Woke up to our last day in Paris. Time had flown by. There is such an exhilaration in traveling. I hope we don't become addicted!
It was time to squeeze everything back into our bags. There wasn't much room for any extras. So far our souvenirs were limited to: fridge magnets (don't worry, we were pretty particular), light books, postcards and ephemera from museums and shops, small statues also from museums, and a few gifts for the kids.
We had washed a few essentials the night before and they had dried. We settled our bill and left our luggage in the Hotel's locked luggage room. Dusty had gotten online last night to see if the Paris LDS Ward was meeting somewhere relatively near to us. Turns out, it was only a few blocks from where we had planned on being today! Amazing.
Following the directions from the website, and honestly lots of others similarly dressed, we attended Sacrament meeting. It was very well attended, with many visitors.
After being spiritually refreshed, we walked across the street to the Pompidou Centre (Paris' Museum of Modern Art). It is a very innovative building. The escalator system is outside of the building with the red underneath.
Just outside of the Museum is this neat water "feature". Water sprays everywhere from these sculptures. It was also in the movie Sabrina, if anyone remembers.
Inside were glorious art works, and some..... less so glorious. I suppose it depends on your point of view. I snapped a photo of this for my sister who studied about Yves Klein Blue this year.
The building has a few terraces with good views. Sacre Coeur was close by. We didn't find time to visit this year; maybe next time.
Much to Dusty's puzzlement, I very much like abstract/contemporary art. He doesn't enjoy it as much, but likes contemporary design and more tactile art. He took many photos of chairs, pieces of metal, pieces of plastic, etc. This museum has it all.
For example, Dusty liked this full size display of kitchen tiles mixed with skulls and alphabet letters. Eccentric. (the descriptions were in French, so we couldn't fully appreciate what they were about)
After a few hours in the Centre, we wandered south. Here we passed an impressive building-- an old government building turned into hotel I think. Classic Paris structure.
Again we crossed the Seine. This direction is looking toward the Conciergerie (more later). Most of its turrets are in scaffolding right now.
And suddenly, after picking up a Croque Monsieur (sandwich) to share from a shop, we were looking up at the gothic Notre Dame Cathedral. The peasants started building this in 1163 and finally finished in 1345. The statues in a row near the bottom are the 28 kings of Judah. A very stately cathedral, yes?
Entrance is from the West side, through doors like these. In this portal is the Last Judgement.
Here is the inside stained glass view of one of three rose windows (as seen in the front of the Cathedral). It's a stunning window.
The arches in the ceiling are beautiful, as well as the statues scattered inside. There is a stirring one of Joan of Arc, who was beatified in this church.
After spending a good moment in the church, we left and walked around it a little bit. Here is a side glimpse.
A few blocks to the west is Sainte Chapelle. It's a tiny chapel when compared to the other giants in Europe, but draws people because of its stunning stained glass windows. It was originally built to house the Crown of Thorns. You can't see the outside well because it's nestled between government buildings, but the inside is worth the effort to get in. There are 15 panels of windows, with almost 2/3 still 13th century originals. They cover the creation to the coming of Christ. As you can see on the right, they are undergoing amazing restoration. The windows on the right are finished and glow.
Across the courtyard (although we had to go another way) is the Conciergerie. This was the prison during the French Revolution. Marie-Antoinette was kept here for quite awhile before being executed. There is a special chapel where her prison cell was located and is now a little spot dedicated to her memory. It's an interesting stop.
Our time in Paris was almost over. sniff sniff We took the metro back to our hotel, retrieved our luggage, and chugged back to the Gare du Nord station to catch the Thalys train to Amsterdam. We arrived at the train station later than planned and had to stand in line for a bit to validate our Eurail pass. I was having a little bit of anxiety inside, worried we would miss our train, but it turned out the train was delayed and we were just fine.
We boarded our coach. The Thalys is an extra-nice train-- complete with meal service and snacks. Some first class coaches on other trains just get drinks and snacks, but this one had all the amenities. The Thalys required seat reservations, even with our pass, and they cost much more than any of the other reservations we purchased. I guess we learned why. :)
What I want to remember about Paris:
the updated metro/finding our way shopping for shoes for Dusty windy evenings
glittery Eiffel Tower sitting on the grass at Trocadero Square accordians
listening to French holding hands on the Champs Elysees watching Dusty discover Paris
pain au chocolate exploring the gardens of Versailles washing clothes in the sink together
chic coats and scarves lit up buildings at night wandering through museums
not always agreeing on art how cool Rue Muffetard was watching out our hotel window
lots of fruit in the morning streets of classy buildings arc de triomphe at night
feet aching so badly at night buying postcards finding new favorites
We loved the plush, red seats. Both of us napped and read. The train was very high speed. At times it was hard to focus out of the window. The countryside was gorgeous, and although we didn't see any of the blooming tulips, we loved the rolling clouds and farm side. After the cushy, enjoyable ride to Holland, we arrived in Amsterdam. The Dutch language is completely foreign to me. There are many words that are similar to English, but it rolls off of the tongue so differently. The Dutch people speak incredible English though, so that was amazingly helpful.
In preparing to come to Amsterdam, I tried to get online to route our way across the city, but the site was always down. For four months. Well, you can't say I didn't try. I knew the stop to get off for our hotel (Westlandgracht), and which tram to get on (Tram 2) and that was good enough. What I didn't plan on, was my forgetting to upload the directions to my ipod. I had the physical address, and we hoped that we could wing it.
We purchased 24 hour chip cards from the driver on the tram. There were little screens that displayed which stop was next. Thank goodness because I couldn't understand the driver when he announced the stop.
When we reached our stop, we got off, and looked around. Another couple had gotten off as well and Dusty asked if they happened to know where our hotel was. They said, "we are staying there too! We will lead you right to it." They spoke with English accents but had lived in Canada for 25 years. They were so charming.
After checking in, we found our room. It was nice enough, and the we experienced the first of many twin beds pushed together to make a "double". A common Europe thing. I imagine it's hard to fit a large mattress up some of the tiny staircases they have.
We were hungry. We decided to venture to the center and find something. By this time it was about 9:00 at night. We walked back to our tram stop. We waited for at least 15 minutes for the next tram and as we were about to board, one of us realized we had left our GVP card in the room! So we didn't get on. After a moment of discussion, we decided to walk for a bit instead of waiting for the next tram. We found a cute little grocery. We bought some Swedish stews and you guessed it, even more Indian food. On the way back we walked past some lovely little ponds.
We were sad we didn't see more of the city tonight, but we had a relaxing time, eating, and just lounging.
We've decided that we like train travel. It's easy to get on and store your luggage. You just have to remember the approximate time you will have to get off, and then you can relax and watch the views.
It was time to squeeze everything back into our bags. There wasn't much room for any extras. So far our souvenirs were limited to: fridge magnets (don't worry, we were pretty particular), light books, postcards and ephemera from museums and shops, small statues also from museums, and a few gifts for the kids.
We had washed a few essentials the night before and they had dried. We settled our bill and left our luggage in the Hotel's locked luggage room. Dusty had gotten online last night to see if the Paris LDS Ward was meeting somewhere relatively near to us. Turns out, it was only a few blocks from where we had planned on being today! Amazing.
Following the directions from the website, and honestly lots of others similarly dressed, we attended Sacrament meeting. It was very well attended, with many visitors.
After being spiritually refreshed, we walked across the street to the Pompidou Centre (Paris' Museum of Modern Art). It is a very innovative building. The escalator system is outside of the building with the red underneath.
Just outside of the Museum is this neat water "feature". Water sprays everywhere from these sculptures. It was also in the movie Sabrina, if anyone remembers.
Inside were glorious art works, and some..... less so glorious. I suppose it depends on your point of view. I snapped a photo of this for my sister who studied about Yves Klein Blue this year.
The building has a few terraces with good views. Sacre Coeur was close by. We didn't find time to visit this year; maybe next time.
Much to Dusty's puzzlement, I very much like abstract/contemporary art. He doesn't enjoy it as much, but likes contemporary design and more tactile art. He took many photos of chairs, pieces of metal, pieces of plastic, etc. This museum has it all.
For example, Dusty liked this full size display of kitchen tiles mixed with skulls and alphabet letters. Eccentric. (the descriptions were in French, so we couldn't fully appreciate what they were about)
After a few hours in the Centre, we wandered south. Here we passed an impressive building-- an old government building turned into hotel I think. Classic Paris structure.
Again we crossed the Seine. This direction is looking toward the Conciergerie (more later). Most of its turrets are in scaffolding right now.
And suddenly, after picking up a Croque Monsieur (sandwich) to share from a shop, we were looking up at the gothic Notre Dame Cathedral. The peasants started building this in 1163 and finally finished in 1345. The statues in a row near the bottom are the 28 kings of Judah. A very stately cathedral, yes?
Entrance is from the West side, through doors like these. In this portal is the Last Judgement.
Here is the inside stained glass view of one of three rose windows (as seen in the front of the Cathedral). It's a stunning window.
The arches in the ceiling are beautiful, as well as the statues scattered inside. There is a stirring one of Joan of Arc, who was beatified in this church.
After spending a good moment in the church, we left and walked around it a little bit. Here is a side glimpse.
A few blocks to the west is Sainte Chapelle. It's a tiny chapel when compared to the other giants in Europe, but draws people because of its stunning stained glass windows. It was originally built to house the Crown of Thorns. You can't see the outside well because it's nestled between government buildings, but the inside is worth the effort to get in. There are 15 panels of windows, with almost 2/3 still 13th century originals. They cover the creation to the coming of Christ. As you can see on the right, they are undergoing amazing restoration. The windows on the right are finished and glow.
Across the courtyard (although we had to go another way) is the Conciergerie. This was the prison during the French Revolution. Marie-Antoinette was kept here for quite awhile before being executed. There is a special chapel where her prison cell was located and is now a little spot dedicated to her memory. It's an interesting stop.
Our time in Paris was almost over. sniff sniff We took the metro back to our hotel, retrieved our luggage, and chugged back to the Gare du Nord station to catch the Thalys train to Amsterdam. We arrived at the train station later than planned and had to stand in line for a bit to validate our Eurail pass. I was having a little bit of anxiety inside, worried we would miss our train, but it turned out the train was delayed and we were just fine.
We boarded our coach. The Thalys is an extra-nice train-- complete with meal service and snacks. Some first class coaches on other trains just get drinks and snacks, but this one had all the amenities. The Thalys required seat reservations, even with our pass, and they cost much more than any of the other reservations we purchased. I guess we learned why. :)
What I want to remember about Paris:
the updated metro/finding our way shopping for shoes for Dusty windy evenings
glittery Eiffel Tower sitting on the grass at Trocadero Square accordians
listening to French holding hands on the Champs Elysees watching Dusty discover Paris
pain au chocolate exploring the gardens of Versailles washing clothes in the sink together
chic coats and scarves lit up buildings at night wandering through museums
not always agreeing on art how cool Rue Muffetard was watching out our hotel window
lots of fruit in the morning streets of classy buildings arc de triomphe at night
feet aching so badly at night buying postcards finding new favorites
We loved the plush, red seats. Both of us napped and read. The train was very high speed. At times it was hard to focus out of the window. The countryside was gorgeous, and although we didn't see any of the blooming tulips, we loved the rolling clouds and farm side. After the cushy, enjoyable ride to Holland, we arrived in Amsterdam. The Dutch language is completely foreign to me. There are many words that are similar to English, but it rolls off of the tongue so differently. The Dutch people speak incredible English though, so that was amazingly helpful.
In preparing to come to Amsterdam, I tried to get online to route our way across the city, but the site was always down. For four months. Well, you can't say I didn't try. I knew the stop to get off for our hotel (Westlandgracht), and which tram to get on (Tram 2) and that was good enough. What I didn't plan on, was my forgetting to upload the directions to my ipod. I had the physical address, and we hoped that we could wing it.
We purchased 24 hour chip cards from the driver on the tram. There were little screens that displayed which stop was next. Thank goodness because I couldn't understand the driver when he announced the stop.
When we reached our stop, we got off, and looked around. Another couple had gotten off as well and Dusty asked if they happened to know where our hotel was. They said, "we are staying there too! We will lead you right to it." They spoke with English accents but had lived in Canada for 25 years. They were so charming.
After checking in, we found our room. It was nice enough, and the we experienced the first of many twin beds pushed together to make a "double". A common Europe thing. I imagine it's hard to fit a large mattress up some of the tiny staircases they have.
We were hungry. We decided to venture to the center and find something. By this time it was about 9:00 at night. We walked back to our tram stop. We waited for at least 15 minutes for the next tram and as we were about to board, one of us realized we had left our GVP card in the room! So we didn't get on. After a moment of discussion, we decided to walk for a bit instead of waiting for the next tram. We found a cute little grocery. We bought some Swedish stews and you guessed it, even more Indian food. On the way back we walked past some lovely little ponds.
We were sad we didn't see more of the city tonight, but we had a relaxing time, eating, and just lounging.
We've decided that we like train travel. It's easy to get on and store your luggage. You just have to remember the approximate time you will have to get off, and then you can relax and watch the views.
1 comment:
Hooray for Paris! And hooray for the fun memories as I look at the photos. I especially love that little "what I want to remember" bits. I'm so glad that you and Dusty could go together!!! :) Hooray for couple trips!
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