Invitation to France 1 of 5

Introduction

Our travels in France have been a thoroughly enjoyable experience � it�s truly an exciting and beautiful country. The towns we�ve visited, the sights we�ve seen, the people we�ve met. This book presents our vacation adventures, travel anecdotes, snippets of history, and our enthusiasm for travel in France.

This is a story of what we saw and where we saw it, during our nine trips to France. Eight other countries (Andorra, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain, and Switzerland) border on France, and we have crossed those frontiers more than fifty times, and have visited some parts of France at least a dozen times.

This story does not trace what we did during any one year, but is a composite of all our trips � nearly one hundred sixty nights, spent in over one hundred different places. To us the RV is a convenient way to travel, but this book is not about RV travel. We have not spent even one night in a hotel in France, so it is obviously not about hotels.

Most of what we find of interest is not time-dependent. For example, the Romans constructed an amphitheater in Nimes in 50 AD; the Abbey at Mont-St.-Michel dates from the 1000�s; the Crusades Army left Aigues-Mortes for the Holy Land in the mid-1200�s; Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was completed about 1345; the Louvre became a museum in the late 1700�s, so what we saw during our 1995 trip hadn�t changed in any important way since the first time we were in France, in 1970.

We have visited, or at least driven through hundreds of cities, towns, villages and places of scenic beauty in France; many hundreds are yet to be visited. Only a few of the many interesting places we have visited and the exciting things we have seen can be described in this book, and the places we have not seen may be just as interesting and beautiful as those we have. We do not recommend travel only where we traveled, or try to see only what we have seen; we give commentary, not itinerary. This book is an �Invitation to all of France.�

The glories of France include the Normandy beaches, the Brittany coast, the wonders of Paris, and the Ch�teaux on the Loire River. In the Alsace a hundred and fifty little walled villages are three to five miles apart. Some of Europe�s best-preserved Roman ruins are in Southern France. How about �Holiday on Ice� or a concert by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, staged in a two-thousand-year-old Roman Amphitheater? We saw an advertisement for a religious meeting in the remains of a Roman amphitheater, with no mention of the lions.

No one has been able to properly describe the excitement of walking the ramparts of old walled cities such as Carcassonne, P�rouges, Aigues Mortes, and Avignon, we tried, and we couldn�t either. Chamonix, Grenoble and the French Alps for sightseeing and skiing, world-famous beaches and resorts at Nice, Cannes, and St. Tropez on the south, Deauville and Dinard on the north, the �Perched Villages� a few miles above the C�te d�Azur (French Riviera) � whatever your interests, France is truly a vacation paradise.

The City of Paris is exceptional, to say the least. Along with the buildings and monuments known to many tourists, each street and every neighborhood has its own charm. The Flea Market at Porte de Montreuil is over one hundred years old, and by the looks of things some of those original �fleas� might still be for sale. Antique markets, outdoor food markets, spacious and beautiful department stores, cathedrals, palaces, museums, monuments, and public buildings are rightfully world famous. A dozen Paris street markets sell all kinds of food items, and a variety of other things as well. It�s interesting to shop in these markets, and we wouldn�t trade the RV way of life for any hotel.

If this introduction gives the impression we are cheerleaders for travel in France, that is correct. Tour books, guide books, and tourist brochures present reams of facts and figures, but often in a dry and unenthusiastic manner. When we show video or slides from our trips, the picture, the voice, and body language all combine to tell the story � but how do we put that into words?

A point of interest about dates from history and other facts in this book: We have used a variety of reference books, including encyclopedias, tour books, history books, and a large selection of tourist brochures and maps. They don�t always agree on a date, the dimensions of a cathedral and other points that really don�t matter too much for a book like this. We can�t imagine that a few years or inches one way or another will make much difference in our travels. Our nine trips so far were from 1970 to 1995, so some �modern� things may not still be the same, but we enjoyed what we saw.

As we discovered on our first vacation, there are town and city names that may be spelled one way in English, and another way in the country itself. Most names are easily understood, but some are spelled completely different. That�s not as big a problem in France as it is in Italy and Germany, for example, but we have tried to use the spelling found on a French road map.

By the way, this book is best read with a map of France, and a map of Paris in hand. The French Government Tourist Office will gladly provide maps and brochures describing their country.

OUR TRAVEL PHILOSOPHY

WE ARE NOT CAMPERS, WE TRAVEL IN A RECREATION VEHICLE BECAUSE
Our clothes are on a hanger.
There are goodies in the refrigerator.
We know who used the toilet last.

WE TRAVEL WITH THE IDEA THAT
If we have no schedule, we aren�t late.
If we don�t care where we are, we aren�t lost.
If we have no itinerary we�re exactly where we ought to be.
If we can�t see IT this trip, we�ll see IT next time.

WHEN WE TRAVEL
It�s amazing how many stupid, ignorant, inefficient people we meet if we are in a bad mood.

RULES FOR TRAVEL IN FRANCE
To help you understand the rules followed by the citizens of France, you might consider the following:

In GERMANY, everything is forbidden,
except what is permitted.
In the US, everything is permitted,
except what is forbidden.
In ITALY, everything is permitted,
nothing is prohibited.
In FRANCE, everything is permitted,
even what is forbidden.

However, there are three rules that must be followed when you travel in France:
Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy!!

Chapter 1

Paris
%PARIS
It seems almost superfluous to write about Paris. We could come up with a ton of books that have been written about this city. In our library there are several books on Paris: history books, picture books (Above Paris), guide books (Michelin Green Guides), but the most interesting and unusual one we�ve found (except for this one, of course) is the �Paris-Atlas,� published by Librairie Larousse, soon after the turn of the century. The 240-page book weighs over five pounds and contains twenty-eight maps and 595 photographs � all the pictures taken before there were any motor-driven vehicles. Although we can find no pictures of the Paris M�tro station entrances (opened July 19, 1900), maps show where the M�tro tracks are located, and the book does include pictures of Le Grand Palais des Champs Elys�es, and Le Petit Palais des Champs Elys�es, both of which were built for de l�Exposition de 1900 (World�s Fair, 1900).

It�s fascinating to see pictures and street maps that show the city as it was one hundred years ago. Paris was still encircled by its defensive wall, complete with forts and gates. Between the pages of the book we found newspaper clippings with pictures and descriptions of changes in the streets and buildings of Paris in the early 1900s.

MAP OF PARIS
A tourist map of Paris is of great importance, and maps are available at the Paris Tourist Office at 127 Champs Elys�es, near the Arc de Triomphe, or at one of the train stations. The Paris Tourist map is printed in several languages and is, without a doubt, the best tourist map available anywhere. Street names are easy to read, and the main monuments and famous buildings can be located and recognized by their name and picture. Separate maps of the M�tro (subway) and of the area surrounding Paris are also included.

This tourist map shows almost all the information needed for a vacation in Paris. It tells about sightseeing trips by bus, train and boat; it gives the addresses of buildings and monuments; it lists churches, banks, doctors, drug stores, museums, and high buildings from which to view the city; it locates department stores and even flea markets, campsites, and antique stores. Information about cemeteries in Paris is also included. A very useful tourist map indeed.

ARRONDISSEMENTS AND QUARTIERS
The City of Paris is divided into twenty Arrondissements (districts), each divided into Quartiers (neighborhoods). Arrondissement numbers are the last two digits of the Paris zip code; they are often specified in advertisements; street signs include this identifying number; and they are numbered and shown in colors on the tourist map. Arrondissements spiral clockwise from the center of the city, with 1 through 11 the inside circle and a half, and 12 through 20 border on the P�riph�rique (the freeway that encircles the city of Paris). Both Arrondissements and Quartiers have names. In the Premier (First) Arrondissement, called Le Louvre, the 1st Quartier is Saint-Germain-l�Auserrois, the 2nd is les Halles, the 3rd is le Palais-Royal, and the 4th Quartier is la Place Vend�me.

In the 100 year old Paris-Atlas the Quarters are named, and numbered from 1 to 80. Number 75, Quartier d�Am�rique, in the Dix-Neuvi�me (19th) Arrondissement, is located on the eastern border of the city. Maps in that old book show a major street named Rue d�Allemagne (the French word for Germany). Most likely WW I or WW II caused that name to be changed to Avenue Jean Jaures in the current map.

Invitation to France in no way pretends to replace the many very good Paris tour or guide books such as Fielding�s, Fodor, Michelin, etc. While we won�t try to retell information available in those books, we must comment on some of our favorite places.

OUR FIRST VISIT
Before our first visit we were prepared not to like Paris. We had read how great and wonderful Paris was, but those stories didn�t describe the kind of the things we find of interest, and too many people had told us about the �inconsiderate� Frenchmen. Most of the articles and books seemed to be devoted to, or written in, a bar or restaurant and that is not for us, we wanted to meet the people and explore the city of Paris.

During our first visit we fell in love with the city. Although we have spent about 35 days in Paris during our nine trips to Europe, we still haven�t seen all the more famous tourist attractions; we haven�t entered the famous bars and nightclubs; or eaten in the famous restaurants; or stayed in the famous hotels. There are exceptions, such as the Caf� de la Paix, near the Opera, where we had lunch one day, and we did enjoy hot chocolate at Fouquet�s sidewalk cafe on the Champs Elys�es. A stroll through the famous h�tel on the Place Vend�me determined that the Ritz Hotel wouldn�t fit our style of living (or budget) as well as the camping site, Paris-Ouest, situated on the Seine River in the Bois de Boulogne.

CAMPSITES, IN AND NEAR PARIS
During our nine visits we have stopped at five different campsites in and near Paris. While we certainly do not recommend our style of travel for everyone, we remember the US family we met near the Tuileries Gardens. They were traveling through Europe in a small RV, had assumed there were no campsites in Paris, so were staying in a hotel that was much more expensive. The cost to park their RV overnight near their hotel was about the same as the cost for the whole family to spend a night in the campsite.

By the time of our last stay at Paris-Ouest, on the right bank of the River Seine (in the Bois de Boulogne, a 2,224 acre park on the west side of Paris), the campsite price had risen to about $20 a night with water and electricity, at least four or five times what it cost our first time there. We did notice, here as at other campsites, they had small travel trailers, or manufactured homes for rent. A more-or-less reasonably priced (compared to the rest of Paris) place to sleep, with three-bedrooms, bath and kitchen, for about $80 to $90 a night. Six people, on the Seine River in Paris, in 1995, perhaps that�s not a bad price.

Guide books and newspaper articles in the US often list names and prices of low cost hotels and restaurants in France. If a French paper had a similar article about the US, they most likely would list Motel 6 and Denny�s. There is just no way to �meet the people� in hotels and restaurants, as well and as often as we do in grocery stores and campgrounds. Consider how little is learned about a city and its people by those who stay at an expensive hotel and eat in an expensive restaurant. Perhaps the tourist who must rush from hotel to hotel during a vacation, is best typified in the cartoon that shows a patron leaning to the adjacent table in an expensive restaurant, �Settle an argument for us, is this the London Hilton, or the Paris Hilton?� And if the people at the adjacent table speak your language, most likely they are tourists from Iowa.

FAST FOOD AND REST ROOMS
Our favorite eating place is the �Paris Cafeteria.� Never heard of it? It�s easy to find; a piece of fruit here, a croissant there, an order of Frites (no need to call them French fries) another place, an ice-cream cone for desert, all eaten while we walk and look at this beautiful city. The street scenes are so captivating we hate to go inside a building, except for something more important than just a meal.

We are quick to tell people they don�t have to eat at McDonald�s while in Paris, there are Burger Kings everywhere. Some people are dismayed to find a McDonald�s restaurant (however small the Golden Arches), in this environment, but we find it a great place to have Frites, a Coke, and sometimes an ice cream sundae. Except for fast-food restaurants imported from the US, it�s often difficult to find a place for a quick snack, since we don�t want to spent three hours of our precious vacation time in a restaurant. We eat ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins, and drink a Coke at McDonald�s; we like to patronize these French establishments.

Keep in mind that while clean rest rooms are often hard to find in Europe, they are always available at McDonald�s, Burger King, Wendy�s and other fast-food places with familiar names. Whether we are a customer or not, an European restaurant or bar will often expect a sum of money to use their facilities. But at McDonald�s we can buy an order of French Fries for about that same price, and since we are now customers, we can use their restrooms for free � and we get to eat the French fries, too. (Of course we really don�t have to buy the Frites.)

THE �INCONSIDERATE� FRENCHMEN
During our first time in Paris, we stayed at a campsite south of the city next to a river, and a few years later we decided to find that same spot. We drove down what we knew was the right street and soon arrived at the Seine River, but there was no campsite. On a nearby residential street we saw a family leaving for a Sunday outing so we stopped and asked for directions. The son was proud of his high school English and easily understood our problem. The father signaled �follow us� and drove to the campsite on the Marne River, just before it joins the Seine. We were on the right street, but hadn�t noticed on the map that this street crossed two rivers just a couple of blocks apart � we had found the wrong river. The whole family, including the dog, got out of the car, shook our hands and wished us well. Just one of the many times that French people have been very cordial and helpful.

After commenting to some French friends that we had always been treated very properly, Brigette replied, �That�s not possible, we French don�t even like each other.� Our American friends tell us the French don�t like Americans, and our German friends tell us the French don�t like Germans � don�t believe it. We watched carefully and it appears to us that in impersonal relationships, driving or walking on the street, passing in store aisles, etc., the French just ignore everyone else. Its been said the French smile only when they are amused, never just to be pleasant. However, our experience has been that just as soon as we ask for information, initiate a conversation, or stand on the street looking at a map, the French are as helpful and friendly as anyone in any country.

In nearly six months of travel in France we remember only one unnecessarily rude person, and we can experience that in one visit to a local Mini-Mart. (Of course we have always been letter perfect in all our person-to-person relationships.)

SUNDAY SIGHTSEEING
Sunday is the best day of the week to introduce ourselves to any large city in Europe, especially if we are driving. However bad the Sunday traffic, it�s a great improvement over the rest of the week. Parking is more available, the police are more helpful, and we are able to move about the city in less time and with less effort. Many stores and other buildings will not be open, but most monuments and museums, and many street markets are open and anxious for our visit.

DRIVING AND PARKING IN PARIS
Paris is a rather small city, restricted in size to about forty square miles, approximately five miles north to south, and eight miles east to west. Except for two large parks, the Bois de Boulogne on the west, and the Bois de Vincennes on the east, Paris is surrounded by a wide freeway, called the P�riph�rique, built in the space vacated when the defensive fortifications were removed early in the 1900s. Come to think of it, the P�riph�rique today is probably more difficult to cross than the fortification that preceded it.

To see Paris from our RV we just drive and drive, and if we don�t cross or go under the P�riph�rique, we�ll never be far from the center of the city. We try not to be disappointed if we can�t find a parking place right next to something we want to see, we just enjoy the area where we have found a place to park. We like to drive and park and walk exploring as we go, then drive and park and walk again, and at times park and take the M�tro. Sometimes we park and explore in more or less one direction as far as our bodies permit, then use the M�tro or a taxi to get back to our RV for a snack and a rest right there, right where we are parked.

Like all large cities Paris has many parking garages, parking lots, and curbside parking spaces, but just like other large cities they still have more vehicles than places to put them. The parking garages and most parking lots are designed for automobiles, and since we have driven a small recreation vehicle each time, parking has sometimes been a problem. But we have never failed to find a parking place within walking distance, or at least a short M�tro (subway) ride, from where we wanted to be.

TRAFFIC
In the mid-1800s, under orders from Napol�on III, Baron Haussmann undertook a gigantic task of �Urban Removal.� Thousands of buildings were torn down so wide boulevards could be constructed and parts of the city could be rebuilt on a majestic scale. Of course more vehicles can be involved in a traffic jam on a wide boulevard than on a narrow street, and a traffic jam in Paris is like no other we have seen.

French license plates contain a portion of the �zip code� of the issuing city, and while Frenchmen from la Manche (the English Channel) to the Mediterranean try to steer clear of the �terrible 75�s� from Paris, the Parisian has little choice. When traffic starts to look bad, Paris drivers just ignore all traffic lights and signs and creep ahead, centimeter by centimeter, they won�t let anyone or anything get ahead of them. If the French driver gets into a problem he won�t back up or turn around or employ any initiative to solve his own problem; he just sits there with a pained expression on his face, waiting for someone to help him out of the mess.

Once we were stopped in a traffic jam on the north side of the city for twenty minutes, with no hope of going anywhere. Two policemen walked by, acting as if they didn�t even see the problem. Finally one turned back, pointed to this car to go here, and that car to go there, and in minutes, no jam. We found it interesting that a Paris driver would not voluntarily give up �his� space just to help unclog the traffic jam.

Several times during one rainy evening rush hour we saw drivers stop in the only lane of a narrow street and go in a store for a newspaper or loaf of bread. We think the only reason no one behind them complained was because they intended to stop at a store in the next block themselves.

To successfully drive or walk in Paris, we must become aware of the eye movements of the drivers and pedestrians. They look straight ahead, and act as if we don�t exist. As the driver or the pedestrian proceeds, we can see him looking out of the corner of his eye, making sure we aren�t going to run over, or in front of him, but he will do anything except admit we are there. If we manage to �win� this battle of (half)-wits, we will have spoiled the �losers� whole day. And believe us, all those �he/him� apply as much to �she/her.� If we don�t drive or walk just as aggressively, if we wait for everyone who wants to get ahead of us, no progress will be made � at least until the people behind us get involved.

FINDING OUR WAY
We have visited Paris nine different years, and have driven on dozens of streets inside the P�riph�rique, through all parts of the city. A look at the map indicates there may be a hundred streets that go over or under the P�riph�rique, and we must have entered or left the city at twenty-five of them. There is just no reason that Jim should feel so welcome and so comfortable as he drives from here to there, but for him Paris is a delight. Even our French friends say they park at the edge of town and ride the M�tro, but not Jim, he enjoys driving in this city.

House and building addresses in Paris, as in other cities in Europe, are handled differently from most places in the US. The numbers just start somewhere, end someplace else, and numbers on adjacent streets are very likely totally different.

Usually odd and even numbers are on the opposite side of the street, but #63 may be across the street from #88, and #67 may be a block away. It is not unusual to see #67a, #67b, #67c, etc., and the name of the street may change every block or two. The street sign itself may well be an almost unreadable small sign posted high on the side of a building, rather than on a post right at the street corner.

Just inside the P�riph�rique a series of boulevards encircles the city (more or less), and our best count shows twenty-seven different street names. The streets in Paris are usually short and they go in all directions rather than the north/south/east/west checkerboard arrangement in some newer cities. The street names change at most of the hundreds of �Places,� at traffic circles, and at intersections with multiple streets. A map is really a necessity. Most likely when they founded this city 2,000 years ago, they didn�t spend too much time worrying about how we will find a parking space for our RV, and discover our way from place to place.

One day we rode M�tro #4 and got off one stop before Porte d� Orl�ans hoping to find a certain boutique where Emmy wanted to shop. When we first left the M�tro we walked the �wrong� direction on Rue D� Al�sia and found the old book store of Jacques L�vy, Libraire Expert, at #46. The eight pounds, 772-picture book from Librairie Larousse, called �L�Espagne et Portugal Illustr�s,� is an interesting addition to our library. In Paris, as in Venice (and very few other cities), a wrong turn can result in serendipity: �� the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.�

THE METRO
After we find a parking place or when we prefer not to drive in Paris, it is important that we understand how to use the subway. The M�tro was rather easy to use once we decided to understand it. It is said that no place in the city is more than 550 yards from one of the 341 stations on the 107 miles of track. Throughout the city, M�tro entrances designed by Hector Guimard are decorated with cast-iron plant stems that soar above the entrance, with a drooping flower that contains a light globe. These entrances are a distinguishing mark of the Paris M�tro.

In addition, there are suburban lines, including the R.E.R. (R�seau Express R�gional) system that crosses the city to distant suburbs outside the city. At several stations it�s possible to transfer from the M�tro to the R.E.R. It might vary from one year to another, so check for special tickets at special prices, such as the ten-ride ticket called a �carnet.� Some tickets are good for one-day, others are good for several days. The R.E.R tickets within Paris are at the M�tro rate, beyond city limits the price depends on the number of �sections� to be crossed.

To use the M�tro Map:
� Look for the name of the subway station near where we are, and the one near where we want to go.
� Find the name and number of the last station on each subway line in the direction that we need to travel, that is the name of each train we will board.
� Determine where the subway line we are near crosses the line near our destination, or where it crosses another line that will cross another, which will finally intersect the destination line.
� When transferring from one M�tro to another, we must be on the lookout for the sign, �correspondance� which indicates directions to a connecting line.
� Unless we find ourselves on a suburban line outside the P�riph�rique, one ticket will take us most anywhere in Paris, no matter how many changes we make, if we do it right.

There now, that doesn�t seem so easy, does it? But it really is. The main thing to remember � don�t panic and catch a wrong train. That will certainly confuse things, but there are no dead-ends � the train will always return to the �scene of the crime.�

BUILDING THE METRO
The book �Paris Underground,� is filled with fascinating information about the construction of the M�tro. Something was needed to supplement the myriad of double-decked horse-drawn streetcars and carriages, and the crowded Seine riverboats that collected 21,000,000 fares annually, near the end of the 1800s. It was an enormous job to feed, stable, and clean-up after the seventeen thousand horses that created a terrific health hazard, and the resulting traffic tangles of horse-drawn streetcars and carriages on surface streets. Service by riverboats, often interrupted by fog or ice, was stopped completely when heavy rain raised the water level so the boats could not sail under the bridges.

Before the city of Paris existed, the Romans built stone roads, aqueducts, public buildings, and an arena for theatrical and gladiatorial spectacles. Limestone that could be cut and quarried, the ideal building material, was found just beneath the ground. Gypsum, a pure form of plaster (plaster of Paris) was also mined from below what later became the city of Paris. Centuries later, one hundred eighty twisting miles of quarries were discovered under forty percent of the city of Paris, and some of the caverns were a hundred feet deep.

Paris started construction of the M�tro in 1898, opening the first line on July 19, 1900, just in time for the de l�Exposition de 1900, the Paris World Fair. M�tro tubes sometimes had to be supported by underground aerial bridges, or huge pillars and props, as they ran right through a baffling honeycomb of abandoned stone and gypsum quarries, seeping water, and large fresh-water springs.

When we read of the relatively simple problems encountered while building subways in the US with the present day equipment and technical know-how, we can just envision the imagination, engineering, and the effort needed to solve these even more difficult problems in Paris, a hundred years earlier.

During WW II, while Paris was occupied by the Germans, for protection from Allied air raids some of the underground tubes were used as a factory for airplane parts. In 1944 the M�tro�s stations served as shelters for citizens while the Allies were liberating France�s capital city.

TOUR GROUPS OF YOUNG PEOPLE
One year we stayed at a campsite south of Paris in Choisy-le-Roi, where there was also a Youth Hostel. As we left to board the R.E.R. for our ride to city center, we talked to members of a bus load of French High School students from Marseille. We wish we could have spent more time with these enthusiastic youngsters. As happens so many times, when we mentioned we were from California, they cheered. Jim asked them why they were so interested in California and in the United States, they excitingly told him, �In the US you have freedom, freedom!� Their bus was just leaving for Paris, so there was no time to find what freedoms they thought we had, but they didn�t. It�s too bad Jim couldn�t join them on their bus.

There�s a great difference in members of tour groups that we meet from time to time. One year we met two tour groups from the United States, while we were in the Notre Dame Cathedral. The first group were neatly dressed, attentive, well-behaved high school students, escorted by their French teacher. A few parents were along, but they insisted they were members of the tour, not chaperones.

Within the hour we met a sloppily dressed, disinterested, rowdy group of high school students, the very epitome of the �Ugly American.� Instead of a chaperone, they needed an armed guard. The difference? We don�t know if it was cause or effect, but the first group was from a small southern city, the later group from a large northeastern city. Jim talked to some members of both groups, and he never found why this latter group even bothered to come to Paris. They seemed to have no idea where they were or why, and some didn�t know where they had been yesterday, or where they were going tomorrow. What a waste.

One year while strolling through Montmartre, we met a wonderful group of students from Nebraska. Jim had a ball asking them questions about the places they had visited so far, and telling them some things not to miss during the rest of their trip. Truly a group that was both learning and enjoying themselves.

MOTORIZED POOPER SCOOPER
In Paris, as in most parts of Europe, inconsiderate people and their inconsiderate dogs, sure do make a mess on the sidewalks. Paris however, is the only city we�ve seen that has a special squad of workers with distinctively designed equipment to attack this problem. There are uniformed attendants on a motor scooter, painted green, riding slowly on the sidewalk. At the appropriate place they stop, use a long wand connected by a large tube to a vacuum system. After the mess is removed, the wand squirts some soap and water, and the brush at the end of the wand scrubs the sidewalk. An excellent idea that should be copied by several other cities, especially Amsterdam.

Chapter 2

The Sights of Paris

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL
Notre Dame Cathedral is located on the Ile de la Cit� (Island of the City), an island in the middle of the Seine. Funny thing, friends who visited here while members of a tour group were not aware, or told, they were on an island.

For the past 2000 years a church stood at this spot: A Gallo-Roman temple, a Christian basilica, and a Romanesque church preceded this cathedral. Notre Dame Cathedral, which was started in 1163 and completed about 1345, will hold a congregation of 9,000 people. (St. Peter�s in Rome will hold 50,000, the Duomo in Milan 40,000) The cathedral organ, with 109 stops and 7,000 pipes, was built in 1730. In the recent years the organ has been computerized, and is now controlled either by a digital system, or the organist.

During the years following the French Revolution, hundreds of stately buildings were demolished by the revolutionaries. The Bastille (state prison and citadel of Paris) was among the first and most notorious to be destroyed, and Notre Dame Cathedral was almost consigned to the scrap heap of history. It was a common practice in Europe to use such building sites as a quarry to provide ready-cut stones as materials for other projects. For example, the Coliseum in Rome is not a ruin from the ravages of war, or years of neglect, uncounted Romans live, work, and worship in buildings (including St. Peter�s Basilica) constructed with building stones and marble from the �Coliseum Quarry.�

Fortunately, Napol�on Bonaparte decided he needed an ecclesiastical masterpiece as a properly impressive setting for his coronation, so this beautiful Gothic edifice was preserved. The cathedral building had been used to store forage and food, so it was a much-dilapidated building where Napol�on crowned himself Emperor of France, in 1804. (Two original paintings of this panoply, by Jacques-Louis David, are on display; one at the Louvre the other at the Palace at Versailles.)

After years of neglect and the outcry resulting from the 1831 novel �Notre-Dame de Paris� by Victor Hugo, in 1841 Viollet-le-Duc (architect-archeologist) began the twenty-three year effort needed to restore Notre Dame to its former glory. His precise drawing of the western fa�ade shows the three portals are each slightly different; the Gallery of Kings (a row of 28 statues) is on the second level; the third level has the rose window in the center, arches and windows on each side; the forth level is the upper gallery of open arcades, or arches above slim columns; the fifth level is the two towers. This beautiful cathedral is now the focal point for great occasions such as ceremonies at the end of WW I, WW II, and the funeral for General De Gaulle in 1970 (a couple of months after our first visit here).

The west fa�ade of several cathedrals in France are similar, but somehow Notre Dame of Paris has a perfection all its own. The proportions combine with clean horizontal and vertical lines for perfect harmony; it�s almost devoid of detailed, lacy decoration of any kind. We�ve seen a drawing of the original plan to build pointy spires on top of the towers. The report is that when they finally started to build the spires, no one liked them. Construction was stopped and what had been built was removed.

Many cathedrals have huge rose (round) windows with stained glass and tracery, but Notre Dame has three very special ones. The 700-year-old west rose window is thirty feet in diameter and is located on the third level above the front entrance. The two transept rose windows, each forty-two and a half feet in diameter, are above the Cloister Portal (north entrance) and the St. Stephen�s Portal (south entrance).
At the left front corner of Notre Dame, steps lead to the upper levels of the towers, an excellent vantage point from which to look over the city. In the upper-right tower, Emmanuel, the great bell, weighs nearly 26,000 pounds and its clapper alone weighs nearly 1,000 pounds. When the bell was cast, it is said that women threw gold and silver jewelry into the molten bronze. One reference says this contributed to the beautiful tone of the bell, another said it never happened.

It takes several people � some using their hands and others using their feet � to ring the bell on those very special occasions when it is rung. While at the top of the tower we enjoyed the view of the heart of Paris, as well as the view of the gargoyles and flying buttresses of this Gothic masterpiece.

One year after our visit to this fabulous edifice, Emmy noticed she had dropped her scarf, somewhere inside. Jim retraced our steps down this aisle and past that chapel, around the chancel, then found some honest soul had hung it on a rail near the Cloister Portal. Who knows or cares if it was tourist or Frenchman � our faith in human-kind was rekindled. A couple of years later, near the Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy, Emmy dropped that same scarf; again some kind soul hung it on a rail nearby, and Jim retrieved it, again. How many lives does that scarf have?

PLACE DU PARVIS
In front of Notre Dame, and covering an underground parking garage, the Place du Parvis contains the spot from where all distances in France are measured. Throughout France there are signs directing traffic toward Paris. At times there will be two or three signs pointing in various directions, all indicating Paris is that�a way. We have seen signs, approximately four feet by eight feet, with but one word, �PARIS.� There may not always be directions to the next town, and it may be difficult to find signs showing the way out of Paris when we are ready to leave, but Paris, that�s easy to find. This city dominates France, as no other city dominates its country.

At the end of our first visit, as we were ready to leave the city, we stopped to ask a policeman for help in finding our way. He was extremely polite, as all Parisian policemen have been. He saluted, and proceeded to use his broad-tipped pencil to mark the map and completely blackened the names of all the streets on our route.

THE RIVERSIDE
We highly recommend that all tourists go down one of the broad stone stairways to the quays along the River Siene. The view of the graceful and elegant Notre Dame is exquisite from this vantage point, as are the views from the very large tourist boats that take sightseers up and down the river. After sunset, the boats use huge floodlights to illuminate the riverside buildings as they continue on the cruise, and the floating restaurants on the Seine can provide the setting for a very romantic evening.

Famous book stalls line the riverside on the Rive Gauche, the Left Bank of the Seine, just across the river, south of Notre Dame. Some book stalls are on Rive Droite, the Right Bank, but there are many more on the Rive Gauche. A low concrete banister stands between the sidewalk and the long drop to the river, and wooden boxes are attached to the handrail. When opened, each becomes a book and art store. Walk here at one time and see an almost continuous line of wooden boxes attached to the banister. The next time, the top and sides of the boxes have been unfurled, merchandise is displayed, and we are in the midst of a bustling shopping street.

ILE (ISLAND) DE LA CITE
A hospital has been situated near Notre Dame Cathedral since the 1200s. The current one, H�tel�Dieu, across the street from the cathedral, was built in 1868. Nearby is a M�tro Station with elevators to take passengers up and down the great distance from the street level to the subway tracks. The island, Cit�, is small, and the subway must be well below the Seine River on both sides of this station. We remember other stations, elsewhere in Paris, that also have elevators.

West of Notre Dame, still on the island, is the Police Station and the Palais de Justice with the Law Courts and the prison of the Conciergerie. Marie Antoinette was imprisoned here from August 2 to October 16, 1793. During the French Revolution, La Conciergerie (with good reason) became known as �Death�s Antechamber;� nearly all who were imprisoned in that fortress left it only to go to the guillotine.

LA SAINTE - CHAPELLE
Hidden in a courtyard of the Law Courts, formerly the King�s Palace, the beautiful La Sainte-Chapelle is not easily found. The upper chapel in this rather small but very special church has sixteen stained glass windows, nearly fifty feet high, with 6,672 square feet of the most outstanding stained glass, dating from the 1200s. Eleven hundred thirty-four different scenes from the Bible are portrayed, and when the sun shines through those marvelous windows, jewels of color embellish the old stone floor.

When consecrated in 1248 sunlight could shine unhindered through both the north and south walls of the chapel. However, in the 1700s when parliament approved the remodeling of the Palace, they build one wall of the Law Court a little too close to the north wall of this chapel, sometimes there�s barely enough light to illuminate the colors.

Slender pillars and buttresses between the windows support the roof. Amazingly, in seven hundred years no cracks or problems with the construction have occurred. The lower chapel, built for the servants, is reached by a winding stone stairway and is only twenty-three feet high. Small stained glass windows are located between garishly (but beautifully) decorated columns and arches that are themselves supported by elegantly pierced flying buttresses.

ILE (ISLAND) ST. LOUIS
Just upstream from Ile de la Cit�, and joined by Pont (bridge) St. Louis, Ile St. Louis is the location of some very expensive homes and famous restaurants. Ile St. Louis is like an urban jewel, studded with elegant mansions, many created in the 1600s. There are peaceful, tree-lined quays that offer the stroller superb views of both islands, and of the east fa�ade and the flying buttresses of Notre Dame Cathedral. One year, in the middle of Pont St. Louis a group of musicians were in great form, complete with various instruments including a full-size piano on wheels. They provided an excellent street-side concert.

HALLES DISTRICT
Visit the Halles District � if only to see what they are doing with, or to it. This had been the location of �Paris� stomach� or main food market, from about 1110 until the late 1900s when the market was moved to Rungis, near Orly Airport. The ninety acres have been beautifully redeveloped, mainly in an ultramodern style.

Some pedestrian walkways and huge parking garages are more than forty feet underground, and the several floors of boutiques and specialty stores can be reached through modern entrances at street level, or from several levels of M�tro Stations below ground. It�s disappointing to see that already some buildings look unkempt and dirty, with graffiti on the walls and trash on the walkways. We hope the City Fathers have some plan to keep the area clean.

ST. - EUSTACHE CHURCH
Just north of the Halles, the foundation was laid in 1532 for the St.-Eustache Church. In most cases, a huge Gothic Cathedral is built as a rectangle, but the aisle on the left side of St. Eustache becomes narrower towards the main entrance. It started out to be Gothic, but in the meantime the vaulting of the choir, crossing, and nave are Flamboyant (ornate, elaborate, having flame like forms); columns and semicircular arches are Renaissance; choir windows and Colbert�s tomb are Classicism; and an English sculptor commemorated the removal of the fruit and vegetable market in 1969.

POMPIDOU CENTER
To the east, in the Beaubourg District, is the museum formally known as the Centre d�Art Contemporain Georges Pompidou (National Center for Art and Culture). This is the building built inside-out with the mechanical systems conspicuously placed outside the building�s walls. Elevators are painted red; escalators are in clear plastic tunnels; there are giant tubes for air (painted blue), water (green), and electricity (yellow), all on the outside like an oil refinery. One writer states that, � � when it opened it was a turkey, but unlike most turkeys, this one wears its entrails outside its skin. Entropy set in the moment it opened in 1977.�

Although neither the building nor its contents does anything positive for us, it has been reported by the Office of Tourism that the Pompidou is the most popular tourist attraction in the city of Paris. Jim found that hard to believe, so on three different years he conducted a poll of his own. The people he talked to, members of tour groups from several countries, said they were not there by choice, but since this is where the tour bus dropped them, what option did they have. The tour guide knows that people are reluctant to complain when they have been dropped at an art museum that has been represented as a top tourist destination.

An outdoor caf� near the southwest corner of the museum offers a contrasting view, and softens the look of Pompidou in the background. Jim has taken snapshots of this scene during different visits, and over the years the protective awning and the name of the cafe have changed � the street scene is ever-changing.

The Center does offer festivities of many types, from children�s games, theater, music, dance, and circus, to a history of motion pictures and The National Museum of Modern Art. It may be the very best of its kind. By the way, the top floor is a good place for an outstanding view of old Paris, many monuments, with some newer districts visible in the background.

PLACE VENDOME
The Madeleine, the Place Vend�me and the surrounding streets, are interesting areas to explore. The unusual Austerlitz Column, the focal point in the Place Vend�me, was cast from 1,200 Russian cannons captured in 1805 under the command of Napol�on, at the Battle of Austerlitz, in what is now the Czech Republic. On top of the column (over the years and from war to war) there was first a statue of Napol�on, then one of Henry IV, then a colossal �fleur-de-lys,� then Napol�on again. The whole column was torn down in 1871 and later rebuilt with a replica of the original statue of Napol�on placed on top.

The gracefully symmetrical fa�ades that surround the Place Vend�me were built in the late 1600s by Hardouin-Mansart. During the following years, actual buildings, including the Ritz Hotel, were built behind the false fronts. In the Place Vend�me, and along the nearby streets, branches of banks from all over the world stand ready to supply money to customers of the Ritz H�tel, Cartier�s and other famous jewelers, and the haute-couture boutiques on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honor�.

MADELEINE
The Church of St. Mary Magdalen, known as the Madeleine, looks every bit like a Greek temple. The building was started and stopped, torn down and rebuilt, and almost became a railroad station at one time. Finally, Napol�on commanded that it be built along the lines of the ancient Maison Carr�e in the city of N�mes. Fifty-two Corinthian columns, each sixty-six feet high and placed around the perimeter of the building, give the Madeleine a look of great majesty.

From the front entrance there is a splendid view down the Rue Royale, across the Place de Concorde, the Palais-Bourbon, and to the Invalides dome in the distance.

One year, from the Place de la Concorde we looked north on the Rue Royale and saw what appeared to be a canvas-covered scaffolding hiding what we thought were repairs to the church. They had painted a full-size picture of the front of the Madeleine on the canvas, and we assumed that was to camouflage the church while repairs are being made. Once inside the church, we could see the life-size picture did in fact cover the front of the church, but it must have been someone�s idea of art, we didn�t see any construction or maintenance that needed to be covered up.

PARIS OPERA
The ostentatious foyer and palatial decor of the Paris Opera, designed and built by Charles Garnier in the mid-1800s, make it well worth a tour. It�s the largest theater building in Europe covering 120,000 square feet of land, and the stage is so large there is room for as many as 450 performers. Because so much space is used for the stage and the extensive marble foyer (French marble of every hue � white, rose, green, red, and blue), there is room for only 2,200 spectators. Originally, subscribers could drive their carriage to a private entrance, and there was a ramp that permitted the sovereign to ride his conveyance directly to the royal box. That area is now the Opera Library and Museum.

Some tour books state that visits to the Opera are not allowed, but we found tours of the building were available. Obtaining tickets to a performance was another story; they have been completely sold out each time we inquired.

In the Mus�e d�Orsay a model of this beautiful building, cut lengthwise, can be studied in great detail. The foyer and entrance lobby take up much more space than the seats and balcony, and at the other end, the stage and the space for dressing rooms and props, take about that same amount of space. The 2,200 seat auditorium, with several balconies, occupies a rather small part of the building.

GALERIES LAFAYETTE
On numerous occasions we have visited the impressive department store, Galeries Lafayette, which covers a couple of square blocks of Boulevard Haussmann, just behind the Opera. It must be considered one of the world�s ultimate department stores where one can buy �� the latest in fashions, perfumes, and frivolous things.� The huge four-story rotunda with its beautiful glass dome and three-floors of wrought-iron balconies, is certainly a landmark in Paris.

One time, after walking through floor after floor of this magnificent store, we decided to have lunch in their cafeteria. It was so crowded it was almost impossible to get to the food counters, and it seemed the only way to get a table was to just stand and stare at people who were about finished eating, until they were embarrassed enough to leave. It�s a really nice place for lunch, and we can�t imagine it�s always that crowded!

MONTMARTRE
One of the most renowned neighborhoods in Paris is Montmartre, with restaurants, shops, homes, nightclubs and the nighttime entertainment district of Paris. The famous nightclub, Moulin Rouge is named for the Rouge (Red) Moulin (Mill ) on its roof.

Montmartre is an area of narrow streets, a funicular railway, many flights of stairs, with artists on almost every street. In the previous century the area was associated with artists and �men of letters,� who looked to this area for an easy picturesque way of life.

Tremendous auto and pedestrian traffic simply overload these narrow hilly streets. During our first visit we found ourselves in a traffic jam with parked cars blocking half of the street. For a while it seemed we would become part of the landscape, but we were able to get two wheels of the VW van on the sidewalk and finally got out okay. Tour buses by the hundreds drive through the area (not this street) to deliver tourists to Montmartre and the Sacr�-Coeur, but sometimes the bus will just barely fit.

A couple of times we have been foolhardy enough to park our RV in a tourist bus space, and the Gendarmeries have been kind enough to ignore our transgression. Narrow tractor-pulled, multi-car tourist trains deliver tourists who had the good sense to park further away.

BASILIQUE DU SACRE - COEUR
The Basilique du Sacr�-Coeur (Sacred Heart) is the most unusual of the churches we have visited in Paris. Situated in Montmartre, on the highest point in the city, its many tall white cupolas (slender domes), are visible from almost every point in Paris. Designed in the Romano-Byzantine style by Abadie, the architect who restored the Byzantine St. Front Cathedral in P�rigueux (a copy of the Byzantine St. Mark�s in Venice), construction was begun in 1876 and completed in 1910. In the dome of the basilica is an awe-inspiring mural of Christ with outstretched arms. Inside, the church is decorated with unusual mosaics and marble pillars. Savoyarde, cast in 1896, is the name of the nineteen-ton bell that was delivered by a giant chariot pulled by more than 20 teams of oxen, then installed under the campanile.

A visit to Montmartre and the Basilique du Sacr�-Coeur must be included in any trip to Paris. One time we parked on the level area below the Sacr�-Coeur and asked for directions to the Funiculaire (cable railway) for a ride up the hill. We were directed towards a flight of stairs, and the best we could understand was that just up the stairs and to the left we would find the Funiculaire. The directions were impeccable � except after we climbed several flights of stairs we found ourselves at the top of the Funiculaire. Sometimes directions do lose something in the translation (or lack thereof).

Since the Sacr�-Coeur is built right on the very top of the highest hill in Paris, there is an exceptional view over the city, but it is difficult to get good pictures of Sacr�-Coeur. Flights of stairs cascade down the hill right in front of the church and as we step back to get a better view, our next step may take us a long, long way . . . . . down.

Chapter 3

More Paris

THE LOUVRE PALACE
If we see just one museum, or a hundred, we must not miss the Louvre. The first part of this Royal Palace was built in the year 1200 and no fewer than 17 kings set their architects to work adding to, and remodeling this huge building. The Louvre is shaped like a square letter �A� with the open �arms� pointing west towards the Arc de Triomphe about two miles away. One reference says it was the biggest palace in the world before a portion (Palais des Tuileries) was destroyed during the Paris Commune. (French radicals briefly established the Commune of Paris in 1870-71, between the Second and Third Republic.) Another source states that Versailles was the biggest, but at a different date. We don�t know how the Louvre ranks in size with other palaces today, but the museum display area is 658,800 square feet, 15 acres, about the size of 14 football fields.

A recent project of restoration, cleaning, and remodeling, both inside and out, continued for about sixteen years. The $1 billion restoration, that was completed in 1997, doubled exhibition space by opening the Richelieu Wing, and the Louvre has already savored a doubling of attendance.

In Cour Napoleon, between the �arms� of the Louvre, they have built four very modern glass pyramids, designed by the American architect, I. M. Pei. They were unveiled in 1989, about a week after we visited the Louvre that year. The main pyramid is 65 feet high, and 105 feet on each leg of the base. The large pyramid provides light and access to a massive underground reception area, reached by escalator or elevator. The entrance area has ticket vending machines (stick in a Visa, get back a ticket), caf�s, book-shops, rest rooms, and information kiosks. The smaller pyramids provide additional light to the reception area, and decorative fountains have been built to add enrichment to the area.

At times there are long lines of people, several abreast, snaking here and there through Cour Napoleon, eager to view the treasures of the Louvre. There was no way the former entrance area could process the increased attendance, experienced the last few years. While excavating for this entrance ancient foundations and items of antiquity were uncovered, some of which are now on display in the museum.

For 200 years only the Denon Wing (the south wing of the Louvre, along the Seine River), and the Sully Wing (on the east), were open to the public as a museum. President Mitterrand finally evicted the Finance Ministry from the Richelieu Wing, the six floors of offices were gutted and the majestically high ceilings of the original three-floor design, were restored. This section of the Palace, along Rue de Rivoli, opened as a massive addition to the Louvre Museum in November 1993, 200 years to the day after the Louvre officially became a �people�s� museum.

INSIDE THE LOUVRE PALACE
Of the more than 12,000 works of art on display in the Richelieu Wing, about half are being shown for the first time. Still in storage will be about 300,000 works of art dating from ancient times, for which there still is no space to exhibit. The Louvre collection dates from ancient times to the mid 1800s. Across the Seine River, and a few blocks to the west, the Mus�e d�Orsay is the home of French Impressionists and other works of art from about 1850 to WW I. Modern art is the realm of the Georges Pompidou Center.

Jacques-Louis David�s monumental painting (twenty by thirty feet) of Napoleon�s coronation is beautifully displayed in the Louvre. We discovered another original painting of the same ceremony, by the same artist, with a few items presented in a different color (such as ladies� dresses), displayed at the Palace at Versailles.

Along with the �Mona Lisa,� the �Winged Victory,� the �V�nus de Milo,� and several thousand other items, the Louvre displayed �Portrait of My Mother� by the American painter, James Whistler, until it was moved to the Museum d�Orsay, a few years ago. While on display in the Louvre, �Whistler�s Mother� was exhibited in a dirty wooden frame at the end of a hall somewhere on the third floor. During one visit, three US Navy men had Jim take their photograph in front of the painting. The sailors were whistling, of course.

Video pictures taken in the Louvre in 1991, include a view of the 22 by 32 foot Renaissance masterpiece, �The Marriage at Cana,� painted in 1563 by the Italian master Paolo Veronese. Scaffolding obscured most of the painting while it was nearing the end of a three year restoration. A few months later during the re hanging, the Louvre engineers miscalculated and the painting suffered a crash that sliced several one-meter long slashes in the canvas. The slashes from that misadventure were rather easily repaired, and the painting was to be on display in the early 1990s.

Stolen from the Benedictine Abbey San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice in 1797, it was moved to Paris by Napoleon�s agents, and at one time it was displayed in two pieces. It was hidden from the Germans during the 1870 War, and since they feared Mussolini might want to reclaim the lost (stolen) treasure, it was again hidden from the Italians during WW II.

When first opened, the Louvre was considered more of a school than a showplace. Many artists made pilgrimages to the Louvre, and near the turn of the century when Paul C�zanne had a problem finishing a painting, he said, �I must go to the Louvre to see how to do it.� One reference says, �A hundred years ago we had brilliant painters, and dumb museums; today the reverse. It is inconceivable that today�s painters would have been taken seriously in the Paris of a hundred years ago.�

We find it amazing to see all the artists who are copying paintings in the Louvre. They are not counterfeiting, or doing anything illegal; there are always artists with copies under way. In the case of several of the paintings we have seen over the years, we think the copy was even better than the original. Why is it that a painter who creates an improved copy of a famous painting is not considered as great an artist as the painter of the original? Perhaps the �copycat� didn�t have the vision of the original, but does have the artistic skill.

Although the Louvre shows thousands of statues, it wasn�t until 1991 that we saw a young sculptress making a copy of a small sculpture. She told Jim she was the first ever to receive permission to do that.

An amusing story is told about the missing arms of the V�nus de Milo. A contest was held where sculptors tried to attach arms to a copy of that famous statue, but none looked just right. Some tried to place a baby in either or both of her arms. Others rested her hand on a hip, had her carrying a package, or had the arms reaching to the sky, but nothing appeared to fit. This seems to suggest that when it was finished centuries ago, the sculptor did not like the look of the arms, so destroyed them.

It took several years, from 1503 to 1506, for Leonardo da Vinci to paint the 20 by 30 inch Mona Lisa, a portrait of the wife of Francesco del Giocondo of Florence. Rather than canvas, the Mona Lisa is painted on a board of Italian white poplar wood. As he did with other paintings, da Vinci used an unproven variety of paint materials, and many of the pigments have deteriorated over the years. The �Last Supper,� painted (1495 to 1498) on a wall of the Refectory Hall of the Church of St. Mary of Grace (Santa Maria delle Grazie) in Milan, Italy, almost became a complete ruin because da Vinci used an unsuccessful technical innovation of fresco painting, that has not prevailed over the centuries. (The �Last Supper� was exhaustively and thoroughly restored, then re-opened for the public on May 28, 1999.) Leonardo loved the Mona Lisa so much he carried it with him at all times, until it was sold to Francis I and displayed at the Palace at Fontainebleau. Leonardo da Vinci lived his last years in Amboise, France in the Loire Valley, where he died on May 2, 1519.

Don�t know when the Mona Lisa was first hung in the Louvre, but on August 21, 1911 it was stolen by Vincenzo Perugia, an Italian house painter. Perugia wanted to compensate for the plunder of Napol�on and his troops, and thought he would be considered a national hero if he returned this masterpiece to Italy. He hid the painting in his Paris bedroom until the furor of the theft died down, then in December 1913, took the painting to Florence, Italy. Instead of being honored for a great deed, he was placed in jail and the Mona Lisa was re-hung in the Louvre on January 4, 1914.

We wondered about the Mona Lisa smile. We saw a cartoon that shows the lady with that enigmatic expression, sitting for her portrait. Standing near the partially completed piece of art, the painter is looking down at the fly of his trousers, saying, �You mean it�s been open all day?� It�s that kind of a smile, isn�t it? Well maybe not. A reference book says that particular smile, with a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth, was at that time, considered a sign of elegance. Whatever the smile, ever since some �nut� tried to deface this famous painting, it has been covered by a protective shield. It looked better and photographs were easier to take, before the transparent, but reflective protection was installed.

In 1991 we visited this fabulous museum, for the fourth or fifth time. After entering on the escalator under the Glass Pyramid (for the first time), we walked directly to the �Winged Victory,� David�s painting of �The Consecration of Napol�on,� the �Mona Lisa,� and the �Venus de Milo,� just as if we had visited here dozens of times. Jim must be part homing pigeon.

On one of our visits several years ago, Jim walked through the Louvre as fast as he could, glancing at the �goodies� as he hurried by. He thinks he managed to walk through all the galleries then open to the public, in just about three hours. A large part of the palace still was not part of the museum, and much of the museum, was not open to the public. That place is HUGE. And interesting. And fascinating. And! And! And by the mid-1990s, it is nearly twice as big as it was that day.

JUST OUTSIDE THE LOUVRE
One day in July 1983, we arrived between the �arms� of the Louvre in a steady light rain, parked our RV among the tourist buses, and fixed lunch. Just outside the window, oblivious to the beautiful buildings and famous views, several men played the game of Boule, rain or no rain.

This game is played everywhere in France; on grass, a dirt street, in a park, or anywhere people gather to relax. There are no measurements, no white lines, no goal posts, just an open space with grass or dirt, and it doesn�t even have to be smooth or level. Some of the �rules� and strategies would be familiar to people who play shuffleboard, or toss horseshoes.

We are never quite sure how many people there are on a team, and at times we think there are more than two teams participating in a game. They each have three or four heavy metal game balls (that�s our name for them), three or four inches in diameter. A small �target� ball is thrown 5 or 10 yards away, then each player, in turn, throws a game ball as near to the �target� as possible. A player with enough skill may throw his ball so it hits a ball already thrown by an opponent, to knock that ball away from the target ball. Body English (wonder what that�s called in French?), shouts, and loud proclamations are all an important part of the game of Boule. We have seen this game a thousand times in France, and several other countries. Here at the Louvre it is a lunch-time diversion for the workmen, tour bus drivers, and perhaps anyone who passes by.

In 1991 they dug a huge hole on the east side of the Carrousel Arch, just across from the Glass Pyramid entrance to the Louvre. They were building the Carrousel du Louvre, an elegant auditorium complex, with underground shopping galleries and parking garage, lighted by an inverted glass Pyramid, a diametric copy of the Louvre entrance. Construction was stopped for the weekend when we arrived in our RV at the lunch hour, one Saturday in October 1991.

We parked in the construction truck entrance, right inside the �arms� of the Louvre, and the Humberd sidewalk cafe was open for lunch to a carefully selected clientele of two. Out our window to the east was the Glass Pyramid entrance to the Louvre; the Denon Wing of the Louvre to the south; the new Richelieu Wing to the north; and just out our window to the west was the Carrousel Arch, Tuileries Gardens, Place de la Concord with the obelisk, then

Tidbit by Jim and Emmy Humberd

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