Monday July 12th, 2010. The Air France Airbus is approaching Charles de Gaulle Airport under cloudy skies. We landed just in time, the thunder rolled.
Getting through customs was easy. We were taking the RER, the commuter train to Gare du Nord and then the Metro line number 2 to Place de Clichy. It was early in the morning and the hotel would not be ready yet, so we would go to my parents with the luggage to the apartment they stayed in with my sister, brother-in-law and three kids.
The RER train from Charles de Gaulle becomes crowded quickly. We are going in town quickly and it is rush hour. Greeted immediately by a beggar on the train. My French works in this case.
I am watching out the train window, the grim day and all the graffiti. It is something New York trains got rid of twenty years ago. The suburbs or banlieues tend to be rougher. Have to negotiate getting out at Gare du Nord, along with the bags. Long walk up to the el tracks for the Metro Line 2.
We saw all sorts of French speakers with suitcases, so being in the Metro with bags was not strange. Arrived at my family’s rental apartment.
It was in a nice courtyard at the back. The courtyard was like a small town off a busy main Parisian Street, Avenue de Clichy. There are some businesses at the front of the courtyard. The apartment was nice and the great thing about renting an apartment is being able to only have to eat lunch out.
We got checked into our hotel, Hotel El Dorado on Rue des Dames. It was up four flights, great for exercise, the room was above a Bistro courtyard and you could dream about being a writer in Paris.
That afternoon, we went to the Left Bank and went to the Musee Cluny, the Medieval museum. I did not go in. I was tired and wanted to keep my Dad company. He was having trouble walking. The ladies could see the Medieval stuff.
When we had lunch out, I tried an andouille. I love the mustard, Grey Poupon does not hold a candle to it.
Food is great, fresh, you can buy bread and meat for the house from specialty stores. There was a local supermarket, part of the Monoprix chain. We took a picture of a display for Old El Paso products, otherwise, who would believe us?
Tuesday, was our first full day there. Got in the Metro and went to Ile de la Cite, where Paris got its start as a fishing village all those centuries ago.
The Cite Metro station on line number 4 and is four flights down, luckily it has an elevator. You come out of the station in the middle of a flower market with some greenhouses. The first place we went first was Notre Dame.
It is impressive, that’s for sure. The size and the glasswork Then it was time to hit the souvenir shops.
One thing you see at the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame is Gypsy beggars. They ask if you speak English, then there is some sort of scam. I have no idea what the scam is, because I could get read of them easily with a wave of my hand and yelling Allez! (Go). My sister Debby speaks better French and one upped me. She would yell at them Recevez un emploi! (Get a job)! They are not really fazed by this, they just move on to someone who will fall for whatever the scam is.
We had lunch at a place I found in the Paris Access guidebook. They enjoyed the fact we spoke French. Even if you do not speak French, by trying you really do win hearts and minds.
After lunch was St. Chapelle, which is a 14th Century church commissioned by King Louis IX (later canonized and became St. Louis. Y’all in Missouri, that’s where the name comes from). Not elaborate like Notre Dame, but fascinating. It is part of the complex which now houses the Palais du Justice (the law courts and the French fictional detective I have been reading since childhood, Maigret. One Maigret takes place in Tucson, how I first learned about the city).
A fun interesting day.

Wednesday, Elaine’s legs were hurting. She stayed behind with my Dad. It rained on and off and was cloudy and damp. We went to the Natural History Museum. My nieces were a little bothered by the animals preserved by taxidermy. Then wandered around the interesting small streets of the neighborhood. More of the Medieval streets survived Baron Haussmann in the Latin Quarter.
Baron Haussmann was the Prefect of Paris in the middle of the 19th Century. The old streets were Centuries old and bred disease. Many entire neighborhoods were knocked down. The other reason later became preventing the barricades, as in Les Miserables. It makes it easier to for the authorities to get down broad boulevards and shoot them.
Just walking the streets of Paris is a joy.

Thursday, Today is the Louvre, possibly the largest museum in the Western World. We are only seeing a small corner of it.
Have to see the Mona Lisa, of course. She looks like she is bored. “Get on with it, Leonardo!” Enjoyed the Assyrian exhibit. My mother calls them “Men with Purses.” It is not a handbag, but a European shoulder bag, like in the Progressive Insurance commercial.
My sister and I made faces in front of a statue. Yes, there is a picture.
Dad was having a tough time, so he and Mom went off in a cab and the rest of us walked off got lunch and hung out on Ile de la Cite. That became a base.
Friday, Musee D’Orsay. I was looking forward to this. These are statues and Impressionist paintings in an old train station that was saved from the wreckers ball. First, the Eiffel Tower. We did not go up, the line was for two hours and it was not a great day.
Then we got on the RER for the Musee D’Orsay, where we met my parents. Afterwards, Elaine and I met someone I met on Michael Palin’s website for a drink. Her name is Stephanie. Then walked back toward Ile de la Cite passing the Institut de France. (Where the Academie Francaise is). Took some pictures for possible story settings.

Saturday. I stayed behind. My turn to be tired.

Sunday. Just Elaine and I. Went to Pere Lachaise Cemetery, have pictures of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde’s grave, among others. Then back to the Left Bank, Shakespeare and Company and Ile de la Cite.
There were lots of pictures, lots of walking and great food. Feel free to ask questions.