Hello Paris . . . au revoir Diane!

We returned the rental BMW to Avis on Sunday, Oct. 14, at the Versailles railway station.  It was raining pretty steady, and there were only a few parking spots and no Avis signs.  So Trudy went in search of help.  After a short wait, she emerged with a young French assistant who looked a little upset that he had to come out in the rain.   He walked over to a spot that said “A _ _S” and moved two orange parking cones so that it spelled AVIS.   As Tom said… “Sodbuster…we didn’t sign up to play “fill in the blanks” in the rain.”  C’est la vie, we unloaded the car and took the next train to Paris.  

When we arrived in Paris, it was chilly and still raining.  We checked into our hotel and then took a cab to the Louvre.   For those who may not be familiar with the history of the Louvre, this was Louis XIV’s crib until he built Versailles, at which time he allowed the Louvre to be used as a museum.  (Remember Chateau Chambord?   Many of the valuable pieces of art from the Louvre were stored at Chambord during WWII for safekeeping.)  This picture was taken the next day when it had stopped raining.

 

While we had been to the Louvre before, Diane had not.   Accordingly, Diane was able to take full advantage of our vast knowledge of the Louvre as we led her through one wrong gallery after another in search of the Mona Lisa.   Diane snapped a pretty good picture of Mona considering she had to wedge herself between about 1,000 other amateur photographers. 

  

Because the Louvre was a palace before it was a museum, some of the apartments have been maintained as they were when it was a palace…and oh my…what apartments!   These rooms were meant to stun and amaze those who came to visit Napoleon III during the mid 1800’s.  Here are some shots of the apartment interiors--unfortunately they are a little dark (no flash allowed!).

After being lost in the Middle Eastern History section for a while, we stumbled into the Greek gallery and found Venus de Milo.  If the farmer who dug her up on the island of Melos in 1820 knew how much she would be worth in 2012, he would have kept digging until he found her arms.  Even without arms, she is a truly beautiful piece of art which seems to transport the viewer back in time.  

We spent a fair amount of time in the gallery containing the massive marbles of horse and riders (once located outside as the entrance to gardens) and larger-than-life sized gods, goddesses and warriors.  Here are just a few samples of what we enjoyed. 

And the next one is what I called "the Bloomington Four fulfilling Tom's wish to see Mackinac Island one more time."

 

Since the Louvre is closed on Monday, we reached critical mass at about 5:00 PM.  Diane had to decide whether to 1) see the Egyptian wing and view an extraordinary collection of art from one of history’s most enduring civilizations, or 2) shop in the Louvre Galleria.  Well...Diane is going home with souvenirs. 

Since the rain had started again, we decided to cab it back to the hotel.  We were unbelievably lucky to get a cab in the rain outside of the Louvre.   Our driver used this opportunity to complete a trial run for the upcoming Grand Prix by cutting in and out of traffic and totally ignoring any posted speed limit.  A terrified Trudy asked “Do you always drive like this?”  He replied “I’m a very good driver.”  (Remember the movie Rain Man?  He was “a savant who was a very good driver.”)  As he squeezed between cars at breakneck speed, Trudy asked if this was safe.   He replied “I drive with my mind…not my eyes.”   He did deliver us to the hotel for $23 Euro.  As a retired accountant, Tom found this interesting since our ride earlier that day from the hotel to the Louvre cost $12 Euro.  Oh well, how often does one have the opportunity to be launched through Paris traffic from the Louvre to your hotel by a savant cab driver.

 On Monday, the sun came out and it was a glorious day to be in Paris walking through the autumn leaves and smelling the crisp fall air as we headed for the Eiffel Tower.  The tower can be viewed from several locations around the city since it is 1,050 feet tall.  Diane enjoyed seeing this historic landmark for the first time.  We considered waiting in line to join the 7,100,000 people who ascend the tower each year.   However, after seeing how many were waiting that day, and knowing  this was Diane’s last day in Paris, we decided not to raise the tally to 7,100,003. Here's Diane's creative shot.

 We then took a cruise on the River Seine, getting off at Notre Dame, one of the amazing cathedrals of the world started in 1163 . . .

 then we saw the Arc de Triomphe (control yourself Lee!) . . .

Then we walked through the Tuileries (the gardens) leading from the Louvre down the Champs-Elysees.  Diane and Trudy admired the beautiful clothing, shoes and purses.  Tom thought the prices were sinful . . . but the shoes were so beautiful!

We had our farewell meal with Diane at a small café near the hotel where we enjoyed talking to a young professor from New Jersey who had brought his mother to Paris for the first time.  The next morning we walked in the rain to the Arc De Triomphe where Diane caught her shuttle to the airport.  Au revoir Diane!  It has been fun!

Tom and I had two more days in Paris so we were off to see the Musee d'Orsay.  Our last day would prove to be a haute-coiffure experience.  Stay tuned!

 Happy trails,

TNT