Happy Midsummer’s Eve.
Actually in Paris it is the Fete de Musique. I guess that means that bands and musicians
set up all over the city and play music in the streets. I think Angela and I are turning in too early
to see or hear any of it. We heard a few
bands as we were coming home tonight.
We had another great day in Paris although it started out a
little disjunct. We had planned to got o
Versailles today and were at the train station trying to buy tickets to Versailles
but there was no person at the ticket desk so we had to buy them from the
machine however, with the machine you have to have a “chip and pin” credit card
(which we don’t have in the USA) or enough coinage to pay for the tickets. Well, we didn’t have either of those. We had plenty of money on us, just not in
coins. So we had to regroup and try to
find someone who would change our bills to coins. We made two unsuccessful attempts. Then we decided to go to the Louvre today
instead, since it was already 11:30AM and make some purchases so that we had
change enough to buy the tickets tomorrow.
The good news is that when we got off the train for Versailles
there was a window with a very cheerful lady working there and we were able to
buy our train tickets for tomorrow with our bills. So now we have our tickets and we just have
to get on the train tomorrow.
As we walked across one of the bridges on the Seine River we saw these padlocks on the sides of the bridge. Apparently it is tradition to put a lock on the bridge and throw the key into the river. A romantic tradition started by someone. Now there are vendors on the bridge selling padlocks to tourists.
We made our way towards the Louvre and had lunch in the
Tuilleries which is a park adjacent to the Louvre which used to be a palace. At the end of the Tuilleries is the Place de la Concorde which is plaza that was home to Madame Guillotine during the French Revolution and where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded.
After lunch we went into the
museum. We spent about 4 hours
there. About half way through we found a
bench and sat down and both started dosing.
We had a little power dose and then were off again. After we had seen all the art that we could
absorb we left and found some dinner. I
am not going to starve in France there are salads and omelets at most
restaurants. I will eat omelets but I am not particularly
fond of eggs. I feel like I have eaten a
lot of ham, eggs and cheese since coming to France. But tonight I got a salad with chicken! The salad dressing here tastes like horseradish
so mostly I just eat the salad with out any dressing. I guess I can be grateful for my gluten intolerance. We walk past boulangeries and patiserries all
the time and the window displays looks so yummy – if I could eat them I would
probably eat myself sick. Tonight after
dinner we found a health food store and they had some gluten free things there.
Outside of the Louvre...
As we walked home from the store we passed the Eiffel Tower and took some more pictures, this time from the other side in the park called the Champ du Mars. These are some of our favorites.
Each evening when we get back to our room we have what we
call “picture sharing.” We download our
pictures and now video to my computer and look at them all. Then we make some selections to put into our
“contest possibilities” album. We quite
enjoy this hour or so. It is a really
fun way to end the day.
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