Final Days Retrospective-Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Musee Rodin, Trocadéro Square, The Louvre, and La Tour Eiffel

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Sunday, August 9-Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Musee Rodin, and Place du Trocadéro
Dean went to the pool first thing, then we all went to 11 o’clock Mass at St. Peter’s in Neuilly-sur-Seine before boarding the metro for Sacré-Cœur, the mosque-like Cathedral on the highest hill in Paris. When we came up from the metro, the streets were mobbed! To get from the metro stop to the church, you walk up a narrow street, lined with shops and clogged with shoppers. At the end is a funicular that takes you up the equivalent of 2-3 steep blocks, but the line for the funicular was very long. Not ready to scale the hill, we had lunch at a less crowded corner café. When we returned and we walked right on to the funicular. It’s strange how crowds come and go.
From the top, the view of Paris was incredible. It would have been even more spectacular if it were not cloudy. Hundreds of people were sitting around on the church steps and the plaza below, and there was a moderate line funneling into the church. Once inside, though, the crowd spread out, and we could roam on our own around the sanctuary and side chapels for many saints, including St. Rita, which I have not seen before on this trip. Chapels dedicated to Mary, St. Michael and St. Joan have been much more common in France.
Leaving the church, we wandered around a nearby square, lined with sidewalk artists selling their work, or painting on-the-spot portraits and caricatures. The square itself was covered with seating areas for 4 different cafes, each more crowded than the next. Since we don’t enjoy crowds, we walked the perimeter, then stepped into the small Church of St. Pierre before boarding the metro for our next stop: Musee Rodin.
Rodin’s sculptured bodies are so detailed and lifelike that he was once accused of encasing a live person in bronze! It is 1 euro to visit the sculpture garden, and since we are tackling the Louvre tomorrow, we opt for that rather than going inside. The Thinker, and some of his other famous sculptures are outside in a large area full of paths, trees, benches and shrubs. Many people were using the garden as much as a pleasant place to relax as an art excursion. The Thinker is on a very high pedestal- probably to discourage people climbing on him- and from one perspective; the Eiffel Tower seems to sprout from the top of his head.
Jeff had requested we return to Rue DesRosiers for falafel and Ile St. Louis for a particular glace that he and Jackie had read about, so we boarded the metro for St. Paul and satisfied both of his cravings. Dean pondered purchasing an “I Love Falafal/Rue
DesRosiers Falafel House” T-shirt but decided that 20 euros was a bit steep. A picture would do.
We walked across the Seine for glace at Maison Berthillon, and ate our cones by the River wall overlooking the “Paris Plage”. During August, Paris puts beach chairs, hammocks, potted palms, pools, sprinklers and even sandy areas along the river bank from the Louvre to Notre Dame; quite a sight! Jeff’s foot was really bothering him from all of the walking, so he headed home. Dean wanted to see the Eiffel Tower close up at night, so we headed over to Place du Trocadéro. The view reminded me of approaching the Washington Monument from the Mall. The tower is IMMENSE, and so are the crowds. (It is 324 meters high, and about six million people visit each year.)
Men selling mini-tower key rings, calling “1 euro each” and “bling, bling”, while shaking giant rings of key rings, are everywhere. We later realized that they must be saying, “blink, blink”, (like the tower does hourly each night.). You also have to watch out for the girls in saris or long skirts who approach you and ask, “Do you speak English?” If you say yes, they distract you while their friends move in to mug you. Both Eric and Dean’s Notre Dame tour guide warned us about them, and they are in evidence at most major tourist attractions. After walking around and under the tower, we took some pictures and headed home.

Monday, August 10-The Louvre
We arrived at the Louvre by 8:30, bought our tickets, and stood in line under the pyramid to enter. The Louvre is an extremely large museum, and maybe the most visited museum in the world. (Originally it was a fortress, and later became the palace of the French King until Louis XIV moved the palace to Versailles. Today, it is an art museum with about “35,000 works of art”.) Our game plan was to see the “Big 3”- Mona, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory, then visit ancient Egypt before lunch. Following the map, Winged victory, an ancient statue resembling a headless, armless angel greeted us from the stairway straight ahead. To the side was a case containing one of her hands, which had only a thumb and one finger. Rick Steve comments that, since France had taken so many treasures from Turkey in the past, when the hand to the statue was found, Turkey felt it was appropriate to give France the finger, too.
From there, we followed the map to Mona Lisa- Jeff was speeding along so fast that I lost him. When Dean and I arrived at Mona, Jeff was nowhere to be found. He showed up 15 minutes later- he had followed the map to ROOM 30, not item #30. He had power-walked all the way to the end of the wing, thinking since no one was ahead of him, that he would have a semi-private viewing. Was he ever angry when he found room #30 was closed! From that point on, we stayed in view of each other through the Italian painters wing and down to Michelangelo’s sculptures and Venus de Milo.
Next, we set off for Egypt. There were so many sarcophaguses that they resembled Russian nesting dolls. It reminded me of the storeroom of knight’s armor at the Musée de l'Armée. I had never seen so many Egyptian things in my life. In every case/room, there would not just be one or two sphinxes or cat statues, but several. We entered the Assyrian room through a doorway framed by two huge striding lions. Seeing such artistry from hundreds of years B.C. was astounding. By then, we were tired, and decided to beat the lunch crowd. The cafeteria was surprisingly good. We all had quiche, and chose 3 different desserts. Jeff was satisfied with what he had seen, and chose to go home to relax, pack, and practice.
Dean and I stayed to visit the other wings, although we planned our itinerary to see the most we could manage, and be out by 3:00. We walked through the royal apartments, and sat in the Ruben room. I always knew that “Rueben-esque woman” meant chubby, not svelte, but didn’t know that the paintings themselves were huge. An entire hall was covered, floor to ceiling, with his paintings- he must have stood on a ladder to complete them. They were more like murals than paintings. Inspired by Rueben not to be concerned with calories, we left the Louvre, and walked to Angelina’s to indulge in hot chocolate (for me) and a Mont Blanc (for Dean). From here, we hopped on the metro for home, and spent the evening cleaning and packing. Our last full day is tomorrow!

Tuesday, August 11- La Tour Eiffel
We move early so as to be at the Eiffel Tower before the crowds. We succeed to a point, but the line is still extremely long for the elevator- a bit shorter to climb. On the metro, Jeff is adamant that he will climb to the second level and meet us, but once he is confronted with the 700+ steps, compares it to the Notre Dame climb, and considers his foot, he decides to take the elevator with us. In line, we pretend not to speak English, ignore the vendors with millions of jangling Eiffel Tower key chains, and finally enter the elevator. On the 2nd level, everyone disembarks. We don’t waste time there, but go directly into the elevator line, choosing to stop on our return trip. The smaller elevator zooms us past the girders to the summit, and then we climb a short set of stairs to the open deck.
It is chilly, breezy, and a dark cloud is approaching, but we spend 20-30 minutes walking all four sides, picking out places we had been and marveling at the view. We stopped at each level on our descent, where we saw posters, film clips, and an exhibit about the tower’s history. I hadn’t realized that it had been designed for a world’s fair (Universal Exhibition of 1889 which marked the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution), and that many other countries had built pavilions/buildings along the Seine River as well. Jeff commented that it must have inspired Walt Disney when he designed Epcot’s lagoon. Too bad all of the other buildings are now gone because they looked wonderful. The food in the tower’s restaurants was tres cher (expensive), so we found a creperie a few blocks away, and had a last galette before heading home.
We picked up a baguette for dinner at a boulangerie on the walk home, and we met a nice man named Michel, a retired businessman who was delighted to practice his English and talk in length about his trips to America. Later, Dean went to the pool and Jeff and I did our final packing/cleaning. By the time Dean came home, I had arranged for a cab to the airport at 7 the next morning, but I should have done it a few days ago. I had to call several companies before I found a cab that was available. Since we had 3 metro tickets left, Dean and I went out for a final evening in Paris. Jeff chose to practice his horn, and relax. We got lost in the Latin Quarter, strolling streets that weren’t on the maps, and then watched the sunset over the Seine River before heading home.

Wednesday, August 12- Thursday, August 13- Coming Home
Our cab was on time at 7:00, and had us to the airport by 7:30 - even before Aer Lingus was ready to check us in. I was concerned about the weight of the luggage, since Jeff was bringing home a suitcase-worth of beer glasses, but all three bags were okay. The line for security was not bad, and there was a couch in the waiting area where Dean promptly fell asleep. Jeff read, and I typed offline to try to catch up on my journal.
The flight to Dublin was fast, and we thought we would have about 90 minutes to relax- wrong. We had to go through security again, fill out forms, and go through US customs. Fortunately, we thought to ask if we would access to any restaurants or stores once we were cleared. When the answer was no, we turned back, bought our lunch, and Jeff purchased his desired bottle of Irish whiskey before we went through the line. It was a good thing we did this because after customs, we were in a small area with only a coffee shop. Jackie told us later that she had not realized this was the case, and ended up stuck downstairs for the entire 90 minutes.
The flight home was long, with many active children, and malfunctioning movie/audio service. At least we didn’t have to go through customs again in Boston! Our illustrious chauffeur, Dave Spitzer, picked us up the next morning after our night at the Un-Comfort Inn. We are now at home doing laundry, bills, editing scads of photos, preparing for school, and catching up on 6 weeks of USA. Thanks to all of our friends and family in Ct and the Cape, and our new friends in Ireland and France, who helped make this trip possible. I promise I will narrow the pictures down to a reasonable amount if you’d like to see them!

Slán! / Au Revoir!

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Comments

[Maria]

Comment on comments
Cyn and Dean: Congratulations on such a beautiful and unforgettable trip. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. It must have been years of planning for it to have been so beautifully organized. Kudos for flying Aer Linguas. When I went to Asia, I flew on one of the Asian airlines -- they knew the area the best and also had typical meals and information that was very specific to the Asian areas! Silly things like the stewards/stewardesses -- what they wore and how they conducted the airplane -- as if you started your trip and extended it on the flights! Happy to hear of your safe return. Enjoy the rest of your summer.