An American in Paris for the first time . . .

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, my sister Teri had never been out of the country, had always dreamed of visiting Paris, and after listening to me go on and on about Italy over the years, wanted to see it for herself. Since Sam and I don't need much of an excuse to visit our favorite locations, we offered to act as her personal guides on a whirlwind, two and a half week tour of four cities.

When we left our friend Keith in London, we flew to Paris. We arrived a few days ahead of my sister, so that we could spend some time visiting with Sam's cousin Paul and his girlfriend Eva, who live on the outskirts of the city. Whenever we visit Paul and Eva, they graciously allow us stay in their tiny, but lovely apartment, and although they offered to let Teri stay there, too, it really is too small. Besides, with only four nights in Paris, we wanted Teri to stay in the city center, able to get to most of the sights on foot. With that in mind, we rented a studio apartment in the Marais district, just a few blocks from Notre Dame, and the River Seine.

The apartment was very nice, and unbeknownst to me when I booked it, was located above a gay bar, in a very lively gay neighborhood. Of course, this was not a problem for us, and made for some interesting sights and discoveries -- like the bakery that not only had really delicious breads, but also specialized in a certain shape of bread!

On the day she was to arrive, Sam and I took a train to the airport and waited for her plane to land. Of course, Teri had been traveling for over 15 hours (non-stop flight from LAX, plus the drive from her daughter's house in Big Bear Lake), so she was pretty tired, but we managed to take her out that evening for drinks and a little music at a jazz club we've been to before: the Swan Bar. It was open mike night, with Paul playing bass, and a friend playing piano, while several people took turns singing. It was wonderful!

Over the next three days, we saw all the iconic sights: 

the Eiffel Tower,

(Teri's first view of the tower.)

(View of the City of Lights from the top of the tower.)

the Louvre...

Notre Dame...

a walk through Pere LaChaise Cemetery, with the obligatory 

visit to the grave site of Jim Morrison...

and on the last day, a boat tour on the River Seine.

(You can see interesting things on some of the houseboats.)

(This one has a small version of the Statue of Liberty up front.)

When necessary, we took a couple of cabs, and many more rides on the Metro,

but mostly, we walked, and walked, and walked. Which was good, since we ate LOTS of bread, and other delicious food! While walking we noticed a lot of interesting graffiti and street "art" on the sides of buildings.

And of course, we did a lot of window shopping. We both got a kick out of these sculptures of fat, dancing ladies. We agreed, we could identify with them!

(To view enlarged photos, click on one of them and a viewer will open. Click X to return to the blog. If you are interested in seeing a few more photos from this part of the trip, go to my Flickr page. Also, if you would like to watch the video Sam made of this part of our trip, it has some of the music we heard at the Swan Bar.)

No, I haven't forgotten I have a blog to write . . .

Where does the time go? It's been five months since my last blog entry! For those of you who actually enjoy this, I am sorry. I know I sort of left you all hanging somewhere on our Cuban trip, and I promise, I will return to the Cuban trip, but before I do, I've decided to add an entry or two about the trip we took in September/October.

Our five week adventure actually started in late September. Sam and I landed at London Heathrow Airport, and our old friend Keith picked us up and took us to his home on the southern coast of England, where we stayed for a few nights. 

Keith is currently living in a small village called Mudeford, in the borough of Christchurch, Dorset. Although he has since moved to a different house, during our visit he was still living at Gundimore Gables, a very fine, old home with quite a history, and a lovely view of the sea and the Isle of Wight! 

 
While we were there, Keith showed us a good time at his local pub, the Haven House Inn, where we had authentic fish and chips with his brother and sister-in-law.

And on another day, we enjoyed  "cream tea" at a tea room in Christchurch, after getting a tour of the town, 

the Priory Church, and the castle ruins.

On Keith's sister-in-law's advice, we took a drive to another village called Burley, a charming place with tea houses, lots of shops specializing in all things "witchy," and the Queen's Head Pub, built in the 16th century, which was apparently frequented by smugglers and highwaymen.

On our most sunny day, the three of us took the ferry over to Hengistbury Head Nature Reserve for a really nice hike. Along the way, we passed rows of tiny beach houses, colorfully painted, but mostly closed up for the season.

And from the top of the head, we could look back toward Avon Beach and Keith's home. Beautiful day!

On our final morning, before Keith dropped us off at the airport to catch our flight to Paris, we had a big English style breakfast at a cafe on the beach, and then we made a brief stop at Highcliffe Castle, where, as often happens during our travels, there was a wedding going on!

Thank you, Keith, for making our visit so very enjoyable! We will definitely do it again sometime!

(As I have said in the past, whenever you see a word highlighted in blue, it is a link to more information. Click on one of the blog photos, and you will be able to see them enlarged. If you would like to see a few more photos from our visit to England, go to my Flickr page.)

 

A slight detour . . .

Hmmm... Looks like I never got past the third day of our Cuba tour on this blog.   Since I wrote that last entry in June, we have made a couple of short, family-related trips, and have been keeping busy with gardening, grandkids, and the planning of another trip this fall. Those are my excuses anyway, albeit not very good ones. :(  Now, in 12 days (yikes!), we will be leaving on another adventure! It seems, we need to stay home longer so I can finish writing about and posting photos from our travels!

I did tell myself a couple of weeks ago that I could get a few more Cuba entries written before we leave, but as our departure date approaches, I am suddenly realizing how crazy that is. Sorry. I promise I will finish up the Cuba tour in the future, but it might be 2013 before I get to it. Hopefully my memory won't fail me then!

"So," you may be asking, "where are you crazy people flying off to this time?" And the answer is: mostly to places we have already been to many times in the past, but this time we will be acting as tour guides for my sister Teri. 

Teri, who has never been out of the country (except for Mexico -- I guess that counts), has always dreamed of visiting Paris, and since I love Italy so much, she has wanted to see it for herself. She is finally going to be able to do that, and has asked us to be her guides. Always looking for an excuse to visit some of our favorite European locations, we agreed to show her around Paris, Venice, Rome, and Sorrento. After she returns home at the end of her 16-day tour (and keeping with our tradition of going someplace we've never been to on each trip), Sam and I will fly to Istanbul, Turkey for a few days before returning home! 

Ciao for now, and there will be more to come soon!