Paris!

Friday Feb. 13th
We went to celebrate Valentine’s Day and our anniversary (of when we got together).
We saw as much as we could in the three days we had. Early Friday morning we took the train, and arrived and checked into our hotel before noon. It was cold and drizzling rain, so we ducked into a café to have a drink and make a plan for lunch and the day. We ate at a Moroccan restaurant – great flavours! Since the visibility was poor, we decided to skip the Eiffel Tower and go straight to the Louvre Museum instead. We walked around there for hours and even needed to stop for a cup of tea to rejuvenate and continue on. The collections go on and on… a person could go every day for a week before seeing it all! The highlights for me were to see the statue ‘Venus de Milo’, and the ’Mona Liza’ (though I had seen the original before in Victoria, B.C. in a Michelangelo exhibit in 1998). We were quite impressed by the “takes up the whole wall – larger than life” paintings. No wonder they are displayed in this old palace, they are too big to fit in a normal room. We will include a couple photos for you to see. There was also this painting of a lady floating in the water which was a bit eerie and peaceful at the same time. We walked through Napoleon’s apartments (part of one wing of this ‘U’-shaped palace). I don’t think he was lacking any material goods… what an extravagant lifestyle he led! When we felt that we were overloaded with art, we went back to the hotel so we could warm up, and I could put my foot up for a bit. (My toe is still healing, and that was a lot of walking!).

After an hour or so, we went out again. The skies had cleared, so we decided to go see the Eiffel Tower at night. It was worth the trip! Then we went to the ‘Latin Quarter’. What an interesting area; very lively, lots of places to eat and cafes and bars to have a drink. The narrow cobblestone streets were full of people just walking around and popping in here and there. Occasionally a car would squeeze past. There were people performing on the street too, some dance groups showing off the latest moves. It was fun to watch for a minute or two, but too cold to stand around. We couldn’t resist getting a falafel, from one of the many take-away places. It was the best falafel I had since I lived in Israel! Yum!
It was so easy to move around the city on the Metro (subway rail system) too. Many stops close to each other, it seems the easiest way to get around, and we took advantage of that. It also seems very safe even at night.

Saturday
We went for a walking tour around one of Paris’s old neighbourhoods (Marais). It was fun to learn about the history this way, and we walked through a lively little street market, ducked into two old impressive churches, saw some elaborate chateaux as well as ordinary homes from 400 years ago, and learned abut the role of the French officials during the 2nd world war.
They say it is almost impossible to find parking in Paris…narrow streets, no place to even accommodate a stopped car. Well, I observed first - hand how people ‘make do’. I saw someone squeezing their car into a parking place that was too small (even for a “Smart-Car”). They just kept nudging the car in front and then the one behind until they both were pushed tight against the vehicles in front or behind them. Now instead of 4 cars with a bit of space to manouver out of the spot… there were now 5 cars all with their bumpers touching! How would anyone get out?!

It was fun to walk through the streets and see the fruit and veg place next to the cheese shop, next to the meat shop, and a few doors down was the wine shop, and next to it the flower shop, and then a café. How very French!
The tour ended at Paris’s oldest Square “Place des Vosges”. We were frozen by then and popped in to a café to warm up. We went through Paris’s oldest outdoor covered market (1600’s) and had a hot mulled wine and a crepe before continuing on to the Picasso Museum. There were some paintings by Matise as well, which we enjoyed more than Picasso. Next we jumped on the metro to go to the Eiffel Tower. It was astounding by day as well. We had thought about going up to the top, but the line-ups were really long, and we couldn’t bear the thought of just standing around in the cold. So, we walked over the bridge to the Trocadero /Palais de Chaillot. This gave yet another perspective of the Eiffel tower, and after a photo, we walked to the ‘Arc de Triomphe. We walked around and the light was perfect. The line-ups to go to the top put us off here as well, (we can’t imagine what it would be like in the summer!). As the sun was setting, we decided to get in out of the cold and have an early dinner before all the “lovers” went out for Valentine’s dinner with their sweethearts. By 7:30 we were off to the Museum of Pompidou (Modern Art). Interesting, bizarre, creative and sometimes just weird! Then we walked around the city a bit more to enjoy the sights at night, and finally headed back to the hotel around 11:00. We figured if we subtracted the times that we sat down for ‘cuppa’ and our meal, we had spent eleven hours walking that day! We were tired!

Sunday
This A.M. we went to the Montmartre area. We went up to the top of a high hill to the elaborate “Sacre Coeur” (Sacred Heart) Cathedral and then walked around this very interesting area with a square filled with artists and their work. Most were ready to paint or sketch your portrait, or do a caricature. It was neat to walk through there. We wound our way down the streets to find the oldest windmills (moulin) in the city, and then stopped for a beer before heading down the hill to see the famous “Moulin Rouge”. We didn’t go in for a cabaret show, nor did we go to any of the many sex shops/peep shows that were on offer along the street. We jumped on the nearest metro, and headed off in another direction. It wasn’t nearly as cold today, so we picked up some wine and cheese and a bagette, then headed over to the “Place de la Concorde”. We shared our little picnic over-looking the “Obelisque de Luxor”, the park, statues, with palaces and the Eiffel tower in the background. Beautiful!
We went back to the Latin Quarter to go see Paris’s oldest church… well one tower remains from the original (get this) built in 578, and after a fire in the 1700’s, the St.Germain de Pres church was built. There was a ‘dixie-land jazz band playing outside so we enjoyed that for a few moments, then moved on to the famous “Les Deux Magots” Why anyone would call a café ‘the two maggots’, we’re not sure, but it became the favourite hang - out of artists and writers over the years, including Hemmingway. There was a bar near there called ‘Le Quebec’ but we didn’t go in. We went to local pub to experience a bit of that atmosphere. We walked around the area by the gardens of Luxembourg, saw the palace that now houses the Senat, and then headed off to another part of the city for a nice dinner.
The restaurant we chose wasn’t open yet for dinner, so we went a few doors down to a café to have a drink and wait. We enjoyed a wonderful meal together, and had a good time chatting with the waiter. All the people we met in Paris seem friendly. Not rude (as the reputation goes).
Early Monday we took our train back to Montreux.
We had a wonderful time in Paris, did half of what we’d like to, and are inspired to go back again and see and do a whole lot more!

Christmas, New Year's, & January

Christmas
Well, Ken’s sister and Dad arrived and we (even me with a bad toe) did as much as we could. We wandered through the Christmas market the first night, and experienced it again the next day. We tried the mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, and lots of samplings of the local decadent fare. Even home-made candies!
There was a visit to the local castle (Chateau de Chillon), with Ken, Karen and Art walking along the lake-side promenade, enjoying all the greenery and the ever-changing views along the lake. The backdrop of the Swiss Alps to the East, and France straight across the lake. They enjoyed their stroll, and I took the bus and met them there.
On Christmas day after our brunch, we took a train to the mountain peak above Montreux called ‘Rochers de Naye’. We wandered around for an hour, had a mulled wine, and came back down in time to baste the turkey and open some gifts before our big dinner. Ken expertly roasted the turkey and I did the veggies, etc. Next day we went off to Gruyere, to visit the “walled city” and the castle. There was a lot of ice near the big stone gate that several people warned us about. I was told in French, German and English that I should not go there on my crutches. I was sure I could manage to get beyond that dangerous area and get into the old city to enjoy the afternoon with everyone else. It was worth the caution, and we did have a great day with a pit-stop at the cheese factory while we waited for our train back.
The next day we spent in Montreux, Karen and Art bought me a bright green push scooter and I left the crutches behind. In the afternoon we went through the market again. In the evening, Art treated us all at a nice restaurant at the Montreux Palace, and the scooter made it very easy for me to keep pace with everyone.
We all accompanied Art to the airport the next day and then met up with two friends from our Sri Lanka days.

New Year's
Scott – (USA) has just relocated to Geneva and our friend Bene – (France) came to spend 5 days with us. She and I had fun together, and Ken and Karen spent their time skiing. See the photos of them at the Matterhorn! They had a perfect day there. Bene and Scott joined them on New Year’s Eve for a day in the mountains. I stayed at home and rested my legs, and prepped for our ‘festive feast for five’ later in the day. Bene did lots of prep too once they got back. She had brought about a ton of extravagant food items from France. We put on the music and sipped on wine and ate our way through the evening ‘til almost midnight. We went to join Ken’s colleagues at a bar near-by to ring in the New Year, see some fireworks in the rain, then returned home for more fun with our little party of five. We said good-bye to both Bene and Scott the next AM, spent some quality time with Karen, and then she and Ken had one more ski day at Gstaad before she headed home. It was a really wonderful holiday, great to spend some time with these valued people in our lives.

January
Then on the 5th, it was back to work for both of us. I had just one month more to get the foreign students ready to start their hospitality education in Feb. It was a really intense schedule and then suddenly it was over. I really enjoyed the teaching, and they liked me too. I received some very positive feedback from the students, and their marks show that they were interested and understood what I was teaching. The other teaching staff are all native English speakers from England, New Zealand, Irish/Canadian. They were a good bunch of women to work with. So now I will have work there again in Aug. that will go to the end of Jan. again. I do hope to find something for the in-between time though.
Ken’s Jan. had him finishing up all sorts of things too. He even had to spend his Saturday birthday helping out with graduation! His boss from Northwood University was here for the grad as well, AND… it just so happens that his birthday is also Jan.24th, so I made dinner for them once all the ceremonies were over. Ken said goodbye to one bunch of students and then the next bunch started. The majority of his work is managing the MBA Program, but he does teach one class to the BBA group. He has been busy with the visiting professors from the USA, and last week the university had a ‘Staff Ski Day’.

... next ?
Now Feb. is here and I am looking for three things: a job, an intensive French course, and a new apt. to move into in the next few months.
This is going to be an exciting month for us, with weekend trips to Paris, and then Germany. I will write about it later.