December 16, 2003
I got up and had breakfast with Don. He was leaving today. I am very grateful and feel very lucky that he has offered his apartment to us. He is a wonderful man and I am glad to have had the chance to get to know him.
Once he left, Laurie and I went to the market. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday people set-up stands and sell fruits, vegetables, and meats. There, also, is clothing and other accessories. We picked up fruits and vegetable, brought them back to the apartment. I saw that fruit that we saw in Spain. It is called Kaki. I bought one to try, but I haven't tried it yet.
We walked back to the grocery store and bought our normal dry goods and brought them back to the apartment. The store is close and it is small. You could never get a carriage through the aisle. Two people have problems just getting through.
After everything was put away, we took a walk. It was a milder day than yesterday; it was great for walking. We walked to the Eiffel Tower. We could only see the top of it over the building for a long time. Then we went around a building and it was right in front of me--bigger than life. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair. At the time it was the tallest building in the world at 984 feet. After the World's Fair, it was almost taken down because so many people hated it. The only thing that saved it was its usefulness as a communication antenna. In 1916 it was the first terminal used for radio telephone service across the Atlantic. I think the structure is impressive. There are three tiers. You can take an elevator up to one of the tiers. I might do it at night when the city is all lit up.
From the Eiffel Tower we went to the large expensive grocery mart, Le Bon Marche. We only picked up a few things there. We then walked through the Luxumburg Gardens. It is very large, but there wasn't anything blooming. They have tennis courts, merry-go-rounds, and puppet theatre. There were lots of people there bundled up sitting on the chairs, talking, and enjoying the sun. There were old men sitting at tables playing chess.
From there we went back to the apartment and spent the evening there.
December 18, 2003
Laurie and I walked about 45 minutes to the train station. We were going to Chartres today and the train was at 10:25. The train was about 1 hour and 10 minutes. We walked to the center and found the information center. It was an audio tape that takes you around the city. But, we decided to first go to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. There are Notre Dames everywhere. It means "Our Mother". I think the Paris one is the most famous one.
The girl at the information place told us that there was an English guide at 12:10, so we went right away. Unfortunately, the English guide was on vacation. Instead we rented the audio cassette. This audio cassette was different. Instead it was like a large cassette box that you hang from your neck and it had ear phones. I didn't like it as well as the others because it was bulky, but it did keep my hands free.
Notre Dame is very large and I could see the tower from the train station. It was built in the 11th and 12th century, except that it had to be rebuilt due to a fire in 1194. It was rebuilt in about 25 years.
It is a beautiful church with 172 large stained glass windows and many carved figures. There was a choir screen that went around the chancel. It took 200 years to make and it has 40 sculpted scenes all around starting with Mary's life. It is quite amazing to see and think of these being built.
We spent about 2 hours there. Then we got the audiosets for the town. It was the same type of audioset and I did have some problem with it. The information on it was very good and interesting except that I did have problems following the map and what place they were talking about. They have a few other old churches there and the old town runs along the Eure River with old pedistrian bridges and old houses. The walk was quite enjoyable except that it was very cold out.
Laurie and I got back to the train station and took the 1648 back to Paris. Laurie and I went our separate ways. I needed to get a card and wrapping paper. Laurie's birthday is tomorrow. I had fun walking around. I went into one store called the Monoprix. It has everything--well almost everything. I had the hardest time trying to find microwave popcorn. I asked someone and they looked at me funny. I finally got someone who understood me and I finally found some. It certainly isn't as big here as it is in the US.
I didn't get back until 9:00. I ate dinner and I had a crepe for dessert. Don bought some for me because I told him I wanted to try them. They were delicious. I heated them up in the microwave sprinkled sugar and poured a little maple syrup on them. They are like pancakes--but better, lighter.
December 19, 2003
Today is Laurie's birthday. I got up early and walked around the streets trying to find stores open. I wanted to get flowers or a cake or something. Shops don't open early around here, but I did find one bakery open. They don't have birthday cakes like home. I just picked up a chocolate covered ball of something.
When I got back Laurie was up. I didn't have any candles so I lit a match and stuck it in the chocolate ball. I gave her a small book on Gaudi and a Lindt dark chocolate bar.
We had breakfast and then we walked to the d'Orsay Museum. This is a museum of art works from about 1849-1914. Any earlier works are at the Louvre. We got there about 11:00 and we signed up for an English tour that was about the museum's masterpieces. We saw Renoir, Monet, Manet, Whistler, Van Gogh, and Gaugin, just to name a few famous ones.
The museum is in the old railway station and hotel. It was built in 1900. It was only used for 40 years as a railway station because the platforms were too small to handle the newer and more efficient trains. The hotel was used until 1973. They decided to make it into a museum. It is a beautiful building.
After the tour we spent an additional 2 hours walking on our own in the museum. It was after 3:00 by the time we left. We walked around and stopped in some stores. We picked up some salmon for a dinner treat for Laurie's birthday.
