Day 20 - Epernay, Moet & Chandon Winery

I love the French countryside! We traveled first class (Woo Hoo!) on the bullet train to Epernay, the heart of the world's most prestigious vineyards, and the Capital of Champagne. It is a little town out in the country where the Moet & Chandon Winery is located and is the main center for bottling, storing, and selling the wines of the Champagne region. The French countryside is gorgeous! It is true, you can't judge France by Paris. That would be like judging the US with NYC. There are too many beautiful towns, parks and cities to see that give totally different views of the country.



After hearing a bit about the history, we took a guided tour down in the cellars of the Moet winery, a winery that has passed down from one generation to another. It was very interesting to hear about the process of wine making from start to finish. One thing I learned was how they get rid of the sediment from the bottles. They turn the bottles upside down, freeze the bottles, and then pop the sediment ice cube from the bottle. Turning the bottles is part of the maturation process and one person can rotate over 5000 bottles in one day. I was also surprised to learn that the bubbles were created through a mistake made by Dom Perignon himself! What a great flub, Dom!We finished our tour with a flute of Grand Vintage 2003 white and a flute of Grand Vintage 2003 Rose'. I won't say who chugged an extra glass of wine that someone did not drink after the sommeliers left the room! Too funny!

It's good to be in Paris. It's great to be in Paris during Bastille! It's their Independence Day. It is officially tomorrow (7/14), but they've already started celebrating. We attended a dance festival this evening with music of various genres. There is a parade tomorrow morning and fireworks at the Eiffel Tower tomorrow night. We're planning to go see the fireworks. I mean, really! How can you be in Paris and not see fireworks at the Eiffel Tower on Independence Day? I can't wait!

Day 19 - Versailles - Lines!,Lines! Everywhere lines!

Today we visited the Palace of Versailles. The lines were LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG! Seriously long. Like, worse than Disney long! Because of that I'm BEEEEEEEEAT! So, you can click on the link if you want to know more about this lavish palace of King Louis XIV. Otherwise, just look at my pictures to get an idea of my day.

My favorite part of the palace was the Hall of Mirrors and the Gardens, which included sculptues, flowers, manicured lawns, fountains, the preferred home of Marie Antoinette, and a Grand Canal. Oh, it's good to be king!

This last photo is my favorite of the day. Out of the thousands of people who visited the Versailles today, this lovely girl found a place of solitude atop a castle wall reading a book. I'm sure her parents were in a line somewhere! (I did a fresco effect on the picture to make it look like a painting.) Also posted a cropped view.

Day 18 - Champs Elysees, Pont Neuf, River Seine

I changed the size of my pictures on my camera, so I'm hoping they'll upload for this post. Thanks, Nate! It seems to be working some of the time, but the Internet connection keeps going in and out. I'll post pics as soon as I am able. (The numbers you see represent the picture I have yet to be able to post. I don't want to have to go through 500 pictures AGAIN!)

We were on our way to the Metro this morning when I noticed that cars were parked on the sidewalk. How cool is that?




Walking up the Champs Elysees (the avenue leading to the arch) to the Arc de Triomphe, we passed by beautiful homes with statues and gardens in their yards. The homes were gorgeous and well represented the wealth in the area. This assumedly homeless man sleeping on the park bench in front of one of these homes was quite a contrast. So sad.




This is just an example of one of the outside cafes that are all over the streets of Paris.






And this is one example of several guys we saw dressed in drag for whatever reasons. They all were having a great time....probably hoping to be the next YouTube star.




Again with the clocks. I thought this cute little clock outside the Swatch store was adorable with the little bunny rabbits on it. Upon seeing an enlarged view on my computer, I realized it wasn't just cute, it was oo la la!

Great concept car by Citroen! Got several detailed pictures of this one. I didn't ask the price though. Hey, that's something else to talk about. Once you pass the gorgeous homes, you enter a long stretch of shopping. Scattered among Cartier, Louis Vitton, I Love Paris (a tacky tourist shop), Kids' Gap, etc., are all these car dealerships. Mercedes, Toyota, Citroen. You just walk in the store and do your shopping for a car. There are no car lots (that I know of). 239 219

After leaving the Champs Elysees, we headed to the River Seine to walk along the River Walk. To get there, we went through the Jardin des Tuillieries, which is a garden surrounded by the Louvre, the Seine, the Place de la Concorde, and the Rue de Rivoli.

We stopped for a while at the fountain to feed the baby ducks and try to absorb all our surroundings. Simply gorgeous. I took loads of pictures in this area. I thought this picture of the birch trees was interesting because people had actually used the trees to write their names or draw hearts with their initials in it. I thought it looked like a work of art. The third picture shows an area where street vendors display their goods, some of which are original pieces of art. Here is an artist we came across on the bridge as he was painting. I couldn't make a connection because he speaks French and I don't. Sacre bleu! 261


Jeannie and I shared a creme brulee for dessert! Yummy! OOPS! We were so anxious to eat it we forgot to take a picture! It was much prettier before we broke the sugar topping!

Funny story...
When we were leaving the cafe, Jeannie's security alarm/key chain went off. Three waiters came running over, but they were laughing because they knew what she had done. Jeannie got so flustered that she first forgot her Metro card laying on the table, which the waiter brought to her. Before walking out the door, we were talking to a group of Floridians from Gainesville. Lucky for Jeannie, because this time the waiter brought over her sweater. He was still laughing and told her that she was cut off from wine and she should stop smoking those funny cigarettes. LOL! You had to be there!


On the way home we happened upon this memorial. Not only can I not speak French, but I can't read it either. The plaque said something about the liberation of Paris: La Liberation de Paris, 1944.

Day 17 - The Louvre

We took the Metro to the Louvre this morning. We quickly learned that you have to be quicker about hopping on and off, as Michelle was left standing when the doors closed and all of us had boarded but her. Thankfully, Harry yelled to her that we would go to the next stop. So at the next stop we hopped off and awaited the next train to see if she was on it. We all cheered when we saw her and hopped on the train with her. Together again. Quick thinking, Harry! Good work!




Good heavens; the Louvre is huge! It began as a fortress in the 12th century, was later the palace of Sung King, Louis XIV, and has been a museum since the late 18th century. We were able to tour one wing today and a small part of another. That's it! You could easily spend two weeks in this museum if you were really into art.











Some of the most famous pieces of art I saw today were the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace (which is surprisingly larger than I had anticipated), and the Mona Lisa (which is surprisingly smaller than I had anticipated).

I took a picture of a cute litte Irish girl in sunglasses. She was playing in the water in the fountain by the pyramid. She was so cute.

Click here to read more about the history of the Louvre and see some pictures of the artwork housed within the museum. Additionally, there is some interesting information about The Di Vinci Code (the Tom Hanks movie set at the Louvre) and the museum, and reality vs fiction.

After leaving the Louvre, we walked around, just taking in all the sights and sounds of the streets of Paris. It's an amazing city. Something I found shocking is that motor cycles can drive on the sidewalks! YES! You can imagine our surprise when we saw this for the first time! Paris seems to be very accomodating to cyclists. At one of the large round-abouts that had several roads connecting to it, I noticed that at the end of each sidewalk there was a large space cornered off just for bicycle and motorcycle parking (and there were loads of them!).

There are also many street cafes, and since the weather is so beautiful, sitting outside eating dinner and people watching makes for a perfect way to spend the evening.

Day 16 - British Library, Platform 9 3/4, Eurostar, Paris, Eiffel Tower (Due to technical difficulties, pictures will be uploaded later.)

OH MY GOD! I'M IN PARIS!

Back in London toay, we visited the British Library, which is the national library of the UK. Its vast collection is so large, it is second only to the Library of Congress. The BL holds over 150 million items, including over 25 million books, and historical items dating back to 300 BC. We saw an original Magna Carta and the Gutenberg Bible. The GB dates back to the mid 15th century and represents the beginning of the printed book.

All this history, yet the most remarkable thing was visiting Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station. Sound familiar? It's the famous platform that Harry Potter used to get to Hogwarts. By the way, some people from our group got to see J.K. Rowling last week, as well as stars from the film. They were here promoting their new movie coming out this week.




We then hopped aboard the Eurostar for a quick trip to Paris (2 1/2 hours). We went under the English Channel, but because there are various tunnels throughout the trip, it was difficult to tell exactly which was taking us under the water. Here is a picture of the train station and then us on the streets of Paris heading toward our hotel, which is just a block from the Metro.

Once we got to the hotel, we quickly got settled and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Our first site was as we rounded a corner and we could see the top of the tower. It looked enormous. The closer we got made us realze just how large it really is. We scurried to get in line to go to the top, but it was temporarily closed. We did go to the second landing, however, and got some beautiful shots of the city.


Well I must say, my first impressions of Paris are mixed. The Eiffel Tower is amazing, as well as the views of the city. However, since we've gotten here we've seen three arrests (a couple really close up!) and the people are not as reserved and mannerly as those in London. I realize I've only been here for a few hours, so I'm holding out hope that this was just "one of those nights" and I will become just as enamoured with this city as I was with London. Oh, did I mention the guards with machine guns?

Day 15 - Kensington Gardens, Harrod's, Hard Rock Cafe

Kensington Palace was William and Mary's London home, which is surrounded by the beautiful Kensington Gardens. It is 275 acres of magnificent trees and ornamental flower beds, much like other gardens we have seen. Our walk in this park was filled with ducks, geese, coots, gallinules, herons....and other people enjoying it as much as I was. It was fantastic. We visited a memorial to Princess Di, and the fountains where we took lots of pictures showing reflections in the water (since that was our focus for today).





Surprising things happen in a park. One of my most favorite things in this park was the statue of Peter Pan! The statue was erected in secret during the night and 'magically' appeared on May 1, 1912. This announcement was in The Times that morning:

"There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr. J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around. It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived."


We ate lunch at the Hard Rock - London. T-shirts were $35 so I passed. Back in the day those t's were the thing to have. I decided I'd rather spend my limited funds in Paris!

Shop till you drop at HARROD's! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Harrod's! What a fantastic store! It is ornately decorated with works of art and chandeliers. They have everything from a snack shop to fine dining with a pianist. From a bargain basement to a $250 D&G dress for a little girl...yes a LITTLE girl, like a size 2T! From a $5 plastic bag to a $3,000 Gucci bag (or more). From a candy shop to a coffee shop. From a tea shop to a wine shop. From fresh veges to cuts of meat. From breads to pastries (there's even a Krispie Kreme!). You can find EVERYTHING at Harrod's! LOVE IT! (Did I mention I love Harrod's?)



Two more items and then I must pack for Paris. I must post these two pictures simply because he's a cutie and this Rolls Royce from Kuwait caught my attention. We were walking by an International Hotel that caters to the wealthy. It was close by Harrods...obvious connection.







Well, three things. While in the garden, I had been watching three dogs at play. One in particular had been chasing a tennis ball into the Serpentine and then I noticed this sign, which I thought was amusing since Ted had been swimming for awhile. Here is my next picture after seeing the sign. There must have been more than a dozen dogs in this area at one time. Though not all went into the water, four more disobeyed the sign and jumped right in for a swim. Maybe they're struggling readers (or just little rebel rousers).











OKAY, OKAY, four things. This little boy was so cute. He would take one piece of cereal and feed it to the birds, then another, then another. The next he would feed to himself! He was so cute!









And finally, back at the flat, I made a connection. It seems one of the guys here at the Study Center is studying theater and music. He is from Austin, Texas, but has lived all over. He desparately wants to be an actor. His name is Robert Henry, which will be easy for me to remember since I went to school with a Bob Henry. When I asked him if he preferred comedy or drama, he responded, "I prefer whatever pays." CUTE SMILE! I told him I would look for his name in lights. (And if I see it, I'm going to call and say, Remember when..."!

Okay, that's plenty for now. It's the British Library tomorrow morning and the Eiffel Tower tomorrow evening! I'll be traveling on the high speed EuroStar through the channel tunnel, which runs under the English Channel. It runs at a speed of almost 200 mph. (And you guys think I drive fast!) I love Europe! (Transporting this heavy luggage ought to be a REAL treat! UGH!)