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Day Seven Itnerary:
Versailles!
Boys to Musee d’Orsay and the Louvre
Dinner and Gelato

Our plan to be the first in line at Versailles was foiled when we got on the wrong train and ended up somewhere in the French countryside. We all assumed everything was ok because we got on the same train we’d been on the day before, except that for some reason this one took a different fork in the road. Note to self: watch for that deadly fork in the road!

We refused to allow our enthusiasm to be damped by a mere sidetrack. We returned to Paris and put ourselves on the right train, then arrived at Versailles, finally, three hours after we’d begun the 45-minute trip. But it was worth it. I got shivers being in the Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1918 ending the First World War. Sara, the girls and I all loved Marie Antoinette’s “Petite Trianon” palace, which was a small, less ornate mansion built about 30 mins walk from the main palace.

Thursday night we met up with the boys for dinner at a locally-owned small restaurant just down from our hotel. We heard their stories — they’d gone to the Musee d’Orsay and back to the Louvre. Since kids under 18 are free at museums in Paris, they had nothing to lose by hopping around. We went to our favorite gelato place where the server, who spoke five languages, scuplted the cones into roses.

The palace is massive

Love the topiary

Millions of steps

Marie's secret palace

Let them eat cake

It's so pretty!

Day Six Intinerary:
Girls try to go to Versailles
Musee d’Orsay
Boys make it to Versailles

The boys were too tired to wake up — they’d been out until 6 am wandering around Paris looking for a nightclub that would admit a couple of scruffy 17-year-old American boys — so the girls and I ventured off to Versailles without them. There was a three-hour line to get tickets, so we decided not to wait.  We regrouped and headed off to the fabulous Musee d’Orsay. We had a plan to get an early start tomorrow and be the first people in line for the Versailles Palace when it opened.

The D’Orsay is a spiritual experience for me. I went around checking in with my favorite paintings and just feeling very grateful to be there. We met up with the boys for dinner and heard about their adventures. They’d taken the train to Versailles, had jumped the line for tickets because they’re under 18 and are admitted free, and explored the whole palace.

Day Five Itinerary:
Cath sick
Sara and kids to Catacombs
Notre Dame (again)
Ste Chappele
Conciergerie
Dinner at Pere Louis

I spent all of Monday night and most of Tuesday in bed with a freak 24-hour flu. Meanwhile, the gang headed for the Catacombs, which is where the bones of 30,000 Frenchmen are stacked underneath Paris. The kids loved the experience; I had seen it before, and believe me, once is enough.

By the afternoon I felt better and we all ventured back towards Notre Dame to see Ste Chapelle, famous for its thousand-year-old stained glass, and the Conciergerie, the prison where Marie Antoinette was held for 73 days before being beheaded  We returned to our favorite bistro for more divine French cooking — ummm, cassolet — and the boys left to go meet up with some French girls they’d met the night before.

Day Four Itinerary:
Tried to go to Musee D’Orsay,closed
Louvre
Cath home sick
Sara and the girls go shopping
Boys AWOL

We set a course for the Musee D’Orsay with Wylie on navigation duties, but regrettably, found it to be closed. This time the closure was not due to the whim of the French proletariat but rather the ineptitude of the itinerary maker. Not to be daunted, we crossed the river and hit a little art boite we like to call the Louvre. We split up and in various groups and saw The Mona Lisa, the Egyptian collection, furnishings from Napoleon’s apartments, Venus di Milo, and paintings from the 17th thru 19th century Dutch and French Masters.  Hannah says that seeing the dead mummy was the  best part. For me, the Louvre is a little overstuffed. Too much to see. The best part was being on a quest with Elizabeth to find the Mona Lisa. After that, I succumbed to a bad cold and returned to rest at the hotel.  The rest of the gang marched onward.

Sara is very glamorous

It doesn't seem real

An American girl in Paris

In the medievel part of the museum

Napoleon's apartments

DaVinci Code, anyone?

Day Three Itinerary:
Tried to go to Catacombs, closed
Musee Picasso
Metro to Pere LaChaise Cemetary
Walk around Jardin du Luxembourg
Eat at Pere Louis

Where better to spend a joyous Easter Sunday than four stories below Paris surrounded by the bones of 30,000 unfortunate souls who perished in the Revolution? At least that was our plan. A hand-lettered sign on the door told us otherwise.  Closed. We boarded the Metro for the Marais District and the Musee Picasso. I was pretty grumpy by this point and nobody would speak to me, so I ventured off by myself in complete bliss. Sara and the kids were less amused by the works of Mr. Pablo Picasso. Home to the hotel for  the requisite pre-dinner nap, a stroll in Jardin du Luxembourg across the street and dinner at a fabulous French restaurant called Pere Louis where Elizabeth and I split a Cassoulet. Bon appetit.

Hannah, Sara and Eliz at the Musee Picasso

They stroll along like French girls

The grave of Jim Morrison

The goth girls feel right at home

A frisbee at the Jardin du Luxembourg

An amazing dinner at a French bistro

Day Two Itinerary:
Eiffel Tower
Musee Rodin
Cafe Flore for coffee and a pastry
Boat trip along Seine
Pizza

We walked all the way cross town to the world-famous Eiffel Tower, to find it closed due to the workers being on strike. So we took a bunch of pictures, hung out in a mob with befuddled tourists, then regrouped for Plan B. Off to the Rodin where the kids got to see the original “Thinker” and a lot of cool sculpltures. I wanted to go to Cafe Flore for dinner as an homage to its literary heritage. (Hemmingway and Fitzgerald drank there. Then again, where didn’t they drink?) However, a quick check of the prices on the menu made it clear that dinner for six was out of the question. We had a pastry and coffee instead. Evening brought a lovely one-hour boat ride along the Seine River followed by pizza for dinner at a charming Italian place chosen by Elizabeth, our on-site bargain shopper.

I guess we must be in Paris

It's pretty impressive

Pictures of Picture-taking

The original Thinker by Rodin

So cool to be upclose with this famous statue

Boat trip along the Seine shows another side of Paris

We’re here. The flight on Air France was perfect, except for a little turbulence that shook Elizabeth. We love the hotel — small, charming and across the street from a big park. We arrived jet-lagged off our heads and I forced everyone to walk around as a way to stay awake and accommodate to local time. We got out the map and trudged our way to Notre Dame, where a Good Friday mass was being held. It was pretty amazing. We didn’t stay long because Elizabeth was in urgent need of a bathroom, which we couldn’t find. We ended up in a hospital and found a “toilette” in the emergency room. Emergency indeed.

This morning we met downstairs in the breakfast room where the kids are eating the poor hoteliers out of house and home. They never saw what hit them. I’ve been giving the kids a lesson in keeping their booming voices down, in manners, in saying “bonjour” and reminding them we’re guests in this country.

Impressions:

Hannah: Friendly people, beautiful architecture, peaceful environment
Elizabeth: Small meals, everything is fancy, reminds me of the middle ages, seems like a movie set, the streets are clean
Sara: Very clean, people have impeccable style, architecture is beautiful
Catherine: I love the way Parisiens live: they have everything we have but better
Wiley: It’s beautiful with historic scenery
Ricky: It’s like we’re living in the time of the Plague

Rick washed his car to taxi us to the airport

The hotel is very charming

Checking the map and we're on our way

Where's the hunchback

The River Seine flows through Paris

Documenting the trip

The structure is still breathtaking

WENT TO THE SYMPHONY last night at the Disney Hall with Garth. We heard an imaginative piece by Hadyn that was originally commissioned by a church in Spain for their Good Friday service. The performance alternated words that Jesus said from the cross with a corresponding piece of music. The whole thing too about an hour and was performed completely in the dark. I guess the church in Spain started the tradition by covering the windows with swaths of heavy fabric. I’m glad that the LA Phil is reaching out to do imaginative pieces of work. While I often criticize the audience-torturing modern commissions, a seldom-performed work like this Hadyn piece is a real gem.

This is a song entitled “Handlebars” that came out last year from a band called Flobots. I caught the tail end of the song on the radio yesterday and was reminded of this amazing video. If you haven’t seen it, take the next three minutes and treat yourself. Political metaphors abound.