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Happy Birthday Vero!

We awoke pretty groggy after an amazing night involving Moulin Rouge.  We slept in a few hours later than we expected, but it was of no matter…all we wanted to do was go to the Cimétaire Pere Lachaise for a bit and then hit the road.

After cleaning up the apartment and packing our stuff, we hit the road, stopping by a bakery for some sustenance and found ourselves at the cemetary.

I had gone to the cemetary before and it was one of the highlights in my trip.  I love cemetaries (morbid?) and I sure love this particular cemetary.  It is unlike anything I’ve seen before with their crypts and statues.  I think my previous trip was a little more fun as it was a dreary day with some drizzle, ambience and crows all over the place.  Today was a bright sunny day, but it didn’t stop Vero loving the place as well.

Vero doing her serious pose.

She ended up visiting the grave of Moliere who is basically the French equivalent of Shakespeare.  We also saw the graves of Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison (he lives!).  I was disappointed to see quite a bit of vandalism on Oscar Wilde’s gravesite compared to the last time.  However, maybe my memory is playing tricks on me and it was the same amount the last time around.

Part of the graffiti.

Vero excited for her two crepes from Paris!

After the cemetary, we found a creperie which was the last thing on Vero’s list for Paris.  Her eyes were bigger than her belly as she ordered TWO crepes with nutella.  She is nuts for nutella.  We are carrying a jar of it on our travels.  I can’t stand the stuff.  Ugh…chocolate spread.  On the metro ride home, she was  begging me to finish the other crepe but I would have no part in her gluttony!

Loaded with our packs, we headed to le Gare de Lyon, and waited a bit.  I love how the stations are wide open so pigeons end up walking up next to you.  Trish would hate Paris.  Or many other stations in Europe for that matter!

This was our first ride on the train and it was fantastic.  The TGV is a pretty wild ride…I think I saw it reaching speeds of over 200km/hr.  After writing some postcards, I played some Plants vs. Zombies and then had a snooze.  Then I heard an announcement that the bar car was open and I begged Vero to go so I could get some food.  🙂  While we were walking to the bar car, the train swerved from something (wind?) and I nearly stumbled right into someone’s lap.  Vero had a grand laugh.  We picked up some supper with a beer, and ate it back at our seats.

Good eats on the TGV.

I must admit that the scenery was quite lovely…France is quite nice when you get out of Paris.  However, I noticed that a lot of fields looked like they had been tilled awhile ago.  Turns out that it’s been a hot summer so a lot of the crops have been handled already.

We switched trains at the Spanish border and laughed at how on the temperature gauge it showed that the temperature was rising every ten minutes by a degree.  So we left a 20 degree Paris and ended up in 30 degree Barcelona with our jackets and jeans.  Ugh.  BOILING HOT.  This was also 10:45 at night!  I could tell that Barcelona was going to be amazing.

We hopped on the metro fairly easily and heard a myriad number of languages.  Turns out that Barcelona is one of the tourist hotspots of the world, so it’s very easy to get around because many locals know a few languages to speak to you with.

Vero and I got off our metro stop and it turns out that we came about a crowd taking pictures of an interesting building which was created by the architect Gaudi.  It looks like a dinosaur.  His stuff was quite out of the ordinary.

We found the apartment and were excited to see Carrie for the first time in a year.  We rang the buzzer.  No answer.  We rang again.  No answer.  Oh man, what was going on?

 

I am a lot happier after seeing Carrie and a six back of Spanish beer!

After an hour of trying to figure out if we had the wrong address, trying to find a wifi signal, finally getting inside the building when someone exited, Vero going to the attic apartments and yelling out “Carrie!”, there was nothing else we could do.  It just so happened that an hour after us waiting, I am waiting inside the lobby and I hear someone coming down the stairs and they stop when they reach me.  “Well, fancy meeting you here.” I hear (or something to that effect).  Sure enough, it was Carrie who was in the attic apartment all along texting Katie wondering where the heck we could be!  Guess the buzzer doesn’t work at all!  We were relieved, she was relieved, and everyone hauled into the rickety old elevator (which halted a few times due to my bag accidentally hitting the emergency stop button!), went to our swank apartment, had a few beer and hit the hay.  We were glad to be able to chat with Carrie for a few hours before the onslaught which is Barcelona hit us!

I am writing this on the TGV train sitting in the Gare de Lyon station in Paris. It will be our second leg of the trip…Barcelona! We are meeting Carrie there which will be epic.

We never realized the entrance to the Louvre was so small!

We woke up around 7am in order to get to the Louvre museum when it opened at 9 am. We through an amazing garden which leads up to the Louvre.

Unfortunately for us, we didn’t realize that the tickets we ordered online were through the equivalent to ticketmaster and our printout confirming our order was not enough! Luckily the Virgin record store down in the Louvre mall had a ticket printout but would only open at 10am.

Before.

Vero decided it was time for her to try an espresso. I have no idea why she wanted to do this. She doesn’t like coffee and I know some pretty heavy coffee drinkers that stay away from espressos! Nonetheless we found a little coffee shop in the Louvre mall, and ordered one, along with what they claimed is freshly squeezed orange juice but somehow had a lot of sugar in it.

After. Classic reaction from Vero.

I was crying with laughter after seeing vero’s face when she tasted the espresso! It was the utter look of disgust…not unlike the visage she sported trying a beer, and a caprinha in Rio. Luckily, I remember talking with Visar and Krista and Visar had mentioned that he puts some cream and sugar in his espresso so that made the experience more bearable for Vero!

Star wars fans take note! While in Virgin Records getting our tickets, they had blu-ray copies of the saga for sale before the release date. Also, it was selling for 99 euro which is definitely a rip-off considering the steal of a deal Benoit found for us at $67.

Off we went into the Louvre. Entering through a massive glass pyramid in the main courtyard (which I believe was built after a mass excavation in the 1990s), we arrive in the main lobby where we picked up a handy map which outlines the popular exhibits.

Two beauties.

Of course, we went to find the Mona Lisa which was surprisingly larger than I had thought considering I had heard it was smaller than people thought! It was enough after pushing m y w ay through hundreds of tourists hoping to get a photo.

Vero and I were intrigued by the immensity of some of the paintings in the Italian wing of the Louvre. Some paintings must have been 75 feet high! I cannot figure out how they were transported or even where they were painted originally. Where did artists find the space? In a church?

We loved the statues within the Louvre. Greek statues are like nothing I have ever seen. I cannot get over the amount of detail that was put into something year ago. We also enjoyed the Egyptian wing and seeing the sarcophagi and how mummies were made. Sure, we know this from television but to see an example in person…fantastic!

I was quite tired after three hours inside the Louvre. It was hot, and I hadn’t had much sleep the night before. Plus, my feet have been hurting quite a bit. This was leading up to me losing a lot of energy and I realize this isn’t a good thing while touring. After sitting in the garden for a bit (where we witnessed street vendors fleeing once they saw the cops coming!) we decided to return home for a quick nap before going to Moulin Rouge.

The only reason I would ever pack some dress shoes while traveling is for a funeral or to go to Moulin Rouge. But the shoes were my saving grace that night considering I found some blisters forming on my feet and my dress shoes are quite loose.

AMAZING!

Off we went to the Montmarte area of Paris where I had stayed the first time in Paris. I had remembered some sketchy patrons around the area but they are nowhere to be seen with the amount of tourists in Paris this time of year. We went to the Montmarte market which is home to cheesy souvenirs and really nice artwork which we picked up. We also went up to the Sacre Coeur church which has one of the most beautiful views of the city.

Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!

Arriving to Moulin rouge, vero was quite excited considering her love of the performing arts. Seeing that I am also a fan of this particular performing art (this goes out to all my friends from bachelor parties throughout the years!) I was excited to see what was so exciting about it, especially considering that dinner and a show for the both of us was more than $400!

Everyone was quite dressed up and upon entering the room, we asked if we could sit close to the stage. Considering I could prop my elbow up on stage, I would say we were close enough!

We had lovely company in the form of two sisters from Indianapolis; Roberta and Sue, who had been just in London and they chatted for a few hours throughout dinner with us. We couldn’t have asked for better dinner guests.

Vero had some ravioli with foie gras, duck, and some chocolate cake. I had a young rabbit pate of sorts, salmon, and some Brie cheese. I definitely was jealous of Vero’s duck and cake, but I cannot complain one bit about the salmon as it was excellent. We also had a half bottle of champagne and red wine. I am always finding it different to see Vero drink a few glasses of wine as she doesn’t drink usually.

I had left the table before the show started and when I returned, the stage had extended outwards to the pint where I couldn’t get to my seat unless I climbed under the table! The waiter came over and suggested I simply hop on stage and get to my seat that way. I quickly scuttled across and then he sa I’d to the table that if I’m on the stage I may as well stay up and perform with the rest of the cast! Har!

The show started with music, girls and guys in lavish costumes performing s dance routine. Then another song, then another song. It is quite impressive to see dancers up close. They are Quite athletic and some of the routines are quite intense; throwing people in the air, the splits, you name it, they did it.

I would say after fifteen minutes of dancing, they left the stage and a juggler came out to entertain while the dancers changed their costumes. Costume changes must have occurred 40 times in the two hours we were there.

The juggler was quite amazing and I felt bad when he ended up fumbling six things at one time. After another set of dances which had an Egyptian flavour to it, we were entertained by a gentleman who could play the drums by spitting ping pong balls out of his mouth! He would also spit them into the air, one, two, three at a time! I gagged each time he caught a ping pong ball in his mouth.

A pirate themed dance number took place then and I believe. This is when the live aquarium appeared. This was crazy. An aquarium emerged from the floor right in front us, holding a tank of water with what looked like three boa constrictors swimming in it. Then a girl is thrown into the tank and pretends to fight with them! At one point one of the fish had actually wrapped itself around her ankle to the point where she couldn’t get it off before the lights went out.

After that number, a ventriloquist came out and stole the show, especially when he got volunteers from the crowd on stage (including a guy from Toronto!)

The show ended with a traditional can can number and some futuristic number.

Two hours later, I can say that I have never seen something quite like this and it was very entertaining. For those out there always talking about the nudity…that wasn’t the show. The show is comprised of amazing dancers who just happen to be topless once in awhile.

Good Marilyn impression!

Vero and I left the Moulin Rouge experience quite satisfied and ended up home in time to wish her a happy birthday as it was midnight.

Today was a big day for us. A lot to get accomplished. Luckily, my earplugs worked like a charm…even to the point where Vero had to scramble to turn the alarm clock off because I couldn’t hear it!

We finished off some croissants and baguette before hitting the road for the Catacombs. A little personal history on the place…I had come to Paris in 2005 and was excited to see the catacombs. Unfortunately the guide book I had was a year out of date and it turned out that the catacombs were closed for the year for renovations! Vero and I were quite excited to see the catacombs today.

We met a man from Manhattan in the lineup whose name was Scott. He was quite entertaining and he said he used to be a dancer/singer and now is a tour guide in New York. I was entertained by his tales and it made for the wait to get in a lot faster.

I feel like a hobbit. Note the black line on the ceiling…this was to lead the way to the ossuary considering there were multiple paths within the catacombs for workers. Can I also point out that originally when it was opened to the public, people went down by candlelight?!

We descended 20m into the earth where the catacombs lie. The quick history of the catacombs is that they were mined for rock to be used in the development of the city buildings. But at one point in the 1770s they realized that the left bank was getting fragile and to the point of near collapse into the earth so they halted mining. Fast forward 100 years and there were debated practices of burying the dead overtop of the dead and their decomposing bodies entering into the well water which caused outbreaks of illness. Finally, it was decided that the graves needed to be moved into a safer locale…mass cemeteries were created, but what to do with the six million original inhabitants? A move to the unused catacombs was ordered and six million bodies were moved. When I say bodies, I’m assuming it was a mix of bones and bodies which were turned into bones because all there is now are bones.

Unfortunately for awesome pictures, no flash was allowed.

The catacombs were quite amazing. 2km of tunnels underneath the city of Paris where you can see how people excavated rock. Later on in the tunnels, you come upon the ossuary, the Empire of the Dead (which is stated before entering). Within there, you find bones which look like arms/legs piled upon one another and then a row of skulls once in awhile to act as a buffer I’m assuming. I heard a tour guide say that the bones go as far back as five meters and stand around 8 feet high. Vero and I spent an hour walking through these bones. It was incredible. It’s not hard to imagine that there are six million inhabitants there.

My best imitation of a skull. Wait, that’s not right. I should be respecting the dead.

I personally think that this one of the highlights of my trip, even comparing my first trip to Europe! Vero seemed to enjoy it as well.

Vero looks right at home.

After escaping the catacombs, we re-oriented ourselves and headed towards the Latin Quarter as per Uncle Gerry’s suggestion. It was an interesting area of town and we had a great sandwich, while touring les Jardins de Louxembourg. I found it interesting to see kids playing in the garden and realized that they don’t have much else to play in. This is indeed a city, where there is not much greens to visit with your children. Quite different from Ottawa.

Something being filmed. Quite neat!

The most beautiful woman to me, in front of a beautiful palace.

Notre Dame cathedral was our next stop. I never seem to get tired of churches…I marvel at their architecture. I can’t imagine buildings like these being built nowadays…if only we had the foresight to create majesty such as this. I can’t even fathom how someone at the back of the church could hear the priest back in the day…this hall must stretch to a good half kilometre and has some of the most amazing stained glass windows I have ever seen (next to my mother’s creations of course!).

Which one is the hunchback at this point?

Our feet were getting pretty sore throughout the day and we were getting tired. We both bought new hiking shoes and I find one of them is digging into the side of my heel a little too much, to the point of constant discomfort. But we both realize that this is only Day 3 of the trip and that we have to build up our endurance and callouses!

We went to the Centre Pampidou which turned out to be a National Arts Centre which was closed for the day, and then headed down towards Le Bastille which is a relic of the Bastille prison which stands in the middle of a roundabout. At this point, we realized that we weren’t all that far from our apartment (only an hour walk) so we decided to walk back and find a shop that could sell us an SDHC card reader. The funniest thing was that we eventually found one on Desmanil which was a few blocks from our place. Turns out that there 18 other computer stores right next to each other this street! I wondered why we couldn’t find any others in town!

Losing patience and energy, we bought some food and drink for the night and returned back to the apartment around 5PM. It was a long day but we got a lot accomplished and it was a lot cooler today than it was yesterday. It was MUGGY yesterday. Guh.

After a well deserved nap, we awoke around 8PM, and settled in for what we figured is a Parisien meal…a salad, a baguette, some dijon mustard, some patisserie, and some great cheese. Also, a bottle of wine was necessary! I had a good laugh when Vero attempted to open the bottle and nearly had it, but just couldn’t finish the job. Vero also surprised me with a lovely desert she snuck out to buy…an eclair and a mille feuille. We both really enjoyed the eclair and we are enjoying the night in the apartment in Paris with some wine and thoughts of what the Louvre has to offer us tomorrow. 1.5 more days in Paris and it doesn’t seem enough!

I just asked Vero what she loved about today and she said “I loved spending time with you! Plus I’m drinking wine!” HA. Also she loved the fact that if I owned a Hotel de Ville (city hall), I would call it Centre Rigidougidouuuuu.

Vero also points out that her legs are sore, but she is loving relaxing right now with a book and some french music. We’re trying to find a National radio station with only accordion music, but have failed to find any. Shouldn’t that be mandatory?

This should be the sign in front of a really boring person’s house.

We are here safe!

The flight here was awesome. Air Canada rules! We had personalized video screens in front of us and we could watch whatever we wanted. Unfortunately Vero’s screen was messed up to the point where her volume was always cranked up. She had to put earplugs in her ears AND THEN her headphones on top of them!

We arrived in 6.5 hours which was 2 hours below my estimate. I must have read the flight information wrong. This did not bode well for us getting some shuteye.

We grabbed the RER train into the city and watched as it got more full with each stop…Monday morning commuters looking bleary eyed and wondering why they can’t be on vacation.

View from our apartment.

Unfortunately for us, by the time we got to Maud’s apartment (an apartment we found on airbnb.com), it was already 35 minutes past when we said we would meet her. There was no buzzer outside the apartment and she was nowhere to be seen. A crisis was slowly arising and we were low on sleep. We tried to use the payphone but they only accept phonecards. Vero then went into the cafe to see if we could use the phone and lo and behold, the owners knew Maud, let us buzz her, and sure enough she was still home before she went to work! Perfect!

We settled in and immediately hit the sack. It was 10AM and we were hoping to get 2 hours of sleep so we could get back out on the road. However, here I am just awoken around 3:30 and we’re getting ready. Oh well…we needed the sleep. No sense in getting frustrated with it! Paris will wait for us!

The place is quite amazing. I had forgotten how noisy it was! I am glad that I brought earplugs.

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Update: Vero and I headed to Gare de Lyon to pick up our train tickets for the rest of Eurotrip.  God bless automated tellers!  We then picked up a ‘carnet’ of tickets (ten tickets) for the metro to get us around town.  When looking at the map, it doesn’t seem that big of a city, but of course when it takes you 45 minutes to walk about an inch on the map, you know how big it is!

Unfortunately I can’t upload pictures at the moment like I had hoped to…somehow in my packing, I didn’t realize that our new SDHC cards can’t be read by my SD card reader!

Vero at the Arc

We headed to the Arc de Triomphe around 5PM and it’s still as amazing as I remember it.  There was some sort of military band playing at the moment so I am not sure if that is normal at that hour or not.  I must admit that tourist season is HIGH upon us, especially around 5PM!  We headed to the top (284 steps!) and it has one of the most beautiful views of the city.  It gives you the true scope of Paris and is a sight not to be passed up.

It was freaking windy up at the top of the Arc that day!

Which way to the Tower?

Of course our next stop was the Eiffel Tower which can be seen in the distance.  Pictures were taken, people took our picture, we took theirs…everyone is in the same boat around the Eiffel Tower.  Seeing that it was after 6PM we couldn’t walk up the stairs at a reduced price so we got in line for the elevator.  While in line we found out that the top was closed due to being over capacity, but would open up within another hour.  The sun was going down at this point and Vero pointed out that we would be able to see the city at night which was the selling point for me!

Obligatory hot couple picture with la Tour Eiffel

Up we went and I got into line on the 2nd floor for tickets to the top.  Vero walked around for awhile taking in the sights and eventually we made it to the top.  Let it be known that I’m not aggressive enough when it comes to getting on an elevator so there Vero went up, stuck in a crowd of people while I was stuck below waiting for the next elevator!  No matter, another one came in five minutes.  The top is freaking amazing…did I mention it was crazy windy that day in the city?  The south west side was home to some crazy pictures of hair blowing in the wind!

Paris at night. Along with the tractor beams trying to bring in UFOs.

Unfortunately we could not find any restaurant at the Eiffel Tower that Vero’s parents gave us money to eat at.  We had a granola bar instead!  But we definitely needed something to eat at this point.  It was 9PM and we hadn’t eaten anything all day other than a croissant.

Sorry Gaetan! No restaurant on la Tour Eiffel!

Another obligatory photo of super hot couple. But at night! This was after some Polish guy came asking for directions from our map and I’m pretty sure he was either gay or trying to pick my pocket considering how close he was to me!

Patience was wearing thin but we stumbled upon the Comptoir sur L’Arc which was bustling with activity and had super fast service.  My leg of duck and Vero’s chicken-kabob were great and we split a 1/2 litre of cold red wine.  Perfect way to end the day!  Luckily the metro was still running around 11PM and we arrived back at the apartment around midnight tired from our first day.  Can’t get over what we accomplished in a few hours so far!  Looking forward to tomorrow!

A great meal (super fast service!) at le Comptoire de L’Arc

 

Testing out the WordPress app for the iPad. Vero and I just munched on some tasty nachos from byward taps at YOW. We are wondering if the flight to Paris will have personalized tv screens in the seats in front of us.

Troy and I used those going to BC and they were sweet. Especially when Troy started watching European Vacation and there was a nude scene and the lady next to us was wondering what kind of person watches nudity in a plane!

 

Surprising addition…grapes! Vero said this was about half of them! Too bad we won’t have enough time to figure out how to make wine from them!

I am very impressed with my cayenne and habanero peppers this year. I ended up dehydrating them as per Troy and Connie’s suggestion. I think I may have dehydrated the habanero a little too much, but I guess I’ll find out when I bite into it!

Vero and I are headed to Montreal tomorrow to catch Pearl Jam on their 20th anniversary tour.

I’m quite excited by the fact that PJ has entered an era in their lives where they do a little tour each year and I’m making it a point to travel the world to see them at least once a year.

It’s a shame that our Eurotrip coincided with their upcoming Canadian tour because I always had a dream of a road trip across Canada and following PJ. Until the next time!

Excellent photo taken from Flickr user: Peter J Preston…from the PJ20 Weekend in Alpine WI this weekend.

Well, I must say that I had a great time at Maureen and John’s wedding. Sure, being an MC is trying at times…dealing with microphone issues, ensuring people have a laugh…it’s a job, really. But I would work my ass off any day of the year for my sister and John.

You know, someone mentioned how they look at each other and the love in their eyes and I realized that’s so true. They click more than a mouse in a game of Quake.

I had the great honour of being part of a grand surprise which was John surprising Maureen with a honeymoon in Punta Cana instead of a week in Niagara Falls. I thought the delivery (proposed by John) was fantastic! I had a good laugh when Maureen thought that Vero and I had bought her a trip to Punta Cana when we pulled the reservations out of the magic box!

The time on stage with Troy was one of my favourites of my life. It was hard to play with the drums and when the monitors cut out, but that’s all things performers deal with, I suppose. I really enjoyed it and I sometimes wonder why the heck I’m not pursuing it a little more.

I could write for days about the wedding, but all that I care about is that Maureen and John had an amazing time! The Popes and the Palmers came together, organized the hell out of the place and it was a super night.

Too bad I forget to ask Uncle Pete to say Grace. Feel bad about that one, but oh well. I can’t remember everything.