These messages are from a series of e-mails written after our vacation to Paris and Italy, in the summer of 2002. The events recounted in this internet diary occurred on Monday, June 17.
--Jim McQueen
We all pooped out pretty early that first evening, I remember being in bed while it was still light outside. The next morning, Sean and I were both awake before dawn. At 4:00 AM Paris time, we went out for a short walk -- it felt like we were the only people in the dark city. About 6:30 am, we took another walk. Our apartment was at the intersection of Rue Montmarte and Rue du Louvre, and Sean and I headed down towards the Louvre. The first photo is outside the entrance to the museum, a little before seven in the morning.
We turned from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Starting behind Sean is this first small Arc, then the Obélisque de Luxor, the Champs-Elysees, and finally in the distance, the large Arc de Triomphe.
After this photo Sean and I walked this way through the gardens of the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde. (The Obélisque is in the center of Concorde.) This was all probably a distance of a mile from our apartment -- at that point we turned back, and walked home through the city streets to see if anyone else was up. When we got there, Nancy joined us for caffe au lait at a sidewalk café on our corner.
Love,
Jim
I finally got my first few rolls of film back this afternoon... I'm very disappointed at the photos I took at the Eiffel Tower. The light conditions fooled BOTH cameras that I used to take a photo of Grandpa. (I already knew the one from the digital camera was dark -- but my 35mm film camera was fooled by the backlight, too.)
Anyway, here's more of our first full day in Paris. Mom walked over about 11 am, and we all took the Metro to the station across the river from the Eiffel tower.
(We planned to buy week-long passes, but had difficulties... Mom was the only one who planned ahead and brought a small ID photo with her. The rest of us had to fiddle with a photo-booth machine, and it probably took us a good hour to get our passes.)
We went to the Trocadero station, because that one has the best view as you approach the tower. There's a plaza that looks across to the tower, that's where most pictures are posed, with the tower in the background. Unfortunately, the plaza was obstructed by a construction site -- we had to take our photo a little lower, and got stuck with a small wall behind us.
So here's the photo -- I've fiddled with the color as best I can, but I'm still disappointed. This would have been better late in the afternoon, when the sun would have been on all our faces. (I'm mailing a small copy of the original, to show how dark the picture really is.)
After posing a while, we walked across the river to the tower, and got lunch. Photos tomorrow!
Love,
Jim
By the time we actually got to the tower, it was past lunch time. At the base of the tower, in addition to the hordes of tourists, there was a small snack stand. With broken French, and lots of pointing at the menu, we ordered a meal -- mostly ham and/or cheese sandwiches, made on a baguette. (These were delicious, the first dozen or so times we had them for lunch...)
With sandwiches in hand, we walked around the park at the base of the tower, and found a shady spot on the grass to sit and eat. It was a pleasant spot, and the sandwiches really were good. (We really should have planned ahead and brought a bottle of wine.)
Love,
Jim
After lunch, we went up. There were long lines for the elevators in each leg of the tower, so we got in the line that was in the shade.
We had a small wait, it wasn't too bad really. We rode in an elevator that rose at an angle inside the north leg of the tower. The tower has three public levels, we went as far as the elevator could take us, to the second level. (The admission to the Eiffel Tower was about €10 for the elevator -- €3 if you climb the stairs.) (Does the Euros symbol "€" display right in everybody's e-mail?)
Anyway, we walked around the second level and looked at the views. It was pretty, and relatively clear, but it was also hot. After a while, we got in line again, for the next elevator, and rode to the top of the tower. This elevator ran straight up the middle, from the second level.
Again, the view was nice. It was still hot, but occasionally there was a breeze. The bad part came when we decided to leave -- there was yet another line for the elevator. This time, the line formed in the lower part of the viewing platform, which was enclosed and SWELTERING. The line seemed slower, too, we probably waited 15 minutes.
Somehow, we'd become separated from Mom, and it took us a while to hook up with her again. We were all pretty tired, and we'd spent much of the day at the tower. We returned to our apartments about 4:00 PM for naps and showers.
That evening we visited Mom's apartment, then the four of us had dinner at a brassiere near her. I ordered a "cassiolet", not knowing what it was. It sounded similar to a casserole, but turned out to be a cast-iron pot full of soup, filled with sausage, a ham-bone, and REALLY BIG beans. The beans were each just over an inch long -- about half the volume of a golf ball! It was sure good soup, though.
We got home about 10:00 PM -- Susan would arrive the next day.
Love,
Jim