Blogger Frank stopped by yesterday to lend me his Paris books. Thanks Frank! I'm going to look through them today while I'm in class. Oh right, I got a call yesterday for a class just for today (a day I was supposed to be off) to help a functionary prepare for her language proficiency exam. Such a cake gig. I sit while the student takes the mock exam for 2 hours. Then we review all the errors and why they are errors. Then repeat. It's an all day gig, and I get to read while the student takes the mock test. I'll be reading up on the cities we're going to.
You know when I was 17, I went with the family on a 7 week European vacation, the family vacation of a lifetime. I remember thinking at the time, "Oh I've got my whole life, I'm sure I"ll be back a bunch of times." So taking everything for granted. So naive. I went back only once for a trip to Amsterdam, and well, that was a different kind of trip. Oh, lots of fun mind you, I just remember more about the trip from when I was 17 than the one 10 years ago if you catch my drift (clears throat). Spouse didn't go on that trip because he wasn't readily able to cross borders at the time. Spouse has iterated time and again that he wishes to relax on vacation. I keep saying, "THREE sea days! Three whole days with nothing to do but schlub around the ship." This doesn't seem to be enough for him, alas.
26 comments:
My Grandfather was married twice and both times it was in Paris. That is Paris, Illinois.
I can't wait for the pictures and exciting things you'll have to write about.
I hear there is a Paris in France too. Ed
On a road trip I found lots of famous city names in the USA: Paris, Rome, Greece, etc.
I agree with you about spending time in a large museum on such a short trip. There are better things to do, like people-watch, as you say.
I really think that vacations are meant for exploring. THREE days to shlub around the ship is enough relaxing. If I went to one of those little islands in the pacific for vacation, the tiny ones where all you see if beach and a hut, I'd go nuts. I could not lay around for days like that. When we do our hawaii trips, we pack a lot in; the days when we are idle KILL me. I feel like "we're in hawaii and it's passing me by!"
Middle ground again. I love to go to museums but feel no obligation to see everything inside them. Years ago when I was in Paris I hit almost every museum, but I just saw what I wanted. A few select Degas pieces here, the Impressionists at L'Orangerie there, ditto Rodin. There's too much to see, but some things are so great you don't want to pass up the opportunity to see them.
I'm somewhere in between on art museums. My partner is hard core, and when he goes to a museum, he almost seems deathly afraid that there might be something there that he wouldn't get to see. I tend to scan the room and then go stand in front of one or two paintings and soak them in. He wants to look carefully at everything, and he's incapable of passing anything written without reading it. It's a little maddening.
That said, it would really be a shame to go to Paris and not at least see some of the Orsay and the Pompidou Center. The Orsay is loaded with late 19th and early 20th century paintings and sculptures, and if you just choose the parts you want to visit and limit yourself to 90 minutes or so (after about that much time, I told the ball and chain that I'd be in the rooftop cafe), you'll have a good time. The Pompidou has the modern and contemporary art, and it's just really a lot of fun. I remember one piece called "Fibonacci Crocodile," which was a crocodile being trailed by a series of fibonacci numbers in neon. Just really cool.
I turn a deeper shade of green with every post I read! I'm positively giddy for you. Seriously this might be bordering on a sickness, my excitement for you guys. I, too, don't want to be confined by museum walls when the whole living breathing city (and this time Paris!) is out there just waiting to be explored.
I think the trick is exactly to do what you want and not worry about what you 'should' be doing. I love the big art galleries and spend time seeking them out. On the other hand, I always miss out on the night life. I don't even go to clubs at home. It sounds like you and Serge are managing to find compromise and I am so excited for your trip!!!
I always like to hit some sort of museum if its a new place for me, to give me a sense of that place's history and culture, since that informs so much...but you mentioned walking tour scripts the other day, and those can serve the same purpose, while letting you be out with the living, breathing, stinking masses. I do like my people watching, too!
Once you get on-boat, don't be all "shuffleboard! karaoke! line dancing!" to poor Serge, or he'll kill you...
So today's work shift gives you a little bonus travel dough, I hope!
How exactly DOES one "schlub" around? Just wondering. :)
HUGS...
Murphy's kid Ty was just in Paris and said the Mona Lisa is quite a bit smaller than he thought it would be. Just giving you a heads' up! LOL!
Please take a stroll down the Champs Elysee (sp) for me, s'il vous plait? That's my Paris dream. Oh and to do up on the Eiffel tower and see where Duran Duran shot the View To A Kill video. :)
-Rox
Um, GO not do. Duh.
-R
Love museums. Although I haven't been to the two that are here. R accompanies, but it's clear that it's his indulgence sometimes.
Have fun, my friend.
I love to soak in the rhythm of a place, to absorb the architecture and people, but I've never really been anywhere truly exotic or different, city-wise. Paris to me brings a dreamscape of outdoor cafes, baguette and cheese picnics on city benches watching the Seine, beautiful people, Notre Dame, and yes, the Louvre, which I would love to see one day.
If I were on a ship for three days, I think I'd spend much of it gazing at the ocean.
Hope you change your mind regarding the Lourve, even though the artwork is not the type you like, the wall painting are so huge you can sit on one of the benches and actually get lost in the painting becoming a part of it. Looking at them from a distance and then moving in real close gives one an idea of how masterful the artists were creating these beauties. Also, you can look at the very modern glass structure at the front of the building. Just a thought.
Definitely get to the cafés and restaurants and enjoy the food, something for which Paris is well known.
Sadly I use art museums as a means to try and attract people to visiting me. Two of the neighboring Decaying Midwestern Urban Centers have solid museums (remnants from before the decay -- when they were actual functioning urban centers). So far, I have had zero (0) people come and see me. Maybe I need a new tactic.
As for relaxing, I suppose it depends on the definition. It sounds good to me if Spouse means taking it easy, enjoying cafes and bars, and roaming the city without a plan or sense of obligation. If, though, it just means staying in the hotel all day, I don't think that I could handle that.
Just one tip from a Paris frequenter like me: purchase a bottle of great Cabernet along with some pain and have yourself a picnic in front of the Sacre-Coeur, overlooking the whole city. Especially beautiful at sunset!
Hope you have a great time!
Again, like you two, Spouse & I are not big fans of museums. Some of our uppity friends are nearly orgasmic with stories of visiting this and that museum while on vacation. Spouse & I would rather watch people, explore, and find our own way (with the help of a map or city guide).
Mark :-)
There will be no relaxing on that boat. Remember? You will be doing laundry.
Personally, the idea of being trapped on a ship sends shivers down my spine. I am sooo not a cruise-vacation type of person. It just sounds all too manufactured for my taste. But you're low class...oh, and retarded. declasse
I love cruises because, for me, that's about a perfect balance of relaxing and having stuff to do.
You gotta go to the Louvre! If nothing else, at least when you see the museum or one of its works of art on TV, you can say "hey, I saw that in real life!"
Have a ball! How exciting. Need a chick to do that laundry for you?
No matter what you two end up doing, it'll be fun. It's always fun. There's a store there, the equivalent of Pic n'Save in France... It's a blast... Now, if I could only remember what it's called...
Doesn't matter. It's all good.
Oh, go on the Seine boat tour at sunset. It's amazing the views you get to see.
that was me just above.
As the song line goes, "Time is another demon that devours our time in Eden."
Go. Have fun. Don't worry.
It's all about compromise, I guess. But hey, that's life. Whatever you do on your trip you'll surely have a great time!
If you want a gallery in Paris that combines less than an hour of modern art, a funky bookshop, an odd giftshop and a really great place to eat and people watch, then go for the Palais de Tokyo.
www.palaisdetokyo.com
It's next to the trocadero, from where the best (without any doubt) views of the Eiffel Tower are to be had....
My partner has a conference in Amsterdam; spouses are invited. Everyone has told me how many wonderful museums the city has. I am embarrassed to admit I get museum-ed out in about an hour and a half.
My mother-in-law took us on a cruise several years ago. The schedule was essentially 40 hours at sea, 8 hours on land, repeat... until the three days at sea. I thought I was going to kill someone.
-Gary
Hey have a great time on your cruise...wish you could take blogging with you on the trip...you know how some of us types like to share photographs!! Be sure to take lots of pictures and tell us about it when you return. The postcard idea is great. I wish I had done that on my trip. I'm now half way through in Washington state and wish I had sent them back home.
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