France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 12

Saturday, October 14th, 2023

This morning we had a timed entrance ticket to the Louvre Museum. We were lucky because our time was for when the museum opened.

**The sun was rising over Paris as we left the hotel.**

**Emmanual Frémiet’s Joan of Arc Bronze statue from 1874**

We walked to the Carrousel du Louvre entrance.

This was considered to underground entrance and we had no line to enter. There were stores as you walked to get to the Louvre entrance near the inverted pyramid. And of course it was another chance to do O-H-I-O for our Buckeyes who were playing later today.

As soon as the Louvre opened we entered!

The Louvre first opened in 1793 with 537 paintings. Today the museum had almost 35,000 objects exhibited over 652,300 square feet. We’ve included a few of our favorites from our visit.

The first place we went to visit was Mona Lisa! Three of the six of us had never been to the Louvre so they were so excited to see the infamous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. He painted the oil painting on wood sometime between 1503 and 1519. We saw her in 2019 and our nephew saw her when he last visited Paris.

As we climbed the Daru staircase we had the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Nike all to ourselves. It had been on display at the Louvre since 1866. This ancient sculpture, 190 BCE, was found on the Greek island of Samothrace.

The Venus de Milo was another very famous sculpture found on the Greek island of Milos (was Melos) in 1820. She was donated to the Louvre in 1821. Nobody was around when we visited her. We were very fortunate to be ahead of the crowds for her as well as Mona Lisa and the Goddess of Victory!

We walked through galleries and you can see with the picture on the left that it was advantageous to arrive when the museum opened. The picture on the right showed the crowds getting heavier.

Athena Parthenos, known was Minerva with a Necklace was a Roman copy from the 1st-2nd century AD. It was believed that the original was dedicated inside the Parthenon in Athens in 438 BC.

We visited the Egyptian antiquities and saw the Grand Sphinx of Tanis from 2500 BC. It was carved from a single block of granite.

Looking out from the second story window you could see the courtyard of the Louvre and also just how large this museum was!

When we left the Louvre the cloudless sky had now changed to rain clouds.

Since it looked like rain we got tickets for the Hop-On Hop-Off bus to tour the areas of Paris that we might not have visited.

We passed the Eglise Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois which was located opposite the Louvre museum. The church has been on this site since the 5th century and rebuilt several times. Unfortunately it was most remembered for the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre on August 24, 1572. The church’s bell signaled the beginning of the killing of tens of thousands of Huguenots (French Protestants).

When we passed the Notre Dame Cathedral we could really see the construction of the rebuilding of the church from the devastating fire in 2019. There was still a lot of scaffolding.

The Arc de Triomphe was built between 1806-1836 and was located in the center of the Place Charles de Gaulle and at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. This triumphal arch was built in honor of those who fought for France. Located underneath the arch was the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Located at the other end of the Champs-Élysées was the Place de la Concorde. It was created in 1772 and originally known as an execution site during the French Revolution. The most notable guillotined here was Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. It was redesigned and in 1836 the famous Luxor Obelisk(3,300 years old) was erected. Fountains were also added. When we saw it, the Rugby World Cup Village was set up. Throughout Paris, the police presence was heavy. We later learned that France was on their highest terrorist threat!

We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a Mexican restaurant called El Vecino Taqueria Saint-Honoré. A disc jockey was playing music while we ate our meals.

Paris was doing a lot of construction and advertising for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

The Louvre received a threat and it was evacuated and closed for the rest of the day!

Louvre closed and a heavy police presence

The clouds were eerie as we walked back to our hotel.

It was a busy day in Paris even with some rain mixed in during the day.

France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 8

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

This morning we are docked back in Paris! Our morning was spent with a city tour of Paris. Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower. It was built for the International Exposition of 1889. The tower stood 984 feet and was constructed of wrought iron.

Another stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral. Building began in the 12th century and it took 300 years to complete the cathedral. The upper part of the cathedral was severely damaged in a fire in April, 2019. We could only visit the outside of Notre Dame. It was planned for reopening in December, 2024.

More sites of Paris that we passed on our morning tour.

**Court of Cassation- Supreme court for civil and criminal cases**

After our Paris city tour the rest of the day was on our own. We stopped at a cafe for something to drink.

Our next stop was the hill of Montmarte. We weren’t close so we took a subway to get close.

The over 250 stairs awaited us to climb them to reach Sacré Coeur basilica.

Sacré Coeur was a popular tourist spot with over a million visitors every year! The Basilica du Sacré Coeur meant “sacred heart” in English. Its exterior was made from white limestone with a Roman-Byzantine style architecture. In front were two statues, one of Joan of Arc and the other of King Louis on horseback.

From here there were great panoramic views of Paris. It was a beautiful blue sky but the Paris skyline was hazy.

Behind the Sacré Coeur was the Place du Tertre we saw many artists ready to draw your portrait or caricature!

We ate lunch nearby at Chez Eugène on their terrace. We had a delicious lunch.

We spent some time walking the streets of Montmarte.

As we were walking around we came upon the two surviving windmills of the 30 that once were on Montmarte. The first one we saw was Le Moulin du Radet. It was built in 1717 and was originally used to ground flour and moved in 1924 and it now sits above a restaurant.

Then we passed the Moulin de La Galette or Le Moulin Blute-Fin. This windmill was built in 1622 and was abandoned. You had to look through the trees to barely make out the windmill!

Le Moulin Blute-Fin or Moulin de Le Galette

We really enjoyed out walk around this area. From the historic windmills of Montmarte we then past the red windmill of Moulin Rouge, a caberet. This was another great spot for O-H-I-O!

On our walk back to the riverboat we saw the Eiffel Tower with the beautiful clear sky.

We walked along the Seine River and saw this bronze monument that was called “Monument des Martyrs Juifs du Velodrome d’Hiver”. It translation was “Monument to the Jewish Martyrs of the Winter Stadium”. It was dedicated to the memory of the 13,000+ Jews that were rounded up in Paris during WWII. At the bottom of the monument was enscribed “Let’s never forget”! Wise words to remember!

On a man-made island near the Grenelle Bridge in Paris we saw the quarter-scale version of the Statue of Liberty. It weighed 14 tons and stood 37 feet 9 inches tall. This was given to France in 1889 by US expats in Paris that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. On the base of the statue were two plaques, one with the date July 4, 1776 and the other with the date July 14, 1789.

Our city tour and the time to explore Paris on our own was invigorating and also tiring. We did a lot of walking today! This evening was our last night on the riverboat. Tomorrow we tour the Palace of Versailles.

The Magnificent Mekong Day 6

Tuesday, August 29th, 2023

This morning we met with our tour directors for a short introduction to Vietnam. The program directors would be with us for the rest of our trip. We were split into 3 groups: the A family, B family, and C family. We were in the C family with Tony!

The first photo below showed where we would be visiting in Cambodia and Vietnam. The second photo showed us how to greet and show respect in those countries.

We then began our city tour. We were constantly amazed by the number of motorbikes and how they drove them, even on the sidewalks!

Our first stop was the Reunification Palace or Independence Palace. It was the home and workplace of the president of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and it also was the site of the official signing of power during the “Fall of Saigon” on April 30th, 1975.

The palace was considered a historical monument because it was the site of the end of the Vietnam War when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.

A N.Vietnamese tank displayed on the palace grounds.

The Palace was also bombed in April, 1975.

We went in the palace and saw the main hall and also the President’s office, conference rooms, and a banquet hall. The War Command room was used during the Vietnam War and has been left intact with telephones, radios, maps and plotting boards.

The basement was where the communication center was located and a bunker was built during the Vietnam war to protect the President. During the bombing in 1975 the President’s entire family took refuge in the bunker.

The rooftop featured a helicopter landing area which was used for evacuation of the last Americans from Saigon on April 30th, 1975.

From the palace we drove past the Notre Dame Cathedral which was built between 1863 and 1880. This cathedral was due to the French influence during that time period. Today is was under restoration so we couldn’t see much of its exterior.

Before going inside the Saigon Central Post Office Tony showed us the location for the famous photo of an American helicopter leaving Saigon! The picture we took was from the opposite side of the building.

The post office was built by renowned architect Gustave Eiffel, of the famed Eiffel Tower in Paris, in the late 1800’s. It was well preserved and the workers still hand stamp the mail and hand put the mail in the appropriate bin!

Our last stop this morning was a visit to a lacquer shop and the process was explained to us. There were four main steps in the lacquerware process. One, the base where a a substance, like glue, was applied to protect the wood. Two, natural lacquer was applied and repeated four times. Three, the lining was repeated about six times or until the artist felt the surface was smooth, then the color was applied and the design hand painted or inlaid with mother of pearls or egg shells. Four, the piece was wet-sanded carefully to flatten the surface. We were able to watch the artists at work. It was quite a process.

After lunch we drove through Chinatown and visited a Chinese temple, Thiên Hâu. It was the Vietnamese name from the Chinese name that meant “Empress of Heaven”. This temple was first uilt in 1760 and had been repaired and expanded at least five different times.

While there we lit a spiral incense that Tony filled out for our group for good luck and good health.

After the temple we visited the Ben Thanh Market. On the way we passed some statues, street vendors, and other sites.

Phan Dinh Phung- a Vietnamese Revolutionary

The Ben Thanh Market was our last stop of the day. It was a famous shopping area in Ho Chi Minh City with over 1,500 booths!

We had time to explore it on our own. The stalls were close together and the sellers were persistent in trying to sell their wares. We did not shop very long because for us it was a little overwhelming.

Tag: Notre Dame Cathedral

France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 12

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