Sunday, May 22, 2016

Germany to Gay Paree

Friday, May 20, 2016

We awoke this morning docked in the city of  Bergkastel.  We had just a short stay here.  Three of us, Lynda, Kathi and Tim, took a 45 minute stroll with our chef which included stops at a butcher, bakery and chocolate shop.  We were able to sample foods from each shop while enjoying interesting conversation with our chef.  After the walk with him we had free time to enjoy another picture perfect German town.

After a short two hour ride on the ship we were transfered to buses and taken into the town of Trier.  Trier is the oldest city in Germany having been an outpost for the Roman Empire.  In fact, our first stop was Basillica Konstantin, built by the Romans in the 2nd century.  The building was a huge single room.  It was designed so that when the Caesar came to Trier and met with his subjects thay were intimidated by the size of the structure and the power the Caesar had to build such an edifice.  It remains unadorn except for a large cloud like structure that hangs over the alter area, a large organ attached to the back wall with a three story spiral staircase the organist must climb, and pews for the worshipers.  Basicalla Konstantin is now a Protestant church.  We next visited two side by side cathedrals that were actually attached and had a hallway connecting the two. The first cathedral was Romanesque in design while the second was Gothic because the Bishop at the time wanted a Gothic cathedral and he could have it built.  The second cathedral had some comtemporary elements as a result of reconstruction following the war. Finally, we saw a portion of the original Roman Gate that guarded one of the entrances into the city.  Over time rain has interacted with the stone to turn the stone black.  Hence this gate is now called the Porta Nigra.  None of us particularly liked Trier.  It did not have the charm of the other German towns we visited.  After our time in Trier, the buses took us back to the ship for our last night aboard the Viking Idun.  It was a bittersweet evening aboard ship as we had gotten to be on a first name basis with some of our servers.  All six of us enjoyed our cruise with Viking. The service from all the staff from the Captain of the ship right down to housekeeping was exemplary.

Saturday morning we left bright and early on buses for Paris with two stops in Luxembourg.  The first stop was an American Military Cemetery outside of Luxembourg City.  As always, American Military Cemeteries are very impressive.  This one was notable because it is the burial place for General George Patton.  As is custom, the dead are buried in no particular order with officers being buried among the men they commanded.  Unfortunately, the first year he was buried so many people visited Patton's grave that the grass was unable to grow around his marker so a special exception was made to move his grave.  We were also shown the gravesite of an unknown soldier whose remains had been exhumed just this week.  Because of the advances in DNA testing more and more unnown soldiers are being identified and returned to their families.

After a short drive into Luxembourg City we took another short walking tour.  Our guide was a Brit who has worked and lived in Luxembourg for the past 25 years.  He gave us an entertaining and fact filled run down of the history of Luxembourg.  We once again had free time to walk about the pedestrian areas.  This is the wonderful thing about so many European cities;  their design, mostly  by accident, lends itself to these central areas where motor vehicle can be restricted making for a lovely shopping and entertainment areas.

We left Luxembourg City after lunch and arrived, after a four and a half hour drive, at our hotel in Paris.  We have an up close view of the Eifel Tower from our room.  The other two couples are jealous.  After taking enough time to check in and refresh ourselves, we immediately left the hotel to experience Paris. The Dutkowskis have been to Paris several times but  this is the first visit for the Dominguezes. Tom and Kathi were anxious to see what all the fuss was about.  First we had dinner in a typical Parisean cafe near out hotel and then took the Metro(subway) and funicular to Sacre Couer Cathedral in  Montmartre.  Those of you who have traveled with us either in real life or vicariously will remember that Sacre Couer and Montmartre sit atop a hill overlooking the rest of Paris.  The view from the steps of the cathedral is spectacular.  You will also remember that Montmartre is the enclave of artists.  Both Pablo Picasso and Toulouse Letrec lived in Montmartre at some point in their lives.  Not far from the church is a lovely square that on our first trip here 30 years ago was an open square where, in the evening, artists set up booths where they painted and displayed their work.  Unfortunatey, now it is choc-a-bloc with restaurants.  But it is still a wonderful place to sit with a glass of wine or pastis and watch Paris wander by.  The plan had been to complete the evening with a river boat cruise down the Seine.  It was a beautiful evening for a cruise but fatigue overtook us and we dragged ourselves to the bar outside our hotel to watch the lights that twinkle for five minutes on the the Eifel Tower on the hour every night.

As beautiful a day as we had Friday we had a bad day weatherwise on Saturday.  It has rained all day. Without a doubt the worst day of the trip.  We feel badly for the Dutkowskis and Dominguezes, but "ce la vie".  Tom and Kathi took a cruise sponsored bus trip around Paris, Wally and Sheryl walked along the Champs Elysee and Tim found a laundromat and did the laundry.  Evidently he has added "Laundry Elf" to his job discription.  After doing the laundry we went to the Musee de O'rlangerie.  We had only heard about it over the last year or so.  It is part of the Musee d'Louvre but is in a seperate building.  An organerie is a large room building where orange trees in pots are brought in for the winter.  It is nothing more then a really fancy greenhouse with lots of elegant furniture.  The Musee de O'rlangerie is a super big one that was turned into an art gallery at the beginning of the 20th century.  At the end of Claude Monet's life he wanted to present France with a large scale work that would give the people of France a "haven of peace"  This work is actually eight large panels that we now know as "the Watelillies" and are on display in the Musee de O'rangerie.  The paintings range in size from 20 to 40 feet wide and 6 feet high. They are hung in two oval shaped rooms and are magnificent.  Of course, we are very partial to the works of Monet and have twice been to his home and garden in Giverney.  There is a second level in the gallery that contains  modern art by such artists as Picasso, Matisse and Chagall.  This gallery was a wonderful "find" for us and we highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Paris who enjoys late 19th and early 20th century art.

After leaving the gallery we had a nice lunch on the left bank and returned to the hotel where one of us napped and one of us blogged. All six of us will go out tonight for our final meal together before our friends head home to the States and we take the train to London from where we will next post.

3 comments:

Jilayne said...

Any idea why Patton is buried in Luxembourg? Did he die there? I need the rest of the story!

Unknown said...

He had headquarters in Luxembourg

Unknown said...

He had headquarters in Luxembourg