Versailles II

A flower among flowers

   This was actually our second trip to Versailles. The first time we went with Mary's sister and her friend Katie (we'll have to post those pics at some point) this time we went with Mary's friends Amanda and Emily and their friends.  Quite an amazing difference in the gardens. The weather was  beautiful, even a bit hot. The fountains were running and many of them designed to spout in time with classical music. The flowers were also up and blooming.  
   We didn't end up going inside Versailles again, that was an extra charge, instead we roamed the grounds and hanging out by the lake. The grounds are immense, we didn't even cover a quarter of the total park.  The work involved in its creation was incredible, the fountains needed a special aqueduct and the landscaping to give Louis XIV an uninterrupted view of the whole thing was apparently of unprecedented scale.  The total for the grounds and the house of Versailles was supposed to be equal to half of France's yearly revenue over the course of Louis' lifetime and it shows. For that kind of money you better be able to see the lake and you can expect your lawn not to have any bald spots!

Neptune's Chariot emerging from the water

Trying to give you a sense of scale

Paris Marathon

Rick looks so fresh you might think he is just some guy who has skipped the first part of the marathon
and is now trying to slip in for the finish

Two Sundays ago we participated in the Paris Marathon, as spectators (its a lot less tiring that way)  Something like 40,000 runners crowded the streets and we do mean crowded. This picture is at kilometer 25 (mile 16 to you and I) and there is absolutely no space between the runners. There were actually police boats on the Seine, apparently waiting for the occasional runner to keel over and pitch into the water.

Fortunately Dave's friend from New York, Rick spotted us in the crowd and we had a brief rendez-vous.  Good to see friends when they are in Paris. Seemed like a glorious day for a run, especially for watching one.

Getting Around Paris (Part 1)

So I hope we've already mentioned walking as a great way to get around Paris especially with so many pedestrian streets. To repeat the city is fairly small and its a great way to see the city, but there are more ways to get around than your own two feet. Of course there are private cars but they tend to be smaller than in the States. Its noteworthy when a full size SUV passes by and I don't think we have seen anything approaching a real pickup truck. Instead the smaller end of the scale predominates. 'Smart cars' are more common here than in the NY area, but not so many that you'd say they were common. Still I didn't have to wait long to snap this picture.

 

The two biggest differences are the bicycles and motor bikes.  I'd estimate that a full third of Paris street traffic is split between these two. Often you'll see them traveling together in packs because of their superior ability to weave between traffic at lights.  Its very widespread, you'll see businessmen wearing suits driving a motor scooter home from work, baguette tucked away or a fashionable woman pedaling down the street.
There is quite a diversity of different motorized bikes. There are ones with two wheels in the front and ones that are almost fully enclosed with a roof and back as well as a windscreen. Every now and then there will be a bike that looks like it came off the dirt racing track and more rarely something big and American. Of course there are plenty of cherry red Vespas too.

Motorcycles, scooters and Vespa's line the street

Biking is encouraged by the Paris government with Velib stations. These are stations where for a small annual fee you can borrow a bike for half hour at no cost as long as you return them to another station. You'll need a European style bankcard with a chip if you want to try them though. From personal observation they are everywhere and they get quite a bit of use. I do pity whoever pedals to the top of Sacre Coeur and come back expecting to find 'his' or any other bike!

Now I confess we have neither scooter-ed nor biked in Paris, perhaps now that the weather is nicer we'll try the biking. It is somewhat intimidating, the traffic is slower here than New York but often more crowded and the intersections are insane! Though if we do and survive we'll be sure to write about it!

You can see stations are pretty much everywhere near us
and they are putting new ones in all the time

Skiing in the Alps

Last weekend we went skiing in the French Alps. Hear the emphasis on French Alps. Its a phrase you might hear a movie millionaire say but its also one of those nice phrases you can use while living in Paris. It felt great to get out of the urban environment and be someplace natural (even Dave was getting tired of historic buildings). And it certainly was lovely!

 

We stayed in the department of Savoie, in the town of St. Jean-de-Maurienne with a couple friend of ours, the husband, Julien, is French and his wife, Enny, is Indonesian, and Julien's father. Julien's family had lived in the valley for generations so it we could see the place a little through their eyes. For instance, halfway up the mountain every morning we'd pass the tiny village where Julien's grandmother and family had lived in the summer when they drove the cows up from the valley for  pasture.

The weather was nearly 80 degrees in the valley and 60 or so on the slopes so we had beautiful weather. Unfortunately the trade off was slushy conditions in some places, but we all had a good time. Mary took some lessons with Enny,while Dave tried to hang with Julien and his father, they both fell about the same amount. More importantly no one got hurt! Though we were fairly sore from under used muscles.