hear it. One interesting bit was they did a radio static noise and tuning sound and made the lasers turn the tower into an old radio tower, pretty cool. There was one other part with fancy sad music and the tower was blue and it was only later that I looked at my picture and saw that the lasers showed the rose window of Notre Dame and some words that were something like “We mourn for our lady”. The final show was very bright with a brilliant blue and exciting music. The mood around the Trocadero was fun though there was a little bit of a argument about phones as some people’s plan was hold their phone above their head as high as they could, but this blocked other people’s views. I got back at the Chinese people by talking through their video taking. Both of them had their phones up and were videoing and one time I said, “OH, this is nice, you push me out of the way so that you both can stand in front of me and video this”. And when it was done, there was this interesting push and shove match as new people wanted in, and we wanted out. I don’t know how I made it out of there, and turned the corner to the bus stop where there were about 50 people standing. I tried to jockey to the front, luckily the first bus was not the one I wanted and most people got on. But, mine came shortly and was stuck before the stop, and everyone started running to get on it and I got stuck behind them, but once I did get in, I was able to demand a seat and we all pressed in very close, mostly people standing and there was not one more inch for people to get in. Yes, in the end, it was worth it!

Train station on the right, Disneyland entrance on the left

Paris- Marais and Old City

Even though I had done part of this city walk before, Jeremy and I enjoyed it and we hadn’t hit a few spots, one of which was a square that was one of my friend Ken’s favorites, so I decided to start from the beginning, which was the Bastille. There’s a few parts of French history when you hear of the people “storming the Bastille” in revolutions, it was a military fort. But, now it is no more, the area is just a big traffic circle with a nice column in the middle. The last time we visited we went by on a bus and there was a bunch of construction, so we didn’t see much. This time my bus left me off a few blocks away and I had a nice tree lined boulevard to reach it, and there was still some construction around it- you can’t actually get to the middle of the circle where the column is, but I’m starting to wander if that is the point- maybe it is not construction but just an ugly blockade to keep people from congregating there. Not just because of protests, but also just the havoc on the traffic around it (Arc De Triumph has fixed this by making an underground tunnel to the center of the circle). Well, it was nice to stand there and see where all that history was made, and across the way was a new Opera house that was very grand. The next boulevard I walked down was even grander with old mansions with interesting stories. My guidebook pointed out a gas station. I remember Jeremy and I almost running out of gas driving into Paris because you can’t find gas station! Well, as this one demonstrated, they are often just 1 pump in front of a parking garage- no sign or anything.

My first big stop was at an old mansion that is now partly a hotel, and partly a government building, it was amazing to go from the busy boulevard then step through the courtyard into a park like setting that felt thousands of miles away. These mansions were often taken during the revolutions as people said “you don’t need all this!” And then reused it for other things- it’s a nice recycling idea, cheaper for the government than building brand new buildings. Although I was confused as I thought this was the “Place de Vosges” that my friend spoke highly of, but then realized I was supposed to go through another courtyard and then I was there! This plaza was giant, but it had a little ring that cars could park in, so not as park like. This was a really giant mansion- part of it had king and queen apartments in it, Louis XIII period, and under this building was a roofed walkway with shops and cafes. In the center of all this was a big park with a grand Louis statue and little ponds and nice trees. A pleasant place to sit on a weekday morning. I did spend too much time trying to find the little Victor Hugo house on the square until I finally realized it was closed, and then headed out of the square to dive in to The Marais neighborhood. This was the old very posh part of town with a great place to live, and then later it became run down, transforming into the Jewish Quarter, and now it has turned around again and is becoming very gentrified- I was really shocked to see it really because 10 years ago it was a little bit seedy.

I decided to go to the Picasso museum here, there was one Paris History Museum that I was interested in but this museum has been under renovation for like 20 years, and still not open. The Picasso museum was great, I used to love Picasso but knowing his life story has turned me off a little. Honestly I think the man was egotistical but also with low self esteem. So, basically that made him a womanizer. I can’t remember how many times he was married, and then the mistresses and many children. So, a lot of his paintings are of women, nude women and he started this modern art idea of drawing people in different ways- faces with 2 sides, noses in the wrong place, circles for boobs. At times I just get frustrated with all of the circled women that he drew, but lately I have felt a little sorry for him. I really think that he wanted love, but he didn’t know how to give it and he only looked at women sexually, so he was always unsatisfied and looking for more, and while that is pitiful, it is also a little sad. I went into the museum knowing a lot of his work and not being sure what I’d think today, but honestly there were times I would see a painting and just look at it mesmerized and so impressed with the emotion that his shapes and colors brought with his work. The other fun thing, I’m starting to really love the temporary exhibitions of museums, and this one was no exception because they paired another artist, Calder who was an American modern art sculptor and artist who was also knew Picasso. Calder used wire to sometimes make “drawings”, sometimes make mobiles, and worked with other metals as time went on. It was really cool to see their work side by side in this lovely museum which was also an old mansion. There were a couple of rooms where the fancy ceilings contrasted with the bright colors of calder’s mobiles and it was fantastic. I also enjoyed some of Picasso’s “junk work” one of which he took 2 old toy cars and put them wheel to upside down wheel and that made a baboon head, and then he sculpted the rest. He loved finding random pieces of junk and making art of it, so fun.

From there I headed to the heart of the Jewish district, ready for my lunch time falafel. I remember Jeremy and I being overwhelmed with the falafel stands and people pushing you to their restaurant, now it was much more civilized and I had to choose between L’As (the ace) or the King. I looked at the Falafel King and remembered it, so figured I’d go with the Ace to see what I missed this time. The ace is supposed to be the best, I sat down and had a great falafel but in the end, not my best ever because the toppings were a little cabbage heavy, I like pickles on mine.

After my falafel I was shocked at the fancy stores around here, and couldn’t help finishing my lunch with a delicious coconut macaron as I started to near the end of my tour, I had to decide whether I wanted to do another museum or not. I honestly didn’t want to, but it was so convenient that I was right there already, so I did. The Pompidou is a modern art museum, and it is most famous for the building itself which has all of its plumbing and HVAC stuff on the outside, brightly colored, and then an outside covered escalator that takes you up for a fantastic view on the top. I didn’t love the museum on my last visit but it was a particularly painful day and I was on a painkiller. I remember leaning on walls to keep comfortable and the museum staff kept offering me a chair. I decided to start at the top with the fantastic view of the city, smiling at my accomplishments of the week- Montmartre and Eiffel Tower. Then I entered the special exhibit which was called “Prehistory” and I didn’t know what to expect. At first there was a dark room and a Cro-Magnon Man skull. Then a few stone tools and bowls. Eventually art started to slide it, and it made sense with art featuring landscapes that would present in prehistory, and abstract things that made you feel like you were looking at cave drawings. The way they had the place set up meant you never knew where you were going next and what you might see or hear- like dinosaurs intermixed with an old King Kong movie. I suddenly wished I lived in a place with a great museum to see revolving exposition like this. It definitely was one of those experiences where it was just walking through the whole thing rather than looking at one waiting that made the experience. I made it to the main permanent exposition and had some memories come back because it was exactly the same layout. I liked how they had the big artists in the middle and then branching off were smaller artists that were similar to that one. I walked into the Matisse room to find a group of elementary school aged kids speaking English. They were sitting on the floor and the teacher asked them, “how can we tell that this painting is by Matisse, what are the clues”. One little girl said, “Matisse likes to use 2 colors in the background”, another said “you can see a little bit of flowers that looks like his usual flowery wallpapers”. Wow, where did they learn this. Then the teacher asked, “What do you think this painting is about ?” (It was a portrait of a girl). One boy says, “I think someone she loved just died, you can tell by looking at her eyes” (which were a little red from crying. I think it is amazing to hear kids look at art, they are more honest but perceptive. I remember learning about Matisse in Middle school and doing some sort of project where we tore up paper. I will admit that after that excellent walking exposition, the walled in all square rooms of this part of the museum was boring, even though it did have some of the best artists for me. I decided that meant that I shouldn’t see any other levels of the museum.

Outside, I had 2 blocks to get to the last part of this tour- Hotel De Ville. I’m not entirely sure how it got its name, and what the whole history is, but this budding is the city of hall of Paris and it is a really grand building that I am surprised I missed last time. It looked more like a giant castle, and had a nice open square in front and fountains on the side that attracted a lot of people just hanging out. Ahead of me was the river, and then after that was Ile de Cite- where Notre Dame is. I had another walking tour of this area in my book, but I was not so sure how much I could see because of the Notre Dame fire, its been about a month since the big fire, but I knew from my friend that you couldn’t get very close, but I figured I’d try. Jeremy and I stayed on this island for a few days last time. There is an old hospital here and they rent rooms out, it was a really strange experience because you walk through this old hospital and at night it’s very dark in there. But, our room was pretty nice and we had a skylight that looked up to the spire of Notre Dame! amazing. I looked into this place to stay again but I’m not sure they are doing it anymore, or else its was booked. But, anyway, I love the island because it is the heart of the oldest part of Paris, and there is not much traffic. I was able to walk one long block until we could see the side of the front towers of Notre Dame and here we were blocked off. This is the prettiest part of the church, so I was happy it was not damaged and I could see a tiny bit of it.

Next I wanted to go to the little island behind this where ice cream awaited me, but to get there I had to go along side of the church, and all of the streets were blocked off, so it was a little hit and miss trying to get around. I did see the church from the side where you could see the bare windows where stained glass used to be. A bunch of police suddenly swarmed this area, I doin’t know what was happening, but I heard later that a group was there trying to make a scene about what the cause of the fire was, maybe that was what was going on. Finally at the back of the church, I had a grand view of the construction and then crossed the bridge to the other island where a guy on roller blades was doing an interesting show weaving around little cups. HE had music he coordinated to his show and a bunch of kids were mesmerized. My ice cream place was at the corner of the bridge, a great little square with people outside enjoying the sun. It was the sunniest day in Paris yet, and when I waited for my ice cream I took off my jacket and recharged my sun batteries. I had a nice raspberry Sunday and the plain vanilla ice cream was really delicious with the fresh fruit. I took my time and enjoyed listening to the Russian family next to me. They ordered everything on the menu and was trying to feed their 4 year old Escargot- she ate it, but when the waiter gave her the complicated shell holder and tiny fork, the poor thing just looked scared, but mommy scooped the meat out. It’s also amazing how a little nice customer service works, it makes the situation much nicer.

I followed part of the “Old Paris walk” which started at the back of Notre Dame and then went along the river to the side of it. We passed an interesting old tradition- these old tables where people sell used books- they wait forever to get a table, it is a big competition, but yet who walks along here and buys a used book? Some sell little prints of Paris and other touristy things, but mostly just these books which are in French. There was a little square to the side which made me happy to see some park area set aside in this busy part of the city. It had some nice irsies and apparently a really old tree. Beside it was an old book store that has been around forever, “Shakespeare and Company”, it made me think about my friend Ken who used to live here and we visited last time. His wife works at the biggest bookstore in Portland and I was thinking how they would love living here again.

I was about 10 minutes from my hotel, and I had to get back for a house sitting interview call in 1 hour, but I used that time to really enjoy this part of town that was so close to me. The streets were very small and zig zagging, lots of little shops and really quiet. There was a church here, St. Severin, and it was really packed in tight next to other buildings. I almost didn’t go in, but when I did, it was so pretty. There was someone practicing on the organ, and the ceiling was very dark, but behind the altar were some nice windows and “flame architecture” in the pillars. It was so nice, I had to sit there and listen and enjoy the view. From there I walked through the part they call the “Latin Quarter” but as my guidebook joked, they should call it the “Greek/ Turkish” Quarter now, as there were tons of little sandwich shops, which I thought was nice to know since the cafes around mere were all a little fancy, nice to have a to-go option. One more big square and busy road – the old fancy store road that is now more chain stores- and then I was on the street that goes by me. The square was very lively with tree covered cafes, and on my street the evening hum of activity could be heard ahead, I love my lively street. My phone call went well and we got the job for the house sit in August. I had an early evening so I could prepare for getting up early the next day.

The mansion where I entered the fancy courtyard

Entering Place de Vosges

Place de Vosges

Picasso museum

Classy Picasso

Park on Left Bank

Latin Quarter

Paris- Montmartre and Eiffel Tower

My last time in Paris, 10 years ago, I had injured my knee overdoing it on the day we arrived and there were a few days that I could hardly walk at all. It was strange, it was just a tendonitis but despite a bunch of Ibuprofen, what it really needed was to rest, so there were a lot of days that Jeremy wandered around on his own while I stayed in our hotel. One day I remembered he came home pretty excited about what he had seen, he had gone to an area of town called Montmartre, and really loved it- the artists, the people hanging out, cafes. There is a famous church at the top of the hill there and I remember being shocked that he hadn’t gone in it! At least he took a picture outside. So, this was definitely an area that I wanted to see this time, and I put it early on my itinerary because it is a lot of up and down hill walking and I wanted to do it while I had energy.

After my successful travel to Versailles, I was a little cocky about my bus ride to get there and I energetically walked down my cafe street- now empty in the morning- to my bus stop and waited. And waited more, then I noticed a little sign on the bus stop pole and I was pretty sure that it said that no bus was coming. I did some searching and ended up with a 12 minute walk across the river, through a bunch of crappy construction to finally get my bus. It was a little bit of a ride, Montmartre used to be a separate little town, but now it is surrounded by Paris. At the end we started heading steadily uphill. My guide book warned that this area was a little seedy, but I don’t know if it was because it was early or things change in a few years, but it seemed pretty fancy and nice to me. I walked past coffee sipping cafe places then a packed playground and then I got my first glimpse of the gorgeous Sacré Cœur Church. It was still a bit uphill, there was a park with a carousel and then steps and more steps to the top. Or, to one side was a funicular which I took, even though it took a little bit of time to get through the line, it was worth it.

Up top you can look back on Paris, though with the angle we are at, you can’t see the Eiffel Tower, just everything east of it. Pretty amazing, but the church is really the best part. It isn’t an old church, it was built in 1875 after the French felt they needed atonement for losing the Franco-prussian war. The church is made of limestone and is brilliant white and smooth, very unusual looking. There were more steps to get inside, so at first I was thinking about not going in, but after reading my guidebook, I had to do it. You walk inside and behind the altar is a brilliant gold mosaic that is breathtaking and a giant dome in front of it lets light down into the space. Around the back of the altar are some more mosaics and a few statues that are really life like. At the entrance are some nice stained glass you see when you are exiting.

My favorite guidebook has a Montmartre walk in it, so I was going to be following it today. The next stop was another church, one of the oldest in Paris, and when I saw the outside, I almost didn’t go in, it was pretty plain, but it was very unique and nice inside, with modern stained glass that was really pretty and the colored light played on the floor. There was also a unique statue of the saint that was martyred here on Montmartre, the story is that he was taken up here to be killed and then the soldiers got tired and beheaded him 1/2 way up the hill, but the saint put his head back on and walked up to here to die.

Stepping outside, I was in the heart of Montmartre, the tiny streets, lots of cafes, music, artists- all that stuff that Jeremy loved. The sun was out and the outdoor seats were packed- though most were just having coffee- the preferred cheap way to sit in these good spots. Honestly, the area seemed a little too upscale and touristy than it should, it would be better if it was scaled back a notch and was more real- I doubt that regular Parisians come up here anymore. In the main square tons of artists were selling things and many were actually painting on the streets. I checked out a few streets, loving the flowers and cute cafes, and the history too- this is where the artists of the 1800s lived and worked- because it was the cheapest place to live back then. Van Gogh, Delacroix, Cezanne, and later Picasso made it their home. I went to the “Montmartre Museum” which had a few nice artistic exhibits and in the garden area I had lunch. This garden is where Renoir stayed to paint a few outdoor scenes.

After that I left the busy touristy part of Montmartre and started to go back down hill through twisting streets. My book kept me busy findings little places like where Picasso lived, where a famous European pop star died, and then past 2 windmills that are still here- there used to be 30 on this hill. One is now a fancy restaurant, and was ringed by a gorgeous flowering tree. The other was hiding up on a treed hill. Eventually further downhill I stopped to see the famous Moulin Rouge, but it just seemed like a too modern night club now. From here I took a bus to get back to my side of town, since I had some afternoon time I planned on doing another part of a “walk” that was around my neighborhood. But, along the way I had my 2nd annoying bus experience of the day. I get on one, and then 2 stops later, “this is the end of the line” the driver is off of work, so we all get out and wait 20 minutes for the next bus! I get on that one and 2 stops later it’s that drivers end. 3rd bus, and 1 hour later I arrive at my stop, which is right outside the Louvre, and my google map has me cutting through the courtyard to get to the bridge I want. I walk in and I’m surrounded by the Louvre, but the courtyard is pretty empty, surprisingly. Later I realize that I don’t think you can actually get in the Louvre this way- unless you work there, but it’s still amazing to walk through it. And equally so, I walk out of the courtyard to the pedestrian only bridge that looks over to the island where Notre-Dame is.

On the other side of the Seine, I began my little walking tour of the “Left Bank”. My area is known as the artsy side, mostly because it is older and for a time was a cheaper place for artists to live. The tour started at this grand domed building which is like the cultural center for France- one part determines which new words to add to the official French dictionary- they try to stay away from new English words and come up with something else. So, while electric scooters are a big thing in Paris, “scooter” is used by most people, but officially they have been called “trouchettes”. Beside this giant building was a famous statue of Voltaire, though his face has been spray painted with black, I googled but I didn’t find the story of what happened here, maybe just vandalism, but in this area, students often like to protest things. I was amazed when I looked at a map that my hotel was only 3 little blocks away but yet I was in a very quiet and different part with fancy art stores and jewelry. I admired a lot of the art for sale and as I got closer to home I was ready for a break and so made an early evening stop time.

With continued nice weather, I wanted to keep working on the outside Paris activities while I had good sun, and I also had to group things together that were close so I didn’t have to run all over the place. So, this morning I picked to go to the Eiffel Tower. I had thought about going in the afternoon when the weather was the warmer, but then I figured morning was nice because there were less crowds. I planned on getting there when they opened at 9 and took the bus to the nearest stop which was about mid way down the big lawn in front called the Champs de Mars. I like the neighborhood on this side of the Eiffel Tower, this is where we stayed for part of our Paris time on our first trip. The roads are slightly bigger, the grand buildings seem a little fancier and cleaner, and there are more trees. My bus stop was right at the edge of a park and my entrance onto the lawn was very treed and pretty/ green. I was a little surprised to see a bunch of fences around the center of the Champs, so all of my Eiffel pictures were taken to the side. I watched the construction going on and it looked like they were maybe installing sprinklers or something. There weren’t too many tourists around, so I took my pictures and started to walk up to the tower. And then, I hit a wall. A big glass wall and as I looked around, I saw there was no way around so I picked one side and headed toward it, eventually finding the security entrance. It’s nice to have the wall here, there are lots of people selling things around the tower- food/ water/ souvenirs and this way they are kept out of the center where the lines are to go up, so I think it is better because it can get really crowded under there. But, not today, I walked up and got a ticket and was in the elevator in 5 minutes. The only thing is that they now tell you that if you want to go to the top, you have to guarantee them that you could walk down the many flights of stairs in case the elevator is broken because they don’t do “rescues”. That was an interesting decision. Well, since I’ve been to the very top, I loved it, but honestly the views are better at the 2nd level, I was just going to do the 2nd level today. The salesman agreed the view was better there and it was a chilly morning, so the top might be uncomfortable. The view certainly was nice from level 2 and I made my way slowly around the the square looking at all of the angles. I think the thing I missed from going to the top was seeing how massive the cities from up there. Paris is super dense, statistically 5 times more dense than DC, yet it consists mainly of 5 story buildings. Compare that to NYC which has a similar population density but with huge high rises. Central Paris has 1 high rise and once it was built the city looked at how it didn’t fit and didn’t allow any more- it just didn’t fit with the look of the city. There are suburbs with big buildings and businesses, but you don’t see them from the downtown. But, to see these 5 story off white buildings all lined up and looking so similar, it is such a nice looking place. I was happy I came to the tower when it was quiet and things went nice and quick.

I figured out the exit and my next bus ride which was to Jeremy’s favorite Museum, the Rodin. Along the way, I was looking at the map and realizing that my but stop was going to be at another museum, the War Museum, and I figured I might as well check it out, it also contained Napoleon’s tomb. I would like to study Napoloan more, it is interesting that it seems that France looks up to him, yet it seems he was a dictator who spent a lot of money and caused a lot of people to die. But, he consolidated the country and at first seemed to bring about a Republic that the French wanted. But, the loss at Waterloo was a big thing for the country.

When I got to the Military Museum, the basilica where Napoleon’s tomb is located is really pretty- a giant gold lined dome and the gardens around it are pretty. As I was taking a picture I noticed that the line to get in was long, and then as I got in the line, I realized that people were being practically patted down on entry but the Gendarmerie (National Guard – the big machine gun toting guys I see all around town). I saw 2 older ladies throwing a fit and ending up walking off- I can see that they felt over-investigated and frustrated. After I got through and went to the ticket counter I found out the reason- there was a big festivity going on in the courtyard of the museum- the building is part of a military school, and there were also parts of the museum I wouldn’t be able to see.

First I went into the Napoleon place and walked in and said, “wow” look at that tomb! But, then I kept walking and realized I was only looking at someone else’s tomb (I think Napoleon’s son) and in front of me was a giant circle where below me was the tomb that was 10 times the size of the one I had seen. Napoleon is apparently encased in like 5 different containers and the outer one is a giant purplish red granite monstrosity that is very grand. Pretty cool to see.

Next, I had to decide where to start my museum visit, I read that the best parts were WW1 and 2, so I went for that. But, that is when I reached the closed part of the museum, ahead of me were tons of armed guards and they were blocking the courtyard and even any view into the courtyard. That is when I realized that this festivity was something special- later I googled it and found out that President was there- Macron. It was funny because at one point in the museum I could kind of see the courtyard and as I started to walk over to a little window I saw someone else try to take a picture there and an armed guard came running and escorted them away. Ok, I won’t try.

So, I saw the WW1 and 2 exhibits, they were very good and pretty long. I definitely understood WW1 better after this exhibit and in the end, I understood the French part of WW2 way better. In the end, it’s amazing how a poor economy created WW2. In France they had no money for the military and they were so unprepared when Germany came to their door- and the tank differences were so amazing- the little French Renault tanks seemed like my Mini Cooper going up against a Monster truck. And the bad economy and anger left over from WW1 is really what drove Germany to WW2. The museum did really make it like France was all good and Germany all bad- I liked the German way of owning up to their own mistakes and weaknesses. But, this museum made it seem like the French Resistance and Charles DeGaulle won the war! Well, they also put lots of info about US and stuff. It definitely reminded me of the other aspects of the war I never learned too much about- the AFrica/ Middle East part. After Hiroshima, I was done with this portion of the museum and attempted to get to the Napoleon part but it was across the courtyard where we were not allowed- maybe if I walked all the way around the museum I could have gotten to it. Instead I took a break in the cafeteria and had a sandwich.

It was not too far of a walk to the Rodin Museum and I headed there, a little sad that it was now the time of day that most places in town get crowded. Rodin was a French artist who mainly did sculptures, and they captured Jeremy for sure. Rodin is from the 1800s, so this is not like classical Roman and Greek statues, but there is a lot more depth and story to them. His most famous statue is “The Thinker”. He sculpted with clay and sometimes with marble, but the ones I recall the most are the bronze casts, the dark color really works with his pieces. Because he made casts, there are multiple copies of some of his works. The main part of the museum was 2 levels of a house where he lived and consisted mostly of his clay and a few marble statues. It was fun to see how he started and evolved. His busts of people were really nice, I can imagine the pride someone had when he made them. I learned the back ground on several of his famous works and saw some of the products of his students as well. Probably the reason Jeremy liked this museum so much is that when you are done inside, you go into Rodin’s garden, which is pretty big and you wander around amongst trees and flowers and see some of his bronze statues. The Thinker is especially perfect here, hidden above some roses and a neat hedge. I had a little raspberry tart in the garden cafe and enjoyed being outside. I spent a long time in the garden, sitting and people watching in a few places. I laugh when I see “friends” visiting museums because they hardly pay attention to anything, they are just gossiping and fooling around- they could do this anywhere. I like coming to museums alone. Even when Jeremy is with me, we usually see a museum without walking together.

After my good time with Rodin I decided not to do anything else today and I was ready for some alone time after a very busy bus ride, so I went to the grocery store across the street from me and picked up some food to eat at home.

an old famous cafe where artists used to hang out

looking out the courtyard to the bridge and the French culture buidling

I think Jeremy is enjoying his house sit

watching the bread come out of the oven across the street from my room

On the elevator. that guy looks nervous?

this is the Trocadero- where you go for a nice view of Eiffel Tower

ladies lined up in the middle of the street for pictures…

the basilica where Napoleon’s tomb is located

the tomb is straight ahead below that rimmed circle

the famous taxis that took the French to the front in WW1

the one glimpse into the courtyard, but I think the important people had left by then

little motorcycles that were parachuted to the French resistance in WW2

The Berlin Reichstag, remember that place?

jeremy loves the giant muscles of Rodin’s statues

from this angle, it looks like the thinker is doing more than just thinking…

a friend of his had children and they loved to wrestle..