The readers digest of Paris and the trip home

Hi all! Wow, jet lag stinks! It is 7 pm California time, and Tim and I have been wanting to sleep since just after lunch. So hard to stay awake, but we know that it is for the best. Since this is a rather long post, we are going to write it over two days and hopefully post it on Tuesday. So, here are the snapshots of our last 5 days in Europe.

France Day 1 - We were able to catch an afternoon train to Paris, but since we did not get the train reservations soon enough, we could not take advantage of the 1st class portion of our Eurorail tickets. There were seats open in 2nd class, and since our rail experiences have been good, even in 2nd class, we did not think anything of it. We took a small train from Murren to the lift, the lift down to Lauterbrunen and another train from Lauterbrunen to Interlaken. In Interlaken we caught another train to Burn, and Burn was where we took the 2nd class seats for 6 hours into Paris.

Well, those tickets were quite interesting. They were in a cabin with a family of 6, so 4 seats were on one side of the isle and 4 were on the other. The 4 kids (2 girls and 2 boys) were on one side, and the parents were seated on the other, with their bags on the empty seats. It seemed good to start, the parents spoke German but knew enough Engligh to communicate some with us, and we all got seated. And that was when it began. . .

We honestly felt like we were interloapers in a private cabin. The kids yelled, laughted, fought, jumped all over the seats, opened and closed the cabin doors repeatedly for no reason, and the youngest one had no sense of personal space, as she repeatedly kicked our legs while she swung hers back and forth. And we were trapped there for 6.5 hours. With no parent intervention at all. With no where else to go as the train was fully booked. It was not the way we wanted our Paris trip to being, and we were frazzeled after we got off. The one thing that surprised us, was that for 6.5 hours there was never a silent moment, chatter constantly filled the space. Definetly not what we are used to.

Since we arrived a day early, we had to reserve a room at a different hotel than the one we had for the next 3 nights. Our hotel of choice did not have room for us on the added night. It was not a problem, as it gave us a chance to stay one night in another are of Paris. The hotel we chose for the night was in the 19th district, so away from the city center, and was very . . . colorful. :) We did find dinner (a kebab place) and a laundromat. Unfortunately, by the time we found the laundromat, there was only 30 minutes left in their operating hours, so we put off laundry until the next day. Instead we walked all over the neighborhood. Sometimes in a new city we grab a map and see where our feet can take us. We tend to see great unplanned things, and then we use the map and Tims amazing sense of direction to find our way home. It was a great way to end the day.

France Day 2 - We woke up a little early to get the laundry done before we went over to our other hotel. We made it to the laundromat by 7:30 am, and had loads going shortly thereafter. Midway through the loads, a lovely older French woman came in, and started speaking to Michelle in french. Michelle figured that she did not know how to use the machines, so through very basic french and a lot of gesturing, we got her started. We tried to offer her one of the two chairs that were there, but she would not hear of it. Michelle took her chair and brought it over to where she was reading a book, and the woman smiled, then brought the chair back to where it was near Tim. She then handed each of us a pear that she had purchased, and thanked us in rapid french (we think!). The pears were great, and we could not stop smiling about the unlikely friends you make when you are on the road.

Back at the hotel we packed up, and again lugged our bags to our next hotel, which was our last one. It was a recommendation from Tim's boss, and it was a great one. We could lean out of our window and see the Eiffel Tower. So close to all of the action, and not that much more expensive than other hotels we had stayed at. We dropped our things and headed out.

We wanted to keep the second day light as well, so we headed to Notre Dame, for both a visit to the cathedral and to begin a Rick Steve's walking tour that we downloaded to our ipod before we left. We also visited the tourist information shop, and were told about a 2 day museum pass that Paris has, where you get free admission and you can enter in the group entrance at around 20 Paris museums. Since the Notre Dame tower climb and a few other museums we wanted to see were on there, we decided that was how we would spend our last two days in Europe. Can you forsee the pain in the feet that will occur? If you know us at all, you will know what will come next!

We spent the rest of the day walking around, getting lost as we do and finding ourselves again. A little shopping for some fun unusual items and then back to the hotel.

Day 3 - Are you ready for it?! Here it goes! We started the day with a few crepes in our hotel room with some apricot jelly, then we were off. The Notre Dame tower tour was one that we did not get to do during the '07 trip, and since that was one of the two places where we could not go in a group line, we opted to work on that one first. It was a few hundred stairs up, then a great view of the city. Thinking we were done, we wandered around the top a bit, and headed for the exit. But then we found there was another set of stairs, these leading to the top of one specific tour. Up around 50 more stairs, and we had an even better view of the city. It is so interesting to see the paradox of the older city with the newer sky scrapers in the background.

We visited the Notre Dame cript, which is a view of the ancient Paris. You see some of the original lanes that were there before current day Paris and some structures too. It is interesting to note that Paris used to be around 15-20 feet lower than the current city. This means that in some of the older buildings they had to be renovated so that the entrance was now at the new street level. Never knew that!

The next visit was to the Sant Chappel, a small church that has the most amazing stained glass windows. Gothic buildings allowed the builders to transfer the weight of the roof to the butttresses supporting the walls, freeing up the walls to have more windows. This chapel has the biblical story represented in its stained glass, and had cards describing how stained glass is made. About 70% of the windows were original, and all were just breathtaking.

We also visited the Concergerie (a former prison where Marie Antoinette lost her head). This place was also a good example of the change in Paris' street level over time, as you had to walk down around 15 steps to get to the first floor. As we learned, the original front door was at this street level.

The Pantheon followed, and then we tried to make a quick trip over to the Picasso museum. There is something with us and Picasso, but we were not destined to make it. We missed the last entrance by about 15 minutes, after nearly running to get there across town. Missed the Picasso Museum also in Barcelona, so maybe this means we need to come back to Europe again some day to get our Picasso fix.

Since it was Friday, the Louve stayed open late (until 10 pm versus 6 pm). We decided that since we could go and see "her" again, we probably should. On our way over, we did a bit more shopping and found some fun deals. We stayed at the Louve for a few hours, saw Mona again and visited the sculptures. We really are more sculpture people. Paintings are great but they just don't do it for us. We could spend hours looking at a marble sculpture, and still feel sad when we had to leave. One of the temporary exhibits had some pieces from the Borghuese collection in Rome, which we had seen on the 07 trip. We so hoped that they had a few of our favorite pieces, but knew the Borguese would not loan them out to another museum. But it was fun to see a few pieces for the second time.

We tried finding a recommended restaurant for dinner, but could not find it. Ended up at another that had good food, and Michelle had her first Creme Brulee of the trip. So unbelievably good.

Normally we would end the day with a brief statement about a metro ride, and then going to sleep, but this nights metro ride was also filled with a bit of drama. A group of young men, about 8 in all, had too much to drink and happened to get on the same train as us. Half were in our car and half were in the car behind us. The ones in the car behind us were singing loudly, banging their hands on the windows and chairs of the car, and generally being drunk men. The ones in our car were looking with amazement, then at the stops they would get off and go visit the other car for a brief time, then again at another stop they would return back to our car.

Michelle was glad to see the noise and rachus in the other car, until the men in our car began fighting with each other. Thankfully at the stop we needed they had still not actually hit each other, and we quickly scooted out of the door. As we were walking up th stairs to leave the metro, 10 french police ran by with their sticks out. Our guess was that the metro conductor saw what was happening, and stopped the train so that the police could come and resolve the situation. We both thought it might have been cool to be a fly on a wall to see how the French police operate (you don't get to see that every day!) but neither made the move to turn around and go back down. I am sure our parents are glad to hear this!

Back to the hotel room for some much needed rest for the feet and sleep. :)

Day 4 - The last full day in Paris started with a little rain, so we pulled out the rain slickers and umbrella and we were off. The first stop was to the Eiffel Tower, and we took an elevator to the top. Even though there was still a bit of drizzle in the air, it was still a beautiful view. We had breakfast at a Chinese food shop (hey, it smelled and looked great, even at 9 am) and then hit both the Musee d'Orsey and the Rodin Museum.

Lunch was at a little cafe, where Michelle tried to get creme brulee #2, and was foiled by their not having any more made. Who runs out of creme brulee at 12:30 in the afternoon? Mut have been really good stuff! We then did a quick jaunt through Napoleons Tomb and the Invalides museum. Very interesting to read the history of WWII from the French perspective.

We strolled down the Champs Elysee and enountered around 100 French police everywhere, shutting down the street. When we asked what was going on, we learned that President Obama was meeting with the French president nearby, and they would be leaving soon. Didn't know he was in town, as we had little access to English news, so that was an interesting surprise. We had dinner at Cafe Zimmer (so yummy, a great decour and finally creme brulee #2!) and we were headed home via the metro.

A calm metro ride this time, combined with some excitement on the way to the hotel. Michelle's feet hurt so bad that she could hardly walk, and Tim's were not much better. So Michelle went to the hotel room while Tim headed over to the Eiffel Tower to pick up a few last gifts. When we arrived at the hotel, there were 5 police cars parked outside of the hotel. Michelle headed inside and asked the desk clerk if he knew why they were there, and he was not sure. At that moment a policeman with a huge gun walked out of the restroom. Surreal. Tim was already headed down the street to a shop we had seen earlier, and found his way blocked by police cars who were not letting anyone cross their line. He went around the block, and again found his way blocked. He learned that President Obama was actually having dinner about 2 blocks from our hotel, so they closed down much of the area to any traffic. Meaning that if your hotel room is in that area, you are not getting to your room until he is done eating. SO glad he did not choose to be any closer to us!

Back in the room we both packed the bags for the morning and settled in for the last night of sleep.

Day 5 - We got up early, having heard horror stories about the Charles De Gaul airport. It was a little complicated, involving a metro ride, a train ride, a shuttle ride and then a walk to the counter through a maze of both finding our gate number, our station number and then our carrier, but we navigated without problem. Some of those things are so fun to do, when it is complicated, but managable, and you have to use your wits to determine how everything is figured. Finally dropped the bags (53 total lbs for Michelle, 60 lbs for Tim), and waited for our flight. It was uneventful (which is good) and seemed to go fast.

We arrived at 7:00 pm, and the rest you know from the previous post. It was a great trip, and we are glad to be home. Our bed and pillows felt great last night, and being near our animals brings peace. Now, back to real life.

Thank you for following our journey. Hopefully we will be able to share some of the approx. 1,500 pictures we took. Notice, I said SOME of the pictures, because we sure did take a lot! Love to you all.

Better late than never, right?

So, it turns out that we could not find an internet connection in Paris at all, which is why it has been around 4 days since the last post. The hotel had a terminal, and for 5 euros (about $7) every 15 minutes, you could use it. Knowing that it would take us at least 10 minutes to log on, with our luck, we opted to go post-free for a few days. Sorry if we worried anyone!

We arrived safely in LA this evening around 7 pm, having been picked up by Tims parents. A short meal later at Tims parents house (for those of you who know Diana, Tims mom, she always seems to have a roast in at the perfect moment, and her roasts are amazing!) and we are almost on the road home.

We are just stoping off to grab our dog Shadow from Tims sisters house, and were very grateful for both their help in loving our boy for 25 days, and for his lack of chewing anything in their backyard our house. Total damage done by the dog, one dog bed with stuffing removed. Thankfully he destroyed his own bed, so that will be a morning purchase we will have to make, but overall, not too shabby!

Since it is now almost 7am Paris time, and we need to hit the road, we will have to update you tomorrow on the last days of our trip. Look for one massive Paris post some time tomorrow, but for know, know that the Traveling Hardleys are back, safe and sound.

The view from above

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. We started the day off with breakfast at the hotel. In this hotel and the last they have both had the most amazing milk. It is so silly to comment on milk, but we just cant get enough of it. Maybe it is because it is full fat milk (and we are used to drinking skim) but it is amazing. Californians think they have happy cows, but they have nothing on Swiss cows. Yum yum!

After breakfast we were off to catch a cable car up to the top of the Schilterhorn, one of the highest mountains in this region and the filming location for a James Bond movie (on her majesties service). And the first landing place, we had to change to another cable car, which would take us up to the Schilterhorn. At the first landing the temperature was 1 degree celcius. Just so you know, that is cold! Once we reached top, we saw thick snow all around. In fact, there were two men who were helping to break up the snow with chainsaws. One man would slice the snow in blocks using the chainsaw, and the other would shovel it further down the hill. Quite fun to watch.

We had hoped to get up there early in the day, as the clouds tend to roll in during the afternoon. We did get an early start, but there were still a few clouds there. They moved often enough that we could peek at the mountains from time to time. It was beautiful and we shared a apple torte and hot chocolates in the revolving restaurant at the top. Once finished we hiked along the ridge outside, until it became a bit too dangerous to continue. In the summer time, you can actually do a 3.5hour hike from the top back to our village of Murren. We were hoping to do this, but with snow still covering some of the trail, Michelle was nervous that it was not a good idea. So we took the cable car back down.

This brings us to the less enjoyable portion of the day. So far we gave refrained from commenting on what are known as "ugly Americans" those tourists who are disagreeable in their manner or comments, or are offensive in their interactions that of makes you sad to be an American. We have a few stories to share, but one family visiting Murren took the cake. We had experienced them on our first day, and were not thrilled to see them in the co-op yesterday morning, not were we excited to see them on our cable car to the Shilthorn, or throughout the facilities at the top of the mountain. They seemed to follow us throughout our time there. We were very excited to get on the cable car to go home and to not see them there.

When we got home we grabbed our swim suits and headed over to the sports complex that had a pool and a spa. We enjoyed the facilities for a few hours. Back to the room for a bit of sleep and some food (sandwiches from the grochery store) and we ended the day with packing. We are on our way to Paris tomorrow, and we have no Internet connection in the hotel for the first night. Today will be travels to Paris, with us arriving around 7pm. There is hopes of laundry, and maybe a walk around the city, but we are not pushing much more. See you in a few days!

A hill of a climb and a pot of cheese

Another great day in Switzerland. We had a semi early breakfast at the hotel, checked out by 11:00 and stored our luggage at the hotel. We tried going to the grochery store (the co-op that we mentioned before) but we found it closed. We were not sure why, but decided to continue on with the errands we had and would figure out why later. At the train station we determined when the train would leave. We then went to a sporting good store to buy some long johns for Michelle as the trip up to Murren will involve a sharp decrease in temperature. We were semi successful, and went back to the hotel to grab our things. We learned along the way that June 1st is a holiday, so many restaurants and shops are closed. Bummer, as we were hoping to grab some food for the mini fridge from the co-op before we headed up the hill.

We waited at the train station. At 1:35 for the promised train, but it never came. I guess when there is a holiday the train schedule changes slightly and there are fewer trains. Since the woman at the train counter assured us that there was an 11:35, there were quite a few people waiting there. Fortunatly we were not in a rush.

We took a train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunen, then a cable car up to Grutschalp, then took another train to Murren. Our hotel did not include the address in their website, so we were a little worried that we would miss it. Rest assured, the town really is not that big, consisting of two streets that run parallel to each other. It is pretty much impossible to get lost.

On the train we met a couple from DC, and they tend to travel in one country at a time, and they were amazed to hear about our trip. They had rented an appartment in town and were also not sure where they were staying as there was no address. I guess this is the town of no addresses!

We checked into the hotel (which is lovely) and decided to take a small hike down to Gimmewald. For those of you who are not familiar with
Gimmewald, it is a town that some of the studends from Michelles school used to visit. Since we were a 30 minute hike from the town, we decided to see if we could visit the town and meet Walter, the wonderful owner of a hotel there. This was the place where the students used to stay. Walter was there and he remembered the Westmont students. He was nice enough to take a picture with Michelle. It was great.

After visiting Walter we walked through the town. Five minutes later we were on the other end and heading back. :) Small town. We bought some homemade sugar coated Londs from one man, who came out and talked politics with us for a while after we made our purchase. It is always interesting to hear what others have to say about our political system. We also bought some homemake yogurt and cheese from another woman. The yogurt was apple flavored, a new one for us but recommended buy the maker. It was wonderful, and thin enough that we opened the container and ate it in front of the shop. It was gone in a matter of minutes. The cheese we have yet to try.

We then made the hike back up the hill to Murren. The hike to Gimmewald was all downhill, so the uphill trip took a bit longer. We had to climb about 800 meters, and the air up here is so thin that we were winded easily.

When we returned to town we had dinner at a place called Stager Stubli. We opted for a half bottle of Merlot, a dinner salad, and our first try at Swiss fondu. The wine and salad were good, and we were very excited to find that we liked the fondu as well. We topped it off with three scoops of ice cream. Now back at the hotel, we are setteling in for an early evening. Tomorrow will be an early morning with a fun day trip planned. Talk to you soon!