Our Brush with Royalty

Saturday we had lunch with a fun French couple Don met on the plane ride over here, Denise and Michel Rochcongar. Denise has some English and Don has some French, and we were able to get acquainted – laughing a lot over our attempts to communicate. Denise and Michel are about our age. Michel is a motorcycle policeman assigned to escort VIPs thru traffic. Denise works for Air France. Their daughter, Crystal, is a pilot who is working on qualifying to fly commercial jets for Air
France. She played competitive tennis into her teens until a shoulder injury sidelined her tennis career.

 

After lunch, Michel took us for a ride through the countryside near our hotel. We drove through the small airport where Crystal’s flying club is based, then thru some small villages that are becoming Paris suburbs, new housing being added to the old.

By chance, our drive took us to the Chateau de Breteuil – a designated French historic monument. The chateau has been in the Breteuil family for nearly 300 years and family members have been intimate participants in the history of France. Gifts from members of the French royal family, primarily in the form of portraits (Louis XVI and XVIII, Marie-Antoinette and the Dauphin, Louis-Charles), attest to the high regard the royals had for the Breteuil family.

 

The Marquis, Henri-Francois, makes a point of greeting guests at the beginning of the tour. As the only Americans there, we had special attention from the Marquis, who studied for a time atGerogetown
University and practiced with a prominent American law firm.  We talked American politics – he admires Bill Clinton and the first George Bush, but not the one we have now. He and Michel chatted and chuckled over blood lines as Michel has claim to a baron in his ancestry. (His friends at work call him the Baron of the Motorcycle.)

 

Henri Breteuil’s passion and life’s work – along with his wife’s — has been the restoration of this family property. In 1968 when his father gave him the property, the inside of the chateau was falling apart from a fungus that had eaten away the ceilings, floors and woodwork. Fortunately, the contents of the chateau had been stored away, sparing priceless portraits of French royalty and family members alike, as well as a superb inlaid table that is the centerpiece of the collection.

 

One of the unique features of the chateau is the wax-figure tableaux from Perrault’s children’s stories in part inspired by Henri’s ancestor, Charles Breteuil. Turn a corner and there are the characters from Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty or Puss-in-Boots.

 

We plan to return when the weather turns warmer to see them all and tour the extensive gardens around the property.

Read more about the chateau at: http://chateauxandcountry.com/chateaux/breteuil/index.html

City of Light Cruise

After a day of sightseeing that included climbing all the steps up to the Sacre Cour cathedral, Friday evening Don and I took a river boat dinner cruise up and down the Seine. What a beautiful evening! The clouds parted, the City sparkled and the Eiffel
Tower flashed on cue. The boat we were on had a glass roof and sides which, with our right-up-front table, gave us an unlimited view. Despite the chill there were a few lovers kissing on the banks of the river and fellow travelers waving from the bridges above. Did you know there is a replica of the Statue of Libertyat one of the bridges?

The Eiffel Tower – which is fully lit up at night with golden light — puts on a show every hour after dark that has been described as “25,000 Japanese tourists taking pictures.” Against the golden light of the tower are all these silvery, random flashes for ten minutes. Some of the commercial properties along the river have adopted the same photo-flash lighting effect in trees or on their building, adding to what is already a memorable sight and this city’s reputation as the City of Light.

Our 10 Euro Story

NOW I feel like I am in Paris. Glorious Notre Dame, the astounding Eiffel Tower, the larger-than-life Arc de Triomphe, the beautiful bridges over the River Seine, the wide sidewalks and trees in front of the magnificent shops on the Champs Élysée, and all that great French style. EVERYONE here dresses with style – lots of black, turtlenecks, scarves (men and women), great hair, well-groomed, nicely dressed (very few women with jeans) and just like you have heard, no one is fat. That’s right — NO ONE. And I can tell you as someone who can stand to lose more than a few pounds, the bus and subway seats are built for the French, if you catch my drift. I’m hoping the French lifestyle that keeps them all so trim wears off on me.

We already have a 10 € story… We were walking down the street in the City looking for the office of the tour bus company – obviously tourists – and this short, sweet-looking woman walking near us bends down and appears to pick up a gold ring from the sidewalk. “Oh, it must be my lucky day!” she says. Of course she sucks us right in and as I’m whispering “scam – scam” to Don, she is showing us the ring doesn’t fit her, tries it on Don (and it REALLY doesn’t fit his large fingers) and starts to try it on me. I am clutching my purse while she gives Don her sob story about being undocumented and just wanting enough money for a burger and soda – in essence wants us to buy the ring, which we all know isn’t gold. Don has a very generous heart and wanted to give her 5€, but the smallest bill he had was $10 €, which he gave her. Our first gypsy!

Then later, it was my turn to get huckstered into eating a mediocre dinner at a Greek restaurant near Notre Dame. (Have you ever seen pink humus?) We turned down this quaint, narrow street just lined with restaurants and a couple gift shops. We intended to walk through and pick out a place to eat dinner. Well, about three steps into the street we come across a Greek restaurant with a handsome, well-dressed man standing at the door. This guy was really good – he stands out front breaking plates to attract your attention and as soon as you make eye-contact, offers you a plate to break. Well of course, once you break the plate, you just HAVE to go inside. We were the first ones inside and it became a source of amusement to hear the plate break and watch him usher in another group. In no time, the place was full.

The weather gods are being troublesome. The temperature turned cooler today with a little rain, which is pretty much the forecast into next week. I’m thinking it’s time to get off the tour buses and visit the Louvre.

Everyone here has been so nice. Nowhere have we encountered anything but helpfulness and courtesy.

I’ll get working on those pictures, too.

A bientôt!

First day

Je suis arriver à Paris! 

Traffic here on the Paris freeways is every bit as heavy as in LA – no lie! And the drivers are very aggressive – perhaps more than LA. Don hired a car and driver, Patric (that’s pronounced Pah-treek’ with the accent on the second syllable), to meet me at the airport and much of the drive to the hotel was bumper to bumper. Believe me, I was very relieved to see Don, as the heavy traffic on the way over – complicated by a change in terminal for the arriving flight – made him late in meeting me at the airport.

Today is Mardi Gras and this whole week is a National holiday. School is out of session. Many people take off from work this week, including the folks Don is working with, which gives him an unexpected holiday. We slept in, noshing on a wonderful poppy seed baguette and preserves with coffee in the room for breakfast. (Don’s a Taurus so he is a serious nester. He has made friends with all the hotel staff and managed to find a place in the hotel room for a coffee maker and accoutrement. But we are seriously short of closet space.)

The hotel is a Holiday Inn in a suburban business district where his client is located. There is a huge modern shopping center across the street from the hotel, so Don gave me a grand tour. There is an amazing giant supermarket called Auchan there. Imagine a combination farmer’s market, fresh fish market, Trader Joe’s, florist and Super Wal-Mart all rolled together spread over a couple of football fields. And two stories high. They have people-walker escalators to move people and shopping carts between floors. It costs 1 Euro to unlock a shopping cart for your use.

Most importantly, I found the closest ATM and used my debit card to get Euros. Woo hoo!

What would you do?

What would you do if your spouse was asked by his company to go to France for four months? Join him there, of course!

That’s my situation and I am taking full advantage of it. In a few days I board a plane to join my husband Don in gay Pa-ree. Here is a map of where we will be based: Velizy-Villacoublay. (I am really into maps.)

I am lining up people to meet, places to go and mysteries to explore. I will be sightseeing Paris during the week and we will be taking weekends for trips outside the city: Provence, Cote D’Azur, Monaco, etc. Later, after his assignment is over, we will spend another two or three weeks traveling to Spain and Italy — maybe even Egypt!

If you have any places in particular you can recommend — hotels, restaurants, cafes, attractions — leave me a message here. Fond memories of Paris you would like to share? Please do!

Hang with me… bookmark this blog and check in from time to time. It’s gonna be an awesome ride and I look forward to sharing it all with you.

A bientôt – Joy