Correction

In a previous post, I commented that the column from the palace of Darius might have been leaned upon by Daniel & Co. Regrettably, I had not verified this information prior to publication. Subsequent research has uncovered that the Darius in question was not the Babylonian Darius, but rather the Persian Darius - the ancestor of Ahasuerus, to whom Esther was married. So there's still a Biblical connection.]

UPDATE 4/22/2009: Both Darii were Persian. Daniel's Darius was the Persian "governor" of Babylon after it fell to the Medes and Persians. Darius the Great came a bit later, and he ruled all of Persia.

Paris - Last Day

Went to the Palace at Versailles today - home of the late Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. It was cold, windy, and wet outside. We had to stand in a long line to buy tickets. But the palace was beautiful. I imagine if it were built today, it would have linen toilet paper, emerald toilets, and high speed internet service.

Did I mention it was rainy and miserable?

I recommend Chateau de Versailles on sunny Spring days when the flowers are blooming.

But now we can say we've been there.

Pictures are here.

From the Wayback File

What are Dr. Musteen and I doing here? Post a comment if you think you know.

Like Father, Like Son

Posted without further commentary.

London vs. Paris

Here are some of the differences between London and Paris:

1. London feels much less like a foreign place and much more like just a big city. It almost feels like Manhattan, but not as tall. There are Old Places in London, but they have 21st century glass-walled skyscrapers right next door. Not so in Paris. People speak another language. Signs are in another language. Buildings aren't square. Roads seem random in both width and direction.
2. Cars in London seem more like American cars. Cars in Paris are tiny.
3. In London, everyone drives on the left side of the road. In Paris (and just about everywhere else in the world), they drive on the right.
4. London underground trains (the Tube or Underground) are quite a bit different from the Paris trains (Metro). The tunnels in London are smaller and almost perfectly round. Even the walkways are round - like walking through a big hole. The trains in London are round as well, and they fit snugly in the round tunnels. The London tunnels are also very, very deep, requiring long escalator or elevator rides to access them. Paris trains look more like regular train cars - rectangular in shape - but they ride on big rubber tires like an 18-wheeler. The tunnels in Paris aren't as deep - sometimes only a couple of short flights of stairs takes you right to the track. The tunnels are still round - but they are quite a bit bigger. The trains aren't crammed in with a perfect fit.
5. Most of the buses in London are the double decker variety. They are also red. Paris buses are green and single level.
6. London has war hero monuments everywhere. I didn't see as many in Paris. Maybe the French were just hiding them from me.
7. The main difference between London and Paris is the lack of dogs and associated dog poop scattered all over the sidewalks. The French can't seem to pick up after themselves.

Paris - Day 8

Today our sore feet and the Paris Metro carried us to the Louvre. The Louvre is the largest museum in the Western world. It is home to famous sculptures such as the Venus de Milo and famous paintings such as the Mona Lisa. The museum also houses many exhibits of ancient relics. Here are some thoughts on what we saw:

• Sculptures: I kept waiting for the statues to thaw and the people to come back to life. One frozen little girl was playing with a lizard. Another ancient deer slayer had hunted his prey and caught it with his bare hands (and a dog).


• Paintings: I never knew folks in the Bible looked and dressed like medieval Europeans. Also lots of naked people fighting with sharp objects. I'm sure it's all symbolic, but it seems terribly awkward.


• Ancient stuff: A 6-foot tall black stone was inscribed with the local laws: Hammurabi's Code. Gigantic stone bulls adorned the top of a column from Darius's Palace (the same Darius that threw Daniel to the lions?) It's sobering to think that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego might have looked at this same pillar.

We had lunch at Angelina's. Quiche Lorraine (scrambled egg casserole with ham and cheese) washed down with Angelina's famous hot chocolate. This hot chocolate is on Mrs. Musteen's list of 100 Things To Do Before You Die. 99 to go. It was tasty.

Just as with the British Museum, we could have spent weeks at the Louvre and still not scratched the surface.

Pictures can be found here. If you're easily offended by naked statues, better not look.

Jeff

London - Days 5, 6, and 7

We've had an action-packed three days. I will try to come back and go into some detail later. For now, let me hit the high points.

Friday:

• Took the Metro (Subway) from the Musteens' apartment across town the the Eurostar train station.


• Took the Eurostar from Paris to London. This is a very very fast train that goes through the tunnel under the English Channel.


• Arrived in London around 10:45AM local time. London is one hour behind Paris (so that would have been 11:45AM Paris time.)


• Took the Tube (Subway) from the Waterloo train station to our hotel. Left our bags and took the Tube back to the Tower of London.


• The Tower of London isn't really a tower - not like a lighthouse or a lookout tower. It's actually a castle. If you've ever built a sand castle, you've built something like the Tower of London. The original fortress - the White Tower - was built in 1070 (or thereabouts) by William I ("William the Conquerer.") The other parts of the tower were added over the centuries. The Tower has been home to famous and infamous prisoners throughout the ages.


• Around 6:00PM, we wandered off to find a place to eat. Then it started raining. We weren't lost, but we didn't exactly know where we were either. It was the London version of Wall Street. We ended up catching the Tube back to our hotel and eating at a little place around the corner.

Saturday:

• I wanted to "see London" from above ground, so I woke up early and learned how to use the bus system by trial-and-error. It was more error than trial. I started at 7:00AM, and after riding various buses completely across town, had to catch a cab back to the hotel because I had used up all my time. I was still 20 minutes late and L20 poorer for it. (I can't make the character for Pounds, which is the British unit of currency. One L is worth about $2.) But I did get to see London.


• We all caught the Tube and headed for Westminster Abbey. The architecture of the Abbey is similar to Notre Dame in Paris - but it is a bit smaller. But not much. It is still quite impressive. However, unlike Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey is filled with tombs and memorials to hundreds of notable people - kings, queens, dukes, scientists, authors, poets, musicians. This is also where all the kings and queens of England have been crowned since William I in 1066.


• The afternoon was spent at the British Museum. The saying goes: "If you want to see the world, come to London." And the place to see it is at the British Museum. In centuries past, Great Britain collected artifacts as quickly as it collected colonies. The main attractions were the Egyptian collection, the Assyrian collection, and the ancient Greek collection. Lots of mummies. Lots of statues. Lots of pottery.


• The ancient Greeks invented many things: philosophy, democracy, geometry (maybe). But they didn't invent pants. Or shirts. For some reason, they chose to fight naked. And they spent much of their time fighting with centaurs (half horse, half man.) The ancient Greeks really didn't like centaurs, as evidenced by the detailed comic-book-like carvings depicting various battles between naked warriors and angry centaurs.


• Speaking of comic books: One fact that interested me was to see this same comic book depiction of battles or hunts in just about every ancient civilization: Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, and others. The depiction of the centaurs (Greek) as well as the depiction of the lion hunt (Assyrian) were incredible.


• Back to the hotel, dinner at an Italian place around the corner (called Bizzarro...), and off to bed.

Sunday:

• I had to try the bus circuit again. This time I had it figured out. I was doing great until I miscalculated and needed to ride a bus that had a different schedule on Sundays. So I had to adjust my tour in mid-stream. But I did not get caught on the other side of town this time, I was on time, and I did not have to take a cab. And I got to see lots of London from the top of several double-decker buses.


• We checked out and spent the morning touring the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. This was the underground headquarters of the British government during the darkest hours of WWII.


• After a quick lunch, we walked around Westminster Abbey along the edge of St. James park and over to Buckingham Palace. It was raining a little. We didn't have time to tour the palace. Just passed by.
  
• We caught the Tube for Waterloo, hopped on the Eurostar, and raced back to Paris. You fill in the details.

Here are the London pictures.

Jeff

Paris - Day 4

After yesterday's adventure at Normandy, we recharged our batteries and ourselves last night. The lullaby of steady rain pattering on the cobblestones below our window blended with the midnight city traffic just enough to sing us to sleep. We awoke this morning, inhaled a bowl of Cheerios, and rearmed ourselves for another day of experiencing Paris.

We rode the Metro (subway) to the Trocadero, from where we had a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower dominates the Paris skyline. Paris is a large city, but it does not have skyscrapers like Manhattan, Chicago, or even Little Rock. Most of the "tall" buildings are no more than four stories tall and were built in the 1860's. There is one ugly skyscraper that looks sorely out of place - almost as if after they build it, they thought: "Bad idea. Never mind." (Paris does have a more modern, skyscraping area far to the northwest of the historic city.) We crossed the bridge over the Seine River, walked under the tower, and strolled down the Champs de Mars.

While Kristi and Marna found a sandwich stand and bought lunch, Jason and I went to his military college to get his running shoes. He pointed out the places in the walls that still had bullet holes from machine gun fire during the liberation of Paris in 1944.

Our next stop was Les Invalides - originally a veterans hospital built by Louis XIV. While it still has a few ailing French military vets, it is now most famous for being the final resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte. It's quite a tombstone. Dr. Musteen provided an interpretive tour of each of the tombs in the former church.

We then spent the afternoon touring the Military Museum that takes up most of the Les Invalides compound. Lots of armor. Lots of cannons. Lots of armor. Lots of old guns with clockwork and wheels for firing mechanisms. Lots of armor. Some swords. More armor. Also a good museum on WWI and WWII.

We took the bus back to the Musteen residence, kicked off our shoes (but didn't put our feet on the hand-made chair covers!), and reflected on the day. I could have easily spent much more time examining the armor and guns. Kristi could have easily spent much less.

I almost forgot: Marna and I went on a hunting/gathering expedition to find some dinner. We wound our way down narrow streets and through little malls to her favorite meat market, where chickens were roasting on the rotisserie and potatoes were baking underneath. We bought a couple of baguettes and a little chocolate cake on the way back. It was a fine meal to say the least.

Tomorrow we catch the Eurostar train for a 3-day weekend in London. I will probably not be able to update this blog until we return Sunday night, or perhaps Monday morning.

More later.

Jeff

PS - Here are the day's pictures. Joe, please take note of the 3-barrelled pistol, various muzzle-loaders, and crossbows. Mike, there is a picture of a French fire station, but unfortunately the garage doors were shut.

Paris - Day 3

Our day only started and ended in Paris - but it was spent driving across northern France and visiting several WWII battlefields along the beaches of Normandy. Driving from Paris to Caen and back is about like driving from Little Rock to Fayetteville and then back again. We left Paris at 7:30AM and arrived back at 10:30PM. We didn't have a dull moment. The drive through the French countryside was picture perfect and filled with hours of geopolitical/historical discussion. We visited the D-Day museum at Caen, and then explored some Nazi gun fortifications at Arromanches before going to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where thousands of American soldiers who fought and died in France are buried. We walked along Omaha Beach (Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day) and then crawled through the leftover gun positions at Pointe du Hoc. It's worth mentioning that the wind was blowing a constant 40mph gale all day long.

Here are the day's photographs.

Dr. Musteen put together an agenda for our day. I include it below for your edification.

---

Normandy Agenda

· Caen Memorial Museum
· The artificial harbor at Arromanches
· The German battery at Longues-sur-Mer
· The American Military Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer
· Omaha Beach
· Pointe du Hoc

Caen Memorial Museum: The film at the War Memorial Museum in Caen is unforgettable. It is a must see. It is approx 30 min and shows a split screen of German and Allied forces actual war footage. It is unbelievabe. No words, no language barriers, just music and harsh reality. Everything you have ever heard, seen, or read pales in comparison to this.

Arromanches: This seaside town, designated as Gold Beach, features one of the area’s oldest and most respected D-Day museums, the Musée du Débarquement. Offshore, remnants remain of the artificial harbors codenamed Mullberrys that the Allies made to facilitate the massive flow of supplies for the invading army.

German gun batteries at Longues-Sur-Mer: A spectacularly preserved example of the massive firepower the Allies faced in storming the Normandy beaches, these four German 152mm gun batteries situated on the coast in the midst of a working French farm field are a fascinating visit. Finally knocked out by Allied warships following a daylong artillery duel, three of the guns remain in their massive concrete bunkers. Make sure to tour the range-finding bunker at the cliff side. Peering from the concrete observation post facing the sea, one can only imagine what the Germans felt when the saw the Allies’ 5,000 ship armada.

American Cemetery at Colleville Sur Mer: Situated above Omaha Beach, where the Americans suffered staggering casualties on D-Day, the American cemetery contains the remains of nearly 10,000 servicemen who died during the Normandy campaign. With marble crosses and Stars of David stretching as far as the eye can see, the cemetery is a solemn, breathtaking experience that every American should share.

La Pointe du Hoc: Strategically located between American landing beaches Omaha and Utah farther west, La Pointe du Hoc remains virtually unchanged from when American Army Rangers scaled its sheer cliffs under deadly fire to knock out huge coastal guns they didn't know had been moved. Pocked by huge craters left by naval bombardment, most of the German bunkers remain. The cliff-side battlefield also offers a scenic view of the French coastline that saw some of the war's fiercest fighting.

Paris - Day 2

Today we visited the heart of Paris - Isle de Cite (City Island). We toured Notre Dame Cathedral, Sainte Chappele Church, St. Severin Church, the Latin Quarter, and many other sights. I will add details as time permits.

In the meantime, here are some pictures.

More later.

Jeff

Good Morning!

After 12 hours of sleep, we are now ready to take on the day! See you in a few hours.

Paris - Day 1

Today was the first day of our vacation in Paris. I think it started more than 24 hours ago, though. But I'm not sure. After a short flight from Little Rock to Dallas, we arrived in Paris nine long but uneventful hours later. There's not much to tell. We sat, we watched several hours of TV shows on the boys' DVD player (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for that Christmas present!), we ate a little, and we tried to sleep. Next thing we knew, we were there.

Our friends Jason and Marna Musteen picked us up at the Charles de Gaulle international airport, which is the major airport serving Paris. We are truly grateful that they were able to do this. I can't imagine how much more difficult it would have been for us to try to navigate trains, buses, and taxis to get from the airport to their house. [Author's Interjection: As I am typing, Jason has channel surfed and stumbled upon the Duke's of Hazzard - in French. They translate the show's title as "Sherriff - Make Me Afraid." Picture this: Uncle Jesse speaking French into the CB microphone.]

The Musteens live in a nice apartment near the Arc de Triomphe. After a shower and change of clothes, we walked to the metro (subway) station and caught the train to the Champs Elysees. We had a tasty lunch at a restaurant called Chez Clement. The food was good, the portions were modest, and the price was somewhat high. It cost 70 Euros (about $91) for the four of us to eat lunch.

After lunch, Marna took the metro back home so she could pick their kids up from school. Jason, Kristi, and I continued our afternoon tour by visiting the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 and completed about 30 years later. Victorious French armies as well as conquering Nazis have marched under the Arc, much as the Roman generals marched centuries ago.

We climbed the 200+ stairs to the top of the Arc, and from there we had a 360-degree view of Paris: Champs Elysees, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, the whole city. Of course, Jason had a story to tell about every view. The best tale was how the French soldiers engaged in tank battles through these very streets in the 1944-1945 timeframe.

We finished our tour by walking about 20 minutes back to their apartment. On the way back, we stopped by a bakery in the Plaza de Victor Hugo to pick up some baguettes. (That's misspelled French for long bread sticks.)

Here are some pictures of today's adventures. I'm not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow. Maybe the Louvre.

More later.

Jeff