Saturday - leaving Paris

Saturday – November 7th – Heading South on the TGV
We are on the train – destination Nice. Got up early and made it to the train station in a cab. Waited for the train to post on the board for an hour amidst a jam of other travelers with lots of luggage. Found our car and seats with little difficulty even though our car was one of the last ones. This train is so long and it has two engines (one in the middle). The ride is 5 ½ hours long and cost as much, if not more, than a plane but it does give you a chance to view the countryside. So far this has consisted mostly of farmland. It is now getting hillier and there are a lot of trees in autumn colors. The day is gray but not raining. The ride does give an opportunity to just kick back and relax, read, and catch up on my blog.
The blog has been a bit frustrating in Paris. I couldn’t get any pictures to load. I think the problem was related to the hotel’s wifi. Hopefully this will not be a problem at our next hotel in Nice.
Paris was wonderful and it was fun exploring it with Tom & Toni as we didn’t do the usual tourist stuff so much (e.g. The Louvre, Champs Eylesee, Eifel Tower) been there done that before. Instead we explored a couple of neighborhoods pretty thouroughly (Montmartre and The Marais). It was really much more enjoyable and gave you a better idea of what it might be like to live in Paris (or at least visit for an extended period).
We also tried to make it a point to eat in some local restaurants rather than pricier more formal ones. We did eat in one place that was highly recommended by someone very familiar with Paris. We didn’t find it to actually be any better than the local places and actually preferred the more informal ambience of the more inexpensive places.
Yesterday we visited the largest, and most famous, cemetery in Paris. It was a great day to do it. The sky was grey, it was brisk, but no rain. There were a lot of ravens flying about and crowing. Rather spooky. There was a map provided to guide you to the more famous graves so we had fun navigating about finding dead celebrities (of their time). Some of these included Moliere, Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Edith Piaf, and of course, Jim Morrison. By far the most interesting was a grave that was marked by a life size bronze statue of a handsome young man lying down, dressed in a coat with tails with a top hat in his right hand. Someone had placed a single rose in his hand. I took a photo as it looked so charming.
Then a man popped out from behind a nearby structure. He had wild curly hair, that looked unwashed, and was carrying a binder of papers. He looked a lot like Gene Wilder. He started rapidly speaking to us in English with a thick French accent. He was very animated to say the least. He started to explain the story of the dead young man. He explained that this had been a 22 year old journalist, very handsome, who had been critical of Napolean. As a result he had been assassinated – shot in the heart and killed instantly. People were very upset by his killing and he was buried here and Napolean paid for the elaborate statue. He said the story went that after he had been dead for two days he had a large erection (yes that is what he said you can’t make this stuff up). Over the years people (I suppose both men and women) visit his grave as kiss his mouth, rub the entrance wound on his chest (visible in the statue), and also rub his supposed erection). This part of the guy’s story provided evidence to its accuracy as all these locations on the statue were differently colored than the rest of it.
Later in the day we walked through the Marais (our neighborhood). We tried to visit the Picasso Museum but when we found it there was a very small sign saying it was closed for renovation until 2012.
Last evening we met Johanna, a young woman who is a close friend of Toni’s daughter Kristi. Johanna is from California but has lived in Paris for many years with her French husband and daughter. We met at a café that is located adjacent to the Louvre. The seating was outside, and even though there were heat lamps, it was pretty cold. The view was beautiful though as it Louve’s Pyramid is brightly lit and the lighted Eifell Tower is nearby.
We’ve had a great visit in Paris and I am looking forward to coming back. It feels familiar and comfortable to me.