Friday 09/20/19

Said farewell to Lucerne this morning, somewhat reluctantly. Last night I stopped by the neighboring hotel Montana and they had a wonderful bar scene with a full jazz quintet jamming, great way to end the day. This morning, it was a 2.5 hour 3 part train ride to get from Lucerne, to Interlaken, then to Lauterbrunnen and then to Wengen. My AirBnB host, Florian was waiting for me at the station and showed me to a lovely half of a chalet not far from the main drag. Small living room kitchen with a grass patio and then a bedroom under the eves upstairs. Feels perfect for the place. Wengen has mainly electric service vehicles and no cars. Apparently the vehicles that are here have to be brought up on the train. I was able to have some lunch and then take a gondola up to Mannlichen. This was really cool because for an extra 5 francs I could climb up and ride on the roof! Well worth it! From there a good brisk 1.5 hr. walk along a fairly level trail to the Kleine Scheidegg station from where the train goes back down to Wengen. Met some nice people from the east coast who gave me recommendations. Tomorrow, I plan to take the first train, 7:24am, up to the top of the Jungfrau. There is a look out station between the Jungfrau and the Monch, with the famous Eiger being the next peak in line. This place is almost like a fairy tale. The trains climb so steeply it’s hard to believe, the track gauge seems to be about 2 feet, almost like a toy! While I was taking a timeout on the patio, I noticed a restaurant just below me, it turned out to have excellent reviews, so went down, and it was very good. They had a good price fixe that was GF and fairly priced for Switzerland, most excellent cabbage soup, salad, fish medley, crepe Caramel. Anyway here are some pix from the day:

Jungfrau on the right, Monch on the left, station in between Eiger further left but not in photo.Rooftop ride on Gondola, I’m passing going up as this one is going down.Looking down towards Wengen from the roof of the cable car.

The Jungfrau

09/19/19 Thursday

After a somewhat restless and jet laggy night, I was able to get up at a reasonable hour and following advice of the hotel, catch a boat across the lake to where a cog railway runs up Mt. Riggi. The boat ride was beautiful and took about an hour, then, the cog railway went up so steeply, it really surprised me. Unfortunately the top was in a cloud, so there was not much to see, but I walked about halfway down and caught a different funicular down to the lake. The Swiss had it timed so that you had just enough time to walk from the funicular to the arriving boat. Amazingly, you could do it all with one ticket, and my half price pass made it fairly reasonable. All in all a solid first day, and a good get to know the Lucerne area. I’m sitting on the rooftop of the Monopol hotel, which has a nice bar and a great view of the city as I write this.

That building in the middle is my hotel, the Royal Hotel.Lots of cows, and cow bells, and Manure smells!Funiclar descent gets your attention!

Here’s the boat pulling up.

Tuesday 09/17/19

Took off from Seattle non stop for CDG. Now waiting for a flight to Zurich. Don’t get me started on CDG, this morning only 2 people stamping passports….. Luckily I have plenty of time before my next flight, but others were a little panicked. The whole terminal 2F only has a few restaurants, mostly serving the same things. Anyway, 3 hours to go and off to Switzerland where I will take a train to Lucerne for 2 nights and then up to the mountains of the Bernese Oberland in Wengen.

Arrived Lucerne! View from hotel room:

Tuesday, April 30th, 2019

Back to Seattle, today. Amazing how a month can fly right by. I went for a coffee at my usual Cafe de Paris stop and then walked down the street to get on the RER B to the airport. Fortunately I scheduled a 1:10pm flight, so no need to depart at the crack of dawn. Airport was in pretty mellow shape and met a friend for coffee before heading to the gate. Usual issues with trying to upgrade a seat, and then arguing my way into the Air France lounge. Flight was easy and in an old but comfortable airplane, run by Air France. Very nice flight attendants, and some decent Croze Hermitage to drink. So, my friend Emi asked me What do you like about France and what don’t you like? As I’ve thought about that for a week it’s kind of a big question. The “don’t likes” come easily to mind. The “likes” are more challenging, partly because they are so intrinsic that I don’t think about them: Great transit, lots of walking, great parks, wonderful cafe terraces, friendly people, interesting sights, good wine, good food and so on. Before I left, one of the books I was reading said that the French are more interested in “Being” than in acquiring things etc. I really thought about this on the trip, and it really is nice to just sit somewhere with a glass of wine and just soak in the universe rather than feel a go go mentality all of the time. On the don’t likes, Customer (lack of) service, bureaucracy, menu sameness, lack of vegetables. Rigid rules. (The French love rules, which of course are meant for other people not for themselves). Complete lack of personal spatial awareness (only person in the universe syndrome). Under staffed restaurants. Bathrooms (lack thereof in places like airports and train stations) and plumbing! Ticket machines. European Washing machines (shortest run time 80minutes!) and appliances (controls are label in strange hieroglyphics). I could go on, but I still love France!

RER on the way to the Airport, CDG. About 12 euros and 40 minutes.Rental apartment, St. Germain 6th floor Studio. (With elevator!). This pix shows electric toilet, very delicate see sign on washing machine.

Here’s a quick look at how much walking I did during the trip. Those of you with iPhones can check your health app for comparison.

Monday, April 29th, 2019

Beautiful morning, so headed towards the Tuileries gardens. These are interesting not only because they are classic, but the first park benches were created here so that people could observe each other parading in finery. The Orangerie didn’t have a line, so I headed in there to get my daily dose of art. Mondays are always a problem in Paris as many things are closed, Sundays same and Tuesdays as well…. After a good dose of Monet’s water lillys, it was a stroll through place Vendome and up to Opera. Had planned to have a coffee on the terrace of Cafe de la Paix but they apparently didn’t get the memo and don’t open until noon. Luckily another cafe was handy, and I’m sure much cheaper. From there headed to the Marais and had a leisurely lunch of Skate wing at La Sancerre, a favorite cafe in the 3rd on r.Bretagne. Quick trip back to the apartment to get my deposit back and then off to find the Louis Pasteur museum. Unfortunately the website neglected to mention that it is now closed to the public, oh well cool buildings. From there a quick bus trip to the Jardin du Luxembourg and an enjoyable sit watching the kids sail boats back and forth on the the fountain, just as we used to do as kids. From the Luxembourg gardens I retraced my daily walk to school back to Pl. St. Sulpice and then, back to the apartment to pack for departure, and the dinner at Bistro D’Henri, a simple favorite.

Another happy violin student!St. Sulpice

St. Germaine des Pres

Sunday, April 28th 2019

So the day started off with an interesting twist. When I left the apartment, I went to double lock the door as usual and the key would not work. This meant not only couldn’t I lock it fully with the deadbolts, but since the door had latched, I couldn’t get back in either. After struggling for awhile, I went and had coffee, came back and tried again. No luck, called landlord, Eva, who is in Greece. She asked me to knock on a neighbors door, he didn’t have any luck either. So, she called a locksmith, who showed up about an hour later. By sliding a piece of X-ray film through the crack he could get the door unlatched. He pulled the lock off and got it partially working again. This lock has both an outer cylinder and an inside cylinder. Something has failed in the outer cylinder. As it stands now, as long as I just pull the door closed and don’t double lock, it works, but if you double lock, even from the inside it seems to seize up again. Fingers crossed that it will all hold together until I depart tomorrow morning. Anyway, this whole thing took up the morning, so it was off to Huiterie Regis, a wonderful little oyster bar for some lunch. The weather was off an on rain and still quite cold. Went up to a favorite cafe on rue de Montorgueil called La Compas D’Or to hang out for a little bit, then to catch the Sunday afternoon crowd at the locals wine bar called Le Baron Rouge.

The Baron Rouge on Sunday afternoon.The dreaded Les Halles mall and transit center.

Saturday, April 27th 2019

I headed out to walk on the Coulee Vert this morning. I had planned to go to Reims to see the champagne houses, but when I woke up at 7:00am it was pouring rain and the forecast was for off an on rain all day. So, rather than walk around a new place in the pouring rain, in between showers I headed to the Coulee Verte, a planed over pass that was an old train line and is now a linear park. Makes a nice walk and combines well with the wonderful Marche d’Aligre, one of the better open markets in Paris. I sat down next to a Dutch woman, and she and her husband live in Amsterdam and keep a place in Paris. They go back and forth a few times a month, 3hr. Train ride. After hanging out with them for awhile, they showed me a really cool wine bar, The Red Baron, which looks very local. Then headed to Invalides where there was an electric car racing event going on sponsored by Jaguar. They had set up a track surrounding the Esplanade des Invalides and the cars were racing around it. Very different noises, mainly squeaking brakes and tires. Unfortunately it started pouring just as the first cars came around. I bugged out and headed over to Trocadero to get some Eiffel Tower pictures and then headed back to the apartment.

Now it’s Sunday morning 4/28, and as I left for coffee my key wouldn’t work to double lock the door, nor will it open. Probably going to be an interesting day! UPDATE: After discussion with the landlord in Greece, help from Antonio, the Neapolitan neighbor, a locksmith is on the way. This is one of those super duper barricade locks, but since I just pulled the door closed at least all of the bars and sub deadbolts are in the open position and only a small tab is keeping the door closed. I tried to get around but couldn’t. Update: My idea to use a card to get around the latch worked with the Locksmith using a big sheet of X-ray film to get the door open. Now he’s going to fix the lock which is broken internally, landlord is arguing about the price…

Friday, April 26th, 2019

Today’s goal was to check out one of the better known parks that is a little out of the center. I’ve trying to rely more on buses than on the metro, just because there are less tourists and you can see things as you travel. The metro was apparently suffering delays on the line I needed in any case, so bus it was. At the moment Paris has so many construction projects that street traffic is a little slow, even for buses which have segregated lanes in many places. The area around Pl. de la Bastille is completely ripped up with detour fences up and bus stops displaced. I stopped off at a place called Bear and Racoon because they feature all Gluten Free food. After a delicious sandwich, I eventually made it to the Buttes-Chaumont park, which is super cool. It has a cupola, a suspension bridge and some other features. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_des_Buttes_Chaumont It also had a pretty good hill or Butte, and was formerly a quarry in parts. From there it was logical to go to Pere Lachaise cemetery, a place I’ve been before, but when entering from the other side, I hadn’t appreciated the scale of the place, it’s really quite enormous. Found a couple of the more famous grave sites, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. Then another long ride on the bus back into the center. If the metro goes where you are going, it can be a lot speedier, but sometimes the bus doesn’t require changes, and of course, seeing where you are going helps with context.

Thursday, April 25th, 2019

Today had rain predicted and indeed, although it didn’t rain solidly there were occasional showers. I headed out to check out one of the parks that is frequently referred to, Parc Monceau. After an interesting bus ride, walked through the park, which has little icons of various places in the world representing travels, including a small pyramid. From there it was a nice walk over to the Montmatre area where I hopped on the funicular up to the steps of Sacre Couer. After finding a small cafe for lunch I hopped the metro back to Odeon to meet a long time aquaintance, Sharon, for tea. She’s been living in Paris for years and teaching Pilates instructors in France how to teach. We met back in the Tango days, probably 10 years ago and have kept in touch. She seems to be doing very well although not without bureaucratic horror stories. For dinner I went off to try Frenchie, Bar a Vin, and had an appetizer, but most things didn’t appeal, my stomach has been off. So, stopped in at O Chateau, a great wine bar where you can get half glasses, and was able to have a salad.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Started with a Metro ride down to the 15th to Port de Versailles to find the Petite Ceinture. This is an old train line that used to all around the periphery of Paris. Now they are converting the right of way, where they can, to a hiking trail. The section I walked today was from the 15th-16th. Luckily I ran into a local right away and she guided me as to how to connect it with the Fondation Louis Vuitton museum. After a 20 minute bus ride and a lovely walk across the Bois du Boulange, there was the Museum, a typical Frank Gehry type building. This one looks like sails or a pile of sheets. In any case the visit exposition was a collection of impressionist paintings from a London based philanthropist and was varied and extensive. The LV museum runs its own shuttle to the Arc de Triomphe, so I took that and walked down the Champs Elysees. The damage from the Gilet Jaunes is fairly evident, but seems mainly targeted at banks. I did got the Castaredes Armangac store and their window was pretty destroyed. Anyway, after a lunch at a fairly good restaurant it was back to the apartment to regroup.

Bois du Boulonge on the way to Fondation Louis Vuitton

This is apparently the architect’s rendering for the building…. While the building looks very cool, it really misses the boat on a functional terrace with protrusions blocking the prime view towards the Eiffel Tower.

Lunch at Hortense, now that’s a rare cheeseburger (no bun).