Hmmm, anyone we know want to post about their recent trip?

jawjaw also asked me to write a few things in a different section, so here it goes.

My husband and I went to Paris because his company's conference was there. We stayed in a commercial/residential part of PAris, Montparnasse (probably not the right spelling) This was mainly shopping, but the LUxumburg Gardens were close by and very pretty. The things I saw while I was in Paris:

Versailles -- NOt at all what I expected and so grand that all I could think was "No wonder there was a revolution! Look at all the crap they had compared to what the peasants on the outside probably had."

The Louvre-- I went two different times once with another person who was freeloading off of their loved ones and once with my husband once he wasn't working anymore. I saw two completely different sections each time because it is that big. I can't even describe to you how big this place was. I got to see the Mona LIsa, the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory. What impressed me the most were the collections from Egypt. (So what if they stole it all by colonizing Africa. It still looks cool in the museum.)

Th eifel tower--My husband was afraid to go up it, but we saw it from every other vantage point. It was best at night because every twenty minutes or saw the lights would flicker like it was sparkling. This is from the millenium celebration.

Notre Dame--This was really nice. but more so from the outside than the insdie. At night it looked like a giant ship out on the water. I also went and saw St. GErmain de Pres which is the first church built in Paris. It was also very beautiful but very different from Notre Dame.

I also saw San Chapel, which was a church some King Louis had built to house what was supposed to be the original crown of thorns worn by Jesus during his crucifiction. It was stain glass walls from floor to ceiling. I was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The way the light came streaming through was just fantastic.

I also went to the Orsay and Roden meuseums. The Orsay houses all the Impressionist and post Impressionist stuff (Monet, Van Gogh, Degas) What I really liked about the Orsay was that it also had the very early works of these famous artsist, which weren't that good. It just made me realize that they just didn't come out of the womb painting wonderful impressionist works. It was an experiemnt that took a while to perfect. The Roden museum was a little odd. I liked seeing the thinker, but some of the statues were a little too tortured looking for me.

Other than that, just walking along the streets, and the river was very nice. We had many fancy dinners thanks to the companie's recpetions. I thoroughly enjoyed the sweets.

What impressed me so much about Paris (and London) was that there were parks around every major point of ineterst. There was even a sand box in the park by Notre Dame! THe greenery all around made for nice sightseeing.

In London we went to the Portabellow Road Market which was just so much more my shopping style than the high end boutiquees in Paris. It was a giant antiques and rummage sale that went on for blocks. Some people brought scarves and sweaters they made. SOme people sold old tea sets. It was alot of fun to look around and shop.

We did some PUbs and I reaaly liked the cider and the fish and chips I got at every Pub we went to. ONe place had barbed wired encased in the toilet seats!

ON Sudnay we went to Hyde PArk to SPeakers Corner where people just get up and spout off about whatever. There were some characters there. THe best were the hecklers in the crowd. It was a great way to start the day. Breakfast and some opinions about the War.

We took a boat ride on the river at sunset and I am pretty sure I got some great pictures of Big Ben and the Tower bridge with the setting sun.

We went to the British museum, which was really cool, but a lot of the same egyptian and greek and roman treasures we saw at the Louvre. I did get to see the Rosetta Stone, which was pretty neat. We also saw the changing of the guard and the royal coaches at Buckingham Palace. We also went to the Tower of London and Kensington Palace (LAdy Di's residence). Kensington palace and the park around it were really nice. I loved the park there. THere was a big playground there that was based on Peter Pan with a big pirate ship in the middle. They actually had "adult time" half an hour before the playground opened for people without children. It was alot of fun to walk through it without anyone around. The tower of London has guided tours and people in costume telling you all the beheadings that happened there. Some very sad stories. We also saw the crown jewels there.

We also saw a show in London. The prices to see a production are so cheap that I want to go back for that reason alone. We saw a mondern musical called Bombay Dreams. My husband liked it so much he bought the CD at the theater. It only cost the equivalent of $40 US for the two tickets. The lIon King would have only cost us $60. (The cheapest you can get for NY is around $110.) We had really good seats too and the theaters are so small there that no seat would be a "bad" seat.

I had such a great time and can't wait to get my pictures developed. I will try to get some up somewhere for everyone to look at.

[ October 06, 2003, 11:33 PM: Message edited by: Candice Johnson ]

barbed wire on the toilet seat????? eeewwww!

thanks for posting the highlights of your trip - I'm a vicarious, armchair traveller

What a great trip! Thanks for sharing girl. Let us know if you get the pic's up. I would love to see them.

Sounds like an awesome trip, but you left out the American Hospital that you toured while in Paris!...oops, I had to mention that, didn't I?

I loved your take on many of your sites.

SOunds like I would love San Chapel because I just lve stain glass window, especially churchy ones.

Wouldn't mind seeing the sparkling Eifel either!

I appreciate your comment about Versailles and the revolution.

Parks and sandboxes excite me too...especially the one with adult time. It reminds me of adult swim at the pool when every hour on the hour, the kids get kicked out and the adults get to dip!

Yeah, explain the barbed wire in the toilet seat please!

Being the curious soul that I am, I could probably camp out at Speakers Corner!

Thanks for sharing and looking forward to seeing the pictures, somehow, some way!

Candice,
What an interesting trip. I enjoyed reading your post, am looking forward to seeing pictures too.
Maggie

You had to mention the trip to the hospital didn't you. There's not much to tell. I vomitted until I thought there couldn't possibly be anything left for about 12 hours tsraight. After that, my husband figured that 12 hours without water was probably a bit much and called our insurance company, which told us about an American HOspital in northern Paris where evone spoke English and they would direct bill to my insurance company.

So we headed there. After several hours with the IV fluids and meds, I still coudln;t keep anything down, so they kept me overnight. The next morning I woke up ate some toast and had some pills and kept it down. THen a new doctor came in and wnated to keep one more night (they saw a big fat insurance check I guess) and I was like "like the hell I am" and we broke out of there like the prisoners in the Bastille. Everyone was very nice excpet the Dr. in teh mroning, but once he knew my husband was calling the insurance company about the uneccesarry extra night and whatever other tests they wanted to run, he immediately gave me my prescriptions and walking papers (amzing the change of heart, isn't it?)

As far as the barbed wire in the toilets question. It was encased in the toilet seat. YOu could see it inside the seat part that flips up, but you weren't actually sitting on barbed wire. It was like this in two pubs. I don't know if it's some kind of inside pub joke or what.

Candice, you mention insurance. That's a whole nother topic for another forum which I will get around to posting about one day! Insurance companies are driving me crazy lately.

Anyway, glad you made it out of the hospital alive, and back to the states with all the fluids replaced in your body!