This is a brief overview of our trip to France from September 26, 2001 to October 10, 2001. Jan, Terre Radke and I visited Paris, parts of Normandy and Picardie. You can follow the links as far as they go! For more information about Paris click here .
As you might expect, security at many places was very high, but we always felt safe and we must have looked honest since we were always waved through after the standard x-ray of our carry-on luggage. We flew British Air to London and then to Paris. Jan booked the hotel in Paris using the internet, so we had a bit of excitement when we arrived and they only had one room for the three of us. While they checked with the booking agency, we suffered the effects of an all-night flight and Metro trip with all our luggage. We all crashed on one bed in the room we had. It must have looked like a flower with our heads in the middle and feet dangling off each side of the bed. In a few hours, we were able to get the second room, but we were energetic enough to go for a walk past the Ecole Militaire to a point at the end of the Parc du Champ-de-Mars (a large park that was once used for drilling soldiers) where we could see the Eiffel Tower. After that we stopped at the Monoprix (think Walmart with a fantastic downstairs supermarket) for some food and crashed again.
Meeting new people is always the high point of every trip. At breakfast we met Ray Carlson and his wife from Houghton Michgan. He had one of the few good encounters with a pickpocket I have ever heard of. When he arrived in Paris a man directed him to the Metro. It turned out to be an area where he was caught between two pickpockets. He felt one reaching for his wallet, and slammed the guy in the face with his elbow. No pickpocket, but wallet intact. He wasn't so lucky a few days later when someone got his camera. One of his best army buddies lives near us in Door County.
The weather on the second day was beautiful. We repeated the walk of the previous night to a point where we could see the Eiffel Tower. It was a spectacular sight that kept drawing us in. We had intended to take the Metro to the Musée d'Orsay, but we walked along the Seine instead. By the time we got to the museum, it was time to go to lunch. Here is a sample of the pictures from that walk.
| Jan and Terre at the end of the Champs-de-Mars. | |
| If you look close here, just to the left of the white truck there is a soldier with a machine gun. | |
| Couldn't resist this shot. | |
| Pont Alexandre III | |
| Tourist looking at all the sights (Terre) | |
| People still sit with their dogs and jog along the banks of the Seine. | |
| The Ferris Wheel at the Place de la Concorde | |
The walk took so long, we had to go to lunch. We wanted to find a Metro to the Galeries Lafayette, but could find the entrance. An elegantly lady (grande dame) with a perfectly coiffed terrier told us exactly how to get to the Metro. To see the rest of our day click here .