My European Trip! Part 2.

The trip, she continues...

Holly & Lucia & I went to the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, where a whole lot of famous people are buried. I'm pretty sure they were all dead before getting buried here. It's a very peaceful place & all built into this hill in tiers.
Famous folks whose graves I saw included Chopin, Balzac & Jim Morrison. Jimmy's grave had a crowd (of Americans) around it, but it was boring compared to some of the gorgeous stones I saw, so I'm including their pictures instead.
We didn't know ahead of time, but it seems that it was Chopin's birthday when we visited. A lot of music lovers stopped to wish the old boy a happy one, as you can see.

This woman was so, beautiful, I teared up, just seeing her. This carving was stunningly beautiful & I cannot be sure whether the blac markings were intentionally part of the statue, or were weathering, but the effect just rocked me back on my heels.

This little guy was just darned cute.

My friend Marsha got me started on a hobby called letterboxing.

I thought it'd be fun to seek out some letterboxes while I was in Europe. I mean, any letterboxer I'm likely to meet around here will have all the local stamps from NJ & the surrounding area, but how many will have stamps from Paris?

So, in a section of the city called Belleville, not far from the cemetery, we found a listing for a letterbox. to get there, I had to hop 2 scary fences & walk down some disused railroad tracks into a tunnel, where I'd find a ladder. At the top of the ladder, if I reached behind my head, I'd find the letterbox.

Holly, Lucia & I found the tracks, but the fences were a bit high for us all to hop, so I went on alone.
Holly & Lucia waited for me on a trestle overlooking the tracks.

I, stamp in hand, disappeared into the tunnel. From where I was, I could see Holly & Lu the whole time. I only found out afterwards that they lost sight of me right away when I entered the tunnel. I followed the instructions carefully, but the ladder was nowhere to be found. I walked almost the length of the tunnel, but it was not to be, sadly.

Holly took the pic above, & I swiped it from her blog , totally without permission. Hope she won't mind. 8-)

I did find a letterbox a little later in the trip, but not in Paris...

Lotsa good restaurants in Paris, but there was one that my Dad recommended as the best: Roger le Grenouille, aka Roger the Frog!
It was on this tiny little alley, off this side road, off an only slightly larger side road, but it had Dad's seal of approval. I was determined to go, but my friends are vegetarians. Nick is the only one in the family who isn't quite as strict a vegertarian, so he joined me.
Nick had fish, but I was after just one thing! Frogs' legs! What else would I choose at a place called 'Roger the Frog'?
Well, the waiter was mighty rude & scorned our wine selection, but the food was SO good, it was hard to be annoyed. The waiter played his part to the hilt & we just laughed & ate very well.
I'd always heard that frogs' legs tasted like chicken, but I didn't find that to be the case. I'd be hard-pressed to tell you some other food they did taste like, though. I wasn't sure how to go about it, so I just ate with my hands & loved every minute of it. They also had the most wonderful Creme Brulee I'd ever tasted.

Thanks, Dad!

My European Trip! Part 1.

In October, I went on a trip which was one of the greatest experiences of my life! First, I spent a week in Paris, France followed by a few more days in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I took LOTS of pictures & saw TONS of things...it really was a broadening experience. It's going to take me a while to really get all my thoughts about this trip in order, so I'm going to be doing it in pieces here, illustrated with photos!

I flew on Air France on all the flights involved in the trip. It was a great experience & put me into a French-speaking mood. I don't speak much French at all (I took it in high school, & really remember very little), but I had: 1. a French phrasebook and B. tremendous natural talents! Actually, 1 thing I learned my first day was that you can go far in Paris with good manners, a little bit of French and THE SECRET. (I will get back to THE SECRET in a little while...)

I knew my friends Holly, Nick & Lucia were going to meet me at the airport & was really looking forward to seeing them. What I did not realize when I landed at Charles De Gaulle Airport was that my flight had arrived nearly an hour ahead of schedule. I sailed through passport control & customs and went through the gate into the airport, and was greeted by...no one! My friends were on their way, but neither they nor I knew that I'd arrived early... I felt The Fear that I was alone in a strange country where I didn't speak the language. Hoo-boy!

I also learned that the customer service people at CdG will not page someone for you.

Long story short (too late!), Holly, Nick & Lucia arrived right on time & all was right in the world again despite my initial panic. Here's us on the train!

This was the first view I had of Paris when we came up out of the train, at the Gare Saint-Lazare.

We took my luggage back to their apartment & didn't waste a moment! There was a wine festival going on in Monmartre, right in front of Sacre Coeur. The cathedral sits on a high hill and there's a funicular railway which goes up, but our intrepid band walked up the stairs!

We drank some wine, listened to some music & I used a French ATM and got my hands on euros for the first time.

We went into the cathedral, where I took a few minutes & said a prayer for my Pop. I think he'd've liked that.

Now, the photo above is a little sacrilegious by its very existence, but I intended no disrespect. The interior of Sacre Coeur's dome with the rays of light was just too beautiful to leave behind.

At the bottom of the hill, there is a beautiful two-tiered carousel and Holly, Lucia & I took a ride!

As if flying to France, seeing Sacre Coeur and Monmartre weren't enough for my first day...
Nick & I decided to head over to a certain iconic landmark. Not only that, we decided to walk up all the darned steps! (To be completely honest, we got on the wrong line. We eventually realized that there was no elevator on the South Pillar, but being toughguys, we decided to stick with it.) These next 2 are my favorite pics I took of le Tour Eiffel.

It was terribly crowded at the top of the Tower. Nick couldn't get much distance from me to take my picture, but that's me, with Paris in the background.

It's been pointed out to me (Thx, Q!) that I haven't yet shared THE SECRET with you. It's part of my story at le Tour Eiffel.

After climbing over 650 staris up & then the same 650 back down, Nick & I were pretty hungry. We knew we were going to meet up with Holly & Lucia for dinner, but we needed some sort of snack right then. Luckily, there was a snack bar right under the Tower.

Nick got an order of fries & a coffee for himself & offered to buy me a snack. I had my eye on a blueberry muffin, but neither of us had any idea how to say "blueberry muffin" in French. Here's THE SECRET: If you start in French, you can finish in English with an outrageous French accent and you'll get what you want! 8-)

So, instead of saying "petit pain de myrtille", Nick came up with "moo-fenh bloo-beh-hray", much to my surprise. Also, what a surprise (Quel surprise!), the counter girl handed him 1 blueberry muffin, with nary a funny look or word of reproach! It was right at this point that I realized I could just relax in Paris & I'd be fine with or without my friends there as translators.