Day Ninety-Four: On our way to Italy

Can't post, heading out to the train to get to Amsterdam airport.... just letting everyone know that I won't be blogging anymore while in Italy because I'm not taking my computer, but I will record everything while there and post when We're back in Canada. Thanks for reading, and you'll hear from me soon!

Day Seventy and Seventy-one: That darn strike

Well, we had grand plans to visit the Grand Palais today, which is a large historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex. They have a science center, and a variety of featured exhibitions which, according to the website, guaranteed to intrigue and interest. However, before we could do that, we had to quickly head over to the Montparnasse Train station to see if we could get our tickets home exchanged. See, last night we heard that the France strike over mandatory retirement age had now spilled over into Belgium. Which would have been just fine, except that in order to get back to Holland, the train would be traveling through Belgium. And since Belgium was on strike, the train would not be going back to Holland. After much deliberation, trying to book one more day at the hotel (it was fully booked), we decided that we could do nothing else but change our plans and leave a day early to avoid the strike.

So, we went downstairs to the train station and, much to Rob’s chagrin, stood in a line for about a half hour only to finally be told that they could do nothing for us and that we had to go to the Thalys station at Gare du Nord. Joy. We took the Metro to Gare du Nord, and stood in another line for another half hour, only to be told that they couldn’t exchange the ticket because it was purchased online, but that we could just get on the train tomorrow and explain the situation to the ticket collector on the day, presenting our current tickets. This was not quite the answer we had been hoping for, and it put a huge damper on our day. Most of the day wasted, we headed back home…

…and then remembered the Catacombs! The Catacombs are a famous underground ossuary that fills a renovated section of caverns and tunnels that are the remains of Paris' stone mines. The entrance to the Catacombs was fairly easy to find, thanks to my friend Dave’s tip on what to look for. Making it especially easy to find was the long queue of people assembled outside of a small, unimposing door with a sign reading Catacombes de Paris. The line took just over a half hour to work through, and Rob was less than happy after all the lines we had waited in previously today. However, I kept insisting that it would be worth the wait, and it definitely was, in my opinion.




The ticket booth regulates how many people enter the catacombs as there can only be a certain amount of people in the tunnels at any given time. When one person exits, another can enter. We bought our tickets, and headed to the narrow, stone spiral staircase of 130 steps. You could hear the faint trickle of water being channeled through the aqueduct, but not much else. The stairs acted as a very effective muffler, and it was difficult even to hear Rob as he descended only steps in front of me. We entered the passageways, finally, and after reading some educational plaques posted through the first few chambers, we were on our own, navigating through the sometimes low and dimly lit tunnels. It was moist, and unnaturally quiet. The rough, rocky walls and ceilings soon turned into neat, mortared stone. It only made me think of the reinforcement needed to keep the city of Paris from crashing down on these maze of tunnels. It had happened before in the late 18th century, and after several houses and roadways collapsed into previously unknown caverns below, Inspectors were made to assess and reinforce the tunnel system. The Catacombs were turned into a burial ground at the end of the 18th century. The cemetery of Innocents, a huge mass grave for commoners filled past overflowing, had been used for over five hundred years and had become the origin of infection as human rot leeched into the drinking water. Not cool. After multiple complaints, the Council of State finally pronounced the removal and the evacuation of the Cemetery of the Innocents on November 9, 1785. And where did they put all the bones? You guessed it, the Catacombs.

After winding around the passageways, we stumbled upon a sculpture that existed from a time even before this part of the mines became an ossuary; a model of France’s Port-Mahon fortress created by a former Quarry Inspector. Apparently these sculptures were created to signify landmarks on street level. It’s pretty impressive when you think of how difficult it would’ve been to create something like this by torchlight, with limited instruments. It’s pretty detailed, and they way they’ve lit it makes it really pop.

A few more passageways later, we found ourselves peering up at a stone portal, the ossuary entry, graced with the inscription "Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la Mort" ('Stop, this is the empire of Death'). Beyond this menacing sign begin the halls and caverns with walls carefully arranged with human bones. The arrangements are beautifully organized, and there are artistic little details such as a heart-shaped outline in one wall formed with skulls embedded in surrounding tibias; another is a round room whose central pillar is also a carefully created 'keg' bone arrangement. You can't help but think about the shear numbers of people who had to have been dead to fill this place. There are also other monuments created in the years before catacomb renovations, such as a fountain baptised "La Samaritaine" because of later-added engravings. We noticed rusty gates blocking passages leading to other restricted parts of the catacombs – many of these are either un-renovated or were too un-navigable for regular tours.

In a cavern just before the exit stairway, we saw a really cool example of what the Quarry Inspection's work in the rest of Paris' underground requires: its roof is two 11-metre high domes of naturally degraded rock, reinforced by concrete. The dates painted into the highest point of “bell”, as they were called, tell you what year the work to the collapsing cavern ceiling was done, and whether it has degraded since. A pretty good system, unless the date crumbles off!

We hiked up the 83 steps to street level feeling happy to be alive… and decided to have a nice picnic style dinner back in our hotel room. We bought some bottles of wine, a baguette, Brie and Port Salut cheese, smoked salmon, and some salads. Quite yummy.

The next morning, Rob’s friend Celine came into Paris to hang out with us on our last day. She was one of the people in Rob’s dorms when he was in France on exchange during his undergrad. We walked down the Champs Elysées together, stopping in car stores with Rob. I wasn’t entirely interested in touristy shopping, but it was cool to walk down this wide boulevard. At the bottom of the Place Charles de Gaulle, we saw the Arc de Triomphe, The Luxor Obelisk (originally located at the entrance to the Luxor Temple, in Egypt), and the Fountain of River Commerce and Navigation. The Arc de Triomphe is so colossal that three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, marking the end of hostilities in World War I, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane through it, with the event captured on newsreel! The 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. Muhammad Ali Pasha offered the two obelisks standing at the entrance of Luxor Temple to France in 1829. King Louis-Philippe had it placed in the center of Place de la Concorde on October 25, 1836, where a guillotine used to stand during the Revolution. However, the other obelisk was too heavy to move with the technology of that time, and in the 1990s, President Mitterrand officially gave the second obelisk back to the Egyptians (even though it was in Egypt the whole time). That’s a lot of history in one city square, I tell you.





We ended up having lunch and heading directly to Gare du Nord, so that we could be sure that we got on the train. It was very full, but we ended up scoring seats and made it home just fine, thank goodness!

Paris Motor Show 2010: Rob's Story

The Paris Motor Show was, in a word, fantastic. If you know me, you know I’m passionate about cars. A few years back I went to the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland, and was thoroughly impressed. Compared with the show in Toronto I go to every year, it was miles better. Fortunately, the Paris show was even better!

First off, you get to see all the European cars that never make it to the other side of the pond. In some cases these cars can be fairly mundane; just because they sell the Dacia Sandero over here doesn’t mean it’s export worthy. I had to stop by and see the Dacia though, just because Captain Slow (aka James May) always goes on about it on Top Gear. Believe me, it’s really, really terrible. In other cases, however, they have some pretty incredible vehicles that don’t make it over to North America. Take for instance the Fiat 500 Abarth, the super hot version of the otherwise fairly plane Fiat 500. Or, take the Ford Focus RS500. They only made 500 of them, but it is ridiculously fast, and menacing in matte black



Second, the Europeans take their racing a lot more seriously than in North America. Perhaps this is because I’ve only been to the Toronto show, where manufacturers seem almost afraid to show that their vehicles have sporting credentials. Even the NASCAR teams rarely show their faces in Toronto. In Paris, however, racing was EVERYWHERE. There were two of the Peugeot 908 HDi's from the 24 hours of LeMans, Sebastian Loeb’s Cirtoen C4 rally car (he’s won the last 7 World Rally Championships), the Ford Fiesta rally car, and a prototype Mini rally car.






Of course, Formula 1 was also represented with Jenson Button’s BGP001 car, possibly the most visually boring formula one car to ever win the championship. Renault brought their F1 car (oddly enough, with a large Lada logo on the side of it), although Ferrari’s F1 presence was strangely non-existent.



The best, however, was this little Mazda racer stuck away in a corner, in the best of vehicles past section. The Mazda 787 first competed at LeMans in 1990, but both vehicles retired due to technical failures. The same could not be said of the following year when they brought 3 cars to the 24 hour race, started in 19th, 23rd, and 30th position, and ended up winning the race (with the other two cars also finishing in the top 10). It should also be noted that 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place at the race was taken by the Jaguar XJR-12, an absolutely bonkers race car with a 7.4L V12 engine. The Mazda? It was powered by a tiny 2.6L Wankel Rotary engine! The best part of the story, for me anyways, is that the following year the FIA actually banned the use of the wankel engine in cars competing at Le Mans, so this underdog from Japan was retired at the top of its game, before it could defend its title.







Also of note, the show was chock full of green vehicles. The eco-mentalists, as Jeremy Clarkson would call them, seem to have taken over cars in Europe, with one entire building in the show dedicated to environmentally friendly vehicles. You could learn about all the new technologies (from battery manufacturers, to charging station providers, to customization groups), see the newest and greatest prototypes, and even sign up to test the newest hybrid and plugin electric models. Obviously, I didn’t care about any of this, so I didn’t bother with pictures. What was cool (and what I think could actually work) is electric scooters. I could see people buying an electric scooter, since they don’t go very far on a scooter usually, and you can also own a car for the weekends and traveling. Both Mini and Smart (two very successful manufacturers) had their concepts at the show – I liked the Mini better. Smart also brought an ebicycle concept , but along with most of these eco-dream concepts, they’re probably too expensive to be successful in the market.



Without question, the most incredible and ridiculous car was the new Lamborghini. It looked like a modern version of the Countach, or Diablo, in that it was crazy and beautiful and so over the top that every little boy wants one. I’ve included a video that I took of it, enjoy.




Other vehicles of note included



Audi Quattro concept - very angular, and a departure from the general styling principles across the entire Audi line. Seriously, take a look at every audi that they make, and they’re pretty much all the same. Even the R8 is too close in style to the rest of their lineup.



Range Rover Evoque concept – a two door SUV? Yes, seriously. Expect this to be the next big thing for wannabe rappers and hockey/soccer/basketball players. The SUV is useless for almost everyone who owns it, and the two door version is the ultimate in uselessness.



Mercedes CLS – the old one was stunningly beautiful for a big four door car. The new one has something wrong with the front end. It’s not as flowing and graceful as the old one, and the front reminds me of the front of a Dodge Charger (which is supposed to look like the front of a Dodge Ram after all)

Finally, Lotus was the real standout of the show. They brought not one, not two, but FIVE new concepts to the show. When I read about all these models, and I looked at the pictures, I thought they were joking. When you look at the pictures, there just isn’t enough different between all the models. And their naming doesn’t make it any easier; the five models were named Eterne, Esprit, Elise, Elan and Elite! But in person, all of a sudden it starts to make a little more sense;

• Eterne – a four door sports car. Think the Porsche Panamera, the Aston Martin Rapide, or maybe the Maserati Quattreporte. Fantastic. Hope they make it. (sorry, didn't get a picture of this one)



Esprit – the top of the range sports car. Think Ferrari 599, Aston Martin DBS. Fast, beautiful, and slightly bigger than the other cars. Makes sense, as a halo car for the brand. Plus the old esprit has name recognition



Elise – the smallest of the bunch, and the most obvious replacement for the existing elise/exige, this is the one I think they will actually make. It’s kind of like a miata or s2000, but a lot better and a lot faster, for not that much more money. This is their big volume car. Think of it like the boxster for Porsche.



Elan – slightly larger than the elise, but not that much between the two. This one will be hard to sell within the company.



Elite – at first, very similar to the Elan, meaning it doesn’t fit in the product line. But then, it has a hard top convertible roof. Incredibly sexy. Think of it like the Ferrari California, or a hardtop convertible 911 (if Porsche made one!). Should be a good market for it. Check out the video below, around the 50 second mark you can see the top come down.




Lotus was smarter than most manufacturers at the show, in that their section was closed off and certain people would be let up on to the stage to see the cars. This is usually how Ferrari and the like keep their cars away from the riffraff, but I’ve never considered Lotus to be in this league. It’s clear that Proton (the Malaysian owners of Lotus) are putting big money into the brand, and are smartly moving it upscale to increase buyer’s willingness to pay. Anyways, I was able to get up on to the stage and spent a good 15-20 minutes looking at these new vehicles, taking photos, and talking to some company reps. Very interesting, should be exciting to see where they go in the future.

Other than that, the show was great. Busy (since the country was on strike, I have a feeling some workers came to the show on the second last day), but generally good.

Day Sixty-Nine: The Louvre and the Paris Car Show

Today Rob and I went our separate ways. Not permanently, of course. Rob wanted to go to the Paris Auto Show with more enthusiasm than words can describe, and with the same amount of enthusiasm, I absolutely did not want to go. However, I did want to go to the Louvre, and since Rob had already been, he suggested I go on without him and he’d go to the Auto Show. Rob will be doing his own post on the Paris Auto show, but I'm gonna spend a minute talking about the Louvre. My commute there worked out perfectly, although Rob was very concerned that I would get lost. Which I absolutely didn’t… not until I got in the Louvre, that is. I had always heard how massive the Louvre is, but I didn’t fully realize it until I started walking around!

At first, I had told myself I was going to try to see everything. It’s impossible. If you want to stop and look at things (which, of course, I always do), then there’s no way to see everything in one day. I started on the top floor, and thought I’d work my way down, but I got stuck on the next floor down (after about two and a half hours spent on the top floor) drawing some of the sculptures. Below, I've compiled some of the better, more finished line drawings I did based on some sculptures I was interested in. Although you are allowed to take pictures in the Louvre, I didn't take these pictures, or any other ones, for that matter, because Rob took the camera to the car show. So, on one side is my drawing, and the other side is a photo of the statues from the closest angle I could find to my actual perspective.

1) Eurydice mourante (Dying Eurydice) by Charles-François Leboeuf

2) Suzanne au bain (Suzanne Bathing) by Pierre-Nicolas Beauvallet

3) Jeanne d'Arc écoutant ses voix (Joan of Arc listening to her voices) by François Rude

Rob and I had agreed to meet back at the hotel at about 5:30-6:00 and by 4:45 I realized I hadn’t even gotten to see the Mona Lisa yet. So, I powered my way over there, realizing just how much of the museum I hadn’t even seen yet, and found the Mona Lisa. Highly overrated, in my opinion. There are so many other pieces in that museum that were just as, if not more, beautiful and interesting… The Mona Lisa has been placed behind bullet proof glass and has been cordoned off so that people can't get too close. I understand that it's an icon in it's own right, but people crowd around it like it's going to give them the secret to the meaning of life. Dont' get me wrong, it's beautiful, and it's definitely had an interesting history... but I think that today, the Mona Lisa is only famous because it’s been famous forever. That’s just my opinion, though.

Now, the trouble was, finding my way back out. It seemed that every exit I navigated toward was closed… because something or other was under construction. This is when I started to get lost. And more and more people were flooding in because Friday nights are discounted after 6:00. It took me a while, but I made it out and into the Metro. Rob thought I’d died, of course, because I was more than two hours late getting back. Sorry Rob. He had a good time at the auto show, so that’s good. He showed me his pictures when I got back in the room; so glad I didn’t go, I would’ve been so bored.

Had Italian for dinner and spent some time researching what we’d do tomorrow morning…

Day Sixty-eight: Eiffel Tower and the Musee D’orsay

This morning Rob and I got up bright and early, stopped in at the grocery store to pick up some fruit and pain au chocolat and OJ, and made our way on over to the Eiffel Tower. Our ultimate goal was to skip out on the line situation, since Rob absolutely hates standing in lines. We did a pretty good job of preempting the lines, thank goodness, and we were blessed to find out that the Tower was indeed allowing people up! Apparently, they haven’t been very regularly allowing people up the Tower, but we made it happen. The only annoyance that I can think of were all the men peddling Eiffel tower miniatures, key chains, flash lights, etc. It reminded me of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul... "Come come, my friend, I give you good deal!"


The ride up was pretty cool, but also a little nerve-wracking. It didn't help that a family in the car with us kept talking about the likelihood of the lift breaking on our way up. First the car goes up the first third of the tower at an angle, then stops and continues up straight to the first viewing floor. You have to get out of the first car and into another elevator to go up to the top viewing deck. The tower stands 324 m (1,063 ft) tall, which isn’t the highest building I’d ever been in, (thanks, CN Tower) but the view was really incredible. You could literally see for miles, and the early morning light with the mist still clinging to the ground created some lovely views. In one of the pictures, you can see the Tower’s shadow falling across the buildings below. Pretty cool! On the walls above the indoor viewing windows, there were plaques pointing to various cities all around the world telling the viewers the distance between the Eiffle Tower and, say, Toronto, Canada. Of course it gave us a fun little photo op. As wonderful as the views were from up there, it was so cold and we didn’t feel like losing our fingers to frost bite. We descended back to solid ground and took a moment to find a nice spot in a park to sit and eat our pain au chocolat.



Breakfast eaten and bellies happily full, we meandered through the streets in the direction of the Musee D’orsay. On the way, we passed Pont Alexandre III, an arch bridge that spans the Seine, connecting the Champs-Élysées quarter and the Invalides and Eiffel Tower quarter. It was built to honour Tsar Alexandre III and it’s considered to be the most ornate, extravagant bridge in Paris. I have to agree; however, I consider everything in Paris to be ornate and extravagant. I have honestly never seen a city so devoted to sculpture and architecture and beautiful things during all our travel in Europe. Nothing in Canada even comes close; the history and the art that has built this city into the wonder that it is today will hopefully be established in a Canadian city someday.



Rob has been a wonderful tour guide for me so far in Paris. He seems to always know where we’re going, and it was interesting for me to be shown around the city by someone who’d been there before. He was able to tell me about some of the palaces and other buildings as we passed by them, which has been really engaging. He was very excited to take me to the Musee D’orsay, which was where he said he grew his great appreciation for impressionist art. More specifically, it’s where he fell in love with the painter, Alfred Sisley. Now, I’m not a particular fan of either Sisley or impressionism, but I do really enjoy talking with Rob about art, impressions on the painter’s motives, techniques and the emotions conveyed. Thankfully, however, the Musee D’orsay isn’t just post-impressionism, there’s also more contemporary art. There was an entire section for Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts works that included furniture, ceramics, bronze works, wood sculpture, glass blowing… and of course 2-D painting. I really enjoyed this collection, as I’d never seen Art Nouveau featured so prominently in a gallery before. There are also many beautiful sculptures and statues, classical Dutch, French and Italian paintings, a collection of work by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (the man who did all the original painting advertising for the Moulin Rouge), and even some photography. It was quite a varied, and seamlessly presented. The building itself is really incredible, too, as it's housed in the former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay. The space is just so huge and really sets off the sculpture hall magnificently. Imagine if Union Station in Toronto was turned into an Art Museum... totally cool.



Outside, we took pictures of the really amazing life-size sculptures in the courtyard of the Museum, which was fun. From here, we took the Metro back to our hotel and I took a nap before dinner. We went to an awesome Thai place called Spice and Wine, which, despite having been very empty and very small, had spectacular Pad Thai, my absolute favourite.

Day Sixty-six and Seven: Homeward and on to Paris

Today we wanted to go to the Istanbul Military Museum. We had to check out of our apartment by 11AM and didn’t have to head back to the airport until about 5PM (our flight back to Amsterdam wasn’t until 8:30PM). We were excited to spend our last day in Turkey checking out this awesome museum. From what we read, it holds striking historical treasures such as the chain that the Byzantines stretched across the mouth of the Golden Horn to keep out the Sultan's navy in 1453. You can also see/hear the Mehter, the world's oldest military band, playing traditional marching songs that would be played through the streets of cities that had just been over thrown, to symbolize the cultural take-over.


So we walked to the museum, and then realized that it was closed… bummer. We spent the rest of the day wandering through the streets stopping at Starbucks for bathroom breaks and ate doner kebab at a fast food place. Oh well. Finally, our car came to pick us up and traffic was absolutely hideous! Rob was super stressed out that we would miss our flight. We had picked up another family of people on the way, as well, and when the driver stopped at a truck stop to get coffee and some bottles of water, it felt like everyone in the van wanted to throw something at the man. It didn’t help that he was in such a jovial mood the entire time…

Anyway, we ended up making the flight just fine, and got back to Rijswijk without any major problems (we missed the last train, however and had to take a cab from Den Haag). We gave Anne her Turkish vase and she liked it, we chatted a bit and then went to bed; the next day was Paris, after all.

The next day we headed to Rotterdam, and jumped on the Thalys train to Paris. It only took a couple of hours and we arrived in Paris, the City of Love. And dog poop sidewalks, apparently. From the train station, Gare du Nord, we took the metro to Gare Montparnasse, where we were steps away from Le Meridien, the hotel we were staying at. I was rather impressed by the metro lines in Paris; there are so many lines that you can literally get anywhere from underground. Which was nice because Paris was really cold while we were there. Anyway, we signed into our hotel, and this was the view out our window. We could check out Montparnasse Cemetery where Jim Morrison from the Doors is buried, as well as Frédéric Bartholdi (the guy would did the Statue of Liberty), Man Ray (A peer of Salvador Dali and Marcel Duchamp), and Bernard Lacoste (president of Lacoste apparel company), among many other noted politicians, artists, musicians, scientists, etc.

After settling into our room, we decided to go for walk about. We strolled down the streets of Paris and I admired the quiet, classic beauty of the architecture around me. There is a real sense about Parisan streets, the way the buildings seem so much a part of a feeling rather than a structure of purpose. The crisp yet gentle breeze moving through the tree-lined boulevards that keep the downtown core feeling green and park-like rather than slick and urban. The statues and sculptures from all sizes, descriptions and periods that dot public spaces and hidden places. It’s the kind of place where you want to hold hands and walk without knowing what direction you’re headed, because around the next corner could be anything.

Like Palais du Luxembourg, for example. We found the outer gardens and were charmed by the pear trees and dog walkers and teenagers in love. Following the path toward the palace, Rob and I stopped at the huge, round water fountain/pond and watched the children playing with toy sailboats, running around to meet their boat on the other side of the pond and guide it back out to open water with their push pole. It was absolutely delightful to watch and I was very tempted to rent a toy boat from a pond-side vendor. However, we decided to move on.


We walked toward Notre Dame, which was absolutely beautiful in the waning sunlight. It shone bright brick orange against the sky, and we stood for a while, leaning up against the stone wall on the sidewalk overlooking the Seine, marveling at the intricate, wonderfully gothic details that make this church so magnificent. Venturing inside, and quite thankful for a break from the chilly breeze outside, we wandered around the church in quiet wonder. There was a service going on and we took seats in the congregation, listening to the choir sing their liturgical choruses. I let my eyes wander, following the lines of the inner architecture and resting my gaze on the great, circular stained glass window. It truly is a beautiful church… not sure if it’s my favourite church, but it’s definitely beautiful.



Later, as we walked back outside, Rob and I commented that we liked the outside better than the inside. The outside has much more interesting spires and columns and windows and arches and gargoyles… the inside was a little dark and too crowded. From here we made the trek back toward our hotel and stopped for sushi nearby. Although the place was very busy, the sushi was sub par (but the presentation was lovely! Yay sushi boat!) and I wouldn’t recommend the place to anyone.



Tomorrow we are heading to the Eiffel Tower and the Musee D’orsay. Stay tuned! by the way, all the photography today was brought to you by Rob's Iphone because we didn't feel like carrying the camera around with us. Vive la technology!