8/6 Thanksgiving Day

8/6  Grabbing three of the umbrellas freely available at the hotel, we walked back to the bakery -  Eric Hayes Boulangerie - for breakfast. We mistakenly ordered too much food! Who knew two eggs came with a salad and baguette on top of the coffee and pastries already ordered?  We enjoyed, left, and turned in the opposite direction of the tower, now on our way to the island that houses Notre Dame Cathedral. As we were walking a box of raw meat fell off the top of a cab into the street causing vehicles to dodge this way and that. On the bridge crossing the river with its traffic of commercial and tourist barges, we ran into an old women bent so far over that her face was invisible, walking with a cane, holding out a cup and mumbling something. It may have been a scam, but we couldn't resist dropping some coins in her mostly empty purse.

 salad with breakfast ...hmmm...

French breakfast: croissant, jams, butter, coffee - this is more like it ...

Once at Notre Dame and not wanting to wait in the long line to enter, we satisfied ourselves with the Mass schedule which would bring us back later in the day, and went across the street to wait in a short line (thanks to our museum passes) to enter St. Chapelle - a small beautiful chapel with walls of light from the floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows that illuminate all the major bible stories as well as the interior. You enter first in a dark lower chapel and then climb a narrow spiral staircase to the main chapel. We lingered over the detailed work within before exiting and stopping for a cold beverage across the street to take advantage of its free internet. We decided to walk back to the Louvre for a short visit before returning to the cathedral for evening mass. We stopped at an interesting fountain of sphinxes along the way where a women in mid-western dress whom we had displaced while taking photos evidently fell into the fountain shortly afterward!

In front of St. Chapelle ...

 

Inside St. Chapelle ...

After a time we made it back to the Louvre, entering through a side passage into the large central plaza with its entrance below a glass pyramid. Once again our museum passes got us to the head of the line and in no time we were checking in our umbrellas and backpacks before being permitted to enter the galleries. As we only had an hour and a half before having to leave for Mass, we asked the information desk what they recommended. The attendant was obviously exasperated, but pleasant by our short time line, but she laid out a course that would allow us to see Mona Lisa, Winged Victory and the Venus d' Milo. Our only problem was you had to navigate through long galleries of incredible art to get to these and so we were instantly and delightedly sidelined by paintings and sculpture - many we had "seen before" in other media as icon representations of this artist or that movement. The setting and paintings practically glowed in comparison to the quantities of artwork we had been appreciating in the twilight of  basilicas and churches.

Sights on our way back to the Louvre ...

 

 Streets of Paris ... ahhh...

 Finally, the LOUVRE ...

Eventually and almost leisurely we took in the three recommended icons - circling the sculptures to take in multiple perspectives, and moving in as close as possible to the Mona Lisa to try and appreciate the allure of the portrait. We stayed a little longer than we intended, grabbed a quick snack and a few gift shop items and we were off, walking through a new underground mall before gaining the street and walking back to Notre Dame for vespers and mass. A light rain appeared making us glad we'd been carrying the umbrellas all day.

 one of the long passages to the treasured sculptures, arts and paintings...

the different perspectives/angles of Venus D'Milo...

 

Winged Victory...

  

Mona Lisa in a glass encased frame ...

Replica of the Greek Sculpture 'Athena' ...

 

Artemis ... Goddess of hunting & wilderness ...

the bust of Alexander the Great ...

We arrived just in time for mass - a thanksgiving mass for us in gratitude for three weeks of memorable experiences traveling across Europe. The cathedral was quite dark inside, minimally lit by large hanging chandeliers that once must have held candles but had since been electrified - though they seemed to emit no more light than they ever had… Vespers was in progress as settled into our chairs (no benches here), incense rising in slow white billows from a metal urn in the center before the altar. Crowds of visitors roped off on the sides taking pictures and observing the ageless ritual made us wonder how they interpreted what was going on…. After vespers and a mad dash outside to find a public restroom, we were settled again for mass, which was in Latin - appropriately for the 14th century setting- some of the responses almost familiar to us. Again, as the organ echoed through the expansive space, the sensation returned of the power of ritual and the message, the symbols, the "universal" representation in the congregation, the shared breaking of bread and wish for peace… It was a fitting final mass in a historical setting. After mass was over we had only a short time to take in the setting before they cleared the church. We first appreciated it from our seats as we listened to the organ whose melody seemed both at home in the dusky interior and to enhance it. Then we walked about the nave briefly before being guided outside by determined attendants.

 The NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL of Paris ...

 

We walked across the "Ile de la Cite" housing Notre Dame and the neighboring "Ile St. Louis" and after crossing a bridge found the Cafe St. Regis for dinner - just in time as the rain returned.  Delicious food, a view of the wet street and bridge, and  pedestrians walking about with umbrellas all enhanced the meal.

 THANK YOU ... Paris!

 escargot ... hmmm ... you can't convince Lyn to eat that exotic snail..

 Paris...we will miss you ...

After lingering over the meal, we walked on to the site of the Bastille - now a monument before turning back toward our hotel, which we reached after a brief wrong turn and a loooong walk. One last look at the Eiffel Tower's beacon shining spotlights through the low clouds and we were inside to bed.

The Bastille - once a prison and a place of torture, became a symbol of freedom when the French tore it down during the famous French revolution...

one last look of the famous icon ... (sigh) ... and how beautiful ...

 

8/7 We didn't sleep long - up at 3:15AM to pack and head to the airport. The night attendant called a cab - several times - which finally arrived after not being able to find the hotel - "What about the airport?" Joe asked half-jokingly. The cabbie was friendly but didn't speak much English - just enough to inform us that he wasn't a 'regular' taxi -whatever that meant! Nonetheless after a FAST drive that would be the envy of any Manila cab driver, we arrived in one piece at the airport and got checked in. Unfortunately the 7:25AM flight to Amsterdam  - where we were supposed to transfer to a nonstop flight to Portland,  was delayed. So we were re-booked on a 1:25 pm to Boston to catch a connection to Portland. This flight, however, was also delayed leaving little hope that we would make the Portland connection. We slept in the airport, had lunch and finally left at 3PM seated in the last row.  We did enjoy watching a couple good movies on the flight.

About 20min out of Boston, the flight attendants moved us to the business class at the front of the plane in a futile gesture to help us make our connecting flight which was scheduled to leave 15min after our arrival. Keep in mind we would still have to retrieve our luggage and go through customs - and so of course we did not make the connection. And then the nightmare began. The problem stemmed from having been booked on another carrier. While our reservations had been through Delta/Air France, our missed connection was on Alaska. They didn't want to assume responsibility for us and sent us back to Delta, who also didn't want to assume responsibility for us and so began a long three hour trek between terminals A, B and E, hauling all our luggage as we went from carrier to carrier trying to get a flight home. At one point - only AFTER a phone call - did we find out that Air France had actually booked us on another flight, but after waiting in line for an hour there, we discovered that the reservation was no good as they had neglected to issue tickets (besides which they forgot to tell us when we left the plane!).

FINALLY, Air France re-booked us on a flight to PDX for the following day and, after another long hike between terminals, provided us with vouchers for a hotel and meals. We ended up with one more night in luxury accommodations at the Hilton attached to the airport (only another long walk - but hey, we'd been taking long walks for WEEKS!). We had a nice dinner, a refreshingly long sleep, and relaxing breakfast before boarding our flight without incident the following day.

8/8 We have truly enjoyed this shared trip of a lifetime for which we are ever grateful.

However, it is just the first of our escapes to the continent … we are going back to Europe! We must! But until next time: Arrivederci, Auf Wiedersehen ; Ahoj, Au Revoir, and Goodbye! - Thanks for following!

Joe, Lyn and Serge