APRIL IN PARIS

So here's the thing about April in Paris. It can be exquisite, or it can be cold. Damp, rainy and depressing. Luckily, we walked into the former. The entire city was in full bloom. Tulips, wisteria, daffodils and other colorful flowers, it was perfect. Strolling with good weather, and we made the most of it. 

We were a little groggy the first day because we had a night flight from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle, and somehow, strangely they managed to misplace one of our bags in a less than one hour, direct flight. Finding the baggage took so long that the gentlemen who were helping us went off duty, and we were left to fend for ourselves. So, by the time we got to the hotel, (which is another story) we were a little exhausted. Usually when we use Gate 1 we get great hotels, centrally located. Not so much this time. Our hotel is located in what had to be a suburb of Paris with transportation connections so complicated and widespread that we could not figure out how to get to Central Paris on the Metro or a bus, or the Metro and a bus or two buses and the Metro. You get the idea. So at the cost of €27 each way, we got an Uber and hit the town.

Our first stop was Notre Dame. We arrived in the mid morning to find a crowd of easily 2,000 people milling about in front of the Cathedral. We did not regard this as a good sign. We had not pre-registered fort tickets, but took advantage of the sign up that was offered online. So the first available viewing was at 3:30 and, to maximize our time, we decided to take a stroll through Luxembourg Gardens. If Central Park, in general, was looking gorgeous in its spring time outfit, Luxembourg Gardens was almost beyond description. It appeared that every office worker in Paris has left work early for lunch and was now basking in the Gardens, and they were magnificent. The photos are really the best way to understand what we were looking at.

The flowers,...

the people strolling through the Luxembourg Gardens or sitting,...

more strollers and flowers,...

and finally the children sailing the rental boats in the artificial pond made this a special day for everyone to enjoy.

The boats can be rented and are solely powered by the wind and when it reaches the edge are launched again by a stick (as seen in the photo above).

Each sailboat has the flag and colors of a different country (a great way to teach the children about the different country's flags).

This woman appeared to be an "influencer", who was standing on the stone bench posing for someone taking her picture (or just someone posing for her boyfriend). Note the incongruity of the shoes versus the rest of her outfit.

Finally more beautiful flowers in a colrhul arrangement as we left the Garden.

We had lunch in a charming little Café in the Gardens. I don't know how the French do it. Usually if you go to a park or street side vendor in the states, the food you get is marginal at best. The food at this tiny little Café was absolutely superb. I finally got French onion soup that tasted like French onion soup should taste, and quiche that was at least 3 inches high and also was very tasty. It was a very satisfying afternoon from our eyeballs to our taste buds.

After a stroll we wandered back to Notre Dame and got in line. They must move at least 500 people through the Cathedral every 20 to 30 minutes. It is so huge that you were aware of being in crowds, but not so crowded that you couldn't observe all of the beautiful artwork and architecture. We've been to Notre Dame several times before the fire, and it is remarkable. Truly remarkable. How did they manage to resurrect the Cathedral in about five years. Not only did they restore it but, just by dint of their refurbishment, the whole Cathedral is now so much brighter, so much lighter than it was in the past, and that makes the stained glass look even more luminescent. It was crowded enough that, with my diminished eyesight, I felt the need to hold on to the back of Michael's down vest, fearing that separation would be a permanent separation rather than a momentary event.

A close up of the exterior of the rose window,...

and the upper facade of Notre Dame.

You can see the scaffolding behind these columns where work is still continuing on the restoration.

A stone statue of Joan of Arc on the exterior facade.

Another photo which shows there is still a lot of scaffolding and work to complete the restoration.

These musicians were performing near the entrance to the Cathedral "parvis".

This statue of Charlemagne is to the left in front of the Cathedral.

This photo gives you a slight idea of the height and length as you enter Notre Dame, but cannot do justice to the actual experience. The walls are 147 feet tall, while the narrowness of the Cathedral gives the effect of being even taller.

The stained glass windows were spectacular, with some dating to the 13th century.

Four carved angels look down on the congregants from above.

Wooden panels on either side depict scenes from the life of Christ,...

and are on either side of the Cathedral.

The ceiling, paintings and stained glass of the side altars are in contrast to the walls of the Cathedral, particularly at the narthex.

More wooden panels depicting scenes from the life of Christ.

Anyone from Mexico will recognize this immediately as Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The magnificent rose window at the west end of the Cathedral,..

and a close up of the window.

Another example of the colorful side altars in the Cathedral. There are 29 side chapels in Notre Dame Cathedral.

 

Another view of the four angels framed by the columns and arch.

Several saints are honored in the side chapel, among them St. Eligius, the patron saint of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, metal workers, horses, taxi drivers and mechanics. Quite a bit for one saint.

This side chapel honors the Catholic Church in China.

An example of one of the colorful paintings in one of the side chapels.

An external shot of the Cathedral with the crowds milling around.

This monument to Jean Baptiste de Belloy was erected by Napoleon to honor this Cardinal of the Church.

This reliquary was created to hold the crown of thorns of Jesus. Louis IX (St. Louis) purchased the crown of thorns from an emperor of the East (Baldwin II of Courtenay). This was one of the many important relics rescued during the fire.

This is a sculpture of Joseph of Arimathea placing Christ in the sepulcher.

Ornate wood carvings in the foreground are part of the choir stalls from the 18th century with the pipes of the organ in the background. There are 8,000 pipes in all spread across five keyboards. The acoustics of Notre Dame are particularly suited to both organ and choral music.

For the first week and a half of our trip the temperatures were really unseasonably warm for early April. We would start out with a light jacket, but by mid-afternoon it would be in the 70's and totally beautiful.

Our next stop will be Belgium.

Welcome ? To the new America

We started our European Trio with a brief stay in Dallas and then Los Angeles. Upon landing at DFW, we immediately notice things had changed. Absent were all the mexican workers that normally moved through the terminal, seemingly replaced by large numbers of Somalis. We could only assume that with so many law-enforcement, and TSA agents at the airport, many Mexicans had decided this was not the best place to work. The Somalis have for now temporary protective status. But who knows who will greet us next time we arrive at DFW. We made it to global entry and looked over our shoulders to the lines processing for internationals, (a whole lot of Mexicans). the line must have exceeded 500 people, and they were being welcomed to America by a single immigration official. Nothing says welcome like as a three or four hour wait to be processed.

We spent a few days with Michael's sister Theresa, and her husband Marshall. We admired their extensive renovations and took care of visiting our new primary care physician and procuring bags full of medicine. Our next stop was Los Angeles to visit our sons in California. There we attended to the never-ending task of getting our old Subaru registered to our son in California. this process, for reasons too vast and tedious to explain, is now approaching one year of duration. We failed at this task and will now attempt to conclude the transaction upon our return to LA from Europe. This automotive experience has made Mexico look like a paragon of efficiency.

Oddly, we discovered that flying to London from Los Angeles was not only cheaper than flying from Dallas, but allowed us to have a nonstop flight. I, like most people, am unable to comprehend anything about rate structures, or flight routes in the world of modern aviation.

Enjoying jolly olde England

We had three days in London, and we were lodging in the Regents Park area. The first day, somewhat jet lagged but still functional, we decided to go to the Notting Hill area of London, which we had never yet explored. There is a flea market in Portobello Road, which attracts thousands of people every weekend and features an astounding range of products from the practical to the obscure. We wandered through the flea market for most of the morning and then walked to a pub to meet Vanessa and Simon for lunch. Vanessa was the first au pair to care for, at that point, Justin as an infant. It's now been 37 years since she came to live with us for what was a wonderful year. Over all these years, we've always stayed in touch and had visited with Vanessa and Simon several times when we had been to England. Now, both of her children are older than she was when she came to take care of Justin. Makes you feel old. We had a long and leisurely lunch and headed back across town to our hotel.

You can see the throngs of people crowding the stall on Portobello Road.

The eggplants for sale at this stall looked freshly picked ready to be made into a healthy meal.

This unusual building at the corner of Lancaster Road caught my eye.

Deirdre, Simon and Vanessa at the pub after our meal.

The next day was gorgeous. Absolutely stunningly beautiful and so spring-like. Like it was hard to believe that it was still early April. We decided to go to Regents Park and just tke in Londoners at leisure. the park is expansive, and the people watching is diverting. We consumed almost an entire day, walking in the park while grabbing something to eat and just taking our time. Michael's photos will give you a feeling for just how pretty the landscape was.

The Londoners couldn't pass up such a beautiful day to enjoy Regents Park.

Even this pigeon was pleased to enjoy the warmer weather in the park.

The flowers were in full bloom...

as can be seen from this series of photos.

This was a series of townhomes next to the park -- a rather posh address in London.

Strangely, for all the times we've been in London, we had never been to St. Paul's, so we set off to see it. this involved a significant ride on the underground, but we managed to find our way without too many complications. St. Paul's, is considered the people's church, whereas Winchester Cathedral is considered the church of royalty. Dian and Charles, in a nontraditional manner, wed at St.  Paul's, which is a much brighter and cheerier interior than Winchester Cathedral.

We were lucky to get to St. Paul's just when a guided tour was about to begin. Our group contained several young children and, because of that, the American guide managed to get us entrance to the Harry Potter staircase (something which is not usually shown to the public).

St. Paul's is the burial place for many British luminaries and heroes. One of the most prominent was the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. His memorial sits at the very center of St. Paul's and is adorned with a statue of him upon his beloved horse, Copenhagen. The installation of the memorial was delayed for 20 years because the design called for the horses rear to be facing the altar. The Archbishop of Canterbury at that time found this to be offensive and forbade the installation. After that archbishop died the long-delayed installation took place with Copenhagen's regal tail forever waving towards the altar.

Many other noted historical figures are buried in the crypt, including Christopher Wren (the architect of the cathedral); Florence Nightingale (famous nurse and humanitarian); Lord Nelson (a Royal navy officer who fought in several battles during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars; and Admiral Howe (famed for his historic victory over the French navy in 1794. Churchill refused to be buried in the crypt because he did not want everyone walking over his grave and is buried in Blenheim Castle, where he was born. However, and ornate gate (teh Churchill Gate) was installed in the crypt in his honor.

During World War II, when London was suffering from the blitz, there were entire teams of local residents, who would come to St. Paul's every night and ascend to the upper reaches of the cathedral to monitor that if bombs hit, no fire would destroy the cathedral. This crew would remain awake all night and then proceed to a full day's work at their occupations. At one point a bomb was dropped and entered the cathedral a mere 40 0r 50 feet from the center of St. Paul's famous dome. It was really rather miraculous that the cathedral remained relatively undamaged throughout the course of the war.

The impressive facade of St. Paul's Cathedral

Another warm day brought out the Londoners to enjoy the day on the steps of the cathedral.

The famous "Harry Potter" staircase at St. Paul's. 

The opulence of the cathedral was the one thing that struck us the moment we entered. The nave looking east toward the central dome and choir.

The rather large and impressive memorial to the Duke of Wellington...

and a closer view of Wellington on Copenhagen.

The famous dome of St. Paul's.

The colorful depictions throughout the cathedral were noteworthy.

This one of four angels was remarkable.

This triptych Pietá was very lifelike.

All of the details of the interior were designed to inspire awe in the power of the Almighty.

The choir stalls which were carved from oak.

The view from the altar looking back through the choir stalls to the west end of the cathedral.

This memorial book contained the names of all of the American service members who died in World War II.

There were several memorials throughout the cathedral. This one was dedicated to Admiral Howe.

The death mask of Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's.

The tomb of Horatio Nelson, which was also close the the tomb of the Duke of Wellington.

The Churchill Gate mentioned above in the blog.

Going back on the Underground, we became rather hopelessly confused when we had to switch trains at one of the stations. What with the station involving numerous platforms at different levels with many different directions, we were completely baffled. I asked a very nice woman who was picking up trash in the station how to get to the line that we needed. She started to explain, threw up her hands and said just follow me. About 10 minutes later we emerged at the correct platform, and I was once again struck by how helpful and friendly the Londoners were at all times. We had our concerns going to Europe that perhaps Americans wouldn't be welcome with open arms given what has been going on, but up to the point of London, we had encountered no hostility, or even a marginal snarl.