A View Above The Moon
It's been over a year now that my wife and I traveled to Europe for the Holidays. So many different emotions about that trip in late December and we are now at the beginning of Spring 2021. I have moments of trying to navigate the truth in context to everyday life as we know it today. I believe it's good to have some levity in telling this story, hopefully, my humor is just that and no more. Let's start with the end of the beginning of the Holidays 2019 and we're about to get on our flight to London. Traveling internationally can be a bit uncomfortable but with some experience, you learn some tricks. A good one is to get an aisle seat, have all your electronic gear and meds close by in a bag, and relax. My wife and I share a split of wine with lunch we settle into our movies. My wife usually chooses Asian comedies, I usually choose dramas or thrillers, this time I chose "Contagion". The reality of the movie was disturbing, and I thought at the time the coincidence was somewhat foretelling, however in retrospect, there was no metric to understand the reality of looking back over the past 16 months.
I want to get back to the trip as we did it, without the worry of a pandemic, it was Christmas Holiday 2019 and we were in London for a few days and the weather was reasonably predictable, even with a bit of rain. So open your mind's eye for a moment, we all need a vacation even if it's past the holidays, it's a holiday vacation to London and Paris.
Buckingham Palace is a good way to start a Christmas Holiday, it was amazing! we had the best time, it was supposed to be a bit damp, however, a mist seemed to part as we walked over Westminster Bridge passing BigBen walking along Birdcage Walk towards Buckingham Palace.
We laugh as we walk, it's early and a bit chilly, however, we are reasonably wrapped up for any kind of weather. We wander past the gates and then up towards Hyde Park into Kennsington, and then we hear horses. The direction they were coming from was difficult to figure out at the time. All we could tell was the sounds of multiple horses were coming towards us. I can't see them yet, and then as we are heading back towards the gate there was a large troupe of soldiers riding towards the palace gates. There is a sense of nobility to the Household Calvery, it's the pageantry of royalty. As they pass you can see their serious attention coming back from the Calvery. They are very aware of a crowd, so we keep moving, looking to get a good spot for the "Changing of the Guard".
Foot Guards round a corner almost running and then we can hear the band playing so we're trying to get to a better viewpoint. The crowds were lined both sides of the street, we pushed our way into a walkway with more room than the view. Then decided it was as good as it was going to get,
We ran for three days between castles and beautiful gardens. England is historical and at Christmas, the festivities are charmed in a royal reality. We had already planned to return to London in May 2020, however, plans change and this is the beginning of our London to Paris Holidays.
The evening on the London Bridge is filled with tourists, shoppers, and just so many different ethnic groups that in reality we are so homogenized, it's how life is when we accept the differences. We keep moving towards the southside walks on the Thames, Shakespear is but a few kilometers away, and we have a trip to Windsor Castle for tomorrow.
There are some very beautiful gardens within Windsor Castle, but it's just so difficult to explain how vast the castle grounds and buildings are. There are many different views from different buildings within the castle, however, it's prohibited to take photographs within the castle buildings. So we play by the rules and keep the cameras legal, however, there were moments that the itch was like a dog with fleas.
St. Georges Chappel is one of the most celebrated for its gothic ramparts and history of royal weddings. Aso the Chappel of The Order of the Garter, a very interesting Chapple of history with the Queen's Beasts perched at the top of the pinnacle. Needless to say, we are enchanted with Windsor Castle, it's like a living breathing history of Royal life.
We need a week to be here and we have about two more hours to return to London. Then we have an early morning rail through the Eurotunnel to Paris on Christmas Eve. So we're both a bit famished and there is only one thing to do is, eat. Fish and Chips and you will not believe the order we got. It's so fabulous we ate it all and it's twice as much as either of us could even think about eating
We arrive in Paris on Christmas Eve around 1 PM, the international rail was a bit late, but when we arrive at Gare du Nord and it was crowded everyone was making connections with outside taxi services. We didn't know at the time that the Paris Metro was on strike and none of the metro lines were running. Traveling is about being flexible and bending towards the path of least resistance. It took us about an hour to get our cab and arrive at our Hotel Du Champ De Mars, a quaint reflection of Parisian life on Rue de Cler. We have a fabulous meal, wander the shops, there is a relaxed holiday ambiance that celebrates Parisian life. The mood pulls you within the warmth of smiles, a melodic language of a lifetime of memories. It's like old photographs that capture a place in time, and now it lives in a quaint reality as we walk towards the Seine.
Christmas Eve in Paris, the walk up the Champ Elyeese from here and back again. We walked the entire boulevard North and back South. We had wine at a wine bar at The Louve then macarons at three different bakeries on the way. Electric scooters chased one another like ants up and down from the 7th to the 11th, we ended the day at the Christmas market next to The Louve with a Giant Ferris wheel and spinning hammer that was guaranteed to make you scream and maybe uh.. more.
The Christmas market was packed with so many different potato cheese fried foods with sausage and more cheese and bread. We had potato french fried chips, then fresh pasta coated with parmesan cheese. We had so much food we couldn't eat anymore.
Pamasian Cheese rounds are the dream of carbo-loading on holiday, and we are really done and it's a 10-kilometer day and we are exhausted on Christmas Eve.
As we walk out of Hotel Champ De Mars we stroll past the best of Parisian life on Christmas Morning. A passion of our life is "to live is to eat" and celebrate the holiday with the love of French life. The seafood is by the truckloads, each plate is arranged like a gift for a much-loved family. We keep walking towards a Patisserie that has Parisians waiting patiently for croissants and coffee.
It is Christmas morning and it's as beautiful as one can imagine. We walked to The Louve with an early morning reservation, the crowds are beginning to line up for the holiday family gatherings. It's a cool morning but we are dressed for winter and prepared for rain or snow, however, it's blue skies and we are here to see as much as we can within the Louve, as long as we can manage to be inside on a sunny Christmas day.
It's lunchtime and we decide to walk up the Champ Elysees, we choose the sunny side to walk and there are a few shops, patisseries but still not what we are craving for. We see a line of patrons outside a beautifully decorated patisserie. There is a crowd of Parisians lined curbside buying macarons. Children are eating them, laughing with holiday gift boxes scrunched underarms as they stroll away dropping macaron crumbs as if a trail to be followed by "Holiday Elves".
Laduree in Paris is one of the most celebrated Parisian patisseries in Paris. There is a line but we are starving and the macarons are supposed to be the best in the city, so we wait for a bit, and then we are seated at a table with a sunroom view of the Champ Elysees. The room is full of celebratory Parisians with family, friends dressed in the most beautiful Haute couture. LV bags are everywhere and we are lost and found in a different world of different cultures, art with henna, and veils that tell us life in Paris is to be loved and lived in through holidays.
We decide to order a few samples of the macarons, and then we get serious about ordering. Accidentally we get French fries, French onion soup, and French toast. We laugh and then we decide to get something that seems absolutely decadent. The hot chocolate is the best we have ever had, the chocolate is so thick the spoon will stand up in it, but it's deliciously smooth and creamy. We managed to take our crazy fun lunch break next door. We decide to do some shopping and it's the best place on the planet as we walk out the front door on Christmas day.
We walk the Champ Elysees the day away, there are Parisians everywhere and the holiday spirit is alive and we are very welcomed by all within Paris. The lines waiting at the LV are crazy, my wife insists we wait, and then it's an hour before we can get in, however, there is another store a few blocks away so we march laughing at just having so much fun and not being disciplined at all about shopping at stores we would never go into. We get to the store and it's another line however, it's much shorter and there is a local shopper that has an LV bag so big that she could stuff a poodle in it. The gatekeeper lets her in first, then a different man is let in because "his wife" is waiting inside.
I tell the gateman my mother-in-law is waiting for us inside, he laughs so hard, that the comedy of the night becomes infectious and he lets us in. We walk out within minutes, my wife's lust is crushed by a $7,000 EU disappointment.
We laugh our way back to our Hotel Champ Du Mars, with a walk on the Seine and we turn a corner and see the Eiffel Tower. We stand at the edge of the Seine and view the treasured icon of Paris. The Eiffel Tower is so revered by all Parisians, and there is a magic to its presence, like a polar star magnetic connection visible night or day and a "View Above the Moon".
Breakfast is served early, we have more museum appointments and it's a bit chilly so we start with fresh coffee, croissants with fruit, and yogurt.
We march up towards Les Invalids and up the boulevard to Gare Montparnasse to see Les Catacombes, however, the lines are too long and they have canceled the tour because the Metro is closed and there is not enough security or staff to manage the crowds. We are skilled travelers and don't give it a thought, there is too much to see and we are going home in a few days. We turn a different corner and see signs of life, like moths to the flame we almost run to an open-air market, near Montparnasse station.
The outdoor market is food lovers "Reason Detre" and one of the reasons we traveled to Paris. We make our own food at home and we have a fabulous garden that keeps us healthy working it and eating from it. Real food is affordable in Paris, and the outdoor markets keep Parisians laughing as they shop taste, and bargain for lunch or a snack it's living in a city that thrives on a diversity of different cultures and their specific culinary arts. We taste our way through dates, nuts, fruit from the Mediterranean. We keep pace with the cart pushing Parisians shopping for holiday family dinner. This is a local market and there are throngs of shoppers winding their way through aromatic pathways that lead to offerings of small bites.
We continue through the market, and see the difference between pallet tastes and the convenience of having very fresh fruit and vegetables, the Pacific Northwest is not necessarily that far from California, but winter produce in Seattle is less than desirable, it can be boring between old green beans or old cabbage, or Brussel sprouts. We have family in Los Angeles and the winter produce is affordable and similar to the Mediterranean. We grow several varieties of green beans, snow peas, cucumbers, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pears, and grapes. By the time we get to winter the vegetables are done and the fruit like the blueberries we do freeze but it's not the same as fresh fruit.
Our diet is mostly Asian with simple stir-fry's with fruit and vegetables from our garden in the Summer and Fall and more noodle soups in Winter early Spring. Food motivates our lives everyday we make our own food. So we are accustomed to open-markets similar to Parisian life my wife loves to bargain it's in her culture.
We have traveled multiple times to Southeast Asia and open markets are how life exists within agrarian cultures. There is a comfortable cycle of shopping that is part of the bargain for one's personal tastes. When this happens there is a connection of planning meals. The day-to-day ideas of how one eats, shops and brings that affordable food home, and prepares meals that connect them to diets, tastes, and the love of making their own food.
We walk the Seine near its banks, the upper sidewalks near Pont Neuf Bridge are crowded so we find an easy path, and there are Parisians that celebrate privately but not alone.
So this is our last evening and we are heading home tomorrow, we have been here for a week and walked the streets of Paris from the 17th to the 11th and the 14th to the18th. It's pretty much the entire city several times, and the best way to breathe life, like a Parisian. This small community of Rue de Cler is in some ways a bit of the past and present. There are some residents that have been here all their lives, and there are tourists. It's a slow walk of cafes, Charcuterie's, Patisseries, in some ways there is a connected past with the moments that we talk our way to Hotel Du Champ De Mars.
Our train leaves early for London so we take one more stroll, grab a few bottles of wine to take home, some gifts for friends and neighbors. Chocolate is a favorite and there is a fabulous store on Rue de Cler.
The cheese shop, on one side of the street, chocolate on the other with wine and toys next door, we stop for a glass of wine, some soup, and shellfish. The day is done, so it leaves me to believe we see only a small part of life unless we experience different cultures.
From morning to evening we walk with each step remembering the moments between doorway's that beckon a look, then continue to ally's that lead to sidestreets hoping we find our way. At the time it didn't make much difference, we know the Seine will take us close to Rue De Cler.
