Friday, April 15, 2011 7:24 PM
Dear Family and Friends,
We apologize for being a bit tardy on this one, but honestly, we've hardly stopped except to eat and sleep. Robert is holding up well because he walks all day at work, but I must say...my dogs are tired! We must have walked dozens of miles over the last two days, and I'm not exaggerating!
But I'm also not complaining -- Paris is a city that needs to be seen on foot. The Metro will take you where you need to go, but once up on the street, you feel the essence of Paris. It's the first city I've been in, including New York, where the pedestrians truly don't have the right of way. You take your life in your hands when you step off the curb, but surprisingly, Isa says that there are very few pedestrian fatalities. The ones most in danger are those on bicycles.
We are understandably reticent to step out, but Isa says you must "impress" the driver that you're serious, and they'll stop -- and it's true. If you didn't do that, you might stand forever on the same corner!
We're beginning to use the landmarks now (the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame) as we step out from the Metro, and generally, we can triangulate our position in the city. These fantastic structures are really the only very tall buildings around Paris, so they're easy to find.
On Day Three, we began our day by picking up a friend, Sarah, from Canberra, Australia, as she came in to Paris on the train at Gare du Nord. Sarah was at the end of 40 hours of traveling, with various layovers in Sidney and Kuala Lumpur before arriving in London and then taking the train to Paris. She was surprisingly awake, and we all drove to the Palace at Versailles, where we spent the rest of the day. Words can't describe the beauty of this national French historical treasure so we'll let the pictures do the talking. And yes, we took those photos. Versailles turns anyone into a photographer!
Robert's French Phrase of the Day. “A DROIT – A GAUCHE”
Robert writes: "Driving in Paris is quite a rush -- an amazing event. Having driven in LA, San Francisco, and Seattle -- and for Susan, New York -- we both can honestly say that we would not even attempt it. But Isa and Dom make it look so easy, and they've worked out a system for getting all around Paris. On Day Three, Isa sat in the back of the car and Dom was our driver for the day for our 'le tour de jour.' Throughout the journey I was hearing Isa and Dom saying 'a droit, a droit, a droit' or 'go right, go right, go right' -- or 'a gauche, a gauche, a gauche' or 'go left, go left, go left.'
Isa and Dom were constantly talking and deciding about what was the best route to go. At one point, Dom got into a bus lane by mistake which was on the right side lane, and Isa used 'a gauche' again. When Dom makes a mistake, he gets very Italian-sounding and says, 'Mama Mia!' We made it to Gare du Nord no problem after much zig zagging through traffic.
On a side note, traffic is displayed on the overhead electronic signs on the freeways in France as 'Fluide' or fluid, if it is moving, and 'Bouchie' or stuck, if it is stopped. Isa will use an iPhone app to see if the color of the highway is green (Fluide) or Red (Bouchie). The iPhone app is not always correct but Isa and Dom are without a doubt some of the best drivers I have ever seen. No wonder they had no problems driving all over the Nortwestern US when they came to visit us!"
Susan's French Phrase of the Day: "ça lui glisse dessus" -- which means "it slides right off" This is used to describe a person, or people, who are easy to get along with, for whom troubles or worries slide right off their shoulders. We'd like to think she was talking about us!
Much love, and we hope we'll have more tomorrow!
xxxxxx
Susan and Robert
No comments:
Post a Comment