A Little Taste of Southern France

Tuesday, March 24: Toulouse

Going a bit off the beaten path, Lisa and I went on an architectural tour of Toulouse around the basilica of Saint Sernin. Toulouse's boulevard used to be where its walls were. Hence why the word "boulevard" means walking along the ramparts. All the buildings beyond Toulouse's medieval wall were most definitely built in the nineteenth century. As we continued on our tour we saw a few more homes and buildings that were of the art deco period. These buildings just looked modern with straight lines and maybe a few curvy corners to liven up the flat palate. As we continued walking, we ended up at the place around Saint Sernin Basilica. One of the high school's administrative buildings used to be a Duberry mansion. The Duberry's were a well-to-do family who had a few ambitions ,one of them was getting noticed by the King. To get noticed by the King, one had to marry a very fine looking woman. There happened to be a fine looking woman in Toulouse (where the Duberry's were from). Soon after marrying her, Monsieur Duberry quickly sent her to Paris. She then became Madame Duberry, the favorite mistress of the King Louis XV. He was father to Marie Antoinette's husband Louis-Auguste or Louis XVI. Marie Antoinette historically did not have a good relationship with Madame Duberry because Marie Antoinette thought she was fooling around with the King (which she was). Part of this story comes from the home that is located close to Saint Sernin. Since the Duberry household was noticed by the King, they became rich and created for themselves a rather gaudy garden. This garden had a lot of fake items from fake trees to fake lovers sitting in the park kissing. A rather funny thing that they had was a mechanical bear that leapt from behind a bush. The tour guide said everyone came for miles around to see this ridiculous garden. All of France could come and look at their horrible little garden and laugh. Even though it was a rather funny story, to want to have one's wife be taken to the King and then make yourself a Chateau/Mansion with a rather sad-fake garden is quite odd. Ah, one's dreams have come true.Our tour was not quite over at the Duberry mansion. We ended up near the Strasbourg market, which is near the boulevard, to see a particular cafe that I fail to remember the name of. This cafe is where people came to have coffee after going to the market. It was also popular with the writers, who are often found typing away at their computers even to this day. Another interesting object we walked near was a fountain that was depicts a fictional woman who inspired a d'Oc language poetry contest. This area of France used to speak Occitane (d’Oc) which poets spent their time writing in. It used to be if a poet won the contest, he received a golden violet. These days there are fewer poets who can write in the ancient language and the prize has changed to a different flower but it is silver instead of gold. The fountain itself was beautiful, displaying its medieval woman carrying a violet in her hand and had neat little turtles and frogs below her that wanted to listen to her talk. The fountain is quite a mystical sight. All in all it was an interesting tour, even though I found the stories to be more interesting than the buildings that we saw.

Thursday, March 26: Lectoure

After picking up Melanie (a church friend) from Cornebarrieu, Lisa and I headed to the little town of Lectoure. It had the most intriguing Cathedral, its bell tour had three tiers, and it was rather impressive. It also had a neat interior but was much like the other cathedrals we've seen. After that we saw a funny little house with clarinets forming the doorposts and windows. Apparently the former owner loved to play clarinet so much he annoyed his wife and they had to put another level on his house, dedicating its design to the clarinet. As we continued on our little jaunt, we saw a rather disappointing fountain that used to have vibrant paintings, but, alas, time has erased them from the stone. We all were expecting some sort of statue or something, something more to catch the eye, but none was to be had. The next stop was a former tannery which probably supplied the royal household with leather goods. It had the standing of being a royal tannery, thus having other privileges that a regular tanner would not have. We then walked up an intriguing staircase which led along some of the former ramparts of the city. Next to the staircase was a metal cross dedicated to an evangelist that had been martyred in Lectoure. Toward the end of the road we found ourselves at the former executioner’s house. It was a towering building that was in a lot of disrepair. Some dogs barked at us as though we had encroached on their owner's property, even though we did not lay a hand on them, much less walk on to their owner's land. We also walked by an impressive building which used to house the Counts of Armangnac. It is now a hospital. Then we came back to the ramparts. It was a nice walk around an interesting town.We were not quite finished with our tour. We decided to also see their archeological Museum as well. We had to take a tour with a guide, who was very patient with us when Melanie had to translate. We saw some fantastic old relics. We saw several sacrificial stones, a head of a Gaul statue, Romanesque things and of course many sarcophagi. One was quite beautiful with fish scales, vines and branches. It was for a forty-year-old Christian woman, which was a ripe old age for a woman in ancient times. We also saw some very ancient artifacts such as fossils and the tusks of a woolly mammoth. The tour was quite interesting and informative. The town of Lectoure was rather interesting for a town somewhat in the country, but it was a nice little visit.

Friday, April 3: Pau

I had wanted to go to Pau since I had heard about it, even though I do not know what in particular drew me to it. Lisa, Katie and I were able head there and were able to see some neat things. One of the few highlights we were able to enjoy was the Chateau de Pau. It was fascinating to see a Chateau actually set up like the century it was from. The first room we saw in it was a dining room built to feed one hundred people. Chairs lined the walls waiting for people to sit and eat. Another interesting factor about this room was its tapestries. They were made by the famous tapestry maker of Goeblin. This was another place we had to take a tour and of course it was all in French, we had a written English translation, but it did not follow exactly all that the tour guide was telling us. He rambled on and on about the room and its wonders, especially about each particular tapestry that lined the walls. This was not the only room we got to see in the castle. We also got to see the living quarters of the families who made it their home. The living quarters had more beautiful tapestries and elegant furniture. One could definitely tell that a family with a lot of money had spent their time decorating and refining the rooms. We also got to see the bedrooms of the family. They were just as elegant, but perhaps not as big as one would think a castle would have. The castle was mostly used to house Napoleon III and his wife, so most of the things we saw were what they had owned and used. It was a neat sight to see.Next to the castle, we were able to see the boulevard de Pyrenees. We slowly walked down it but were unable to see the Pyrenees because of the fog. It was still a beautiful way to walk in Pau. Pau was good even thought it was short lived. I would not mind visiting it again to see what I had missed. Admittedly our problem at the beginning was that we couldn’t find our way around as quickly as we had hoped. But it was a neat city that is worth a visit.

Tuesday, April 7: Gaillac

Gaillac is a sweet little town with its own church and abbey. It is also known for its wine, so of course our last stop was the wine shop next to the tourist office. Well, as I am getting ahead of myself we took a walking tour of the town. We actually started near the tourist office (in the abbey and church area), but we did not go into those right away. Unfortunately, I do not remember the first building we went to. Early on in our tour we ran into this neat little pottery shop, unfortunately it was closed at the time. A little sign on the door said that if you wanted to go into the store just go down the road to meet the artist. Unfortunately we could not find what particular door the sign was talking about, or the artist was just not in town. As we continued on our tour we walked by a house that had been built in the middle ages with its attractive half moon door. Another interesting house was built with wonderful right angles making it an L shape. There are openings in the roof area which give a peripheral view of the city. Another interesting building was a convent which Nuns deserted during a plague, but they were still followed by the disease. The convent later became home of a merchant-politician who became very wealthy.There is a peculiar church in this town called Saint Pierre. It was taken by the Protestants who then turned it into a fortress. After that was done; the church was restored, leaving the lookout tower that was added to make it a better fortress. This shows that many things here in France have rather unusual histories. Another building with an interesting history is the Hotel de Paulo owned by the Paulo family who built it on the Abbey Saint Michel property. This family gave many members to be councilors of Toulouse. Also, no town is complete without a chateau. Gaillac has one called Faucard, it was not lived in by the Faucard family but by the Haute family, this is because of a marriage in the 18th century. It could only be viewed from the outside, but the outside was quite nice holding a beautiful park to enjoy and walk in. Gaillac had a lot of neat little tid-bits that could not be missed. It had a lot of interesting things to see.

A Whirlwind Tour: Barcelona, Spain

Thursday, March 19
What a rush! We had travelled far and wide but our journey was not finished. We wanted to see what Spain was like. So after getting up late in the day my family and I headed by car to Barcelona. Ben and I had heard of other people planning and achieving a pleasant trip to Barcelona via car, so it seemed quite nice. It is only 2 hours from Toulouse, a wee bit crazy, that in a few hours one could be in a whole new country, but we headed out confident that it may be a long trip, but worthwhile.
An hour or so later, we stopped at a neat little rest stop. It faced the Pyrenees and one could get a decent picture of them if they decided to stop and look. The rest stop was actually quite nice, it felt like you were in a little village, in fact I think the word "village" was in its name. There were a few restaurant choices so we picked their fast cafe. Which served what Ben called "work food." It was OK. Edible versions of French cuisine, but not like a five-star restaurant. But c'est la vie. We had a pleasant time wandering around the "village" and grabbed a few postcards and some more pictures of the beautiful mountains. Soon we were ready to hit the road again.
Our trip to Barcelona was soon over, we reached its limits in no time. What a traffic jam! If one could call it that. Cars crept toward one another at a slow pace, hoping they would get to their destination on time. My Dad was an expert driver, despite the GPS having a trouble not knowing where we were. Finally, after a long awaited time, we reached the center of the city, where our hotel was. But the center was no different from the outskirts. Cars raced toward the nearest roundabout only to get stuck entering into it. We were stuck for a time and could not even get across to where we needed to be, so taking the next road we ran into the place (by shear luck I am sure) where our hotel was located. We tried to see if there was any parking near the hotel but our car was too big for the nearest lot (rather underground parking). So we crepted out into the pedestrian way and somehow, by the kindness of a pedestrian just sitting by the sidewalk we got out of the pedestrian mess out into the traffic mess once again. We travelled a little further, probably 3 or 4 long blocks and found another "P" indicating yet another parking spot. We found our way into it through the droves of people and hectic traffic. Without much ado we found a good parking spot. Scrambling out of the car we excited our underground parking to the world of Barcelona. It shouldn't have surprised me, but I could tell who were tourists and who probably weren't. But there were several tourists within a few yards of each other, from all walks of life and different countries. We had to find a map and easily found one, Ben knew where we had to go to reach our hotel, it just was a matter of finding where we had ended up and which direction we should go. After acquiring the map we headed more or less in the direction of our hotel which was through all the busiest streets of central Barcelona. We passed several touristy shops and Mom was excited to find Lladro, the small porcelain statues one can only find in Spain. We peeked into those windows hoping to find the right one. After going down the street filled with touristy shops we noticed it was probably The Ramblers, the main street full of shops and markets that is famous in Spain. Once realizing it was the Ramblers our hotel was easily found, just off the busy street in a little inlet of shops and pedestrian walkways.
The hotel was extremely modern, but in good taste. Up the elevator and just a few steps down the hallway we were upon our room, which of course held the same decor as the rest of the building. Two twin beds formed the "double bed" and bunk beds were just beyond the double beds behind a fake wall. The double bed was against one wall and in the middle was the TV, computer and desk and down a small hall was the bathroom. Everything was nice and well taken care of and I expected a fairly decent stay. The boys headed back out to fetch our bags abandoned in the car and us girls headed out to shop. Once out again we easily found the shops we wanted. Not all of them held Lladro, but they did hold Lladro's close sister Nao which is made by the same company and is the same quality as the original Lladro, just a touch less expensive. Nao also doesn't have quite the unique colors and delicacy as Lladro but just as nice. I easily found a Nao I liked and quickly purchased it. With a bit of bargaining even! I had not expected to bargain. But I got a slightly better price than was offered. Mom also was successful getting several gifts here.
We took our purchases back to the hotel, eagerly putting them in a safe place. The boys returned with our bags and reported they found a tour bus that took you throughout the city and would give us some good info. So resting for a bit more, we headed out once again to take the tour. The tour was great, especially the first half. We were able to see some of Gaudi's works an apartment building and a house he had built (I fail to remember their names). We also passed several historical things of Barcelona. One statue we passed was created by Roy Lichtenstein in honor of Barcelona, it was quite amazing. Unfortunately the tour grew long and things became a little less interesting. But Barcelona was a fun lively city and rather cool if one is on the top floor of a bus in the open air at night. It was also interesting to see some of the buildings that were left after the Olympics one such building got turned into one of Barcelona's finest apartment buildings, for its location to the ocean and its connection to the Olympics. All in all the tour was great, knowing that you had seen some of the great architectural works of the world. But admittedly that was the only touristy thing we did in Barcelona. We did not spend much time looking at Gaudi's other works or at any of the museums. I kind of regret not doing that, but if anything I saw and felt the beat of the city and sometimes that is all you need.
Our tour of France and Spain was over, it was a fast one, but good enough to glean some knowledge. Such as how Carcassonne was once a Cathar city and that the Eiffel Tower was built for the World's Fair or that the Louvre was once a royal palace. All interesting facts one could tell their friends or show them the pictures of the amazing works of art that were more amazing up close and personal. Such is life of a traveler. This was a fun trip and I hope to soon take another!

A Whirlwind Tour: D-Day Beaches and Carcassonne

D-Day Beaches
We were still in Paris on Monday, March 16 for we headed to the train station bright and early, before any well-meaning Frenchmen would be up. But surprisingly it was pretty full, the Gare Lazare station. We watched the train times expectantly, impatiently waiting for ours to show up. Sure enough it showed up, just not on the board we were watching. It was headed to Caen, the town in between Paris and Bayeux. Bayeux is where I read was a good place to start when looking at the D-Day beaches. The train would take us straight to Bayeux, with one small change in Caen.
Once in Bayeux, the plan was to find a rental car, so Mom and I waited for the men to find one. Unfortunately the nearest rental place had completely rent out all of its cars. After finding that out, we thought about a tour. But the place we looked at a possible tour was leaving to late in the day. We grabbed a taxi instead (keeping with our original plan) which took us to yet another place to rent cars, unfortunately the didn't have one big enough for four people and all their luggage (we were headed back to Toulouse that evening). Thankfully the cab driver stayed with us and we headed to our third rental place. Luckily it had a car big enough for all of us! So if someone wants to see the beaches, I would definitely suggest renting a car before you get to Bayeux or if you're adventurous, take a tour.
The car worked quite well and we were able to use our map skills to find our way out of Bayeux and to our first stop, German gun batteries that had survived the attack. These were quite interesting to see, to see the living conditions and what the soldiers who were housed in them were expected to do. One gun had in fact remained in pieces after an Allied bomb or gun had blown it apart. It was crazy to think that the guns actually had a use in the war and that that war had involved the country I call home. We had grabbed lunch in Bayeux and decided we were going to eat at that particular beach, for the sun had decided to warm us as we explored the former German guns. We joyfully basked in the sun as we ate and spoke about how amazing the views and the history was. After we were done, we headed to Omaha beach were the Americans took the most casualties. We found the beach next to the American Cemetery, as we entered it we could hear soft chimes filling the peaceful sun soaked air with soft music. We walked a little ways down to the beach and contemplated what the American soldiers had to go through, with bombs going off and rapid fire coming from the guns located on the beach. It also shook our world to see what a steep-like incline the soldiers had to mount if they were to get anywhere on the beach. It was a crazy and dangerous time, I'm sure that is also why so many Stars of David and crosses dot the American Cemetery today. We spent some time viewing the Cemetery itself, its large beautiful monument displaying the tactics of the Americans and other allies attacking the beach as well as taking in all the headstones that dotted the green grass. We soon headed into the building on the property that housed an exhibit showing the stories of men who lived and died on Omaha beach. Their stories took your breath away and humbled you on the spot. It was a remarkable place to see and I know it has touched my life to see the bravery of young people who stood for a cause that they believed in.
We soon were done with our tour of the beaches and caught the next train to Paris, to hopefully reach our plane in time to head back to Toulouse. Luck must have been with us, because we reached Paris to find another excellent taxi driver who took the right route to the airport. We reached our plane in the nick of time. It ended a successful, slightly hectic day.

Carcassonne
We went back in time a few centuries on Wednesday, March 18 as we went to the famous medieval city of Carcassonne. It is a walled city, sitting strategically on a hill. But I suppose it is not like every walled city because it had two walls. One wall protects the very outskirts of the city and it is yards from the inner wall. You could just imagine this first walled area to be swarming with peasants and merchants, all trying to get the best deal on bread and wine. The inner wall holds a castle, cathedral and the city itself. It all dates back to the 13th century. It used to house the Cathars, a religious group that the Francs did not appreciate. In fact they did not like them so much the Francs forced them to vacate the city, just the walled city mind you. They could place themselves outside of the wall and they did just that. Today there is a rather large city where the Cathars decided to live after the Francs made them vacate it.
When you explore the inner city you can see the castle. It seemed like a rather small castle, with a grand courtyard and a small great room. There also were several places one could defend the castle, shooting arrows out of the slits in the walls or tossing rocks onto people's heads as they mounted the hill that Carcassonne is located on. It was a great little visit, learning the tactics of people wanting the city and how some of their attempts failed. Another interesting factor when visiting the castle, you can see a film showing you how an architect tried to figure out the origins of Carcassonne. It was interesting to see his thoughts of how Carcassonne could have been built and why there were so many different layers of stone that were built on the to create the walls. (One can tell where one wall stopped and another one on top of it began) It is also evident of what was covered up. Some windows and doors were covered when building the walls. Thus the mystery of Carcassonne continues. But as a city Carcassonne feels like a small town. You could continually walk around and around the inner part of the city and feel you have hardly walked very far. It was a great place to go and I certainly hope it wasn't the last time for me to see it.

A Whirlwind Tour: Paris

(Sat. March 14)
My parents came for a visit and they had decided that Paris was a great place to start. It was! We only had to meet them in the airport. Ben and I were able to catch a cheap flight into Paris and once we got there we saw that all the planes coming in were radically on time. So we found the only flight coming from Cincinnati, luckily it was not far from where Ben and I picked up our bags and got off our flight. Then the waiting begun, it seemed to take awhile, but I kept reminding myself that they had to go through customs because they had come straight from the U.S. . After what was a truthfully a long, impatient wait, they came out! We gave them hello hugs and got situated. We all wanted to get a taxi and head into the city and drop our bags at our hotel. We found a taxi driver who dropped us quite near our new doorstep, at the Hotel St. Dominique. Our hotel had started off as a monastery, so the rooms were all unique and the stairs old and worn, but it was comfortable. Soon we were all ready to go out and see what there was to see of this famous city.
From the beginning I thought it would be good to start on the island where the Cathedral Notre Dame was. So we took several small metro trains to the "la cite" stop. The island was hopping with tourists and after figuring out which direction to head on the island, we ran into some people from Cyprus wondering where the cathedral was as well. So they walked with us asking where we were from and what brought us to Paris. We told them we were from Iowa and were just as curious about what Paris had to offer. The Cathedral of Notre Dame was quite majestic in the darkening sky, I kept wanting to peak up and see if I could see Quasimodo peak from the bell towers. One thing that did take me a bit off guard was the statue of Charlemagne that was prominently riding his horse into some battle next to the cathedral. Immediately all our eyes gazed on the statue wondering who it was and we forgot about the great cathedral that was before us. So after some debate as to who it was we took some pictures and headed inside. Another thing that took me off guard is that Notre Dame is still very much in use! We entered the cathedral listening the voice of a priest. I admit I do not know what sort of Mass he was giving but it took me off guard because it still is hard to get used to that some historical buildings in Europe are still in use. Behind the priest was a large statue of Jesus and Mary, it looked quite beautiful, but one was not likely to get a very close look at it. The things in the cathedral you could look at were amazing. It held quite a bit of fabulous stained glass. Just enough windows to let some light shine into building. Like a typical cathedral there were elaborate chapels that lined the way around the altar. Some chapels even held places for confession. The inside, like the outsides was everything that I had imagined. It had domed ceilings and bright cheery stained glass throughout. The choir blind also still stood in the cathedral. The outside of the blind was lined with stories of Jesus and his works in the world. They were ornate little pictures of those events. After we were done exploring the inside of the cathedral we headed out to the place area of the cathedral, we took a few more pictures of the spectacular sculptures that were on the outside of the building then we headed to the little archaeological museum that was below Notre Dame.
Inside the museum was the Romanesque history of Paris. It showed the Roman baths as well as where certain people of high rank used to live and why. It also explained the logic of some the the Parisian roads, some of them still exist to this day. It is amazing what the past can tell you about the present! The museum was interesting, seeing the ruins firsthand and imagining what they looked like when they were new. We soon headed back up to the world of present Paris. Present Paris was still bustling like it had when we left it. But there were still a few more things to see on the "La cite". There was one particular thing I wanted to see that didn't do much with medieval Paris but with booming nineteenth century Paris. It was the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. While we have been here I read the book A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. It is about Hemingway's experiences as a young married writer living in Paris. He frequented the Shakespeare and Company bookshop when it still lent books out to people. But now it is just a nice antique bookshop still lending itself to selling English books. If anything, visiting there made me feel like the book I read had come to life and I was in Hemingway's shoes looking for my own English book to pass the time and improve my writing. As he was trying to perfect his style when he moved and lived in Paris.
Our tummies were grumbling and we were all ready to eat, there was a rather large cafe right next to the bookshop that we stumbled into. We shared two pizzas, a Salmon one and a regular ham pizza (I think). They relinquished our appetites and we were ready to step out again. Ben and I had heard that Saint Chapelle was a wonderful sight to see, so we all headed in the direction of the chapel. After going through bit of security we entered a court yard which led to the chapel's entrance. When we entered into the chapel you just see a few stained glass windows and painted walls, somewhat disappointing, but once you climbed the stairs you entered into a room with a very high ceiling and huge stained glass windows. One cannot fathom each picture that was made into the glass because it reaches so high above you. I know each of us stood there in awe trying to decipher each one of the dramatic scenes that the stained glass artisans decided to create. The chapel was built to house the supposed crown of thorns. Which was displayed on a high altar above every one's heads. It also was quickly built, only taking five years to build with one architect (As Rick Steve's comments in his book). It was a fascinating sight to behold and one certainly not to miss if they are in Paris.
We went back to our hotel then, to comprehend what we saw and to rest our eyes from the tremendous amount of beauty that creeped into them. After our legs had had a rest and our eyes had closed for a few minutes, we headed out to the Eiffel Tower. The walk to it was rather slow, one expects to see it just around the corner, because it can so easily be seen above one's head! But when we finally reached the park in which it stands, one cannot help to look up! I was taken aback for sure and in my ear Mom was saying "Can you believe we're in Paris?" At that moment I certainly couldn't. I kept my eye on the thing hoping it wouldn't go away, but reluctantly I turned my back to have a couple of pictures taken. As we neared the tower, it seemed as if a party was going on. I could hear music playing. As we neared I realized it must have been entertainment for the people waiting in the long line to even climb the massive tower. Once we got in line it didn't seem to take long to get up into the lift and watch the steel rivets go by. We soon were on the second floor, if you will, of the tower. I could just hardly make out the Arch de Triumph and possibly the Louvre. According to our guide book you should be able to see them from that spot on the tower. But it was dark and I was concentrating on not being cold. For it was windy and quite chilly being about 200 feet up into the air, suspended by the steel body that is the tower. Before we had even reached that level, we had seen the tower glisten with powerful strobe lights in the night sky, as we waited for the line to progress. Soon we were ready to eat again, for dinner time was near. So we reluctantly headed down the tower to the ground level. Heading away from the Eiffel Tower, we took it in again. Its lights gleaming in the night sky. It was still beautiful.
On the way back to the hotel we found a Toulousain restaurant and we tried our first foie gras. I thought it was rather tasty. This particular foie gras was peppery and smooth to taste. No bad after taste, just an enjoyable little bite of something splendid. I also ate a Toulousain tradition and favorite, Cassoulet. The beans were wonderful little treats and the meat was OK. I know I am not used to the sausage here so that might have spoiled me a little bit. But despite the interesting flavor of the sausage, it was a good dish. Our day was busy, but it was wonderful.

Sunday, March 15 marked the day when we entered the Louvre. What can one say about it? First of all, the property in itself is incredible! I could've got lost in its gardens and towering arch statue. It also amazes me how much beautiful artwork is in its space. So much done by popular artists taught in schools all over the world. We started our Sunday there to a great crowd. All there to see what treasures were available to see with wide eyes.
One of the famous paintings I saw was the Feast of Canaan, I probably only remember it from High School art class, but we had to memorize it for the class. It was a large painting that took up the entire wall that it was displayed on. I must say the picture I saw in art class did not do its immensity justice, for one could feel like they were in the feast and took part in it. In fact I took a picture that looked liked all the tourists that were captured in it were there. This painting happened to share a room with the Mona Lisa, which was on a different wall behind glass. I could see why it would disappoint some people. You could not even get close to it to examine its little details. I would've liked to do that, but it was not worth it to shove past the people all trying to take a picture of it. We stood next to it for a little bit and then continued on into the other rooms that the museum held. Before we knew it were next to more famous paintings, but this time by French artists. One particular painting I do remember from High School art class it was the Crowning of Josephine. It is such a dramatic, fascinating picture. On the right of the picture is Napoleon, holding the crown above his wife's head and all of the French bureaucrats and political powers looking on. It is one painting to take in, to look for something fun, or something to make it even more fascinating. We saw some famous sculptures as well, but alas they are hard to describe. One that I am sure most people have heard of is the Venus de Milo who is a woman posed in such a way that she is an artistic and unique triumph for the unknown artist. She was actually holding a crowd as big as the Mona Lisa, but she is just famous for the fact that an ancient artist had a knack for carving out beautiful lines in stone.
Our walk through the Louvre was complete and we headed toward the Champs-Elysees and the Arch de Triumph. Both famous in there own right one for being the greatest road for shopping and one for being Napoleon's great dedication to his soldiers. The Arch de Triumph was a splendid arch, names covering its inside and the dramatic sculptures beaming on the outside. It was fascinating to see all the cars around it deciphering which way to go on the Arch's many roads leading from it. It was also neat that from the arch you can make out the Eiffel tower in the city distance. Admittedly, we were quickly done with the arch and were soon back on the street headed toward the Champs-Elysees. We hit some souvenir shops on our way down the Champs-Elysee where we picked up some great Parisian things for our families at home. We also ran into a huge Louis Vuitton store. I suppose it deserves the right to be huge being the original store. Things there were ridiculously priced. You could not even buy a key chain without dropping 200 euro. It was also crazy how many people were buying it as well. We were all awed at the fact people could afford it. Because the average American definitely could not. It was neat to see the range of things you could buy though. You could buy Louis Vuitton shoes, ties, billfolds, shirts and much more. But I suppose you expand so you can reach as many customers as possible, especially if they are able to pay the prices. We soon tired of the prices and found ourselves in the Swatch store, which seemed to have fairly reasonable prices. They also had some great watches as well! So many different creations one could wear on their wrist. One last stop on the Champs-Elysees was the Peugeot store. It showed off its newest cars and an assortment of memorabilia. It was interesting but we did not find anything worth buying. The Champs-Elysees, despite its steep prices at a few places was a great experience, it certainly made you feel like a Parisian, if even for an instant.