Paris, France, 2-16 August 2009
Our lovely exchange home was located in Saint Maur-De-Fosse, a southeast suburb of Paris, on the Marne River and about a 20 minute train ride to Paris. The house was very pleasant and comfortable, with a nice big patio where we ate most of our meals and a garden with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of the sweetest fresh tomatoes.
We never used the car as the public transportation system was terrific. The train station was literally 3 minutes away with an excellent fast connection to the center of Paris.
Since it was August, many businesses in Paris were closed for the summer vacation, and the city is filled with tourists. The weather was quite warm, but generally not too uncomfortable except for a few scorchers.
The best part of home exchanging is being able to spend time with friends. This time we were joined by our friends Peter and Irene Zimmerman from Germany for a few days and Sandy Amber from London for a brief visit. We spent much time catching up with each others lives and explored this magnificent city. Despite the crowds, the heat, the noise and endless tour buses, it is impossible to remain unmoved by the majestic grand boulevards, by the beautiful buildings with their elaborate balcony railings, the palaces, the monuments the museums and the iconic images one encounters every few blocks and how they all line up so neatly.
When we got tired of museums and walking we took a boat ride on the Seine, once in the late evening and once at dusk. Seeing the Eiffel tower glittering at night, the Notre Dame illuminated and all the beautiful bridges crossing the Seine, linking the various monuments is a thrill even on the seventh time.
The highlights were the Musee D'Orsay (twice), the Rodin museum, The Marmottan museum which is dedicated to Monet and some of his contemporaries, the Paris Pinacotheque (Suzanne Valadon and Utrillo-- what an interesting life story here..), walks in the Marais, the Left Bank and Montmartre, walking along the Rue de Rivoli, San Germain de Pres, and Rue Montaigne.
Another highlight was visiting two magnificent palaces outside Paris, the Vaux-le-Vicomte which with its spectacular gardens and impressive interior, and the Fontainbleu Palace with one room more unbelievable than the next. Started around the 12th century and served as vacation home for the French kings queens qnd emperors, each making it a little grander till the last Napoleon. Each room stuns you with the wealth of art, the gorgeous tapestries, gigantic beautiful rugs, painted and sculpted ceilings and fireplaces, furnishings...and they go on and on... 1500 rooms in all (luckily only a fraction were open for visit). It boggles the mind to think anyone could have actually occupied these spaces..
Another, unexpectedly cool place was the Clignacourt flea market. In addition to the ususal schlock and clothes, there is a huge section with all sorts of antiques, old paintings, furnishings, books etc. We went there a second time with Shelley and Arnold who just arrived in Paris and will join us in the Dordogne.
From here it's off to St Fois le Grand, in the Dordogne region, with temperatures promising to be in the 90s!!!!
CLICK ON THE IMAKE BELOW TO SEE MORE PHOTOS!
We never used the car as the public transportation system was terrific. The train station was literally 3 minutes away with an excellent fast connection to the center of Paris.
Since it was August, many businesses in Paris were closed for the summer vacation, and the city is filled with tourists. The weather was quite warm, but generally not too uncomfortable except for a few scorchers.
The best part of home exchanging is being able to spend time with friends. This time we were joined by our friends Peter and Irene Zimmerman from Germany for a few days and Sandy Amber from London for a brief visit. We spent much time catching up with each others lives and explored this magnificent city. Despite the crowds, the heat, the noise and endless tour buses, it is impossible to remain unmoved by the majestic grand boulevards, by the beautiful buildings with their elaborate balcony railings, the palaces, the monuments the museums and the iconic images one encounters every few blocks and how they all line up so neatly.
When we got tired of museums and walking we took a boat ride on the Seine, once in the late evening and once at dusk. Seeing the Eiffel tower glittering at night, the Notre Dame illuminated and all the beautiful bridges crossing the Seine, linking the various monuments is a thrill even on the seventh time.
The highlights were the Musee D'Orsay (twice), the Rodin museum, The Marmottan museum which is dedicated to Monet and some of his contemporaries, the Paris Pinacotheque (Suzanne Valadon and Utrillo-- what an interesting life story here..), walks in the Marais, the Left Bank and Montmartre, walking along the Rue de Rivoli, San Germain de Pres, and Rue Montaigne.
Another highlight was visiting two magnificent palaces outside Paris, the Vaux-le-Vicomte which with its spectacular gardens and impressive interior, and the Fontainbleu Palace with one room more unbelievable than the next. Started around the 12th century and served as vacation home for the French kings queens qnd emperors, each making it a little grander till the last Napoleon. Each room stuns you with the wealth of art, the gorgeous tapestries, gigantic beautiful rugs, painted and sculpted ceilings and fireplaces, furnishings...and they go on and on... 1500 rooms in all (luckily only a fraction were open for visit). It boggles the mind to think anyone could have actually occupied these spaces..
Another, unexpectedly cool place was the Clignacourt flea market. In addition to the ususal schlock and clothes, there is a huge section with all sorts of antiques, old paintings, furnishings, books etc. We went there a second time with Shelley and Arnold who just arrived in Paris and will join us in the Dordogne.
From here it's off to St Fois le Grand, in the Dordogne region, with temperatures promising to be in the 90s!!!!
CLICK ON THE IMAKE BELOW TO SEE MORE PHOTOS!
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| 2009-08-18 Paris, France 2-16, 2009 Blog |
posted by Dahlia and Lance Riley @ 11:10 AM
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