Brussels, Day 8

Well, despite how busy we were today, not much to report on the exciting side. The best thing is that Jerry is feeling much better and was able to get out today and do some sightseeing. After having our overflowing toilet fixed, we went over to the Grand Place and then did some walking around and window shopping. Got a great souvenir for Mom today--I think she'll really love it, and it's definitely not something that you can find just anywhere!

Had a nice little lunch at an Italian restaurant, then we made our way over to the train station to try and get the student rail card situation figured out. Luckily, the representative at the guichet this time was much more helpful, so we have everyone situated, save those couple of students who did not send a photo (an easy fix once they arrive).

The students are winging their way over here as I type, and will arrive at 7:25 AM tomorrow morning...very early! Everything is ready for their arrival--we will have dinner at what looks like a very cool little restaurant tomorrow evening, then a chance for waffles on Monday (since all of the museums are closed), then the Museum of the City of Brussels on Tuesday before they go to Louvain-la-Neuve on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the Chocolate Museum is closed until the end of January, as is the Magritte Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Hopefully the students will be able to visit those spaces later.

We are off to go walk around some more--after the late Italian food lunch, I don't think either of us is hungry, so perhaps we will work up an appetite for some true Brussels fare...

Brussels, Day 7

Another low key day, as far as blog entries go. Jerry is still sick--I think with the flu, although he insists otherwise--so I just went around the city and tried to get everything confirmed, reconfirmed, and picked up for the students. The train station passes are still proving to be a problem (of course), but other than that, everything is set. It looks like we will have a great restaurant reservation and a great visit to the Museum of the City of Brussels!

Hopefully more tomorrow...

Paris to Brussels, Day 6

Today was a day of travel and getting settled...no pictures to show, and really nothing exciting to tell, other than we took the train from Paris to Brussels and we are now safely ensconced in our "apartment" (only slightly larger than our little hotel room in Paris, but still perfect for what we need). HOWEVER, getting the chance to visit a new place--even better, a francophone country--is very exciting, so I guess I should amend that statement to reflect how awesome it is that we are in Belgium!!

What is a little bit sad is the prevalence of American chain restaurants here. Beyond even the presence in Paris, by which I was already heartbroken. It EVEN surpasses the abundance of KFC's in Malaysia (please note that every single one of my pictures from Malaysia have a KFC in them, except for the ones from Uncle Rick's apartment and inside the National Museum--even though you might actively try to take a picture there without a KFC, it's almost impossible :) ). Just in the 7-minute walk from the apartment office to our abode, there were two McDonalds, 2 Subways, 1 Pizza Hut, and 1 Dominos. Not to mention the Quick-type spinoffs...GAH!

Jerry is still battling his cold--miraculously I have not gotten it...yet. I fully expect to wake up with it tomorrow morning, since (as all of you who are familiar with me know) I have no immune system. Actually, this might be the first time in about 7 or 8 years that I haven't gotten sick when within 100 yards of someone who is! Let's keep that train of positive thinking going!

We had dinner in a little bistro near the apartment and we are now going to go rest in the hopes that we can soit get better, soit not get sick...

Paris, Day 5

Although it doesn't feel like it, today was sort of a low key day. Neither Jerry nor I felt good all yesterday evening or this morning, so we decided to rest in the hotel this morning.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the luggage situation--still no word from Air France. Although they declared that the luggage is "at the airport", their caveat is that they don't know which airport. My money is still on it sitting there at Hartsfield-Jackson after the mechanical problems on the plane. (Of course that bet doesn't include it still being there--I'm sure someone has walked off with it by now and is feeling very lucky for picking a suitcase with such a classy, well-rounded wardrobe.)

After we were feeling better, for lunch, we went to my favorite...l'As du Falafel!!! That falafel sandwich was every bit as good as I remembered, maybe even more delicious!! Abby met us there, which was really fun as well. I'm proud of Jerry--he tried the falafel! Although he declared it was "not bad" in a tone of voice that made us comment on how Americans have so many different ways of saying "not really my thing", at least he tried it even though he was skeptical. :)

After lunch, we walked to the Place des Vosges, then over to la Bastille and hung out in a cafe for a little while with Abby--it was so sad to say goodbye, knowing that I will not be able to see her for so long!




We then trekked over to the Louvre--it was open late today, until 10:00 PM, but as it turns out, neither of us were up for even the relatively small challenge of a four-hour visit. We saw our favorites (except for Mme de Pompadour), then called it a night, going back to the hotel for some Speed Rabbit Pizza.

Here are a few highlights from the visit today...




An actual helmet from Charles VI's reign, and a copy to show what it would have looked like "back in the day".







The Napoléon III apartments (n.b., we were having some trouble with the exposure on the camera, so some are a little blurry)





A decorative box brought to a church by Philippe le Bel containing some relics from Saint Louis.




The immense inside cours with so many sculptures--very peaceful...




My favorite shot of the day--Jerry and the Vénus de Milo, looking opposite ways...






The Vigée Le Brun for Mom...





Very interesting after the book I read this year on Diane de Poitiers--a bronze sculpture for over a door at Fontainebleau--it depicts the image of Diana, goddess of the hunt, which was at the time strongly linked with Diane de Poitiers.

And a few other images from the day...




Off to bed now to nurse our food troubles and the cold that Jerry caught (and which I will certainly have by 2 or 3 AM). Then onto the train for Brussels early in the morning...

Paris, Day 4

Today was such a great day; we went to Versailles and, although I’ve been before—and even been on the “behind the scenes” tour—I’ve never seen the Galerie des Glaces or Marie Antoinette’s apartments. It was amazing to see both of these spots—perhaps I shouldn’t admit it, but I definitely got teary-eyed and even speechless (a huge feat for me in the middle of so much XVIIIe century history to talk about). Here are a few highlights from all of the pictures that we took…

The chapel, where Louis and Marie Antoinette were married (not the proxy one) on May 16, 1770. I’ve been inside it on the special tour, but when you have to stand outside the doors, it’s impossible to get a good picture of the ensemble. You have to just take a picture of the lower parts at first, then wait until you get up to the second level to take a picture of the beautiful paintings on the ceiling that correspond so well with the colors in the marble on the floor.

Some pictures attempting to depict the opulence of the rooms and the chateau as a whole, which is, of course, impossible. I was especially drawn to the chandeliers. They were spectacular, even down to the braided, silky cords from which they were hanging.

The King’s bedroom

The other “mothership” (Louis Vuitton on the Champs Elysées) being the one previously mentioned), the Queen’s bedroom—once occupied by Marie Antoinette. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I believe I heard a tour guide say that the bedspread was original to the chateau from her time in these chambers, although that’s somewhat hard to believe given what happened during those years and those directly following. It was a thrill to see the door through which she escaped when the chateau was stormed.

Looking forward to a good day tomorrow, which will hopefully include falafel J, the Louvre, and meeting up with Abby (as well as trying to figure out what to do about my luggage…).

Paris, Day 3

03.01.2011

This morning we finally managed to get up on time…fank the yord! as Baby Audrey would say—so we got packed up and left Abby and Stéphane’s house (sad part!) and then went to the hotel. It’s the perfect hotel—just the right size, great staff, and in the middle of Passy.

After we got settled at the hotel, we had a short walk around Passy for old time’s sake…although a lot has changed, so much is the same. I think my favorite thing was seeing the flower shop where Mom and I used to go buy flowers because our apartment smelled so bad!

After our Passy moment, we went ahead to La Conciergerie. Of course the line for La Sainte Chapelle was horribly long. I thought that would only be the case in the summer, but apparently there are plenty of tourists here that would like to see the “dentelle de pierre”. I hope that we will be able to make it back there, as it’s been about 10 years now since I’ve been able to see it.

It goes without saying that La Conciergerie was amazing. I can’t help it—I absolutely adore the big, gloomy feel and all the revolutionary “stuff”. Part of my love for this museum dates back to my first visit, when I had just discovered XVIIIe century French literature. I was just walking up the stairs and around the corner when BAM! mannequins, dressed in period clothing, in jail cells where they tell you what each person’s duty was during the Revolution. I know it’s a little weird, but my favorite is the one with the man who prepared everyone for the trundle to the guillotine…cut the hair, shirts, etc.

And, of course, I took the obligatory picture of the guillotine blade. I must have 100 pictures of this thing…but, WOW!

And then there’s the Marie Antoinette aspect…I just get chills looking at the things that are there to commemorate her. She was such a complex person living in such a complex time, I find it impossible to not be absolutely enthralled by her.

The top of the monument to her, with an inscription penned by Louis XVI

The bottom of the monument, with an excerpt from her last letter, to the king’s sister, Elisabeth:

“Que mon fils n'oublie jamais les derniers mots de son père, que je lui répète expressément : qu'il ne cherche jamais à venger notre mort!...”

I love this quote—it makes one think about all of the complexities of a revolutionary period, which was clearly aimed for good, but did do some harm, a mother’s relationship with her children, as well as the ties between social, economic, and religious aspects that existed at the time. (And let’s not forget the ever-present censures that might have also played a part in her thoughts about what to write.) The entire letter is heartbreaking, but also amazing to read.

The remake of her cell, as well as her last picture and a fragment of the rug that she used in her cell.

After La Conciergerie, we went to Notre-Dame and walked around the chapel as well as the Treasure Room. This was something that I had never seen before, but that Jerry knew from his previous trip. I was so glad that he knew about it, because it was really very fascinating. There were lots of different kinds of reliquaries, chalices, and other extremely valuable objects. It was so interesting to see the reliquaries with actual bones or fragments in them—such a different way of thinking about honoring those who have passed away.

The first is a picture of Saint Louis’ (Louis IX) shirt that he wore for “punishment” or “absolution”.

There was also a beautiful Christmas tree out in front of the cathedral—it was awesome at night when we left.

Here are a few pictures of the nativity scene inside the cathedral as well as a couple of some new favorites on the portails.

And finally, some fun from outside La Conciergerie…

à demain, mes chers!

Paris, Days 1 & 2

We arrived in Paris just in time to celebrate the New Year--we were literally in the car on the way back from the train (it took just a little bit longer than anticipated with the train situation...), but we got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle and all of the people celebrating everywhere.


Abby and Stéphane have been wonderful hosts and we have had a lot of fun spending time with them over the holiday. The meals that they made--risotto, verrines, tartiflette, galette des rois--were awesome!

As we arrived in Paris late on the 31st, there is not much to tell from that day, other than that we got to ring in the new year looking at the most beautiful thing in the world AND with great friends--that is an amazing way to do it!

On the 1st of January, not much is open in Paris, so we decided to go to St. Cloud and Versailles. St. Cloud was a royal residence that was destroyed during the Commune in 1870, but the parcs that surrounded the chateau are still there and they are beautiful. It is an immense place and it's awesome to see the artistry of Le Nôtre (the landscape architect that designed gardens at Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte) at work there.





We also went to Versailles to walk around a bit. It was closed, but it was quite interesting, actually, as that meant that we could have a clear view from the inside gate, without a million people walking around in front of the chateau.





Stéphane et Abby said they were going to act like "Parisiens"...


Jerry and I acting like Americans who are just happy to be in France.








The fountains were also quite beautiful because they were frozen, which made everything look very peaceful.





After this, we went tried to go to La Durée for some macaroons, but the line was so long that we decided to go to another place instead. We ended up going to a cool place that was very different than what we would see normally in the States--a car exhibition on the first floor (some prototypes that probably won't be sold, some that will be sold), with a café above. There are several on the Champs Elysées; this one was the Renault showroom, called Les étoiles de Renaut:





Today (Sunday) we accidentally slept until 1:45 PM! We were so jet-lagged, so I think we must have needed it. There are some excellent blinds on the window in the room at Abby and Stéphane's house, so it seemed very dark outside. I heard, in fact, both of them walking around outside the room, and I was worried, because I thought that perhaps there was a family emergency or something--I couldn't imagine why they would be up "in the middle of the night"! It was actually around 10:00 AM or something like that. I felt sooooo ridiculous! At any rate, they had set out an amazing Epiphany feast, complete with a "Galette des Rois"--kind of like the King Cake for Mardi Gras. None of us found the baby though...

Since we started the day so late, we didn't really have time for any museums, so we went walking down the Champs Elysées. It was so beautiful--they have light blue lights on all of the trees, plus these straight ones that seem like falling stars. At the end near the Ferris wheel, there is a Christmas market with trinkets and little foods. It turned out very well that we got to go today--I know it was at the top of Jerry's list of things to do, and it was neat to see the market since I've never known about it before.




You really can't even capture how beautiful it is in a picture, but we tried...



I wanted to go look around the huge Louis Vuitton store (notice I just said LOOK), but there was a line a block long to get in!



My favorite Christmas decoration was actually an advertisement to travel to Alsace for the holidays--the corner and sides of the building were covered in Christmas trees, lights and longs swatches of green and pink decorations...



After our walk, we came back to the apartment to meet our wonderful hosts and we went to dinner at a very cool restaurant called La Gare, which used to be a train station...




We had a great time and a great meal. Tomorrow we are going to check in to the hotel and then we are going to try to go to La Conciergerie and Ste. Chapelle...