Our Long Sejour en France

REVISED August 17, 2024 Yikes! Bedbugs! Or are they? Our last day in Bordeaux we found little bug bites - on my face and upper arm; on Chris’s arms and legs. Bedbugs? Fleas? Or those fruit flies that hovered in the kitchen? (Not as gross as it sounds - much of France is not air conditioned, so you have to keep the windows open. Bugs are going to fly in.) Otherwise it was a nice apartment. We let the host know; he gave us a break; and I didn’t ruin his rating.  But I  digress. Before we went to Bordeaux, we stayed a couple of days in Le Mans. Why Le Mans? Cathedral High School, Chris’s alma mater, was founded by the order of the Holy Cross, which was founded by Basile Moreau in Le Mans. After a little research, we found his church, Notre Dame de Sainte Croix (Our Lady of the Holy Cross) and paid our respects to Basil Moreau.  Moreau was a man of vision and action. He was admired but also took a lot of flak. One description in French said his ideas were “cropped” and “mutil...

Hi, everyone. Chris and I are on the road and I have lightened my load by leaving my computer in Paris. So I’m doing this on my phone. This is a revised blog with pictures added after we got back to Paris and I was able to use my laptop. We spent our last two nights in Paris at the apartment of family friends of Chris’s before leaving to avoid the Olympics. We were in the 7th arrondissement, spitting distance from l’Hotel des Invalides and walking distance to the Eiffel Tower.  Our first stop was Mont Saint Michel and the abbey built on a rock in the bay. I’m so glad Chris mentioned this while I was planning our trip. MSM is a magical place. It looms over the Normandy mainland and the ebb and flow of the tides make it a place of wonder.  It used to be that one could walk to MSM from the Normandy mainland during the low tide. Because of climate change, low tide is no longer long enough to make the crossing. There is now a bridge.  We took a tour of the abbey, which was int...

We are officially more than half-way through our "long séjour" in France/Paris. We're also getting close to our trip around France. On Monday we will depart from this apartment (which has been OK but the kitchen and bathroom are much too small) and go to Chris's family friends' apartment for a couple of days. Unfortunately, they will not be there because of illness, but we are still hoping to see them when we return to Paris in August. Since this is our last week in the 13th arrondissement, we made sure to visit the places we still had to visit that are nearby. This week we visited the Musée Rodin (Rodin museum), revisited the Musée d'Orsay, went to the Eglise (Church) of Saint Germain des Prés, and toured the Conciergerie. You'll notice we re-visited Musée d'Orsay, so we are getting to the end of our A list of places to visit. We've started a B list of things to do when we come back in August. I had no idea what to expect of the Rodin museum. I ha...

On Sunday we moved from the 18th arrondissement to the 13th. We got the chance to experience suburban life on Blvd Péripherique - Paris's equivalent to a beltway (I-465 to Indy Hoosiers). Our cab driver was charming and I was pleased to have the opportunity to speak French with someone who would give me the chance.  Our apartment in the 13th is tiny. Tiny kitchen, tiny bathroom, tiny shower. Fortunately, the living room and bedroom are manageable size. But it's only for 2 weeks, so nothing we can't live with. In addition to getting to know the surroundings of our new "home," we've managed to do a lot this week. Just before we left the 18th, we saw the Monet water lily montage in the Musée de l'Orangerie. We saw these in Chicago when we lived in Chesterton, IN, many, many years ago. They are just as lovely in their home in Paris. Monday we spent time getting to know the neighborhood. It seems there is a park in Paris everywhere you turn - and we found the o...

 It's finally gotten warm in Paris, so I'm a much happy camper. This is also our last week in our AirBnB in the 18th arrondissement, so we checked our list of things to do and see and made sure we visited whatever was left to do and see north of the Seine. Sunday the 30th we're off to the other side of the river (and the city) to the 13th Arrondissement. This is our last full month in Paris before the Games and before we embark on our tour around France. But we've got 2 more weeks in July in a new AirBnB plus a couple of days with Countryman family friends in the 7th arrondissement.  One of the things I've liked best to do in Paris is to go to concerts and exhibits that are off the beaten path. Friday evening we went to an outdoor concert of the Chamber Orchestra of Paris at L'Hotel de Ville. Although not off the beaten path, we only heard about this from someone Chris has befriended here in Paris. This was part of a city-wide Fête de Musique with all kinds of m...

 We've had a quiet week this week, what with Chris's cold, my dicey breathing - and - my catching cold, presumably the one Chris had. However, one high point was getting a FedEx package with 3 months worth of one of the meds I've been missing. Thanks, Erik Hromadka, for arranging this ultimate care package to me! I'm breathing much better now - even with a cold. That being said, our sightseeing points this past week were le Palais et le Jardin de Luxembourg, Sainte Chapelle, and an exhibit at the National Archives. We chose the palace and gardens as an outing where we could spend time hanging out and resting. We are so impressed with the way the French take time for leisure, family, and sports and games. All were on view in the gardens. It was especially fun watching the boys sailing their boats in the fountain. You can view a video of this on my FB page. The palace is, of course, impressive: Also impressive were the huge topiary trees on the other side of the garden. W...