Sally’s Trip Journal - Chapter IV
Friday, December 26, 2003 in Paris, France
We decided to have a “lighter” breakfast again today, tea, juice, pastries and jams, and then would go to the Ste. Chapelle Church where I would take the tour and both of us would try to get tickets for the concerts there. No luck in finding a bus route at first, we had to try several routes for later after we left there, but we did find it ok.
The good news, I took the tour, but the bad news was – no concerts till March 2004!!
The church was amazing, I will never think of history the same way again. And it was amazing how tall the leaded glass windows were. I wished I had read Bob’s green book before I went. But I’ve got time when I get home. Our plans changed so close to our leaving that I didn’t get much time to dump the Italy info and read the Paris info.
Of course I won't have any photos either other than the books I bought. I may have to try my batteries tomorrow or just break down and get a couple disposable cameras. I’ll wish I had at least some photos I think. Though we have our ID photos… yuck.
Back to our day…. We took the long way round finding the Musee D’Orsay, but it was 1:00 pm by that time and the line was very, very long. Bob asked if I really wanted to stand in line in the cold. It was up to me. But I knew we had other days to do that, so I chose to wait. Its only Friday and we have till next Friday here in Paris.
We got back on the bus and I suggested we look for a cyber café, Bob heartily agreed and was funny when I actually “found” one from the bus. Funny, because he said to me “good eyes, why didn’t you see it one stop sooner!!”
We wanted to check our emails at least once while in Paris and because we had no calls yesterday, Bob thought it would be good to check email today. This cyber café charged E4 per hour. After we took some time to answer our emails and got used to our Keyboards. Bob had one that was very different from mine.(and mine was a regular English one) and he at 2 different times in the midst of a reply, hit a key that lost his note completely!! But we were glad to have done that… He told me later that he thinks he gave the wrong phone # to his kids, and maybe I did too. So he wanted to send a correction out –( he did and got 2 calls that evening). (I didn’t, but really didn’t expect my kids to call anyway). We found our bus after that and we could ride home above ground. Bob liked that.
The next challenge was to find a restaurant for our dinner. We tried our little Italian place across the street but it wasn’t open. So we walked around “our street” to find a second choice. Interesting that our second choice was another Italian Restaurant where we had a pasta dish after their tomato salad. I thought mine was very good, Rigatoni with a tomato and bacon sauce. Bob of course had seafood sauce, but said he liked the other place better. We tried an Italian type beer that was wonderful though. I wish I could remember what it was called. Then we walked home about 7:00 and were happy to be back.
I sure crashed early, 9:00 maybe and slept till 7:00 which was what I needed. You know I was having such a good time seeing everything that I hadn’t realized how tired I was getting.
Saturday, December 27, 2003
I woke up refreshed, and ready for our Saturday in Paris. And the forecast is sunny or partly sunny for today and 47 degrees!! Bob said it would be a great day for Sacre Coeur and for the Eifel Tower.
Off we went after breakfast (small) for the Metro to go to Sacre Coeur and we did find it this time! Bob had been there before and we walked through the small neighborhood of Monmarte first, and then went to the artists square. It was fun to see the artists and their pieces of art, and how many have turned to sketches and caricatures, etc.
There were some wonderfully artistic impressions of Paris on small and medium sized canvasses and some on card like mediums. Some of them I liked enuf to buy, but had no idea how to get them home safely. So after we saw all the artists and art work, we walked over to the church. Mass was just ending – a large crowd was there on the ‘famous’ steps in front of the church. What a view of the city of Paris from there!!!
I did have some hint that this was the highest point of the city, but the view from the steps is absolutely unbelievable. We followed the crowd into the church and Bob sat in the back and waited for me. The high mass was still in process and there was a nun’s choir singing in harmony with one nun playing an electronic keyboard. What a sound they made in the huge old, old church. Then I walked all around the church, or the alter, with the other ‘visitors’. When I was finished, I walked to where Bob was sitting, he motioned me to sit in the empty pew there and we listened to the end of the mass and the nuns sang a hymn in French, just beautiful.
After it was all over, we walked outside, there were clouds that only let the sun peek through here and there, but the view was spectacular. Bob said we could walk down the steps to see if there were musicians (we had taken the Funicular up to the church). Bob told me that many well known artists and writers had lived in this area back in the 18th and 19th centuries. We walked down and down the steps from the church to the lower level and looked up at the church and watched a man playing the harp for a bit until he ended his musical piece.
Bob is good about giving coins to musicians on the streets and told me the story of the gentleman (well dressed) he met in Vienna who gave coins to a rock musician on the street. Bob just had to ask him why he gave coins to someone he knew played music the man didn’t enjoy. The man replied “if we don’t, we don’t encourage our street musicians, and then we will have none” (or something close to that)
We then fed the pigeons with our raisin breads from the other day and then walked down to the little village shops we had passed on our way up to the church. I did stop and get some postcards because they were only .20 euros and then I checked the “photo” books on Paris … 10 euros didn’t seem too bad to Bob either, so I bought one of them. And they had disposable cameras, so I bought one of those too.
I wanted to take a couple of photos of Sacre Coeur, though I have never used one of these disposable cameras, and I think I got the wrong kind. But I walked back up to the base of the steps and took a few photos before meeting Bob who had walked down to the Metro station where we agreed to meet.
We were on our way then to the Eifel Tower. Bob said it would be a good idea to have a little lunch now so we wouldn’t be too hungry at 7:00pm when we were meeting Laurie for dinner. So we ducked into a pizza place right near the metro and split a pizza and had some wine there. They had those small tables all along the wall, one right next to the other (they had to pull out the table so a person could sit against the wall).
We were only 2-3 blocks from the Eifel Tower, so we walked. Bob said he would see that I got to the ticket line then because it was only 2:00pm, we could agree on a place to meet at 4:00pm. He led me to the ticket line and said we would meet at the North leg at 4:00pm. I waited for about 40 minutes in line and finally got to the roped off area where the ticket booths were.
I looked up at the signs above the ticket counter to see how much this would cost. They said 3 euros – stairs. I didn’t pay too much attention since Bob had explained you could walk or ride the elevator. Well, it was a shock for me to find out that THIS leg was “Stairs Only”. Hmmm... Decision time… Wait another 40 minutes in the elevator line? Or walk up the Eifel Tower? I bought my ticket and decided I would try it. Worst case, walk back down!! Though I knew I was so stubborn, oh, excuse me, determined, that I knew I would do whatever it took to walk up at least to the first observation level. And though I was really breathless at most of the landings, I rested a few minutes reading the informational posters along the way, and….. I made it past the first and all the way to the second observation level!!
I did take a few photos from different places on each level, and thought about going to the 3rd level. Riding to the 3rd level! But the lines there were all around the observation level! And it was already 3:30 and I knew that Bob would be waiting for me, so I started the walk down the same stairs!! I had done something very demanding and very challenging and though my legs were pretty tired, I was anxious to tell Bob what my latest adventure had been.
I found him on a bench, and flopped down on the bench next to him and told him what happened… he just hugged me and said “Oh, poor Sally”. He told me he had found a bus that would take us home from there, but I asked if we could please just sit a minute before we left, and he said sure, no problem”.
But I knew he wanted to get home and rest a bit before we met Laurie, so we got up and walked to the bus and rode to what he thought was our street. It turned out it wasn’t, so we got off where we could get the 6B bus and walked the 2-3 blocks around the Pantheon and were home shortly after that. I absolutely crashed out for almost an hour and Bob teased that he thought he would have to tell Laurie that he “tried to wake me and get me up on my feet, but no luck!!” I told him, no way was I going to let a little thing like walking up the first two levels of the Eifel Tower at age 66, put me out of commission. We got a good laugh out of that.
So, we started getting ready to go meet Laurie for dinner. And we found out that the partly sunny day had just turned to a rainy evening. Umbrellas were all over the street as we sat and read and waited for Laurie to meet us at the Hotel. She arrived right at 7:30, like she said she would. All three of us were ready to have a nice relaxed dinner and visit, even if it lasted all evening. And we did, and it did.
Laurie recommended a very nice little restaurant that a friend of hers had written about in her book “Cheap Food –Paris” It was amazing to listen to Laurie read the menu for us (it was only in French) and order our wine and then later our appetizers and dinners. Which as an American in Paris (an ex-pat), she did very casually and competently. And the food was wonderful!!
We had salads, endive for Laurie and me, hers with blue cheese, and mine with beets. Bob had his pate with salad. And the entrees!! Bob had BOAR with 3 veggies, one was beets, then maybe sweet potatoes, three different colored veggies, orange, green and red. Laurie and I had the duck, and I wish I could remember the term she used for sliced on an angle, but the duck was superb! So delicious and moist, we had ordered it medium and it was nice and pink (dark) but our veggies were all potatoes!!! Deep fried, pan fried slices and augratin!! Funny. Laurie said what I was thinking… they could have put a bit of something green in that mix!!!
Laurie asked me a bit about me and my life, saying that she had asked Bob a bit about himself but she hadn’t asked anything about me. She was so refreshingly real and honest, maybe because she is at a somewhat difficult stage of her life. She is not working at a permanent type job and she wonders about her future and what will happen to her. Laurie is very bright and takes every opportunity to travel whenever she can. But when she is “home” in Paris she is alone with the cat and then has times of doubt over what will happen to her. She is not good with finances (she said that) and so is writing a book, or a series of short stores about women and money.
She was interested in my story because of that. And it got me thinking again of those days when I was divorced with five children and money was tight and the future wasn't as clear as I had wished. So, Laurie and I have our similarities and differences. But she was still curious about Bob too and questioned him too about his life and his life experiences. Bob, of course, was very at ease in discussing both and answered all her questions. She was fascinated not only about that but also his and Jane’s childrearing theories. Especially that children be raised as small adults, and as independent as possible so that they begin to make decisions for themselves as early as possible. I believe he said that they sat down with each child when the child was 12 years old. They talked about finances and school and the child’s plans in that area. So interesting too to see how his children turned out and hear him talk about how different they each are. Ok, back to Laurie, she is a writer and has had a portion of her story published. I’ll have to google her and I would like to keep in touch via email when I get back home.
Our bill was a bit more than any of us thought it would be at the end of our very enjoyable dinner. But what a delightful evening and though it was getting late we all hated to leave. Bob ordered another bottle of wine and we talked more till it was late enuf that Laurie would have to take 2 metros to get home (to the cat). So we paid the bill and walked her to the Odeon Metro station, which was several blocks from the hotel. But first we went back to the hotel to give Laurie the bottle of crème de cassis that we tried but was much too sweet for us. Turns out that it was black current liquor and a favorite of hers.
After we saw Laurie to the Metro we walked to the 63 bus, waited a while in the rain, but neither of us felt up to walking so we just waited. It was nice to get home though and to bed, my legs were going to be worse the next day but I had no idea how much worse.
Sunday, December 28, 2003
OUCH!! My lower legs are really sore today. My calves are killing me !! So I’m sitting in the lobby writing in my journal and Bob is out and about checking on a few things. We may change our plans and return to Vienna early. I’d really like to see Musee D’Orsay before I/we leave and that’s a problem because today I need to rest my legs and tomorrow its closed! Two more days here and two nights at the St. Jacques will be $$$$$$$ and we could save some by going back to Vienna. Something to think about. So we are at a decision point. If it weren’t for the Musee D’Orsey we would both be ready to go back.
Monday, December 29, 2003
We both rested yesterday and will take it easy today also. After breakfast we planned to go check to see if there was a cybercafe close by. I packed up a plastic bag of my white clothes and sure enuf right around the corner from the hotel we found both a Laundromat and a cyber café. Its sometimes tricky to manage such things when you don’t speak the language but both of the errands went very well.
I didn’t have any messages so I didn’t stay to write about my latest adventures. I had dropped my clothes into one of the wash machines as I went past on the way to the cyber café. It takes a full hour to wash a load of clothes here, like in Vienna, many washes and many rinse cycles in these front loaders, but I was pleased with how clean the clothes are. The dryer takes at least 20 minutes. I gave it 30. And by then Bob was finished with his emailing and waiting for me at the hotel. I put away my clothes as we planned our dinner. It would be our second last dinner in Paris and we decided to pick someplace special.
Not too far away was Rue Mouffetard Bob told me and he asked if my legs could take some walking. There were some nice restaurants in that neighborhood. We did walk about 6-8 blocks away, but saw many, many nice places, we just needed to decide what we wanted to eat. Both of us wanted someplace a little different (again). We had done Italian, Tibetan, French so when we found a cute little Greek place we tried it. It's name was.. "Bacchus!" It turned out to be wonderful, we had two different salads and two main entrées and we shared them. Nice to relax over dinner. It was only 7:00pm and Bob said we should have one more cognac before we leave Paris, so we went back to the little Brasserie across the street from the hotel and had our last (my second ever!) cognac in Paris while we talked about our trip and how much we had been able to do. The only thing left is Musee D’Orsay and Bob had us take a bus ride earlier, on Sunday maybe, to find the best way for me to find it. He had seen the museum and would be staying back at the hotel. But I was more than willing to take off on the adventure.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Our last day in Paris and I wanted to be packed early after I showered and dressed. I wanted to leave right after breakfast for the museum. I got my day bag and the bus tickets that Bob had gotten for us (2 each) for our last day. We didn’t really know how many we would need. And Bob also wrote out my directions and the bus #’s.
About 9:00am I was on my way.. on another adventure in Paris!! When I got to the bus stop I didn’t have long to wait and I sat back just sure I would be getting off at D’Orsay. Well, it turned out not to be quite that easy. I passed what would have been the best bus stop for me though it wasn’t marked D’Orsay. Now the bus has to cross the Seine and come back to be at the right stop!!! Darn….. forgot about the bus stops sometimes not matching on both sides of the street! That meant the line would be even longer when I got there for my ticket. Plan B - check the stops and grab one that would let me go back on a matching bus across the street (matching bus stops on both side of the street) I did it and was there by 9:45. With what would be an hours wait in the cold to get to the ticket door. By then I was frozen and tired too, but determined to see at least part of the museum.
After getting my ticket and finally getting inside I sat down on a wall and read the map for a bit to make my plan. Looking at the map of the museum I could see that I’d best start at the top level. It almost wiped out my legs just walking up to that top level as they were still sore from the Eiffel Tower climb. But I did get to see pretty much of the museum before my legs gave out. Then I walked down the four flights of stairs slowly and looking at some of the exhibits on the way down. Found a place to sit and rest for a little while to rest up for the walk to the bus stop. It was a little past noon and I had two busses to catch to get back to the hotel. Bob and I had planned to eat something before we left for the train at 5:30 pm. My way back worked pretty much the same way. Missed my stop and had to ask the driver for help. But he was nice enough to point me in the right direction and I found my way to Bus 63 and back to the hotel by 1:00pm.
Bob looked happy (or was it relieved) to see me. We again wanted to find a special place for our last dinner in Paris. So we walked around in the same area as before and found a very nice little French Restaurant where we had salad, beef stroganoff and wine! It was wonderful, and the nice surprise was the slices of fried potatoes they served with it.
After we ate it was time to pay the bill and walk back to the hotel for our bags. Ooops. They didn’t take MCard. So between the two of us we spent our last euros. But we were happy to find that we did have enuf to give the waiter a nice tip. Whew!!
Ok, off to hotel for our bags and then to the train station. Oh and we needed to walk 3-4 blocks to the UBahn station that had the fewest sets of stairs, so my legs were ‘sorely’ tested again !!
Got to the train station alright, walked about 3-4 blocks looking for an ATM with no success. We really hated to not have any euros at all on our trip home. So Bob asked at the information desk and it turns out that the closest ATM is at the Post Office…the instructions given him were: “go out to the main corridor and cruise to the right till you find the Post office”. We walked and walked through the station for at least 2 more blocks and when we looked ahead … outside and across the street was the Post Office!! Bob found a bench and I waited with the bags while he walked across the street to the Post Office for some euros.
It was only 5:00pm by then, so we tried to look for our gate #. And when we found the train to Vienna listed we realized there were four possibilities. But it was another 20 minutes before they posted our gate #. Finally we found the gate and the train and our compartment. Sitting there was a young girl and her brother. She could speak a little English but her brother could not. We were tired and ready to climb up to our bunks by 7:00pm, knowing that the young people couldn’t have known what kind of a day it was for us.
Even with the stops, starts, bumps and turns, I slept this time, better than that first train ride. And next morning we actually had breakfast! 2 Semel rolls, with tea for me, and coffee for Bob.
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
We got to Vienna about 8:30am, right on time actually and we just took our time getting our bags and getting our coats on. We went first to the Ubahn station and rode out to the Pension Schonbrunn to see if they had a room. Bob tried to call but could not get through. I suggested an email but he said it wouldn’t be a problem. So I was the only one that was NOT surprised to hear that they had NO ROOMS IN THE INN.
Bob told me not to get upset, that there was an office in town for tourist information. And they would find rooms for anyone needing one. He had used them often. And in fact this trip was the ONLY trip he had ever taken where he had prior reservations for a place to stay.
We left our bags with the nice young man at the Pension, and we walked back to the Ubahn to find the information office downtown. It was chilly, raining and it was New Years Eve!
The man at the counter was very professional with us. He said there was only one room left under 100 euros. We said we would take it. He faxed the info and charged us the usual 3 euros for the finders fee. But I was instantly relieved that we had a room for the night. We could come back to stay at the Pension Schnonbrunn until we left for home, but not for the next two nights. They were totally full for those nights.
So we walked down the ring and noticed that there were a lot of booths being set up, even in the rain! And it was starting to rain harder. Some of the booths had plastic sheets covering them. And there were people walking around under umbrellas. We, of course had no umbrella, and neither of us would use one if we had one anyway! But we did duck under some covers at places here and there until we both thought it would be best to find our new “hotel” now and maybe come back later to the New Years festivities.
Wouldn’t you know it the ‘new hotel’ was in a part of town that Bob was not familiar with at all! Though once we got there he realized it was on the way to the cemetery, the very famous Vienna Cemetery. So we got off the Ubahn and started walking again – in the rain – to find first the street the hotel was on, and then the number…. And wouldn’t you know it? We needed #120 and we were at # 10. So, we walked, the long, long way in the rain to find our hotel. We did find the #120 and it was a hotel/restaurant.
We walked in and some folks were just leaving with their bags, and we stepped aside and waited for them to say goodbye and thanks. It was a charming little place, and we were cold, wet and tired. The owner told us to sit down and though our coats were all wet, we found a table and sat down. Collapsed, in my case. Thank goodness for Tylenol! It was right then that the owners mother walked over with two cups of punsch for us. Hot punsch! It was delicious. I was thawing out!
The owner, George, was ‘a trip’. He came over and sat down at our table and started to fill out the registration slip. He asked Bob what he did and that’s when we found out that “George” was a fan of Popper, A famous Philosopher that Bob also knew quite well. The discussion after that was all about Philosophy as he continued to fill out the form. He told me at one point that all he needed was my first name because it was immensely easier to use the man’s last name. The funniest though, was when he said he would then ask Bob my DOB!! Which, of course, Bob didn’t know. And when I told him he looked so surprised, seems our birthdays are just two weeks apart.
We got our key and George said to follow him if we were ready to go see our room. He led us back outside! And down ½ a block to the door of the hotel. A first for me.
Our room was large, 3 twin beds, a desk, 2 dressers, 2 chairs and a chifferobe! And thank goodness WC and a shower! So, Bob said he would leave me there and would be back. He said he needed to go shopping for wine and a bit of food. We knew that tomorrow was New Years Day and we had no idea what, if anything would be open/closed. Walking to the hotel we could see that stores in that neighborhood were already closing.
Bob brought back the food and wine for our New Years Eve. He told me to just rest and he would be back. He wanted to go back to the information office … he had left his gloves there. I laid down on one of the beds and rested, didn’t even get up until he came back, without his gloves, but WITH our suitcases! What a dear man! It was still cold and rainy outside, and he had gone all the way to the Pension after finding his gloves downtown and brought both of our wheely bags on the Ubahn and down the street to the hotel.
We talked about what we wanted to do next. We decided that since we were hungry we would eat something, Bob had gotton sandwich makings and wine. Then we had clean clothes so we showered and changed. And after that we felt more like going back to see what the festivities were at the ring. It was very curious because lots of signs mentioned Sylvester. Sylvester Eve. In Vienna it turns out that New Years Eve is Sylvester Eve! At that point we (not even Bob) knew nothingabout Sylvester or why we kept seeing little pigs everywhere. Small ones, middle sized ones and large ones. In baskets, on tables, everywhere!
When we did go out, we found that the # 6 Strassenbahn went wherever we needed to go and we didn’t have to walk back to the Ubahn station. And we could get the #6 right in front of our hotel! Great news. I could read the Vienna Bus map much better than I could the Paris bus map,so I was able to tell Bob that it went right to the Margareta Girtel. And in fact that’s how he went to the Pension.
So, we rode around and got off at the Graben. Found that all the booths were connected to the stores there though the stores were closed, the booths were “open”. We started to look for punsch. Bob wanted the jaegerpunsch, but we didn’t see it anywhere. And it just kept raining and raining which made it tricky to walk around dodging the umbrellas with the pointy spokes. We just kept walking and looking at the lights and ended up at the Hofberg Court/Palace, and Bob explained that back when the Hofbergs ruled, they ruled a very, very large part of the world. We were getting farther away from the festivities and so decided to catch a ride on the bus and see what was happening at the Rathous.
So we hopped onto another strassenbahn and rode past the Rathaus to see what was there… Kristkindl? Sylvester? But we were getting hungry too. Not sure where we were at that point, but Bob saw a restaurant that he knew of, hadn’t eaten there, but we tried it. They had a deer special, which really caught his eye. And it was excellent! Deer meat fixed as only the Viennese can, with a large dumpling and a nice cranberry like sauce. But because it was so cold and rainy and we were hungry we first had a bowl of goulash… oh and it tasted so good!!
We really enjoyed our New Years Eve in Vienna, rain or not. And that special New Years Dinner! We had no idea though that the restaurant closed at 7:00pm until Bob tried to order a schnapps for us. No problem, Bob just got us back on the bus and to a coffee house that wasn’t exactly one of his favorites, but was one we will always remember because it was in need of a scrubbing. I think Bob said it had just changed hands and the managers were new though the waiters weren’t. They still wore the tuxedo’s but it was so strange to see them standing there smoking while they weren’t busy waiting on the customers.
We had our Merillan schnapps, and noted that it just wasn’t as good as the Merillan at Garasdorf. And we vowed to go back and try to find a bottle (or two) to bring back home with us. We decided on Friday. And then the Naschmart on Saturday? Friday we knew we needed, or Bob said we needed, to have our tickets confirmed and maybe even get our boarding passes.
After we enjoyed our schnapps, we decided we would just go back to the hotel and find something on TV about New Years Eve, and that’s what we did. First was a show unlike any in the U.S. It was wall to wall entertainment with not one commercial! And there was an MC who just was amazing; laughing, joking, singing and introducing act after act in different places in Austria. One was Garmisch (sounded similar to the town where Donald was stationed in Germany in the 50’s, where he had enjoyed their Gasthauses). Somehow Bob and I stayed awake till Midnight, told each other Happy New Year and crashed, sleeping until 8:30 the next morning.
Sally Ryan Sharamitaro sally@sharamitaro.com