Paris Tour

See our preceding 2 week Ireland Trip.

05/26, Saturday, Dublin to Paris

Although a little overcast, the Aer Lingus flight was smooth, lasting only about an hour and a half. We were served a sandwich and cookie and a red and white wine, both South African similar to what we have seen all over Ireland.

After landing and getting our bags, there was a Far and Wide representative (and his girl friend!) waiting with a sign. He loaded our bags into a van and drove us the half hour or so to our hotel. They were both very friendly, pointing out a few of the prominent Paris sights on the way. There didn't seem to be much traffic for a big city, and later we found out that there was a holiday on Thursday and people are out of town for the long weekend. Oh well, we hope to be at the Normandy Beaches and Rouen on Monday. Interesting features on many of France's high-speed roads are electronically updated signs that tell how long it will take to various destinations. We figure that is so you can call ahead on your cell phone, as virtually everybody has and uses them!

We are at the Meridian Montparnasse right by the Montparnasse train station, and the 59-story Montparnasse Tower in central Paris but a way from the Seine, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, etc. However, there are plenty of interesting things everywhere in Paris, and with the wonderful Métro (subway) system, you can't really have a bad location. This is the same hotel that we were to stay at in 1986, called the Park Montparnasse then, but were moved because of a bomb scare. At the hotel, we were greeted by our guide, Olivier (as in Sir Laurence, he said), were given a couple of maps of France, told that there would be a 5:30 meeting with the others, and went up to our big room- big at least by European standards. The room is very nice, but the adjacent room had frequent visitors and there were many door knocks that seemed to be for us, and it was upsetting until we got used to it! We had a hard time finding the meeting in one of the nooks in the bar area with the three other couples on the trip, from Seattle, Wisconsin, and South Carolina. All had a complementary glass of wine while Olivier explained what will happen, primarily with the optional trips listed in a booklet with an outside tour company this time since we are such a small group.

We went out and found an internet cafe and read our E-mail. There are a lot of restaurants nearby and we looked at a number of them. The menus are posted outside of course and after looking at about 10 or so, quite a few of them Ethnic- Italian, Far Eastern, North African, etc., we went in Le Bec Rouge. It was Alsacean, both in menu and wine list and both of us had very nice dishes, both served with a mountain of sauerkraut and an Alsacean wine. Clay had ordered a Pinot Blanc, probably the most common in Alsace, and the server started to pour a Pinot Noir! Of course being wine experts, we could instantly tell the difference and she was quickly stopped and we got the proper bottle, which wouldn't have happened if we had been presented the wine before it was opened! Anyway we saw others with Pinot Noirs and we ordered a half carafe of it later, so it surely didn't go to waste!

Now it is about 10:30 as we delayed dinner to conform to the normal eating time, everyone eats late here as in most European Countries. We trekked back to the hotel very tired, even though it seemed that we didn't do that much, flying over only one time zone!

05/27, Sunday, Paris

We were up a little early for breakfast as we have to meet Olivier at 8:00 for the city tour with the other three couples. Breakfast was in the hotel in an immense dining room and the tickets say "Full American Breakfast", but we suspect that most people's tickets said "Full Japanese Breakfast!" There were a lot of Japanese until toward the end of the week, as there was some kind of function. Anyway it was very good with all the usual hot and cold stuff, with about a dozen cheeses, including Brie!

We left for the tour on time and being Sunday, the traffic was light. Olivier did a good job taking us by the usual churches, government buildings, and shopping areas. We saw the Panthéon, St. Sulpice, and made our first stop at Notre Dame, which hasn't aged a bit, we had forgotten how striking it is. It was crowded with tourists as it probably always is, and it's a good thing we got there when we did. Olivier gave us a short talk out front and said to meet him back there in 45 minutes. We went inside, but they keep you on the right side only with a bullpen fence- we had free rein in 1986. Pat heard praying in the back of the church, and with a sign indicating "Service in Progress", whispered to Clay, "I'll meet you back there", went in and attended most of the mass.

Back on the bus, we rode along the Seine and the Louvre and past the magnificent Opera House, up the Champs Élysées to the Arc De Triomphe. We also made stops at the Place Du Trocadéro, on the right bank across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, and back on the left bank in front of the Military School, giving a great view of the Eiffel Tower from both sides. One final stop in the front of Hôtel des Invalides, originally a military hospital, but now a museum and of course the location of Napoleon's Tomb, gave a great view of its Church of the Dome, the second tallest monument in Paris with its golden top shining in the bright sunlight.

We got back at the hotel about 11:30, which was a little earlier than we expected, and was great as we had reservations at La Tour d'Argent for 12:30. So although we went on the city tour dressed for the restaurant in case we were pressed for time, we went up to the room to get ready. We decided to take a taxi since it was warm and we didn't want to get sweaty, and the Métro involved a couple of line changes. Our driver went slow (for a major European city taxi), and we got there in plenty of time, so we walked in the La Tour d'Argent gift store next door. When we came out, we putzed around still not wanting to be too early, and the doorman probably noticed us obviously dressed up, so we went in. They showed us to a parlor and we had a Champagne Kir Aperitif and hors d'ouevres while perusing the "museé" with its many photos, cards, and autographs from famous people, including Princess Grace and her children from Monaco, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Woody Allen. There was another couple having an aperitif also, and some other underdressed parties came in, a tee shirt and an unbuttoned and untucked dress shirt over a tee shirt and a woman in jeans. Geez, we were surprised that they would even let them in, and guess it is only because it was Lunch and not Dinner.

After we finished our drinks, we were taken in an elevator to the dining room upstairs and a table with a red carnation arrangement for Pat with a magnificent view of the Seine, Notre Dame, and the right bank, a far better than average table. We were escorted every step of the way, each person presenting us, and an accompanying note, to the next. A menu arrived, all in French of course and it had a prix fixe insert. There are still a few choices to make even with that, but we heard that the waiters there like to give recommendations, so we went for that. He starts making heavily accented suggestions for the three courses at a rapid pace, and we said "well, OK!" and "of course we would need a bottle of wine to go with it." The sommelier appeared with a wine list three times the size of the Paris Phone book and didn't seem to want to give it up. Of course, we didn't want him to either, and we asked for a recommendation there also. He knew what food we were having and he suggested a 1985 Volnay, and when Clay hesitated momentarily looking at the price, he flipped the pages to a 1985 Drouhin Beaune-Greves at a little under $100. Slightly intimidated now, Clay said "oui", or maybe it was "Gulp!" The sommelier tasted the wine before letting Clay do the same, which is impressive, but it seems that after he implies that it is OK, who would we be to say it is not! The wine glasses were thin and large with very thin stems and the restaurant's logo, and they kept them properly filled until the bottle disappeared.

Another plate of hors d'ouevres arrived with some dark bread and a roll. We would have bet the appetizer was a soufflé, but it was a custard-smooth seafood puree with a white buerre blanc sauce, delicious and a lot of it, whatever it was! Their specialty is duck, and that is what the entree was, with a breast and leg done perfectly in a brown plum sauce with two potato cakes. The bill stated that it was "Caneton Roti a L'Orange", and we were given postcards with the same serial number- do they do a lot of duck or what? We had always heard and experienced French restaurants giving you a big plate with little food but here portions were sizeable, and this was only lunch!

We read that the owner, Claude Terrail comes around and sees how you are doing, and he did, in his lime-green suit with a federal blue shirt, complementing us on our French (heh), and wishing us well. We had also read that during world war II, he bricked a false wall in the wine cellar to save the best bottles from the Nazis. It is possible to tour the wine cellar, but not at lunch, we were told. Dessert was a layered pastry with strawberries, raspberries, and whipped cream in a raspberry sauce. A request for two house Sauternes brought the sommelier again, and we repeated the request to him. We got a couple of nice sized rather ordinary glasses here, but again with the logo of the restaurant on them. A plate of small filled cookies appeared that at this stage went mostly untouched. Coffee and tea were declined and were promptly brought our $280 bill, about what we had expected, truly a dining experience. During a re-visit to the adjacent gift store, we bought a couple of bottles of wine with the restaurant's label.

It was quite warm, and we walked along the pathway down by the Seine viewing Notre Dame again and decided to take one of the many sightseeing cruises available. The one-hour narrated (French first, then English) cruise took us from Notre Dame up river just past the Île St. Louis and back down the other side of that and the Île de la Cité, (Island of the City) where Paris started and Notre Dame is located. We continued down river past the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay, Place de la Concorde, and just past the Bridge by the Eiffel Tower. The boat then turned upstream again and headed back to the starting point adjacent to Notre Dame.

At this point we weren't much closer to our hotel than we were at the restaurant, but we decided to walk off the big lunch and stopped to have a beer (Clay's had to be French!) as we were getting very tired. Most of the European trips we have taken have been in the fall, and the weather has been much cooler, but here it was very warm and we made it back to the hotel but we were both really beat, it was a busy day! Olivier called and said that the Normandy tour we requested was not available, but we got in on a Chartres & Versailles trip and a combination dinner and Moulin Rouge show. We thought we might go out for something light to eat, but we were very tired and not that hungry, so we turned in early.

05/28 Monday, Paris

We had a pretty good night's sleep with all that walking and Pat getting over a mild cold, and breakfast was the same in the hotel. Since we couldn't get the Normandy trip today, we will try to take one of the Seine dinner cruises. There are two brochures offering what appears to be the same three levels of meals, one without transportation from and back to the hotel, and one with. The one without is about $95 cheaper for the most expensive of the three seating types for the two of us which is the one we will get. We figure that the money saved will more than cover two taxi fares and then some, so we'll see.

We decided to take the Métro to Montmarte, a contradiction in life styles with its infamous red light district, and the gleaming white Basilica of Sacré-Coeur. There are many Métro lines, and it can seem confusing, but if you can get where you want to with a single line and not have to change underground, with a little walking it is real easy. We were able to do just that with about a dozen short stops from the Montparnasse Bienvenüe station near our hotel to Pigalle station in the heart of Montmarte, about 5 miles away. Once getting oriented at Place Pigalle, we started toward Sacré-Coeur, and it was a steep climb for a few blocks. We found the bottom of the Funicular and rode up, but we still had a pretty good climb, you can see why they built a church here.

Sacré-Coeur is very striking and new by Paris standards, with construction started in 1873 and used since 1885, but not consecrated until 1919. Admission was free of course, and we went in and admired the architecture and stained glass. Outside, there is an entrance (with fee) to the dome and crypt, so we started climbing the 329 stairs (we counted 'em on the way down!) with a roof walkway halfway up providing a breather. It is still quite a climb, most of it via slightly-lighted circular staircases, and halfway up we didn't think that this was such a great idea, but the view of Paris is spectacular, even on a somewhat hazy day. All the Paris landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Montparnasse tower near our hotel were visible. The crypt below is typical with statues of saints and many chapels, with the center being occupied by a church within a church, the Chapel of the Pieta, with an appropriate marble sculpture at the altar and simple seating for a small congregation.

Walking around outside the church still on the hill, we found many souvenir stands, portrait painters, cafés, and tourists. It is a delightful area and we stopped and had beers outside (it is still quite warm) with a cellist playing Ave Maria (very well, it seemed to us) for coins on the corner. After that, we started down to Clichy Boulevard, the main Montmarte street to see the Moulin Rouge and all the stores and shops that cater to the seamier side of life! It's only about a dozen small blocks from the top of the hill with Sacré-Coeur and the delightful cafés and shops, but what a difference! It was time for lunch and we were looking, but being in such a neighborhood although during the day it appears perfectly safe, we still decided to get back on the Métro and have lunch around our hotel.

Back at Montparnasse, we looked for a place to eat, but it had to be in the shade! We decided on Restaurant Hartel with its open sides and we were almost outside! The waitress was very nice bringing English menus after we were seated, but we had already made up our minds, it was going to be Moules et Frites- Mussels and Fries! They didn't have the Sancerre we ordered, but were offered a Cassis from Provence, highly thought of for seafood, she said. the Cassis was slightly cheaper anyway and very good with the Moules being done Provencal- steamed with onions, about 3 dozen small ones, maybe the best we've ever had, and that includes Brussels in 1995, but of course you have to factor in the moment!

After lunch, we went to an Internet cafe, Clay deleted a few junk E-mails, and headed back to the hotel. Pat reviewed her 100 or so, cleaned out the junk, answered a few, and instant messaged for a while, left and bought another disposable camera and went back to the hotel to rest up for the dinner cruise. Olivier called and expressed his disappointment at not being able to get us a trip to the Normandy beaches. After looking at the brochure, we called him back and asked if he could get us in for a Champagne country tour for Thursday. We will see him tomorrow morning before our Chartres - Versailles tour and find out.

We got dressed up and headed out to get a taxi to the Seine at the Eiffel Tower for the dinner cruise. This taxi driver was a little more aggressive, and again we were there plenty early, got our boarding pass and asked what the premium seating that we paid for was comprised of, and were told that we were in the front of the boat, got better food, and better (and more) wine. Ahhh OK, two out of three aren't bad! We then looked for a place to get a drink before it was time, but no luck- so we just found a place in the shade to sit before boarding.

We arrived back at the boat just as they were starting to board, and we were led to a table in the bow, but just in front of the next lower priced tables. We had a lot more room, and it was fine, but we noticed that at a couple of tables in front of us, three couples were seated one after the other, and each time they raised their hands and were placed further up front! We asked the hostess and she said something about being next to smokers. We didn't buy it but our table was fine, it's just the front of the bus syndrome! The visibility was great out of both sides during the entire cruise and the food was spectacular. There were three courses with hors d'ouevres and little cookies and a Champagne (it looked like it was from Alsace and was not as cold as it should have been), a bottle of Sancerre (also not as cold as it should have been), a bottle of Medoc, and an after dinner drink (Port for Clay and Cointreau on the Rocks for Pat)!

There was a keyboardist and a strolling violinist and female singer that were very good. Clay thought that they were putting the spotlight on him every once in a while, but he finally noticed that it was for the singer right behind him. The cruise was spread over a leisurely three hours, starting upstream past Notre Dame and going two bridges further than the hour cruise yesterday while it was still light, with a lady explaining the buildings in first French and then English. The cheap seats didn't have this feature. After turning downstream it got darker, and it was dark as we went past the Eiffel Tower and the Nikko hotel that we stayed at in 1986, did three circles at the little Statue of Liberty on the island in the middle of the Seine while they played New York, New York! Sheesh, we would have preferred something French, La Marseillaise for example! The brightly-lit Eiffel Tower is the Paris sight of course, and it is very prominent on any Seine cruise and even more spectacular at night, we thought we saw it blown up on TV during the New Year millennium show a year and a half ago! We did notice almost half of the men did not have jackets and ties as the instructions said was mandatory, a chink in their armor. All in all, the entire experience was very good. After we docked, we climbed up the stairway to just in front of the Eiffel Tower to get a taxi, and since the two taxi rides came to about $15 total with a little extra tip and saved the van hotel-hopping time, we were glad we chose not to have the hotel pickup.

05/29 Tuesday, Paris

Olivier was down in the lobby early today to help us with our trips and he said that we were signed up for a trip to the Champagne country on Thursday, and that he would see us off on our trip to Chartres and Versailles today. Two of the other couples were just going to Versailles, so he took us all outside to find the shuttle van. He found the van but not the driver, so we waited a while and then piled into the van. The only problem was that this van was for people going on the Versailles only tour! So we got out and by then, there was another van with six people already in it, and this was the Chartres/Versailles tour ready to head out to Chartres right from there! Serge was our driver, originally from the Netherlands and has lived in France for 6 years and did a great job with just the right amount of commentary and making all the right connections. Finally, we got on the road and going opposite the rush hour traffic, we made good time. It took only an hour or so to a stop in a Japanese Garden park on the outskirts of Chartres for a photo of the Cathedral from afar. We had some great people, a College Professor Bill, his wife and their two children, and another couple, Ron and Sherril, and we got along famously.

Serge parked the 8-passenger van on the street adjacent to the Cathedral and took us to the front plaza for a brief talk. It is a magnificent Gothic structure, and was the first to use flying buttresses that provides more light inside (well, that idea sure caught on!) It is the third largest in the world after St. Peter's in Rome and Canterbury in Kent, England, and was built in the 12th century on the site of previous cathedrals, maybe even old Druidic places of worship, and is also somewhat unusual in that it has two gigantic towers, dissimilar because of the many fires and subsequent rebuilding. We went inside and saw the choir screen, 40 niches containing scenes of the Madonna and Christ, and the labyrinth-patterned floor where pilgrims walk on their knees to get to the center. The Virgin (and child) of the Pillar from the 14th century, carved in black wood reminds one of the black Madonna in Czestochowa, Poland.

It is the veil of the Virgin Mary that has made the place a shrine drawing many people to the small town, but the stained glass windows are unbelievably striking. Removed during both World Wars for safe keeping, they are unique with their "Chartres blue" being the dominant color.

We decided to skip the crypt trip (!) to stroll around the delightful little town, with its unique structural timbered houses, and we sat down at a café in the shade for a drink before meeting Serge and the others back at the van. The group was back on time and Serge drove us a short distance still in Chartres, to Le Moulin de Ponceau, a restaurant that was a former mill for a nice lunch with red Bordeaux Superieur wine. Serge was going to eat at a separate table, but was persuaded to sit with us and joined in the conversation.
     
Back on the road for an hour or so brought us to Versailles, a now good-sized town that has grown out to meet its famous palace. Serge was able to park reasonably close and we followed him to the entrance. We were all given tickets and a hand-held recorder providing commentary as we walked through 20 or so rooms. Maybe we expected too much, after regretting our decision in 1986 to forgo a trip here, and it was a little bit of a let down. It is all very luxurious with paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and furnishings, and is at least as grand as its reputation! A big downside was the number of (sheesh) tourists, but we got a pretty good overview as the recording described each room's use. It was a surfeit of splendor, with the long Hall Of Mirrors standing out above the others of course, and being worth the visit alone.

We met Serge outside, turned in our recorders, and he took us around the outside of the palace to admire the 250 acres of gardens on three sides of the palace. It took 50 years to transform a simple hunting lodge using tens of thousands of workers to create the opulent palace and the gardens with its 1400 fountains, everything done to excess. We exited through the cobblestoned courtyard with its statue of Louis XIV and stopped at the gift shop/bar on the way back to the van for a beer and rest rooms (a one franc charge for non-patrons).

The ride back was not too bad with us again going opposite the rush hour traffic. We crashed in the hotel for a while and wandered over to the Tour Montparnasse, a 59-story office tower built in 1973 and intended to be one of three, but when it was seen to clash with everything Parisian, plans for the other two were scrapped. Anyway, it provides a great reference point for us from almost anywhere in Paris. We paid the $7 apiece fee to go to the internal observation deck on the 56th floor, ascended the 3 more floors by stairs, and took in all the Paris landmarks from both levels. The glassed-in 56th level only goes around about 3/4 of the way around the building, whereas at the 59th level, you are on the roof with its helicopter pad, and a great 360 degree view of the city.

We were combining the sightseeing with dinner, and finally found the Ciel de Paris (ceiling of Paris!) restaurant in the other 1/4 of the 56th floor, since it had opened during the time we were looking out on the landscape. It is the highest restaurant in Paris, and we went in, with no reservations of course but still got a nice table for two an aisle away from the window looking directly at the Eiffel Tower. It was a pretty good meal with a Champagne aperitif, a bottle of Muscadet to go with our Sea Breams, a delicious fish (in English) that we had never heard of. A small problem- they placed the wine bucket far away, and half the time we had to request a pour- it was if they never heard the expression "A wine glass should never be full nor empty!" Pat had an Irish coffee to go with her dessert, and Clay's request for a glass of the house red was initially forgotten as he got his plate of cheeses. As it got dark, the Eiffel Tower came alive with its flashing lights along with the rest of Paris lighting up. It was spectacular, at a price of course, but it was worth it with the view! After dinner we revisited the 56th floor observation platform and had another look at the same sights in the dark. Back to the hotel for the night- marvelous!

05/30 Wednesday, Paris

The pace up to here has been somewhat hectic, and it was a little later today before we got going, as this is a free day with the dinner and Moulin Rouge trip tonight, so we are headed to the Île de la Cité in the middle of the Seine. The first random sighting was the entrance to the Montparnasse Cemetery and we just had a short look inside, not finding anything of interest, nor anything foreboding as in New Orleans' cemeteries! We then came across an open air market and admired the variety of meats, vegetables, fish, cheeses, shoes, clothes, many of the things that you would buy frequently, and some not so frequently like rugs! We are taking a route through the Jardin du Luxembourg, a sizeable garden/park, with strollers, children playing, fountains, sculptures, lots of flowers and grass, and not many tourists. There is a Rodin exhibit in town for a month or so, and they had a few of his sculptures near the palace, and that is enough culture for us!
                 
We walked through the Latin Quarter with all its wonderful restaurants and book stores. Continuing on across the South part of the Seine to the Île de la Cité, we stopped at a café for a drink just across the street from the Palace of Justice which seemed to have a continuous line waiting to get in. Actually, we soon found out that it was a security check with the Palace of Justice completely surrounding St. Chapelle. The chapel was built in 1242 by King Louis IX, and held Christ's Crown of Thorns, which cost three times as much to obtain as it cost to build the chapel itself, and also contained a portion of the true cross, in addition to other religious relics.

Entering the chapel lower level, you wonder what the fuss is all about with its mildly decorative arches and columns, but you are in the part used by the palace staff, and you must climb a flight of stairs to the upper chamber used by the King and his courtiers. Once there, you seem to be in a sea of stained glass with only slivers of stone between. The main colors are red and blue and tell the biblical story of mankind. The brochure says you can read the bible in the windows starting at the bottom of the first, and progressing right-to-left and up. We couldn't even get started, and we know how the story begins!

Still on the Île de la Cité, we wanted to go to the downstream point of the island, but they were filming a movie in the park and it was roped off. We could however, walk around the river bank with its lounging couples to the actual point and then headed back to the Latin Quarter on the left bank and found a place for lunch, sitting in the doorway for a two-course meal with a bottle of Haut-Medoc. During lunch, there was a strolling violinist that stopped and played out on the street in front of our restaurant. The Jardin du Luxembourg also provided a route back and we stopped to watch some "boole", a sort of boccie-like game that we've seen before and usually played by older men in parks. Pat engaged a spectator who spoke a little English, and we elicited affirmative gestures when applauding at some obviously good throws. The internet cafe "Cyber Cube" was on the route home, so we both got rid of our junk E-mails, answered the real ones, and headed back to the hotel to rest up for the Dinner and Moulin Rouge trip.

We gave our overall tour guide Olivier our credit card number for the three trips that he booked for us including this Dinner & Moulin Rouge show. But when Marcell and his van picked us up, he wanted payment before we started. We insisted (a few times firmly, but politely) that we shouldn't have to pay, but he won. The same thing happened on our trip to the Champagne country the next day, but we got it straightened out later and didn't double pay! Marcell stopped at another hotel to get Ruben and Pierrette Sarmiento to go to dinner with us. The route took us on the right bank of the Seine, and Marcell pointed out the Flame of Liberty, a golden sculpture that is an exact replica of our Statue of Liberty's torch's flame. It was erected during our Statue's restoration in 1987, at the initiation of The International Herald Tribune. Its location at the tunnel entrance near where Princes Diana was killed has made it a focal point for the placement of memorials to her and defacing of the sculpture, but both have waned. We continued on to the dinner at Les Noces de Jeannette. Ruben and Pierrette were wonderful company and we had a great time discussing wines and cultures with a three course dinner and Vin du Tables red and white. Ruben is Mexican and Jeannette is French Canadian, met in Cancun, and they make their home in Mexico. They are headed for the show at the Lido and our driver was waiting after dinner with Santos and Louise, a couple from Melbourne, Florida to take them and us to the Moulin Rouge. Ruben and Pierrette stayed in the van to be dropped off at the Lido. Great, we got to meet two couples, i.e. different couples for the two functions- got that?

We waited in line for what seemed an interminable amount of time on the sidewalk in front of the Moulin Rouge, so Clay and Pat got a Heineken at the adjacent café while we all waited. It was a good chance to get to know Santos and Louise, and we got along famously, tentatively planning to get together for golf in Florida next winter. It was at least a half an hour before the line began to move, but when it did, it went fast and we were politely but firmly asked to deposit our beverages upon entry! The four of us were then led to a table in the back, but elevated a level, so we had a long but completely clear view of the stage. It appears that the patrons that opted for the included dinner were already there at the closer tables. The waiter asked if we wanted Champagne, and four voices answered "Oui!" The bucket with two bottles of La Perriere were already chilling on the table. We suspect that they will take that away if you want something else, as the table next to us left a bunch of empty Pepsi bottles, and there was no Champagne in any state of use- what a waste! Actually Santos and Louise didn't really drink their share, and with all that happened earlier, we didn't quite finish it and had to leave some in one of the bottles! After the show, we were immediately picked up outside the theater and driven back to the hotel and hit the sack well after 2 AM! That may have been OK when we were here 15 years ago, but we are beat now!

05/31 Thursday, Paris

No rest for the weary travelers! We got up, had breakfast and waited to be picked up for our 8 AM trip to the Champagne country, and got a little edgy as the driver was about 20 minutes late. There were three people in the van, a couple from Arizona and a lady from Lebanon who speaks French. The driver, Honore Agbodjo from Nigeria, started out and was immediately stuck in a small jam as traffic was held up so the President of Lebanon (no relation to our tour member!) who was in Paris for a week, could be escorted out of town with his entourage. There were Lebanese Flags mixed with the Tricolore all over the city. We proceeded to pick up another couple near the Latin Quarter who live near Hartford, Conn. Again we got caught in a jam on a narrow street because of a delivery truck. Honore made a quick move down a side street and we were on our way out of Paris with a little commentary.

He said that we were going to Épernay first, even though the booklet listed Reims first. We suspect that the time wasted and a lunch appointment may have had something to do with that, but of course it didn't make any difference to us. The driver got off the main road well before Épernay and drove through the fields of grapes and through small towns to a little park on a hill overlooking Épernay and we got out for a photo. Back in the van, we went a little further in the hills to the town of Hautvillier and the Abbaye d'Hautvillers where the grave of Dom Pérignon is prominent right in front of the altar. Honore also pointed out "relics", windowed boxes holding bones and bone fragments of other local Saints- gross!

Going through the small aptly named town of Dizy abutting Épernay, we pulled up in front of Achille Princier, a small family-owned Champagne house on Épernay's "Avenue de Champagne." We watched a short film of Champagne making methods and found out that they were not ready for us to tour yet, so they played another tape showing the making of Champagne at Achille Princier, with the most prominent feature being the hand stringing of the cork-retaining basket instead of the usual automatically fixed metal wire. They say that they do this to maintain the old tradition of the time when all champagne corks used to be secured that way, but we suspect that it is just a marketing ploy- it has to add substantial cost to the champagne. The winery guide explained that the girl that usually does this tour didn't show up and that was the reason for the delay.

Our party of seven formed the entire tour group, and we started by walking straight down steps about three floors to the caves and it was noticeably cold, 10 degrees the guide said, 50 degrees Fahrenheit we say. The first stop was to view the dumbwaiter type pully-chain system that they use to move the bottles in baskets between different levels in the caves, looking primitive and just for the tourists, but they maintain that it is the operational method in use today. We saw typical champagne caves, with metal-capped bottles lying down and also in the riddling racks, and stacks of finished bottles 20 meters deep aging before becoming ready to label and sell. There was also an aisle exhibiting ancient champagne-making equipment.

On returning to the tasting/sales room, we had a glass of the non-vintage brut from a bottle with the typical wire basket holding the cork- done this way for the tasting bottles only, and we were assured that all the bottles that are sold have the "traditional" string retaining the cork. Does a single glass of champagne constitute a "tasting"? The entire operation was pretty impressive and they seem sincere with their dedication to the traditional methods and since they don't distribute to the United States, we bought a bottle of 1995 Blanc de Blancs for 180f = $25 to take home. Most of the group bought a bottle, and guide Honore did also! One funny thing- they seem to have a presence here and although small, they have an impressive front on the "Avenue du Champagne" two doors from Moët & Chandon. But on returning home, we can find No mention of this house in any of our wine/Champagne reference books!

The van took us the two doors down the street to Moët & Chandon, the house that we visited in 1986, and pulled into the parking lot to see the statue of Don Pérignon, and started into the sales display from the reception area and were asked firmly to "hold it" in French. Honore then showed himself to the attendant, and everything was cool- we were impressed! We just looked around, mostly at the Dom Pérignons (the cheapest was about $75), and headed back to the van.

Lunch was at La Terrasse, just a few small streets away. All seven of us sat at one table, and since it was set up with just enough room for us, Honore sat at his own a few tables away. Again it was a great lunch with a glass of Champagne, and carafes of a thin red wine, all us "experts" agreeing that Beaujolais was the most likely candidate. The main topics of conversation were food and wine, and we impressed everyone with our visit to La Tour d'Argent. Hah, we are getting our money's worth already with the bragging rights!

We got back into the van again for a trip through the Pinot Noir vineyards to Reims, a city quite a bit larger than Épernay, and stopped at the Cathedral of Notre Dame next to the park where we had our wine, bread, and cheese lunch with Marv and Mary in 1986. Honore took us for a walk around the Cathederal which is undergoing renovating (half of France is always undergoing renovation). We were surprised to find out that although it is very similar to the one in Paris, it is actually a little larger! One of the focal points is the Marc Chagall blue stained glass windows in the back.

Our next stop is Mumm, and being a German name is pronounced "Mooom", not "mum." We figured that we could win a few bets with that, but how are we going to prove it? This is a great deal larger than Achille Princier of course, and we had a tour with about 30 other people. The cellar didn't seem as cold and it was suggested that the other tasting and lunch wine way have had something to do with that! The tour was similar to the other, this is France and real Champagne is made the same way- but their corridor of old Champagne making equipment looked like medieval torture devices! The guide kept mentioning "he" when referring to riddlers, so Clay asked if there were any women riddlers. She said she knew of one or two, but not at Mumm. The tasting here was also only one glass, and you had a choice of the Brut or the Extra Sec. Most of the group had the brut, but there were a few sweeties! We guess that one glass does constitute a tasting! The tour guide suggested we could settle the pronunciation bet with a phone call to them as they always answer with "Moooom!" Mumm is available all over the United States, we didn't want to drag something we can get there, and you only save a little, so we just looked around the sales room.

The trip back to Paris was uneventful as again we were against the rush hour traffic until we hit the city streets, then it was typical. The drop off order was exactly the same as pickup, that way everyone does the same amount of hotel-hopping. It's a good idea, but it's the first time we've seen anything like that! We rested in our room again, waiting for 8 PM or so to go out and eat- some places serve earlier, but you don't want to look like a tourist! We wandered into some of the narrow streets in back of the hotel, the French probably don't need words for parallel or perpendicular, at least when it is applied to Paris streets! After looking at about 6 outside menus with little difference, we settled on Restaurant L'Atellier- we hate to brag, but we can pick 'em- actually anybody can pick 'em! We got the three course prix fixe and a bottle of great but of course too strong '98 Gigondas. The bottle of wine cost more than the food of course, but we've done that in many other countries also!

We stopped in the hotel bar for a drink as the musician was setting up, it was 9:40. Rats, he probably doesn't start until 10, we thought. Wrong! A female singer showed up a little after 10 and they started about 10:20. But we had the last laugh, nursing our drinks until after they did a few songs and we called it a night (and trip).

06/01 Friday, Paris

With the late night on Wednesday, and the fact that we don't have to leave for the airport until 10:30, we slept pretty well. Olivier was waiting for us and we said our good byes and he put us on a taxi (private, we guess as there were no markings) to the airport. We are almost on the other side of Paris from DeGaulle Airport and the driver weaved across town, instead of heading for the high speed ring road. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing though, because you never get tired of looking at Paris from anywhere, even in heavy traffic! We made decent time, with our driver on the phone headset all the time, and this was safer of course, but he had to look at the dial when he was originating a call. We were 2½ hours early, but had to wait in line for an hour to check in, we don't know why it took so long, because we zipped right through and they had a bunch of attended counters.

With the boarding time being well before departure, and having to wait in line for a cafeteria snack, (and going to the toilet, of course) we now were pressed for time. Clay spent our last francs on a bottle of wine. You normally have to have the boarding pass at the duty free shops, and it was at the other end of the terminal with Pat, but the clerk was very nice in just asking the destination. Clay requested a bill in change instead of coins and the clerk agreed that it would be a good souvenir! Sadly, Pat's last chance to get a France charm for her bracelet went awry.

We hung back when they announced the boarding, so we were among the last on to minimize the cramped sitting down time. Aren't we the experienced travelers though? The plane left only a few minutes late (we'll settle for that), and the flight was smooth. When the beverage cart came around, as usual we both got a red and a white wine. When they came around with lunch/dinner, the same stewardess would only give us one! Nothing like that ever happened before- Seinfeld has the Soup Nazi, we found the Wine Nazi! If you are not a Seinfeld fan, ask someone who is! We got the last laugh though, as there was a trailing attendant with more drinks and we got our extra bottle anyway! We were hoping she would pick up the trash, so we could show her our empties! That would never happen on Air France. Other than that, the flight was fine and we made up a little time. It was raining lightly in Newark just as it was three weeks ago when we left, and we took the Monorail to the "short hop" terminal and looked for a place to spend the almost two hour layover.

The time was no problem, as we passed all the familiar sights, including the Continental President's Club that the Clarks got us into when we were there before. In the Sam Adams brewhouse, we met a young couple, Chris and Jill from San Diego at the next table. They are on their way to Washington- well actually flying to Baltimore and taking the train to D.C. We discussed sports, computers, etc., and agreed that our two cities are unusually tough places to be sports fans. They, but Chris mostly, have traveled overseas almost as much as us in their few years. Jill had great fun when getting carded ordering more drinks as she is 26!

We had such a great time with Chris and Jill that we rushed to our gate only 10 minutes before the scheduled take off, and since this is a commuter flight, they figured we weren't coming, changed our seats, had to call the bus back to take us to the plane, and we were the last ones on. That also was no problem, as we sat for another half hour in the light rain before taking off and even got a (we figure emergency) bag of pretzels and a glass of water. The flight was a little bumpy and the half-hour air time to Philadelphia was more than doubled as we circled because the rain slowed down all the arrivals.

We had reserved a limo home from the airport with the same company we used on quite a few prior trips, and taking the familiar escalator down to the baggage area, we first saw the shiny shoes of the shuttle drivers, but when we saw their signs, there wasn't any with "Stahl!" We got all of our bags (whew, at least that!) and still there was no driver for us. Pat called the company and they got the date screwed up, said to get a skycap and meet a guy there to pick up some other party that didn't show. Clay checked out the place that we were to go and there was nobody there! Another call to the company, and we guess a call from them to the driver, produced the same instructions, and this time he was there- we just checked too soon, we guess. What's another half hour or so at this point, and we got home through heavy rain about 9 PM, body time of 3 AM! With only a few minor blips, it was another great trip(s)!

Au revoir! Merci!

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