EIFFEL TOWER & SIGHTSEEING (DAYS 36, 37)

On Tuesday we spent most of the day around the most iconic landmark of Paris…so the day's blog will consist primarily of pictures of us reveling around the Eiffel Tower. 

Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to that year's World's Fair, the 1,063-foot structure was the tallest in the world until 1930 when the Chrysler Building in New York City was completed. Although the Eiffel Tower was to be dismantled in 1909, its usefulness as a communications transmitting tower saved it from becoming scrap metal - though con artist, Victor Lustig still "sold" it twice for that very purpose.    Many artists and writers expressed outrage over the design, though most ended their criticism when the tower was built. Others remained indignant. The popular writer Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the tower's cafe every day. When asked why, he replied that it "was the one place in Paris where one could not see the structure."

The day was made even more memorable when we met up with newfound friends Jeannine Cavallo and her daughter, Dylan (like Quinn a gymnast at TAGS in Eden Prairie) and joined the ranks of the 250 million people who have visited the tower. 

We had a great time strolling and chatting with the Cavallos while the kids rode scooters on the walkways surrounding the tower. After a delectable Chinese lunch, we went to the nearby Trocadéro Fountain where we cooled off by dipping our feet into the water.

We considered joining some local boys who were sliding down the concrete embankment until one of them came out of the water clutching his leg; a piece of glass had sliced a two-inch gash on the bottom of his left foot. I whipped out my omnipresent and imminently useful Dr. Dad First-Aid Kit and was able to provide some assistance until an ambulance came and whisked him away. 

After a return to our hotel room to freshen up, we took the Metro back to the Eiffel Tower area for a sunset boat tour of the major sights along the Seine.

We enjoyed seeing the houseboats lining the banks of the river and listening to the recorded audio guide talk us through the history of the palaces, museums, cathedrals and overpasses. The ornate Alexandre III arch bridge, seen in the background below, is regarded as the most ornate, extravagant span in all of Paris and includes gilt-bronze statues, gilded masonry and wrought-iron accents.

We picked that night to enjoy some fine French cuisine and, ooh la la, enjoyed a very fancy meal and excellent service aboard a floating restaurant with a fantastic view of the Seine and the tower. We finished our Eiffel experience with another stroll over to the Trocadéro to capture some shots of the reflection of the tower in the water before settling on a spot along the river to take in the nightly show of shimmering lights that further accentuated the tower's grace and beauty.

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Now that we had become underground travel experts in our third European city, we were determined to ride the rails to hit several must-see Parisian sights on Wednesday. We began by visiting the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Unfortunately photography is not permitted in the interior of the Roman Catholic church, but intricate mosaics made with tiny shimmering tiles laid into the walls make up the stations of the cross and crests of the families that privately funded the building's construction which began in 1875 and was completed in 1914. The popular landmark is located at the summit of the butte Montmarte, the highest point in the city, and afforded an expansive view of the streets below.

Our next stop was the the Peré Lachaise cemetery, the largest and most famous in Paris. Reputed to be the world's most visited cemetery, it attracts visitors from around the globe to the graves of luminaries who lived or died in France over the last two hundred years.

The cemetery is a fascinating mix of very old and very modern memorials. Moss-covered graves with illegible markings are next to sleek, black marble headstones with etched photos of the recently deceased. Many stone slabs and posts have caved in or toppled over, making it appear as if the undead fought their way out or grave robbers pried them open. Row after row of vertical tombs with rusty metal doors, many slightly ajar, invite passers-by to peek in if they dare.

Like most others wandering the narrow passageways between crypts, our primary aim was finding the internment site of Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, who died in Paris in 1971. We also made sure to find Frédéric Chopin's final resting place where we sat and listened to the composer's Nocturne in Ebm Op. 9, No. 2, while we enjoyed the peace of the moment. 

Our last major goal was visiting the interior of Notre-Dame (Our Lady) de Paris, the historic Roman Catholic cathedral on which construction began in 1163. Completed in 1345, the building is one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and is thought to be the most well-known church in the world. As we entered, we enjoyed looking at the statues of saints and biblical kings adorning the exterior walls, including that of the martyr Saint Denis holding his decapitated head.

The interior is, needless to say, a magnificent work of art that holds a variety of items of historical, religious and architectural significance. The stunning five-foot chandelier below had been lowered to the ground for cleaning.

The stations of the cross and other religious artwork on the walls are massive, morbidly-detailed wood carvings that shine with gilded paint.

Important religious men are entombed in the sanctuary and their crypts are marked with bejeweled stone replicas of their deceased bodies. I am unable to find out more information on this fellow but in all the cathedrals we've visited in Europe, none of the memorial statues had this much finery.

Our sightseeing complete for the day, we walked back to the hotel in search of some crêpes and found a stand near the Georges Pompidou building. We sat to rest our tired legs while we enjoyed our sweet snacks and watched street performers working for change on the busy square before calling it a day.

HERGÉ MUSEUM & BOTANICAL GARDEN, ARRIVAL IN PARIS (DAYS 33, 34)

For our last full day in Brussels, we hit two spots that were in our plans from the beginning but had never been squeezed into our busy schedule; The Hergé Museum and the National Botanic Garden of Belgium. The former opened in Louvain-la-Neuve in June, 2009 and was well worth the visit for fans of the local icon, comics writer and artist.

The museum is expansive and neatly organized and everyone gets a headset and iPod loaded with entertaining details and interactive activities that guide you through the archives of Hergé's work.

Visitors get closer to the characters and stories through biographical information, examples of Hergé's influences, lots of props, artifacts and artwork from the Hergé Studios as well as specimens of his work outside of the Tintin series. Some of the most interesting items were the original pencil sketches of familiar scenes such as this draft of the cover of The Castafiore Emerald.

After lunch, we drove to the Botanic Garden, or Plantentuin, in Meise and were glad we made time to do so. The garden covers 92 hectares through winding, shaded pathways and holds 18,000 varieties of plants.

The Plant Palace is the largest greenhouse in Belgium and comprises a series of rooms with vegetation from all over the world including edible tropical fruits, Mediterranean greenery, a Dry House full of cacti and the Victoria House with carnivorous plants and other marsh-dwellers such as the world's biggest water lilies. 

One of our favorite rooms was the Evolution House with examples of plants from the beginning of their evolution to land 500 million years ago through the Jurassic period to today's varied flora. Below you'll see two herbivorous dinosaurs munching on leaves and one carnivore on the prowl. 

In the tropical mountain rainforest room, the mist was so heavy that drops fell like rain from the canopy above.

And of course, since it was a European greenhouse, they also had some melons on display.

The grounds also contain the renovated 12th-century Castle of Bouchout which is unfortunately only open to the public during special exhibitions, and the day of our visit was not one of them.

The weekend was brutally hot and we stayed out as long as we could so we could ride around in the cool comfort of our rental car. Our flat, like many places in Belgium, doesn't have air-conditioning as it's not typically needed (though I think the climate change we're seeing will make it a lucrative business in the coming years). After dinner, Betsy was kind enough to send me off to the relative cool of our local movie theater where I saw The Dark Knight Rises. This one was in English with French and Dutch subtitles and was the first thing I've enjoyed watching besides Olympics on TV and Angels baseball online since we got here.

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Sunday morning was spent packing, sweating and preparing to leave the flat once and for all to begin the Paris leg of our journey.  As excited as we were to explore the City of Light for five days, we may have been even more eager to check in to our air-conditioned hotel!

After an uneventful three-and-a-half hour drive, we made it to the Crowne Plaza on the Place de la République and got settled before an exploratory stroll. Our first order of business was introducing the kids to the world of French cuisine by hitting a KFC across the street. We then lingered at the Stravinski Fountain outside the Centre Pompidou and enjoyed the sixteen surreal structures that move and spray water.

Our main target was the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Since the day was winding down, a walk around the exterior and a plan to visit the interior in a couple of days were enough to keep us happy.

The bridge crossing from the cathedral to the left bank of the Seine, the Pont de l'Archêvché, is one of the "love lock" bridges on which people have fastened their symbolic tokens of love. Couples from around the world secure an engraved lock to the railing and then toss the key into the river as as symbol of their unbreakable bond.

Our sunset walk up the Seine gave us our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower before we grabbed some ice cream for the walk back to the hotel.

METRO TO "BEACH," GARDENS & CATHEDRAL (DAY 16)

Today we successfully used a Metro day pass, taking three different jaunts and only hopping on one wrong train!  

Thanks to Betsy's French and some helpful passers-by, our first train took us to the far north side of the main loop where we walked one short block to the Canal of Brussels and the tenth edition of the city's temporary summer "beach." 

There were no swimming opportunities but plenty of sand and a few other kid-friendly activity areas. The best features were the international food and drink stands all the way up and down the strip. That day, however, we chose to pack our usual lunch of french bread, ham and cheese so we mostly just enjoyed the smells...except for the mojito I sipped on while the kids frolicked in the sand.

After our second foray underground, we emerged at the Botanical Gardens of Brussels. The six-hectacre gardens, originally opened in 1829 to great fanfare, includes a central domed rotunda and numerous sculptures which were added in the late 1890's. 

  

In 1938 most of the botanical resources were removed to the National Botanic Garden of Belgium on the grounds of Bouchout Castle just north of the city - a spot we hope to visit soon. The original site we saw Wednesday now stands as a cultural center while the historical statues and much of the garden is still intact.

We found the building, fountains and walkways quite run down but one did get a sense of what a gathering place the garden must have been in its heyday. The trees, hedges and flowers were mostly well maintained and there was still a cafe in the rotunda serving food and drinks (of course) as well as a museum displaying historical photographs.

We stayed aboveground to walk a few blocks south to what appeared to be a very grand cathedral on our map of Brussels and passed by a striking monument known as the Congress Column. The monument, completed in 1859, memorializes several different stages of Belgian history from the statue of King Leopold I atop the column to the tomb of the unknown soldiers of the World Wars at the base. It also commemorates the founding of Belgium in 1830 and the statues at the foot of the structure symbolize the various liberties guaranteed under the country's constitution.

We weren't disappointed as we turned the corner and first saw La Cathedrale des Saints Michel-et-Gudule. Of all of the places of worship we've visited thus far, this was the most awe-inspiring.

The stations of the cross were sculptures carved into alcoves along the outer walls, twelve of the columns lining the main aisle of the sanctuary were adorned with large statues of the apostles, the woodwork on the pulpits and confessionals were remarkably intricate and the modern pipe organ soared up to the ceiling. The cathedral in its current form was built between 1226 and 1276 and the facade was completed in the mid-fifteenth century.

The site is even older, however, as a chapel dedicated to St. Michael was built here as early as the 9th century. Visitors can walk underneath the main floor to see the foundations of the church built around 1047 that replaced the first one. You can touch the actual walls at ground-level from Romanesque times and see graffiti that was scratched into the stone hundreds of years ago. The picture below was on a display underground and shows how they excavated the original site. The two squares at lower left were crypts that are still open for viewing and bones were visible inside them.

We made it home despite getting on the wrong subway line for our last leg of the journey. I realized it quickly so we switched trains and got to the flat in time for the evening Olympic coverage. Betsy enjoyed a special night out when she and her good friend from work, Els Dedobeleer, shared a wonderful meal at Cook and Book. Their evening concluded with an elegant tea serving and a photo-bomber.

We brought along plenty of art supplies and the kids have enjoyed expressing their excitement about their adventures on paper. Below are Quinn's rendition of the gargantuan Palace of Justice and Vaughn's map of one our most frequently-travelled routes through the city.  

A few new thoughts and observations about living here...

Some Europeans, upon visiting the U.S., comment that Americans are so friendly. Well it's not that we're necessarily friendlier, it's just that we acknowledge one another in public. I'm used to passing by someone or sharing an elevator and exchanging a smile or a nod of the head. Here, I notice that if I do happen to make eye contact with someone, their countenance typically doesn't change from a distracted frown. It's not a big deal, but perhaps as a parent who's usually accompanied by three energetic youngsters I suppose I've become accustomed to a little more geniality. I'll just keep smiling and saying hello to people and maybe it'll rub off.

I've been struggling to decipher the worn-out pictograms on our combination oven/microwave appliance in our flat. I was unable to find any use guides online so I sought the help of our landlord. A day later, he was kind enough to send over a manual...in Dutch. Unfortunately, I'm still not entirely certain how to properly use the bedeiningspaneel for regelmatig schoonmaken but at least I can make things hot.

We've learned that every time we leave the flat, we'd each better have two things; a full bottle of water and an empty bladder. Water fountains are almost nowhere to be seen and you have to pay to use the toilet just about anywhere you go. Unless, of course, you're male and able to let go in public at one of the open urinal stands we've come across from time to time.

Finally, it had been way too long since we came across some statuesque mammaries so we were delighted to find this young colossal couple in a nude embrace outside a financial building near the Botanical Gardens.