PARIS

Rick Steves' Best of Europe in 14 Days

Sept. 6-8, 2008

After a short flight across the English Channel from London, we arrived in Paris on Sept. 6th, eager to meet our Rick Steves tour guide and fellow travelers at our hotel. The Hotel Duquesne Eiffel is located on a lovely tree-lined street within sight of the Eiffel Tower—c'est tres bon!

Following introductions and a welcoming sip of some lovely French wine in the hotel's breakfast room, Dave Fox, our tour guide, led our newly-acquainted group of 27 on a walking tour of our Parisian neighborhood. Over dinner, we shared our excitement, apprehensions ("Will I be able to keep up with the group?") and pet stories ("Have you called home yet to check on your kitty?") with our dinner-table companions. (Yes, we all kept up just fine! And no, no one had called to check on their pets yet.)

Our evening Seine River cruise gave us breathtaking views of the Eiffel Tower, which put on a spectacular show of flashing white lights for ten minutes every hour, and was equally as beautiful when lit up in solid blue. What a sight magnifique!

Another impressive sight from our riverboat vantage point was the Statue of Liberty. Wait—did we make a wrong turn somewhere? No, it turns out that a one-quarter scale replica of the New York statue was given to France by Americans living in Paris in 1889, three years after France made her famous gift to the United States. She sits alongside the Seine River, facing the direction of her New York sister.

Dave made sure we learned to navigate the public transportation systems of all the major cities we visited. Here we hopped off the Paris Metro en route to Sainte-Chapelle , a beautiful chapel in the heart of the city. Sainte-Chapelle was completed in 1248 by King Louis IX to house Christ's crown of thorns in hopes of drawing pilgrims to see these holy relics.

The two-story exterior is a fairly impressive Gothic structure, but wait until you see the interior!

Inside Sainte-Chapelle , the lower chapel, where the commoners worshipped, is ornately decorated with rich colors and delicate arches. Even more impressive is the upper chapel, with its beautifully backlit stained-glass windows and soaring arched ceiling. Here, on the second story, is where the royal family and their friends worshipped. (By the way, the relics have long since disappeared.)

Then it was on to the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, which is 700 years old and took 200 years to build. The outside is an amazing façade of carvings, statues, and rosettes, with flying buttresses on the sides to help support the high ceiling. Inside, the soaring ribbed ceiling and arched supporting columns are spectacular! We were allowed to walk around the perimeter of the main sanctuary even while Mass was taking place in the center. A very moving sight!

A break for lunch gave us time to explore the nearby Latin Quarter, named for the Latin-speaking students who once lived there. Now, let's see...Gene, how many Euros for two crepes?

The next stop was the Musee d'Orsay, a huge former train station that now houses a spectacular display of Impressionist art from the mid-1800's to about 1915.

What a thrill to see these original masterpieces by Whistler, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, and so many others! This is what I came for! Gene and I followed the self-guided tour in Rick Steves' sightseeing supplement which came with our pre-tour materials, and savored the Musee d'Orsay's highlights. I was in heaven!

We capped off our day with a leisurely dinner in the rue Cler area of Paris, within walking distance of our hotel.

Rue Cler is a charming neighborhood with traffic-free streets for pedestrians, lovely shops, and cafes. We loved the way the outdoor tables faced the street for better people-watching! This was a fairly strenuous day, with my pedometer logging around 18,000 steps, or over eight miles. But after walking all over London, this seemed like a piece of gateau!

The next morning, we boarded our luxurious tour bus for the first time and got a bird's-eye view of the Arc de Triomphe. Lou, our bus driver, quipped that the area surrounding the Arc is the only place in Paris where vehicles are not insured, as drivers converge on the circle from twelve boulevards and vie for position to exit at their chosen street. (I've since learned that this isn't strictly true, but it gave us all a good laugh as Lou deftly maneuvered our large bus through busy traffic.)

The Louvre Museum was up next. Christine, our local guide, led us on a tour of the museum's highlights. Using a whisper audio system, we were able to listen to Christine's narration about each piece of art that she showed us, which greatly added to the experience.

I felt like pinching myself standing in front of the actual Mona Lisa,

the original Venus de Milo,

the genuine Wedding Feast at Cana, and much, much more! The Louvre houses 35,000 works of art. If you spent one minute viewing each item, it would take 73 eight-hour days to see it all. So we definitely left a few items for our next visit.

I was tickled that I could read some of the French words on the plaques in the museums. All those hours of marching around our neighborhood back home listening to French lessons on my iPod was beginning to pay off!

Overall impressions of Paris:

a beautiful, enchanting city

delicious food, prepared with fresh ingredients and slow-cooked to perfection

so much art, so short the time!

I loved hearing the French language. Even though I wasn't able to understand very much when it was spoken to me, at least I could sometimes read a smattering of French. I want to work on my French and come back! Je retournerai!

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