PARIS

This is my last post!  We have just spent two wonderful weeks in Paris and are now at a hotel at the airport and our flight to the states leaves early in the morning.  It's hard to comprehend that this six month journey has come to an end.

It's been a fantastic trip and I can't think of a better way to cap it off than spending time in Paris.  We love Paris and it was great being able to spend enough time to really get to know it.

Our first sight upon driving into town was the Arc d'Triomphe.  We had to maneuver through the rotary that encircles this gigantic arc and it was quite the challenge.  There are no lanes - it's a free for all with cars whizzing in every direction.  It felt like being sucked into a tornado and then spit out.  I was a bit too busy trying to figure out where to tell Dale to exit to take a picture so here is one taken a few days later from the safety of the sidewalk.

Once we found our apartment and dropped off our luggage it was time to say goodbye to our faithful car.  Here's Dale giving it one last pat.  It was a great car and we racked up a little over 13,000 miles over the last five and a half months.  We covered a lot of ground.

Our apartment was in the 15th Arrondissement.  We had never stayed in this part of Paris before but wanted to get to know a non-touristy, true local neighborhood so choose it for our stay.  It's just below the 7th which is where the Eiffel Tower is and, boy, did we have a view.  This was taken sitting on the couch in our living room.  Not bad, huh?  We were also just below the 6th so a lot of what we wanted to see was within walking distance.  Paris, like London, is a walking city and we took full advantage covering an average of six miles a day.  If we got tired we could take the Metro home but that didn't happen very often.

So, here is a brief synopsis of our time in Paris.  We saw way too much to put it all in but here are the highlights.

Day One - We toured the Montparnasse area in the 14th Arrondissement, visiting the cemetery and happening on a great street market.  We then headed for Ile de Cite and Notre Dame Cathedral and Ile St. Louis in the 4th.  We ended the day with a walk through the 6th strolling along the Seine and stopping to see the famous Shakespeare Bookstore.

Day Two - Today was a Metro day as we traveled to the 18th Arrondissement in the northern part of the city for Les Puces Flea Market.  This is known as the largest antique market in Europe.  It was fun walking up and down the streets but somewhat frustrating as we weren't in the market to buy.

Day Three - Our destination today was the les Marais area.  This is a charming shopping district in the 4th Arrondissement.  It not only has cobblestone streets and lots of trees but great shops too.
We headed home by way of the Pont Neuf.

Day Four - It was the 9th Arrondissement today with a visit to the Montmartre District.  In addition to just meandering around the streets we took in the Basilique du Sacre-Couer where we caught the end of a mass being sung by the Abbesses.  Beautiful.  Then we cruised down Boulevard de Clichy where, along with the Moulin Rouge, all the sex shops are.  It was quite the transition.

Day Five - Today we went to our favorite museum, Musee d'Orsay, in the 7th to see all the fabulous Impressionist paintings.  The building itself is quite the masterpiece.  We never get tired of this place.  Afterward we headed over to St. Germain to have a late lunch at Le Deux Magots where Hemingway etc hung out.  It's definitely touristy but worth a visit particularly for their famous hot chocolate.  It really is to die for.

Day Six - Today we traveled through three Arrondissements.  First we visited another shopping street, Rue Montorgueil in the 1st.  Then it was on to Pere-LeChance Cemetery in the 11th to visit Chopin's and Jim Morrison's graves.  Finally we ended up at the Canal Saint Martin in the 4th where we had a great late Thai lunch.

Day Seven - Today we stayed closer to home in the 15th and shopped the Rue du Commerce.  This street, just two blocks from our apartment is considered the best local shopping street in Paris.  No pictures but here's one of the Hotel de France Invalides which was also just a couple of blocks from our place.

Day Eight - It was the Louvre (in the 1st) today.  A new thing for us was to see the Carousel shopping center under the pyramid and to see the new exhibit of the Medieval Louvre showing the walls of the moat and explaining the history of the Louvre.

Day Nine - Today, Sunday, we again stayed close to home because just down the street is the largest Market in Paris, Motte-Piquet/Grenelle Open Air Market.  It was amazing!

Day Ten - It was the Tuilleries and Musee l'Orangerie in the 1st today.  Unfortunately, the only exhibit open (which we didn't know) was Les Nympheas (the water lily murals) by Claud Monet.  That didn't take very long so we took a stroll up the Champs-Elysees to do some shopping and ended up at the movies.  We saw Rush which was fantastic!

Day Eleven - It's to the 8th and the Musee Jacquemart-Andres.  On the way we passed the Obelisque in the Place de la Concorde, the Palais-Royal and the Petit Palais.

Day Twelve - It's back to the 6th Arrondissement today as we haven't gotten our fill of St. Germain.  This is the area we stayed in the first time we came to Paris and after staying in and exploring other Arrondissements, it is still our favorite.  We just love it here.  On our way home we stopped in Bon Marche, the large department store of Paris.  It is not only huge but I think it surpasses Harrods - not only in fashion but also in the food court. Spectacular.

Day Thirteen - Our last day.  We've seen all that we came to see and we need to get ourselves organized to head to the airport tomorrow so no more exploring.

I do have another picture though and it's one of my favorites.  There is a small florist in St. Germain that was just around the corner from our hotel the first time we came to Paris.  We stopped here and bought one of their unique bouquets for our hotel room.  I have never seen another florist do this (in Paris or anywhere else) and I think it's so clever.  The cellophane wrapping actually doubles as the vase.  I mean how clever is that!

Anyway, it's been a great six months but we are anxious to get home to family and friends.  Thanks for coming along with us on our journey.  It's been a great experience and we will have fond memories of all that we did for many years to come.  See you soon!

FRANCE

I know it hasn't been very long since you last heard from me but we have been in France for a week now and have covered a lot of ground.  We arrived in Strasbourg last Friday and immediately fell in love.  What a charming city.  Our apartment was in a very old building right in the middle of the old town and it too was charming.  Being in the middle of the old section meant it was perfect for exploring on foot which is exactly what we did.

In the main square sat Notre Dame Cathedral and it was spectacular.  This was one church where we actually went inside and we weren't disappointed.

As you can see, the old part of town is surrounded by a canal/river.  I did say charming didn't I?

Not only did the town captivate us, the food here was to die for.  After being tempted with macaroons at one store (we bought some) we also were tempted by the local cheese and sausages (yup, bought both).

Here are some of those macaroons with the great local fruit.  We've had delicious fruit all through Europe but no where else did we get the macaroons, the bread, the cheese, the salami. . . . . and the pastries!  OMG!  I didn't get a picture of them primarily because they were inhaled as soon as they came out of the bag!

We were in Strasbourg for two days and the first one we spent meandering around town because it wasn't suppose to rain.  Our second day (forecast rain) we decided to do our pilgrimage to Au Relais des Trois Epis in Niedermorschwihr.  Christina Ferber, the owner, is renown for her jams and has been written up in the New York Times.  We had to get some.  So, here is her place.  The town - again - charming.  We haven't tried the jam yet (those pastries were just too good) but tomorrow the jars are being opened when we check into our Paris apartment (I'll let you know).

Here's Dale trying to decide what flavor to buy.  Decisions, decisions.

After we made our purchase we continued to drive around the countryside of Alsace.  It really is beautiful - vineyards as far as you can see.

We ended up in the old walled town of Riquewihr.  Once again, charming!  

The rain decided to hold off so we took advantage and sat down to eat some good French food and watch all the tourists.

The big deal here is Flammenkuchen (Torte Flambe) - we weren't terribly impressed.  What I did like though was their local beer drink, Picon Bier.  It's a pale ale with the orange flavored Picon Bitters (made locally) added.  Very tasty!

But two days was all we had so off we set for the Lorraine Region where we went to see Hackenburg Fortress, the largest of the Fortresses in the Maginot Line.  These underground fortresses were built along a 700 kilometer stretch of the French/German border after WWI.  It was thought they would keep Germany from ever invading their country again.  It didn't work - the German army just came in through Belgium and the only time they were used was when the Americans attacked the Germans at the end of the war.

Anyway, it was very interesting.  Hackenburg is so big you have to take an underground train to get from one end to the other (there are 27 blocs).

This is a shot looking out over one of the blocs.

And this is one of the turrets in one of the blocs.  The middle raises up and there's a gun that can shoot an artillery shell about three miles.

This is a picture of the outside of one of the blocs.

But now we're off to the western part of France to see the Normandy Coast.  We stopped at Omaha Beach to go through the museum.  Hard to believe this peaceful beach was the site of such a bloody battle.

We then stopped at the Normandy American Cemetery.  It was very moving and I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Our last stop before heading off to Paris was Giverny and Claude Monet's house and gardens.  While we had grey skies it couldn't have been more beautiful and peaceful.  Again, the pictures speak for themselves.

After Monet's house and garden we went to the Giverny Impressionism Museum.  Monet collected Japanese prints and was very inspired by them.  The museum is currently holding an exhibition Hiramatsu, The Lily Pond, Homage to Monet.  It is a collection of various Japanese artists' paintings of lily ponds.  We enjoyed it very much but I am going to leave you with pictures of their gardens.  Like Monet's, they were lovely and I can't think of a better way to end this post.

The even had hay stacks - it's just so French!  Au Revoir!