After following countless Sortie signs leading us down endless corridors lined with casino-style shopping outlets, we escaped the monumental confines of the Louvre and had a café brunch of eggs Florentine before heading into the Tuileries park… …along with a stream of people half of whom, in my opinion, should have been in school. Green metal…
LOONY LOUVRE
It was a quick metro ride from where we’re staying to the Louvre. It was easy finding the entrance to the museum—just follow the swarming humanity. The Louvre is laid out like a large limestone palace enclosing a large courtyard. I expected touring this monstrosity to be taxing when it came to attention span because there’s too much…
Stravinsky for the win
Jam packed day along with jam packed streets. We began the day at the Musée du Louvre (Grubb will post about that, um, “experience”), twiddled through the Jardin des Tuileries, strolled the Champs-Élysées, eyed the Arc de Triomphe, hopped a metro to the National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture (being a spur of the moment choice,…
Thieb, a Senegalese treat
Yesterday, after our smooth arrival, we walked the streets for a few hours, perusing menus at various cafes until our eyes crossed and vision blurred. When we were at the end of our energy rope, we dottered inside a Senegalese eatery collapsing on a couple of metal folding chairs. Our friendly waiter explained the options. Thieb…
Arrivé!
Sunny Paris in the mid-sixties is quite spectacular. No one seems to be eating indoors if they can help it. People are splayed out over the grass in the parks, sitting on the benches along canal walkways, meandering among the pigeons in the squares. We are staying in an Airbnb on the Fauberg Saint Martin in the…
Mom’s birthday
Before I get totally immersed in Paris…a few days before our flight, we celebrated my mother’s 103rd birthday with a few family and friends. More happy birthday wishes mom! She is pretty darned amazing. The birthday gal in white.
Code after code
Post by Ella Smooth flight with a 1/2 empty plane, touch down at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport, 5 minutes in Border Control. It’s all automated: scan your passport, take a photo…does the photo match the passport? Yes? Done. We meet up with Ehtisham from “Welcome Pickups” to get a ride from the airport to our…
Beginning France
Here we are in Paris at the start of another travel adventure. Perhaps not as exotic or mysterious as our Argentina trip a few months ago, but still, it will be fun. Below is our route. Other than Paris, we intend to stay in the southern coastal region as we gradually make our way to…
Exit to the north
Post by Ella Last night (Thursday, May 2) we began the journey home with an 8pm flight out of Buenos Aires. On Wednesday, we did nothing. To be more accurate, I explored, Grubb slept. Grubb was under the weather so he spent the day in a restful pose. I walked around a bunch but since…
Odd facts we forgot to tell you
Evita
Post by Grubb Yesterday we went down the block from where we’re staying and visited the Evita Perón museum. Evita was an Argentine socialist Princess Diana, a fashion model for the welfare state. When she died in 1952 at the age of 33, it was a shock to the nation. The spectacle of her funeral…
Bread and water
Post by Grubb with additions by Ella So far on this trip I’ve eaten more meat than the nineteenth century mountain men I’ve read about, but two nights ago we entered a zone of carnivorous excess that was the height of Roman Empire decadence. If it had a hoof, we ate it. Each entry in…
Who would want to visit…
Post by Ella the Japanese Gardens in Buenos Aires? Beats me, but we did. Underwhelming. We had spent an interesting couple of hours at the Eva Peron museum (Grubb will post on that) and thought walking around some gardens would be a nice change. Shoulda kept on going to the botanical gardens. We did stop…
View from our balcony
Post by Ella Not quite the same as the view from our Palacio Salvo 11th floor apartment in Montevideo.
Argentinian moolah
Post by Ella I did an overlong post on cash in Argentina way back at the beginning of our trip. But perhaps you are curious about what the pesos look like. There are also 100 and 500 peso notes. But we didn’t have any. ARS $1000 is in the ballpark of US $1.00. Carrying around…