Saturday, December 8: On the flight from London to Paris the flight attendants would make all of the announcements in both English and French. I was trying to understand the French but it seemed like I could only pick out 1 word in 10 (usually the "Merci" at the end). I did not think it boded well for my communication chances.

The plane landed around 9AM and I got through customs pretty quickly. I was disappointed, though, that I did not get a stamp in my passport for entering France (perhaps it was because I was coming from another European Union country). I was slightly surprised to see that there were not any signs around the airport in English. In other foreign airport that I have been to in Taiwan, Japan, and Sweden, most signs were in 2 or 3 languages, including English.

I was able to read enough of the signs to take the bus over to the other terminal to get to the train station (la gare). I was able to tell the ticket agent "Je voudrais acheter un billet pour Paris" (I would like to buy a ticket for Paris) and "alle-router" (round-trip) but then I had to explain that I was going to Paris today, then going from Paris to Torcy (where my company's office was located) on Sunday night, and returning to L'Aeroport Charles de Gaule on Wednesday. So I had to resort to English. The ticket agent said that I would just have to buy a one-way ticket, and as I told him "votre anglais est meilleur ma francais" (his English was better than my French).

I took the train down to Châtelet - Les Halles station, where I was going to transfer to Le Métro (subway). At the main entrance to the subway, there were several officers in camouflage, some with automatic weapons. I am not sure if they were police or military. Not having been here before (and having seen the national guard at U.S. airports lately) I thought it was routine security. Then all of a sudden they took one guy down to the floor and pinned another up against a wall and I realized that was not a good place for me to be.

Anyway, I bought a Carnet, good for 10 rides on the Métro, and then took the subway over to near where my hotel was. I was staying a Hotel L'Odeon, in the Latin Quarter. I checked in just before noon, and then I hit the streets with my camera.

I had been told by three different people that the absolute must see was Notre Dame, so I headed that general direction, stopping at some other nearby attractions along the way. The first place I stopped was Saint Sulpice, a cathedral. I took some pictures of it and the fountain in front of it. Then a couple of blocks down from it are the Jardins et Palais du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens and Palace). There were dozens of beautiful statues in the gardens, and I took some pictures of those.

From there I went over to the Panthéon, where many of the "great men of the republic" are buried. Unfortunately, later that night when I went to transfer the pictures I discovered that the first floppy I had been using was bad. So the pictures pick up inside the Panthéon, where there were many statues and murals on all of the walls.

In a couple of the pictures you can also see Foucault's Pendulum. He hung a pendulum from the ceiling in 1851 and invited other scientist "... à venir voir tourner la terre ..." (to come see the turning of the Earth). His experiment proved that the Earth rotated on its axis. Also, the second photo below shows the martyrdom of St. Denis. I never knew I was a saint! (And a pretty important one, too. There are many things around Paris named after St. Denis. Somewhere there is also a Canal de St. Martin, but I never made it there). 

This next photo is just a church that was behind the Panthéon. It goes to show how remarkable all of the architecture is. You really get an old world feel and realize how "young" the U.S. is when you are in European cities and see all of this antiquity. The other two photos are a monument to the Bastille just behind Notre Dame at the end of Ile de la Cité (one of the two islands in the Seine at the center of Paris).

Now we have Notre Dame. It is amazing to think that all of this was constructed between 1163 and 1345. All of the statuary and the gargoyles and the buttresses on the outside, and the stained glass windows on the inside and detail all around, it is incredible. I had to take all of these pictures because words just cannot describe it.

Of course, Notre Dame, our mother, is in tribute to Mary. These next three photos are my favorites and I think the best that I took I am not sure if it was the lighting or what, but somehow the statue and crucifix seem to leap out in 3D, and I really seemed to capture the detail on the stained glass window. 

Inside of Notre Dame there was a small gift stand. One of my friends in California collects shot glasses, so I thought it would be funny to say that I looked for a shot glass inside Notre Dame, but did not find one. I walked over to the gift stand, and I could not believe what I saw in the display cabinet. I swore it was a shot glass! Then I look on the shelves behind the cashier and realized that a small candle went inside of it. Still, I thought it made a nice souvenir, and it could perform double duty as both a candle and a shot glass (not at the same time, hopefully). I had to have one, so I told the clerk "Celle-là, pour vingt-cinq franc." That one there, for twenty-five Francs, because I did not know the word for candle. "Je ne sais pas la mot." To which she told me the word for candle, and I tried repeating it, but she gave up on me after three tries.

After Notre Dame, I hopped on the Métro and and headed for La Tour Eiffel. When I had been in New York, my sisters and I got to the top of the Empire State Building just before sunset. So we got a view of the city in the daytime and then watched the sunset and saw all of the lights of the city come on. I wanted to do the same thing in Paris.

I made it over to the Champ de Mars Métro stop around 3:45. Champ is the French word for field, and Champ de Mars is the park that extends east of the Eiffel Tower. When I first exited the subway station, though, I could not see the tower at all. I thought maybe I was lost, or had got off on the wrong stop, but it was hidden behind a building. As soon as I wandered around enough, I spotted it.

Unfortunately, the lines for the elevators were quite long. I was afraid I would not make it up before dark if I had to wait. Then I saw the ticket window to go up the stairs, and it was exercise time. I took the stairs up to the second level, where the four legs finally converge (and you have to transfer from the angled elevators to the one that goes straight up to the top). I did not time it or count the steps, but I went at a pretty steady pace without having to stop along the way between the levels. These next pictures are from the first and second levels.

I was somewhat disappointed to find that they do not allow people to take the stairs all of the rest of the way up. The second level is almost half way to the top, so I figured I could have done the rest, no problem. I asked the ticket clerk "On ne prends pas l'escalier à oo?" (one cannot take the stairs to up). I slaughtered it enough that she knew I did not speak much French, but she understood and shook her head no. So I was forced to buy a ticket from her and take the elevator. It was pretty cold and windy at the top. The temperature I'm sure was starting to dip below freezing and the wind chill was probably into the teens (Fahrenheit). I did know enough to have taken my heavy leather jacket and a scarf and gloves, but it was hard to take pictures with the gloves on, so my bare hands got awfully chilly.

I almost did not think to get a photo looking straight down. The fence was such that you could not lean over, but then I saw someone just stick their arms out through the fence and point their camera down and I thought "that's a good idea".

It was dark now so I figured that was enough, and I descended in the elevator back down to the second level. I took the stairs down from the second to the first level, and counted some 400 steps (which is more that there are in the Statue of Liberty, which I climbed a few years ago). The stairs down from the first level were closed by now though, so I got to ride in the angled elevator to the bottom. From there I walked over the bridge across the Seine to the Palais de Chaillot which houses several museums. The third picture shows this interesting artistic thing that was going on. It is a slide projection playing on the face of the building.

Speaking of the Statue of Liberty, I guess I blew it, because Bartholdi's last "model" statue before he built the final one (something like 1/6 scale) is located somewhere near the Eiffel Tower. So I missed that.

From there I got on the Métro again and went over to L'Arc de Triomphe. I did not go up to the top of it, just took some pictures of it and looking down the Champs Elysées.

One more trip on the Métro and it was down to Place de la Concorde and Obélisque de Luxor. The obelisk was a gift from Egypt in the 1830's. From there it was a great view looking back up the Champs Elysées towards L'Arc de Triomphe. Note the Eiffel Tower in the background of the preceding and following photos.

By now it was after 8 PM, and I had not had anything to eat since breakfast on the flight over 12 hours before (which by the way, British Midland served about the best breakfast I ever had on any airline). So one more subway trip back to the hotel, and then I hit the streets again, walking all along Boulevard Sainte Germaine in the Latin Quarter. There are dozens of cafes and restaurants along there. I was having trouble deciding but I knew I wanted to be adventuresome and try something new and different. Then I spotted a Moroccan restaurant. I had never had Moroccan before, so I gave that a try.

I was starving. They had some great complimentary appetizers out, some sort of spicy potato concoction, and this olive dish. The olives had pits in them, and I was not sure about the etiquette of how to eat them, but I was too hungry to care. I tried the traditional Moroccan salad, which was great, and the traditional soup, which was very spicy and tasty, but it had garbanzo beans in it. They do not get very soft, even when cooked, so it made the texture of the soup kind of funny. For the main course I had saffron scallops over couscous, which was good, and a sample plate of Moroccan deserts, which were very sweet. Add in a beer and the tab came to FF335 (335 French francs). I had not paid much attention to the exchange rate, but I knew that was expensive (read on to find out just how much).

 Sunday, December 9: I had planned to get up at dawn to maximize my sight seeing. I did wake up early, but I was still exhausted from all of the walking the day before. Besides, I looked out the window and it was very hazy, so I did not think I would get very good pictures until the sun got a little higher. By the time I showered and put on a couple of pairs of socks to pad my feet, it was 9AM.

Because I had lost some pictures from the day before, I retraced my steps back past Saint Sulpice, through Jardins du Luxembourg, and outside the Panthéon.

I think I like copper sculptures the best. Something about the green patina, I guess. Any one of these statues would be a sight in the U.S., but after you see hundreds of them around Paris, it kind of gets to the point where you just pass by and go "oh, there's another statue". 

This time I continued past the Panthéon to Jardin des Plantes, the botanical gardens. The museum of natural history and a zoo are also on the grounds. Helpful hint: I recommend not bothering with botanical gardens in the cold in December. Amazingly, there were 3 or 4 plants actually in bloom.

I had skipped breakfast but was getting kind of thirsty so I broke down and went in the dreaded McDonalds and I managed to order a large orange juice and pay for it completely in French. Donnez-moi un grand jus d'orange. Seulement. Aller. (Give me a large orange juice. That's all. To go). So I was getting more confident in my speaking.

This is a monument to the Bastille. Of course, they tore the real thing down after it was stormed and the prisoners freed during the revolution.

This is Hôtel de la Cité, or City Hall. You can see the people ice skating on the rink in front. It was definitely cold enough to keep the ice frozen without having to artificially cool the surface.

From there, I walked back across the Seine to Ile de la Cité. I did not stop to think about it being Sunday morning. Suddenly I could hear the bells of Notre Dame ringing. I started to record one clip, but then did not like my position and so I kind of aborted that one and recorded a second clip. Unfortunately the second clip ended up on a bad disk (again, argh), so all I had is the one so-so first clip of the Bells Ringing (474 KB).

Here are some assorted pictures on the island including the Palais de Justice. I guess I blew it again, though as Sainte Chapelle is supposedly right by the Palais de Justice, and that is supposed to be one of the must see attractions.

At the end of Ile de la Cité there was a boat dock for one of the many boat tours on the Seine. I got there at 12:55 and there was a 1 o'clock boat. Perfect timing. The first few pictures are of the outside of the Louvre. The one before the Eiffel Tower is the Palais de Tokyo, which is like the museum of modern art.

Towards the end of the cruise I was really getting cold. The wind chill was fierce down on the water. Being from Michigan and having lived in Chicago, I have spent time in much colder weather, but I don't think I had stayed outside in that cold of a weather for 5 hours at a stretch since I was kid out sledding. Hypothermia was setting in, so I spent the last 20 minutes or so inside the boat by a space heater, and did not take many pictures. When the cruise ended, though, I was back on the street, walking past the halls of government and over to the Musée du Louvre. You can see the line, though. I did not have time to go in.

I spotted a perfume shop on the other side across from the Louvre, and another friend had asked me to buy her some perfume. She told me that she liked Elixir, by Clinique, but wanted something with "warmer undertones". Actually, they spoke very good English in the shop, but I wanted to pratice French, so after they got out the Clinique Elixir for me to sample, I said "Comme ça, mais plus chaud." Like that, but more hot. I was not sure how they might interpret the "more hot", but I did not know any other way to communicate warmer undertones. Anyway, they thought I meant a summer fragrance, so they gave me a sample of Miracle by Lacombe. I really liked it, so that's what a bought. The price was actually pretty good, comparable to what I could have gotten on-line with shipping.

Anyway, from there I walked through Jardin des Tuileries towards Place de la Concorde and Obélisque de Luxor and took a variety of pictures.

Past the obelisk I took pictures of such places as the National Assembly (3rd picture below), the Hôtel National des Invalides (picture 5, 8, and 9 below), the Grand Palais (6 and 12), and Le Petit Palais (the little palace, last picture). The Grand Palais and Petit Palais, like many places, house museums.

Here I am am standing in traffic on the Champs Elysées again, looking towards L'Arc de Triomphe.

It was after 3 now, and my feet were killing me. Except for one ride on the Métro from Jardin des Plantes to Bastille and the 1-hour boat tour, I had been on my feet the whole time. The other high point overlooking the city is Basilique du Sacré Coeur (sacred heart), which is by the artists' quarter. So I took the metro over to it to try to repeat what I had done at La Tour Eiffel (namely, watch the sunset). The first picture is just another ordinary church right off the metro stop. From there, it is a few hundred steps uphill to get to Sacré Coeur.

You can see that several hundred people had the same idea that I did. I went in briefly but it being Sunday there was a service going on and it was crowded. Also there were signs saying no photos and no cameras so I really did not look around, other than to look towards the front at the beautiful mural. I guess that was a mistake, as some of my co-workers from France later told me that you could go up in the towers and take pictures there. Oh well, I think the one's I got were pretty good.

So that did it for my sightseeing of Paris. I used the last ticket of my Carnet to take the subway back to Hotel L'Odeon, where they had kindly kept my luggage. Then I lugged it about a kilometer to the RER train station to take the train out to Torcy (which is out in the suburbs on the way to Euro-Disney).

It was in the RER station that I had my biggest French speaking accomplishment. The girl at the ticket window hardly spoke any English, and I managed to tell her in French that I wanted a ticket to go out to Torcy, and then return from Torcy to L'Aeroport Charles de Gaule later in the week (Mardis oo Macredi).

I made it out to Torcy around 9 PM, checked into the hotel and finally had dinner (first meal of the day, after the morning's orange juice). Then I collapsed and slept like a rock without waking all night.

Monday, December 10 through Wednesday, December 12: Monday and Tuesday were long work days in the French office. Being out in the suburbs, there was not much to do Monday night. For Tuesday night, the French office had booked me a reservation at a hotel back by the airport. What I did not know, however, was that it was just a straight shot down the freeway from the office to the airport, so Jean-Louis, the French sales manager, just drove me instead of making me take the train back into Paris and back out to the airport. So much for all of that French speaking I did Sunday night! I still have the return ticket.

So I stayed Tuesday night at the airport. Combined with the week in Great Britain, that was the sixth hotel in 10 nights. Traveling is nice, and it was great to take all of these pictures, but work is still work, and all of that packing and unpack takes its toll. I was ready to go home.

I had a 9:35 flight back to London, and then an hour and 45 minute layover at Heathrow. It was a good thing I had that much time, too, as it must have taken 1/2 hour just to ride the bus from one terminal to the other.

I did catch one sight while I was at Heathrow though. I thought I had seen one of these on my other layover in London on the way to Stockholm in June of 2000. This time I was sure. There was a Concorde parked at one of the gates. There was no mistaking it with the nose dropped down. I regret not stopping to take a picture now.

The flight left London on the way to LA at 11:35. It was a 777 again, but this time only half full, and I had no one beside me, so I could stretch out. What was really neat was that we actually flew far enough north to cross the Arctic circle and the terminator into night. I had not expected that. It was dark for a couple of hours, then we crossed back into daylight on the western edge of Greenland. It was a very clear day and it was neat being able to look down and see the snow capped peaks and glaciers on land and also the pack ice breaking up in the channel between Greenland and Baffin Island and in Hudson Bay.

The winds, of course, are not as favorable coming back as they are going, and the flight took its entire scheduled duration of 12 1/2 hours, landing on time in LA at 2:50 PM. I had only slept a couple of hours on the plane, and so as to not screw up my sleep cycle, I stopped by the office and then went and played tennis Wednesday night, and did not go to bed until around 11. Voila, no jet lag.

Later on I tallied my expenses and I thought I had done good. The whole trip, with airfare and rental car in Great Britain, came in under $2000 dollars. That does include my FF335 meal on Saturday (which, according to the master card statement, was $47), but does not include personal expenses like the shot glass/candle, perfume, and other souvenirs.

The one thing that really struck me about the whole trip, though, was that in all that walking I did around Paris and around the airport, not once did I find a drinking fountain. I guess that is why they had to invent Perrier. And most places you have to pay to use the restroom. The one by Notre Dame cost me 2 francs (and that's for a urinal. It was 2.70 for a stall).

That is when I realized the great thing about the USA compared to the rest of the world. We have free water. They have pay toilets. God Bless America.

This is the end of a story that began in Great Britain.