Dave and Lisa's Adventures

Friday, September 23, 2022

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Bonjour! 49 degrees this morning when we woke, but turned into a beautiful sunny day.

We headed out to the open air market in the area where we are staying and they had fresh produce, fish, cheeses, breads, pastries, wine. We got figs, croissants, pastries, brie, chevre and blue cheeses, cantaloupe, Crenshaw, a type of melon, wine and brought it back to our house to enjoy.

We then went to the museum D'Orsay, which is huge. We saw Rodin's The Thinker, lots of Claude Monet paintings, Pissaro, and Van Gogh. Before we finished we stopped for lunch at a Cafe inside the museum and two of us had a chicken stir fry, one had quiche Lorraine and another had a vegetarian dish.

Finished the museum and then sat by the River Seine where some of us had drinks and water. Lots of boat traffic. Decided to do a boat cruise which would take us near Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. We started out in daylight and then as the boat did its tour we could see the Eiffel Tower all lit up. Just amazing! What an immense structure.

Worked our way back home walking and riding the metro and had another late nite.

Beginning of the day!

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Wow! What a day. Will be brief as we got in at 11:05 pm and had a long day. Will briefly describe the day.

Went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. This museum is huge and we went through a couple of galleries and we were done. So many people.

We then went to Angelina Paris that Mary had been to on her journey to Paris a few years ago for delicious hot chocolate and a croissant.

Then to Arc de Triomphe and went to the top for beautiful views of Paris.

Sat at a Cafe for drinks and waited for it to get dark so we could see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Spectacular! I don't have photos of that right now as my phone battery ran out. Then back to house.

The Louvre

Venus de Milo

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Had our little breakfast and got ready for landing.

Took a few minutes to figure out how we wanted to arrive at our house but was decided to get a Navigo pass which can be used for train, metro and bus.

It's 63 degrees here.

Had a nice ride on the train and got off at La Place where the owner of the house met us and took us to it. His wife showed us around the house. We were tired and hungry.

The owner asked if there was a Lisa here snd if course I said I was and he gave me an envelope. It was from my Aunt Joan and Uncle Larry in Connecticut welcoming me to Paris and for good luckbon the race course. How wonderful! Merci beaucoup!

We got out for a walk and mary found a nice restaurant off the beaten path. It was good. I will post a photo of the specials. Waiter was Sammy (sp?) And he didn't speak English and between the four of us we were understood. We got an appetizer, entree and dessert for €15 plus a bottle of French wine was split between us.

I had and egg dish with a nice sauce for an appetizer, beef with mashed potatoes and creme caramel for dessert. Mary had bruchetta for app, salmon for entree, and creme Brule for dessert. Deb had the egg dish, beef, and pear torte and Libby had pate, veal and pear torte. It all looked very good.

After lunch went to grocery store for breakfast supplies. Back to house and Deb and Libby went to bed around 6 pm.

We are 6 hours ahead of you folks on the east coast.

I will head to bed soon as I have been up for 31 hours or so and then the 6 hour time change know top of that.

Plan for tomorrow is to go to the Louvre and get a cup of hot chocolate that Mary has remembered since her time here previously. Looking forward to it.

French wine

Egg dish appetizer

Beef with mashed potatoes

Creme caramel

Eiffel Tower in the distance

Monday, September 19, 2022

Up at 6:30 am. Thundering and lightening and pouring rain.

Dave and mom went to mass and said Father Stitt prayed for "all travelers and especially Lisa." Spoke to mom and visited Dave at Partridge Knoll before he started his exercise class. On my way to get Deb.

Since it was raining I called Parkway Chevrolet at 8:15 to see of they would put new wiper blades on my car. They said they could have them there at 8:45. Off to Parkway I go and what a difference it made. It wasn't chattering as the blades wiped.

Picked up Deb at her house and as I was traveling there my tire pressure light came on. Stopped at Stewart's for air and then on our way to get Mary. Successful pick up and then to Central Square for the last traveller, Libby. Still raining hard. We went to a nice little diner called R diner and had sandwiches. By the time we were finished the rain let up. Off to the Syracuse airport. Dropped Deb and Libby off with luggage and Mary and I went to park car. We had to use overflow lot as the others were full. Parked near the ticket booth so our friend Sam could find it easier and he took it to his house so we didn't have to pay for it to sit in the lot for 9 days.

Got boarding passes and to the gate. Got there around 2 pm. Plane departs at 5:10 pm.

Was able to get mom set up with What's App.

Uneventful flight to Detroit. Landed at gate A50 and needed to go to gate A56. Not very far of a walk. Had a little dinner at Mezza's of Chicken BLT.

Depart Detroit for Charles de Gaulle airport in France at 9:10 pm. Again another uneventful flight. They served dinner of your choice of pasta or chicken at 10:45 pm. I had pasta and it was not great. Pasta shells with a roll, salad, cheese and brownie. Had entertainment channels to watch. Difficult to sleep. They served breakfast at 4 am of orange juice, brioche bun, and a blueberry muffin.

Pre-flight photo

Libby, Mary, Deb, me

Yay Paris!

Camera on the plane

Friday, September 9, 2022

Paris, France - Sept 19 - Sept 27, 2022

Welcome back to the blog!

I am going to Paris with three lady friends for sightseeing as well as to race the La Grande Classique from the Eifell Tower to Versailles. The race will be Sunday, September 25.

I will try to post everyday about the activities we are doing as well as photos.

See you soon!

Monday, May 7, 2018

Day 8 - Basel, Switzerland

Day 8, May 2, Wednesday - docked at 2am and they call that a “day”?

Viking people were so good at rearranging our return to USA on a short notice. I will summarize as follows: Arose at 4am to catch a $50 cab ride to Basel, Switzerland, train station (driver: which station? Me: How many are there? Driver: 3 Me: no idea. (we look over the tickets in the dark and he spots correct station. This is all in German which he barely speaks and no English; said he was from Serbia) where we catch the train (199 kilometers per hour) to Frankfurt airport to catch a plane to Amsterdam, to fly to Boston, to catch an UBER, to take us back to our car at Halliwell's to drive back to Canton. We make it in time for my 3pm Dr. appointment where I begin to heal, barely as of now.

Late entry, May 7, diagnosed with pneumonia this morning and now on powerful antibiotic.

TILL NEXT ADVENTURE. DAVE WRITING, LISA TAKING PHOTOS.

Having hot chocolate in Switzerland train station - not many photos in Switzerland as we woke up at 4 am to get a taxi to the train station at 5:15 for a 6:08 departure to Frankfurt

Day 7 - Black Forest

Day 7, May 1, Tuesday

I mentioned, above, one of the nice people we met on the boat. Jim and Karen are at the top of that list. Karen is a scuba diver and Jim is in the process and will complete his open waters on an Aggressor Dive Boat in Honduras this June. Needless to say, we always had something to talk about. They both also have varied backgrounds with world wide experience and are interesting people. Other nice couples were Kimberli and Brad from Minneapolis, MN as well as Shawna and Steve from Utah. The dining arrangements on the boat insure that passengers meet. All the tables seat 6 or 8 people from all over the country. It would be difficult to be isolated on that boat.

Hearken back to the astronomical clock in Strasbourg. Here is a very short video which shows a bit of the clock. It's at least 20 feet high. You can see longer vids in Youtube but I posted this short one because it has a written explanation of the clock(s) just below the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIwe7BAwVNE

Now back to Tuesday, May 1.

Boat landed at Breisach, Germany. First was a 90 minute bus tour (thank God) of the Black Forest. In medieval times the main road from Paris to Vienna led thru Breisach over high mountain switchback passes. Dizzying and unbelievable that horses and carriages could do it. We stopped at a waystation which was making and selling cuckoo clocks, glass ware and black forest cake (not so sweet and lots of crème). A chef demonstrated making a Black Forest cake in front of a large crowd. I could not find a video of that demo but here is a similar one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Zhg1HHZlQ

Lisa went on a guided hike into the forest but I could not breathe so had to stay back where they make wine. Somebody had to guard the wine. We got to watch the world's largest cuckoo clock operate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlXaBWH4fV8

Back to the boat where I took a nap and Lisa went to Colmar, France. She will let you know what was important. Colmar was home to Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty. At one of the round-abouts they had a smaller version of the statue. Strolled around the city and went into another beautiful cathedral and more half-timbered houses.