One Day in Paris - Monday, March 30

After a good night of sleep with the gently windswept waters of the River Seine lapping beneath our window, we rose for a leisurely and delicious breakfast of cooked to order omelets, French toast, fresh juice, and homemade , or at least boat made jam, we got ready for our first excursion.  And what an outing it was!

During our three hour overview of the city, our tour was a history/architecture lesson of Paris.  I very much like that Viking uses local city guides when we leave the ship.  They know not only all the important things one should learn, but also add their personal experience and anecdotes that you would not otherwise have.  In two days we have learned so much including that the French are not crazy about politicians!  The more you travel the more you learn that things are the same the world over! 

Since this was an included tour, just about all 148 passengers trooped along three buses but divided into four groups.  I know, from experience, that we will be in the same group all along the way unless it is an optional excursion.  Everyone seems very friendly and exited to be here but we all agree that we are still tired from being so excited as well as from the travel.

In a verbal snapshot of the city you will see large stone buildings with dark mansard roofs with little attic windows.  The facades are remarkably clean and almost white in appearance.  Typically the first floor is taller than those above.  If there are shops, the street floor is noticeably taller than the second (in Europe they would call that the first floor – I tell you this so when you are here the elevator buttons, if there are any, won’t confuse you!).  This is because the street floor holds the shop, the second floor is shorter and was the residence of the shop owner who did not want to use up space for himself. The third floor is normal and the top floor looks shorter but is also set back and with the curved, sloping roof, it might just look smaller.  But how I would love to be able to go up to that garret and see for myself!

We spent an hour or so at the Notre Dame Cathedral.  The massive gothic church is nearly an icon of the city.  The square was crowded, but not filled, with bundled up tourists waiting in a long but quickly moving line to enter the church.  There were many guides carrying every form of ‘follow me’ signage.  Our guides always carry red and white ‘lollipops’ that are easy to find.  One side is all red with the Viking insignia and the other is white with the number of our group.  Much easier to find than a sunflower on a stick or a ribbon blowing in the wind.  The other thing I like is that we use ‘Quietvox which is a ‘whisperer.’  The headset allows us the freedom to move around and look at and take pictures of what we want without having to stand right by our leader and still hear all the information and insights.

When our group broke up for free time, Ruth, our new friend Virginia, a lawyer from Albuquerque, and went in search of the Deportation Museum.  This little known memorial honors the 50,000 French men, women, and children who were sent to the death camps during World War II.  It is a simple and emotional tribute that I wanted to share.  Remember me saying that all the buildings seemed to be so clean and white? Well, unfortunately, this was true here too.  They were sandblasting and repairing and the memorial was closed.

Despite this disappointment our morning was delightful.  On the way back to meet the bus we stopped in one of the little shops to look at scarves.  And totally unlike myself and due to the bad influence of Ruth and Virginia, I bought some!  Naturally, around the corner the same thing was less money and down another block were some I liked better.  But I am okay with that.  We were having fun.

Back at the comfortable tourist bus we headed to the most famous icon of Paris – La Tour Eiffel!  Here we slowly disembarked for a photo stop.  Because of the heavy spring rains, the long, park like lawn was fenced off.  We trod carefully over the gravelly mud and took as many photos as we could but because of the closure could not get any really good angles.  The tower which was the tallest building in the world until the Chrysler Building was completed in New York.  It is indeed a building as there is a very nice apartment on the third level where rumor has it that Monsieur Eiffel had great success entertaining the ladies seeking excitement.

The landmark was designed to celebrate the Universal Exhibition of 1889.  It was a functional radio broadcast tower for that new medium.  The height of modern technology and demonstrated a key French industry – iron.  We have heard before that when first built the Parisians did not accept it with love.  They hated it because it was an ugly blot on the city.  Our guide told us that that was because it was bright red and was intended to be torn down immediately after the closing ceremonies.  But they didn’t have the money for the demolition.  So soon they began to paint it, I guess, trying to disguise it.  One time it was black but that didn’t work and they finally settled one current scheme of three shades of golden tans.  It takes 50 tons of paint, every five years to keep the now beloved image and most recognizable symbol of France looking her best!  (No, no mistake.  50 tons every five years!)

Believe it or not the tour was tiring and it had been about four hours since breakfast so we were happy to return to our home away from home for lunch.  Again we chose to eat in the lounge and there was soup, small sandwiches, salad and a delicious smooth custard with caramel sauce for dessert.   Nikki, the Hungarian pianist, played background music and sang softly.  The sun peeked out between the clouds and we began to feel relaxed. 

But this could not last long.  I had opted for the tour of the Louvre.  When I was here before we did not have time to fit it into our short stay.  The Louvre is the second largest museum in the world in size but currently owns the largest collection and is focused on Renaissance and earlier art.  The lines are long and the interior is labyrinthine.   To go here without a guide would be impossible for the average person.  But with our guide, Jean Louis, it was a breeze.  The bus pulled into the underground bus parking and while Jean shepherded our two groups inside the other guide went ahead and collected our group ticket.  While passing a large scale model of the buildings he explained the history of how the garrison, became a fortress, became a palace, became a museum.  And the cut away model showed the underground we were walking through which was discovered when the palace was being rebuilt.  The high, thick, curved, stone walls had been the original and where we were walking had been addep deep, about 20 foot deep and 30 foot wide moat!

We met and claimed our tickets beneath Chinese American architect I. M. Pei’s glass pyramid.  Much like Eiffel’s tower this creation was hated and called a ‘despotic act.’  Now it is symbol of the ‘New Paris.’  We enter a special group line and bypassed hundreds of patient attendees.  We were told to not be Americans but to be pushy and shove a little to keep others from breaking us apart as we entered the most visited exhibits.  And we did, a little. 

So much to see and so beautifully displayed beneath the ornate ceiling, reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel, the paintings and sculptures of the central exhibition alone could easily take months to see.  But our art history guide got us to the highlights and by way of the whisperer guided us to the best viewing and photo spots.  Hard to believe that they allow photos, without flash.  I noticed that people with cameras could manage this but people with phone have not learned how to operate this feature.  

I did learn something about the display of Mona Lisa that the guide did not.  At one point I was standing to the right side, the lady’s left, and noticed a large white swipe on the overly large glass protective shield.  I called over the guard and asked if it was dirty or was scratched.  Turns out this half-moon shaped narrow stripe was a scratch.  A lady visitor had bought a coffee cup in the gift shop and threw it at the painting.  She was not jailed but paid a big fine!

As we worked our way out of the museum we saw so many more beautiful things.  We had seen three DaVinci’s other than ‘the lady with the Mona Lisa smile.’  We saw Botticelli, Rembrandt, and I could not even begin to name them all.  I learned the story of the most famous painting of Napoleon crowning Josephine and how his mother was painted in after the commission had been completed because he wanted her to be even though she had not been actually in attendance.  I saw a painting of a true story of a ship wreck and one where Napoleon made me laugh.  He looked just like Bob Newhart!

During the free time some people had a coffee at one of the many restaurants or shopped in one of the many stores.  Everything from McDonald’s to Luis Vuitton to The Apple Store is located here.  I went outside with Sue and Tim.  They had a smoke and walked over to the front of the building to take more pictures and to also have photos of the half size Arc de Triomph that completes the three arch line through the center of Paris.
 

After meeting back at the Apple Store we made our way to the bus.  There was quite a delay as some other driver had not purchased a parking ticket and although he was at the exit gate, the arm wouldn’t lift.  He had to run back to the entrance to purchase one and back to his bus.  Clara, the Program Director said it happens all the time!

Heavy evening rush hour traffic delayed us further and by the time I got to the ship I had only 8 minutes to change for dinner and make my way to the briefing.  I was about five minutes late and missed the festivities.  After introducing the captain, chef, hotel manager etc. everyone sang happy birthday to Captain Fantzy – he turned 28!  And we did learn as he came around to great everyone that his Mom was a big fan of Happy Days and he is indeed named for The Fonz.  Fontzy is his first name and it is pronounced like the Henry Winkler character!

On we went to dinner of a delicious braised beef and filet combination topped off by a light chocolate cream over a crispy chocolate crust.  We only lasted a little while after dinner in the lounge to enjoy more of Nikki’s music while we chatted with some of our new friends and watched some couples execute well practiced dance steps on the compact dance floor.  It was our own Dancing with the Stars Monday night!