Walking around town

If you ever get the chance to come to Paris in the fall, do it!  The weather can sometimes be a little unpredictable, but for the most part it is beautiful.  Crisp, sunny days that can be up into the 70s, with cool nights in the 40s and 50s.  As Lyle says...."the best time of the year!"  And I agree. 

After a dry summer, we have had a few rainy days, which for some reason has brought out....MOSQUITOES!  Yes, we wake up during the night with that wonderful buzzing sound around our heads....and in the morning we are observing a few more bites on our arms! We sleep with windows open in this wonderful weather, but as you may know, the French do not have screens.  Now I am beginning to understand why they have shutters!  We don't, though, so have to put up with a few mosquitoes or shut the window.  It's a toss-up.

We take the opportunity to walk around Paris, either on our own or with the help of a walking tour.  Each time we go out continues to be a feast for the eyes.  There is always so much to look at....familiar sights take on a new view with each season.  Here are a few snapshots of what we have been enjoying lately:

Seeing the old Roman ruins underneath the plaza by Notre Dame...where Paris began

Visiting the Carnavalet Museum to learn about Paris history

Can you believe these are pictures from the courtyard of a hospital?  The "Hotel Dieu" is across from Notre Dame and was the first hospital built in Paris, in the 7th century.  Rebuilt over the centuries, it was begun and still is open to the poor, but also a top center for research and emergency medicine.

There are LOTS of pigeons here and for some reason people think it's fun to let them land and poop on you! 

 Every Sunday hundreds join in rollerblading through the city.....(too bad my rollerblades are back home!)

 

The fall flowers are in bloom all over the city

 Sunsets come earlier now as we have gone off "daylight time" a week earlier than the U.S.  It already is dark now around 6:00.....

 

Rome solo

I still "pinch myself" on a Monday morning that I do not have to do the routine of so many.....get up and go to work.  To say I have been enjoying my 2-year "vacation" is an understatement.  I am counting my blessings, as well as getting reminded by my dear husband that my days as a barrista at Starbucks is just around the corner.

Meanwhile, I will enjoy Rome.

Which is what I did while Lyle worked all the next day.  It was a beautiful morning and I headed out early on the hotel bus to the center of Rome, getting dropped off by the ruins.  Armed with my map, I headed to Palatine Hill and the Forum, this time splurging on an entrance fee, complete with a narrated tour on headphones.  It started out well.

 But, the skies turned dark....

......and with no trees to hide under amid centuries-old stone columns, I was soaked.  No umbrella, no coat.  My headset also did not fare so well....it stopped working.

Frustrated and wet, I was determined to see Palatine Hill, since I paid for the ticket, right?  Now I had no idea what I was looking at, so just tried to enjoy the clearing sky and new sunshine in the old gardens.

All I knew is that is was the are of imperial palaces, even Nero's, and fairly recently being excavated.  But without a map (it was my umbrella in the rain) and the headset, I didn't get to understand the whole picture.  I wished that I was on a tour, like many schoolkids there, getting the story.  I turned in my headset, frustrated that they wouldn't refund my money, but this is Italy.

My other objective of the day was to see the Vatican.  Too tired to walk, I walked to one of only two metro lines in Rome (how can they dig a lot of tunnels in this land full of ruins?) and arrived across the river in time for a quick lunch at a small cafe.  Again, it started to pour.  But I ran through the streets and arrived at the Vatican museum, this time not bothering with the headphones.

I wish I would have had them.  This museum is like the Louvre.  By this time, my tired legs were just not ready to walk the 4 miles of displays....ancient statues, frescoes,  and paintings from throughout the centuries.  It was overwhelming.  But the Sistine Chapel is at the end of the museum, and that is what I came to see.  There it was....Michelangelo...."The Last Judgement" on one wall and "The Creation of Man" on the ceiling. I was surprised at how small it was, and how difficult to spot amid so many other paintings surrounding it.  There were plenty of security people telling people not to take pictures, although many still did.  I tried to keep from it, but did take a blurry one with my iphone from my pocket.  It's not worth sharing, but I was able to take some other photos of Raphaels frescoes....

As I sat there and soaked in the paintings, it was a God moment.

I headed on to Raphael's and Michelangelo's "project"....St. Peter's Basilica.  Another huge church, unlike anything I had ever seen before.  To say it is huge is an understatement!  It is immense.  Side chapels, marble statues, paintings, gold......it makes the churches of France look quite plain.  But this, after all, is THE church of all churches. After seeing Michelangelo's Pieta at the entrance, I just walked through the church and gazed at it all.  There was even a procession that came through, with choirs of all ages singing a familiar hymn.

Beautiful sunshine greeted me when I walked St. Peter's Square, but it was just one of those days.  The wind picked up and I honestly thought we were going to experience a tornado right there!

I had to run for shelter, again, and wait it out.  The temperature dropped and I found a shop to buy my only Italian souvenir....a sweatshirt.  It was getting dark and I headed back on the Metro to get on the bus to take me back to the hotel.  Both of us had a long and exhausting day and a romantic dinner in Rome was not on the agenda.  The hotel would have to do.

I flew back to Paris the next day,while Lyle had to stay another day to work.  I decided that if I ever get back to Rome again, it would really be good to be on a tour!  This is one city that is just too hard to see on your own.

Two of us in Rome

It was exactly a year ago when I was able to visit Rome on our way back from Sicily.  It was just an overnight stay, tagging along while Lyle had to work.  At that time, I arrived with an upset stomach, probably from something I ate, and after some Immodium, I did get to squeeze a few sights in before having to leave less than 24 hours after I got there.

Then I missed the planned trip in April with Susie and Gary because my mom was in her last days in Florida.  So, when Lyle told me he was going again, I strongly hinted that I really would love to spend a little more time there.  We arrived on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, and started our walk through the plazas.  This time HE was the tour guide, as he had seen most of it before.  The one things he DID want to see was the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel.  But it was closed on Sunday.

Lyle isn't big on ruins.  I told him I would check those out the next day while he was working, which suited him fine.  Armed with our Rick Steve's guide on how to see Rome in two days, we started with a pizza and a glass or wine at the Campo d'Fiori,  lined with outdoor restaurants.  We then found Piazza Navona.  It used to be the center of Roman life back in the 1800s, with beautiful fountains, and is still crowded with street muscians and artists.

We found plenty of crowds on the Corso, the famous shopping street, and Lyle was on the hunt for some good Italian shoes.  He has worn out the soles of his shoes with all the walking we do in Paris.  But, this is not the place to shop with shoes costing far more than even he would pay (I look at the prices and think I would rather spend the money on a trip!).  He did find some on a side street, though, so he was happy!

We spent the rest of our Sunday checking out the Pantheon, first built in 27 b.c., burned and rebuilt between 110 and 125 a.d......

....the Spanish Steps.....

....and Trevi Fountain ("Three Coins in the Fountain")......

"Which one will the fountain bless?"  I think, me.

Let's go to.....Luxembourg?

We saw the movie, "Julie and Julia", last week-end and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I have read that the French really don't know much about Julia Child, so the movie has their curiosity.  We enjoyed identifying with her dealing with moving to France and what she did, as an ex-pat wife, to keep busy.  She cooked.  It made me feel a bit guilty that I haven't learned how to cook "a la francais", except for a few measly recipes.  I haven't even taken a cooking class, which are offered all over Paris.  I am determined to do it before I leave.

But the movie also was about Julie, a blogger who became famous with her cooking hundreds of Julia Child's recipes in a year, and writing about them.  I thought about this blog and have decided I need to write more about my experiences in Paris, which was the intent, rather than posting dozens of pictures of our trips. After all, who really wants to follow our travels?  I was doing it mainly for us, I told myself, and that they would be a journal of what we did while we were here.  But posting dozens of pictures is probably somewhat boring and I am going to make some "smilebooks" albums of our pictures anyway (someday).  I figure that if I didn't have to take the time of posting pictures all the time, maybe I would be more motivated just to tell our stories.

So.....about Luxembourg. I will try to be more brief.  Yes, we did go there a few weekends ago.  We had never been there, but wanted to see what it was about.  It was an impromptu trip that was decided on a beautiful Saturday autumn morning and Lyle had the itch to get away so he wouldn't be tempted to work all weekend.  We found a rental car online,  told them we would pick it up in an hour, and threw in a few things into our suitcases. Cheap and Cheaper got on two metros and walked 8 blocks looking for the Budget office across the river, to save 100 euros over the Avis a block away.  We were on an adventure.

We picked up the car by noon and headed out east out of Paris, taking a map and headed to Luxembourg.  Traffic was heavy and the tolls were mounting up, and after a few hours we decided to take some backroads. We drove through the Lorraine, amazed at the dry, limestone landscape, filled with champagne caves. But we didn't take the time to tour one, this time.   Still, a  two hour trip turned into 4 hours, but we finally got there.  Parked the car, did some exploring and were impressed with the upscale stores in the quaint center of town, filled with a few plazas and parks.  The city is one of the wealthiest cities in the world, being a financial and banking center. But we had no hotel and figured we better find one, only with a few in mind that we had hastily seen on the internet.  We found one, were charged 40 euros more than the internet (lesson learned), dropped the bags and walked to find a restaurant.  And walked.  We were in the mood for Italian and finally found a little place that we both enjoyed.

Lyle kept telling me he wasn't impressed with the city of Luxembourg......until we saw it the next morning.  In the warm autumn sunshine, the town showed off its mix of old and new.

It is set on two levels,  part of the city perched on cliffs above a deep gorge carved by two rivers.  There are high bridges and old viaducts that connect the parts of the city, and you can still see parts of the old wall.  The views were beautiful.

But we didn't stay very long.  Lyle discovered that the Moselle Valley was an hour away, on the border of Germany.  Vineyards, white wines, and something he wanted to see.  We stayed on our journey east, stopping at the American cemetery, filled with over 5,000 graves of World War II Americans, including General Patton.
                                                                                                                                                                        The Moselle River Valley was picturesque.  The banks of the river were lined with fully-ripened vineyards, just waiting to be picked.

 

Of course, we had to stop at a "cave" and sampled the delicious reislings, gevurtztraminers (my favorite white wine), and pinot blancs.  This time we couldn't resist the tempting low prices on the bottles, and brought home a case.

For a quick trip out of Paris, it worked out just fine, without my spending hours on the internet researching cars, hotels, and other travel guides.  I did, however, feel a little uninformed.  I still don't understand what a "duchy" is.

The "Hoover" revisited

We have written before about our wonderful "Hoover".  It's not a vacuum cleaner, but a crazy washing machine below our kitchen counter.  Because the Europeans are earnest about conserving space, this washing machine also dries the clothes.  It drives us crazy. It is small and slow, and a load of wash consisting of a few towels and a few other things thrown in usually will take at least three hours if we want it fully dried.  We have learned to just take out semi-dried clothes and lay them all over the apartment to air-dry.  We don't have the luxury of a balcony which many use to do the same thing.  Unfortunately, this results in some stiff towels.

Well, this Hoover had a major leak awhile back, and Lyle ended up mopping the floor with most of our towels.  We had it fixed, only to have it start leaking again for the past few months.  Not a huge leak, but we always ended up with a puddle on the floor during the drying cycle.

We finally had an appointment today for Darty (the equivalent of Best Buy) to come sometime between 12 pm and 4 pm to fix it.  The owner of the apartment, Caroline, told me she'd be here by 12 to help with communicating to the repairman.  I figured I had the afternoon to entertain her while waiting for the repairman, who usually shows up at the end of the time period.

So......I thought I had a leisurely morning after forcing myself t stay awake to watch the Twins game at midnight, only to find out that it was blacked out to the general public.  I awoke by 8 to a text message from Lyle, who is in Madrid, telling me they won!  Great!  Had my coffee in bed, worked on the computer for a bit, did my exercises with my DVD, and was about to take a shower. The phone rang and it was the repairman, speaking in French, and he was early! EARLY?  IN FRANCE? Well, I am proud to say I was able to understand that he was ready to come over and I replied, "Maintenant?" (NOW?).  OUI!  I wanted to tell him he was a few hours early, but didn't have the vocabulary, so just said, "d'accord" (OK)....

I threw on some clothes and he appeared at the door, toolbox in hand, not able to speak any English, of course.  But somehow I was able to tell him that the machine only leaked during the drying cycle and he understood and got to work.  I have to say this was a breakthough.  I didn't need Caroline this time to get something done with a maintenance guy.  I understood most of what he said, and could answer a bunch of questions. He asked me how I liked Paris, if I had a family, how long I've been here, and if I worked.  We had a small conversation.  Amazing.

After pulling out the dishwasher and the Hoover, he finally found the culprit:  a torn hose, which I thought was the problem anyway.  He fixed it and then gave me the bill of 75 euros.  Hmmm...we have never had to pay the bill, but I got my checkbook out and started filling it out, asking him if I spelled soixante-quinze correctly (75 in French is sixty-fifteen!).  He grinned and said it was OK and just as I was about to give it to him....voila!  Caroline showed up, had to go over the whole thing with him, waving her hands this way and that, while I just listened and tried to figure out what the heck did she have to talk about?  It was fixed...done.  But that's the thing about the French....they love to commiserate, talk over things.

So, my Hoover is fixed and I am washing a load as I type, hoping that c'est bon!  Maybe my French IS getting better....