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david
and carol
Our Magnificent
Journey | Chapter 1 | Europe 1999 | London, Paris, Venice, Florence |
5.20.99 - 5.21.99 |
Thursday / Friday |
Day 1 |
Anticipatory insomnia. We've been mentally
and literally packed for two weeks. Let's light this candle
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Finally the shuttle arrives (30 minutes late)
and whisks us off to Tucson International Airport. Flew Continental
from Tucson to Houston (two hours) with a three-hour layover
in Houston. Had airport lunch and fantasized about the trip.
Walked over to the international section of the Houston airport
and waited for our Continental flight to London (eight hours.)
The original flight was canceled due to mechanical problems,
but 45 minutes after the original departure time we found ourselves
on a brand new Boeing 777. As the great steel bird reared its
head and thrust itself airborne, casting us eastward, we were
bound for Europe! |
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The 777 had small "entertainment"
units in the back of each seat, with a "control panel"
that stowed into each armrest. With the control panel we could
watch any of several recent movies such as "A Bug's Life"
and "Blast from the Past" or listen to any of
several types of audio programs - comedy, rock, classical, etc.
We could play assorted video games, or watch the progress of
the plane on its 4800 mile journey to London. The food and snacks
on the plane were surprisingly good, and although we wanted to
sleep, we were too excited. |
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The sun set early, since we were travelling
at 500 miles per hour into the east, and in the clear dark skies
to the southeast I could see, brighter than usual, the familiar
stars of the constellation Scorpio. It seemed like an old friend
I had seen so many times in the night skies above Tucson. Tonight,
its question-mark shape seemed appropriate. I wondered what lay
before us in the days ahead
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Our course took us across several southern
states, then up the east coast and out across the vast Atlantic
Ocean, north of Ireland, down over Belfast, finally into English
airspace, down the west coast of the Isles, across the fertile
green southlands of England, and finally up into Gatwick International
Airport. |
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Arrived at Gatwick about 6:00 A.M. (10:00
P.M. the evening before, Tucson time.) We had not checked our
bags through, but rather stowed them overhead, so we quickly
collected our things and cleared British customs. It was so fast
and easy that we had to go back and check to make sure that we
really did go through the customs process. |
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At the Gatwick Express ticket counter, we
visited with a group of young Americans just arrived with their
backpacks and eager to explore the wonders of Europe, much like
I did in 1971 and Carol in 1978. We bought our tickets for the
Gatwick Express, which was a fast train through the beautiful
rolling, green, quaint English countryside into London's busy
Victoria Station. On the train we visited with two young Yanks
off to tour Ireland and two gals on their way to Uganda to see
the apes. We said our farewells and found ourselves in the bustling
Victoria Station. The energy in the Station was palpable - people
rushing about on their way to work. Our destination at this point
was the Waterloo Station to catch the "Chunnel" train
into Paris. Since Waterloo Station was only about a mile and
a half away, we decided to walk. |
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We walked past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben
and the Houses of Parliament. There was history and wonderful
architecture around every bend. It was a beautiful, warm sunny
day. It took us a little while to adjust to the different traffic
patterns - "Look Left" and "Look Right" painted
on the streets greatly helped to keep us alive. |
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Finally we made it into Waterloo Station and
Carol arranged for an earlier Chunnel train. We sat for a while
in busy old Waterloo Station and bought some wine, and we uncorked
it after the train pulled out and began travelling south through
the city of London. It was a wonderful three hour ride through
the green countryside of southern England, 20 minutes of darkness
through the Chunnel, then into and across the north of France,
destination Paris. Lots of small French villages along the way. |
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We arrived at Paris's Gare du Nord after a
relaxing and picturesque three-hour train-ride. We had a little
bit of confusion regarding which metro line to take to our hotel,
but Carol's freshman French paid off and she finally figured
it out - we actually had to take three lines. |
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The metro was very crowded, and when we got
on and became two more sardines in the can, I immediately felt
someone's hand slip into my back pocket. I quickly reached around
and grabbed an arm belonging to a young French pickpocket who
was very surprised and startled. I gave him a look that said
"You've got your hand in the WRONG pocket,
Monsieur," and he gave me an apologetic look of regret.
Or was it fear? He could see I was fighting the urge to wring
his throat. The doors had no sooner opened at the next stop and
this culprit was off and disappeared into the crowd. |
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The metro was a bit "odoriferous,"
more so than we remembered from our previous trips. We heard
later that the city was experimenting with "perfuming"
the metro stop at Madeleine, and we noted it once while passing
through. |
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We finally arrived at our hotel, the Hotel
du Palais Bourbon, around the corner from the Rodin Museum. The
room was nice - clean, big comfortable bed and "new"
bathroom. The ever-present bidet. We were conked out so we slept
for a few hours, then showered and began our first of many, many
miles of walking through Europe. |
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Strolled leisurely past wonderful little shops
selling wines and cheeses of all sorts, and breads and chocolates
and all things French and European. It is so extremely wonderful
to be here
It is hard to believe that we really are
here! It amazes us how fast you can travel from one side of the
planet to another. We walked through the Rue Cler area and found
a wonderful street market where we sampled some cheeses. The
markets in Paris are Carol's favorites - such a feast for the
senses. |
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Walking past the Academie du Justice we found
the Brasserie Bourbon (1, Place du Palais Bourbon,) an inviting
restaurant suggested to us by a guest at our hotel. We were seated
at a table by a window looking out onto a small park with benches.
Across from the park were two gendarmes with machine guns, guarding
the Academie. |
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We ordered the house wine, which surprisingly
came chilled, delicious appetizers of smoked trout with cream
sauce and fish soup. Our main courses were (Carol) tuna and (David)
sausage, which the waiter described as "particular"
and warned us "Not many Americans enjoy it." We thought
he meant it was going to be "spicy." I could not get
it past my nose. Carol, being the more "adventuresome"
perhaps, traded plates with me and about ¾ of the way
through the sausage we roused enough courage to ask the waiter
what it was. When he told us "lamb's intestines," we
laughed and drank a LOT more wine. |
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After our memorable, albeit smelly, dinner,
we strolled arm-in-arm, back past the Hotel du Invalides, built
by Napoleon as a hospital for the returning citizens who had
fought in the French Revolution. A massive, awesome architectural
masterpiece, its huge dome is covered in real gold and can be
seen glittering in the sunlight from all over Paris. Napoleon,
le Empereur, is buried here. We walked the few remaining
blocks from The Invalides, stopping in a small market near our
Hotel du Palais Bourbon. When we reached "home," we
crawled up to the second floor, had barely enough strength to
turn the key in the door, fell into bed, and slept like babies.
Not bad for our first day
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copyright 1998 / david
and carol lehrman / all rights reserved |
email david@davidandcarol.com |
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