Eric’s Journal

By car is definitely the most exciting way to enter Paris, especially when you see the Arc de Triomphe starting to loom before you… 12 or some crazy number of streets converge on that roundabout. Our GPS steered us out of the area, just in time. Phew! Eric did a great job navigating the streets, even though it seemed overwhelming and a little scary.

Paris also, was chilly and rainy, but we did stay fairly close to the Eiffel Tower, which helped brighten the spirits. It also wasn´t bad waking up and having a chocolate croissant for breakfast! We are finding it not as easy to blog if there isn´t Internet in the hotel we are staying at, I guess we´d rather be seeing the sights.

One tip, if you ever go to Paris, and plan on visiting a few museums, make sure you pick up a Paris museum Pass, well worth the money, especially since you get to shortcut quite a few lines. Tourists definitely abound in Paris and it seemed like every site was crazy busy.

The first day we arrived we visited Saint Chappelle, a church with magnificent stained glass, quite beautiful. We also managed a visit to Notre dame, amazing flying buttresses, and visited the Deportation Memorial, celebrating the lives of the French interned during WWII by the Nazis. It was extremely moving. We took a trip up the Eiffel Tower and managed to stay up there until the sun went down. What a great way to get a perspective on the city!

Now that I am thinking about it the rest of the Paris is a little blurry, it felt sort of like a whirlwind, a good whirlwind. The Musee d´Orsay had fabulous art and I loved the Rodin Museum and seeing the real “The Thinker”. I never realized how intense and time consuming creating sculptures is… it was fascinating as they had on display different stages and castings of some of his art. Sacre Coeur is a looming church on a hill overlooking the city. I thought is was a great idea to climb to the top. After losing count to the number of stairs and feeling the burn we made it into the open to a fabulous view and a rainbow!

The next day we took the train out to Versailles. Right now I am reading a biography about Marie Antoinette so I was anxious to verify the images in my head. It is quite massive although, so were the crowds, so much so, that it was a little distracting. I think the Hall of Mirrors was my favorite in the main palace. The grounds were beautiful and we made it out to the Grand and Petit Trianon, which were basically where the nobility went to get away from the crowds, but only a 30 min walk! It was fascinating seeing Marie Antoinette´s Hamlet and the area where she spent a considerable amount of time. Definitely a highlight! We made it back to town in time to visit the Pantheon, by then I was feeling quite weary. Here, one of Eric´s highlights was seeing Foucalt´s Pendulum. Boy the earth moves slowly!

Our last day in Paris, we left for visiting the Louvre, strolling the Champs Elysees and climbing the Arc de Triomphe. The Louvre as you can imagine was crazy busy and I think half the people there were crowded around La Jaconde (the Mona Lisa). Unlike when Eric visited back in 2001, it is now behind glass and surrounded by ropes, attempting to consolidate the crowd. We really couldn´t get a good look at it, but admired from afar. Some other highlights were some of Botticelli´s works, the real painting of the crowning of Napoleon´s wife Josephine that we saw at Versailles, Venus di Milo, other da Vinci works, the code of Hammurabi, and somehow we ended up seeing the Winged Victory about 5 times due to our walking strategy or lack there of. The shops lining the walk to the Arc de Triomphe are much like the ones you see lining 5th Avenue in New York or the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, basically, I can´t afford anything there. We had another “feel the burn” walk up a tiny spiral staircase to get to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. The view was a great way to remind us of all we had seen in Paris and how much more there is to see!

Beret Count= 14
Highest Price Paid for a Soda= 3 euros
Best Dinner= Le Bosquet
Best Dessert= Ulysses en Gaul - Banana and Nutella Crepe

Update: view photos of Paris.

Filed by LeAnn at 9:36 am under Europe 2007
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After spending several days in the Cotswalds, we headed south to catch a ferry out of Portsmouth. Along the way, we stopped to visit Stonehenge. Our guidebook led me to believe this was going to be a tourist trap, but it turned out to be a pleasant and educational experience. Well, as pleasant as it could be in the ever-present rain. Visitors are able to get an unobstructed and fairly close view, and the audio guide was very informative.

We stayed one night in Portsmouth across the street from the ferry terminal and we had booked the 7am crossing on a fast boat to arrive in France early that afternoon. However, it was extremely windy and our trip was cancelled, so we were put on a slower ferry that left later that morning.

The ferry trip was a bizarre experience. Being from Seattle, we considered ourselves experts on ferries, but this trip challenged all of our previous conceptions. The bottom deck had a car hold, but the seven decks above had more in common with a 1970’s cruise ship. The decor had a Holiday Inn lounge feel, and there were bars, arcades, theaters, and, as it turned out, a karaoke bar. We tried to sit in a quiet area, but a few hours into the trip, a DJ put on some music and announced that due to the weather, there would be no karaoke, but instead there would be a magic show. Then on cue, Mr. Magic emerged on stage and began juggling, performing tricks, and making balloon animals to the tune of Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”.

To make matters worse, LeAnn became rather sea sick, despite wearing her anti-nausea wrist bands. The sea was rough, with huge rollers and white caps. She wasn’t able to eat anything, and all we had had to eat was some sort of Danish.

Still, to me it was worth the trouble. The route our ship followed, from Portsmouth to the Ouistreham, was the same course followed by many ships during the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy (as another similarity, the channel was very rough on that date, causing a great deal of sea sickness among the troops).

We have now spent the last several days exploring Normandy. We rented a car and despite our fears of ending up with a tiny, compact Le Car, we got a Toyota Prius! This came equiped with on-board GPS, so we haven’t had to mess around with translating maps.

We’ve visited a half dozen D-Day sites, several museums, and the American Cemetary. I’ll write more about this later when I can publish some pictures. We also saw the Bayeux Tapestry, which is on display just a few blocks from our hotel. We were both amazed at sheer length of this nearly 1,000 year old historical record, and we were captivated by the story it tells. Today, we ascended the many steps of Le Mont St. Michel, and ate fluffy, foamy omelettes for lunch.

Tomorrow, we leave for Paris and will stop by Monet’s garden at Giverny along the way.

Update: view photos of Normandy.

Filed by Eric at 11:18 am under Europe 2007
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We are now in France, but the following is a excerpt I wrote on the train in England.

Where are those sheep? I was looking forward to viewing sheep close up.

When we arrived in Moreton-In-Marsh, it was raining, again. It happened to be Market Day, so I figured there would be flowers, meat, veggies, seafood…however, there were also socks, batteries, sweaters, old cds, and a Meat Machine. What’s a “Meat Machine”? We didn’t get close enough to find out! The market was much like a mall, but on a smaller level. Still… no sheep, just saw them from afar on the train.

We decided to visit Stow-In-the-Wold, sounds like someplace sheep would be, right? Well, it was a quaint town with shops and it was still pouring. Eric had a chance to try out the stocks in the town square, but he got a little wet. No sheep.

The next morning, the sun was sort of breaking through, so we went off on a hike or a walk to examine the English countryside. The puddles were virtually impassable, but we trudged on. I can’t remember the last time I was that muddy. Guess what? We didn’t see ANY sheep, but we sure got a good look at some cows! The couple in front of us meandered through the herd without a hitch, not us! When walked by a couple cows turned their backs and took care of business before we could turn away. Boy, it smelled bad and Eric couldn’t stop laughing through the entire field. I think that just encouraged the behavior. Due to this experience, that afternoon, I had to muster up some courage to eat cheese . The walk was enjoyable, we ruined a couple of white hotel towels, but it was fantastic to be outside.

Chippen Camden was a town to the North and it had a beautiful Catholic Church. The altar coverings were supposedly the only ones to survive the English Civil War. The bus ride was a little scary due to the narrow roads and how they drive on the other side of the road.

The Cotswolds were definitely quite a bit slower than London. Too bad we didn’t get to see the animal that creates the famous Cotswold wool, I guess we were in the wrong area. I can’t believe there weren’t ANY sheep. The hotel was fantastic and we had an amazing meal one night, all in all, it was a welcome reprieve from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Next up: D-Day and the beaches of Normandy, France.

Update: view photos of the Cotswolds.

Filed by LeAnn at 12:32 pm under Europe 2007
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It’s not London Bridge, but Eric and LeAnn that are falling down. 3 full days is not enough time to see all of the major sites, but we tried! We’ve managed to squeeze in trips to Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, the British Museum, the Royal Botanical Garden, the Chocolate Bar at Harrods, and more.

Today, we made it in the nick of time to the British Library to see some amazing manuscripts. Eric spent much of his time staring at the first edition of the complete works of Shakespeare. This morning, I was more fascinated with bypassing the ropes at the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels . We happened to be some of the first people inside and didn’t even have to get up that early!!

We’ve really felt like we are still at home, since it has been raining off and on. We even got caught in a torrential downpour walking home because the tube was busted. Fortunately, the sun came out yesterday afternoon and we were able to ride the GIANT ferris wheel, the London Eye.

We’ve taken the most pictures of Big Ben or maybe the London Eye or maybe even the Tower of London. At Westminster Abbey we definitely walked on the most bodies, considering how the graves are stacked on top of each other.

The food has been better than home! Tonight we had Indian food in Piccadilly Circus.

Tomorrow we leave for Moreton-In-Marsh in the Cotswolds. Hopefully the sheep won’t be too wet!

Update: view photos from London.

Filed by LeAnn at 11:56 am under Europe 2007
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We can’t believe that it’s almost time to leave!

Hopefully we won’t have as many follies as the Griswold family. 

Here is the link to a Google Map so that you can see our overall plan. We will start in London and fly out of Rome.

Filed by LeAnn at 9:29 pm under Europe 2007
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