Bonjour, Yesterday, Paula and Tim decided to venture out on their own to boost their confidence in finding their way around Paris. They did great and ended up at the Delacroix Museum and St. Germain, the lively main thoroughfare in the Left Bank. Then toured the Carousel de Louvre shopping center where they found the toilet […]
Bonjour, I’m certain that some of you have been to the Louvre, and I can’t help but wonder if you can read their maps better than we can. I’ve been probably 6 or 7 times and Bernie, 10 or 12 times over the years. Every time we go, we find ourselves frustrated trying to move […]
Bonjour mes amis, No matter how many times you go, no matter with whom, no matter the time of year or the weather, the moment you stand on Pointe du Hoc or Omaha Beach or stroll the solemn rows of graves at the American Cemetery in Normandy, you are overcome with awe, pride, sadness, humility, […]
A very quick bonjour this morning, We have to catch a train to Caen for Normandy at 7:08 so a very short summary of our day yesterday at the Eiffel Tower. We started late on purpose to catch up on sleep and met in the apartment for brunch at 11…pretty good omelets and salad from […]
Bonjour mes amis, Montmartre needs a beautiful weather day…check! Montmartre needs a dose of high energy…check. Montmartre needs some planning…not so much! I failed to realize that this past weekend was the wine festival or Fete du Vendages. Our “plan” was to start at 10am and make the 11am mass at Le Sacre Coeur. When the […]
Bonjour and Happy Weekend! Yesterday’s adventures with Tim and Paula produced so many good photos that it’s like a gold mine trying to sift through them. Bernie has the really, really good camera with special settings for almost any situation and the rest of us various levels of iPhones. To tell you who shot what is […]
Bonjour mes amis, Round two of Huntsville company began yesterday very early in the day. Paula and Tim landed at CDG at 6:08am, and we were there at 6:35 to greet them. Of course, they were excited but also pretty exhausted and in that arrival-zone hinterland after a flip-flop to their body clocks. But that […]
Bonjour, What a delightful day we had yesterday…full of surprises for me. And we’re about ready at 5:30am to be out the door to greet our next guests at the airport. As it’s working out, we’re hoping to relay some different interactions on the blog from those of the Ludwigs. It looks like we may […]
Bonjour mes amis, For the past three days, we’ve rested, done laundry, and cleaned our apartment…how exciting is that? Life does require certain functions even in lovely Paris. We’ve also shied away from eating out which means doing what I least like to do…preparing all of our meals in our tiny little kitchen. Oh well, […]
Bonjour, Before I take a blogging break, we wanted to share our final day with the Ludwigs. We put them in a cab at 7:30 this morning (Monday) and wish them safe travels with no drama! We spent Sunday morning at a very wet Bastille market which was disappointing. It’s hard to negotiate an umbrella […]
Bonjour, It’s so fun for us to see our Paris blog influence strengthen as we now have folks joining us from all around the world! Merci to all of you! Keep those comments coming in—ask questions, disagree, give a thumbs down—it doesn’t always have to be positive. We find each and every comment interesting! Yesterday, […]
Bonjour mes amis, Thursday was the perfect representation of this year’s blog theme on light. We saw the Van Gogh exposition at L’Artelier des Lumières, the workshop of light and illumination. It’s a multi-media composition that is truly hard to describe: a mix of art, music, camera projection, and digital graphic genius which produces an immersion […]
Bonjour, Packed with adventure and fun, we are having busy days!! I know you can’t tell that. We’re pretty much pooped but having too much enjoyment to stop. We told Cindi and Bob to get ready to walk. NOW, they believe us! Getting in these blog posts is a challenge. Have you noticed that they’re […]
Bonjour, If you’re not much into art, you may not appreciate this post, but we hope you will hang in there with us and find the content interesting, perhaps educational, and indicative of all the treasures one can find in Paris. Our day’s adventure focused on a visit to one of Paris’ most distinguished and […]
Bonjour! A good weather day is scarce in Paris right now, and it’s an absolute requirement for a trip to Montmartre. We grabbed it and off we went! Bob & Cindi had been there once 20 years ago. They vaguely remembered the church, the art square, and of course, the steps. We took our time […]
Bonjour mes amis, Five years ago, we celebrated Bernie’s 75th birthday in the fall, and the weather was totally different – mild, beautiful, and mostly sunny. I remember wearing basically my summer wardrobe until the very last of October leading into the first week of November when we departed. The weather this time has been […]
Bonjour, Saturdays in Paris are lively, busy, jammed with shoppers, café-sitters, and street performers, all graced yesterday with mostly blue skies and a cool breeze. What could be better. Bob has been in short sleeves, no coat, the entire time. The rest of us have been laden with raincoats, umbrellas, scarves, and sweaters. He’s lovin’ […]
Bonjour, Running behind today but know everyone wants pictures so here goes. Hate to even say this about yesterday but we ended up late morning with blue skies and temps in the upper 60’s’. Our hearts bleed for you in Alabama, but at least you have A/C! We started at perhaps our favorite small museum, […]
Bonjour mes amis, One of greatest joys is sharing Paris with good friends. We’ll be doing a lot of that this year! Yesterday amid wonderfully cool temps, we greeted Bob and Cindi Ludwig at Orly airport. Their flight was thirty minutes early but we were there just in time to capture their grand entrance. (Taking […]
Bonjour, We are eagerly awaiting the Ludwigs and will greet them at Orly airport in just a little while. They are flying the same boutique French airline that we do. Hope they managed to sleep 4-5 hours. It really does help! Yesterday was another gray day, cool, windy, but not much rain. We made the […]
Bonjour, C’est Mercredi in Paris. (It’s Wednesday) We are one day shy of welcoming Bob and Cindi Ludwig to Paris. Can’t wait to host them and hopefully better weather. Yesterday Paris was a taupe gray as reflected in the image at the top of the blog of the Montparnasse Tower. I find it interesting that […]
Bonjour mes amis, After a totally rainy day in Paris on Sunday which resulted in no photos and thus no blog, we were back to a delightful weather day yesterday consisting of a few errands and then a reunion! Many of you know Jim and Peggy Bilbro and how hard a battle they fought to […]
Bonjour, Sundays are my favorite in Paris, especially Sunday mornings. The city is so quiet, slow, easy. It’s still a family day and still a church day for a few. It begins to liven up about mid-afternoon. Fewer restaurants are open, and rain is predicted …desperately needed. And of course, the church bells currently ringing […]
Bonjour, I find myself wondering how we could be blessed with such gorgeous weather, and then I remember all the 100 degree days with no A/C we’ve endured in past summers. Conclusion: we deserve it!! Hope the heat in Alabama has finally tempered some. It is also truly wonderful to be away from the hateful […]
Bonjour, This is only Day 6 in Paris but feels so quickly like home to us. Last night our beloved proprietors at Le Bouquet St. Paul reappeared. We thought they had also sold out, but we discovered they had been on vacation. How nice to see them again!! It is our favorite little haunt which many […]
Dear Friends, We wish for you in Alabama and other ridiculously hot places to have Paris weather. At 3pm yesterday afternoon, it was 65 or so, with enough breeze to feel chilly in the shade. It was a gorgeous and productive day for us which started early with a thorough vacuuming of our apartment, doing […]
Bonjour, If you’ve been on our blog for a while, you know how much we deserve cooler weather! Having suffered through some horrible heat waves over the years with no air conditioning, this feels a bit like heaven to us. The high yesterday was 72 and the low this morning is 52. I understand that […]
Bonjour, The first full day in our Paris neighborhood was met with change, some good and some quite sad. For reference, we are in the Marais area of Paris, known as the Jewish quarter and the gay quarter, but for us known more as an upper middle class area full of families, great boutiques, hundreds […]
Bonjour mes amis! We have made safe arrival in Paris as of yesterday morning after a VERY long travel day. We were so blessed to have no drama whatsoever, given that our travel times were tight. We flew out of Newark, NJ on La Compagne, a French boutique airline on a brand new plane which looked like […]
Dear Friends, Thursday was our last day in Wichita and the rain didn’t mar our sightseeing or our spirits. Our dear friends Monica and Marlyn Eshelman have been great hosts. They have had everything planned to perfection. Bernie has been disappointed to find that most of his childhood landmarks have been replaced by decades of […]
Dear Friends, Thanks for all your fun comments from yesterday’s blog. It was a hoot and glad it brought out the smiles. Wednesday was a delightful day driving around in Wichita to find old landmarks that were long since gone, e.g. Bernie’s childhood home which is only now a concrete foundation, having been destroyed […]
Good morning, Bernie and I are visiting with good friends in Wichita, Kansas, Bernie’s home for many years. After relocating from Paris to the States, his family finally made Wichita their permanent home. Bernie is retracing old memories and discovering that most of those have been replaced with all things new. But the new can’t […]
Bonjour! What a glorious day to be alive! It’s reminiscent of a beautiful Parisian afternoon and evening which is what prompted me to send out a quick blog. Certainly, like many of you, we were devastated to watch the engulfing flames atop Notre Dame last week. I gasped in horror and disbelief as the spire […]
Bonjour from Paris for the final time this year. When most of you see this post, we’ll be on our way home. Natalie left on Tuesday at noon and had another frustrating journey with delayed flights, technical problems, missing but found luggage, etc. We miss her. Your comments, encouragement and support have meant so much […]
Bonjour mes amis It’s hard for one day to capture so much energy and enthusiasm, but yesterday accomplished that for us! Natalie is a sleeper and a night owl so we let her indulge until about 9:45 this morning. Paris time would work great for her body clock…up very late at night, breakfast at 10, […]
Bonjour, We tried to have an easier day yesterday and let Natalie sleep until almost noon, then took in a late lunch at what ended up being Les Deux Magots. Cafe de Flore is closed for renovation. These are the two very famous Left Bank cafes but always swarmed with tourists. Yesterday was no exception. […]
Bonjour mes amis, Time is limited but will try to get out a blog using a compilation of three different cameras. Nutso! But first will make you laugh. The weather is quite cool, set to be twenty degrees less than a few days ago with highs in the low 70’s. We’re grateful! Okay, we’ll see […]
Bonjour, My daughter Natalie graced us with her very first visit to Paris yesterday after a grueling day of travel. She got caught in a nasty storm in New York City which delayed her flight for hours, but amazingly, they didn’t cancel the flight. She was in unbelievably good spirits and just glad to finally […]
Bonjour, I had no intention of doing a blog today but decided to share our outing this afternoon. After finishing up our cleaning, we ate a light lunch, showered, and decided that we couldn’t stand the heat in our apartment for the next five hours. It was 98 today and the predicted rain for tonight […]
Bonjour mes amis, We’ve had an interesting weekend. I received an unexpected text from my daughter on Saturday evening saying that she had an issue with her back from a jet-skiing experience. Hopefully, you recall that she is due to arrive in Paris for her first visit ever on Wednesday, departing the States on Tuesday, […]
Bonjour mes amis, How delighted we were yesterday to have our now annual lunch with special friends from London, Malcolm and Antonia. There years ago, we happened to be seated next to them at the Jacquemart-Andre tearoom. We sat for the entire meal overhearing their wonderful British interchange, and finally I boldly made overtures to them. […]
Bonjour, Today has been our favorite kind of Paris day…discovering new areas by strolling around, not quite sure which way is correct or what may be around the next corner. But more on that in a minute. First, my rant. Yesterday was not our best day. It’s hot, very hot. It’s dusty and after five […]
Bonjour, On Monday morning we met our friend Ann Jeanne for breakfast which turned into a two-hour visit on a new street for us, rue du Parc-Royal…lovely area and a new cafe called La Petite Place near the Picasso Museum. It was quiet and out of the way, but they were out of croissants by […]
So…how observant were you? Did you figure it out? These photos are not from yesterday’s Tour final but rather from 2016. It was raining! Our total plan was foiled yesterday due to new security issues. We’ve probably been to this final day of the tour ten times over the years and always the same three […]
Bon Dimanche, Happy Sunday to you all from a much cooler Paris. The temp this morning is 67! We can now breath some fresher air. Friday evening brought a heavy rain storm with hail; however, it only lasted about 30 minutes. Though predictions said it would rain all night, it did not so the relief […]
Bonjour mes amis, The news from Paris is the same, le mime chose— hot, hot, and hot. Stifling, sweaty, dusty and producing a certain glow to one’s person! We hardly know what to do with ourselves. We were hopeful of a breeze along the river and decided on cool clothes and a picnic or piquenique. This […]
Bonjour, It’s 98 degrees today in Paris, and oh, how we dread the late afternoon. It certainly saps all the enjoyment out of our day. Supposedly, we will have a huge rain storm on Friday evening to clear the stagnant air and cool down the temps. We’re praying for it as my sinuses are about […]
Bonjour, Are we crazy or what? We picked the hottest day of the summer so far (95 F.) for an outside adventure. Wow, I felt like I was playing golf in the Alabama sun. We are pooped after walking about 3 miles in the hot sun. Despite the heat, it was our kind of Paris […]
Bonjour, On this very hot and dusty summer day, we treated ourselves to something spectacular. We’ve been reading about a very different art experience in the 11th arrondissement near where Bernie was born. In fact, this is the actual apartment where he drew his first breath…not in a hospital. This is a very long post […]
Bon Dimanche! Our visit extraordinaire comes to an end today. Sharon and Johnny Tyson left via taxi at 6:50am for the airport, and Dennis and Jodie Clements will depart in their taxi about 3:30 for Barcelona and another 12-day round of touring and cruising. BUT not before we whisk them to a church service at […]