France "Guys Trip" Day 7

Our last full day in Europe, so we started with another hotel meal.

After watching the weather, and our experiences yesterday in the Louvre, we decided to leave our coats in the hotel and hope we didn't get too cold throughout the day. It turned out to be great not having all that weight to lug around.

We took the subway near the Eiffel Tower, and slowly walked toward it taking pictures every now and then. As we got close, we could see huge crowds, and the tower hadn't even opened yet. We asked someone how long it would take, and he said it would take the whole morning to get up and back down. After talking a bit we decided to skip the tower, and not even climb the stairs to the first level.

We walked to the Seine river and crossed, then a little further on we came to a Palace and fountains. After walking a bit more, we decided it would be too far to walk to Notre Dame, and waste too much time.

Once we left the subway and crossed to the island Notre Dame is on, we again saw huge lines to climb the spires of the cathedral and decided to skip that. We paid and went inside, and again got the audio tour. It's a huge and magnificent building, but not quite as built up as Westminster. There were the same little chapels along the sides, but few were stuffed with statues the way Westminster was.

After Notre Dame, we headed for Sainte-Chapelle. Mike explained that Notre Dame was where the common people went to worship, but Sainte-Chapelle was where the royals and nobles worshipped. It was built using a new techniqu that allowed the walls to have much larger stained glass windows. We were lucky it was such a sunny day because the stained glass was bright and very striking. Without the bright sunlight, the years of smog and soot have somewhat dimmed the glass.

It was a much smaller chapel, but much more stained glass than Notre Dame.

It was getting near noon, so we headed for a small cafe Mike had found in the travel guide. It was on the same Island as the cathedrals, but down an alleyway.

The cafe seemed very small and was packed with tables and chairs so people had to get up and scoot around as you made your way to your table. We got a tiny table with 2 chairs near one wall. I ordered Cock-au-vin with a salad, and we each got died coke. The bottles were tiny, maybe 8 ounces. My salad was really good. As we were eating, a french couple came in and sat near us. They saw my salad and the lady ordered the same thing. They talked about us a bit, and Mike translated. I don't remember exactly what they said, but part of it was "Typical American Tourists".

The chicken I got was fantastic. The sauce was really good, and the chickn was tender but not turned to mush. It also had roast potatoes that were very good. When I later learned that Cock-au-vin meant Chicken in wine sauce, I asked Mike why he let me order it and didn't warn me. He said "Everything on the menu had alcohol in it, and most everything in every restauraunt in Paris is the same." I don't remember what I had for desert, but Mike got a cheese tray as his desert. I'd never heard of a cheese assortment for desert, but he let me try some. They were all very good, including the stinky ones.

After lunch e headed for the Louvre again. This time we went through allot of Greek statues. We split up a bit and just kind of wandered through the area. I was especially struck by a statue depicting a man being attacked by a lion. The audio guide said the statue depicted Milon, a 12 time Greek hero of the Olympics. As he tries to prove his strength by splitting a tree with his bare hands, his hand gets stuck and a lion attacks and kills him while he stands there defenseless.

We looked at statues for about 2 hours, then started down a wing with allot of furniture and decorations. Some of it contained the apartments and furniture that Napoleon used. The throne was not very elegant, but after seeing the English throne and all the graffiti on it, I guess it was much better after all.

We ate dinner in the Louvre, then headed down some of the back passages. We saw the foundations of the original castle that makes up the Louvre, and some of the Egyptian obelysks.

We did leave a bit earlier this time, and took the underground out to the Champs-Elysees. We spent a while shopping for gifts for my daughters an wife. We found a "designer coat" for my daughter Kadi, and some facial masks and lotions from a famous french beauty shop.

We walked down the Champs-Elysees for a while, then found an open air cafe with heaters outside. I ordered an omelette, and Mike got some more cheese. We just sat people watching and talking for a couple of hours. I called home again. Finally near midnight we made our way to the underground and headed for the Hotel.

At the hotel we asked for a cab to pick us up early, and one that could take Visa.

The cab arrived on time the next morning, and we headed for the airport. This time there was no waitin for a shuttle or anything, The cab let us off right by our terminal. We checked in and walked to our gate.

I went looking for something for breakfast, and in their little convenience store I found big bags of the white chocolate malted milk balls that we had found in Bath. I'd given up on finding them again, so I bought several bags to bring home to my daughter.

We flew back from Paris to Atlanta. When we arrived we checked into getting earlier flights home, but nothing was available. We started looking for somewhere to eat, but the air conditioners in the terminal were out. We found a mexican restaurant with a table out in the open and got a little something.

Mike and I chatted about what we'd seen and done, then talked about doing another trip like it a year later. It was very sad to say godbye and see such a great time come to an end.

Me in front of the Eiffel Tower


The crowds under the tower trying to get up, and the reason we decided not to


Looking down the Seine River from the Eiffel Tower


Me in front of the famous fountains and palace (I think)


Inside Notre Dame


Carvings on the side of the Chapel in Notre Dame


A scale model of Notre Dame


Stained glass in Sainte-Chapelle


Inside Sainte-Chapelle


More Stained glass in Sainte-Chapelle


Cafe where we ate lunch near Notre Dame


A typical Paris street


Me outside the Louvre


A bronze lion


Large bronze statues depicting France's defeat of 4 nations.


This sculpture really touched me. Milon was an Olympic champion who in his old age tried to prove his strength by splitting a tree with his hands. Instead gets his hand stuck and a lion kills him..


Perseus, Andromeda, and the head of Medusa



Napoleon's bed


Napoleon's throne


The entry to the Louvre


Me by the inner pyramid in the Louvre



The typical tourist picture of the Arch du Triumph while standing in the middle of the Champs-Elysées


Mike in front of the Arch du Triumph

France "Guys Trip" Day 6

Friday Morning we got up very early because we had to go through or past 3 major cities on our way to the Bristol Airport and we didn't want to get stuck in traffic.

Our trusty GPS got us on the Motorway, across the Severne Bridge, and past Bristol without much trouble, but it took us kind of a wierd way to the Airport. I don't know why it took us around the way it did, but there had to be a more direct route. Whatever the case, we were there almost 2 hours before our flight so we didn't worry about it too much.

We returned the car and they didn't ask any questions about condition. We checked in, checked our luggage, then I decided to find something for breakfast. There was a full "English" breakfast upstairs for 4 pounds or something so I bought that. It included eggs, country potatoes, blood sausage, and bacon, but they were out of blood sausage so they gave me double bacon. I didn't mind.

Our plane left on time, and as Mike and I chatted, we again heard allot of different language around us just like the night before. The was a man and a young girl, about 7 years old behind us, and Mike asked me what language I thought it was. I laughed, and replied "They're speaking English". He tried listening more but couldn't make it out. So I started quietly repeating what the man was saying. He was her father and was asking if she had enjoyed the game (soccer I think). She said she had, but her mother didn't like her playing so she didn't know if she'd keep going. Then they talked about their plans for the next week.

The man had a very VERY strong welsh accent, and it comes out very sing songy with some peculiar words to boot. They did use the occasional welsh word, especially adjectives. The girl had a pretty strong English accent, but spoke her welsh words perfectly. I never figured out if the man and the girls mother were divorced, but I think they weren't. The man was just taking their daughter to visit someone in Paris.

The flight over was smooth and there was scattered clouds so I spent allot of time staring out the window and wondering just where we were. The time over the channel was very short.

I guess I should explain why we chose to fly rather than take the Chunnel train. From London, the Chunnel costs over one hundred pounds. but we were in Cardiff. So a train from Cardiff to London was aother Hundred and some pounds, making over 200 pounds to get to Paris, and taking most of the day.

The flight left near 10:00 and we were in Paris by noon, and cost about 50 pounds less. So while the Chunnel train would have been to ride and tell people about, it would have consumed the whole day and cost allot more.

We landed in Paris and they barely gave our passports a glance was we left the terminal. We waited 15 minutes for a shuttle to take us to the terminal with the train depot, but we managed to catch a train into Paris pretty quick. We got off the train just a couple of blocks from the Marriott (properly spelled) and checked in. They were having rennovations done, and we had a little trouble getting a room with both working internet and working air conditioner.

We left almost immediatly and rode the subway to the Paris Harley Davidson to buy T-Shirts. We chatted with the sales lady about Harleys and everything she had done in life, then left to find some lunch. We made our way to a famouse square (but I don't remember the name) and ate lunch in a cafe on one corner. The food was great (of course). I think I had scallops.

After lunch, we rode the subway to the Louvre. We had decided to do 2 shorter trips to the Louvre rather than one long trip because you tend to get overwhelmed and exhausted with all the art and walking. We did the 2 biggest things first, the Mona Lisa, and the Vinus De Milo.

They recently made a change, and no longer allow any pictures of the Mona Lisa. A guard said it wasn't to protect it from flash or anything, it was for crowd control. First they banned all tripods because people would spend hours trying to get the perfect shot, then they had to ban cameras all together. Even with no cameras, it took us nearly an hour to get in and out of the room. The guard said the DaVinci Code had a huge effect on crowds in that section of the museum and they had moved the painting to a bigger room with better flow.

Next we went to th Vinus which didn't have near the crowds, but to me was much more striking. Then we saw the Winged Victory wich again, was incredible looking. But everywhere we went, there were beautiful sculptures.

We stayed for nearly 4 hours and then tried to leave before the crowds got too bad. But we got caught in the rush anyway.

We went outside and looked around, then decided to walk to the Champs--Elysées. So we walked along the parks on the Rue-de-Rivoli. We got a crepe, but it was getting late and the vendors weren't cooking fresh ones. It was still good though.

I called home and chatted with my family on the way. I was getting a bit homesick by now. It's funny but when our kids were young and we'd been married around 10 years, Nan used to take the kids and go up to a cabin in Northern Arizona for weeks at a time. While she was gone, I'd work till Midnight or later every night, and would go up to visit one or two nights now and then. But the longer we've been married, I have gotten to where the first 2 days I can work hard and late, then I kind of work about normal, and by the 5th day I'm moping around whining about how much I miss my wife and kids.

We made it to the Champs-Elysées by about 11:00 and there was still a very full crowd. We had another crepe, and window shopped. As we got near the far end, we realized we had never eaten a dinner, so we found a nice cafe and bought sandwiches and pastries. Even their fast food was very good.

We made our way to the subway and got back to the hotel well after midnight.

Looking out the Plane window as we leave England


The English Coast


The French Coast


Flat Stanley and a French town as we land in Paris


Flat Stanley in the window of the Train we rode into Paris


The Paris Harley Davidson shop


Winged Victory in the Louvre


Venus De Milo


The shot of Venus that you hardly ever see


There were so many fantastic statues in the Louvre


A painted ceiling


The Eifle Tower as we walked toward the Champs-Elysées

England "Guys Trip" Day 5

We got up this morning to find the an absolutly clear blue sky outside. That is unusual for Mark in Wales, so I took a couple of pictures as proof for a lady at work that was born here. She warned me a couple of times about the weather we were likely to find.

The first place we went was to a laundromat. I only brought 4 changes of clothes and always figured that I'd need to do some laundry at some point on the trip. We drove about 3 miles to a laundry place which wasn't in the best of neighborhoods. It wasn't crime ridden or anything, but it was a little run down. I started a load of whites and colors (aren't you proud of me Nan?) and we started walking around looking for somewhere to get a little breakfast.

We found a bakery several blocks down and bought some pastries and milk then kept walking. About 1/2 mile from the laundrette we saw an old Church of England that was closed and up for sale. It was a little disturbing to see an multi hundred year old building being sold like a bad restaurant.

We put the clothes in to try and walked down the other direction. I was a little suprised to see how many different types of cafe's and restaurants there were. We say Indian, Thai, Chinese, and some others that I don't remember. But we only saw 1 fish & chips. When we got back, all of the clothes were done except for the jeans. I didn't want to try to find more change so we spread the pants out on the back seat, rolled the windows down and headed off.

The first stop was a Chapel we used to go to for Missionary meetings. It looked just like I remembered and still had signs in both English and Welsh out front. Our next stop was one of my favorite places to visit. I probably went there 4 times on my mission. I knew it wasn't far from the chapen, so we put the GPS back into Mountain Bike mode and told it to take us there. Sure enough, within minutes we were on a little country back road zooming through the trees. It wasn't very long, maybe 10 minutes and we arrived at the castle.

Castell Coch used to be a real midevial castle that was used to control boat traffic up and down the nearby river. In 1872 Lord Bute bought the castell and hired the famous architect William Burges to rebuild the castle. It is filled with whimsicle designs and looks almost like a fairytale caste from the highway, poking up through the trees. There were allot of school kids there on a field trip, and I overheard allot of the same whining and grumbling our kids would give if they were going to a museum. At least until they got to the gift shop, then every boy I saw had a wooden sword and was running around having duels and slaying dragons.

Next we headed up to Pontypridd, or more specifically, Pennycraig. I lived over the top of a Post Office for 3 months. It was the first time I was in an area with a car. I got my British license just the month before after my first try (usually it took 2 or 3 tries for a missionary to pass the British test). I remembered that across the street from us was a Chinese/Fish/Chip shop. It was quite unusual at the time, and I was a little homesick for Chinese. We used to get "Chinese Chicken" about once a week and it tasted wonderful. It was just chicken with pineapples and a sweet sauce on top, but it tasted like home to me.

The road back to Pennycraig has really changed. It used to be a tiny two lane (and often one lane) road that wound around beside the train track, but now it is a big 4 lane road with new construction everywhere. But as we got close, I saw the post office right where I remembered it, and across the street was that same old Chinese. We found a parking spot and walked back to get something for lunch.

I got the Chinese chicken which looked and probably tasted exactly the same. I remember it tasting much better, but that's how memory works. Against my advice, Mike got a pasty and chips. He ate the chips but the pasty was pretty inedible. The only place to get a good Pasty is in Cornwall.

Our next stop was Caerphilly Castle. It was one of the few castles in England that saw real battles, sieges, and exchanged hands a few times. It was restored by the city of Caerphilly including all of the massive moats around it. They have some Siege engines, like a trebuchet, mangonell, and balista set up to shoot out over the moat. The audio guide said they were shooting broomstick handles several hundred yards one summer.

Our last stop was Newport where I served the beginning and end of my mission. 11 Godfrey road was a 3 story house that had been converted into 5 seperate apartments with 2 shared bathrooms. There was a coin operated electric meter outside of the bathroom that ran the on demand hot water heater for the shower. You often got a very mild shock while showering, and if you heard the meter "CLUNK " while you were in the shower, you had 2 seconds to get out or get a blast of near freezing water.

After we saw the flat, we should have gone somewhere else fun, but I convinced Mike to go look around downtown Newport. It was nothing like I remembered it being, and none of the shops or the best fish & chips I ever had were to be found. But we kept wandering around hoping to find something fun. Finally I needed a Diet Coke and a bathroom (not in that order) and we decided to duck into a KFC. We had been avoiding all fast food, and especially American fast food throughout the trip so I had to get a shot of Mike buying my soda.

Which brings me to one really sad discovery that I concluded in Newport. Almost all of the traditional Fish & Chip shops that I remember seem to have closed. Yate, Stroud, Bath, and Newport. I didn't find any that I remembered except that lone Chinese in Pennycraig. But we saw allot of Subway, KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut. I guess American Fast Food has won out over British. One night while we watched a bit of TV, the wife in a Sitcom called her husband and told him it was his night for dinner, she wanted pizza and it better not have anchovies. I don't think I ate pizza even once during my entire mission, and now it's a common sitcom joke.

After Newport we decided to avoid the Motorway back to Cardiff. We tried fiddling with the GPS to get it to take us on some back roads, but it kept sending us down busy highways with lots of traffic. We wanted to go find a quiet pub or restaurant out in the country but we had no luck. Finally we asked the GPS to find us a restaurant because we were getting close to Cardiff. It took us to 2 places that had long since closed, and one that just looked bad. Finally I parked on the side of a busy road and said "Lets just walk around." So we walked a ways, and on one corner I saw another closed Church of England with a for sale sign like the morning. Mike looked for a minute and said "That's not another one, that's the same one". We couldn't believe it. After all of the roads, turns, twists and things, we'd driven right back to the neighborhood with the laundrette, and sure enough, we could see it down the road.

We decided to go back to the hotel and ask for advice on a place to eat. They sent us to a Chinese restaurant about a mile away. It was raining so we borrowed umbrellas and walked over. The food was pretty good. We fell to listening to some of the conversations around us, and identified quite a few different languages being spoken. English was the minority.

We went back to the hotel and packed since we would be flying to Paris in the morning.

Cardiff, Wales in March. It's sunny and beautiful


Another sunny picture of Cardiff from our hotel


Doing a load of laundry


A welch church


Another one lane road out to castell Coch


castell Coch


A class of kids on a field trip in castell Coch


A room in castell Coch with fairy tales painted on the walls


The Tortoise and the Hare


Looking back at Cardiff out a window of castell Coch


The wife's bedroom an bed


A tub


The Dungeon


I lived above this post office for 3 months


The same post office in 1981


Chinese & Fish&Chips across the street from the post office


Chinese Chicken exactly as I remember it.


A distant view of Caerphilly Castle


Me by the outer Moat.


Another view across the Moat


Me on an outer wall looking in


Mike by some of the working Siege engines in the courtyard


Me at 11 Godfrey Road, Newport where I began and ended my mission


Mike at a KFC in Newport