The Family Visit page will change over time. Doreen and I are writing this draft, but we have invited the family to stories of their favorite moments.

My next oldest sister, Abbie, her husband, Gus, my younger brother, Matthew, and his wife Laurie came to stay in Paris last week. They had spent several days in London, and took the Eurostar Chunnel train from London to Paris.

Abbie (Click to read)

Gus (AKA Carl) (Click to read)

Matthew (AKA Maurice Chevalier) (Click to read)

They got into Paris on last Monday, the 17^th of April, at about 9:00 PM. They came over that evening for wine and cheese, and we had a great time. We talked about their trip to London, and they had the great luck of getting an innkeeper who loved to play tour guide. So he gave them advice about WHAT to see, and WHEN to see it! It must have been a nice addition to the trip.

Matt, Laurie, Ab having a good time.

Gus, Matt, Laurie having a good time.

We decided that the next morning the four of them would take a city tour, and Doreen and I were going to look at some new art. (More to follow about that in another story). We assumed they would stay with the tour bus, and hadn’t given them directions on how to use the Metro. But ever the intrepid travelers, they disembarked at the Eiffel Tower and negotiated their way back to the hotel.

I am SURE the hotel is THAT way.

We met at their hotel around 2:00 PM, and went off to the Fous d’en Face, the place where we had the Oofs in Buckets. We had a wonderful meal – duck, beef, and Gus was brave enough to order the fish stew – which had a lovely, aromatic bouquet. Abbie said that she could eat every other meal in Paris there, and I do not think that she was kidding.

From the Fous d’en Face we walked past Notre Dame, through the Latin Quarter and stopped to enjoy the day in the Luxembourg Gardens. We were all wishing that, like Catherine de Medici who built it to remind her of Florence, we could all build something so spectacular on a whim. We could have spent the afternoon napping in the sunshine, but we were in Paris, so we continued our walk through St Germain, and ended up at the Mephisto store. Ab and Laurie bought some shoes. (Great shoes. We own several pairs, and they are REALLY cheap here - about 1/2 of what they sell for in the US).

We walked back through St Germain again, and stopped in a little clothing store. This is where the berets were purchased, and Gus bought a hat as well. I saw a nice bright red cashmere scarf that I hope that Doreen will buy for me in secret and surprise me with.

We stopped for beers at a sidewalk café and had an outside table at a Y-shaped intersection of three streets. We have determined that the Parisians will park in anything that even remotely resembles a place. Two men were running a business of an undisclosed sort out of the backseat of their car just in front of us. One guy needed to run into the wine store, and left his car in the middle of the intersection – but carefully placed so that traffic could flow around it! A police car drove by and didn’t even slow down, so that seems to be acceptable road etiquette.

That night we had the most disappointing meal of the visit. It was in a pseudo French Greek restaurant. If it doesn’t sound good, that is because it wasn’t. But we managed to drink some wine, enjoy ourselves, and head home.

The next day we hit the museums, and hit them hard. We started with the D’Orsay first (Art from about 1850 to about 1950. With fuzzy edges. The dates, not the art. Well, some of the art has fuzzy edges, too. This is where most of the Impressionists are displayed. And the Nabis. And Whistler’s Mother, if you can believe it. No Fauvists.) which is in an old train station. Several hours there.

Part of the decorative arts collection. And Gus’s next woodworking project.

Then to the Sewer museum. Yes, it is in the sewers. The very sewers, as a matter of fact, where Jean Val Jean carried Marius to safety. (Did you know that rats eat FIVE TIMES their weight in solid matter EACH DAY? They are the sewerman’s friend.)

After the sewers, Doreen went to the decorative arts museum, which is IN the Louvre, and I went with the others to Notre Dame. They walked up (385 steps) to the top, and we returned to have coffee (read that - beer) with Doreen at the Louvre, and we "did" the Louvre. What a place! I still can’t get enough. It stays open to 10:00 on Tuesdays, and we came close to closing it down. Doreen led the tour, and much like the artists of the 18^th century, the group dutifully studied the pose of the Roman Borghese warrior. They were quick to recognize its re-appearance in the large format French academic paintings. When Doreen made everyone backtrack a quarter mile to look at the Archimboldo’s (a 17^th century artist who paints portraits using flora and fauna for the "human" facial features), we knew it was time to go to dinner.

After the Louvre we walked into St Germain again. (The demonstration of faith over experience) and had a GREAT meal of Greek food. This time they were not trying to be French, and we all enjoyed it. Then to bed.

The next day we took the train to Reims (Rheims) to look at a cathedral and some Champagne Caves.

The Train to Reims.

Reims is a very old Roman city, and part of the ancient gate is still standing.

We took a tour of the Mumm caves (it cost 25FF each – about $4.00 or so) and it was very much fun. The guide was a young French girl who gave the tours in English, French, German, and Japanese! Very cute young thing who could not pronounce her "Rs" So one of the jobs in the caves, which in English is called a "Riddler" (The person who rotates the bottles ¼ turn daily) came out "Widdlers". Laurie tried to get me to ask her to say "Rascally Rabbit" but I didn’t want to embarrass her. (Well, the truth is that I asked Laurie to do this, and she wouldn’t. Durn it all!) It was a great tour.

After the Mumm tour, we when into the Cathedral in Reims. More about this later.

We got back to Paris and the Metro home was FULL, full. It was a crush to get inside. We stopped and bought some cheese, fois gras, and bread. It was another great meal!

On the last full day of the trip, Good Friday, we started by venerating the Crown of Thorns (More on this later) we then split, with the girls going to the Picasso Museum, and Matthew and I trying to get into the Orfila. Gus was fulfilling some shopping obligations of his own, and would meet us for lunch.

The Picasso Museum – Great art in a fabulous old building.

Despite Matt’s great French (No kidding!) we could not get into the Orfila. So we went and had a couple of beers at the Café Flores, where Hemingway et al hung out.

We met the gang at the Café Voltaire, situated in the building where Voltaire died (not from the food, we all hoped) and then went on to see the amazing Louvre of Geegaws, an Antiques shopping center where you can buy ANYTHING.

After the Geegaws, we hit the Opera, Galeries Lafayette, (where I saw a nice WOOL red scarf that I thought that Doreen might surprise me with) and then headed home. We had reservations at 7:00 PM for dinner at the Toupary (Get it – Top of Paree?) that has a great view of Paris.

Galeries Lafayette. The Paris version of Macy’s.

More of the Toupary later, it was very nice. Nice view, good food, good conversation. It was everything you want in a dinner.

The next morning, alas, the crew had to fly off to Wisconsin.

We had great fun.

Doreen leading another art history tour? No, it’s the wicked on chained together and thrown into a boiling cauldron on Judgment Day at Reims.

BACK TO GRAND TOUR HOMEPAGE!