Buon Giorgno from Rome

When last we talked we were getting ready to go out for the evening. Saturday night was a lovely night in Paris and the cruise on the Seine River was delightful. On the hour each night there are special lights on the Eiffel Tower that turn on for five minutes giving the tower a very sparkly effect. Our cruise was long enough that we saw this twice. It was all very exciting and romantic. After the cruise we walked down the Champs Elysees and ended up at Pizza Pino for dinner. Pizza Pino is a bit nostalgic for our family. On our first trip to Europe in 1984 with Tim’s parents we had several meals at Pizza Pino. Jil and Jeff were particularly surprised when we ordered a pizza and found an egg in the middle under the cheese.

We ran into a bit of a problem on Sunday morning. In Britain they have a wonderful expression for this. They call it a “cock up”. As you read on some of you will undoubtedly enjoy the double entendre of this expression. When we booked our trip we were told we would be staying at the Tim Hotel (really!) in Paris on the Boulevard De Clichy just off of Place Pigalle. The Moulin Rouge is located on Bd.de Clichy. When we received our documents we were booked into the Opera St. Georges, located a couple of blocks from Place Pigalle. On checking in on Friday we discovered that the Crandall’s were indeed booked in the Opera St. Georges but the Browns were still booked in the Tim Hotel. We expressed considerable dismay at this situation. After several phone calls by the gentleman at the desk to the desk at the Tim Hotel he informed us that we were both now booked into the Opera St. Georges. On Sunday morning, Tim was going for a walk and upon turning in his room key was told that there was no room for the Browns that night and that there was a room booked for them at the Tim Hotel. After much discussion with Gerry, Cathy and the hotel desk clerk, it was arranged that the Crandall’s would move to the Tim Hotel. When we arrived at the Tim Hotel we found it located between two sex shops!

Once the hotel situation had been sorted out we all went to the Eiffel Tower. We spent two hours taking the elevator to the different levels of the tower, including the very summit of the tower. The weather was a bit hazy but the views were still spectacular. At the very top Tim made the comment that it felt like we were in a real life Google Earth looking down on Paris. It was really hard to tear ourselves away. From the Eiffel tower we took a taxi to the George Pompidou Center. This is a very large modern art gallery with a rather controversial architectural design. It looks like the plumbing is on the outside of the building and all the duct work is painted in bold, vivid colors. We did not go into the gallery. We don’t particularly like the art on display. But we did think Gerry and Cathy should see the building and the area around the Pompidou is a lot of fun with also sorts of interesting restaurants and great people watching. We found a good location and had a crepe and a glass of wine. After this brief respite we walked to the Rue de Rivoli to catch a bus back to our hotels. Unfortunately, our plans were thwarted by a very large demonstration. We stood for over fifteen minutes watching literally thousands of motorcycles drive by us. The noise was deafening. Someone at our bus stop told us they were protesting the arrest of some terrorist in Toulouse. We eventually returned to our hotels by subway - the Metro.

Sunday evening we went back up to Montmartre to see Sacre Couer and the view over Paris after dark. We ate dinner at a restaurant that served raclette. Raclette is a machine that has a heating element. There are spikes where a quarter of a round of raclette cheese is attached. As the cheese melts the diner uses a knife to scrap the cheese off of the round and then put it on various items such as boiled potatoes, different kinds of salami and ham and bread. While Lynda and Cathy enjoyed the raclette Tim and Gerry had another specialty of this restaurant where a very hot stone is brought to the table and the diner cooks their own meal. Tim had beef and Gerry had prawns. Both thoroughly enjoyed their meal. After dinner we viewed the lights and then found a bar for a drink. Over wine and pastis we luxuriated in the atmosphere of Montmartre. There were many street artists about who wanted to do a quick charcoal portrait of each of us. We declined each offer, but one of the artists kept returning to our table and telling us off color jokes and generally making interesting conversation about life in Paris. We enjoyed him so much we eventually bought him a glass of wine. We are sure he enjoyed the wine more than doing our portrait.

Monday morning Tim went to the Louvre with Gerry and Cathy while Lynda did some laundry. We wanted to see the Mona Lisa. Unfortunately, by the time we got there the lines were so long we decided not to go in. Cathy found a bench under a tree where she enjoyed a final view of the Eiffel Tower while Tim and Gerry explored the outside of the glass pyramid that I.M. Pei designed for the new entrance area to the museum. After a final lunch at a typical French restaurant we boarded a train for the airport and caught our flights to Rome (via Munich).

Upon arriving in Rome we took a cab from the airport that took us directly to our hotel. The hotel turns out to be the nicest we have stayed in so far. We arrived at the hotel shortly after 10:00 p.m. We were able to find a local pizzeria still open and had our first truly Italian pizza. Nice way to end the day.

Today, Tuesday, we bought tickets for what is called a “hop off, hop on” bus. It goes between the major tourist attractions and allows you to get off when you want and get back on when you want. Hence, the name! We spent over four hours at the Vatican. We started at St. Peter’s Basilica. As you can imagine, Gerry and Cathy were astounded at seeing it for the first time. Tim and Lynda assured them that seeing it for the fifth time is still an incredible experience. While we were in line to enter the cathedral we had a delightful conversation with a priest from Lacrosse, Wisconsin. We learned from him that there is a purple circle of marble in the floor when you first enter the church. It was on this circle that Charlemagne was crowned King of the Roman Empire. For many years no one was allowed to walk on this circle unless you were royal or a pope. When the present day St. Peter’s was built in the 1600’s it was decided that this did not really go along with the church’s teaching so now everyone can stand on the spot where
Charlemagne was crowned. We also visited the crypt of St. Peter’s where all of the popes tombs are located. On our last visit to the Vatican there was a large gathering of people around the tomb of Pope John Paul II in the crypt. Since then, probably as part of, or because of, his beatification, his tomb has been moved into the church proper. After lunch we went to the Vatican Museum specifically to see the Sistine Chapel. On our last visit to the Vatican Museum it had taken well over an hour to walk through room after room of relics from the history of the catholic church before finally getting to the chapel. There are now shortcuts that visitors can take to avoid all of these relics although there are routes you can follow if you are truly interested in them. We were once again in awe of the magnificence of the Sistine Chapel. None of us could remember exactly how long it took Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel nor could we begin to comprehend taking on a project of that magnitude. After leaving the Vatican we were all exhausted and have returned to our hotel where some of us are happily napping while one of us works on this blog! Tonight we are venturing off to the Trastavere section of Rome. This is an area of Rome we discovered in 2004 when Jeff was with us and we enjoyed exploring it again on our last visit here with Madison in 2010. We’ll let you know if the dinner at one of outside cafes is as good as we remember,

Bona Sera.