Paris & Quimper - France - 2013

FRANCE

25 July – 2 August 2013

 After the Norway cruise, we flew to Paris, France. This was our third visit to “The City of Light” and we spent four full days there.

PARIS

 Our hotel was the Renaissance Vendome Hotel near the Place Vendome.

Unfortunately for us, Paris was having a heat wave with temperatures in the 90s. What a contrast to Scandinavia! We made sure the AC in the room was on and then walked over toward Jardin des Tuileries where we found a place to sit and relax; clouds and shade made it feel cooler. 

 

We got some ice cream and then waited until after the ten o'clock light show at the Eiffel Tower before walking back to the hotel.

 

The main reason for the return to Paris was to visit L'Orangerie which was closed on our last visit. We went there the first morning and enjoyed the massive Monet paintings. Monet painted these waterlillies especially for this space. Eight huge paintings decorate two oval rooms. The white walls contrast well with them and benches in the rooms' centers provide spots for sitting and taking in the beauty of these massive Impressionist works. After buying some post cards---no photos allowed---we returned to the hotel. 

We rode a taxi to Place San Sulpice to complete the second reason for the Paris return. Today and tomorrow were the only days  La Pastorale would be open before the “August Holidays.” Our goal was to buy French nativity figures known as santones; there are literally hundreds of figures available as entire villages can be created. We only bought a Santone Holy Family. 

Then we started walking back toward the hotel. It was in the 90s and we got very hot. We stopped and rested a few times to try and cool off and even had ice cream in Jardin des Tuileries , but we still got very, very hot. We should have taken a taxi back to the hotel.

We took a taxi to Sainte Chapelle. Because we had the pass, we didn't have to stand in the ticket line but everyone---pass or no pass---has to stand in the Security line at every museum. Once inside, we climbed the narrow circular stairs in the corner to reach the chapel on the upper level. Bright sunlight made the stained glass sparkle. When we visited here before, it was so hot inside that we were nauseated. This morning was cooler and the big doors to the balcony were open, so it was much more pleasant. We made some photos. A six-year restoration project should be finished next year. The windows are dismantled and taken completely apart. Each piece of glass is cleaned; broken ones are bonded. New lead is used to reassemble each window before it is replaced in its proper place in the building. 

After leaving Sainte Chapelle, we walked to Notre Dame where we found hordes of people. 

It is the 850th anniversary and the bells have been recast. A wooden platform with seats has been erected in front of the cathedral. We walked up it and heard the bells chime eleven. From the top we could see literally hundreds of people in line to enter the church. There was another line around the corner to either enter the crypt or climb the tower. Thankfully, we had been to Notre Dame twice before and just went down the tiered seats and walked past the church and crossed the bridge to Ile St. Louis where we window shopped. We did stop at the Paroisse St. Louis En L’Ile; the spire with holes in it attracted us. Inside we found a religious-feeling house of worship.   

 

 

 

A taxi took us to Musee d'Orsay. Once inside there, we wandered a bit before heading to the Impressionists on level 5. Having been here before and having seen many traveling exhibitions, we didn't find much new. There was a Monet painting of turkeys we didn't remember 

and a Van Gogh that had a version of Starry Night. 

We picked up the 2 discount tickets---one euro each---for the "L Open Tour" bus and walked over to the Place de la Concorde to catch it. 

It was about 9:30 when we paid 60 euros and boarded for "Paris Grand Tour," the green line portion. Headsets were given out and we set the receiver to English for the commentary. We drove the Champs-Elysses and around the Arc de Triomphe  

 before heading for the Place de Trocadero and the Palais de Chaillot. Crossing the Seine, we drove around the Tour Eiffel 

 before reaching Hotel des Invalides.

This is a "Hop-On-Hop-Off" tour and we got off there to take the "Montparnasse-Saint-Germain Tour," the orange line portion. We rode through the St.-Germain-des-Pres 

 

 and the Cluny-Latin Quarter before the Notre Dame stop where most of the passengers got off. 

 

We stayed on for the ride past the Jardin du Luxembourg and other points of interest but got off near Tour Montparnasse. We walked down to Gare Montparnasse to determine where we needed to go Monday to catch our train. Then we walked back up to Blvd. Montparnasse and caught the bus back to our starting point on this line at Hotel des Invalides. We got back on the green line and rode past the Palais Bourbon [National Assembly] 

 back across Place de la Concorde

 near the Gran Palais

and beside Ste. Marie Madeleine

 until we reached the stop at the bus company office. We took the "Montmarte-Grande Boulevards Tour," the yellow line. This took us past the Opera Garnier,  

 Moulin Rouge

 and near Sacre Cour. We had a long stop at Gare de Nord 

and drove by Gare de l'Est  and Place de la Republique before looping back to the office. We got off the bus and onto a green-line bus again to finish the tour. This took us through the courtyard of the Musee du Louvre,  

across the Seine on Pont Neuf 

 and to the Notre Dame stop. 

From there we drove along the river, past the Musee d'Orsay  

and back across the river to our morning's starting point about 4:00. 

We had an enjoyable day riding the top deck of an open-top bus and seeing some things we'd never seen before and getting a new perspective on others.

PARIS TO QUIMPER

 The next portion of our journey was a trip to Brittany [or Bretagne in French.] We made the train journey from Paris to Quimper. The first stop was Le Mans; the train split at Rennes which had huge rail yards. Other than towns with typical cream-colored stucco houses with brown roofs and churches with massive steeples, we traveled through farming country: fields of grain and hay; sheep; dairy cattle; horses. Farm houses much like those in the towns, only larger, were surrounded by barns and other outbuildings. We also crossed a couple of rivers. We made stops in Vennes; Auray; L'Orient before reaching Quimper. Our only problem aboard the train was uncertainty as all announcements were lengthy French monologues; there was no English at all, not even lighted signs as on Japan's Bullet Train. Once we disembarked in Quimper we walked across the street to the Mecure Hotel. Then we walked into the city center and were amazed at its size. The Cathedrale Saint-Corentin de Quimper is a huge Gothic structure with flying buttresses. Its 15th century stained glass windows sparkled in the bright sun. 

 

We also wandered around the downtown area for a while.

We had seen, heard and read about Breton Lace and that was the impetus for this portion of the trip. At Le Musee Breton we enjoyed seeing the artifacts ranging from prehistoric to modern. There are some gold beads from the Iron Age and statues and stained glass rescued from demolished religious structures. The costume exhibit showed many types of local Breton costumes, some with elaborate lace headdresses; each community could be identified by its headdress. 

Massive examples of carved wooden furniture filled cavernous spaces while ceramics and Quimper Faience were displayed on well-lighted shelves. Nobody at the museum had suggestions as to where to buy Breton lace, so we trudged to the Office de Tourisme. A lady there suggested Marie Salome Brocante - Depot Vente, Coiffes et Costumes Bretons at 15 Rue Jean Jaures and called to check their hours; they told her they would open at 2:00. We walked to the lace shop, arriving about 1:50. When the shop opened, the lady didn't speak English but her husband spoke some Spanish; we managed. We bought a Quimper Lace Headdress ca. 1900-1920. 

This was a one-room shop on the ground floor with the elderly couple living above. We also visited Eglise St. Mathieu.

CONCARNEAU

  About 9:00 we walked across the street to the bus station and paid 8 euros for 2 tickets to Concarneau and back. Bus 43 left at 9:35 and we rode out of the city of Quimper, through farming county, through a couple of more towns and alighted at the "Le Port" stop in Concarneau at 10:12. After walking to the Office de Tourisme where we received a brochure in English, 

 

we walked a block or so and caught "Le Petit Train Touristique." We wouldn't have walked down to the coastal area and this half-hour-ride was 12 euros well spent; we even had English handouts which translated the French commentary.

 

Once the train ride ended, we crossed the street and walked the bridge into Ville Close, a fortress dating from the wars between France and England. It is now a tourist area of shops and restaurants. We wandered into and out of stores for a while. 

 

Our plans were to take bus 43 back to Quimper at 3:25 but there was a bus 47/43 which left at 2:35 and we caught it instead. While it was more of a "local" than an "express," we arrived in Quimper at 3:10. This was adventurous for us as there was not much/any English on the bus; however, there were lighted signs naming the next stop and approximate time to arrival.

LOCRONAN

 At 9:00 we walked across to the bus station and took the 9:35 bus to Locronan for 2.40 Euros. This was another trip via "local" bus through villages and farming country. The flowers are stunning: hanging baskets of wax begonias in the towns are a feast for the eyes. The most impressive are the hydrangeas: white; pink; dark pink; blue; dark blue; violet; purple. The plants are four or five feet tall and covered with blooms. They appear many places in the landscape in both town and country. 

 

 

Locronan is noted for its beauty and is classified as one of the most beautiful villages in France; it lives up to the hype. 

 

 

 

 

St. Ronan's Church, named for the Irish saint buried there, dates from the 8th century.

 

 

 

 

In the 15th century, Locronan was known for raising hemp and weaving sailcloth used by royal navies and even Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Armada. The decline of this industry "killed" the town. We enjoyed walking through the picturesque town and into various ateliers and workshops as many artists now inhabit this village. After an enjoyable lunch at a brasserie opposite the church, we wandered back to the bus stop. The bus, scheduled for 1:41 did not arrive; there were 8 people waiting. One Frenchman finally called and was told to expect it in a half hour; he told an Italian lady who spoke French the news and one of her friends who spoke Spanish relayed it to us. The bus arrived around 2:25, and we arrived back in Quimper at 2:45 and not 2:08.

QUIMPER TO CHARLES DE GALLE AIRPORT

At 7:00 we went down with the luggage and trundled it across to the train station. When the track for 5272 to CDG was posted, we had to lug the luggage down steps and then up another flight to the correct track. The train was already there and we boarded as soon as the door was unlocked. We pulled out on time at 7:39 and sort of retraced our route to Paris but with more stops: Rosporden; Quimperle; L'Orient; Auray; Vennes; Redon; Rennes (10 a.m.); Laval; Le Mans; Massy TGV; Marne La Vallee - Chessy; CDG. We were late getting to our airport stop arriving at 1:30 instead of 1:11. Again, there were no English announcements aboard the train. After leaving the train and making our way into the airport, we found the Sheraton Hotel inside the terminal.