Paris in the Spring 2025

Friday, April 18 is our last day in Paris.  We leave tomorrow morning for home, and wanted a low key ending to our month here.  That's what we got.   It started for me with a wonderful croissant from Bo & Mei, the corner patisserie that Aaron has frequented for breakfast for the family while he's here.  Cheryl opted for a chia compote and raspberry dish at Eric Kayser down the street where we've had breakfast a few times while here.  Just before we left to go there, Aaron, Melissa, and Chloe left for parts unknown . . . I know they wanted to go to the Musee d'Orsay but were having trouble with getting tickets.  We'll know when they return home this afternoon, as Cheryl and I beat them back to the apartment. Cheryl and I really had only two things on our agenda: a visit to the Oval Room at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (the French national library) just down the street on rue Vivienne, and a walk along the Seine.  In between we went to a...

Fifty miles west of Paris lies Giverny in the Normandy region of France, Oscar Claude Monet's home from 1883 to 1926.  Monet was, of course, a famous French painter and a key figure in the initially scorned impressionist movement.  Impressionism centered on the ability to capture light and atmosphere in landscapes.  One of his most well known paintings in that vein is "Water Lilies". As beautiful as that work and his many others are, Monet was reportedly not a very nice guy.  The locals disliked him as he gained fame and money because he used it on self-centered projects like diverting the local lake (used for drinking water) for his own purposes, and re-routing the railroad so it made less noise on his estate. Today we took the RER (French railroad) for about 75 minutes from the northwest part of Paris to Giverny to see his home and beautiful gardens.  Although the village of Giverny has existed since the fourth century, it was Monet who brought it to fame....

Today, 4/16, was our trip to Versailles, a mere 10 miles from the city center of Paris, but a universe away from what we've been seeing.  It was here in 2009 when Cheryl and I felt like the French wealth surpassed that of England, only to adjust our thinking on a subsequent trip to Russia whose palaces seemed to be the grandest and most opulent display of wealth we've ever seen. Versailles Palace is one spectacular show of wealth, the former royal residence as commissioned by Louis XIV (the "Sun King").  Initially it was a hunting lodge built by his grandfather, Louis XIII.  It underwent extensive construction and expansion from 1661 to 1715, turning the chateau into a sprawling and opulent royal residence featuring 2,300 rooms. In particular, he added the famous Hall of Mirrors and stunning gardens and grounds that are 4x the size of Monaco! To get there, we took the metro down to the meeting point for The Tour Guy, the Sainte-Trinite Cathedral, a beautiful Russian O...

T After our late night at Montparnasse, we were a bit slow getting started today but managed to get out by 10:00 a.m. or so, and headed to the Musee de la Liberation de Paris.  It covers Paris from its capture by the Nazis in 1940 to its liberation (by the Americans) in 1944, and does a wonderful job of explaining the split between the true patriots led by DeGaulle and the Vichy government (headed by WWI hero Phillipe Petain).  While the story of German General Dietrich von Scholtitz ignoring Hitler's orders to burn Paris to the ground is well known, what was certainly unknown to me was the intervening years in Paris between its capture by the Nazis and their eventual leaving as forced by the American army. The site of this quiet museum is also the singular remaining bomb shelter and resistance headquarters left in Paris.  It had been ransacked by looters after the war but painstakingly restored by the French government in 2019 to show what life was like.   It ...

I woke up on a beautiful Monday morning feeling as good as I have this entire trip.  Thank you Lord for big favors to this small person.  Several espressos during the day kept the fire burning brightly.  I didn't think I'd rival Jeff's record of walking 90 miles in one week, but certainly felt fine and eager to get moving.  Before the day would end, Aaron, Melissa, and Chloe would do an impressive 7+ miles while Cheryl and I logged in at about 3.5 - still the most for me in at least a week.  Like James Brown said, "Huh! I feel good!". Cheryl and I ventured out about 10:00 a.m. and headed for breakfast at the nearby Eric Kayser location where she had a berry and chia yogurt while I had a quasi-breakfast sandwich with salmon and egg.  Both were delicious and we plotted our route to the Arc de Triomphe on the metro and set off! Twenty minutes later we emerged from the metro station on Champs Elysees and, voila, there it was in front of us.  And, what a ma...

Cheryl and I basically took Sunday, 4/13, off.  As you know, Sunday is often considered a day of rest, particularly in Christian tradition, as it marks the day of Jesus' resurrection and is seen as a continuation of the Sabbath, a day of rest and worship in Judaism.  In my family, we've got both bases covered proudly.  It was also Jenny, Dave, and the girls' last day here and they left about 2:30 in the afternoon to catch their train back to Nottingham.  Cheryl was, understandably, blue after they left so we spent the afternoon doing what we do best in a typical afternoon - napping.   Before they left, Aaron, Melissa, and Chloe took the girls to get pastries that morning at a nearby patisserie, and then left (sans girls, of course) to go to the Trocadero where they walked around and had a first viewing of the Eiffel Tower as it popped into view from behind a building - a shocking surprise as he described it.  And, soon to follow they saw the Paris Mara...