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Published: January 10th 2018
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Madrid Plaza MayorWell I'm finally getting around to finishing up our Portuguese Camino blog. We arrived home on the 7th of December only to jump right into Christmas preparations. Here you go. Hope you've enjoyed it.
Tuesday, November 28th, 2017, to Madrid, Apartamentos Tirso de Molina. We went to our favorite place for breakfast in Santiago, Butafumeiro, for coffee and croissants slathered with chocolate. Yum. We said goodbye to Santiago and caught a 12:00 train to Madrid. I really wish we’d spent more time in Santiago. We actually got on the right train (don’t ask me about the Torino/Tirano fiasco in Italy a few years ago). It was a pretty comfortable, uneventful 5-hour ride to Madrid. We negotiated Metro ticket buying, managed to fight the rush hour crowds, got off at the right station, only to find it raining. We’re in a small apartment. After complaining about the heater we were moved to a slightly larger, nicer and warmer one. We’re looking forward to some sightseeing and relaxing. We had some surprisingly good empanadas and pizza tonight at a nearby restaurant – surprising because our experience of pizza in Portugal and Spain has not been good.
Wednesday, November 29th, 2017, Day
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The Prado Art Museum 2 in Madrid. We slept late, pretty much stayed indoors and rested. I spent a good part of the day trying to figure out how we were getting to Paris and was shocked at the price of a train. So I found a cheap flight on a low-cost airline (Transavia) and then searched for an Airbnb place to stay in Paris. No luck yet. I’m going through a little bit of post-camino blues.
Thursday, November 30th, 2017, Day 3 in Madrid. It’s cold – in the mid 30’s this morning. I know those of you following this blog from up north are laughing, but it’s cold for this naturalized Texan, especially since we don’t really have winter clothes with us. Layers, lots of layers. We took the Madrid Hop On Hop Off bus, both routes, only we didn’t hop off. We just rode the 2 routes to get an overview of the city and see where we want to go tomorrow. I’m for the Prado Art Gallery. I’m surprised at how crowded the streets are – lots of people Christmas shopping. It reminds me of New York City between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We walked to the Plaza Mayor where
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Almudena Cathedral, Madrid the Christmas Market was being held. I’m still trying to book a place in Paris. We’d really like an apartment rather than a hotel. That way we can get a cup of coffee or cook in if we want. We had 2 Airbnb turn downs – “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s not available after all.” Was it something I said?
Friday, December 1, 2017, Day 4 in Madrid. Third’s a charm – we got a place on the left bank near Tour Montparnasse. We spent most of our last day in Spain at the Prado, a world-famous art museum. Charlie was a good sport about this art major’s obsession. There were lots of 16-17
th century Spanish paintings, and after a while they all started to look the same. And then there’s the Dutch painter, Hieronymus Bosch. Pretty freaky, yet modern for a 16th century painter. We spent a lot of time in that room. It was in the mid-30s all day, and the wind was blowing hard. We later took the Metro to the opposite side of town. We walked the Royal Palace, but didn’t see the King (actually he doesn't even live there). We were on the way to
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Notre Dame, Paris the Almudena Cathedral, a beautiful church which is both modern and classical looking and its crypt, the largest in Spain. We stayed for 6:00 Mass in one of the chapels, and then a cold, cold walk back to the Metro station. We need to get up at 5:30 tomorrow for our flight to Paris so we didn’t feel like spending an hour plus at dinner and stopped at the grocery to get a dinner we could just heat up. I hope I can remember some French.
Saturday, December 2, 2017, Paris, Airbnb Apartment. We not only negotiated a Metro trip to/from 2 airports, we managed to have a successful experience on a low-cost airline. After hearing stories of how restrictive airlines such as Ryanair are about carry-ons and nickel and diming you we were afraid to book the cheapest fare and went for the upgrade that allowed 1 checked bag – still cheaper than the Madrid-Paris train and hours faster. Not a bad experience at all. Of course you had to buy anything to eat or drink – no free water even. It’s even colder here in Paris than Madrid. We’re not doing so well with our Airbnb rental.
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River Seine We waited out in the cold for 45 minutes for someone to let us in, the owner is extremely slow to answer our texts and emails, and now we discover that we have no hot water tonight. At least it’s warm in here, and they have a washer and dryer (rare to find a place with a dryer in Europe). We went to the grocery store to stock up and got some frozen lasagna for supper. Eating out in Paris is really expensive!
Sunday, December 3, 2017, Paris, Day 2. We had hot water this morning – not sure what was going on last night. Today was the first Sunday of the month, and that means free admission to the Louvre. We were slow dragging ourselves out of bed and ate a good breakfast Charlie made, so it was after noon when we got there. Of course, everyone in Paris had the same idea, and it was packed. The Louvre is a confusing rabbit warren of rooms and floors, and even with a map we spent a good deal of time looking for the exhibit I wanted to see (never did find it). We saw the Mona Lisa again
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Entrance to the Paris Catacombs (we saw it 17 years ago). Interestingly, the Prado also has a Mona Lisa by Michelangelo and one of his assistants, very similar but slightly different. I hadn’t known he painted 2 versions. A couple of hours in, I started feeling bad and spent too much time sitting and resting and looking for a café for some tea to settle my stomach. I hope I’m not catching a cold. We had plans to go to Notre Dame for the 6:30 Mass, so couldn’t really go home yet. We caught the Metro to the nearest station to Notre Dame and had a nice walk across the bridge to the Ile de la Cite, and gaped at the huge Christmas tree in front of the cathedral. Mass at the Cathedral was beautiful, but not at all what I expected. The archbishop of Paris, André Vingt-Trois presided (such a strange name - it means Twenty-three) so I expected the great organ to be playing. Once again, it was some sort of youth Mass – I think for those who were recently confirmed, and half the chairs were marked reserved. And the music? Not the big organ, but piano and guitar with 2 guys
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Paris Catacombs with really good voices singing contemporary-sounding music, in French of course. The archbishop was joined by no less than 4 bishops and at least 15 priests, so something special must have been going on. After that, we made our way home, thinking we’d make something easy at home, but passed a restaurant called Flam’s, featuring “Flammekueche." We were curious, so went in. They are pizza-like, with a very thin crust and a cream rather than tomato sauce. They are a specialty of Alsace, a region of France on the northeast border with Germany, with a strong German influence (it’s a region that’s bounced back and forth between the 2 countries for centuries). A cheese, mushroom and bacon one and an apple and cinnamon for dessert. Yum.
Monday, December 4, 2017, Paris, Day 3. A lazy day. I didn’t want to get out of my warm and cozy bed with a down comforter, and we didn’t get out of bed until after 10. Then I had beginning-of-the-month bills to pay, and then we took a nap! We ventured out in the evening to a Creperie, for traditional Normandy crepes made with buckwheat. I had one with chicken, dried tomatoes, goat
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Paris Christmas Market cheese and another kind of cheese; Charlie had one with ground beef, pears, onions and a fried egg on top, both unusual combinations; both good. We can’t be lazy for our last 2 days in Paris!
Tuesday, December 5, 2017, Paris, Day 4. We went shopping at Galleries Lafayette – not the famous one downtown, but a branch near us. We bought a shirt for me and eyed some Christmas presents for the kids and grandkids. Then we walked to the Paris Catacombs. They’re not really catacombs, but a huge ossuary. In the late 1700s Paris cemeteries were overcrowded, and they started digging up the bones and putting them in the old quarry tunnels under the streets of Paris. There is estimated to be the bones of 2 (some say 6) million people there, now stacked up quite reverently and artistically. We had a guided tour in English and saw just a small part (around 2 kilometers) of the catacombs. It was 130 steps down to the tunnels and 120 up. It was a really interesting place – not creepy at all. Next we looked at a couple of Christmas markets and went back to see the creche at
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Santa's House Notre Dame (it was blocked off when we were there on Sunday). It was really amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it – a big rectangular table probably 50 feet by 16 filled with scenes from French village life from around 200 years ago, with many moving parts, as well as a manger scene.
Wednesday, December 6, 2017, Paris, Day 5. Our last day in Paris. We walked a lot today – over 12 kilometers. First we went back for some Christmas presents at Galleries Lafayette. I had read about the Church of St. Jacques (St. James), on the Rue St. Jacques, which was the pilgrim route heading south from Notre Dame to Santiago de Compostela and wanted to see it. There were several references to pilgrims there, even though the church is named after St. James the Lesser, and not St. James (Santiago). Next we walked north to another Christmas market, passing through Luxembourg Gardens and past 2 more churches on the way – St. Sulpice and St. Germain des Pres, and of course we had to stop in. We caught the Metro to the Louvre shops where I got a couple more presents (though we didn’t visit
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Eiffel Tower the Museum again). It was dark by then, and we caught the Metro to the Champs Elysees to see its Christmas lights on the way to the Eiffel Tower. It’s all lit up with white lights, and at the top of the hours they sparkle for about 5 minutes. On the way home we had a really good Italian pizza for dinner and for dessert cassis sherbet, my very favorite, that I haven’t had since our last trip to Paris 17 years ago. A good end to our stay in Paris. It'll be nice to get home to warm Austin.
Thursday, December 7, 2017, home. We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport in what we thought was plenty of time for an 11:40 am flight, but security was very tight. We don't ever remember having to check out of a country when we were flying. United had its own security for carry-ons, and it was really crowded. We barely made it. An okay flight to Chicago, but the food was surprisingly bad for leaving out of Paris. Our flight from Chicago to Austin? So uncomfortable, in those cheap, thin seats that they're using now. They not only looked flimsy,
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View of snow the next morning but the coverings were coming apart. And Austin - surprise! It was snowing. Hard. That never happens in early December. In fact, it rarely snows at all in Central Texas. By the time we got home we had almost 4 inches of snow. And of course, people don't know how to drive in the snow here so it was a mess. Home sweet home, sleeping in my own bed, and I don't have to get up early. I have mixed feelings about being back. It's been an adventure I wouldn't have missed for the world.
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Jeanette
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Congrats!
I have enjoyed every step of your journey...and been very glad that it was YOUR steps and not mine. A great adventure. Where to next?