Counting down the days and hours

After Robyn left Paris for the USA, I took the train back to Lyon.  I immediately started counting down the days until I would be able to go home.  I needed to complete the project that I started when I first came to France, or at least complete the collection of the data that I will need to write a paper.

The sun finally decided to make an appearance for more than a day at a time.  Of course this happened when I was about to leave.  It has been an exceptionally rainy winter and spring for all of Europe.  Everyone was happy to see the sun and I even saw some of the locals smiling.

On Saturday, Rachel and Torsten invited a few of us over to dinner at their home just outside of Lyon.  They have a busy multi-generational household (baby, parents, mother,  grandmother, and two dogs).   We decided to play a board game and I got ready for another humiliating defeat.  The game, "Empires: The Age of Discovery", was about exploring the new world.  We started playing around five o'clock, and with 5 players and breaks to feed the baby, we did not get finished until after eleven.


Europeans living in the cities tend to eat later, but this was even later than any of us had eaten before.  Torsten fired up the grill as we counted up the points in the game, then we sat down to a nice meal.  We were so full that we never did eat the dessert that we brought.

By the way, when we tallied up the final points, I won by one point.  I thanked them all for letting me finally win.

33rd Anniversary in Paris

We flew back to Paris from Florence and took the train into (actually under) the city.  We got off at the stop for Notre Dame.  From there it was a short walk across the river and just around the corner from the famous Shakespeare & Company bookstore that has been used in many films. 

Hotel Esmeralda is a funky hotel in a 1600's building.  There was a dark, narrow, and worn wooden staircase with very little headroom, but beautiful big exposed beams.  The rooms were small and oddly shaped.  The bed took up most of the room and there was only room for one person to fit in the bathroom at a time. Sitting on the toilet, you could rest your head on the sink.

We had the window open, listening to the rain and piano music coming from the bar around the corner.  The courtyard that our window looked out upon was also shared by the bookstore and we could see people walking through the second floor of books.  It was a very Parisian moment.

We wandered the city with no real agenda, except that we wanted to climb the stairs of the Eiffel Tower on our anniversary, May 24th.  700 steps from the base to the second level.  From there we had to buy a ticket to reach the top, over 1000 feet above the city.

It is always fun to peer out over the city and see the sights.  Notre Dame, the Louvre, Arc de Triumph, Sacre Coeur, all the parks, and the river flowing through the middle.   This is our third visit to the city and we still have not explored all the places there are to see.  This time we were museum-ed out, so we opted for walking through areas that we had not visited before.

It was the first time we were there in the spring.  All the trees were leafed out and the flowers were blooming.  It was very pretty, but it was a lot more crowded.  Tourists were everywhere in triplicate.  Sidewalks were so crowded that many times we were forced into the street.  It was very different than when we were there in February and December. 

Florence

We traveled to Florence on Monday.  The museums are often closed on Mondays, so it is a good day to travel.  We took the high speed train from Rome to Florence, which was really nice.

We made the 15 minute walk from the hotel back to the train station with no problems.  I am always nervous in the train stations.   Rome and Barcelona are two of the most likely places to be pick-pocketed. A group of people tried to rob me around the Barcelona train station last year, creating a distraction with one person and another trying to grab the luggage.  So, I was definitely paranoid in the stations.  We had no problems anywhere, but we made it as difficult as possible for the thieves, hoping they would target someone else.  I was always relieved to get away from the crowds at and around the stations.

Once in Florence, we checked into a nice cottage on the outskirts of the city.  We did not want to stay in the high priced city center.  We found a great residence type hotel across the river from the main sites.  It was secluded and quiet, nestled among the trees.  It was only about a 15 minute walk down to the Ponte Vecchio.

Because the museums are closed, Monday is also a great day to do laundry.  Not the most fun thing to do on vacation, but traveling light means that it has to be done sometime and clean clothes are always nice. We usually grabbed something to eat as we hung out in the laundromat.

Our days were filled with museums and walking through the hills of Florence.  We found a small pottery shop along one of the side streets on our side of the river.  The artist's shop was on the first floor of the family home.  The home has been in the family for over 100 years.  She creates and paints all her own pottery.  We bought several souvenirs from her. 


The Duomo in Florence is another large dome that towers above all the other buildings in the city.  And, of course, we had to climb it.  The first climb was many stairs up a circular staircases, bringing you to the interior of the dome.  As we made our way around the inner dome, there was a church service going on 75 feet below and they were singing.  Their voices echoed up into the dome and gave us a small concert.  Once at the top, we could see across the entire city and out to the old city wall.  Just beyond that wall was where our hotel sat.


Florence is a smaller city than Rome or Lyon, but it is still a big city.  We enjoyed seeing the fantastic sculptures and Michelangelo's David, but the crowds of tourists and all the associated tourist trinket sellers makes it harder for me to enjoy this picturesque Tuscan town.

Rome has not changed much in 35 years

We arrived in Roma after taking the train from the airport.  Our hotel was only about 3 blocks away from the train station.  I had printed out the directions from Google maps and a map with the pictures of the buildings.  Once we oriented ourselves and dodged all the souvenir and tour sellers, we were able to walk right to where the hotel should have been.  We had picked the hotel from a Rick Steves guide book for its location and price.  All we found at the site was a big wooden door and a hotel sign.  It apparently is common in the big cities for little hotels to be located on the upper floors.  Once through the big door (12 foot high), we climbed the staircase and were able to check in.

The bellman, who spoke almost no English, took us to our room.  He put us in the elevator with the luggage and closed the three doors (yes three, the outer wood door, the metal gate and an inner wood door) for the ride back down to the first floor.  He met us at the bottom and we exited the building, crossing the street to another building.  Evidently the hotel has expanded by taking over another hotel in the other building.  Bit a bother to drop the key off each time we went out, but not really a problem.  The room was nice with a big window onto a semi-quiet street.

We walked to the Colosseum and were able to walk right up to the entrance (no standing in lines to buy a ticket) because we bought a museum pass.  It was crowded inside and it took a while to get to the front of the viewing areas.  Patience and perseverance.  Waiting allowed us to eaves drop on the tour being given in English.  It was not as easy to hear the commentary these days because they give the tour members a radio receiver with headphones and the tour guide a microphone to broadcast.  This allows the guide to be quieter while allowing everyone to hear.  They are very nice for the groups in museums, but if you stand near the guide, you can still get some information gratis.

From there we walked down to the Palentine Hill and roamed the ruins.  You get a nice view of the city from up there.  As we wandered, we reached the Forum and went on one of Rick Steves' self guided walking tours.  My guide was able to give me lots of information about the ruins.  I was able to just gaze around as Robyn read the information about each of the structures.  As we reached the far end of the forum, the bells rang and they announced that they were closing.  We exited out the back door above the old senate building.

We wandered the streets and ended up in the Piazza de Navona with a Bernini fountain.  There were artists creating simple water colors for the tourists, but we liked the colors of one artist with a simple display.  He created the items at his table and sold the still damp images.

From there, we grabbed some gelatto and continued our stroll.  Found the Parthenon, but a religious service was in progress, so we did not get to go inside.  More wandering and we stumbled on the Trevi Fountain. Actually, we stumbled on the thousand tourists and sellers around the fountain.   From there we went back to the hotel for the night.

The next day we went to the Vatican museum.  We stood in line for about an hour to get through security and buy a ticket.  Once inside, we visited a gallery and then ate lunch in the cafeteria.   Refreshed and re-energized, we tackled the crowds of people and toured more of the museum.  After a while, the crowds were getting to me, so we took a break in the gardens, relaxing and people watching.  The sun was out, so it was a nice day for sitting in the garden.

 Then for the real crowds.  The museum is laid out to flow through several different galleries and end in the Sistine Chapel. The halls leading to the chapel entrance were completely packed, no passing.  Felt like cattle being moved to a new corral. I remember the chapel from 35 years ago, but I don't remember it being sooooo crowded.  There must have been over 500 people in there.

 It has only been a couple months since the cardinals from around the world gathered here to elect their new pope.  I am still awed by the size and vibrancy of the paintings.  They were just starting to clean the walls when I was here before.  Now the colors are bright and vibrant.  If it was not so crowded, I would have sat for a few minutes.  As it was, the crowd did not move very fast and I think it took over 20 minutes to move through the chapel and out a small door.

Saturday morning we wanted to climb to the top of St Peters.  We headed out early to get there before 8 am.  We walked right up to security and the X-ray scanners and we were able to walk straight into the church.  They tell you it is large, but until you actually see it, you cannot really appreciate the magnitude.  As we finished the tour of the inside, we arrived at what I remembered as the entrance to climb to the top, but there was a security guard at the door.  We needed to go back outside and to the opposite side of the church to climb.

Luckily it was still uncrowded and we were able to get across the groups coming in.  Once again being early allowed us to walk right up the ticket window and then immediately start climbing.  The guide book said that there were only 300 stairs, but I counted 200 just to the top of the church.  From there we still needed to climb up the dome another 300 steps.

To access the very top, you are allowed to walk around the interior of the dome, 150 feet above the people inside the church.  It is an amazing view.  From there you enter the space between the inner and outer dome.  The last 100 meters of the passage way is two way traffic, but only wide enough for one way.  Usually the intermittent groups of climbers can wait for groups of descenders, but some times it backs up. This means getting cozy with the people coming down. The last stretch of stairs up along the curved space of the dome to the very top is where you have the most fantastic views of Vatican City and Rome.  It was a clear sunny day and we could see forever.


After spending quite a bit of time on the top, we could see the lines growing to get into the church.  Heading back down we saw that the whole square of St Peters was filling up with people.  They were also setting up chairs for the service that evening.  The pope would be attending, so the streets were being shutdown and cleared.

The next day we roamed the city again and got lost in the neighborhoods south of the Coliseum.  After half an hour we found our way back.  It was quite a nice adventure.

Rome has not changed much in the 35 years since I last visited.  Lots of old buildings, lots of people.  I was happy to leave it then and I am happy to leave it now.  It has been fun, but now that Robyn has also been able to experience the city and has seen the well known sites, I doubt that we will need to return here again.

Robyn arrives in Lyon

When Robyn flew out, I watched her little plane move across the computer screen. I had a flight tracker watching Robyn's flight from Denver to Toronto.  There she had a 5 hour layover before heading to Paris.  That's what you get when trying to use frequent flyer miles to get to Europe in the high season.

Once in Pairs, she needed to take a train to Lyon.  That meant another 2 hour wait and then a two hour train ride.  I was content to see that she was heading in the right direction.

I went to the farmers market the morning she arrived to pick out some flowers.  Got three bunches, two for the apartment and one to give her when she got off the train.

Robyn arrived with no problems.  She got some sleep on the plane, so she was ready to go see Lyon.  The best remedy for jet-lag is sun and exercise.  Luckily that day was sunny.  I took her all around the city.  Took the metro up to the scenic overlook at Fourviere and then we walked through the Roman ruins.  From there we strolled hand-in-hand down through the park below Fourviere and into the old town with very narrow cobble-stoned streets and saw the old churches St Jean and St George.  We kept on walking across the Saone and down to the confluence of the two rivers (the Saone and the Rhone) where we ate a late lunch. We ordered a couple of milkshakes and a single meal to split between us, just like we do in Boulder.  I felt whole again.

On Monday we got up late and went out to lunch and walked through the park and the botanical gardens.  It was a short day because we had tickets to the opera that night.  Capriccio by Strauss is a long two and half hour opera with no intermission.  I did not know about the lack of intermission when I bought the tickets.  They only tell you after they have the money.

It was very interesting.  The opera contains an opera within it.  It is a contest between the words and the music.  A young woman is courted by two suitors, one a musician, the other a writer.  In the end she must pick one, but knows that the blending of both is required to create music.  Our seats where in the first balcony, but almost directly across from the performers because the stage within the stage was raised.  Overall we enjoyed the music and singing, but the singing was in German and the subtitles provided were in French, meaning I could only follow the emotions of the performers to understand the meanings.  Still, I was able to understand where the jokes were and laugh at the appropriate times.  Strange how they can convey that information without language, only movements and tone.

The next day I needed to work on my paper.  Robyn helped out by editing my writing to make it proper English.  She also went to the store to find some supplies for our impending trip.  I felt bad that I was cooped up all day writing, but it was due by midnight.  I made a pasta dinner while she finished the editing.  I did submit it, but I wish I could have had a few more days to rewrite sections.

On Wednesday we toured the rest of Lyon, visiting the shopping areas with the butchers, the bakers, and the cheese makers. Don't know where the candlestick makers were.

Then we repacked for an early departure for the airport.  Our flight was at 8:20 the next morning.  I originally scheduled a 10 am flight, but the departure time kept getting earlier.  We were finally going on a vacation where I would not take my computer and work..  I wonder if I will get withdrawal symptoms?