2 Exhausted 2 Write Quint-ennial
Vacation
"Sometimes
it's better to lose your map anyway
You may end up where you were going
Instead of where you thought you were"
– kendall brown
I printed 42-page itineraries for Gramma, the twins, and Alan and I so everyone would know where we were going and where we had been. The first page was headlined with the above quote. When I told people about the itineraries I was pouring so many hours and effort into, I said I knew God was laughing as I laid our plans. What I didn't know was that the angels watching me over God's shoulder as I laid our plans were laughing so hard they wet themselves.
April
28 - April 30, 2006 | May
1 - 3, 2006 | May 4 - 5, 2006 | May
6 - 7, 2006 | May 8 - 9, 2006
May
10 -11, 2006 |
May 12, 2006 | May
13, 2006 | Mother's
Day, May 14, 2006 | May
15, 2006 | May
16 -17, 2006
European
Hitchhikers We Picked Up '06 | Europe
2006 Archive | Newsletter Archive
So here's how it went down from May 16 to May 17 (You don't have to read any of the words! You can just look at the pictures. There will be no test.) :
TUESDAY May 16
"The traveler
sees what he sees; the tripper sees what he has come to see."
-- G.K. Chesterton 1874-1936
May 16, 1770 - Marie
Antoinette (age 14) marries future King Louis XVI (age 15) of France
May 16, 1804 - Senate & Tribune declare Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor of
France
May 16, 1920 - Joan of Arc (Jean d'Arc) canonized a saint by Pope Benedict
XV
May 16, 1941 - Last great German air attack on Great Britain (Birmingham)
The
Musée du Petit Palais on Avenue Winston-Churchill is gorgeous day or
night. The Petit Palais was created for the Universal Exposition of 1900 as
a city museum in which to showcase the works bought from the yearly Salons.
Among this collection
you can find ancient artifacts, medieval objects, rare manuscripts and books,
Dutch paintings from the seventeenth century. The collection includes western
art from the Egyptian era to the present.
Le Petit Palais was opened officially December 11, 1902, between the Champs-Elysees and the Avenue Alexandre III.
The collection includes Poussin's The Massacre of the Innocents, Ruben's Prosperpina, and Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Poodle. There are also Impressionist selections from the nineteenth century by Pisarro, Morisot, Cassatt, Manet, Renoir, and Gauguin.
I
don't know if I saw any of those.
I saw art pieces, but nothing compared to the murals and the architecture of the petite palace itself.
That, and I was there for one thing and one thing only: "Sarah Bernhardt" by Georges Clairin. Oh! the brouhaha when the public viewed this painting of Sarah wearing her peignoir, prepared to greet visitors in her salon. Oh, that Sarah! It was a scandal.
Soon many/most/all the society ladies were having their portrait painted wearing her own peignoir, lounging on her own chaise lounge. Oh, society's herd behavior!
Every time we've come to Paris I've wanted to view this in person; every time it's always been something preventing it. I walked in, immediately asked where Sarah was, walked straight to her, took a picture of her and Kilory, went to the gift shop to see if there was a postcard (no), took a picture of the crowd in the entrance hall looking at her, and left. This time, like so many other times, there was still so much to do, and very little time in which to do it.
Like
posing with a cow from the Mooooooooooooolin Rouge. And paying respects to
Winston Churchill's statue at the corner of the Petit Palais.
And
taking a picture of the twins taking a picture of the Eiffel Tower and the
Northish end of the Pont Alexandre III. Look at that, Alan! -- three mini
vans on the Pont Alexandre III.
Built in 1900 for the Universal Exhibition, the Pont Alexandre-III takes its name from the Russian emperor who laid the first stone.
It's a magnificent example of art nouveau style decorated with nymphs, cherubs and other sea monsters.
The four
golden statues depict Art, Commerce, Industry and the Sciences. This superb
example of 19th century engineering crosses the Seine between the Invalides
and the Grand Palais/Petit Palais.
Alan finds the classier,
faster RER system more confusing than the métro. As they are faster,
there are fewer trains and more time to get confused wondering if you're on
the right platform (which we weren't, in the photo at left).
Once on the correct train, however, a travel bug hitchhiker and its Geocache mule (at right) are whisked swiftly to its destination in cleaner, half-empty, more comfortable cars.
Alan still dislikes the RER.
I like them because "RER" sounds like "derriere" without the "d." : )
Jardin
Notre Dame is at Rue de la Huchette & Petit Pont. Number
10 Rue de la Huchette, next to des Argonautes, is where Napoleon lived at
the time he ordered "whiff of grapeshot" to be volleyed
into a crowd of royalists and counter-revolutionaries in 1795.
Gramma wanted a repeat lunch at Jardin Notre Dame. I knew Gramma would enjoy eating there, I just didn't know how much. It IS my favorite restaurant in the whole world. I mean, look at the view (at right).
TBH Dwarf is hanging off the vase of fresh flowers next to Kilory (there are always fresh flowers on the tables there!), and one can almost see TBH Dat Dingaling at the base. We'd realized we'd been rude by not taking pictures of TBH Dwarf, too, to share with his owner. So, on this last day in Paris we showed him around, too. (As of Jan. 3, 2007, he's in California, having been to Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Arkansas after we dropped him off a few miles from our hometown. The next Geocache mule put it in a cache in our hometown.)
The top of Notre Dame, nose to nose with chimères and above gargoyles, was next. At the lunch table I read from our itinerary: Galerie des Chimères: 6.10€ adults, 4.10€ seniors, free for children under 18. "Last admittance at 6.45 p.m. One should be in fine fettle."
"That's a quote?" Gramma asked. "'One should be in fine fettle.'?"
I
told her it was a quote, and that it is 236 steps to the top of the Arc de
Triomphe. At Notre Dame, 422 steps (that become increasingly narrower) lead
to the very top of the Bell Tower in the Galerie des Chimères.
Looking positively woozy, she blanched and told us she'd wait for us below. She knew we'd kept asking if we'd killed her yet. Upon reaching the top of the Arc de Triomphe had seen her dead grandmother beckoning her to come toward The Light.
I
told her that although the chimèra gallery was definitely worth it,
Notre Dame paled in comparison to other cathedrals we'd seen. We would let
the three blonds go up (Nikki and Kilory cut their teeth on "God
Bless the Gargoyles"), and I would take her to a place for which
I have not found a comparison.
Road distances in France are calculated on the basis of the "0 km" marked on the square in front of the Notre Dame cathedral.
During the early 19th
century, the cathedral was in a state of disrepair, and city planners began
to contemplate tearing it down. French novelist Victor Hugo, an admirer of
the cathedral, wrote his novel 
The
Hunchback of Notre Dame in part to raise awareness of the cathedral's heritage,
which sparked renewed interest in the cathedral's fate. 
A
campaign to collect funds to save the cathedral followed, culminating in the
1845 restoration.
Nikki stands in the entrance to the South Tower. Alan squeezed through nevertheless. Others have, too -- taking paint and wood with them.
The bell "Emmanuel"
in the South Tower weighs 13 metric tons (over 28,000 pounds). The clapper
alone weighs 500 kilograms (about 1,100 pounds).
It is said that
when "Emmanuel" was recast in 1631, women threw their gold and other
jewelry into the molten metal, giving the bell its unique, pure F sharp tone.
In other words: it's probably just a legend.
A
diagram of Alan's photo from the chimèra gallery or south tower: At
the 12 o'clock position is a half-timbered house with a bluish roof. This
house always has a table out front with a pot of fresh cut flowers on it --
this time of year it's usually lilacs. In front of it (in the 11 o'clock position
beside the park which often features sculpture exhibitions) is the church
of Saint Julian the Poor. Saint
Julien le Pauvre is one of the oldest churches in Paris, dating from between
1165 and 1220. At
the spindle position is a green pear shape -- it is the oldest tree in Paris.
At the far 2 o'clock position is St-Séverin (see buttresses under bluish roof)
outside of which a cellist once played "Maria"
while I ate Chinese food -- one of the coolest memories of my life. At the
3 o'clock position is the Esmeralda Hotel (featured in Linnea in Monet's
Garden). At the far 4 o'clock position is Shakespeare
and Company (also featured in Linnea in Monet's Garden). At the
farther 5 o'clock position are the green bouquinistes straddling the sidewalk
and the Seine. Out of these boxes old books, old maps, souvenirs, and postcards
are sold. At the 6 o'clock position on the outside of the park fence is my
favorite bench in Paris: sit, eat, feed pigeons, watch the world go by, and
gaze at Notre Dame. It's especially wonderful at night.
Chimèra
or gargoyle?: A chimera, or grotesque, is a similar type of sculpture that
does not work as a waterspout and serves only an ornamental or artistic function.
These are popularly referred to as gargoyles. But, as I must point out,
are NOT gargoyles.
In architecture, the gargoyle (from the French gargouille, originally the throat or gullet, cf. Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived from root gar, to swallow, the word representing the gurgling sound of water) are the carved terminations to spouts which convey water away from the sides of buildings.
Again I must say, I love the camera angles Kilory uses and the shots she chooses to take. Like this one of a true gargoyle (which may have the new task of granting wishes?) pointing toward the gardens at the east end of the Notre Dame campus. And the crazy rooster chimèra above.
While
TBH Dwarf and TBH Dat Dingaling posed in the Galerie des Chimères,
Gramma and I navigated the bus system to the 10-storey Galeries Lafayette
at 40 boulevard Haussmann.
Having watched Bob Newhart perform "Bus Driving School," I know the driving techniques we suffered are not unique to Paris or France. In fact, even bus drivers on Neptune are required to rapidly accelerate while a passenger tries to find a seat, and then slam on the brakes. Union rules.
Bruised and battered (literally) I led Gramma to a wonderland of stained glass and opulent architecture: the grand dame of Parisian department stores, les Galeries Lafayette Haussmann.
In
1893 Théophile Bader and his cousin Alphonse Kahn opened a fashion
store in a small haberdasher's shop. In 1896, the company purchased the entire
building at n°1 rue La Fayette and in 1905 the buildings at n°38,
40 et 42, boulevard Haussmann and n°15 rue de la Chaussée d'Antin.
Théophile Bader commissioned Georges Chedanne and then his pupil Ferdinand Chanut to design the layout of the Haussmann location. A glass and steel cupola, and Art Nouveau staircases were built in 1912.
The store has been designated as an historic monument.
Gramma bought perfume; I couldn't find the perfume I had planned to buy. *sniff* Then, taking our lives in our hands we braved the bus system back to Notre Dame. Gramma doesn't like the métro, but I have this to say for it: a métro driver has never earned points by sending me from the front to the back of the car in less than four seconds (extra points when I made a *splat* sound hitting the back window). "Auntie Em, is that you?"
I have no memory of how
we reached the Parc Monceau to abandon Dat
Dingaling in the same (Les
Etats-Unis) Geocache in which we found him. (I think I lost a lot of memories
on the bus ride.)
Nikki
didn't completely abandon him, however. As we had not succeeded in placing
Nikki's
Travel Bug (or Dat Dingaling) into the CORRECT Cimetiére de Montmartre
Geocache, we placed her Hitchhiker alongside Dingaling. Perhaps they will
travel together for awhile? Alan's
hitchhiker had been whisked away by a Slovakian geocacher. At the same
time, we removed Henry
Gordy from the cache, the logbook (which we donated) having said he wanted
to go to Arizona.
We headed back to the Etap to pack for the next morning's flight home.
So many things we'd seen, experienced, digested. So much history. So many thoughts. So many memories.
As we packed we asked ourselves...
have we killed Gramma yet?
WEDNESDAY May 17
"If we are always
arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's
destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things."
-- Henry Miller
At
the crack of dawn we walked for the last time to our Porte St-Ouen métro
stop, I paused to take a picture of the flower-infused median in the middle
of the city.
One takes the RER to get to Charles de Gaulle airport.
It's a little scary because if you don't get on the "Roissy-Rail" – sometimes used to name the part of the RER B line between Paris Gare du Nord and Charles de Gaulle -- you might be getting onto the line that makes all the stops in between and you may not have enough time for that.
Every time, we've gotten
on the right line, and every time I'm not sure how we did it.
At right, Nikki tries to figure out the departure-destination-station diagram for our RER train, while Kilory tries to stay awake.
One
had better always be on their best behavior. One never knows who may be watching,
even at Charles De Gaulle aeroport in France.
Alan stood in line checking luggage and arranging boarding passes for us. The woman standing next to him saw his address printed loud and clear on his security pouch.
"You're from Keene, Texas?" she asked. "We're from Cleburne!" (Jim and Kay Johnson, at left.)
It is a small world.
It is a some what hectic experience trying to get into the right lines, but
nothing compared to the confusion of arriving.
Airport security pulled me aside and called the police.
C'mon, you knew it'd happen someday!
As I'd packed I wondered
where the large scissors I'd bought in Switzerland went. Maybe it was somewhere
in the luggage to be checked. Noooooooooo, it was in a carry-on. 
I
lit up when I saw it: "Oh, there it is!" My happy expression
didn't match the expression of the security officer holding them. They looked
at me like I was an idiot and confiscated the scissors. Then
they held up my hypo-sprayer (to deliver my insulin); and my
syringes (in case something happens to the hypo-sprayer). Security has never
been asked for a prescription before, or since, but they did this time. After
a half an hour of waiting for the police to arrive -- a child had disappeared
at the airport -- I decided I needed my insulin now instead of later
and asked to use the hypo-sprayer on myself in full-view. When they saw what
it did, they said I could have it (presto!) but not the syringes. I picked
up the syringes, tossed them in the trash can and walked away with my hypo-spray.
The security-risk portion of my day over, all that was left was to try to find the perfume in the duty-free shop that I had planned to buy in town.
American Airlines 00492 CDG-DFW took us the 4936 miles (10hrs 45 min) home...where Chia, the Terri-huahua, had decided that PaPa hung the sun, the moon, and the stars and she didn't want to to go home with us. She still tries to go home with him whenever he comes over. She hides and/or claws at his legs when it's time for us to leave PaPa's house.
Travel Bug Hitchhiker update as of January 5, 2007:
Chrissie's hitchhiker -- cached May 4, 2006 in Zürich, is in Goodrich, half way between Hereford and Glouchester, UK.
Nikki's hitchhiker -- cached May 16, 2006 at Parc Monceau, Paris, is in Antwerpen, BE.
Kilory's
hitchhiker (hitching on Quincy's back) -- cached May 8, 2006 in Nürnberg,
is in Hettingen,
DE, half way between Stuttgart and Lake Constance.
Alan's
hitchhiker (at Spa Sliac, Slovakia) -- cached May 13, 2006 at Parc
Monceau, Paris, is in Lipovnik,
Slovakia, halfway between and the east of Budapest and Krakow.
And that's all there is, there isn't any more.
April
28 - April 30, 2006 | May
1 - 3, 2006 | May 4 - 5, 2006 | May
6 - 7, 2006 | May 8 - 9, 2006
May
10 -11, 2006 |
May 12, 2006 | May
13, 2006 | Mother's
Day, May 14, 2006 | May
15, 2006 | May
16 -17, 2006
European
Hitchhikers We Picked Up '06 | Europe
2006 Archive | Newsletter Archive
We hope you enjoy your visit.
