Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! This is the day where everyone has good intentions for the new year. You are going to lose 10 pounds, be nicer to everyone, save more money...

Me? I have a few goals I would like to accomplish this year. I like using the word goal better than the word resolution. Resolution just seems so unforgiving to me.

2013 had its ups and downs, but for the most part it was a good year. I feel thankful and blessed for all that I was able to do and accomplish this year.

I want to thank all of you who have been following me. I appreciate that you want to hear what I have to say. One of my goals for 2014 is to blog a little more regularly.

And that's about all I have to say right now..(Sorry to disappoint those who were expecting a little more) Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2014 brings you all that you are looking for and more...

Until next time...

What a difference a year makes

Today is he anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. I am sure that many people in the northeast are reminiscing the events of the day.

Reminiscing? Really?

Who are we kidding? Most of us are are probably reliving the horror of that day. At the height of the storm, I hovered in my stairwell as tree limb (the one that ripped out my neighbor's power line), after tree (the one that fell in my backyard), after tree (the one that crushed my car and tore down my power line) crashed to the ground. The blast of my chimney exploding apart. The wind. I don't ever want to hear wind like that again.

My daughter evacuated her basement apartment and was staying at the apartment of a friend who lived on the third floor. She watched the water pour into the first floor of that building. She wondered if she would have an apartment to go back to.

But the storm ended. The next day came. The damage was done.

The police were in my driveway at 8am on Tuesday. They filled out a report and advised me that the first thing I needed to do was to get the tree off of my car.

My sister came and rescued me. She was one of the few in the northeast that had electricity. I was able to start my insurance claims, find a tree company to come and cut the tree off my car and get a rental car all that same day. I started the process of moving things along.

This was my house the day after the storm.

This is my house today.

Over the last year I have made a few changes to hopefully be better prepared for the next storm.

I had 3 large trees cut down in front of my house. I could not get them down fast enough. Every time the wind blew a little too hard, I was convinced they would come crashing down. Traumatized? Just a little.

I had a wood burning stove installed so I would always have a source of heat when the power goes out. Paranoid? Absolutely!

I no longer stock pile food in my freezer. I am tired of putting in claims for lost food due to lack of electricity.

I no longer park under trees of any kind, even on the sunniest of days. 

I have not gotten a generator like most of the neighborhood because they scare me a bit.

Somehow though, throughout the entire ordeal I found myself grateful. Grateful that it was only my car that got damaged, grateful that I was only without power for 4 days, grateful that I was able to find people to help me.

And today? I am grateful that the sun is shining and with no storm in sight.

Until next time...

I am a magazine junkie...

Yes, I admit it. In a day and age where the internet rules and the kindle is king, I still prefer a good old-fashioned magazine.

Being a graphic designer, the big draw for me is the layout, the paper it is printed on, the masthead...and at this point the publishers make it hard to say no.

It all started about 25 years when I got a subscription to People Magazine at the "waiting room" rate. Doctors get special rates for magazines so they can keep the waiting room stocked up with reading material while you wait for them. And some how I got that offer.

From there things just snowballed. I currently have about 15 subscriptions, give or take. People, Women's Day, Food Network Magazine, HGTV, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Games, Better Homes & Gardens, New Jersey Monthly, Inc., Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Quiltmaker, McCall's Quilting, Good Housekeeping ...and those are only the paid magazines.

I also get numerous, unsolicited magazines just because of what I belong to and where I live...Costco Connection, USAA, Morris/Essex Monthly and Rockaway Today to name a few.

Past subscriptions have included Fast Company, TV Guide, Taste of Home, Entertainment Weekly, Reader's Digest, Family Circle, Time, and Country Living.

I'm addicted, ya think?

And I have tried to cancel but the publishers make it too easy. They always "want me back" so I get rock-bottom rates. Time for $10 bucks? Sold! Redbook for $5 bucks? How can I not? Right now my subscription to New Jersey Monthly expired in June. I just received the October issue. I guess they are waiting for me to send in the "last chance" offer to resubscribe.

I am trying to cut down. Really. At this point, the time factor is a big issue. While I do read all of them, I do tend to get a little behind. But today I have a rainy day in front of me. I think I will catch up on my reading.

Until next time...

The night the power went out

Again....

I had an errand to run after work. There was the warning of thunderstorms all day, but for the moment, the sun was still out. As I got closer to my destination, the dark clouds were looming. I just knew that when I had to get out of the car was when the skies would open up.

Well the storm hit sooner. I was soon in a driving rain, I could not see two inches in front of me. I searched for someplace to pull over that was not near a tree (I'm a bit paranoid about trees since Sandy). I waited out the storm in a parking lot pretty much terrified as lightening bolt after lightening bolt streaked across the sky.

The storm passed. I completed my errand and headed home.

My first clue was the traffic lights were out in Randolph.

Pulling into my lake community I started thinking, "it looks pretty dark here, crap, the power is out...again."

This was the culprit.

A tree had fallen across Algonquin Ave. taking the power lines with it. So here I sit in the dark...again. The hum of generators buzzing throughout the neighborhood.

I have lived in my house for twenty six years and the first twenty we lost power maybe five times. Now it seems to be a regular occurrence.

I am a little more prepared these days. I have a number of lanterns going. If it were cold out, I have my brand new wood-burning stove for heat. I will lose the food in the refrigerator if we are without power for an extended period. Unlike the rest of the neighborhood, I don't have a generator. I may need to rethink that.

So what do you do when the power goes out?

Well thanks to technology I can still talk on the phone, text and stay connected on Facebook.

I played Candy Crush.

I took my wet laundry out of the washer and hung it up to dry.

I figured out my plan for the morning if the power is still out (I will be bringing my hair dryer to work!).

I wrote this blog post for you all to enjoy.

Now I am going to set the alarm on my iPhone, read a little and hopefully get a good nights sleep.

Oh and say a prayer that the power comes back on soon.

Labor Day

The unofficial "end of summer". At least that is what I have been hearing all weekend on the radio. Why is it that June, July and August fly by? I don't recall the bone-chilling months of January, February and March speeding along.

Summer has had different connotations at different time periods in my life.

When I was young and school age, it meant 3 months of no school. I would be able to go out and play with my friends from dawn to dusk. No homework. Spend days up at Terrace Lake.

College age meant I had 3 short months to work, 3 long months of living at home and 3 long months before I could get back to school.

When I was married and worked part-time it meant I had those lazy, hazy days to spend with my daughter.

Getting divorced meant 3 long months until school started up and figuring out where my daughter was going to spend her summer days because I now had to work full-time.

My daughter's college years meant my working 2 jobs and not even realizing there was a summer.

Now I have come full circle. I am finally at the point where I can enjoy summer and all it has to offer. The hot, humid days, taking a trip to the beach, walking 8:30 at night because the days are so long, mowing the lawn...

And I did all that and more. Still the summer has flown by and there was so much more I wanted to do. But today is just the unofficial "end of summer". We all have until September 22 to fit in a few more summer activities. Look around and you may just find me at the beach a few more times.

LES - The Lower East Side

My daughter Lauren is fortunate enough to work for a company that believes in "summer Fridays". Simply put, they get to leave at 1pm on Fridays, all summer long. So we have tried to make it a habit of taking advantage of it.

I leave work at noon and catch the 12:29pm bus to the city and we meet up for an afternoon of culture, food and whatever else happens our way.

I had not been into the city since March. I still find that hard to believe, that is how fast time gets away from us. We had begun to explore the Lower East Side by taking a tour at The Tenement Museum. We had enjoyed it so much that this particular Friday our destination was once again the Lower East Side and doing another tour offered by The Tenement Museum.

Our tour wasn't until 3:15 so I had a few things I had wanted to see beforehand. Our first stop was Kossar's Bialys at 367 Grand St. I had never had a bialy and Lauren didn't even know what one was so it seemed like a good thing to try. Kossar's is the oldest bialy bakery in the United States and a landmark on the Lower East Side. What exactly is a bialy?  I call it a bagel without a hole. Chewy, doughy and a bit of onion in the middle.

Our next stop was Economy Candy on Rivington Street. If you have a sweet tooth, this is the place for you. If you have had a yearning for Bonomo Turkish Taffy, candy cigarettes or a Sky Bar, this is the place for you. Floor to ceiling candy of all types. A kid's dream...

On to The Tenement Museum. It is located at 103 Orchard Street. Its mission is to tell the stories of 97 Orchard Street. Built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1863, this tenement apartment building was home to nearly 7000 working class immigrants. They faced challenges we understand today: making a new life, working for a better future, starting a family with limited means. In recognizing the importance of this seemingly ordinary building, the Tenement Museum has re-imagined the role that museums can play in our lives.

They offer a variety of tours in an actual tenement building at 97 Orchard Street. The tour we were doing was "Sweatshop Workers". It recreated the lives of the Levin and Rosenthal families and their roles in the garment industry.

Things to know before you go, the tours are about an hour long and the building is obviously not air conditioned. Don't pick a sweltering hot day to visit. Also, get your tickets ahead of time. If you just show up and expect to get tickets to a tour, you may be disappointed.

By now we were hungry, so our next stop was dinner. We were going to the famous Katz's Deli. The Katz's Deli of "When Harry Met Sally" fame. They actually have the table marked where this famous scene took place and you can sit at it.

When you walk into Katz’s Deli the atmosphere is that of an old time deli. The deli counter is on the right, tables on the left and a myriad of photos on the wall of famous people who have entered the doors over the years.
 
Everyone who enters is handed a ticket. This ticket is gold. You can’t leave without your ticket whether you order or not, so do not lose it. The ordering process was relatively easy, but kind of a pain. We had to order our roast beef sandwich at one counter, get the potato knish from another counter and pick up a drink at yet another counter. The sandwich was not quite as large as I was expecting for $15.95, but it was delicious.

Satiated by the roast beef sandwich, we were ready to begin the journey home.

We had a few more things to see on the list for today.

We walked up to Bowery Street to see this building.

All I will say is google “190 Bowery Street”. You will be amazed by the story of this building.

We then walked past the “Old Saint Patrick’s Cathedral”. Yes, there was one before the famous one on 5^th Avenue.

We found a Blick Art supply store. This was a find for me. I had been ordering from them for years and never knew there was a store right in NYC.

We ended our day at The Strand Bookstore. This has become a favorite bookstore to visit.

A quick subway ride back uptown and Lauren and I parted ways, I headed to Port Authority to catch a bus home and she headed to the PATH train. It was another fine day in the city.

What did you find...

most interesting? What was your favorite thing? What was the thing that surprised you the most?

These are a few of the questions I was asked when we got back from the trip.

I will begin with what surprised me the most.

The weather. I am a weather stalker when it comes to vacation. I start about a month ahead of time "stalking" it. Hoping of course for nice weather. Both London and Paris were going to be in the 50s and 60s. London, how can I put this nicely, the sky there was just mostly "doom and gloom" gray.  We had no rain. It was just gloomy most of the time. The sun did peak out occasionally. And it was a cold 50s, not a warm 50s. I thought being May, the weather would be better.

The panhandlers. Paris was full of them. On the subways there would be a group of musicians playing, quite well I might add, and at the end they would pass around a cup to put money in. When they were done with one car they would move onto the next car. There were people also playing instruments in the subway stations.

The Parisian people. I am not sure this goes under what "surprised me the most", more like "what everyone said". We really had no language barrier there. And they are not mean and nasty. We didn't have one unpleasant encounter.

A few oddities we saw.

In Paris we saw an elderly, chinese couple. They were both going into the subway station. Each one was on either side of the stairs, gripping the handrail and going down backwards, one step at a time.

On the Eiffel Tower, while waiting for the elevator to go down, there was a large Indian family also waiting. The odd thing was they each had a full-size rolling suitcase with them. Who goes to the Eiffel Tower with their luggage? Even if they were leaving the city that day they should have been able to store it somewhere for pickup later.

We heard a variety of languages being spoken in the 2 countries, German, French, Italian. But not once did we hear any Spanish. Considering where I live, it was very odd.

We did/saw 32 different things in 10 days.  While I would like to put everything on the list, here are my top ten things from the trip.

Number 10: The Eiffel Tower, Paris. I know this should be higher up on the list. The weather was a big factor as to why it is at the bottom.

Number 9: Our walk through Notting Hill area, London

Number 8: St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Number 7: Sacre-Coeur, Paris

Number 6: Seeing Les Miserables, London

Number 5: The Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Number 4: Riding the London Eye, London

Number 3: Monet’s home in Giverney, France

Number 2: The Globe Theater, London

And my Number 1 favorite thing: The Orsay Museum, Paris

And that ends our trip. I would love to here any comments or feedback!

Au revoir…

We’re not finished yet. We have to get home.

Memorial Day Monday. As much as I enjoyed my time in Europe I was very happy to be flying back to the United States. After all, there is no place like home.

We were up early. Our flight was 1:10 p.m. out of Charles DeGaulle airport. Our transfer was picking us up at 9:00 a.m. (this was confirmed on Saturday), so we were in the hotel lobby by 8:45 a.m.

9:00 a.m. came and went. I was starting to check the time every 30 seconds. I like to be at the airport early, remember??? I also had no perception as to how long it would take to get to the airport. At 9:15 the hotel clerk came over, took our confirmation and called to see where they were. Apparently the shuttle was stuck in traffic so they were going to send a private car. Ok. Just get here soon.

A car was there literally 7 minutes later. Go figure.

We made it to the airport and started the process of actually getting to the gate.

We checked our luggage where we had to show our passports and tickets. We went through immigration where we had to show our passports and tickets. We had a bite to eat at Starbucks where we had to show our passports and tickets (just kidding about that one). We headed to the escalator to get to our assigned gate and had to show our passports and tickets. We finally got to the actual security check, where I was once again singled out and patted down, quite thoroughly I might add.

Once you are through security you are at the gate. There was a bathroom and a quick mart type of place for last minute water and snacks. That was it. It isn’t like Newark Liberty Airport where you can shop and dine. All of that was outside security.

We settled down to wait when I saw the people I would be sitting next to on the plane.

How did I know? They were a young couple and between them they had 2 very large carryon suitcases, a full-size backpack, a large tote bag and a large purse. Yes, they were THOSE people bucking the carryon rule system. I just knew they would be my seatmates.

Time to board, we are group 5, waiting, couple is waiting. Group 5 is called and they proceed with us. At this point they made the announcement that any one who wanted to check additional luggage could and thankfully, they did. So it put them in line behind us.

We board. Lauren and I have aisle seats across from each other. I don’t get comfortable because I am waiting for the others in my row. And I see the couple coming. Looking. Moving. And bingo, they were my seatmates. Fortunately they ended up being very low maintenance. As in they didn’t get up once during the 9 hour flight.  And it was a looonnnnng flight.

We landed on time at 3:30 p.m., got our luggage, went through customs and we were home. Well almost. I still had to drive home.

This was where Lauren and I parted ways. She was taking a taxi to her apartment and I had to go to the parking lot where my car stayed all week. I was a little sad, after all we had just spent every moment of the last 11 days together. I am not being sarcastic here, I was sad, we travel so well together and we had such a nice time. This also marked “getting back to reality”.

Off she went, my shuttle picked me up to take me to Park Plus where my car was. I was home about 45 minutes later.

As I pull into the driveway what do I see? My neighbor leaving dinner for me! Thank you Lynne!

And reality was waiting for me when I walked in the door.  Mail and bills piled on the dining room table. My cat wanting my undivided attention. A lawn that needed to be mowed. Plants that needed watering. A suitcase that needed unpacking and laundry that needed to be done.

What did I do? Had some of the dinner, looked at the suitcase and pretty much went to bed. My body was still on Paris time so it was about 1 a.m. for me. And I had to go to work tomorrow…UGH….

But this isn’t the end people. I have a few more thoughts and observations to share, so stayed tuned.

Merci Paris...

Our last day. This is it, walk 'til you drop, day. And trust me by the end of today we were going to drop.

Before we went to the metro, we stopped here for some chocolate croissants. We had been in this pastry shop a few times this week. My sister's name was in the shops name, so we knew everything they sold would be délicieux.

Our stomachs satisfied we headed to our metro stop. If I haven't mentioned it, our stop was "Cambronne". It was above ground but did make it's way underground eventually.

First stop of the day. Sainte-Chapelle. Sainte-Chapelle was founded by the ultra-devout King Louis IX of France, who constructed it as a chapel for the royal palace and to house precious relics. The palace itself has otherwise utterly disappeared, leaving the Sainte-Chapelle all but surrounded by the Palais de Justice.

The building itself was not all that huge. After paying the admission fee, they offered guided tours in a variety of languages. We took advantage of this and got a good overview of the chapel. It contained some of the most beautiful stained glass windows I have ever seen.

Next stop? Notre Dame, which was right around the corner.

Just a side note here. A lot of the places we saw on this trip were under renovation, Kensington Palace, the Pantheon and Sainte-Chapelle had scaffolding on the buildings, both inside and out. Notre Dame was no different.

There was no admission fee, it reminded me a lot of St. Patricks Cathedral in NYC. Being Sunday, there was a service going on. Silence was in order and people wandered around the perimeter of church taking in the architecture, stained glass windows and statues. Photos were allowed in here.

After leaving there we continued walking and stopped for a snack. Our own freshly-made Nutella crepe.

We made our way to the Centre Georges Pompidou. It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information, a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research.  It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building.

The architecture of the building is the big draw. It is one of the more modern buildings in Paris.

Centre Georges Pompidou

We hopped on the metro to our next stop, the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Yes, cemetery. We went here at the suggestion of a friend (thanks Suzy!). One could spend hours here exploring the crypts and headstones. And in the end, we were here for hours.

A number of famous people are buried here, among them Jim Morrison of the Doors.  So being Americans our mission was to find his resting place.

My research indicated that you could purchase a map of the cemetery from a street vendor or view the directory at the entrance of the cemetery. It was recommended that one print out a map beforehand, which is what I did.

So Lauren checked the directory for Jim Morrison’s plot, section 30, plot 6. I referred to my printed map for section 30, plot 6 and off we went.

It was a bit of an uphill hike to that area, we took our time, wandering in and out of the tombs. We wandered up and down the roads in the cemetery…many times. We met up with 2 girls who were also searching for Jim Morrison’s plot. We joined forces to find it. We looked. We referred to the map. We wandered. We got swarmed by bugs. Lauren was afraid she was going to get "a French foreign bug disease". We walked the same paths over and over and over and over.

We. Could. Not. Find. It.

Which was odd to me. I thought there would be some sort of crowd or flowers or sign because he was a pretty famous musician.

I was ready to give up. Our 2 other cohorts had had enough and we parted ways. It just wasn’t that important at this point. But Lauren, who didn’t even know who Jim Morrison was, was determined to find this. So we kept searching and searching and searching.

Finally Lauren relented. We admitted defeat. If we were in the Amazing Race, we would have been eliminated from the race.

Before we left the cemetery Lauren wanted to check the directory one more time. She was irked. I hear her go “Ohhh, I read it wrong, its section 6, plot 30. It’s right over here…let’s go.”

And off we went. And it was right there. Fenced off. With a crowd. And flowers. And a Jack Daniels bottle.  Ta-dah!

Exhausted was how I could describe us at this point. There was one more thing on our agenda though for the day, Sacre-Coeur. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacre-Coeur Basilica, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It opened in 1914. 

So back onto the metro we went. We got out of the subway station and looked up. There was a lovely hill with all sorts of souvenir shops and questionable people trying to hawk there wares. 

Did I mention we were exhausted at this point or rather our feet were. We trudged up the hill. At the top of the hill we again looked up. There were about 200 more stairs to enter the Basilica (at least they were not spiral stairs!). We just kind of looked at each other wondering how we were going to do this. 

Fortunately we found this. A "funicular".

And it took us right to the top.

Sacre-Coeur

We went inside, there was no admission fee. There was organ music playing. We sat and took a few moments to enjoy the beauty of the church, enjoy the music and reflect. We were also being amused by all the people being reprimanded for taking photos inside. No photos were allowed in here and it was clearly stated in numerous languages. 

We sat for a while because, quite frankly, our feet were at their breaking point. I walk, and I walk a lot at home, but this trip really did a number on our feet. Somehow we managed our way back to the metro.

When we got back to our hotel we had dinner again at the Café Cambronne (it was so good the first time!). We were greeted by the same waitress. The meal was once again delicious. It was the perfect way to end our trip.

We went back to the hotel to pack.  I was apprehensive when we first arrived in Paris, but I have fallen in love with it. Merci Paris. I was sad to leave but tomorrow we will be home in America!

C'est un beau jour

Saturday we woke up to a beautiful day which was nice after all the rain we had the day before.

We gathered our stuff for the day and headed out. Our first stop was a small fruit market across from the hotel. There were three of these on our block alone. In addition to fruit, they had all sorts of groceries inside. The thing I found interesting was they didn't open until 9ish in the morning but they stayed open well past midnight.

Our first destination for the day was the Pantheon. No, not the one in Rome. Paris has its own pantheon.

It is a building in the Latin Quarter of Paris, France. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, but after many changes now combines liturgical functions with its role as a famous burial place. Our admission also included access to the crypts. Among those buried here are Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Louis Braille, and Marie Curie. The architecture inside was incredible and the crypts were very interesting to explore. This is Victor Hugo's crypt.

On the way out we stopped in the gift shop and saw this book. Le Petit Prince (just for you Kelly).

We had lunch at a cafe (where we ordered tap water!) I have to say Paris has some of the best pizza I have eaten.

We were spending the afternoon in Giverny, the home of Claude Monet. In case you haven't figured it out yet I am a big fan of Monet. This was a planned tour booked through Cityrama tour company. We checked in, met the bus and off we went. It was about 1.5 hours to Giverny. We were given history and information on the way (in both English and Spanish).

When we arrived, the first part was a guided tour of the gardens where Monet painted. They were breathtaking. I could picture him painting water lilies all day. We then meandered to the planned gardens which were just a beautiful. Access to his house was also included. Monet didn't move Giverny until his mid forties with his second wife and their 8 children.

After the bus ride back, we did some souvenir shopping. In this area which was near the Louvre there were numerous shops.

We ended up having dinner at McDonald's again just because it was close and it was easy. Remember it was in the shopping mall/food court by the Louvre. The weird thing was the food court looked like it was closing for the night. It was only 7:30 on Saturday night. But we were able to get a meal before they closed.

We went back to the hotel for a bit and then headed out about 10:30 to view the Eiffel Tower at night. They do an hourly light show from 10pm until 2am on the hour. The Trocadero was crowded and filled with people trying to sell cheap souvenirs. Note the full moon to the left of the tower. Amazing!

Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris. Where will our adventures take us? We still have alot to fit in!

Oui, Oui...90% chance of showers

And we woke up to the sun shining in the skies! But don't get too excited, the weather report was still 90% chance of showers and most of our day was planned for outside.

What to do? Gear up, put on the rain coat, grab the umbrella and head out.

Our first activity for today was a leisurely stroll down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.  The Champs-Élysées is arguably the most famous street—and one of the most expensive strips of real estate—in the world.

Well our walk ended up not being leisurely, nor a stroll because it did indeed start raining. But I would rather be in Paris in the rain than at work any day of the week. So we dodged in and out of stores and stopped at a cafe for breakfast.

We made our way down to this. The Arc de Triomphe.

Our original plan was to just admire it from the outside. But since it was raining (off and on at this point) we decided to pay the admission, go inside and climb the stairs (284 spiral stairs) to the top.

And it was at this moment our vacation was about to be ruined. My camera, as my mom would say, "went on the fritz". I pulled it out to take photo number 662 and the automatic lens opener/closer/cover (not sure what it is called) jammed. I was getting a sliver of image on the display.

So what went through my mind? "I have 3 more days to take pictures", "I am going to have to buy a camera in Paris",  "Why do these this happen to me"???

So we found a seat to examine the situation. I was seriously ready to just rip the cover off in order to be able to take photos. But in jumps level-headed Lauren who says "it looks like it is just out of alignment, let me see". And it was. And we were able to get it back on track and the vacation was saved. Whew.

The views from the top of the Arc de Triomphe were spectacular despite the weather. Here we are looking down the Champs-Élysées.

Our next stop was The Eiffel Tower. I had explored the various ticket options and we ended up booking the "Skip the Line" tour in which we had a tour guide, tickets to the second level and we could continue to the top of the tower if we chose. The instructions were to "meet at the entrance of the Trocadero Metro station at 3pm". 

Well we got there about 1:30 to scope it out. What if there were more than one entrance? We had some time until we met the guide so we ducked into the Théâtre National de Chaillot and we snacked in their "snackeria" (a word coined by me on this trip) on macarons until it was time to meet. 

The guide was easy to find at the appointed time. We were given audio headsets and started our tour on the Trocadero with some history about the tower. It wasn't raining at this moment so we were able to do this part of the tour keeping relatively dry. 


 

A few facts about the tower. It was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. It was built for the 1889 World's Fair and was supposed to be torn down after 20 years. The addition of radio transmitters enabled it to stay standing for communication purposes.

We made our way to the second level of the tower where the guide pointed out many of the sites that could be seen around the perimeter. And that was pretty much the tour. It was supposed to be a 2 hour tour but it was raining pretty hard at this point so we ended about an hour and fifteen minutes later. Our tickets allowed us to continue to the top on our own. The line for that was long. It was raining and it felt like it was about 40 degrees out. We were freezing. So we opted out of going to the top.

Our last stop for the day was the Louvre. We took the metro to the "Louvre" stop and we got out into this shopping mall type area with a lovely food court. Since it was also dinnertime we decided scope it out and we ended up eating at.....McDonald's. Neither of us had been to one of these in years. But it was fast and we could order at a kiosk so speaking was not necessary.

We got our museum tickets and floor plan and ventured into the museum. The main reason to be here is the Mona Lisa. It wasn't too hard to find. There were hundreds of people in front of it all scrambling to get a photo of it or a photo with them in front of it. The painting was enclosed in glass so a good photo was impossible to get and all the pushing and crowds. I didn't get it. But I took the obligatory photo anyway.

We then wandered around looking for the Venus de Milo. The other reason to go to the Louvre. The place was huge, it was very easy to get lost. And we did get lost a few times. You would need a few days to effectively see everything in the museum.

Another long day. Our feet were not happy with us once again. Back to the hotel to collapse and rest up for tomorrow. 

Bonsoir!

Where did we leave off? Ah yes, our first full day in Paris. 

Today our first stop is the Palace of Versailles.

First we had to figure out the metro. It looked a bit different than the underground in London (as in it was above ground) so we were a little thrown off. Add in that they have trains (as in regular trains) and metro trains (as in subways). To get to Versailles we needed to do both a train and subway. 

Our station was a 5 minute walk, VERY convenient. We gingerly inserted our passes, I was praying that they would work since I ordered them online, they were very small and I had my doubts. But they let us enter, we studied the map and got on the subway (above ground), transferred to a train (also above ground) and soon we were in Versailles. 

It was a short walk from the train to the palace. And this was a palace. You could see the gold trim on the gates and buildings from far away. We got our tickets and got into a very long line to enter. Again, our bags were checked and we had to walk though a scanner. 

We got our audio headsets and began our tour. Did I mention "this was a palace". It was beautiful. From the furniture, to the rugs, to the wall coverings, to the art work, to the chandeliers. There were many chandeliers. 

Yes, I became a little obsessed with the chandeliers.

We toured the massive gardens and walked down to Marie Antoinette's home on the estate where we saw even more chandeliers. Touring the palace and gardens took the better part of the day. We did experience some funky weather here, clouds, rain and even some hail.

We took the train back to Paris and headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner.

Dinner was at the Cafe Cambronne where we were greeted with a lyrical "bonsoir" by the hostess/ waitress. It was the second of the three restaurants at the end of our street. She spoke a little English so language wasn't a problem here. The food was delicious and the service excellent.

Off to our evening activity, we were going to the Musee 'd Orsay. This was one of my favorite things we went to on the trip. The museum is housed in an old train station. Not only was I surrounded by more Monet paintings, the architecture was incredible. No photos were allowed in the museum but I was able to sneak one in. How cool is this?

We were at the end of another exhausting day, again our feet were not happy campers. Tomorrow the weather report shows 90% chance of rain, not what I was hoping for. 

Bonjour Paris!

Our travel day.

Today we are leaving London and traveling to our next destination, Paris. Unchartered territory. A foreign language. Mean, nasty people. What were we thinking?

We were taking the Eurostar train to Paris. It wasn't leaving until 2:31pm. So we took one last walk down the Thames River and said goodbye to London.

We had 2 options to get to the train station. Take a taxi, which would run about 20 euros plus tip. Or take the underground for about 2 euros. We opted for the underground. We got our luggage into position and started lugging it to the station. Which isn't an odd sight. Over the last 5 days we saw numerous people lugging luggage somewhere, now we were part of the crowd.

I will say I was a little hesitant about doing this. My suitcase weighed in at 41 lbs., plus a carry on, plus a purse, but we scoped it out ahead of time as far as the number of stairs we would encounter. I have to say, it was VERY easy to take the underground to the train station. Once again, everything was well marked and we had no problems getting there.

Of course we were early so we had lunch before boarding at about 2pm.

The train ride went off with no problems. Two and a half hours later we were in Paris.

We headed to the taxi stand and waited in line to get a taxi to our hotel. I had the address neatly written on a piece of paper so no speaking would be necessary. The line was long, but moving and we were soon in a taxi with a nice young man who was somewhat familiar with English.

Off we went. Traffic was worse than here. They have these circles where all roads converge and you go into the circle, no lanes, nothing and just close your eyes and pray you make it to the other side without getting hit.  

We made it to the hotel. The Best Western Cambronne. It was a storefront hotel. Very European, 30 rooms, the elevator was 24” by 48” inches, and there were 5 flights of stairs up to our room. They were all spiral. The room was small, but immaculate and the bathroom very modern.

My first impressions of Paris. It was like a little New York. It was dirty like New York. Traffic was horrendous like New York. The buildings were really old and short, no skyscrapers here. And the street our hotel was on was, well, sketchy. I was out of my comfort zone at this point.

We lost an hour traveling. It was dinnertime. We headed out for nourishment. We picked one of the 3 cafes that were at the end of our street. The waiter was friendly and able to interpret our English. Pointing at the menu goes a long way in France.

We ordered a pizza, a salad and 2 diet cokes. The pizza was 11 euros, the salad 8 euros and the total was 35 euros. Hmmm…..the diet cokes were 8 euros, EACH! There was nothing we could do at that point, we ordered them and we drank them. I was going back to the hotel and googling “the cost of diet coke in Paris”.

Back at the hotel we quizzed the desk clerk about “the cost of diet coke in Paris”. He was clueless, he was from Los Angeles.

After googling, this is what I found out. 

Drink Wine, Not Soda - Unlike the US, where ordering a soda at a restaurant will save you $5 over ordering a glass of house wine, in Paris, Coca-Cola is priced like an expensive import. Expect to pay around 5 euros (or 8 euros in our case) for a Coke and 4 euros for a glass of wine.

Also.

To save 4-7 euros during meals, order "une carafe de l’eau, s’il vous plait". The waiter will bring you a carafe of tap water. Look around, this is what the Parisians do. Unless you specify a carafe of water, you will be given and charged for bottled water at most restaurants.

Lesson learned. Wine is cheaper than soda and tap water is free. 

It was a long day. We climbed our 5 flights of spiral stairs to the room to watch Grey’s Anatomy (in French!) and prepare for our adventures tomorrow.

Master of the house, doling out the charm...

Our last full day in London.

First on today's agenda was Buckingham Palace to see the "changing of the guard". This takes place daily at about 11:15. We walked from our hotel to the Palace.

 I didn't know what to expect. And even Lauren, having seen this prior, couldn't tell me what to expect. It is not like the "I Love Lucy" episode, where she walks up to the guard and attempts to get him to crack a smile. There are crowds of people and roads being barricaded. And there were guards behind the massive gates. So we waited and a few guards went through the gates. And we waited some more and more guards and a little marching band went through the gates. And we waited. And nothing. So we figured behind the massive gates they were "changing the guard". And since we couldn't battle the crowds to get over there, on we went.

We took the tube to our next stop which was St. Paul's Cathedral. We paid the admission and this time we decided to forgo the audio headsets and just take in the beauty of the Cathedral. There was a Eucharist going on. We saw Norma our tour guide from yesterday leading a tour in the Cathedral. We grabbed some lunch in the cafe.

Then we went to do the main reason you go to the Cathedral. Climb to the top of the dome. This was our first encounter with "European spiral staircase syndrome". European architects only know how to make staircases go in circles. And there were 528 steps to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. And they all went in a circle.

Did I mention that schools were in session while we were in Europe?  We started our ascent behind a group of elementary school children who we later ditched at the first stop while they were resting. We made it to the top and had spectacular views.

So now we begin our descent. Which isn't as easy as it sounds. Lauren and I headed down and there were people behind us, so I was feeling the pressure to keep up the pace. But I was getting seriously dizzy. We finally made it to the bottom and we had to sit for a bit, our legs were like jelly!

We then walked over the Millennium Bridge which is a pedestrian bridge over the Thames River. It was opened in the year 2000 for the millennium and closed 2 days later after pedestrians felt it swaying....a lot. It was then closed for 2 years while modifications were made.

And then we did something we hadn't done the entire trip. We headed back to the hotel to take a break. We had big plans for the evening. This was our “night on the town”. We were going to actually sit down and have a nice dinner, (no sandwiches in the room!) and see a play.

We took the tube up the Picadilly Circus area. When you hear Picadilly Circus I automatically think of circus, tent, clowns, trapeze artists, the whole nine circus yard. But no, it is an area, like Times Square, Picadilly Circus, same thing.

We had dinner at Princi, a fine Italian restaurant. Lauren’s pick, she had eaten there on her previous trip.

Then we headed to the Queen’s Theater to see “Les Miserables”. Again Lauren’s pick. I had never had a big desire to see this play. I have a thing about foreign, period piece books, movies, plays, you name it. So I was hesitant. Would I understand the plot? Would I like the music?

Observations about London theater. We had to PAY for our playbill. 4 euros, not cheap. A lot of people were dressed for the theater and it was only Tuesday night. Everyone had a drink in there hand.

We had center mezzanine seats, or the queen’s dress section, as they say in London. By the end of the show I had a new favorite play. It was entertaining and the music was great. The only down side was that everyone dies.

It was the perfect way to end our stay in London. Tomorrow we head for Paris for the second part of our journey.