I spent most of the day blogging from our weekend in Paris and I'm starting to feel sick again. I don't know what it is about the German weather or if it's just me trying to do to much when I don't feel well. Oh well, I'll take a rest and see if I feel any better.
We have an appointment this evening to check out a car. It's an older model 5 series BMW station wagon. It looked pretty good when we saw on base last week.
When Ted got home, he tried calling the number that he had on file for the car. A little girl answered the phone and said her parents were in Huntsville, Alabama looking for a house. HUH? Ted was perplexed and so was I. I couldn't imagine someone making an appointment and not telling the person he was leaving for the states. Perhaps it was unexpected.
I convinced Ted that we should go over to Patch again and take a look at it, perhaps the child who answered the phone wasn't a part of the family...I don't know but we need to see if we can test drive the car.
So we head over to Patch. We get there and the car is parked in the parking lot. We walk around it and verify we have the right number.
Two little girls are walking by and then they turn around and the one girls said, "if you are looking at the car, it belongs to my friend here". We ask the little girl if her parents were around. She told us again that her parents were in Huntsville but her grandfather is staying with them. That's who Ted must have made the appointment with! She said to come in...and we told her to have her grandfather come out so we could talk.
It turns out, the car is owned by a Lt. Colonel in the army. He and his wife have 10, that's right, TEN children!!! The grandfather said he retired from the Army after 31 years and his son has the same rank as he had when he retired! The grandfather showed us the car and said to go ahead and test drive it so we did.
He misstated the mileage...it didn't have 120K but 220K on it. BIG difference. The front seats were worn (leather) but the read seats were cloth and in good shape. We talked about the tires and how the Germans had winter and summer tires. He said you only needed all-weather tires and we'd be OK. This car had all-weather tires on it.
The car ran like a top. There was just a few spots of rust which I found amazing given the age of the car.
When we returned Ted backed the car into the parking spot. We told the grandfather that we would like to think about it and would get back to him. In the car, Ted said he saw black smoke coming out of the tailpipe. Not a good sign in a car that takes gas. He said he'd expect that from a diesel engine but not from a gas engine car.
We nixed this car. We'll just have to keep looking!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Day 66: Finalizing the details.
We had an appointment with the housing office this morning to review the apartment lease. I didn't think it was necessary since the lease was so straight forward. However, I recognize the wisdom of having the contract reviewed by the housing office in the event that there are issues down the road.
The Germans have a standard procedure whereby they require three months notice when moving out. Since we know when our contract is up we didn't think this requirement was an issue. The housing office, however, didn't agree but I convinced the clerk that we don't have the same issues as military who are rotated to another location quickly. It doesn't apply to us but he seemed to think so. At any rate, we finally were able to sign it along with the housing office (even though they are not a party to the lease, they sign it and even though we are not considered military, because Ted works for a company that contracts with the military, they keep records for us because of the issues that have arisen in the past. I am thankful for that.
It's interesting. He explained some nuances of living in a German apartment. He told us we need to air out the house for at least 10 minutes every day to combat mold...even in the winter time. He said to turn the heaters down, bundle up and open up the windows! It reminds me of when I was a child and my mother slept with the windows open, even in the wintertime!
He also explained that we needed to ensure that the meters were read and that we completed the "walk-through" form upon taking possession and upon termination. He wanted to be there but I thought it was unnecessary. He did say he wanted to be there when we terminate. OK. I'll buy that, just in case there are any issues at that time.
We talked about the windows. He said they open two ways (which neither of us knew)! If you turn the handle 90 degrees the top opens in and the bottom is attached. If you turn the handle 45 degrees it opens like a casement window. I found these windows fascinating. Silly little thing but it will sure make cleaning the windows a breeze!!
He also recommended that we join the tenants association. It's about 150 EURO the first year and decreases every year thereafter. By doing so we would have access to German lawyers in the event that there is a dispute. It appears German law protects tenants.
With the documents in had, we were ready to leave. We didn't anticipate that this meeting would take over two hours! He went line by line by line and there were twelve pages. He took a copy for himself and gave us a copy.
We now have a copy to give to the landlord and can make arrangements to pay the security deposit and the rent for June.
We decided to have some lunch before heading over to Panzer to get a new fuel card for the VW Golf that we now have. That also took some time. By this time it was after 3 and by the time my husband would take me home and get back to work, it would be time to come home. So he called his boss and told him he would not be coming in. We went home but we have an 8pm appointment with the previous tenant to buy the kitchen and the lights.
We met with him, signed off on the document of sale and he explained some nuances of the house and told us he would be leaving the shelving in the basement storage area (if we wanted it - of course I wanted it - are you kidding?) And he wanted to know if we wanted the medicine cabinet in the main bath. We do. I don't want to have to buy one as they are somewhat expensive (almost 200 EURO) and this has already been installed. We will take it for 50 EURO!
Frank, the old tenant, tells us which service he has for his Internet connection. and explains that the Dentist who parks next to us may try to bamboozle us into thinking she has a contract with the landlord to use our side of the garage. He said, don't let her do that. I asked if she was German. He said she was. I told him that I was surprised. That I didn't think that any German would do that! He said he tries not to talk to her too much. She had her name on the wall in front of the car. I will be placing our name in front of OUR space as well.
It's been a long day and I'm ready to go home, relax and go to bed.
The Germans have a standard procedure whereby they require three months notice when moving out. Since we know when our contract is up we didn't think this requirement was an issue. The housing office, however, didn't agree but I convinced the clerk that we don't have the same issues as military who are rotated to another location quickly. It doesn't apply to us but he seemed to think so. At any rate, we finally were able to sign it along with the housing office (even though they are not a party to the lease, they sign it and even though we are not considered military, because Ted works for a company that contracts with the military, they keep records for us because of the issues that have arisen in the past. I am thankful for that.
It's interesting. He explained some nuances of living in a German apartment. He told us we need to air out the house for at least 10 minutes every day to combat mold...even in the winter time. He said to turn the heaters down, bundle up and open up the windows! It reminds me of when I was a child and my mother slept with the windows open, even in the wintertime!
He also explained that we needed to ensure that the meters were read and that we completed the "walk-through" form upon taking possession and upon termination. He wanted to be there but I thought it was unnecessary. He did say he wanted to be there when we terminate. OK. I'll buy that, just in case there are any issues at that time.
We talked about the windows. He said they open two ways (which neither of us knew)! If you turn the handle 90 degrees the top opens in and the bottom is attached. If you turn the handle 45 degrees it opens like a casement window. I found these windows fascinating. Silly little thing but it will sure make cleaning the windows a breeze!!
He also recommended that we join the tenants association. It's about 150 EURO the first year and decreases every year thereafter. By doing so we would have access to German lawyers in the event that there is a dispute. It appears German law protects tenants.
With the documents in had, we were ready to leave. We didn't anticipate that this meeting would take over two hours! He went line by line by line and there were twelve pages. He took a copy for himself and gave us a copy.
We now have a copy to give to the landlord and can make arrangements to pay the security deposit and the rent for June.
We decided to have some lunch before heading over to Panzer to get a new fuel card for the VW Golf that we now have. That also took some time. By this time it was after 3 and by the time my husband would take me home and get back to work, it would be time to come home. So he called his boss and told him he would not be coming in. We went home but we have an 8pm appointment with the previous tenant to buy the kitchen and the lights.
We met with him, signed off on the document of sale and he explained some nuances of the house and told us he would be leaving the shelving in the basement storage area (if we wanted it - of course I wanted it - are you kidding?) And he wanted to know if we wanted the medicine cabinet in the main bath. We do. I don't want to have to buy one as they are somewhat expensive (almost 200 EURO) and this has already been installed. We will take it for 50 EURO!
Frank, the old tenant, tells us which service he has for his Internet connection. and explains that the Dentist who parks next to us may try to bamboozle us into thinking she has a contract with the landlord to use our side of the garage. He said, don't let her do that. I asked if she was German. He said she was. I told him that I was surprised. That I didn't think that any German would do that! He said he tries not to talk to her too much. She had her name on the wall in front of the car. I will be placing our name in front of OUR space as well.
It's been a long day and I'm ready to go home, relax and go to bed.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Day 65: More rain in Germany!
We're firmly back in Germany. Ted leaves for work and leaves me to do the finances for the Paris weekend along with putting away all of the clean clothes from yesterday's jaunt to the laundromat.
It's hot and humid this morning with just a tiny bit of breeze. Soon the clouds rolled in and it begins to rain. After the very hot, very humid night last night, the rain is welcomed!
I spend most of the morning and afternoon, re-organizing clothing, doing the finances and blogging.
It's hard work but someone has to do it! :)
It's hot and humid this morning with just a tiny bit of breeze. Soon the clouds rolled in and it begins to rain. After the very hot, very humid night last night, the rain is welcomed!
I spend most of the morning and afternoon, re-organizing clothing, doing the finances and blogging.
It's hard work but someone has to do it! :)
Day 64: On the road...Again!
You know you've had enough of one place when you are ready to go home! While the city of Paris has incredible architecture along with history and culture, particularly it's art works, personally, I would not come back. I like the water and while it was wonderful to take a dinner cruise (one of the two highlights of the trip), it wasn't enough time near or in the water for my taste.
There are way too many people. After having lived in Germany for two months where they take pride in keeping their cities neat and tidy, Paris was the opposite.
We didn't get up too early because we wanted to ensure we were not in the middle of rush hour traffic. We had breakfast in the hotel again and paid the bill, packed the car and took off. Julie gave good directions this time because Ted reprogrammed her!
We were happy to see the traffic going into the city was heavy but the traffic going out of the city was not. We finally got on the A4 and were on our way. The trip itself was uneventful except for when we made the one stop to get diesel for the car. Ted had debated as to whether he should put 5 litres or 10 to get us over the border into Germany where we can use our fuel card. He forgets and puts more than 20 litres. Ted, you just lost 10 points! LOL! He was more made himself than I was so I didn't try to call attention to it and add insult to injury.
We decided to go through Strasbourg again and have dinner there. I had taken this photo on the way to Paris and I wanted to see the Cathedral but we both were tired. It's only an hour-and-forty minutes from Stuttgart so we can come back. This is a good Saturday trip. Strasbourg has a lot of history that I'm interested in seeing!
Ted wanted to stop, so we did. It didn't appear to be in a really good section of town but we had already parked the car and paid for parking. So we went to the cafe but the waiter informed us that they didn't start serving food until 7pm. We were not waiting for that so we had a drink and left. Ted wanted to see the water so he went in one direction (to the right) and I went to the left (closer to the car) towards the bakery across the street. I bought a loaf of honest-to-goodness French bread. I had the girl slice it. It's amazing how you can communicate when you don't know the language!
I also spotted what looked like Dunkin Donut holes...but these were filled with chocolate. I bought two for each of us. I figured they would tide us over until we got home and I could fix dinner. I had made stuffed peppers before we left so we were going to eat those for dinner tonight. We were within an hour an a half of home.
I met Ted coming out of the bakery and we were glad to be on our way. We arrived home and had dinner but we still had to do laundry for the week! UGH! So we packed up the laundry basket and the laundry supplies and headed over to Kelley Base to do the laundry. By the time we got done and got home it was close to 1am!!
Time for bed!
There are way too many people. After having lived in Germany for two months where they take pride in keeping their cities neat and tidy, Paris was the opposite.
We didn't get up too early because we wanted to ensure we were not in the middle of rush hour traffic. We had breakfast in the hotel again and paid the bill, packed the car and took off. Julie gave good directions this time because Ted reprogrammed her!
We were happy to see the traffic going into the city was heavy but the traffic going out of the city was not. We finally got on the A4 and were on our way. The trip itself was uneventful except for when we made the one stop to get diesel for the car. Ted had debated as to whether he should put 5 litres or 10 to get us over the border into Germany where we can use our fuel card. He forgets and puts more than 20 litres. Ted, you just lost 10 points! LOL! He was more made himself than I was so I didn't try to call attention to it and add insult to injury.
We decided to go through Strasbourg again and have dinner there. I had taken this photo on the way to Paris and I wanted to see the Cathedral but we both were tired. It's only an hour-and-forty minutes from Stuttgart so we can come back. This is a good Saturday trip. Strasbourg has a lot of history that I'm interested in seeing!
Ted wanted to stop, so we did. It didn't appear to be in a really good section of town but we had already parked the car and paid for parking. So we went to the cafe but the waiter informed us that they didn't start serving food until 7pm. We were not waiting for that so we had a drink and left. Ted wanted to see the water so he went in one direction (to the right) and I went to the left (closer to the car) towards the bakery across the street. I bought a loaf of honest-to-goodness French bread. I had the girl slice it. It's amazing how you can communicate when you don't know the language!
I also spotted what looked like Dunkin Donut holes...but these were filled with chocolate. I bought two for each of us. I figured they would tide us over until we got home and I could fix dinner. I had made stuffed peppers before we left so we were going to eat those for dinner tonight. We were within an hour an a half of home.
I met Ted coming out of the bakery and we were glad to be on our way. We arrived home and had dinner but we still had to do laundry for the week! UGH! So we packed up the laundry basket and the laundry supplies and headed over to Kelley Base to do the laundry. By the time we got done and got home it was close to 1am!!
Time for bed!
Day 63: Paris!
We had checked the weather before leaving Germany and the Internet said it would be cloudy and in the 70's. To me that's a bit chilly but I thought, what if the Internet is wrong? I'd better pack something for warmer weather. I'm SO glad I did because it's warm here today and it's a bit humid.
We got up late due to our late night and to save time, decided to eat breakfast in the hotel. They did have croissants and chocolate croissants as well as eggs and cheese along with fruit and yogurt. Enough for us to get to lunch.
Ted asks me where we want to go first. I said I wanted to see the Arc de Triomphe. It is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It sits on a huge circle and cars go whizzing by. There are 12 radiating avenues from it.
The taxi left us off on the east side of the Arch. There's a huge circular road surrounding the arch. While I was busy taking photos, Ted was looking around to figure out how in the heck we were going to get over there. It would be suicide to try to cross that road with all of the cars whizzing by. He tells me there's a stairway going down and it must have a tunnel that goes under the road. OK. So off we go towards the stairway. It's cool down there. We walk through the tunnel with tons of other people and get to the other side. There's a ticket counter there and we stop to get tickets to go to the top of the terrace. I hope I don't get vertigo going up there.
We climb up the stairs and there we are, on that circular pad that has hip-high pilasters around the perimeter with huge black chains running from one pilaster to the other. I guess it's so that drivers think twice about smashing into them. Their cars would be in a world of hurt!
From photos, you don't get the impression that there's openings on the side of the arch, but there are! It actually has arches on the front and on the sides. An incredible piece of architecture.
This monument honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the inside and the top of the arc there are all of the names of generals and wars fought.
Under the main arch towards the eastern side, is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I. I did not know this fact until I read it in my travel book.
The Arch was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes. Laying the foundations alone took two years, and in 1810 when Napoleon entered Paris from the west with his bride Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed. The architect Jean Chalgrin died in 1811, and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. During the Restoration, construction was halted and would not be completed until the reign of King Louis-Philippe, in 1833–36 when the architects on site were Goust, then Huyot, under the direction of Héricart de Thury. Napoleon's body passed under it on 15 December 1840 on its way to its second and final resting place at Les Invalides.
When Paris was liberated in 1944, the Americans gave General Charles DeGaulle the honor of being the first person to drive through the Arch. What a piece of history!
There are almost 300 steps going up to the top of the terrace. I know I'm in no condition to climb 300 steps AND site see all day long. There's an elevator so we take it to the top. While we getting our tickets before we ascended to the Arch, there was sign saying the Arch would be closing at noon. I thought that was a bit odd but I figured, it was a good thing we got there when we did.
The elevator has a glass dome so you can see how high it goes. It's an incredibly weird elevator. It is shaped like a half-moon and there is a girl there with a walkie-talkie who is operating it. We get in with other people and she takes us to the top. I try to ask her why the monument was closing but she ignored me. She either doesn't speak English (I find that hard to believe given this is a huge international tourist attraction) or she is one of those individuals from Paris who disdains not only Americans but all tourists. It's funny because you would think those who think like that would consider how much money tourists pour into the economy. I guess they don't teach their employees about customer service. Oh well. (So far, she is the first person in town who has acted like this.)
We get to the top and it opens into a long narrow room that they use as a souvenir shop. We are not allowed to take photos in the souvenir shop. Ok, no problem. Ted asks, "How do we get to the terrace?" I look around and see other people walking towards the far end of the room. The stairs to the top are narrow, just big enough for one person to climb. We climb up one set of stairs, turn a corner and then go up another set of stairs and turn another corner and climb another set of stairs. I can see the light. I didn't know how many sets of stairs there would be!
As we walk out onto the terrace there are people milling about. The wall of the terrace ranges in height from knee-high to hip-high. The french have put up a barricade. It's hard to describe it but I'll try (I didn't even think to take a picture of it considering what else there was too look at). The barricade is at least seven or eight feet high and has about four inch openings from top to bottom between each metal post. The post is curved and u-shaped. If one fell into it, it could seriously hurt! But one can take photos from between the posts, which is a good thing. I took pictures on each side of the terrace. It's a hot and hazy day so I'm only posting the ones with the best views.
Below is the view of the Champs-Élysées, the most prestigious and expensive street in Paris! I didn't know it was that street when I took the photo and we didn't have an opportunity to ride or walk down there. It's out of my price range anyways!
As we walked the perimeter of the terrace, Ted said there's a set of stairs that only go down. So that's why no one came at us when we were going up the stairs! It was hot and I took a lot of pictures, I was ready to take the "lift" back down. We had to wait in line to get the lift. Only about 10 people can fit in that half-moon elevator but it makes short work of the job so we didn't have to wait too long. It was really nice to sit on the stone bench on the inside of the Arch. It was time to cool off a bit.
I wanted a photo of the side of the arch so I walked over to the edge of the circle and took some photos. I noticed a man with a VFW hat locking his car door to the left of me. I walked over to him and thanked him for his service. I asked him if he knew why the Arch was closing. He said there was a Memorial Day procession today at noon and that we should stay for it. I looked at my watch and it was barely 11:30.
I had NO idea that the French honor the US Memorial Day! Why hasn't the media ever talked about that? Since it was Sunday (and not Monday - the day the US celebrates Memorial Day) I didn't make the connection between Memorial Day and the gentleman with the VFW hat.
I went back to where Ted was sitting and told him why the Arch was closing. He said we should stay. We sat there for a few minutes cooling off. Then we went around to the front of the Arch where the tomb of the unknown soldier was. It was cordoned off but we were second in line. We had no idea how this procession was going to play out. The VFW man told me that there was a gentleman (from a home, he said) there that stormed the beaches at Normandy). This is history coming alive.
We stood there in front of the tomb for about 10 to 15 minutes until the French Police came and told us we would have to move to behind another set of metal barricades. Ted and I turned and moved quickly to get a ring-side spot right behind the barricade and allowing us the best view. I faintly heard the Star Spangled Banner and wondered who was playing it. There were french soldiers who marched to the front of the tomb and there was a french military band who came around the side and stood opposite the french soldiers.
As we stood there I turned to see a tall young man with a HUGE camera. I remarked that's ONE big camera or rather one big lens. He turned and smiled at me. It turns out he and his girlfriend are German! We talked for a bit and he wanted to know what was going on. We explained what was going on. I hesitated but then said I didn't want to offend him but I wanted his opinion of WWII. I think he understood what I meant. He said that it was sad that it happened and that he was glad he was living now and not then. He said he didn't know what he would have done if he lived in that era. I was disappointed by his answer by not surprised.
Five minutes before the procession, he and his girlfriend left. We continued to watch and the Air Force Honor Guard march to their spot next to the French soldiers. Then came the flags. First the U.S. and then the French, followed by various military personnel from each.
As the soldiers took their places, I was SO overcome by emotion that I began to cry. Never in my life has a Memorial Day service affected me in such a way. I think it's because of the enormity of the last WWII and the fact that we are currently living in Germany that just did me in.
As the band began to play the Star Spangled Banner, Ted saluted and I began to sing loud and proud. I heard a woman's voice behind me singing loudly as well. The band then played the French anthem and the soldiers, first the French and then the Americans placed wreaths on the tomb of the unknown soldier. I am SO glad we chose to go to the Arch first! Otherwise we would have missed this solemn occasion and we would have missed an opportunity to see it.
After the soldiers marched away from the Arch, I turned to woman behind me (who HAD to be an American) and asked her where she was from. It turns out she's from Los Gatos (not far from San Fransisco) and she even knew where our old home in Rocklin was! It truly IS a small world. We chatted for about ten minutes and then they left.
We were ready to leave as well. We went back down those stairs to the tunnel under the Arch and back up to the street. At this point, there were street dancers right near the entrance to the tunnel. We stopped to watch for a few minutes but then we were trying to get our bearings. Last night we had decided to utilize the "Hop on - Hop Off" bus tour that allows you to see the sites, get off, visit and then catch another bus that rotates every 15 minutes or so. The travel book had recommended it. Now to find the stop. We knew it had to be around somewhere, this was a major site.
Ted, in his wisdom, asked another bus company where that bus stop might be located. He said it was about 300 meters down the street. We walked toward the stop and ted was smelling the food being served at the various sidewalk cafes. Keep in mind these sidewalks are easily 15 to 20 feet wide! The tables are set up in the middle of the sidewalk with walking paths between the tables and the street and the tables and the cafe. One can easily do a great deal of people watching while they eat.
Ted is not only incredibly thirsty (as am I), but he's now hungry too. We decide to find a cafe that has open seating under an umbrella and have some lunch. We settled on Geroge V. It seemed like it was a true Paris cafe, unlike the McDonalds and the quick burger place two doors down. There was NO way, we were going to be in Paris and eat fast food! No way at all!
The head waiter (at least I think he was the head waiter or maybe he was the owner), showed us to a table. We ordered two bottles of water for each of us. It was incredibly expensive but we were SO thirsty!! The French charge less money for wine than for water!! Ted orders a Ham and cheese crepe and I order a salad with egg and toasts with goat cheese. I was looking forward to the goat cheese. It was one of my favorite cheeses in California.
Thankfully, our waiter speaks English and smiles. He is friendly and accommodating! When the lunch arrived, Ted was surprised to see that the crepe was folded in fourths (that's the French way of doing it - not rolled up like desert crepes). It was also made with whole wheat flour and looked quite good.
My salad had an egg alright but I was expecting a hard-boiled egg and got a fried egg right on top of the salad. Oh well! The goat cheese was not up to my standard but the salad was good and had pine nuts in it as well.
We finished our lunch and asked the waiter how far the stop was for "Hop on - Hop off" (yellow)bus. He said it was not 20 meters from where we were sitting. We were ready to continue on. I paid the check and he gave me change and I thought he had given me too much. I realized that I had made a mistake and told Ted that I had overpaid by 10 EURO. He said, "You lose five points for that one." (We had been having this conversation back and forth...lose five points, earn a point etc. for getting lost or finding someone to give us directions etc.) I was not about to lose five points so I went to the waiter and told him there had been a mistake. He looked at me and didn't argue. He said he thought I was wrong but didn't want to argue. He gave me back the 10 EURO! Hooray! I didn't lose the five points! I gained them for getting the 10 EURO back. Ted said later, "I can't believe that you asked him for the money back." And I told him...I Forget about the 10 EURO... I wasn't going to lose five points! He shook his head and we both laughed!
As we neared the stop, the bus was coming. It was a bit expensive but well worth it, in my opinion. Taxis charge between 10 and 15 Euro (about $20) per trip. Ted had seen his two sites now we were going to see mine. We went to the top of the bus and managed to get the first row seating behind the glass. Perfect! I can take loads of pictures and we get some air as well!
This is the first picture I took from the top of that bus. There are so many that I took that there's not space to show all of them here. I am choosing the more intersting ones to post. Ted promptly falls asleep. He's going to miss half the sites of Paris but I'm not going to bug him about it. He can see the photos later!
As we pass by monument after monument, I'm keeping track of them from the pamphlet the bus driver gave us. I only know the Louvre by the glass pyramid and that's the first stop.
We didn't get off the bus for this monument but my travel guide tells me that this is the place where Marie Antoinette lost her head, literally. For many years, the guillotine stood at this location. The French call the Place de la Concorde, or Place of Peace. I don't get that but hey, it's France.
It was first called Place Louis XV, and planned as a worthy setting for the royal statue. Place de la Concorde is often associated with the bloody events that took place on its pavement. In 1770, for example, 133 spectators were trampled to death at a huge fireworks display on the occasion of Marie-Antoinette's wedding to the Dauphin. A few decades later, the revolutionaries, who were intent on eliminating all royalist monuments trom the face of the earth, removed Louis XlV's statue, dubbed the plaza Place de la Révolution, and set up their guillotine on it. Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and 1119 other people lost their lives here, among them Charlotte Corday (the murderess of Marat), Danton, Philippe Égalité and Robespierre. In order to help these bloody events on their way to oblivion, the Directory renamed the square Place de la Concorde in 1795.
We come to a T-junction where there are arches opposite us and I'm thinking the bus driver is going to make a right turn but he doesn't, he's going to take this huge bus through those arches!! Oh, my gosh! I'm holding my breath and pull my arms in tight against myself (I had my arm laying on the side of the side of the bus). We go through that arch (which is more like a short tunnel - about two bus lengths) with less than 3 inches on each side. Once we get through, I heave a sigh of relief.
I didn't even notice the buildings all around us, I was so focused on whether we were going to make that tunnel. Ted says, we're here. HUH? Where? At the Louvre, we have to get off. I don't see the glass pyramid. Where is it? As we travel a bit more to the stop, I finally look over to the left and see the pyramid. It turns out ALL of the buildings all around us make up the Louvre. It is incredibly massive!
We get off the bus and look around. The series of buildings stretch from the left of the arches and extend all the way to behund the pyramid traveling in the opposite direction. I can't even begin to describe how vast this series of buildings are! I would have to take a video in order to show it and since I don't own a video camera, and we're only here until tomorrow, that won't happen.
I turn to Ted and ask him where the entrance is. He nods to the pyramid and says, just follow the rest of the people. I think the entrance is in the pyramid. There's a huge water fountain next to the pyramid. There are huge numbers of people sitting on the fountain's ledge. We get to the pyramid, and sure enough, it's the entrance. I always thought the pyramid was an area of the Louvre that displayed works of art. It shows you how much I know! LOL!
As we near the entrance, signs say anyone with bags are to go in one line while others can go in another line. I have a bag, my purse. We go inside and my purse is sent through the security system. It's REALLY hot in here because of all of the glass. There's an escalator just beyond the security area. We go down it to a landing and then down another escalator. We find ourselves underground but there's tons of light because of the glass pyramid above us to the right. It's cool down here.
Before we get tickets to go inside, we need to hit the restroom. I could spend days in here there are so many things to see but I'm really only interested in seeing the Mona Lisa. Ted is not big on art to begin with so he's really here to humor me.
We get our tickets and once again, both of us are parched. We stop and have a bottle of water before continuing to the section where the Mona Lisa is housed.
After having purchased the tickets, I get my ticket validated and I thought Ted was right behind me. He was talking to the ticket validation guy and it turns out, we both could have gotten into the Louvre for free! In Paris, if you are partially disabled, you and your spouse get into all of the museums for free! We didn't know! We wish someone had told us. Our travel guide said nothing about that. I need to contact Rick Steeves! LOL!
The signs to go to see the Mona Lisa are ambiguous. One says to go one way and another has an arrow another way! Ted tells me to follow him up the stairs. Even the stairways and ceilings in this building are works of art!
Almost every time I follow the "leader" we end up going the wrong way! Oh well, it just means I get to see more of the art work! LOL! I tried to tell him this was a room with sculptures in it but he wouldn't listen. It turns out there are beautiful works of art in this room.
Unfortunately, there's no time to linger as it's past 4 already and we have not yet seen the other site I wanted to see. Up several more floors of steps. We kept following the signs to the Mona Lisa. We walked through this one set of doors and had to go around this long wall with several huge works of art. All of the works of art in this section of the Louvre are from the 13th to 15th centuries and they are amazing, to say the least!
As we walk around the wall, there she is! There are SO many people flashing photos of it. I knew that the painting was small but it is beautiful even with all of the people clambouring to take pictures of her. It's behind a cordonned off area and behind a glass case. There are security guards on either side of the wall. Like all of the sheep before me, I move to the roped off area and take my photo. It's a bit disrespectful, I think to just take a photo but with so many people, it's very difficult to linger and think about the artist who created this work of art, not to mention the person who was painted.
I take my photos and I'm ready to go. Ted doesn't want to go down the steps, he now wants to take the elevator. It's easier on his knees. The elevator is small and there's not enough room for us so we wait for it to come back up again. In the meantime, two young French women walked around us and stood right at the right side of the door. As the door opened they pushed their way in ahead of us. They dismissed us as if we were bugs! Of course, this REALLY rubbed Ted the wrong way and he pushed me to get in the elevator. Afterwards, we discussed how incredibly rude those two women were and how this is really the first incident like this. If we were to stay longer, I'm sure we would have more experiences like this.
We get to the bus stop and we wait a scant few minutes for the next bus. Unfortunately, we lost our primo seats up top. There wasn't a seat available so we sat inside the bus where it was stifling hot. Luckily it was only a few minutes to Notre Dame Cathedral, our final stop for the day. I was eager to see it but Ted was not as keen as I was. He knew it from photos he had seen, but somehow I had missed out on seeing any photos of it so this Cathedral that is so well known around the world was not exactly what I had expected. It is beautiful, nonetheless.
The area in front of the Cathedral is huge! Ted wanted to sit down so we found a place at the opposite end of the Cathedral and sat on a ledge there. To the left of the this vast expanse of stone area is a statue of Simon Bolivar.
I looked for the Gargoyles and had to have Ted point them out to me. Because they were so high up on the Cathedral, they were difficult to see. For some reason, I thought they were bigger. They probably are, it's just that we are so far down on the ground.
Ted was not interested in seeing the interior of the church, while I was. He said he'd wait on the ledge while I went to look around inside. Having been in countless churches in Italy in my youth, I expected this 700 year old church to be like those churches. The arches above the doors are exquisite not to mention the doors themselves!
The interior of this Cathedral is at LEAST four stories high with the concave arches and stained glass windows. What surprises me is how much it reminds me of the interior of St. Dominic's Church in Youngstown, Ohio with the two wings to the side of the church and the huge stones.
While I can appreciate the fact that the French Catholics request that people respect the church, I'm surprised they allow people in to view the church while Mass is being said. Somehow that along with the souvenir shop in the back of the church, seems disrespectful to me.
As I walked out into the sunshine, I heard a woman say that she needed to find someone to take a picture of her and her husband. I thought she was Italian. (I was amazed to find that there were few, if anyone, there that spoke Italian or German, for that matter.) I stopped her and told I would gladly take her photo. It turns out she lives in Miami, Florida and is from Peru. Her husband is Turkish! Go figure!
As I walked towards Ted, I see he's napping again. I've worn the poor guy out dragging his butt all over town! LOL! We wanted to go to dinner at one of the restaurants in the tour book but we find out that the earliest reservation is for 10pm! YIKES! There's no way we're going to wait for that.
We decide to call the hotel and have them give us the phone number of the dinner cruise on the Seine, maybe we can make that! He gives us the wrong number or perhaps he cannot even understand us, I don't know but we need to get back to the hotel to look it up. Once again, we have to get a taxi. So we cross the street to get a cab and it turns out that it's the law in France that you MUST take the first cab in line! WOW! I was impressed.
We get this taxi driver from Africa. He doesn't speak much English and I learned right away to write down the name of the street where our hotel is located for a couple of reasons: 1) I can't pronounce the name and 2) they don't understand me. We get in the car and he takes off but he doesn't know where the location is, he turns down a street and then stops at the corner to look on his map. I didn't say anything at first, but when I saw he was taking his time and the meter was ticking, I poked Ted and told him we were being charged for him to look up the street. He called it to the taxi driver's attention, who said he wasn't stopping the meter. That's crazy! Why should I pay him to look up the street, it's his job. THAT got Ted mad and he said, let's go, we're getting out. I told the driver as I was getting out that it was not right to charge a fare if you don't know where you're going. He was upset but he should have done the right thing and stopped the meter until he could find the street.
We were at the corner of the street where there was a Haagen Daz store. Uh-oh! So we have ice cream to cool us off, both physically and emotionally. This was the first cab driver who was rude and he wasn't even French!
We walked down the street and I asked Ted, "Now what?" He says, "We go back to the taxi stand and get another taxi!" OK. On the way, I stop at a few souvenir places. We walk back to the taxi stand and I hope we don't get that same guy again, that would be a TOTAL bummer!!
We arrive and there's people talking to the first taxi and we go to the second taxi, driven by a woman. But there's a lady who was there first. She wanted to know if the second taxi (a Prius) was big enough to fit three people and a wheel chair. I didn't think so but I wasn't going to say anything. The next taxi in line was an SUV. The Prius driver recommended that the lady with the wheel chair take the SUV and we take the Prius. It turns out our driver is Iranian and has lived in Paris for 26 years, after the Shah was overthrown! She tells us it's going to take about 20 minutes to get to our hotel and wonder of wonders, she KNOWS where it's at!! Hooray!
She chats with us in English about her life in Paris and the cost of a Prius in France. She says she's been driving taxi for eight years and goes to visit her parents in Iran regularly because they are getting on in years.
We finally get to our hotel and I go get a pamphlet for the cruise. We go up to the room and figure out the clerk at the hotel must not have understood us on the phone because the number is totally wrong. Ted calls the cruise and asks if we could have a reservation. We are in luck, we can get one. The boat leaves at 8pm. Terrific, it's only 6:45. We have time to change and call yet another taxi to take us there.
The taxi driver knows Capitain Fracasse! Wonderful. We get there at about 7:30 and are second or third in line. I whisper to Ted that I hope we get a window table. Finally, they are starting to board. They didn't have our name on the list but that's not surprising since Ted said they didn't speak very good English but they seated us anyways AND we got a window table.
Our waiter is from Malta and speaks English as well as Italian. He smiles and is very kind. I think he looks like Bruce Willis!
The meal is a three course meal: Appetizer, entree and desert. We both order bottles of water.
The first course arrives and we were pleasantly suprised. It was delicious. Ted orders the Salmon and I have the steak. Even the desert was good.
All the while we are having dinner we are cruising down the Seine and snapping pictures from our seats. There are young lovers on the walls kissing, there are couples having a bottle of wine and some food and there is dancing!
We pay the bill and then go on top of the boat to look at Paris from the Seine at night. We pass the Eiffel tower and it is beautiful at night. We no sooner get up top and the steward makes us all go back downstairs. I would have liked to stay up there until we docked.
As we were leaving, our waiter told me to hang on to my purse and hold it on my shoulders because there are pick-pockets. I knew this from my travel book but it was kind of him to say so anyways. We walked down to the train station and hail a cab. He takes us back to our hotel. It's 11:30 and we are more than ready to call it a night.
For one full day in Paris, we got to see and do a lot of different things and I don't feel at all like I missed anything.
We got up late due to our late night and to save time, decided to eat breakfast in the hotel. They did have croissants and chocolate croissants as well as eggs and cheese along with fruit and yogurt. Enough for us to get to lunch.
Ted asks me where we want to go first. I said I wanted to see the Arc de Triomphe. It is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It sits on a huge circle and cars go whizzing by. There are 12 radiating avenues from it.
The taxi left us off on the east side of the Arch. There's a huge circular road surrounding the arch. While I was busy taking photos, Ted was looking around to figure out how in the heck we were going to get over there. It would be suicide to try to cross that road with all of the cars whizzing by. He tells me there's a stairway going down and it must have a tunnel that goes under the road. OK. So off we go towards the stairway. It's cool down there. We walk through the tunnel with tons of other people and get to the other side. There's a ticket counter there and we stop to get tickets to go to the top of the terrace. I hope I don't get vertigo going up there.
We climb up the stairs and there we are, on that circular pad that has hip-high pilasters around the perimeter with huge black chains running from one pilaster to the other. I guess it's so that drivers think twice about smashing into them. Their cars would be in a world of hurt!
From photos, you don't get the impression that there's openings on the side of the arch, but there are! It actually has arches on the front and on the sides. An incredible piece of architecture.
This monument honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the inside and the top of the arc there are all of the names of generals and wars fought.
Under the main arch towards the eastern side, is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I. I did not know this fact until I read it in my travel book.
The Arch was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes. Laying the foundations alone took two years, and in 1810 when Napoleon entered Paris from the west with his bride Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed. The architect Jean Chalgrin died in 1811, and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. During the Restoration, construction was halted and would not be completed until the reign of King Louis-Philippe, in 1833–36 when the architects on site were Goust, then Huyot, under the direction of Héricart de Thury. Napoleon's body passed under it on 15 December 1840 on its way to its second and final resting place at Les Invalides.
When Paris was liberated in 1944, the Americans gave General Charles DeGaulle the honor of being the first person to drive through the Arch. What a piece of history!
There are almost 300 steps going up to the top of the terrace. I know I'm in no condition to climb 300 steps AND site see all day long. There's an elevator so we take it to the top. While we getting our tickets before we ascended to the Arch, there was sign saying the Arch would be closing at noon. I thought that was a bit odd but I figured, it was a good thing we got there when we did.
The elevator has a glass dome so you can see how high it goes. It's an incredibly weird elevator. It is shaped like a half-moon and there is a girl there with a walkie-talkie who is operating it. We get in with other people and she takes us to the top. I try to ask her why the monument was closing but she ignored me. She either doesn't speak English (I find that hard to believe given this is a huge international tourist attraction) or she is one of those individuals from Paris who disdains not only Americans but all tourists. It's funny because you would think those who think like that would consider how much money tourists pour into the economy. I guess they don't teach their employees about customer service. Oh well. (So far, she is the first person in town who has acted like this.)
We get to the top and it opens into a long narrow room that they use as a souvenir shop. We are not allowed to take photos in the souvenir shop. Ok, no problem. Ted asks, "How do we get to the terrace?" I look around and see other people walking towards the far end of the room. The stairs to the top are narrow, just big enough for one person to climb. We climb up one set of stairs, turn a corner and then go up another set of stairs and turn another corner and climb another set of stairs. I can see the light. I didn't know how many sets of stairs there would be!
As we walk out onto the terrace there are people milling about. The wall of the terrace ranges in height from knee-high to hip-high. The french have put up a barricade. It's hard to describe it but I'll try (I didn't even think to take a picture of it considering what else there was too look at). The barricade is at least seven or eight feet high and has about four inch openings from top to bottom between each metal post. The post is curved and u-shaped. If one fell into it, it could seriously hurt! But one can take photos from between the posts, which is a good thing. I took pictures on each side of the terrace. It's a hot and hazy day so I'm only posting the ones with the best views.
Below is the view of the Champs-Élysées, the most prestigious and expensive street in Paris! I didn't know it was that street when I took the photo and we didn't have an opportunity to ride or walk down there. It's out of my price range anyways!
As we walked the perimeter of the terrace, Ted said there's a set of stairs that only go down. So that's why no one came at us when we were going up the stairs! It was hot and I took a lot of pictures, I was ready to take the "lift" back down. We had to wait in line to get the lift. Only about 10 people can fit in that half-moon elevator but it makes short work of the job so we didn't have to wait too long. It was really nice to sit on the stone bench on the inside of the Arch. It was time to cool off a bit.
I wanted a photo of the side of the arch so I walked over to the edge of the circle and took some photos. I noticed a man with a VFW hat locking his car door to the left of me. I walked over to him and thanked him for his service. I asked him if he knew why the Arch was closing. He said there was a Memorial Day procession today at noon and that we should stay for it. I looked at my watch and it was barely 11:30.
I had NO idea that the French honor the US Memorial Day! Why hasn't the media ever talked about that? Since it was Sunday (and not Monday - the day the US celebrates Memorial Day) I didn't make the connection between Memorial Day and the gentleman with the VFW hat.
I went back to where Ted was sitting and told him why the Arch was closing. He said we should stay. We sat there for a few minutes cooling off. Then we went around to the front of the Arch where the tomb of the unknown soldier was. It was cordoned off but we were second in line. We had no idea how this procession was going to play out. The VFW man told me that there was a gentleman (from a home, he said) there that stormed the beaches at Normandy). This is history coming alive.
We stood there in front of the tomb for about 10 to 15 minutes until the French Police came and told us we would have to move to behind another set of metal barricades. Ted and I turned and moved quickly to get a ring-side spot right behind the barricade and allowing us the best view. I faintly heard the Star Spangled Banner and wondered who was playing it. There were french soldiers who marched to the front of the tomb and there was a french military band who came around the side and stood opposite the french soldiers.
As we stood there I turned to see a tall young man with a HUGE camera. I remarked that's ONE big camera or rather one big lens. He turned and smiled at me. It turns out he and his girlfriend are German! We talked for a bit and he wanted to know what was going on. We explained what was going on. I hesitated but then said I didn't want to offend him but I wanted his opinion of WWII. I think he understood what I meant. He said that it was sad that it happened and that he was glad he was living now and not then. He said he didn't know what he would have done if he lived in that era. I was disappointed by his answer by not surprised.
Five minutes before the procession, he and his girlfriend left. We continued to watch and the Air Force Honor Guard march to their spot next to the French soldiers. Then came the flags. First the U.S. and then the French, followed by various military personnel from each.
As the soldiers took their places, I was SO overcome by emotion that I began to cry. Never in my life has a Memorial Day service affected me in such a way. I think it's because of the enormity of the last WWII and the fact that we are currently living in Germany that just did me in.
As the band began to play the Star Spangled Banner, Ted saluted and I began to sing loud and proud. I heard a woman's voice behind me singing loudly as well. The band then played the French anthem and the soldiers, first the French and then the Americans placed wreaths on the tomb of the unknown soldier. I am SO glad we chose to go to the Arch first! Otherwise we would have missed this solemn occasion and we would have missed an opportunity to see it.
After the soldiers marched away from the Arch, I turned to woman behind me (who HAD to be an American) and asked her where she was from. It turns out she's from Los Gatos (not far from San Fransisco) and she even knew where our old home in Rocklin was! It truly IS a small world. We chatted for about ten minutes and then they left.
We were ready to leave as well. We went back down those stairs to the tunnel under the Arch and back up to the street. At this point, there were street dancers right near the entrance to the tunnel. We stopped to watch for a few minutes but then we were trying to get our bearings. Last night we had decided to utilize the "Hop on - Hop Off" bus tour that allows you to see the sites, get off, visit and then catch another bus that rotates every 15 minutes or so. The travel book had recommended it. Now to find the stop. We knew it had to be around somewhere, this was a major site.
Ted, in his wisdom, asked another bus company where that bus stop might be located. He said it was about 300 meters down the street. We walked toward the stop and ted was smelling the food being served at the various sidewalk cafes. Keep in mind these sidewalks are easily 15 to 20 feet wide! The tables are set up in the middle of the sidewalk with walking paths between the tables and the street and the tables and the cafe. One can easily do a great deal of people watching while they eat.
Ted is not only incredibly thirsty (as am I), but he's now hungry too. We decide to find a cafe that has open seating under an umbrella and have some lunch. We settled on Geroge V. It seemed like it was a true Paris cafe, unlike the McDonalds and the quick burger place two doors down. There was NO way, we were going to be in Paris and eat fast food! No way at all!
The head waiter (at least I think he was the head waiter or maybe he was the owner), showed us to a table. We ordered two bottles of water for each of us. It was incredibly expensive but we were SO thirsty!! The French charge less money for wine than for water!! Ted orders a Ham and cheese crepe and I order a salad with egg and toasts with goat cheese. I was looking forward to the goat cheese. It was one of my favorite cheeses in California.
Thankfully, our waiter speaks English and smiles. He is friendly and accommodating! When the lunch arrived, Ted was surprised to see that the crepe was folded in fourths (that's the French way of doing it - not rolled up like desert crepes). It was also made with whole wheat flour and looked quite good.
My salad had an egg alright but I was expecting a hard-boiled egg and got a fried egg right on top of the salad. Oh well! The goat cheese was not up to my standard but the salad was good and had pine nuts in it as well.
We finished our lunch and asked the waiter how far the stop was for "Hop on - Hop off" (yellow)bus. He said it was not 20 meters from where we were sitting. We were ready to continue on. I paid the check and he gave me change and I thought he had given me too much. I realized that I had made a mistake and told Ted that I had overpaid by 10 EURO. He said, "You lose five points for that one." (We had been having this conversation back and forth...lose five points, earn a point etc. for getting lost or finding someone to give us directions etc.) I was not about to lose five points so I went to the waiter and told him there had been a mistake. He looked at me and didn't argue. He said he thought I was wrong but didn't want to argue. He gave me back the 10 EURO! Hooray! I didn't lose the five points! I gained them for getting the 10 EURO back. Ted said later, "I can't believe that you asked him for the money back." And I told him...I Forget about the 10 EURO... I wasn't going to lose five points! He shook his head and we both laughed!
As we neared the stop, the bus was coming. It was a bit expensive but well worth it, in my opinion. Taxis charge between 10 and 15 Euro (about $20) per trip. Ted had seen his two sites now we were going to see mine. We went to the top of the bus and managed to get the first row seating behind the glass. Perfect! I can take loads of pictures and we get some air as well!
This is the first picture I took from the top of that bus. There are so many that I took that there's not space to show all of them here. I am choosing the more intersting ones to post. Ted promptly falls asleep. He's going to miss half the sites of Paris but I'm not going to bug him about it. He can see the photos later!
As we pass by monument after monument, I'm keeping track of them from the pamphlet the bus driver gave us. I only know the Louvre by the glass pyramid and that's the first stop.
We didn't get off the bus for this monument but my travel guide tells me that this is the place where Marie Antoinette lost her head, literally. For many years, the guillotine stood at this location. The French call the Place de la Concorde, or Place of Peace. I don't get that but hey, it's France.
It was first called Place Louis XV, and planned as a worthy setting for the royal statue. Place de la Concorde is often associated with the bloody events that took place on its pavement. In 1770, for example, 133 spectators were trampled to death at a huge fireworks display on the occasion of Marie-Antoinette's wedding to the Dauphin. A few decades later, the revolutionaries, who were intent on eliminating all royalist monuments trom the face of the earth, removed Louis XlV's statue, dubbed the plaza Place de la Révolution, and set up their guillotine on it. Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and 1119 other people lost their lives here, among them Charlotte Corday (the murderess of Marat), Danton, Philippe Égalité and Robespierre. In order to help these bloody events on their way to oblivion, the Directory renamed the square Place de la Concorde in 1795.
We come to a T-junction where there are arches opposite us and I'm thinking the bus driver is going to make a right turn but he doesn't, he's going to take this huge bus through those arches!! Oh, my gosh! I'm holding my breath and pull my arms in tight against myself (I had my arm laying on the side of the side of the bus). We go through that arch (which is more like a short tunnel - about two bus lengths) with less than 3 inches on each side. Once we get through, I heave a sigh of relief.
I didn't even notice the buildings all around us, I was so focused on whether we were going to make that tunnel. Ted says, we're here. HUH? Where? At the Louvre, we have to get off. I don't see the glass pyramid. Where is it? As we travel a bit more to the stop, I finally look over to the left and see the pyramid. It turns out ALL of the buildings all around us make up the Louvre. It is incredibly massive!
We get off the bus and look around. The series of buildings stretch from the left of the arches and extend all the way to behund the pyramid traveling in the opposite direction. I can't even begin to describe how vast this series of buildings are! I would have to take a video in order to show it and since I don't own a video camera, and we're only here until tomorrow, that won't happen.
I turn to Ted and ask him where the entrance is. He nods to the pyramid and says, just follow the rest of the people. I think the entrance is in the pyramid. There's a huge water fountain next to the pyramid. There are huge numbers of people sitting on the fountain's ledge. We get to the pyramid, and sure enough, it's the entrance. I always thought the pyramid was an area of the Louvre that displayed works of art. It shows you how much I know! LOL!
As we near the entrance, signs say anyone with bags are to go in one line while others can go in another line. I have a bag, my purse. We go inside and my purse is sent through the security system. It's REALLY hot in here because of all of the glass. There's an escalator just beyond the security area. We go down it to a landing and then down another escalator. We find ourselves underground but there's tons of light because of the glass pyramid above us to the right. It's cool down here.
Before we get tickets to go inside, we need to hit the restroom. I could spend days in here there are so many things to see but I'm really only interested in seeing the Mona Lisa. Ted is not big on art to begin with so he's really here to humor me.
We get our tickets and once again, both of us are parched. We stop and have a bottle of water before continuing to the section where the Mona Lisa is housed.
After having purchased the tickets, I get my ticket validated and I thought Ted was right behind me. He was talking to the ticket validation guy and it turns out, we both could have gotten into the Louvre for free! In Paris, if you are partially disabled, you and your spouse get into all of the museums for free! We didn't know! We wish someone had told us. Our travel guide said nothing about that. I need to contact Rick Steeves! LOL!
The signs to go to see the Mona Lisa are ambiguous. One says to go one way and another has an arrow another way! Ted tells me to follow him up the stairs. Even the stairways and ceilings in this building are works of art!
Almost every time I follow the "leader" we end up going the wrong way! Oh well, it just means I get to see more of the art work! LOL! I tried to tell him this was a room with sculptures in it but he wouldn't listen. It turns out there are beautiful works of art in this room.
Unfortunately, there's no time to linger as it's past 4 already and we have not yet seen the other site I wanted to see. Up several more floors of steps. We kept following the signs to the Mona Lisa. We walked through this one set of doors and had to go around this long wall with several huge works of art. All of the works of art in this section of the Louvre are from the 13th to 15th centuries and they are amazing, to say the least!
As we walk around the wall, there she is! There are SO many people flashing photos of it. I knew that the painting was small but it is beautiful even with all of the people clambouring to take pictures of her. It's behind a cordonned off area and behind a glass case. There are security guards on either side of the wall. Like all of the sheep before me, I move to the roped off area and take my photo. It's a bit disrespectful, I think to just take a photo but with so many people, it's very difficult to linger and think about the artist who created this work of art, not to mention the person who was painted.
I take my photos and I'm ready to go. Ted doesn't want to go down the steps, he now wants to take the elevator. It's easier on his knees. The elevator is small and there's not enough room for us so we wait for it to come back up again. In the meantime, two young French women walked around us and stood right at the right side of the door. As the door opened they pushed their way in ahead of us. They dismissed us as if we were bugs! Of course, this REALLY rubbed Ted the wrong way and he pushed me to get in the elevator. Afterwards, we discussed how incredibly rude those two women were and how this is really the first incident like this. If we were to stay longer, I'm sure we would have more experiences like this.
We get to the bus stop and we wait a scant few minutes for the next bus. Unfortunately, we lost our primo seats up top. There wasn't a seat available so we sat inside the bus where it was stifling hot. Luckily it was only a few minutes to Notre Dame Cathedral, our final stop for the day. I was eager to see it but Ted was not as keen as I was. He knew it from photos he had seen, but somehow I had missed out on seeing any photos of it so this Cathedral that is so well known around the world was not exactly what I had expected. It is beautiful, nonetheless.
The area in front of the Cathedral is huge! Ted wanted to sit down so we found a place at the opposite end of the Cathedral and sat on a ledge there. To the left of the this vast expanse of stone area is a statue of Simon Bolivar.
I looked for the Gargoyles and had to have Ted point them out to me. Because they were so high up on the Cathedral, they were difficult to see. For some reason, I thought they were bigger. They probably are, it's just that we are so far down on the ground.
Ted was not interested in seeing the interior of the church, while I was. He said he'd wait on the ledge while I went to look around inside. Having been in countless churches in Italy in my youth, I expected this 700 year old church to be like those churches. The arches above the doors are exquisite not to mention the doors themselves!
The interior of this Cathedral is at LEAST four stories high with the concave arches and stained glass windows. What surprises me is how much it reminds me of the interior of St. Dominic's Church in Youngstown, Ohio with the two wings to the side of the church and the huge stones.
While I can appreciate the fact that the French Catholics request that people respect the church, I'm surprised they allow people in to view the church while Mass is being said. Somehow that along with the souvenir shop in the back of the church, seems disrespectful to me.
As I walked out into the sunshine, I heard a woman say that she needed to find someone to take a picture of her and her husband. I thought she was Italian. (I was amazed to find that there were few, if anyone, there that spoke Italian or German, for that matter.) I stopped her and told I would gladly take her photo. It turns out she lives in Miami, Florida and is from Peru. Her husband is Turkish! Go figure!
As I walked towards Ted, I see he's napping again. I've worn the poor guy out dragging his butt all over town! LOL! We wanted to go to dinner at one of the restaurants in the tour book but we find out that the earliest reservation is for 10pm! YIKES! There's no way we're going to wait for that.
We decide to call the hotel and have them give us the phone number of the dinner cruise on the Seine, maybe we can make that! He gives us the wrong number or perhaps he cannot even understand us, I don't know but we need to get back to the hotel to look it up. Once again, we have to get a taxi. So we cross the street to get a cab and it turns out that it's the law in France that you MUST take the first cab in line! WOW! I was impressed.
We get this taxi driver from Africa. He doesn't speak much English and I learned right away to write down the name of the street where our hotel is located for a couple of reasons: 1) I can't pronounce the name and 2) they don't understand me. We get in the car and he takes off but he doesn't know where the location is, he turns down a street and then stops at the corner to look on his map. I didn't say anything at first, but when I saw he was taking his time and the meter was ticking, I poked Ted and told him we were being charged for him to look up the street. He called it to the taxi driver's attention, who said he wasn't stopping the meter. That's crazy! Why should I pay him to look up the street, it's his job. THAT got Ted mad and he said, let's go, we're getting out. I told the driver as I was getting out that it was not right to charge a fare if you don't know where you're going. He was upset but he should have done the right thing and stopped the meter until he could find the street.
We were at the corner of the street where there was a Haagen Daz store. Uh-oh! So we have ice cream to cool us off, both physically and emotionally. This was the first cab driver who was rude and he wasn't even French!
We walked down the street and I asked Ted, "Now what?" He says, "We go back to the taxi stand and get another taxi!" OK. On the way, I stop at a few souvenir places. We walk back to the taxi stand and I hope we don't get that same guy again, that would be a TOTAL bummer!!
We arrive and there's people talking to the first taxi and we go to the second taxi, driven by a woman. But there's a lady who was there first. She wanted to know if the second taxi (a Prius) was big enough to fit three people and a wheel chair. I didn't think so but I wasn't going to say anything. The next taxi in line was an SUV. The Prius driver recommended that the lady with the wheel chair take the SUV and we take the Prius. It turns out our driver is Iranian and has lived in Paris for 26 years, after the Shah was overthrown! She tells us it's going to take about 20 minutes to get to our hotel and wonder of wonders, she KNOWS where it's at!! Hooray!
She chats with us in English about her life in Paris and the cost of a Prius in France. She says she's been driving taxi for eight years and goes to visit her parents in Iran regularly because they are getting on in years.
We finally get to our hotel and I go get a pamphlet for the cruise. We go up to the room and figure out the clerk at the hotel must not have understood us on the phone because the number is totally wrong. Ted calls the cruise and asks if we could have a reservation. We are in luck, we can get one. The boat leaves at 8pm. Terrific, it's only 6:45. We have time to change and call yet another taxi to take us there.
The taxi driver knows Capitain Fracasse! Wonderful. We get there at about 7:30 and are second or third in line. I whisper to Ted that I hope we get a window table. Finally, they are starting to board. They didn't have our name on the list but that's not surprising since Ted said they didn't speak very good English but they seated us anyways AND we got a window table.
Our waiter is from Malta and speaks English as well as Italian. He smiles and is very kind. I think he looks like Bruce Willis!
The meal is a three course meal: Appetizer, entree and desert. We both order bottles of water.
The first course arrives and we were pleasantly suprised. It was delicious. Ted orders the Salmon and I have the steak. Even the desert was good.
All the while we are having dinner we are cruising down the Seine and snapping pictures from our seats. There are young lovers on the walls kissing, there are couples having a bottle of wine and some food and there is dancing!
We pay the bill and then go on top of the boat to look at Paris from the Seine at night. We pass the Eiffel tower and it is beautiful at night. We no sooner get up top and the steward makes us all go back downstairs. I would have liked to stay up there until we docked.
As we were leaving, our waiter told me to hang on to my purse and hold it on my shoulders because there are pick-pockets. I knew this from my travel book but it was kind of him to say so anyways. We walked down to the train station and hail a cab. He takes us back to our hotel. It's 11:30 and we are more than ready to call it a night.
For one full day in Paris, we got to see and do a lot of different things and I don't feel at all like I missed anything.
Day 62: On the road!
The day started out early enough with most of the packing for our trip done last night. With the exception of a few toiletries, everything was done. We packed up the last of these items, closed the suitcases and made sure the apartment was in pristine order for the weekly inspection.
I had to drop off some recycling which we did and we decided to have a quick bite to eat at the local Trieber cafe. It's one of my favorite places to go to get a quick breakfast. We had orange juice (in boxes) and I had an apple pastry (which is to die for and I can't seem to try anything else...and it all looks wonderful)! Ted had a sandwich and a chocolate croissant (he's a growing boy, you know). The sandwich had this sausage meatball which was quite good (he gave me a bite to taste). After eating, we were on our way.
The GPS lady said there was traffic and we were re-routed. It would be almost four hours before we reached the border. It should have only taken an hour and a half!! We were none to happy since that meant more time in the car than we had anticipated and less time sight seeing.
In case you are wondering where we are going. We are going to Paris! Ted says it's the honeymoon we never had. I don't know about that, but it should be interesting.
We brought along our passports JUST IN CASE, but it turns out as long as you are traveling in the European Union, you don't need them. We never showed them to anyone! But I'm glad we had them nonetheless. As we travel over a bridge, we find ourselves in Strasbourg, France. It appears there are combination French and German signs along the way. The buildings however, have changed somewhat to decidedly French-looking buildings. We had put an interim stop in GPS for a gas station. As Julie got us to the gas station, the GPS eliminated that interim stop and put us on track to get to Paris. We would have liked to linger in Strasbourg but it's really late and we know we have about 500 more kilometers to go. UGH!
We are traveling along the A4 and the signs are well-marked for Paris. I can actually read (AND understand) some of the road signs!! We are somewhat dismayed that there is toll booth after toll booth. There were six in all, which means there will be six on the way back too. Julie is falling down on the job because she never mentioned this road was a toll road!! The total cost of the tolls 34.1 Euro which is about $45! Neither of us could believe the number of tolls OR the amount for each toll and they were ALL different. They ranged from 2 Euro all the way up to almost 13 Euro. I wish I would have checked the trains or even a plane trip. It couldn't have cost too much more AND we would have been there sooner!
We stopped at one of the many service stations along the way, not to buy gas because we had a full tank. We will have to buy some gas in France on the way back because the tank wouldn't be enough to get us across the border and the ability to use the gas card which allows us to pay for gas on the US economy and not the European economy. But we'll have to bite the bullet and pay for a few liters on the economy.
They have the service stops like you would see on the turnpikes in the States. But that's where the similarity ends. The food was terrific! We had fresh roasted chicken sandwiches on french baguettes that were made on site! You wouldn't find that in the states on the turnpike! You'd be lucky if you could find a Panera Bread at one! Ted wanted to compare a chocolate croissant to the one he always gets at Trieber. He said the pastry was flakier but Trieber puts more chocolate inside. In his opinion, the pastry is just a conduit for the chocolate! LOL!
As we continue our journey, Julie Andrews continues to give us directions but we both are mad at her for detouring us that many hours! We were supposed to be in Paris by 3 but at this rate, we won't get there until 7!!
As I look out the window, the terrain changed quite a bit from Germany to France. France is more rolling meadows with less trees and not as green as Germany. There are few towns between the border and Paris on the A4 so there's not much to look at. Interestingly, half way there, there are these big balls on the side of the road. I wondered what they were for. They are painted various colors. As we travel a little ways more, there are other geometric shapes: pyramids, cubes, flat triangles and flat rectangles in various designs. I finally figure out, it's art work!! As we continue one, one wonders what the next artwork is going to be and what colors they will use. It's the only thing worth looking at because there is farm upon farm upon farm.
We did see a few cows. They looked bleached. Ted seemed to think it had to do with their diet. They reminded me of the skinny cows my mom and I saw in Florida when we went to see her sister. I didn't realize that there would be so few towns between the border and Paris. On that 500 kilometer stretch, I would say there were a total of six towns. Not much when you consider the distances between.
We are about 20 kilometers from Paris and it still looks like farm land. I was amazed that it could still look like that. Now we're within 8 kilometers of Paris and we're starting to see industrial complexes. We finally hit the city and follow Julie's directions to get us to our hotel.
We can't believe how crazy the drivers, cyclists and the pedestrians are here. The pedestrians just walk. And apparently, according to my travel guide, you only have to miss someone by less than a meter!! That means that taxi driver can come within feet of you, whizzing by and you can't say a word! The book also says to not change your pace or stop on the street. I won't be walking anywhere unless there's a green little man on the pole on the opposite corner. Ted does like the miniature traffic lights that are about chest high on each traffic pole. They are much easier to see.
As we go down the street, there are rows and rows and rows of grey bicycles that are attached to pole-like structures. Apparently, you put a coin in the box and the bicycle is released (like a smart cart at the airport) and you can ride it all over the city and then return it where ever there's a spot for them and they are all over the place!
Ted booked us a room at a Holiday Inn on Price line. I wanted a French place but everything was booked. Apparently, Thursday and Friday were German holidays too so many Germans flocked to Paris! And so did a number of Ted's co-workers. One of his co-workers wanted to hang with us but Ted explained that this was the honeymoon we never had. So he backed off. Any other time I wouldn't have minded but this was a special occasion.
We get to our hotel and it looks OK but it doesn't look like it's in a super nice part of town not to mention it doesn't look like it's close to any of the sites. And it isn't. Oh well. That's what happens when you can't plan in advance. My dear, dear husband is wonderful but he likes to fly by the seat of his pants and I like to plan. It can be tricky at times! LOL!
We ask about parking because there are no spots on the street. They have underground parking. Great. How do we get there? The clerk speaks fairly good English and says he has to re-do the keys to allow us entrance to the parking facility. We didn't think anything of that. He tells us we have to drive around the block because the entrance is on the other side of the building. I re-affirm that the parking is under the hotel. We drive around the building and see a sign that says Holiday Inn Parking. But it looks like a vacant lot. What's up with that? So we drive around the block again. Ted says it HAS to be it because he needs his key to open the gate. There is no paved driveway, it's pebbles and trees. I can't imagine this is where we're supposed to park! Not only that, but I can't imagine trying to park in this facility in the rainy season!! It would be all mud!
We drive around the side of the building and there's the door to the parking garage. It's down a short, steep ramp. He has to put his card in another card reader to open the door. The door opens from the bottom up, like the old fashioned doors. It's only one door and the opening is very small. It's a GOOD thing we no longer have the EOS! We would be extremely hard-pressed to get that car in this tight space. The VW Golf barely makes it. We go down one level and there are two cars parked and it looks like there's room for two more. Hooray! I tell Ted, it's probably a good idea to back in so that when it's time to leave, we can easily leave. I wonder about leaving too. How does that work? Is there another way out? We'll have to ask about that. We were not about to go down into the bowels of this building just to check it out. Ted parks and then wonders if it's a handicap parking. It's not well lit so I couldn't tell. He pulls out and sure enough, it's a handicapped space. Perhaps the one next to it isn't. It's not so we park there and get our gear out of the car. We need the card key to get into the building at this level. There are very few lights in this hallway to the elevator. Ted is not happy about that! So we hold the door open as best as we can until we get the button pushed for the elevator. It takes us up to the 5th floor to our room.
Luckily we arranged for a non-smoking room. It's a largish room and the beds look comfortable (twins because that's all they had available) and there's a third bed in the corner. Good thing Ted's co-worker didn't ask to stay with us! LOL! The bathroom is OK but it looks like Ted and I both will have to JUMP to get into the tub to use the shower. There's a long narrow table attached to the wall (I guess this hotel is used for business travelers) and a very small round table with the most uncomfortable, hard wooden chairs I ever sat on. There's a fridge with a TV on top and there's a safe in the closet. I'm happy we didn't bring anything too valuable with us!
Ted says, we only have a day to see the city and we should try to see the Eiffel tower and go get some dinner nearby at some restaurant. We have the clerk call us a cab because we have NO idea where we are even with a map. The city is laid out in a circle starting at point zero in front of Notre Dame. Here's a photo of that point.
They refer to the different areas by 1eme, 2eme etc. The map we have shows the eme's (whatever those are) so you can judge where you are in relation to the different sites.
The taxi driver took us along a street where there was train station above us, like the "L" in Chicago. There is one cafe after another. As we round the corner, I was more worried about us hitting pedestrians than looking out the window. A policeman stopped our cabbie and said he would have to park in the correct place for a cabbie. Up on the curb he goes just to get that car in a somewhat good location to allow us to disembark. It isn't until we get out that I see the Eiffel Tower. It is an awesome sight!
Ted is somewhat disappointed. He thought it would be different. He thought it should be painted! I, on the other hand, marvel at the workmanship of this tower. When one considers it was built in 1889, and the engineering that would have gone into building it would have been amazing and state of the art at that time. I try to explain that to Ted but he is still disappointed. He had high expectations, where I never do because I don't like to be disappointed. And I'm usually not disappointed!
There is a vast area of concrete under the Eiffel Tower with a park-like area in front of it and to the sides of it in the front. We were told that it's beautiful at night. It's only about 8pm now so it's not dark enough for the lights to come on. So off we go to one of the cafes we passed when we were in the taxi.
There are people from every nation here and a cacophony of languages fill the air. The area itself is a bit dirtier (papers and garbage and such) than I expected and there are hordes of people every where. It's a bit tawdry too. The various people hawking miniature replicas of the Eiffel tower in silver and gold and some that light up. There is shop after shop of souvenirs. No wonder the Parisienne disdain foreigners! But then again, those same foreigners provide livelihood for many, many people. It's a beautiful piece of architecture spoiled by all of the commercialism.
As we walk towards one of the cafes, I hear a woman talking in English (American) about the tower and how much prettier it is at night. We got to talking to them and it turns out, they have been living in Frankfurt for the past four years and own a home in Laguna Beach! What an incredibly small world! She said we would love Germany and that she only learned the basic phrases to get by because everyone speaks English. I think that's a shame because one should try to learn the language and I will try to learn it, if for no other reason than to satisfy me.
My travel book tells us that it's best to get the three or four course meal because it's cheaper than buying alla carte. We get a table inside because all of the outdoor tables are taken. By the time we finish our meal (which was OK - it appeared to cater to Americans) but we didn't know that. We really wanted to taste true Parisienne fare and this was not it.
During dinner we got a call from Ted's co-worker. They were at the tower and wanted to meet up with us. As we walked back to the tower, we could see the tower between the buildings as we walked along. And the lady from Laguna Beach is right, it IS prettier at night!
It's after 10pm and there are scores of people still walking around. There is a phone conversation between Ted and his co-worker. How in the WORLD are we going to catch up with them in this crowd. I try to tell Ted to count the number of street lamps and tell them where we are in relation to the street lamps but of course, he wasn't' listening. Instead, they kept telling him there's a big white truck right where they are. We don't see any big white truck, all of the grassy areas are fenced in! There is very wide pebble covered walk way on each side of these fenced in areas. And there are two walk ways traversing those fenced in areas. He continues to talk on the phone as we walk. I find a park bench and do some people watching.
There was a black man who told his daughter something. (It was a strange language...it could have been Swahili or something like that). When she didn't listen to him, he grabbed her and gave her what for. Some of the people were not happy with him but they didn't interfere. And she never once shed a tear. That would NOT have happened in the US. He would have been arrested for child abuse!!
As I sat there waiting for this "meeting" to take place, I heard singing coming from the side of the park. I had seen a number of young men in black suits and there may have been candles. I thought they probably must be Jewish or something. I couldn't tell for sure.
Finally Ted's co-worker saw him waving his arm. (He looked a little silly - but I wasn't going to say anything, this was his deal). I was introduced to two of the several interns and the project manager and his wife along with James, the co-worker who wanted to hang with us. They still had not had dinner and wanted to eat. And we were ready to go back to the hotel and call it a day. They asked what we would be doing tomorrow and we said there were a few places we wanted to see and we thought we would have enough time to see them.
As we parted ways, we started to walk. We didn't see a cab in sight. Ted got the GPS out (it can function on battery) Great! As he calculated the distance between where we were and where the hotel was, it was 2.3 kilometers. He seemed to think we could walk it and since most of the streets were main streets. As we walked, I realized that during the day the city is not all that scary but at night it appeared to be more sinister. We followed the GPS but it kept getting stuck because we were walking too slow. As we turned corners, there was cafe after cafe with people sitting in front of them and it's after 11:30!!
As we walked along, I was thankful I still couldn't smell because of the sinus stuff. Like Italy, the men in France urinate on building walls, ledges and in the corners. I'd forgotten how disgusting that can be. Oh well. We keep walking. Unfortunately, the GPS runs out of battery...now what to do. We have NO idea where we are and there's no one around to ask. There was a pay phone but it took a credit card and I wasn't doing that.
We continue to the end of the street and turn right. Doggone it...there's the Eiffel Tower. We've just walked more than a mile and in a big circle. By now, it's 12:30pm and I'm so mad at Ted for suggesting to walk that I can't even see straight! So we head towards a cafe where there has to be a taxi. We finally find one and he takes us back to the hotel. It takes literally minutes! By the time we reach the hotel and get into our room, it's 1am. I'm exhausted and my feet are killing me and I'm sure Ted's are too only he never complains. That's just him.
It was a rather warm and humid night out tonight. We don't have air so we open the window to get some air into the room. For some reason the humidity and the night starts to make me cough. I cough so much and so hard that I get a sick stomach. Ted is so worried that he wants to bag the trip and go home tomorrow.
After that 9 hour car trip, I was NOT about to turn around and go home without visiting the few sites that I wanted to see. No way.
I finally fell asleep after taking a few Rolaids to stem the acid.
I had to drop off some recycling which we did and we decided to have a quick bite to eat at the local Trieber cafe. It's one of my favorite places to go to get a quick breakfast. We had orange juice (in boxes) and I had an apple pastry (which is to die for and I can't seem to try anything else...and it all looks wonderful)! Ted had a sandwich and a chocolate croissant (he's a growing boy, you know). The sandwich had this sausage meatball which was quite good (he gave me a bite to taste). After eating, we were on our way.
The GPS lady said there was traffic and we were re-routed. It would be almost four hours before we reached the border. It should have only taken an hour and a half!! We were none to happy since that meant more time in the car than we had anticipated and less time sight seeing.
In case you are wondering where we are going. We are going to Paris! Ted says it's the honeymoon we never had. I don't know about that, but it should be interesting.
We brought along our passports JUST IN CASE, but it turns out as long as you are traveling in the European Union, you don't need them. We never showed them to anyone! But I'm glad we had them nonetheless. As we travel over a bridge, we find ourselves in Strasbourg, France. It appears there are combination French and German signs along the way. The buildings however, have changed somewhat to decidedly French-looking buildings. We had put an interim stop in GPS for a gas station. As Julie got us to the gas station, the GPS eliminated that interim stop and put us on track to get to Paris. We would have liked to linger in Strasbourg but it's really late and we know we have about 500 more kilometers to go. UGH!
We are traveling along the A4 and the signs are well-marked for Paris. I can actually read (AND understand) some of the road signs!! We are somewhat dismayed that there is toll booth after toll booth. There were six in all, which means there will be six on the way back too. Julie is falling down on the job because she never mentioned this road was a toll road!! The total cost of the tolls 34.1 Euro which is about $45! Neither of us could believe the number of tolls OR the amount for each toll and they were ALL different. They ranged from 2 Euro all the way up to almost 13 Euro. I wish I would have checked the trains or even a plane trip. It couldn't have cost too much more AND we would have been there sooner!
We stopped at one of the many service stations along the way, not to buy gas because we had a full tank. We will have to buy some gas in France on the way back because the tank wouldn't be enough to get us across the border and the ability to use the gas card which allows us to pay for gas on the US economy and not the European economy. But we'll have to bite the bullet and pay for a few liters on the economy.
They have the service stops like you would see on the turnpikes in the States. But that's where the similarity ends. The food was terrific! We had fresh roasted chicken sandwiches on french baguettes that were made on site! You wouldn't find that in the states on the turnpike! You'd be lucky if you could find a Panera Bread at one! Ted wanted to compare a chocolate croissant to the one he always gets at Trieber. He said the pastry was flakier but Trieber puts more chocolate inside. In his opinion, the pastry is just a conduit for the chocolate! LOL!
As we continue our journey, Julie Andrews continues to give us directions but we both are mad at her for detouring us that many hours! We were supposed to be in Paris by 3 but at this rate, we won't get there until 7!!
As I look out the window, the terrain changed quite a bit from Germany to France. France is more rolling meadows with less trees and not as green as Germany. There are few towns between the border and Paris on the A4 so there's not much to look at. Interestingly, half way there, there are these big balls on the side of the road. I wondered what they were for. They are painted various colors. As we travel a little ways more, there are other geometric shapes: pyramids, cubes, flat triangles and flat rectangles in various designs. I finally figure out, it's art work!! As we continue one, one wonders what the next artwork is going to be and what colors they will use. It's the only thing worth looking at because there is farm upon farm upon farm.
We did see a few cows. They looked bleached. Ted seemed to think it had to do with their diet. They reminded me of the skinny cows my mom and I saw in Florida when we went to see her sister. I didn't realize that there would be so few towns between the border and Paris. On that 500 kilometer stretch, I would say there were a total of six towns. Not much when you consider the distances between.
We are about 20 kilometers from Paris and it still looks like farm land. I was amazed that it could still look like that. Now we're within 8 kilometers of Paris and we're starting to see industrial complexes. We finally hit the city and follow Julie's directions to get us to our hotel.
We can't believe how crazy the drivers, cyclists and the pedestrians are here. The pedestrians just walk. And apparently, according to my travel guide, you only have to miss someone by less than a meter!! That means that taxi driver can come within feet of you, whizzing by and you can't say a word! The book also says to not change your pace or stop on the street. I won't be walking anywhere unless there's a green little man on the pole on the opposite corner. Ted does like the miniature traffic lights that are about chest high on each traffic pole. They are much easier to see.
As we go down the street, there are rows and rows and rows of grey bicycles that are attached to pole-like structures. Apparently, you put a coin in the box and the bicycle is released (like a smart cart at the airport) and you can ride it all over the city and then return it where ever there's a spot for them and they are all over the place!
Ted booked us a room at a Holiday Inn on Price line. I wanted a French place but everything was booked. Apparently, Thursday and Friday were German holidays too so many Germans flocked to Paris! And so did a number of Ted's co-workers. One of his co-workers wanted to hang with us but Ted explained that this was the honeymoon we never had. So he backed off. Any other time I wouldn't have minded but this was a special occasion.
We get to our hotel and it looks OK but it doesn't look like it's in a super nice part of town not to mention it doesn't look like it's close to any of the sites. And it isn't. Oh well. That's what happens when you can't plan in advance. My dear, dear husband is wonderful but he likes to fly by the seat of his pants and I like to plan. It can be tricky at times! LOL!
We ask about parking because there are no spots on the street. They have underground parking. Great. How do we get there? The clerk speaks fairly good English and says he has to re-do the keys to allow us entrance to the parking facility. We didn't think anything of that. He tells us we have to drive around the block because the entrance is on the other side of the building. I re-affirm that the parking is under the hotel. We drive around the building and see a sign that says Holiday Inn Parking. But it looks like a vacant lot. What's up with that? So we drive around the block again. Ted says it HAS to be it because he needs his key to open the gate. There is no paved driveway, it's pebbles and trees. I can't imagine this is where we're supposed to park! Not only that, but I can't imagine trying to park in this facility in the rainy season!! It would be all mud!
We drive around the side of the building and there's the door to the parking garage. It's down a short, steep ramp. He has to put his card in another card reader to open the door. The door opens from the bottom up, like the old fashioned doors. It's only one door and the opening is very small. It's a GOOD thing we no longer have the EOS! We would be extremely hard-pressed to get that car in this tight space. The VW Golf barely makes it. We go down one level and there are two cars parked and it looks like there's room for two more. Hooray! I tell Ted, it's probably a good idea to back in so that when it's time to leave, we can easily leave. I wonder about leaving too. How does that work? Is there another way out? We'll have to ask about that. We were not about to go down into the bowels of this building just to check it out. Ted parks and then wonders if it's a handicap parking. It's not well lit so I couldn't tell. He pulls out and sure enough, it's a handicapped space. Perhaps the one next to it isn't. It's not so we park there and get our gear out of the car. We need the card key to get into the building at this level. There are very few lights in this hallway to the elevator. Ted is not happy about that! So we hold the door open as best as we can until we get the button pushed for the elevator. It takes us up to the 5th floor to our room.
Luckily we arranged for a non-smoking room. It's a largish room and the beds look comfortable (twins because that's all they had available) and there's a third bed in the corner. Good thing Ted's co-worker didn't ask to stay with us! LOL! The bathroom is OK but it looks like Ted and I both will have to JUMP to get into the tub to use the shower. There's a long narrow table attached to the wall (I guess this hotel is used for business travelers) and a very small round table with the most uncomfortable, hard wooden chairs I ever sat on. There's a fridge with a TV on top and there's a safe in the closet. I'm happy we didn't bring anything too valuable with us!
Ted says, we only have a day to see the city and we should try to see the Eiffel tower and go get some dinner nearby at some restaurant. We have the clerk call us a cab because we have NO idea where we are even with a map. The city is laid out in a circle starting at point zero in front of Notre Dame. Here's a photo of that point.
They refer to the different areas by 1eme, 2eme etc. The map we have shows the eme's (whatever those are) so you can judge where you are in relation to the different sites.
The taxi driver took us along a street where there was train station above us, like the "L" in Chicago. There is one cafe after another. As we round the corner, I was more worried about us hitting pedestrians than looking out the window. A policeman stopped our cabbie and said he would have to park in the correct place for a cabbie. Up on the curb he goes just to get that car in a somewhat good location to allow us to disembark. It isn't until we get out that I see the Eiffel Tower. It is an awesome sight!
Ted is somewhat disappointed. He thought it would be different. He thought it should be painted! I, on the other hand, marvel at the workmanship of this tower. When one considers it was built in 1889, and the engineering that would have gone into building it would have been amazing and state of the art at that time. I try to explain that to Ted but he is still disappointed. He had high expectations, where I never do because I don't like to be disappointed. And I'm usually not disappointed!
There is a vast area of concrete under the Eiffel Tower with a park-like area in front of it and to the sides of it in the front. We were told that it's beautiful at night. It's only about 8pm now so it's not dark enough for the lights to come on. So off we go to one of the cafes we passed when we were in the taxi.
There are people from every nation here and a cacophony of languages fill the air. The area itself is a bit dirtier (papers and garbage and such) than I expected and there are hordes of people every where. It's a bit tawdry too. The various people hawking miniature replicas of the Eiffel tower in silver and gold and some that light up. There is shop after shop of souvenirs. No wonder the Parisienne disdain foreigners! But then again, those same foreigners provide livelihood for many, many people. It's a beautiful piece of architecture spoiled by all of the commercialism.
As we walk towards one of the cafes, I hear a woman talking in English (American) about the tower and how much prettier it is at night. We got to talking to them and it turns out, they have been living in Frankfurt for the past four years and own a home in Laguna Beach! What an incredibly small world! She said we would love Germany and that she only learned the basic phrases to get by because everyone speaks English. I think that's a shame because one should try to learn the language and I will try to learn it, if for no other reason than to satisfy me.
My travel book tells us that it's best to get the three or four course meal because it's cheaper than buying alla carte. We get a table inside because all of the outdoor tables are taken. By the time we finish our meal (which was OK - it appeared to cater to Americans) but we didn't know that. We really wanted to taste true Parisienne fare and this was not it.
During dinner we got a call from Ted's co-worker. They were at the tower and wanted to meet up with us. As we walked back to the tower, we could see the tower between the buildings as we walked along. And the lady from Laguna Beach is right, it IS prettier at night!
It's after 10pm and there are scores of people still walking around. There is a phone conversation between Ted and his co-worker. How in the WORLD are we going to catch up with them in this crowd. I try to tell Ted to count the number of street lamps and tell them where we are in relation to the street lamps but of course, he wasn't' listening. Instead, they kept telling him there's a big white truck right where they are. We don't see any big white truck, all of the grassy areas are fenced in! There is very wide pebble covered walk way on each side of these fenced in areas. And there are two walk ways traversing those fenced in areas. He continues to talk on the phone as we walk. I find a park bench and do some people watching.
There was a black man who told his daughter something. (It was a strange language...it could have been Swahili or something like that). When she didn't listen to him, he grabbed her and gave her what for. Some of the people were not happy with him but they didn't interfere. And she never once shed a tear. That would NOT have happened in the US. He would have been arrested for child abuse!!
As I sat there waiting for this "meeting" to take place, I heard singing coming from the side of the park. I had seen a number of young men in black suits and there may have been candles. I thought they probably must be Jewish or something. I couldn't tell for sure.
Finally Ted's co-worker saw him waving his arm. (He looked a little silly - but I wasn't going to say anything, this was his deal). I was introduced to two of the several interns and the project manager and his wife along with James, the co-worker who wanted to hang with us. They still had not had dinner and wanted to eat. And we were ready to go back to the hotel and call it a day. They asked what we would be doing tomorrow and we said there were a few places we wanted to see and we thought we would have enough time to see them.
As we parted ways, we started to walk. We didn't see a cab in sight. Ted got the GPS out (it can function on battery) Great! As he calculated the distance between where we were and where the hotel was, it was 2.3 kilometers. He seemed to think we could walk it and since most of the streets were main streets. As we walked, I realized that during the day the city is not all that scary but at night it appeared to be more sinister. We followed the GPS but it kept getting stuck because we were walking too slow. As we turned corners, there was cafe after cafe with people sitting in front of them and it's after 11:30!!
As we walked along, I was thankful I still couldn't smell because of the sinus stuff. Like Italy, the men in France urinate on building walls, ledges and in the corners. I'd forgotten how disgusting that can be. Oh well. We keep walking. Unfortunately, the GPS runs out of battery...now what to do. We have NO idea where we are and there's no one around to ask. There was a pay phone but it took a credit card and I wasn't doing that.
We continue to the end of the street and turn right. Doggone it...there's the Eiffel Tower. We've just walked more than a mile and in a big circle. By now, it's 12:30pm and I'm so mad at Ted for suggesting to walk that I can't even see straight! So we head towards a cafe where there has to be a taxi. We finally find one and he takes us back to the hotel. It takes literally minutes! By the time we reach the hotel and get into our room, it's 1am. I'm exhausted and my feet are killing me and I'm sure Ted's are too only he never complains. That's just him.
It was a rather warm and humid night out tonight. We don't have air so we open the window to get some air into the room. For some reason the humidity and the night starts to make me cough. I cough so much and so hard that I get a sick stomach. Ted is so worried that he wants to bag the trip and go home tomorrow.
After that 9 hour car trip, I was NOT about to turn around and go home without visiting the few sites that I wanted to see. No way.
I finally fell asleep after taking a few Rolaids to stem the acid.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Day 61: Cleaning and Planning.
The day was spent cleaning the apartment and getting ready for our trip tomorrow. Ted needs to check on a few things with the car and I need to get things organized.
Stay tuned!
Stay tuned!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Day 60: The meeting.
It was late when we went to bed last night, courtesy of Ted calling and talking to one of his buddies to determine if the 800 number associated with his German cell phone works so I can give it to family for emergencies, at least until we get a place and our VoIP gets installed.
As a result, I'm dragging today and it doesn't help that it's overcast and looks like rain. I didn't get up until after 9, mostly because I kept getting up every couple of hours. I think the excitement of being able to meet the landlord is keeping me awake!
I do a few things on the computer and fix a cup of tea. By this time, it's after 11 and it's time to shower and get ready for the meeting. I must admit I'm not as fast as I used to be to get ready. UGH! I decide to make another cup of tea to help move some of this gunk out of my lungs and the phone rings. It's Ted. He's down at the corner and will be home in a few minutes. It has started to sprinkle but he needs to come upstairs to go to the bathroom before we go.
I just finished copying down Herr Schumacher's address (landlord) to plug into the GPS. Hey, Ted finally got "Julie Andrews" back! YEAH! We're meeting the landlord at his home along with Herr Drascher, thank goodness.
Ted asks me if he was supposed to print out four documents or three. He wasn't sure he got all of them...and it's the one that we need the most; the application! At this, I'm irritated because it's Noon and we don't have time to go back to his office, print it out and then meet the landlord.
When we get to the car, we verify he has everything and he does! WHEW! Why does he make me sweat like that?? We get into the car and I start programming the GPS. Drat! There is no Alte Dorfstrasse in Plieningen and I wrote down exactly what Herr Drascher had on his email. OK. I'll try Stuttgart. Perhaps Herr Schumacher lives just outside of Plieningen in Stuttgart. WHOOPPEE, I found it! It is indeed in Stuttgart...Herr Drascher must have been mistaken.
We follow "Julie's" directions and are within 1 kilometer. As we go down the road we come to a barricade! What the heck! Where the heck are we? Perhaps it's NOT in Stuttgart afterall. I'm starting to second guess myself. Navigational systems can be extraordinarily wonderful but there's something to be said about having a paper map for overview!
I get on the phone and call Herr Drascher. By this time it's 12:25. We tell him where we are and he is clueless. I tell him we are within 400 meters of the address but we can't get through becasue of the barricade. (Ted informs me it's for the fire department).
He tries to give us streets to look up on the GPS but I can't find them. We verify the spelling (which is not an easy feat since I'm using English words like "D as in David" etc. and he needs more common words so I let him choose. None of the options are working.
I want the landlord to know we are close by but not sure where we are so I ask Herr Drascher to call the landlord and explain the situation to tell him we'll be a few minutes late. In the meantime, Ted and I are going to try to backtrack and get to the main road and try to recalibrate the GPS so that we can find the place. I tell Herr Drascher to give us 5 to 7 minutes and if he doesn't see us to call us back. He agrees that it's a good idea.
We get to a certain spot and the GPS recalibrates. She's taking a different route. This looks right. We get to a certain spot and I hear a car honking. It's Herr Drascher. We follow him to the landlord's home.
The landlord comes out and greets us. He speaks a little English, but not much. We follow him up a somewhat steep driveway and enter his home. His wife and daughter are there and they graciously show us to their living room sofa. Their home is BEAUTIFULLY appointed. It turns out he's a doctor and I'm wondering what his specialty is.
After some small talk (they asking us questions about Ted's work and why we are in Germany, etc.), we get down to business. After reviewing the base contract (I had already read it early this morning and didn't see anything unreasonable, considering it's Germany), we make some adjustments to the contract and the landlord goes upstairs to revise it on the computer. He comes down and I re read it to ensure accuracy and there's a few more things that have to be edited. He goes back upstairs and we continue our small talk.
They are really nice people and I think we will enjoy living at the apartment.
Since the landlord will be leaving on vacation for eight days, we want to wrap this up before he leaves. We decide on June 1 as the date we will take possession but we won't be moving in until we get our "stuff" from the states and arrange a bed, table and other pieces of furniture. We probably should paint before we move in too.
We need to be able to walk away from our temporary housing by at least the 15th of June. It's doable!
We determine that the Landlord will sign the lease, give it to us and we will give it to the housing office to look over. When they give us the green light, we will sign it and send it back to the landlord who will forward it to his cousin for signature and then we will get a copy back with all signatures.
It's a done deal. The entire meeting takes over two hours! I was surprised that the realtor doesn't actually write the lease, the landlord does. There were a few times when Herr Drascher had to translate what we talked about into German for the landlord, which was fine for us. I was straining my ears to listen to him and figure out what he was saying. I caught only a few words "schribt" which is writing or written but that was the extent of my understanding. I REALLY have to get back to my German lessons!
On the way out of the landlord's place, I was very curious as to know what happened to Andreas Fuchs...the guy that saw the apartment when with us. (I found out that his appointment was for 8:30 and he showed up 45 minutes early!) I told Herr Drascher that I want to ask him a question but he is free to tell me to "put a sock in it" (He speaks such good English that I forget that our "slang" is lost on him). I explain what it means and he laughs...He said he likes to learn knew phrases! But he also told me that he would never tell me to "be quiet".
I ask about Andreas Fuchs. He said he sent him the application the same time he sent it to us and he never heard back from him. So Ted said, we won by default! I told Herr Drascher that I didn't care for the way the showing went down but I also told him that I told my husband that it was in God's hands and if He wants us to have it we will. If not, it was not meant to be. Herr Drascher agreed.
We left it that I was to get Herr Drascher the VAT Form (this form allows us to buy German goods without having to pay their 19% taxes...thank goodness!) and to give him more information about Juice Plus+. (He told me he went to my web site to check me out!)
Ted needed to get the new gas card for the VW Golf so off we went to Panzer to get that. When we arrive at Panzer there's a big white tent with manufacturer's furniture. So I went inside to check it out. They had a wonderful beige loveseat that was a dual recliner. That's cool. BUT it was $990. Are you KIDDING me? $1000for a loveseat. No way! They also have oriental rugs which are lovely but I'm not if they are a good deal or not. We will have to get a rug for the living room at least at some point.
It turns out the vendor is Turkish and comes from the town Ted was stationed at when he lived in Turkey 30 years ago! What a small world!!
We leave the tent and go into the PX/BX to get Ted's fuel card. We pass by another place that has oriental rugs. These are a bit more expensive but they are a million threadcount. I still don't know if it's a good deal. I'll have to do some investigating. This store isn't going anywhere so it's something to put on my to-do list.
I tell Ted to go do the fuel card while I sit in the Food Court and people watch. I wait and wait and wait. It can't take this long. So I go inside and take a short-cut through the women's department (not really a short cut...I just wanted to see what they had, in case I needed something, which I don't.). I go to the back of the store (I guess they do the catalog stuff and the fuel card stuff here) and no Ted. Great! I don't have his cell phone number to call him. I don't want to spend the money to do that anyways because it's so expensive!!
I figure he's looking for me and will be angry that I moved. So I go back to the Food Court. No Ted. Maybe he went to the car. Out to the car (it's sprinkling now), and still no Ted. Since it's wet outside, I decide to go back to the Food Court. What's the worst that could happen? He'll be mad that I didn't stay put. Oh well, what else is new? LOL!
So I waited and waited. Now I'm really starting worry. Then all of a sudden I see him and he's carrying a bag. Darn it! The man went shopping and left me to fret about not staying put! LOL!
He tells me what happened and I tell him what happened and we laugh on the way to the car. By now it's raining pretty good and both of us are starved!
Ted reminds me that today and tomorrow are German holidays (they sure do have a lot of holidays) and that nothing is open. Great! I'm hungry and no Trieber. UGH!
He tells me he has to go to Patch to drop off his pants and we can have something there. I'm not keen on it because it's fast food, but it is what it is. It can't hurt me one time. He takes his trousers to the cleaners and we walk across the parking lot to the building that has three fast food places in it: Taco Bell, Burger King and Anthony's Pizza. We have some food and by the time we are done, the rain has stopped.
We get back into the car and decide to stop at the bank to exchange some Euros for the weekend since Monday is a holiday, chances are the bank will be closed. And Ted is giving me the honeymoon we never had. I won't tell where, you'll have to come back to read the blog! ;)
We get home and Ted promptly falls asleep. I do more blogging and by this time, I'm ready for bed as well.
Still it's a good day because we have our housing organized and now we have to work on the car issue (which has to be completed at the same time as we leave this place). That's on next week's to-do list and something Ted is in charge of!
Until tomorrow, Auf Wiedersehen!
As a result, I'm dragging today and it doesn't help that it's overcast and looks like rain. I didn't get up until after 9, mostly because I kept getting up every couple of hours. I think the excitement of being able to meet the landlord is keeping me awake!
I do a few things on the computer and fix a cup of tea. By this time, it's after 11 and it's time to shower and get ready for the meeting. I must admit I'm not as fast as I used to be to get ready. UGH! I decide to make another cup of tea to help move some of this gunk out of my lungs and the phone rings. It's Ted. He's down at the corner and will be home in a few minutes. It has started to sprinkle but he needs to come upstairs to go to the bathroom before we go.
I just finished copying down Herr Schumacher's address (landlord) to plug into the GPS. Hey, Ted finally got "Julie Andrews" back! YEAH! We're meeting the landlord at his home along with Herr Drascher, thank goodness.
Ted asks me if he was supposed to print out four documents or three. He wasn't sure he got all of them...and it's the one that we need the most; the application! At this, I'm irritated because it's Noon and we don't have time to go back to his office, print it out and then meet the landlord.
When we get to the car, we verify he has everything and he does! WHEW! Why does he make me sweat like that?? We get into the car and I start programming the GPS. Drat! There is no Alte Dorfstrasse in Plieningen and I wrote down exactly what Herr Drascher had on his email. OK. I'll try Stuttgart. Perhaps Herr Schumacher lives just outside of Plieningen in Stuttgart. WHOOPPEE, I found it! It is indeed in Stuttgart...Herr Drascher must have been mistaken.
We follow "Julie's" directions and are within 1 kilometer. As we go down the road we come to a barricade! What the heck! Where the heck are we? Perhaps it's NOT in Stuttgart afterall. I'm starting to second guess myself. Navigational systems can be extraordinarily wonderful but there's something to be said about having a paper map for overview!
I get on the phone and call Herr Drascher. By this time it's 12:25. We tell him where we are and he is clueless. I tell him we are within 400 meters of the address but we can't get through becasue of the barricade. (Ted informs me it's for the fire department).
He tries to give us streets to look up on the GPS but I can't find them. We verify the spelling (which is not an easy feat since I'm using English words like "D as in David" etc. and he needs more common words so I let him choose. None of the options are working.
I want the landlord to know we are close by but not sure where we are so I ask Herr Drascher to call the landlord and explain the situation to tell him we'll be a few minutes late. In the meantime, Ted and I are going to try to backtrack and get to the main road and try to recalibrate the GPS so that we can find the place. I tell Herr Drascher to give us 5 to 7 minutes and if he doesn't see us to call us back. He agrees that it's a good idea.
We get to a certain spot and the GPS recalibrates. She's taking a different route. This looks right. We get to a certain spot and I hear a car honking. It's Herr Drascher. We follow him to the landlord's home.
The landlord comes out and greets us. He speaks a little English, but not much. We follow him up a somewhat steep driveway and enter his home. His wife and daughter are there and they graciously show us to their living room sofa. Their home is BEAUTIFULLY appointed. It turns out he's a doctor and I'm wondering what his specialty is.
After some small talk (they asking us questions about Ted's work and why we are in Germany, etc.), we get down to business. After reviewing the base contract (I had already read it early this morning and didn't see anything unreasonable, considering it's Germany), we make some adjustments to the contract and the landlord goes upstairs to revise it on the computer. He comes down and I re read it to ensure accuracy and there's a few more things that have to be edited. He goes back upstairs and we continue our small talk.
They are really nice people and I think we will enjoy living at the apartment.
Since the landlord will be leaving on vacation for eight days, we want to wrap this up before he leaves. We decide on June 1 as the date we will take possession but we won't be moving in until we get our "stuff" from the states and arrange a bed, table and other pieces of furniture. We probably should paint before we move in too.
We need to be able to walk away from our temporary housing by at least the 15th of June. It's doable!
We determine that the Landlord will sign the lease, give it to us and we will give it to the housing office to look over. When they give us the green light, we will sign it and send it back to the landlord who will forward it to his cousin for signature and then we will get a copy back with all signatures.
It's a done deal. The entire meeting takes over two hours! I was surprised that the realtor doesn't actually write the lease, the landlord does. There were a few times when Herr Drascher had to translate what we talked about into German for the landlord, which was fine for us. I was straining my ears to listen to him and figure out what he was saying. I caught only a few words "schribt" which is writing or written but that was the extent of my understanding. I REALLY have to get back to my German lessons!
On the way out of the landlord's place, I was very curious as to know what happened to Andreas Fuchs...the guy that saw the apartment when with us. (I found out that his appointment was for 8:30 and he showed up 45 minutes early!) I told Herr Drascher that I want to ask him a question but he is free to tell me to "put a sock in it" (He speaks such good English that I forget that our "slang" is lost on him). I explain what it means and he laughs...He said he likes to learn knew phrases! But he also told me that he would never tell me to "be quiet".
I ask about Andreas Fuchs. He said he sent him the application the same time he sent it to us and he never heard back from him. So Ted said, we won by default! I told Herr Drascher that I didn't care for the way the showing went down but I also told him that I told my husband that it was in God's hands and if He wants us to have it we will. If not, it was not meant to be. Herr Drascher agreed.
We left it that I was to get Herr Drascher the VAT Form (this form allows us to buy German goods without having to pay their 19% taxes...thank goodness!) and to give him more information about Juice Plus+. (He told me he went to my web site to check me out!)
Ted needed to get the new gas card for the VW Golf so off we went to Panzer to get that. When we arrive at Panzer there's a big white tent with manufacturer's furniture. So I went inside to check it out. They had a wonderful beige loveseat that was a dual recliner. That's cool. BUT it was $990. Are you KIDDING me? $1000for a loveseat. No way! They also have oriental rugs which are lovely but I'm not if they are a good deal or not. We will have to get a rug for the living room at least at some point.
It turns out the vendor is Turkish and comes from the town Ted was stationed at when he lived in Turkey 30 years ago! What a small world!!
We leave the tent and go into the PX/BX to get Ted's fuel card. We pass by another place that has oriental rugs. These are a bit more expensive but they are a million threadcount. I still don't know if it's a good deal. I'll have to do some investigating. This store isn't going anywhere so it's something to put on my to-do list.
I tell Ted to go do the fuel card while I sit in the Food Court and people watch. I wait and wait and wait. It can't take this long. So I go inside and take a short-cut through the women's department (not really a short cut...I just wanted to see what they had, in case I needed something, which I don't.). I go to the back of the store (I guess they do the catalog stuff and the fuel card stuff here) and no Ted. Great! I don't have his cell phone number to call him. I don't want to spend the money to do that anyways because it's so expensive!!
I figure he's looking for me and will be angry that I moved. So I go back to the Food Court. No Ted. Maybe he went to the car. Out to the car (it's sprinkling now), and still no Ted. Since it's wet outside, I decide to go back to the Food Court. What's the worst that could happen? He'll be mad that I didn't stay put. Oh well, what else is new? LOL!
So I waited and waited. Now I'm really starting worry. Then all of a sudden I see him and he's carrying a bag. Darn it! The man went shopping and left me to fret about not staying put! LOL!
He tells me what happened and I tell him what happened and we laugh on the way to the car. By now it's raining pretty good and both of us are starved!
Ted reminds me that today and tomorrow are German holidays (they sure do have a lot of holidays) and that nothing is open. Great! I'm hungry and no Trieber. UGH!
He tells me he has to go to Patch to drop off his pants and we can have something there. I'm not keen on it because it's fast food, but it is what it is. It can't hurt me one time. He takes his trousers to the cleaners and we walk across the parking lot to the building that has three fast food places in it: Taco Bell, Burger King and Anthony's Pizza. We have some food and by the time we are done, the rain has stopped.
We get back into the car and decide to stop at the bank to exchange some Euros for the weekend since Monday is a holiday, chances are the bank will be closed. And Ted is giving me the honeymoon we never had. I won't tell where, you'll have to come back to read the blog! ;)
We get home and Ted promptly falls asleep. I do more blogging and by this time, I'm ready for bed as well.
Still it's a good day because we have our housing organized and now we have to work on the car issue (which has to be completed at the same time as we leave this place). That's on next week's to-do list and something Ted is in charge of!
Until tomorrow, Auf Wiedersehen!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Day 59: Easy Day?
The day started out sunny and I thought I would have a chance to go for a walk but it didn't happen. I received a few emails from my employer who is ramping up again and I had tons of work to do. So I made my "to do" list that included personal things like cleaning and making dinner.
I sent an email to Herr Drascher (the real estate guy) asking if he had sent the questionnaire/application. That was at 7:51 in the morning. The sun was too bright and hot at the desk so I moved into the kitchen and settled down on the kitchen table (with the door to the balcony open halfway to let the spring breeze in) and got started on my "to do" list. By 11am I still had not heard from Herr Drascher and was becoming a bit disenchanted because he was to have sent it over last night and he didn't. Perhaps he got busy. I don't know.
I tried calling him with my husband's cell phone. It's expensive but I thought I needed to speak to him to find out where we stood. Do I keep looking or are we on track to see whether or not the Landlord will take a meeting? I dialed the number and I heard the typical "hmmmmm" stop "hmmmm" stop that tells me the his phone is ringing. When it was answered it was woman speaking in German. When she stopped, I thought I was supposed to leave a message that his voice mail had kicked in. Then I started to laugh when she continued to talk (in English this time) to say that he was unavailable and that I should call back later. What? No voice mail? I thought the Germans were incredibly efficient. Where's the voice mail? LOL!
So I sent him another email...this time with a read receipt attached. But now I'm having issues with my Outlook. UGH! I try to fix it but my hero (my husband) is not around to help with it. I thought I knew what was wrong with it because I tried to send it while I was tunneled in at work in California. That was an incredibly stupid thing to do on my part. I should have broken the tunnel, did my email and then tunnel back in again. Unfortunately, when I'm tunneled in, I forget I am because it's so "behind the scenes" but it works so well!
Finally, after shutting down my machine and starting over again, I received an email from Herr Drascher! It's about time! By this time, it's 12:30 or so. In his email is the application. It's five pages long and Herr Drascher was kind enough to translate it into English. I fill out what I can and .pdf it so I can attach stickies with questions for Herr Drascher. I call Ted to confirm how I'm completing the form. He has me change just a few things.
I was totally blown away by some of the questions. I was thinking to myself..."do they want my first-born too?" LOL!
When I finally completed it, I sent it along to Herr Drascher with a note saying we were still trying to get a copy of the lease from the housing office. Ted has to get on that today!
I go back to my employer's work and continue working until I get another email from Herr Drascher. He says the application looks good and that he had already forwarded it to the Landlord. YIKES! It had all of my questions on it! He said he didn't think it mattered...ok, then, if you say so!
He wrote back again and said the landlord wants to meet with us tomorrow at 12:30 if we can arrange it because the landlord and his family is going out of town for eight days and will not be back. We need to move fast on this. I don't want to lose this opportunity!
I send an email to Ted asking him if it's possible. After all, his co-worker has taken day after day after day off to arrange housing because he can't seem to follow the German "house rules" requirements. And Ted did put in a lot of overtime when I was sick so he should be able to take the afternoon off to get this accomplished!
I'm excited because I know there's a possibility that we will get the apartment.
Ted is able to get a copy of the lease agreement and emails it to me. I, in turn, send it along to Herr Drascher. When Ted gets home, we have a little dinner and he promptly falls asleep. Poor guy...he's awfully tired these days.
I hear back from Herr Drascher and the landlord wants some confirmation of our income (you'd think we were buying the place, for crying out loud). But we go along with the program because we accept the fact that this is the custom here and "when in Rome...".
I email him back and ask if pay stubs are sufficient? I send an email to my employer asking for her to .pdf my last pay stub as I didn't have it. She was kind enough in all the things she has to do, she emailed it over to me immediately. OK. One document down and three more to go. Ted's pay stub and the application (which we have to sign and date and give to the landlord). Ted looks for his contract. Thankfully, it's a .pdf and we have it electronically.
I hear back form Herr Drascher late tonight saying pay stubs are sufficient but I think Ted needs to bring his contract anyways. I send the documents to Ted's work and home address asking him to print them at work and bring them with him tomorrow when he picks me up. I'll have to remind him again because he sometimes forgets.
By this time, it's time for bed. I put in a full day at work and I organized our meeting for tomorrow. A pretty good day, I think!
Until tomorrow!
I sent an email to Herr Drascher (the real estate guy) asking if he had sent the questionnaire/application. That was at 7:51 in the morning. The sun was too bright and hot at the desk so I moved into the kitchen and settled down on the kitchen table (with the door to the balcony open halfway to let the spring breeze in) and got started on my "to do" list. By 11am I still had not heard from Herr Drascher and was becoming a bit disenchanted because he was to have sent it over last night and he didn't. Perhaps he got busy. I don't know.
I tried calling him with my husband's cell phone. It's expensive but I thought I needed to speak to him to find out where we stood. Do I keep looking or are we on track to see whether or not the Landlord will take a meeting? I dialed the number and I heard the typical "hmmmmm" stop "hmmmm" stop that tells me the his phone is ringing. When it was answered it was woman speaking in German. When she stopped, I thought I was supposed to leave a message that his voice mail had kicked in. Then I started to laugh when she continued to talk (in English this time) to say that he was unavailable and that I should call back later. What? No voice mail? I thought the Germans were incredibly efficient. Where's the voice mail? LOL!
So I sent him another email...this time with a read receipt attached. But now I'm having issues with my Outlook. UGH! I try to fix it but my hero (my husband) is not around to help with it. I thought I knew what was wrong with it because I tried to send it while I was tunneled in at work in California. That was an incredibly stupid thing to do on my part. I should have broken the tunnel, did my email and then tunnel back in again. Unfortunately, when I'm tunneled in, I forget I am because it's so "behind the scenes" but it works so well!
Finally, after shutting down my machine and starting over again, I received an email from Herr Drascher! It's about time! By this time, it's 12:30 or so. In his email is the application. It's five pages long and Herr Drascher was kind enough to translate it into English. I fill out what I can and .pdf it so I can attach stickies with questions for Herr Drascher. I call Ted to confirm how I'm completing the form. He has me change just a few things.
I was totally blown away by some of the questions. I was thinking to myself..."do they want my first-born too?" LOL!
When I finally completed it, I sent it along to Herr Drascher with a note saying we were still trying to get a copy of the lease from the housing office. Ted has to get on that today!
I go back to my employer's work and continue working until I get another email from Herr Drascher. He says the application looks good and that he had already forwarded it to the Landlord. YIKES! It had all of my questions on it! He said he didn't think it mattered...ok, then, if you say so!
He wrote back again and said the landlord wants to meet with us tomorrow at 12:30 if we can arrange it because the landlord and his family is going out of town for eight days and will not be back. We need to move fast on this. I don't want to lose this opportunity!
I send an email to Ted asking him if it's possible. After all, his co-worker has taken day after day after day off to arrange housing because he can't seem to follow the German "house rules" requirements. And Ted did put in a lot of overtime when I was sick so he should be able to take the afternoon off to get this accomplished!
I'm excited because I know there's a possibility that we will get the apartment.
Ted is able to get a copy of the lease agreement and emails it to me. I, in turn, send it along to Herr Drascher. When Ted gets home, we have a little dinner and he promptly falls asleep. Poor guy...he's awfully tired these days.
I hear back from Herr Drascher and the landlord wants some confirmation of our income (you'd think we were buying the place, for crying out loud). But we go along with the program because we accept the fact that this is the custom here and "when in Rome...".
I email him back and ask if pay stubs are sufficient? I send an email to my employer asking for her to .pdf my last pay stub as I didn't have it. She was kind enough in all the things she has to do, she emailed it over to me immediately. OK. One document down and three more to go. Ted's pay stub and the application (which we have to sign and date and give to the landlord). Ted looks for his contract. Thankfully, it's a .pdf and we have it electronically.
I hear back form Herr Drascher late tonight saying pay stubs are sufficient but I think Ted needs to bring his contract anyways. I send the documents to Ted's work and home address asking him to print them at work and bring them with him tomorrow when he picks me up. I'll have to remind him again because he sometimes forgets.
By this time, it's time for bed. I put in a full day at work and I organized our meeting for tomorrow. A pretty good day, I think!
Until tomorrow!
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