| We arrived in Paris in the early morning on the Friday before Thanksgiving and began our signtseeing almost immediately after dropping the bags off at the hotel. The Eiffel Tower was only a short walk from the hotel. While the group took the elevators to the top, Brenda and I searched for a warm spot somewhere out of the cold wind and fed the pigeons. We took the Bateaux Mouches ride on the first night in Paris. It was so cold that most of the kids hovered inside and didn't see everything on the ride. | 
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The next morning we awoke
to the sound of the trucks unloading all the products in the markets of the
rue Cler. Some visitors to the Grand Hotel Leveque might complain that the
noise is too much, but all of us became accustomed to it after only one
or two days. The hotel had double rooms for less than 400 FF per day, and
the simple breakfast of coffee, tea, or juice and bread and jelly costs less
than in most of the other hotels. The rooms are plain but clean with nice
bathrooms for the price. The big downer was the lack of elevator (one has
since been added). If you got a room on the fourth or fifth floor
(as some of us did), you soon learned to make the trips to the room as rare
as possible. At the meat market right across the street from the hotel, on
the outside display case, we were treated to a display of several pheasants,
three or four rabbits, and two deer!
Although there are a few restaurants nearby, we usually opted to visit the inexpensive ethnic restaurants on the rue Mouffetard in the 5th. |
| The Metro is one of the favorite ways to travel around the city, but we only use it when we want to get somewhere in a hurry and don't care about what we see in between. Our favorite way to travel around Paris is by bus and on foot. Although at rush hour, the buses can sometimes be a little slower than the Metro, they certainly provide a better view and (usually) a lot less stress. Bus 69 was our favorite, traveling both ways through the rue Cler neighborhool and stopping at the Eiffel Tower, the Musee d'Orsay, Invalides, Notre Dame, and the Pere Lachaise cemetery. | 
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We tried to spread our visits
to the museums out a little. No matter what students may say in advance,
they tire in museums much faster than teachers. The Louvre usually wears
the students down in two or three hours and the Modern Art Museum at the
Pompidou Center can't hold their attention even that long. One of the smaller
museums that is really a good change of pace from the paintings is the Musee
Rodin. There are, of course, a few paintings interspersed among Rodin's bronze
and marble works, but the sculpture is the real star here. We sometimes get
confused when we see some of the works appear in four or five places. I have
seen at least three of The Thinker in Paris. Is the one in the front courtyard
at the Musee Rodin the most important??
The students usually like the fact that many of the works are displayed outside. At the left, Kris Farrar knocks on "The Doors to Hell." |
| But much of the joy of a visit to Paris is simply walking around enjoying the city without having to see any particular "sights." A favorite place to walk and enjoy the people of the city is in the Tuileries Garden. Every time we visit Paris, Brenda and I enjoy walking through this area watching the families enjoy the city. We have decided that following retirement it might be nice to live for a few weeks in each of the great cities that we enjoy visiting so much. | 
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