Santa Flies Over The Champs Élysées

Wonderful day wandering the streets of Paris, attending the Musee d'Orsay,seeing Sarkozy fly by in a motorcade,and stumbling on a fabulous Christmas celebration along the Seine. We wandered from booth to booth checking out the wares and the food, planning to pop by later for a quick crepe or chocolate, warmed wine or a punch. It was fun to see the sparkling lights and hear carols in French and English. There was a high wire act where a real live Santa flies in a sleigh across the street while suspended. The shouts of joy and real excitement from all the little ones surrounding us reminded me how important Christmas is to so many children around the world. I was truly feeling the old Christmas spirit. How wonderful and fortunate we are to be able to be here in Paris to see the fun! Joyeaux Noel!

Baby,it's cold outside!

Mais oui, nous sommes in Paris! We left Roma at 10 am yesterday morning via a Mercedes with driver, flying out of Fiumicino via Dusseldorf, Germany and onto France. What a difference a day makes! We went from the colorful hub bub that is Italy, through the well regimented and efficient German airport and airline to land in the very civilized city of Paris. Our one adventure while flying was the extreme turbulence we hit as we began to descend towards Charles de Gaul. But it only lasted about 5 minutes and the reason for it was clear as we deplaned onto a windy, rainy, cold tarmac en route to the terminal.

Settled into the hotel suite ( you read that correctly!), Geoff and I left an exhausted Caterina and sallied forth in the pouring rain at 10 pm in search of food. Our hotel is located in a very swanky area of Paris.....two blocks from the Champs Elysses and in the same neighborhood as Dior, Chanel, Jimmy Choo........mais oui! We reached the Champs Elysses and found one hopping spot with all sorts of action and expensive eateries. So..what did we choose? The Cafe di Roma, I kid you not! What did we eat? Pizza! LOL

Today, I woke at 7:30 am and had to double check the clock as it is PITCH DARK then! The sun does not rise until 8:15 am in the City of Lights. It turned out to be a sunny, brisk
day....more brisk than we expected as we found out as we were blown about on our way to the Eiffel Tower. Being brave and crazy, we climbed to the first level of the tower, 328 stairs.
Geoff and Caterina climbed the remaining 300 plus stairs and then to the lift to the tippy
top. I was not sure I wanted to climb that many stairs again, nor did I want to be that high
in the wind! They had a great time and took many pictures. I cruised around the first platform
and looked out over the city in all directions. But, man, was it cold! In the 40's with a 15
knot wind is quite different from the high fifties and warmer sun of Rome.It feels great to be back!
A long walk back through the Trocadero and along the Avenue Kleber to the Arch di Triomphe, then back to the Champs d'Elysses and to the hotel for a late afternoon break made for a great
day. We are breaking out the down jackets, hats and mittens for our foray this evening. Will post later!

Time to say good by..

This song by Andrea Bocelli has been running through my head as we wrap up our visit to Rome and prepare to head to Paris tomorrow. We had a tremendous time just wandering the area around the Aventine,going to a farmers market and buying Italian honey, visiting the Orange Garden and peeking through the keyhole at the Knights of Malta Palace. We crossed the Tiber and ate at a delightful little cafe, making it in the door about 5 minutes before a torrential rainfall deluged the Trastevere. We again trekked the 300 plus steps to Caterina's apartment where we visited as she finished her packing. On the way back to the San Giovanni area, we noticed that the ATAC (bus) police were hopping on and off busses collecting mega fines from people like us who didn't have a ticket. We raced across the street at the Colosseum and bought two tickets, but, wouldn't you know! No bus police hopped on our last bus. Ah well.......it is ridiculously easy to just hop on and off busses and never pay. I am not sure how they fund them to be honest.

So.....all packed and writing this blog before I turn in for the night. It has been a really nice experience to be in Roma again. Even Geoff was beginning to be able to understand a little Italian! Va bene!

The 70's and 80's Italy Style

In case I forgot to mention it, I planned this trip as an anniversary celebration for Geoff and I. As of August 22, we will have been married for 25 years. I think that surviving marriage for that long in this day and age is pretty darned good. And to still love one another is even better! Anyways, as we sit and digest another delicioso Italian dinner at 10:45 at night we have found this TV station that plays pre- MTV videos of the awesome bands of the 70's and 80's. Most of them are clips from music we enjoyed as while dating and newly married. Can we say déjà vu? Gotta love Italy!

Fire fighters in Rome

Today got off to a slow start as Geoff and I both slept in..not a good thing to do when you are trying to get over jet lag! Ah well! Making plans to meet Caterina at San Giovanni de Laeterano Basilica at noon, we arrive to find a huge Mass going on and a cathedral full of dignitaries and armed service folks (mostly Navy) and many firefighters in bunker type outfits as members of the audience. Come to find out it is the Feast of St. Barbara, the patron saint of Navy folks and firefighters. We were treated to a full orchestra singing Handel's Messiah Hallelujah chorus as well as archbishops and clergy galore concelebrating a Mass. It was quite moving. I learned from Caterina that the Basiloca was the original church ofnthe Popes prior to the building of the current Basilica of St. Peter. The doors were the original doors of the ancient Curia in the Roman Forum. All in all, quite an impressive place.

After speeding some time with Caterina at our hotel, we set off to find the Trevi Fountain, a tourist trap if ever there were one! Getting there was another adventure as Geoff and I got separated on the subway when the door slammed shut in my face. LOL! I figured I would just head to Barberini station and call Geoff if he wasn't there. ( At that point I had no idea if that was where he was going.) thankfully he was standing there hoping I was on the next train! We finished the afternoon wandering up the Quirinal to the palace and an exhibit on modern Italian history. This is a brand new exhibit geared for Italians. The palaceis impressive.

The bees....

...yes, we were discussing bees and honey (miele) tonight with a waitress at a local eatery. She spoke very little English and Geoff speaks no Italian so I had to moderate as best I could with my meager Italian and vast Latin. I am finding that knowing Latin is somewhat helpful. Geoff learned the word for bee is "ape", pronounced ah-pay which makes sense since it is Apis in Latin.. The young lady brought our a jar of Sardinian honey from the cucina and Geoff had a very yummy Sardinian pastry made with pecorino cheese and honey. Ah...the international language of sweets! Buona sera, all! More adventures tomorrow, I am sure, as our tour guide is joining us.

Ah..those Spanish Steps!

Took a wild taxi ride this morning to the Galleria Borghese which is definitely a wonderful place to see some of the best art in the world in a small space! We screeched down back roads and one way streets like the proverbial bat in hell. I was damned gladI had a seat belt for that ride. I knew Romans drove like crazy people, but this was truly amazing!

After the gallery and a lazy lunch, we poked along the park behind the gallery, making our way to the top of the Spanish steps through some pretty swanky neighborhoods. While perched at the top of the stairs enjoying a place to sit and the sun in our faces, I noticed a group of unsavory types who were plying the tourists with babies and children in hand. One of the artists at the top of the hill finally came over to them and started yelling that he was sick of them and he was calling the carabinieri and they better get lost! All of this at the top of his lungs in true Italian style. Off they slunk to a lower portion of the steps.

Well, about ten minutes later, Geoff and I began to descend the stairs. The ladies began to follow and realizing I was having none of it and had a purse that was secured underneath my cape they began to buzz all over Geoff in hopes of picking his pocket of his phone which was in hand, or his wallet which was in the front pocket covered by the camera case. Anyone who knows Geoff knows he has a voice that can be heard all across the Atlantic Ocean. Fast as they thought they could distract him and pick the old pocket, Geoff booms out, "Get your hands out of my fu#*$ing pockets you bitches" whereupon the whole square seemed to stop and look as the crazy pickpockets knew they had the wrong mark and skeedadled away. I was ready to clock one of them. Good thing they don't allow those of us with concealed weapons permits to carry in Rome..........

With that little adventure, we proceeded to the Vatican where we toured for a bit before
catching two busses and returning to the hotel. We are getting really good at that now!