And now for my report on Paris.....

Assyrian Art in the Louvre

The Winged Victory--a beautiful spot for her on the stairs in the Louvre.

Yes, I did go to Paris in January. And it's just as lovely in January as it is in April or June. And, yes, I am finally going to write about it. I have no clue yet how to send the pictures I took with my phone to my email to post here, but I will try to find some appropriate ones to include.

I left DFW on Thursday, Jan. 15 and the flight over was terrific--mostly because the lady sitting next to me was a French woman who taught in the United States for many years. She was just delightful and we had a wonderful time talking about France and the U.S. and education and our children and our grandchildren and all kinds of fun things. Finally we did try to sleep a bit (not very successfully--at least for me) and soon we arrived in Paris, and bid each other Bon Voyage. I never even got her name, but she was a great companion for the trip over.

I was impressed with EF (the tour company I'm traveling with this year) because even though our flight was an hour early, there they were, waiting for us to arrive. After waiting in the airport for other flights to come in, we boarded our bus and headed to the hotel.

We stayed in a Mercur hotel--quite nice--about 15 kilometers south of Paris but right on the train line. We had time for a short nap (most appreciated) and then my roomate arrived--Jan, from Oregon. She was tiny and fun and we had a great time together over the three days in France. We dashed out to find some lunch at the local boulangerie and it was yummy--quiche with champingnons (mushrooms). I was pleased to see that my rather basic French skills still work fine--we had no problem ordering and the food was easily transportable and delicious.

Then we all walked to the train station and headed into the city.

Our afternoon activity was a visit to the Louvre. I've been several times before, but it is the most enormous place and even though I always see The Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa, the museum is filled with new things that I haven't seen yet. So, every trip, I get a new experience along with visiting old friends.

This year the new section I visited was the Etruscan, Roman and Greek Antiquities. Jan and I went to see them along with Martha (also from Oregon who Jan met on the flight over) because she was really interested in that era, and I really didn't have a strong preference on what to see this time. The Louvre has rooms and rooms of antiquities and wandering through was fascinating. We eventually also found the Assyrian exhibit as well--quite impressive. 

After the Louvre, we met our group, and our tour guide, Tom, outside I.M. Pei's famous pyramid and took a quick walk through the Tuilleries gardens. Then off to dinner. It was delicious--my first time to eat duck. Afterwards I'm afraid the jet lag caught up with most of us and we went back to the hotel. Some of the younger members of the group stayed to visit a few clubs in the city of light, but I was exhausted and grateful for some rest.

Saturday we spent most of the morning in classes, learning how to conduct our tours and getting tips on the best ways to handle all sorts of situations.  Two experienced EF group leaders, Don and Wanetta, were there to share their wisdom with us, as well as several members of the EF staff. All were terrific and the information was very useful.

After lunch, it was back to the city. We did a walking tour on the left bank, wandered past the Musee de Moyen Age (museum of the middle ages), saw the Sorbonne, and trekked through some tiny, winding streets. We also created our own human flying buttresses, saw a demonstration at the Place St. Michel, and dropped by Shakespeare and Company, an English-language bookstore famous as the publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses.  I had heard of the store, but never located it on my previous trips to Paris. It is actually just across the river from Notre Dame Cathedral, so it should be easy to find again.

Most of the group then visited the cathedral, but I waited outside with a few others who had been in before. Everyone I met on the tour was interesting and enjoyable to be with. When Jan and Martha came out of the church, we were joined by Popy (short for Penelope) a delightful Greek woman from Washington state, and a really fun woman, orginally from Barcelona, who now teaches in L.A. but I can't remember her name.....Our little group decided to have dinner on the Isle St. Louis, the tiny island just behind Notre Dame, filled with shops and restaurants and the most expensive residential real estate in the city. It's really nice.....

We window shopped and did some actual purchasing. One store was filled with bright, colorful, ingeniously clever kitchen gadgets and I just had to buy the Eiffel Tower grater. (It's a rappe in French and it's now hanging in my kitchen). Jan got a very colorful squid whisk and we all had a great time.

We found a tiny (and I do mean tiny) restaurant for dinner and ate delicious crepes. When it was time to use the facilities, the others came back to the table laughing. I got the joke when I went back to what has to be the smallest toilette I've ever seen. Several of them got pictures, but I didn't. I will admit that anyone very overweight would not fit in that room.

After dinner we wandered and shopped and eventually made our way back to the hotel. The food was great, the company was convivial and it was a lovely evening in Paris.

Sunday morning we boarded the bus for a driving tour of Paris. Our guide was excellent, and after seeing Paris, we headed to the chateau at Versailles. It is a bit nicer in the summer, simply because the wind that day was brisk and I couldn't enjoy the gardens because of the bitter cold. Still, the chateau is nice, and the gift shop provided some lovely earrings for me to bring home to Kara. Plus, in January, it's a bit less crowded inside and I could look around more.  I was also really impressed with the excellent job they did of guilding the front gates to the palace. They were covered last summer while the work went on, but now they're brilliantly gold and quite impressive.

After Versailles, we had a little free time, so Jan and I ran up to the Musee D'Orsay to see the Impressionists--my favorites. Just looking at Renoir's masterpieces takes my breath away. I also love Monet's work, and Van Gogh's and many others. It's overwhelming to be in rooms filled with such beauty.

Our farewell dinner followed the museum visit, then I went with several new friends up to the Sacre Coeur on Montmartre. Tom (our tour guide) had suggested that we take the metro to the Abbesses stop--that way we would be halfway up the hill before we even began. What he neglected to mention was that you have to climb about 200 steps just to get out of the metro station. I was exhausted......I really have to get in shape before the trip this summer. I was with Popy, and two ladies whose names I can't remember, plus Tom and David from North Carolina, and Ezra, from California. They were great sports and seemed quite appreciative that I could speak French and buy our metro tickets with ease, and I really appreciated their patience with my need to stop and catch my breath. Montmartre is the only hill in Paris, but it's pretty steep and the church is at the top of the hill. Thankfully, Dave was kind enough to wait for me, and he even carried my coat when I got too warm.

I wasn't sure which way to go to get to the church, but we just kept climbing, knowing that it would be there at the top, and sure enough, it was. I had been up there before, but the view at night is spectacular. The church is beautiful too. Built in the 1870s, it doesn't have the gothic stained glass, but it does have a very impressive mosaic of Christ that was quite moving. Quiet and peaceful inside, it was an inspiring place to visit and commune with God.

We shopped a bit near the Place du Tertre (completely deserted in January, but filled to overflowing with artists and restaurants in the spring and summer) then wended our way back down the hill to the Moulin Rouge (you can't go to Paris and miss that photo op). 

We had planned out our route back to the hotel, but luckily Popy noticed that there was some problem at the Gare du Nord and we quickly revamped our plans to avoid it. She speaks French, too, and I'm so glad she noticed or we might have been in a mess. I had my handy dandy Paris metro map, so we were quickly able to find an alternate route, ended up at Chatelet/Les Halles, the biggest metro station in the city, and looked for our train. The trains to the suburbs sometimes don't stop at every station, so you have to look at the board to make sure that your station is lit up. If not, you wait. We lucked out, our train came fairly quickly and we went "home."

I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet so many very lovely people on the trip. They were all friendly and helpful (even the ones who stayed out drinking too late Saturday night, couldn't speak French and couldn't get a cab and didn't get back until 4:30 a.m.--one lesson to learn--never stay out after the trains quit running).  I am lucky to be a teacher and to meet so many other people who are excited about the world and learning and doing new things. I so enjoyed talking with Jan and Popy and so many others. It was an experience I will treasure.