Paris - Day 2 - Versailles (5/20/2007)

Another late morning - I guess we're getting too tired from all the sightseeing! We decided to go see the Palace of Versailles - the huge chateau built by King Louis XIV.

It was a cold and rainy day - and the rain picked up as we approached Versailles via the Metro. The palace is a 10 minute walk from the train station, so, on the very last day of our 15 days in Europe, Candice succumbed and we bought a 5 Euro umbrella from a guy at the station (who was making a fortune as he was selling them as fast as he could reach into his bag!)

Luckily, we read Rick Steves' book before leaving and bought a Versailles day pass at the train station (which included the cost of the train). When we arrived at the palace, there were two lines - one to buy tickets - and was about 3 hours long and stretched the full length of the courtyard - and one to gain entry for those with tickets (about 20 minutes).

We had the same strategy as the day before at the Louvre - take the basic tour, see the gardens, and escape!

The place, of course was magnificent.

Our first stop was the chapel:


And then, after a walk down a hall of statues, the Opera Theater:









Then through the Hall of Mirrors:





Too bad, they were refurbishing the Hall - and the whole left side, by the windows, was torn up.

Then onto the King's Chambers:



And then out to the gardens:







We were a little too early for the fountain show they put on - it was scheduled for about 2 hours later, so we decided to leave.

Looking back at the palace from the gardens:





and back the other way:



The pictures don't do justice to the immense footprint of these gardens!

30 minutes by train back to Paris found us both hungry! We decided to have lunch at a place on the same street as our hotel:


The owner was very nice - but didn't speak any english as he tried to explain the brunch items he had out on tables. There were porcine mushrooms, eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, bread, orange juice, and coffee! It was all very good. Time to pay, and we find out it was 25 Euro per person, and we didn't have anough cash. He tried to run our AMEX, but it wouldn't go through - he said because it was Sunday. I ran down the street to a cash machine and ran back so we could pay the man. Candice was nice enough to wait there. We walked down to our hotel, and the desk attendant must have recognized me from running back and forth and asked if every thing was ok - he must have been puzzled!

After a short nap, time for dinner. We decided to eat at the place next door called Aux Marmites d'Agnes (or Chez Agnes):



We opened the door, but it was stuck on the carpet, so I had to kind of push a little harder - making quite a noise. The people at the two tables looked at us and laughed - and the owner, Agnes, gave us a look as well. I asked if she had a table for 2 and she kind of gave us a look, but then invited us in and to a table. The couples at the other tables said we were lucky - that Agnes had turned away several others earlier that evening - we must have had a desparate look or something!

The room is very small - just 16 seats at 8 tables - and it opens up into her kitchen, which looks like a kitchen you would see in someone's home, not a restaurant! The dining room was a little dark, had a large mirror on one wall, and was decorated with many little knick-knacks and photos:



Agnes brought over the menus and we asked for a bottle of Burgundy - she brought over a half liter of house wine. Here's the menu:



and Candice enjoying the wine:


At first, Agnes didn't pay much attention to us. But, we started talking with the other tables and at one of them was an American who spoke French - and he relayed to Agnes that we were on our honeymoon and all of the sudden, it was as if we were visiting at grandma's and hadn't been there in a very long time. She played with Candice's hair:



Showed us her scrapbook of emails people had written her:


and showed us the Christmas card sent to her from Rick Steves:



In the mean time, she took our orders - I had Escargot for an appetizer and Lamb chops seasoned with thyme and Candice had a salad and a beef filet in a roquefort sauce - cooked the dinner - and served us. We each had apple pie with ice cream for desert. Both meals were fantastic - just like a little French home cooking! Of Course, it's not like eating at a 3 Michelin Star French restaurant, that would be a completely different experience. This was more down to earth - very comfortable and relaxed - just the way we like it.

Agnes was kind enough to take a picture with the both of us:



and then she chatted us and the table next to us up for about 45 minutes. Then she poured us each a glass of a special home-made drink (sound familiar?) to celebrate our honeymoon.



The funny thing was it tasted exactly like one of the drinks Achille gave us from his private collection - except that he gave us a small sample in a little plastic cup - hers was in a glass and was a bit more to drink.

The couple next to us were French (and the gentleman spoke English), so we started a conversation with them and found out he travels to the U.S. every so often on business to Huntsville, AL. They own an apartment in Paris, but they have their home in southern France and it was their first time to Chez Agnes too. Very nice people.

Well - that's it for Paris. Too bad we were so tired from our travels that we couldn't muster up the energy to see more museums or sites. Candice says we have to come back! I don't disagree.

Next day we took a crazy cab ride to the airport - with the driver speeding in and out of rush hour traffic in between zooming motorcycles, smart cars, and vespas. He got us there on time and in one piece.

At the airport, we learned our plane was delayed two hours. Long day ahead of us!

The flight was good, except for a little turbulence over the ocean and a rough landing.

Customs in Atlanta was about a 1.5 hour process - even without any lines - check the passport, waiting to get our bags, a nod from the customs agent, putting our bags on another conveyor belt to be picked up in the main terminal - train to the main terminal - and waiting again for our bags - which ended up being two carousels over from the one indicating our flight.

Leslie came to pick us up and after a quick stop to get Gretzky and Madeira at her house we made it home to Alpharetta!

What a great honeymoon!

Paris 1b - Eiffel Tower (5/19/2007)

...In for the night, or so we thought!

Around 11PM, we decided to walk over to the Eiffel tower - Along the way, we caught a quick view:



A short walk through the park, and there is was!





And then, at the top of the hour, it started to sparkle!






and a video:



We went up to the second level to get a view of Paris:









Candice and Reed:

Paris 1 - Louvre (5/19/2007)

Well - we finally reached Paris after a very long day of travel - up at 4AM to catch the first train from Vernazza to La Spezia. Waited 1.5 hours for the 7AM train to Turin. Waited 6 hours in the Turin airport for our 5PM flight to Paris. Arrived in Paris CDG at about 6:30 - then another hour to get our bags and take a taxi to our hotel near the Eiffel tower.



The hotel, Hotel Londres Eiffel, was really nice - located on a quiet street (1 Rue Augereau, in the 7th arrondissement) lined with several restaurants, a hardware store, laundry, and boutiques. The room was average size, but the bathroom had a full tub - which we hadn't seen since our time in Rome. All the others had a shower that was about 2.5ft by 2.5 feet and squeezed into a corner.

Both of us were hungry, so we checked our trusty Rick Steve's guide and sure enough, he had two recommended right on our street - and one or two more nearby. It was just about 9PM, so we slipped into a little place called Philippe's - Restaurant La Varangue:



The owner, Philippe, came over and sat us at a small table and explained he was about to close and had only a few items available on his hand-written chalkboard menu. One of those was "boeuf bourguignon + garniture - which we had read was a traditional dish from Burgundy and is essentially a beef stew cooked with mushrooms and carrots in red wine - much like a recipe we cook occasionally at home we learned from Tyler Florence - Tyler's Ultimate Beef Stew. Philippe's didn't disappoint - and it took me all of about a minute to finish it - and wipe up the wine sauce with the bread. We had a house wine in a half liter bottle - when the young girl Philippe had working there brought the wine, she forgot to bring over any wine glasses. Not knowing this, I had already started pouring the wine into the little water glasses on the table - which is how most of the house wine we had in Italy was served. Apparently, the French are a little more particular, as she was surprised when she came back with some wine glasses that I had already poured. No worries. Knowing Philippe was closing, we ate quickly, but he was content to let us sit there and talk for a while, which was really nice. Finally, he came over, but instead of presenting a check, he smartly offered us desert. I had some strawberries with whipped cream, which were a nice lite ending to a great meal.

Being exhausted, we went back to the hotel for bed.

The next day, we got up late and lounged around for a while - I guess all the travel was catching up with us. We finally got going and had breakfast around the corner at a touristy 24 hour cafe with a partial view of the Eiffel Tower called Cafe le Dome. Surprisingly, their breakfast menu had omlettes and french fries - something we hadn't seen in Italy. An extra large cup of cappucino was also a nice change.



Our objective for the day was the Louvre - but first we had to figure out which bus to take to get there and where to buy bus tickets. A nearby tobacco shop had packs of 10 tickets which we could use for buses and trains whenever we needed - which turned out to be a good deal. We found the 69 bus route, waited a few minutes and were on our way.

Having seen many travel shows and read Rick Steve's books, we were expecting long lines at the Louvre - not to buy tickets, but because of the backup caused by the metal detector. Not the case today - we were inside the Louvre in less than 5 minutes. However - just standing outside and seeing how big this place was amazed me!









Since the Louvre is so huge, and we were so tired, we decided we'd seek out only the things we really wanted to see and then leave. Candice had those in mind and of course, they matched up with the quickie tour proposed by Rick Steves in his Paris book for just this purpose. Here are some pictures of things we saw along the way:



Winged Victory of Samothrace - one the the Louvre's great treasures is found at the top of the Daru staircase. The statue is believed to be from the Hellenistic period of 220-190 B.C. - one of the few original Greek statues ever found. It's been badly damaged - with the head and arms missing. The right wing is a plaster copy of the left. The detail of the wind-swept clothing over her body is really amazing - considering it's all carved from marble!





One of Winged Victory's hands was found separately and is displayed in a glass enclosed box nearby:



Next up was the very famous Venus de Milo - another incredible greek statue:









Next up was a search for the Mona Lisa. On the way, we ran into a Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-1337). St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1290)



Which is one of the earliest paintings known to depict man in nature - signaling the beginning of the renaissance period. Look in the lower right corner to see a man feeding pigeons - we thought this funny as we had just come from Venice where I had a run-in with a mob of pigeons myself.



Unfortunately, this was the last picture for a while in the Louvre - as most of the rooms with paintings restrict any photos. So, take my word for it, we found the Mona Lisa - which was surrounded by a mob of people - but with patience we were able to make our way up to the front and get a good view.

Shortly after, we got to see one of the largest oil paintings in the world, Napoleon’s Coronation by David. We also saw some Botticelli frescoes, The Madonna of the Angels by Cimabue, St. Sebastian by Mantegna, The Marriage at Cana by Veronese, The Raft of the Medusa by Gericault, Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix, among others.

Next up was a hall of Renaissance sculpture:



Slaves by Michelangelo:


And others:






This one for Candice's sister, Amy:








That was it for the Louvre - and just over 2 hrs! We must have been brain dead as we couldn't find the bus stop for the 87 which is right in front of the Louvre! Instead we walked around the enormous building and finally decided just to jump on where we got off before - knowing that it would be the long route around it's loop back to the hotel. After about 15 minutes, we decided to jump off at a square where we could see several places to eat - and they happened to be mentioned in Rick Steves' book. We chose a busy but inexpensive spot, Restaurante Sant Antonio, and ordered some pizza and wine (great combination!) Our table was outside, which was great for people watching until these two girls next to us decided to light up - nonstop for about 30 minutes - which is funny because I had just commented to Candice that it seemed like people smoked less in Paris than in Italy. Either way, this place had Chocolate Mousse on the menu, so I had to have one - it was worth it.

After our bite to eat, we stopped in a little bakery and bought a baguette to take back to the room. We caught the 69 on the other side of its loop and just before our hotel, jumped off at a fromage shop and bought some fresh Gouda. The owner was a kind man who when asked if he spoke any English, asked back if we spoke any French - it was a funny moment.

Returning to the room, we both crashed! In for the night.

Day 2 in another post...