An éclair a day……

(Jim)

This will be our last entry of the trip.  We’re on our way to Boston, which we think of as “home” even though we don’t live there.  Creating this online journal has been a lot of fun.  I would like to thank those of you who have commented or sent us email.  Your encouragement and compliments have been greatly appreciated.

(Ralph)

Flying from Johannesburg to San Francisco involves almost 24 hours in the air, so we elected to break up the trip with stops in Paris and Boston.  We’ve been to Paris a number of times before, so it’s been easy to be here - we know the hotel, neighborhood, favorite sandwich spot, favorite éclairs, etc. – in comparison to most of our other stops on the trip.  It’s been lovely to find ourselves in first world comfort (but certainly shocking to suddenly be paying European prices after Asia and Africa).

We visited the BHV department store to tour Jim’s favorite Paris attraction – the hardware section.  You can just make out the price of these hammers – 34 euros is almost 50 dollars!  For a hammer.

The prices of everything are comparable.   After South Africa, where superb wines in a restaurant were available for perhaps 10 dollars, it’s quite an adjustment.

The city does look wonderful, though - the French really know style and beauty.  Purchases in the shops (well, at least éclairs, which are mostly what we’ve bought here) are carefully wrapped in beautiful paper, and placed in classy little sacks for take away.  The little touches of beauty are everywhere.

(Jim)

Is there a city anywhere that can compare with Paris in the springtime?    It may just be my state of mind at the moment but it looks to me like Paris has been scrubbed since the last time we were here.  I know for sure that Notre Dame has been almost completely cleaned; it is beautiful!   I imagine it  looks much like it did in the 14th century,  when it was completed.

Apparently several hundred thousand other tourists feel the same way I do about Paris.  At least 80% of the other tourists in town are high school or college students on spring break.  We spent a little time all three days we were here in the Louvre, seeing amazing art.  The crowds were bigger than I’ve ever seen.   Nonetheless, there were corners of the Louvre (bas reliefs from the reign of Dairus I of Iran, for example) which contained amazing artifacts and which weren’t so crowded.

 

 

 

 

We also visited what I consider the most beautiful church in Christendom, Sainte Chapelle.  The effect of walking into the church and being surrounded by 24 100-foot-high stained glass windows is incredible.  The architectural achievement is just as incredible, given that the church was finished in the 13th century.

Everyone knows I like my food and drink.  But this town has nearly done me in.  Tonight (Saturday, April 11) we had dinner in a bistro recommended by a couple of our guide books.  The menu included a soup of eggplant and sweet peppers, foie gras with pickled anise, rabbit, sweet potato puree, and a chocolate truffle combined with molasses ice cream that even had even Ralph rolling his eyes back in his head.  Walking back to our hotel, though, through the Latin Quarter, the smells coming out of all the bistros, cafes, and restaurants nearly had me intoxicated.  Within 1/2 mile of our hotel there must be 300 places to eat.  I love this town!

This being Easter weekend, the chocolatieres have been working overtime.  If you look closely you can see that this “can” of “sardines”  is actually made completely of chocolate.  There was also in the same shop a carton of “eggs” – real chicken eggs that had been emptied and filled with milk chocolate.  Unbelievable!

This morning we checked out of the last hotel of our trip and made our way to Charles de Gaulle airport for the next-to-last leg of the journey home.  Au revoir, Paris;  Bonjour, Boston.

Thanks for reading, folks!