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Published: June 13th 2017
The Musee Is Located at the Airfield
that Lindbergh landed when he made his historic flightOur thoughts were that we would leave Paris the beginning of May, but the weather turned cold, rainy and windy so decided that we would stay a little longer as we aren’t on a real tight schedule. We even had our first thunderstorm of the season so a good day to stay on the boat and work on planning or trip through the canals. We have obtained quite a bit of information from listening to others that have been in the canals in previous years so putting that all together we are working out a tentative plan. We say tentative as each year it depends on how wet the winter was as to how much water there will be for traveling through some of the canals. That information is hard to predict so we will just have to cross our fingers and hope that what we choose to do works out.
With giving ourselves a later deadline for leaving Paris it gave us some time to do some more projects on the boat, go to the market again and even take in a few more places to see that we had heard about from others. Some of the basics had
2 Frenchmen Flew from Paris to the US
a couple of years after Lindbergh in this plane to be done such as cleaning out the water tank and then filling it, filtering our diesel tanks to be sure that it is clean for our travels, do additional sorting and re-arranging (this seems to be a constant on a boat), and making sure that our leak in the inflatable dinghy was patched.
On Saturday night we had our friends Sally and Al over for dinner which was long overdue. They have been wonderful to have as friends as they are always willing to share their experiences with us. We first met them in London and had gotten excellent information from them about their travels to the Baltic. We found their notes very useful and we followed their lead in many areas as we traveled that area ourselves. They had been in Paris last year and we had been in touch with them providing us great information on where to stop on our way into Paris and other useful information for when we arrived in Paris. Now we were picking their brains on their travels in the Med. This evening we went through some of our pilot books getting ideas of places to go. It is always valuable
to have information from people you know that have gone before you. With having followed their lead in the Baltic we knew that we had many of the same likes as well which always helps. We can’t thank them enough for their friendship and willingness to share information.
Sunday, May 7 was the day to vote for a new President in France. We have been seeing over the weeks many political posters, heard various protest going on in the area and now it was the day for voting. That morning we talked to one of the employees here at the marina about the election. We were told that he hoped the correct one wins. His next comment told it all by saying that if “she” wins he is packing his bags and finding someplace else to live. It sounded all too familiar to comments we heard in the US but about “him” winning.
That evening we were walking around the area and all of a sudden we heard cars honking their horns and people cheering. We heard people sitting in the park popping champagne corks and hollering – the election was over and many were happy with the
Touring a Boeing & Seeing the Actual Insides
of the plane -from baggage area to air systems result. As with all elections not everyone is happy, but in Paris the mood seemed to be of celebration. In fact when Macron won the vote, many stated that Trump did some good by getting people to vote for him rather than LePen. Macron has his work cut out for him as there is a great division here and he needs to be sure to address those that did not support him. We wish him luck.
One day we decided to go out of town a bit on the subway and bus to visit the Musee de l’Air et de l’Espace (Air & Space Museum) on the recommendations of our friends. It is located at the airfield that Charles Lindbergh landed on his historic flight in 1927. There were numerous sections to explore. In the WWII section they had the Spitfire, the fighter of the UK along with the Dakota (DC-3/C-47A) used in the US and UK and the buzz bomb used by the Nazi’s. The section that included prototypes showed everything from experimental aircraft that flew from aircraft carriers up to and including the Mirage III-V-01. A room filled with French military aviation equipment that was used included
Viewing 2 Concordes
tight on room inside but it was a short flight time! the American Sabre which served in the French Air Force in the 1950’s and ‘60s. The helicopter display provided a history of its development with some very interesting designs. There was even a wing glider developed by the Germans to be towed by a submarine.
The race to fly across the North Atlantic was documented not only with information on Charles Lindbergh, but also two others that started in France. “White Bird” attempted to fly a few days before Lindbergh from Paris to NY. It was designed with regular landing gear that was to be jettisoned after take off. Unfortunately this flight was not successful, with the landing gear the only part that remains. In 1930 two Frenchmen did succeed in flying from Paris to NY in “Point d’Interrogation”.
Space exploration was also covered at the museum with a display of rockets and satellites and the re-entry capsule of the first Frenchman in space.
They had a few planes that you could walk through. The first we entered was a Boeing 747 which made its first flight in 1969. Yes, we have been on many Boeing planes during our travels, but this gave us a glimpse at
The Wheels of the Concorde
The rear wheel was quite small indeed of it things we never see such as the cockpit, the baggage area and the internal workings of the systems. Next we were able to enter two Concorde’s. These were entered into commercial service in 1976 and ended 27 years later. With the price tag of the tickets for a flight on one of these, we knew that this would be the only way we would have seen the inside of one of these. What initially surprised us was how tight the accommodations were – it definitely was not roomy or appear to be luxurious. Guess you don’t need that much space when your flight time is half the normal time between Paris and NY! One that we went through was the prototype 001 which was used for scientific research and the other a commercial liner. The Dakota which was used in WWII is one that paratroopers jumped out of and many were dropped in Normandy. This definitely gave me a strange feeling knowing that this is the type of plane that my Dad jumped out of during WWII.
They had a wonderful display of a rescue helicopter. When you entered you sat down and were able to see
and hear a rescue occur with fabulous visuals all around you as if you were right there during the operation. It is an impressive thing to see what they go through to conduct rescues at sea.
Unfortunately the section that dealt with early aviation was closed for remodeling – we would have really liked to have seen that area. Even with that disappointment we had an enjoyable day at the museum.
We decided that we needed to pick a date for leaving and stick to you (unless of course there was something seriously wrong with the weather!). We picked May 15
th so we now had a timeframe to get everything done that we needed to do. We spent a couple of days working on last minute things such as stocking up on some food for the freezer and Bob wanted to get planters to put plants up on the deck. As long as we were going to act like a canal boat we might as well look like one! Fortunately the plants he was planning on were herbs which always are useful to have. Bob also needed to have some routine blood work done so got that out
Called the Dakota by the UK but a DC3 in the US
the same type of plane my Dad jumped out of in WWII of the way. It is amazing how easy it is to get done – we got a note from his Dr. back in the US specifying what he wanted, we walked to a nearby lab (with no appointment necessary), filled out a form, got the blood drawn a few minutes later and the next day in the afternoon we picked up the results – how easy and quick was that! Probably the hardest thing was getting the results back to our Dr. office as no one around has fax machines anymore and we didn’t want to wait to send it by snail mail so fortunately we found out that our Dr. office would accept an email of the and results.
Another day we took an outing by going to see the Chateau de Vincennes and the Parc Floral de Paris. When we first got out of the subway station we saw the entrance Tower of the Chateau, but we also noticed white tents set up in front of the Hotel de Ville (town hall) so took a wander down to see what was happening. They were having an International Festival, but it appeared as if they were just getting
started with it. There were a few tents that had the name of a country with a few offerings – as an example the UK tent offered tea and cake. They had some music as well as a food tent for lunch. It was a little early for us so we bypassed that and moved on to the Chateau.
The first structure here was a hunting lodge built in 1150, however in the 13
th C. King Philip Augustus and Louis IX built a more substantial structure. In the 14
th C. it was enlarged with a tower, the tallest in Europe. The fortress was added by Philip VI and then it was later used as an arsenal. As with most buildings that have lasted over the centuries the uses have changed, but they still tell much about its history through its buildings.
Behind the Chateau was the Parc Floral de Paris. This is a very large park with lovely walkways, water features, greenhouses with tropical displays and plenty of flower beds. We wandered through the whole of the park enjoying the floral displays and the beautiful weather. We even got to see quite the display from its resident peacock
opening and closing its feathery display. It doesn’t take much to find places to visit for a wonderful day out no matter what the weather.
Now for any of you that have been following our blog you may or may not have noticed that we never said anything about visiting the Louvre. Yes, we have walked by the place numerous times and even have put up some photos of the outside, but never took the time to go in. We kept saying that we would do it when the weather was bad, but for some reason on rainy or cold days we either did something else or didn’t want to leave the boat. Now we were down to the wire and needed to get to the Louvre. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to go, but we knew that with the size of it we could never do it justice. We decided to just take a day and see what we could see. Unfortunately that day was a weekend day – not a good idea at all, but we were running out of time.
We got to the Louvre and once inside we wondered if it was a
good idea coming on a weekend day as the crowds seemed to be over the top. We got our headsets and off we went. We first thought that we would follow the “highlights tour”, but after doing a couple of them we realized that everyone else was doing the same. Of course we could not come to the Louvre and not see the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. The room that the painting was hanging in was so large it made it look that much smaller. When we first entered the room the crowds were insane, but it thinned out and we were able to quite easily get up close to see this magnificent and well known painting. One thing that we hadn’t known before was that King Francois I of France had purchased it and it was one of the first pieces of artwork to be displayed at the Louvre. It has been hanging at the Louvre since 1797 except for a few times when it was moved for protection (during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71 and WWII it was taken to Chateau d’ Amboise – note we visited there – see the previous blog entry). It had
been stolen once by an Italian that felt that it should be hanging in an Italian museum, but he confessed after having it hang in his own apartment for 2 years. It now is safely displayed behind a bulletproof glass to be sure that it is never damaged.
It is important to remember that when visiting an art museum like the Louvre, that it not only contains historical artwork, but it is itself historical. The history of the building is often as interesting to learn about as the contents. First there was a fortress located here, but it was transformed into a royal palace between the years 1360-1380 under King Charles V. It continued to be used by numerous Kings as their Paris residence. At times when viewing the artwork in the Louvre, your eyes would drift to the room that was holding it with its spectacular ceilings, marble columns, and tile floors. After having a lovely lunch in the café we noticed that there was a sign pointing to the “Napoleon apartment” so we wandered through. Our audio guide stated it is called the “Napoleon” apartment not because Napoleon lived there, but because it was done in the
They Had An Excellent Presentation on a Rescue
from a helicopter as if you were flying with them Napoleonic style.
With the vastness of the Louvre, you can only get a “taste” of it in a day, therefore we saw a very small section of the offerings at the museum. The Louvre presents art from the Near East (7500 BC) up to and including paintings and sculptures up through 1850. There is plenty to absorb, therefore we were happy to have the audio guide to pick up more depth of information on various pieces. After we wandered through some of the more popular sections of the museum, we decided to get away from the crowds and ended our day in the Islamic art section which presented amazing mosaics, carved ivory and detailed armor. It was a wonderful day of exposure to more artwork, but also to the museum itself with a glimpse of what it must have been like when it was a palace.
On our way back to the marina we walked through the Jewish section and found a lovely park that was tucked away in a courtyard – the Rosier Parc was small but very peaceful.
Our last full day in Paris we took a long walk around the streets of Paris that
A few of the Successful & Not So Successful
attempts to fly, all helping in the effort to learn we have become familiar with this season. It has been a wonderful place to base ourselves with plenty of cultural offerings as well as a place to make new friends. When we walked near the Hotel de Ville we stopped to listen to two fellows playing guitars. They were each playing their own instrument for a while and then both played on one. Very well done and an enjoyable way to spend our last full day in Paris.
Now we will be leaving the comfort of the marina in Paris (Port ’Arsenal) and head up the Seine a short ways to the River Marne for the start of our journey toward the Med.
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