Later Thursday PM

Mom feeling much better about 15:00 so it is time to get back on the move again. Down to the closest (smack dab right next to the hotel) Brasserie for a lunch and soda. New order of the day is move slow and not far. After "lunch" time for a short bus ride to Notre Dame. Made it there fine, after a short walk form the #24 bus stop.Got inside, rented an audio guide and asked for Le Toilets. Told they are outside under the statue of what's his name (maybe more on this [Charlemagne] later if I feel like it). More very un-welcomed walking, especially up and down steps. Back to retrieve our audio tour device and a slow walk around the cathedral. Many, many wonderful sights, especially when you remember the history of this building. Very awe inspiring. I'll let mom go on more from her memories of the audio tour. As mom naps, I post. Off soon to get her up for supper, so this is the last post from here. I will get home and update a lot of it, hopefully including her notes, lots more photos and links. More as I get time. See you all tomorrow night.

Thursday PM, repeat after me

False alarm, 80 Euros (20 per night) for room "upgrade" to what Expedia originally promised me. You know, the room WITHOUT the mold in the bathroom ceiling. Thursday PM repeat after me, "NEVER make phone calls from your room, NEVER make phone calls from you room". Trying to determine how many Euros I need, I asked at the front desk what our final bill would be. I was glad, at first, to hear that the only thing we owed for was phone calls. Clerk said that Expedia took care of the rest. (It will be interesting to see what that means later). On my way out later I asked how much those phone calls would be and told 60E !. Off to find a ATM, found it on the corner, walked back to the restaurant we have been trying to eat at all week and made reservations (they don't really take them but they humored me) for 21:00. Also made sure that they took charge cards, they did. Walked down that street Rue Buffon to get back near the ATM. oops...this is a long street that comes out no place near Blvd de l' Hopital. Ended up on a walk that I probably could have used anyway. Found Blvd Saint-Marcel and eventually Blvd de l' Hopital, cash machine and back to the room. Mom feeling much better, but rest is still the order of the day. Deliberately keeping you in suspense here.

Thursday AM

Thursday AM, the week is catching up. Even though Mom was up and showered by 08:15, she soon felt the results of the week. She decided that she really needed to rest and nap for the morning, we'll see how she feels this afternoon and try to clean up what else there is to see. I too was dragging and only with a bit of effort did I get up @ 08:25. Dragged myself into the shower and got ready. Notre Dame is a must, Arch de Triumph or Saint Chapelle would be nice. I am going to make reservations at the little restaurant around the corner for tonight. Not to worry, as later posts will reveal, Mom is fine, just tired from the last 4 days.

Wednesday and that tall steel thing

Wednesday PM we arrived back in Paris by 14:00 and began to look for a bank to exchange some $$ for Euros. Walked into one place and after standing in line realized it was unlikely a place to exchange money. Some girl was at the reception desk wailing about a credit card bill. We began the process of trying to find the connecting buses that would take us to the Eiffel Tower. Asked our faithful #24 bus driver for suggestions and he pointed up another street. Walked over and ran to all the bus stops to figure out what bus would take us where. Found the #80 came close to the Eiffel Tower, so we hopped on, when it eventually came along. Took the bus as close to Eiffel as we could and got off and took a taxi the last dozen blocks. Te meter read 4E10, but we had to pay the 5.10E minimum. Walked to the north pylon entrance and got in line @ the 30 minutes out point. Moved quickly, got out tickets to the top 11.5 E ea. Funicular up to the first level and a quick change over to an elevator to the second level. Spent some time here, looking around, having pizza and sandwich (no free hot water here 2.30 E). Then on to the elevator to the le Summit. Fast ride up the narrow middle of the tower puts you on an enclosed observation deck with a magnificent view of Paris. Sacre Coeur really stood out. The day was very clear and you could see everything.I pointed all the places we had been out to mom and took lots of pictures. I asked mom if she wanted to go out to the open balcony 1 story up but she wanted no part of it. I never knew she had such a fear of heights. I took a quick run up while mom waited. Got down the elevator and mom mentally kissed the ground. While she had a seat I ran around looking for bus and connection opportunities to get us back to the hotel. A little running found a bus that would get us close to a bus that would get us to the bus that goes to our hotel. Collected mom, took her to the bus stop and waited. The #83 got us past Invalides, the Luxembourg jardins and to St Michel. A 1 block walk got us to the #38 which at the second stop (had to stand the whole way) got us within 1 block of the #63 which gets us back to the hotel.

Wednesday AM, Giverny at last

Wednesday AM. Giverny day at last. Up early, had my alarm set for 06:15. into the shower, getting dressed and mom observes that it is 07:05! Darn Palm Pilot POS lost more than a half hour not being synced up to the phone network. Time to hurry to get to our 08:15 train. Down to the #24 bus, off to Gare St Lazare. Made it to the station in time to get the tickets, buy a cup of coffee and OJ and a couple of apple custard torts. Onto the train where we ate on the way. Pretty cool morning so glad we bundled up and carried extra sweater in backpack. Nice 45 min.ride to Veron w/ only 1 stop, the difference between the 08:15 and the 09:00, which takes about 1 hr 45 min. @ Giverny the bus is 1/2 block from the train station. About a 30 minute bus ride through the french countryside takes you to the parking area, across the road from the town. A walk under the road leads to another parking area and the first opportunity to9 spend you money on a little guide book w/ a map and small explanation of the features of the town. Of course we fall for it. A short walk dow the street to the Maison et jardins Claude Monet. We borrowed another wheel chair and began the tour of the gardens. They are so much nicer than when I last saw them in April of '04. Lots and lots of beautiful blooms, many rather unique. We got a short cut back across the road to the water lily gardens and bridges. We walked every square inch, taking many pictures. Great bamboo garden on an island in the stream. One way to contain the bamboo. The little boat in so many of Moet's paintings was there, being used by a gardener to scoop out weeds from the ponds. After we thoroughly covered the ponds, lily pads, streams etc, we went back across the road via the special gate to the house side. Back up the hill to the house for the tour. You enter and go left, down a few steps into the studio/sitting area. Lots of original furniture, reproductions of many of the paintings done in the area and photographs of Claude, his family and visitors. Then upstairs to the bedrooms and dressing rooms. Downstairs to the kitchen. Japanese prints everywhere. After a tour of the gift shop we were ready for the return bus/train. It was either leave now and get back to Paris by 14:00 or wait and not get back till 16:00. We wanted to get one more visit in Paris in today.

Tuesday PM

Tuesday PM, we continued on the 5th floor, taking in many of the similar works. Guess who's mother showed up! Lots and lots of Impressionist and post Impressionist works. Navigated the labyrinth of lifts and elevators to work our way down to the second floor. We whizzed by the Objects de Art, sculptures etc,., to get right back to the paintings, many of these form the Symbolist's. Getting late as we take all of these in and need to get down the the bottom floor where there are a lot more paintings we want to see. More long wheels to find the right connection elevators. Pushed the limits of the closing time of the museum scurrying from room to room to see the best of the Impressionists, Monet, Manet, Sisely, Pissaro, and the rest. Speaking for rest, time for a trip back to the hotel. Since we needed the 24 bus to get back, and it let us off right across the street from the museum, we got back on it. Didn't matter that it was going in the opposite direction from the hotel, we were confident that we would end up back at the hotel after it finished the loop. On the way back, the #24 passes within a block of Notre Dame. We decided to get off and walk the block. Too bad we did not know that Notre Dame closed at 18:45 and it was 18:55. Back to the bus, looking in a couple of souvenir shops @ the bus stop. Of course we purchase something only to go next store to find it a nearly half the price. Back to the hotel for a rest, while I tried to make reservations at that restaurant around the corner. Someone was inside and opened up for me, only to tell me that Reservations Tuesday and Wednesday nights meant minimum parties of 5!. Back to square 1. I walked all around to try to find a nice restaurant. Found a couple possibilities, but not what I was looking for. Back to the room and time to look up some restaurants in the area from m notes and the books. Found 3 that I though we might be able to get to. Called one, they don't take reservations (works cooperative, nice food large portions) so I thought that would be a good one. The book suggested a couple of others if that one was crowded, so I called one to see if we could get a reservation. Not tonight. OK, to the cooperative. Next step was to get a taxi. The desk clerk told us it would be faster if we went to the train stations across the street. Walked over but the line waiting for a taxi put us off so back to the hotel to ask the clerk to call for one for us. He tried 3 numbers and none were available. Plan C, walked up the street to the 2 bast possibilities. looked at the 2 menus, with the second one undoable because of the cigarette smoke waifing throughout the place. back the the first. This happened to be a store-front that the proprietor had turned into a restaurant. It looked like a former butcher shop or deli, with a counter and display cases, tables taking up the rest of the space. We sat in front of the display case and he explained what all the dishes were. Mom had beef cannoli and I had salmon lasagna. Wandered back to the hotel for a sort of early bed time.

Tuesday AM

Tuesday AM, after a false alarm, previously set to get us to Giverny we got up and did the routine by 8:30. Off to Muse de Orsey, and in the museum by 9:30. Started at the top as suggested and worked our way down. But I believe that a lot of other people read that same book as the top floor was quite crowded. Wait a minute, what was that other part...Oh yeah, never go here on a Tuesday because the Louvre is closed and everyone ends up @ Muse de Orsey....doogh. Toured half the top floor, lots of great works including dark rooms full of Pastels. Lots of works by Cezanne, Monet, Manet, Degas, Pissaro, Rubin, Rodin, Gauguin and others. Stopped for lunch about 13:00, on the 5th floor cafe. Pictures later.