Our first glimpse of the French Riviera as we crossed the border from Italy was very pretty. The rain had stopped, there was a little sunshine, and we had great hopes for a change in the weather. However, the rain returned and there was quite a downpour driving into Nice.
We were very thankful that the rain cleared for our evening visit to Monte Carlo, to have a little look around and share in a meal. We saw the Cathedral where Grace Kelly married Prince Ranier, and the road where she lost her life, we saw the Royal Palace, and a statue of the benevolent Grimaldi, the prince who used to dress up as a pauper and roam the streets incognito to find out what his people were thinking and saying. This tiny principality of Monte Carlo is only 2km square, but is one of the most expensive places to live. Real estate prices are exorbitant; Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys are everywhere; luxurious yachts fill the marina. Needless to say we didn’t exactly feel the right fit for this place. The casinos are the main attraction and the lineup of cars out the front convinced us of the wealth in this place.
From Nice we drove north and visited a Parfumerie. It was great to learn about the process of extraction of the various essences and oils, and to understand the necessary difference in price of various types. My nose appreciated the fragrances, however there wasn’t one that took hold of me sufficiently to purchase. That was disappointing!
We passed through Lyon and concluded our day in the very pretty town of Maçon where we had a beautiful walk beside the river before dinner. The swans greeted us, and the lighting on the bridge, church and other buildings made it very special.
The next day’s drive to Paris was a long one, with a lovely stopover in Beaune, a fantastic medieval town in the Burgundy region. The town’s economy is built on the wine industry, but the beauty of the cobble-stoned streets with the antique buildings was such a treat. The vintners, fromageries and patisseries all deserved a slow look and our mouths were salivating.
We arrived in Paris mid afternoon and headed straight for the Louvre. What a massive place! It used to be the main Palace until Versailles was built, and then became a museum. The building covers blocks and blocks, and one of the galleries we entered was close to a mere 800m long. We viewed classics of Raphael, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and of course, the Mona Lisa, all on her own in a glass cabinet panel in the middle of a huge room, but continually surrounded by thousands of people. She is the only painting in the Louvre which is in a secured glass panel, as all the other objects are openly exposed with only a guide rope for protection, activating an alarm if visitors get too close. This museum is so huge that there are necessary renovations always going on. We saw the immense difference it makes when these old masterpieces are cleaned up and the centuries of dirt layers are removed. The colours are brilliant. We viewed artefacts from Athens and Ephesus, places we have visited. We had heard that certain items had been moved to either the Louvre, or the British Museum or to Germany so, it was great to see the original, after seeing a duplicate in its original home.
Our only disappointment in Paris was that the Palace of Versailles was closed due to a strike. We had been greatly looking forward to that visit, but there was a small compensation as we viewed the Apartments of Napoleon in the Louvre, still with all the original furniture, paintings and elaborate decoration with pure gold on ceilings, walls, chandeliers, vases, furniture and other decorative items. As ostentatious as you would expect for a man full of his own importance. While in the Louvre we saw the massive piece of art depicting his coronation, when he refused to bow before the Pope, but took the crown, turned his back on him, and crowned himself and Josephine. If that’s not making a statement I don’t know what is.
The next day we toured the city visiting the great Notre Dame taking 130 years to build after commencement in 1163. What an incredible building for that era! We saw several of the 37 bridges across the Seine River Paris has to offer, some covered in lovers’ locks, which are now causing panels to fall off. The main bridge chosen for this romantic practice now looks very ugly as the broken panels are covered with masonite to stop other locks being added, and those panels are graffitied, and have become a real eyesore. Most of the other bridges are stone so there is no opportunity to secure a lock. The most beautiful of those bridges was a gift from Tsar Alexander of Russia with pure gold statues at each end, as well as on several of the carvings across the structure. Quite impressive. The tour continued past the Invalides [War Museum], and onto a great place to view the magnificent Eiffel Tower.
The way Paris is laid out is very easy. The ring road [Peripherique] defines the main city limits where 2 million people live. That area is divided into 20 districts emanating in a spiral fashion from the centre, each with 4 areas. These districts each have a City Hall and a Police station. There are 420 parks and gardens and 550,000 trees across the city, most of them lining the wide streets and boulevards, 12 of which lead to the Arc de Triomphe. That roundabout is huge, with no lanes, but all the cars, buses, trucks, bikes and taxis seem to find their way around. In the wider Paris region the population is 12 million.
For our day of exploring this magnificent city the number of tourists seemed very moderate. We returned to the Eiffel Tower and joined a relatively short queue to go up. We were told at the ticket booth that the summit was closed, and we could only puchase a ticket to level 2 and then wait until the ticket booth there opened to purchase our summit ticket. This seemed strange and we concluded that there must be too many people up there at that time, and the closure was for safety reasons. When we arrived at Level 2 however, we were told that there was an unidentified bag left at the summit and the police were investigating it. The ticket booth reopened after about half an hour, we joined another queue and we were up to the Summit in no time at all. We had bought lunch at the snack bar on level 2 and so from walking to the base of the Tower and walking away again we had spent a very pleasant 2 hours enjoying the vistas of this iconic city.
We then walked several kilometres [as we are wont to do!] exploring streets and lanes, but of course, walking the Champs Elysees was quite a treat. Neither of us are particular ‘shoppers’ but we passed all the great names. The only boutique we did go into was the Mercedes boutique. Now this is shopping at its best that even men enjoy. A classic Mercedes displayed at the entrance was a motivating invitation to enter, and from there you passed the Reception Desk. A car yard it is not! With only 3 cars on display through a beautifully lit arcade, and other items for sale as well, from jackets, caps, watches and key rings, to shoes, model cars and umbrellas, it was well worth the short excursion from the street.
We were looking for a coffee, and soon realised that we should have stopped sooner as we noticed the price of coffee rise the closer we got to the Place de la Concorde. For some reason we chose not to pay €8,00 for a coffee [check the conversion rate!] so we kept walking and went up a side street which was a little more reasonable.
Our lovely day concluded with a walk on the bank of the Seine, finding a little restaurant near the Louvre for dinner before we headed back to the hotel, on the extremely efficient Metro.
The following morning was an early start to get us north to Calais for a Channel crossing back to the UK.
The next six weeks is upon us!
Chris and Lynda Johnson 