Paris

The Tour de France ran early this year. This was highly embarassing for Rens.

Don't mess with a martyr. Saint Denis retrieves his head.

In front of the Mona Lisa.

Sacre Couer. These guys really think they're something.

On the steps of the Pantheon.

Place de la Concorde. No blood.

THE Notre Dame Cathedral.

The Louvre.

Arc de Triomphe. The President is 8th from the right I think.

Fountain on Place de la Concorde.

Me and some buddies.

You could spend a week here and not run out of things to do. But we only have two and a half days. So we do everything that mere mortals would take a week to do in that time. Actually, it’s not at a ridiculous pace, and we definitely don’t do the EF Tours thing of driving by the sites and taking a quick picture – we go up and in every place we visit. The key is to have everything booked in advance where you can to avoid waiting in long lines. I had the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Palace of Versailles all booked long ago. The rest of the sites just require good planning in terms of time of day and opening/last admission hours.
On our first full day, we walked through the suburb of Stains to the Metro, and rode the Metro into downtown Paris, directly to the Louvre. I was worried about getting such a big group into one car without leaving anyone behind – myself and some dads ensured everyone was pushed onto the train when it came, and we all fit in a couple of adjoining cars. Our tour of the Louvre was brisk, but we saw all of the classics, including the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo, Michelangelo’s Slaves, and many of the French classical paintings. After the Louvre we were off to Notre Dame, at which point we split up for a long day of touring and shopping in smaller groups. By the time evening rolled around and people began arriving for our dinner appointment on Rue de Rivoli, there were a LOT of extra bags being carried, so I guess shopping was successful. Could someone please explain to me why kids go to “Footlocker” in Paris to buy shoes, when there is a Footlocker in Langley? Oh well, whatever makes you happy. There were some tired feet on the way back to the hotel after our return ride on the metro – I think everyone slept well.
On the second full day, we had Rens at our service, so I really amped up the itinerary. We started with Sacre Coeur, in glorious early morning sunshine. After I explained the construction and purpose of the church, we walked in reverently, and were greeted by almost no other tourists (it was quite early in the morning), but by a chorus of singing, harp playing nuns. I just sat down and took it all in – with the music and the huge mosaics, it was somewhat overwhelming. Further down the road, we had our unplanned rendezvous with the presidents of France and Lebanon. We arrived at the Arc de Triomphe to find that we were one of the last vehicles allowed in the roundabout, as the Gendarmerie were closing it down to traffic. Pour quoi? A meeting between the two aforementioned leaders, with full police escort and military band accompaniment. There were lots of Lebanese people there waving their flags, and one gigantic tri-colour flag (of France) hanging from the centre of the Arc. So we waited and watched, but were not allowed to cross under the street to climb the Arc. After this, it was off to Versailles for our appointment at the Sun King’s palace. Versailles seems to change entrance and exit positions, policies for school groups and policies for reservations every year. After a bunch of confusion at the reservations desk based solely on the fact that, “You have too many adults” (even though I very clearly told them how many were in the group when I made the reservations months ago), we were allowed entry, sans a bunch of euros I hadn’t budgeted for. We’ll make that up though – maybe we’ll skip a few meals. We explored this ridiculously opulent palace and gathered in the sunny backyard. There’s no swingset, but the backyard has pretty much everything else. Everyone was “starving” at this point, so Rens rushed us to the Latin Quarter for an injection of escargots and donair. Mmmm.... snails and mystery meat. With stomachs full, our connection to the material world of the living as strong as ever, we descended to the Catacombs of Paris, to visit those who no longer eat, see, hear, breath. Six million dead Parisians line the mile long tunnel, winding its way under the streets of Paris. Rather than a jumble of bones, the ossuary is stacked quite neatly, you might say artistically, with plaques marking the name of the cemetery from where the bones were exhumed. This was done for decades in the 18th and 19th centuries to make room for more escargot eaters in the rapidly expanding city. The Pantheon, a new stop for the Fundy Tour, did not fail to impress, with its large scale paintings of scenes from the history of France, and it’s crypt filled with famous French writers, scientists, and other humanist/enlightened achievers. Finally, I had Rens drop us at the Place de la Concorde, which, during the French Revolution, was home of the “national razor”, aka the guillotine. The blood has all been cleaned up, and now there is a 3300 year old Egyptian obelisk and a couple fountains decorating the square. The sunset was gleaming off the gold ornamentation on the obelisk and fountains, and we leisurely strolled through the Tuileries Gardens on our way to our last meal in Paris. Definitely the best weather we’ve ever had in Paris. And as for the group of people, very cooperative and obedient, just how I like ‘em.