Versailles: The Bold and the Beautiful

7/3/08 Versailles, France

So Day Number Two in France we jaunted down to Versailles to check out the digs of "The Sun King" Louis XIV (1659-1715). The place is so opulent even the weather is rich. And what a beautiful day it was. Emerald blue skies were bespeckled with white puffy clouds.

The chateau is really a small city in itself. Statues of marble and bronze adorned the seemingly endless miles of the property. The grounds are opento the public, so you could easily spot a jogger or a picnic. We on the other hand decided to partake in the gardens which were neatly manicured. We also continued to partake in the ritual of expensive lunching. But hey, when in France.....

After a leisurely two hour lunch we walked over to Marie Antoinette’s chateau on the grounds, which were lovely but unfortunately 95% closed for renovation.

The main house of course was in a word: decadent . Everywhere you turned, there was gold and velvet, Rococo decor. It was simply a fabulous feast












for the eyes. I especially liked the Hall of Mirrors which were outside the royal living quarters.

My only thought was “It’s good to be the king!” But then there was that Bastille Day thing. But maybe it was worth it? I mean they couldn’t feel it right?

We finished the day with our family going to the Eiffel Tower. What an awesome structure. Built in three stages over the course of a year, the tower was completed in 1836, and currently sports four elevators to the top. Apparently, the tower is continually being painted. It takes 26 years to paint it, and by the time they are done, its time to get started again.

Our attempt to get to the top was interrupted by a slight hurricane.(no joke!) So we decided to duck into a cafe for a small dinner. By the time we left, the good weather had returned and we continued our quest. The view from top went well with how we are feeling on this whole trip: on top of the world.

Wish you were here!

-Gabe

Vive Le France!

7-02-08 Paris, France

Well, we have met Le French and I prefer Le Freak say CHIC! Well, I half-jest: we are all God’s children. But I must say that the Euros enthusiasm for us piddly Americans soured once we crossed into France. I mean we pulled something right out of Monty Python’s Holy Grail: “I fart in your general direction!” But we'll see how things progress....

So after a hot and sweaty Southern California night (90 degrees/ 80% humidity) we popped up the next morning and hit the subway for the Louvre. WOW! For those of you who know, having being an oil painter myself this was a mecca experience. I must admit that when I saw Gericault’s “Raft of the Medusa” I wept openly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raft_of_the_Medusa

Now the scene was only slightly dampered by the one thousand sightseers who joined us to appreciate le art. But hey, art is for everyone.

I also got to see my friend Venus De Milo, which was unexpected. She’s still the hottest armless woman out there.


I also enjoyed the Greek Nike statue discovered in the 1863. The place in at about 108 B.C. I place it at timeless classic. And yes, Nike’s gotta be the hottest headless babe out there!













The Louvre is a city in itself. I can’t explain it other than to say the open courtyard is about 1X4 football fields in size; or at least it felt like it.

We next enjoyed a classic bite to eat at a sidewalk cafe where a canopy sheltered us from a gentle rain. I must add that the French have a few things down: wine, lingerie, bread, rudeness, and dessert! We ordered a pie, and a tiramisu. Magnific! Later we visited the Musee d’ Orsay

which held its own against the luscious Louvre with its excellent representation of Impressionist, Rococo, sculpture, and Art Nouveau. In the end, my brain was fried by the wonderful artworks. But what a lovely slow-burn it was.

We ended our first jaunt into Paris with a chocolate/coconut crepe followed by a banana crepe.

Well, I better get to sleep. The Euros are going to be up till 2 a.m. and I need to rest up for Versailles!

Le Gabe

Hi From Grace

Hi from Grace,

A couple of months ago my daughter Laura bought me a book called I Love You, Mom. She personalized each page by adding notes. It was a real tear jerker.
Before we left for this trip I was rereading a wonderful poem called “What Is A Family?”. The second I stanza of the poem took on a whole new meaning. It reads:

A family is a blend of people and personalities who share A common path on their travels through this world. Under one roof and enfolded within one wonderful feeling, A family brings together a million memories Of yesterday and a dream that distant tomorrow’s Will keep them close No matter what

Those words and phrases stood out in our new reality. They are the following:
1) Under one roof - couldn't it have been a little bigger roof?
2) Close-Is 12 inches of personal space really enough?
3) No matter what- We’ve experienced some “no matter what’s”. And personally, I could do more without any MORE.

In all seriousness, God has blessed us indeed to be able to take this trip together and see the beauties of his creation. We are making lots of memories and adjusting to our small living space. Five minutes alone in the camper provides so many possibilities, one doesn’t know where to start. We’ve taught Rick the words “I’m sorry” in French. We figured since he sticks his foot in his mouth so often, he should say his name and "daysoley" (I’m sorry). We’re having lots of laugh and its a once in a lifetime opportunity.

See you soon,


Love Grace

INTERMISSION

Due to technical difficulties in not having a hot spot at our campground in France, our Blog will be down temporarily. We will return to posting our adventures as soon as possible.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

In the meantime enjoy the theme song from the movie Vacation, or some Clark Griswold sound bytes that might very well have been uttered on this trip.

4th of July on June 28th

OK, I am finally posting and have to say I have been a bit intimidated. Heather and Gabe write so well and have such a great sense of sarcasm and humor. But since Lucerne, was my favorite city, I wanted to let you know I might not be coming home. Lucerne was a fabulous city - a beautiful setting of a lake with the alps in the background. It was built in the 13th century and had beautiful old buildings downtown right on the lake with a river flowing out of it. As Gabe mentioned previously, the Yodeling contest was in town and our timing could not have been more perfect!

I have to make a correction here though. There were 12,ooo yodelers (that's right, I typed 12,000) and 200,ooo visitors in town (in a city of 60,000 people normally.) All the way from Canada and New Zealand. Each area had their own outfit/costume. Unfortunately, it was a bit warm and that led to a lot of BO with so many people. Why Europeans have not figured out the beauty of daily deodorant, I don't know.


Anyway, I got distracted - I need to move to Lucerne... They have great food, beautiful buildings, friendly people, fabulous chocolate, a lake with amazing fireworks that reminded me of our family tradition on Lake Arrowhead for several years. The echo was incredible (and unfortunately a little loud for the kids.) The fireworks did not get going until 10:30 though so we had lots of time to chat with the Suisse, since it does not get dark here in Europe until 10:00 at the earliest! How great is that! My only problem is the value of the euro so if you would like to donate to my cause, please feel free to donate to our family account (since I probably should stay with Gabe and the kids.) Call my dear friend Viv and she will happily take your $$. Hopefully she will even deposit it so we can stay.

Until France and more reasons to ditch the 951/909,
-Laura

Switzerland: Why Can’t We Be Friends?

6/28 - 6/29/2008 Luzerne, Switzerland

After a queasy drive through the Swiss Alps, we finally arrived in Luzerne. What a beautiful country! What an un-beautiful smell however: the cows made me wish for Chino, CA!

The people here are very friendly. And since Switzerland is the land of neutrality, why not? War (the band) had it right: Why Can't We Be Friends? And/ or lovers for that matter?

All around us love was in the air. This is a romantic and friendly city. I don’t know if its the chocolates, the semi-nude lake front, or something in the water: folks are loving it here and it shows.

My first taste of this new kind of friendship occurred in the Mens side of the public showers at our camp. There I was shaving and in walks a woman, who proceeds to knock on the shower door of her male friend and walks right in. She proceeded to do some humming, and well, I don;t know what was going on in there. Okay, then!

Every where you looked folks were sharing a kiss, sharing a bench, or as I just mentioned sharing a shower. Heck, event the kids stopped fighting and shared a dance.





We found a much needed change of pace here in Luzerne. We were able to leave the Beast at the campsite and walk to our festivities. And festivities we found in the Luzerne Yodeling Festival that was going on.

http://www.luzern.org/en/navpage-FestivalLU-MusicFestivalLU-202085.html

I think there was something like 2,000 yodelers, and 10,000 spectators over the weekend. But if you’re going to get serenaded, what better place than Luzerne? And we’re not talking "serenading a cow type" of yodeling either. These folks could sing like and angelic choir and often did in the streets as they practiced for their competitions.

In the end we had a wonderful two days here and finished Day Two with a day at the lake, followed by an authentic dinner in the old part of town.



Tomorrow we head for Dijon on our way to Paris, the true city of love!

Hugs and Kisses,

Gabe

More Germany & Austria photos go to my Flickr page.

Bathrooms of Europe

Hello again. After two beautiful days of sunshine, we again were caught in the rain. However, this time, we broke with Sylvester tradition and actually took a taxi back to our camp site. The best 20 fr ever spent! We are now watching the Euro Cup finals at the campground and washing all the towels we left on the line to dry.

So today's topic, bathrooms in Europe. Now on my earlier postings, you may have noted significant apprehension about using camp and public bathrooms in Europe. Men, this fear may seem a bit absurd, however women, you know what I'm talking about. My mother, sister and I have a long tradition of finding the best and most beautiful toilets when we travel (#1 The Drake Hotel-Chicago) and I was not expecting to find any list-toppers on my trip and I have been pleasantly surprised. I have had to break out the travel toilet seat covers only a few times, as there are several innovations in toilet sanitation that have been implemented in the EU.

Perhaps the most stunning bathroom thus far was at the Swarofski Crystal Museum (yes Sam I got you something sparkly). Not only were the individual stalls clean and fresh, the sink and mirrors were amazing. The faucet flowed water through a neon blue spicket and the mirror had blue crystals backlit to create the feeling of space. It was a highlight of the museum, along with the crystal filled walls.

The other two miracles of toiletry relate to sanitation. While I have not yet seen toilet seat covers, the Europeans have this fabulous thing called SaniSeat. It is a dispenser of cleaning solution next to the toilet. You simply spray some onto toilet paper and instantly you have a hygienic seat. These are everywhere and have replace squatting in my life, which makes me happy. Even the bathrooms at the gas stations and portapotties are beautiful and clean (see picture).

If sanitation were a Nobel category, this final invention would be a clear winner....the self-cleaning toilet. That's right people a toilet that cleans itself after every use. Where did we find such a thing? At the Alpin Zoo. Now the Zoo did not see fit to clean the animal habitats, but they did invest in the finest of toilet technology. Here is how it goes. After flushing, the toilet has a retractable arm that comes out and covers a portion of the seat. The seat itself is flexible and rotates completely, allowing the arm to spray and wipe the entirety of the seat. Finally, the arm releases aromatic freshness into the bowl to alleviate any odor (peach was the scent used at the zoo) and returns to its resting state.

So begin the petition folks, we need to take a stand, clean public restrooms free of charge and free of germs. I may take this all back when I get to France, but my hopes are high!

Until next time,

Heather