Paris, Berlin, London -- October 9 to November 3, 2001

--writing with Apple laptop--

--Becky writes unless noted by Marilou--

--Marilou takes most of the photos--

Friday, October 12, 2001

Howdy All,

We are in Paris, staying with our friend, Bob, who's been here for two and a half months. He has taken an apartment in the northern residential section inside the perimeter.

This is only a month after 9-11. We were concerned right after the horrible event and watched carefully the unfolding actions of the world powers. When no all-out-war developed, we decided to keep our plans to go to Europe.

I imagine some of you who haven't flown lately are wondering about the flying part of our trip. Actually everything went very well. With all the TV reports saying get to the airport 3 to 4 hours ahead for International flights, we chose to arrive 4 hours early and found the airport almost empty. The Delta check-in person said that the airport is always light at noon, even before the 9-11 events. So, after waiting in line for about 8 minutes we were checked-in.

The line to go through the metal detector and to screen carry on bags was a little longer than usual due to more thorough scanning. One new thing is that laptops have to be taken out of bags and placed on the conveyer belt. I was picked, randomly, to be searched, though maybe I looked like I needed it. --grin-- I had to stand with arms out and be gone over with the hand held scanner and patted down. Still, we got through it all in hardly no time and then had lots of time on our hands at the gate. We ate lunch, watched TV (CNN was on everywhere).

The plane was about 3/4 full. We flew Delta coach. It was a very good flight on a new 777 with view screens on the back of all the seats. Nice. Saw the new movie Moulin Rouge. What a blast of a movie!!! Actually, it was the edited version ... we are going to see the uncut version here in Paris tomorrow night. First run American movies still have the English soundtrack with French subtitles, we learned from Bob. (The real Moulin Rouge is a cabaret theater and we walked by it on Wednesday. We've made reservations to see a show there Monday night.)

Backtracking some now to Tuesday the 9th. We arrived at Charles De Gaulle Airport in the dark of the morning and took a taxi to Bob's apartment. As the sun began to lighten the sky during our ride into Paris, it felt familiar to be back in an European city. Some of the sights looked very similar to Barcelona's long history and buildings built to last. Bob's apartment is 5 floors up in an 170 year old building and there's no elevator. We made two trips up with our bags. Even though "they" say to keep going with the time of your new time zone, I couldn't. I insisted on a 2 hour nap. I didn't get much resistance from Marilou or Bob, who had awakened early to greet us.

Soon after the nap, Bob had us out on the streets, walking our feet off. Since he's been here awhile he's already quite familiar with the city.

The French drive on the right side of the road, so we didn't have to worry about looking the wrong way when we crossed streets.

That first day he gave us a whirlwind tour to get us oriented. Paris, within the perimeter, has almost no building over 7 stories tall. This helps maintain the atmosphere in which the great old structures were created. There are newer skyscrapers and modern buildings -- those are mandated to be outside the perimeter. So, our tour began in the older parts, getting around by subway and foot.

We walked around and in Notre Dame, one of the first buildings to use the flying buttress technique in order to achieve such high walls and open interior space. The Rose Window is truly amazing. It's always surprising to see these places up close and personal. The details and the settings are rarely fully presented in the picture books. I didn't realize how much the Seine River winds it's way back and forth through the city.

The Louvre is really huge! We didn't go in that day.

Champs-Elysées, the street that runs from the Louvre's grounds to the Arc de Triomphe, is a long, very busy multi-lane, tree lined boulevard. The layout of our Washington DC's Mall reflects the influence of this part of Paris' planning. And off to the side, a look at the Eiffel Tower, possibly the most recognized manmade structure of recent history.

Near the Louvre is the American Embassy. There were lots of police and barricades around the building. We didn't linger. Bob told us about the reactions Parisians had when the events of 9-11 occurred. He said within a day or so there were piles of flowers and I Love NY hats, shirts, etc, that covered the sidewalk all the way around the block of the Embassy. There were still many of these items at the scene a month later.

With scattered showers and long sleeve temps, we moved quickly around Paris that first day. Tried feet barely got us up the 5 flights of stairs when we returned to Bob's apartment that evening. I must point out that the sore feet just belong to Marilou and I ... Bob is so used to this routine that he doesn't complain near as much as us!

Once home (Bob's apartment), we turned on the TV to see if the rest of the world was still there. Thank goodness for the BBC and CNN in Europe.

On Wednesday, we went up to Secre Coeur, a church built in the early 1870's. It's on one of the only hills of any height in Paris. It's on the north side of the city and offers a great panoramic view of the whole metro area. Plus the church itself is quite grand for it's relatively small size. Even though there was some haze over the city from that view, the weather that day was beautifully clear and warm.

From there we walked down the hill through an area that at the turn of the century was known for it's bohemian ways and the wild Moulin Rouge. We saw many artists around one particular square park drawing and painting portraits and selling their other creations. Strolling musicians also serenaded us for "gifts". In fact, many places we've gone in the city musicians play -- the subway, street corners, and popular destination spots. They most often play the accordion. Some of these players are very good.

When we got to the Moulin Rouge it certainly didn't look much like it does in the movie, though this is 2001 and things have changed much in the area. It does still have the red (Rouge) windmill (Moulin). Bob tells us that the whole hill side had many windmills in days gone past. There is a monastery next to Secre Coeur on the hill and the monks used to grow many acres of grapes of which just a small section remains today. Perhaps the windmills were used in the wine production, I'm not sure.

From the north side of the city we took the subway across town to the Eiffel Tower. Paris has a very developed web of subways and some of the stations where different lines cross can be large and leggy to get through. Eventually we came up above ground across the Seine from the Tower. This gives one the traditional view. The Tower makes a strong statement of individuality with the backdrop of old Paris setting this structure apart from anything else in the world. Until the Empire State Building was built in NY, this was the world's tallest structure. As we got closer to the Tower, it's size became even more impressive.

We rode the elevator to the top and from there Paris becomes an expansive sea of 7 to 9 story buildings with odd shaped roofs, scattered spires, and tree lined streets. In the whole metro area live 9 million people, about 2 million of those live inside the perimeter road.

It took myself and Marilou (Bob didn't go up with us) about 1.5 hours to go to the first platform, look around, go on up to the top, look around and ride back down. The waiting line to go up wasn't very long that day, about 10 minutes. The heaviest tourist time has passed for the year plus many tourists were staying home after 9-11. We had heard that usually just the wait can be more than an hour.

We ate dinner at a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower that evening and saw the Tower just after the lights were turned on at dusk. And speaking of eating, we've really enjoyed the food here. "French" vanilla ice cream, "French" onion soup, "French" bread, fries, omelet, sauces, and all things "French" are wonderful. There are rich foods and there are plenty of "regular" food, too. I'm seeing that, like the Spanish, the French will serve some kind of a salad with a dish even though it's not written that way on the menu. Pleasant surprises.

On Thursday, Marilou went out to the neighborhood bakery right on the corner of the apartment block and bought some fresh croissants and pan au chocolate (a flaky bread with semisweet chocolate inside) for us to have for breakfast. Bob had done the same on the morning of our arrival. We had found this chocolate bread in Spain, too. Staying in the city has one nice advantage, being able to pick up fresh food so handy.

After breakfast we rode the subway to Champs-Elysées, where nice shops and trees line the street. This is the street that goes between the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe and the one Joni Mitchell sang of in "A Free Man In Paris". There are many kinds of stores; clothing, electronics, cars, all very chic and modern. One was a perfrume shop that sold all the known brands and would also mix a scent just for you.

On our way to the Arc, walking down Champs-Elysées, we had lunch at a sidewalk cafe where people watching is very entertaining.

Then we walked on to the Arc. To get to it where it stands in the middle the large round "square", one has to walk through a tunnel under the street.

Unfortunately, we have arrived in Paris during a civil employee's strike and many of the museums are closed. This includes going to the top of the Arc. We did walk around the base of it and in the tunnel we saw a large 360º picture of what is seen from the top. That, at least, gave us a good sense of what we were missing.

After the Arc we got back on the subway and continued on that line out to the new skyscrapers. Just outside the old part of Paris is a business mall that is the largest in Europe, the Esplanade de La Defénse. Here is a new La Grande Arche, a monolithic office building that is shaped similarly to the Arc de Triomphe, just much bigger. Within the arc of this building Notre Dame could fit. Looking back toward the Louvre in the distance, the Arc de Triomphe is in-between there and us. This is the part of Paris -- the long street with the Louvre at one end and the arc buildings along it -- that reminds me of Washington DC. Actually the whole theme of no building in DC being taller than the Whitehouse is very Parisian, too. I found out later that the same Frenchman designed both boulevards in the two cities, thus the similarities.

Le Marais was our next stop on Thursday afternoon. This is an area that was swamp on the left bank of the Seine way back when. As the town of Paris developed in the 1600's the swamp was filled in and soon the wealthy folks were living there. After the revolution in 1830 when the Bastille was overthrown, the rich folks got the notion that perhaps it would be a good idea to leave Paris for a while and thus the area of Le Marais went empty until about 1940, when people began to renovate the buildings and move back into the area. Now it's very alive with shops, apartments, and traffic.

That night we went to see the movie Moulin Rouge in a theatre in an underground shopping mall. What a wonderful movie! It's a feast for the senses and a tug-of-war to the emotions. The French audience seemed to love it. Some clapped afterward. Bob tells us that the French do clap for what they like.

So as not to distory buildings or the look of old Paris, new shopping and office malls are built underground. Once one goes down into them, there's hardly any thought of being underground.

Bob has thanked us for bringing the beautiful, clear, warm weather that the past few days have been. He says the usual weather is cloudy, cool and damp.

Love to all,

Becky & Marilou

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Wednesday, October 24, 2001

Howdy All,

We are in London now. I'm going to finish the Paris stay first, then Berlin.

During our last several days in Paris, the civil employees were still on strike, thus all the government run museums remained closed. Except the Louvre and that one was open as usual and free admission, due to the strike somehow. Marilou and I went through part of it on Monday. It is so big! Saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, of course.

The 1st Louvre was a castle built in the 12th century with a moot. The original base walls that would have been in the moot are now visible from a recent excavation downstairs. Other parts of the Louvre were added by succeeding Kings as time went on until it reached it's present rambling configuration. In some of the Louvre's rooms the walls and ceilings are as decorative and impressive as the artwork being displayed.

With the other museums closed and the weather being so nice, we have spent much of our time going to some lovely parks. The folks who live here like to walk, have lunch, and get some sun in the parks. We visited the very old cemetery, Père Lachaise, several times. It's a small city in itself, with crypts built close together and completely filling a hilly area of many acres. Dates on the stones are centuries old as well as very recent ones. Chopin, the great composer, is buried here. His crypt is kept scrubbed clean by admires who also constantly leave flowers there. Jim Morrison of The Doors died in Paris and because he loved Paris so much his wife chose to bury him here. His plot is visited often, too, and we saw fresh flowers around his headstone. There was a group of young French men there reading aloud from one of Jim's poetry books.

Monday night we went to a dinner show at the Moulin Rouge. While I've not a great amount of experience with shows of this topless nature, this one seemed to be all it's repetition claims it to be. It was lots of fun. It has good singers, a variety of entertainers, and great costumes ... much of what our Vegas style shows are based on. Only the can-can girls were topless, not the other entertainers. And dinner was good.

Paris is a fairly quite place. Though the traffic is furious in the streets, the folks and general feeling is calm. I've seen one display of anger -- an elderly man who was just beginning to cross a street on a green light, was almost hit by a car failing to stop at their red light. The man was obviously upset and said something to the driver in French that, I'm sure, wasn't "Have a nice day".

All in all, we haven't felt any of the French animosity towards Americans that we've heard in stories, even with our very poor spoken French language. Many of the French people don't know English and most of those don't want to know. We stumble through what we know of their language and they seem to be happy to figure out what we are trying to say. A sincere smile goes a long way and lucky for us, too, Bob's French is pretty good.

The weather remained beautiful up until our leaving day on Thursday 18th and then some serious clouds moved in with rain. Unlike the US airports at his time which ask for 2 to 4 hours early arrival, we couldn't even check-in until noon for a 1:20 flight. Thankfully, with the European unification, passports aren't check for flights to another European country. So, that was all a breeze. Even coming into France from the USA was just a look-see at our passports ... not even a stamp. Actually, I really wanted the stamp. :-(

There are hours of stuff I could write about Paris and yet I'm now in Berlin and there are hours here, too.

Bob's stay in Paris ended with ours. All three of us moved on to Berlin.

Arriving the afternoon of the 18th, entering Germany was THE easiest in security procedure and in airport configuration -- walk off the plane down the ramp and right there is baggage claim and right there is what they called customs -- two, maybe three questions and you're in Germany. On to find an ATM to get Deutschemarks and the Tourist Information to make a hotel reservation before we left the airport. Got a taxi to the hotel and soon we were out on the streets of Berlin for an early supper.

We are staying in what was known as west Berlin during the days of The Wall. The city is one again, though the differences of the two old halves are still very apparent, especially in looks.

Walking to find a restaurant that first night was an adventure for the three of us because none of us had been here before. Bob had been in other parts of Germany and not Berlin. And unlike when MK and I arrived in Paris to have Bob know the city already, we all were exploring this city for the first time.

One really great thing about Berliners is that just about all of them know English and seem to like it along with Americans. Our first meal here was one of the best I've ever had -- anywhere. Our Lonely Planet guide book said that the service can be slow and the food bad!!! In five days we've not experienced that at all, in fact, just the opposite. We've not eaten in a place we wouldn't go back to again.

There are absolutely no ruins remaining anywhere, except one bomb damaged church tower that was left on purpose as a Memorial to the destruction of Berlin. This stands just a few blocks from our hotel and is an erie thing to see. I think the photos I've seen of this city's destruction were stuck in my mind until I got here. It's not that way at all, especially in the old western half of the city most everything is new, clean, and artfully done.

On Saturday MK and I were walking along the main street of west Berlin and got to talking with a man who was here during the bombing. He saw the city destroyed through his young eyes. A frightening time. He also commented that the destruction in America last month was similarly as devastating and disturbing to him.

And while on that note, we are seeing posters, signs, and store window displays voicing sentiments of support and sorrow for the United States. In front of the US Embassy are still stacks of flowers and notes of sorrow.

Berlin's public bus system is great. There are some in-town trains, too.

There is a lot of new construction of all kinds going on, especially in the eastern half. Cranes are everywhere. The east side, being put under Soviet control after the war, had a whole different approach to architecture and today looks very stark compared to the west side's more varied and artistic rebuilding. The east side is beginning to change its look as the people of the now one Berlin seem to want to disappear anything "east".

Several sections of The Wall still stand as reminders of what can happen and to display the artistic graffiti that covers the old wall. Check Point Charlie, the American/Russian crossing is one of the most visited spots in Berlin. We walked past some of the museums in the east that remained standing after the bombing and where renovation is just now occurring. We saw many bullet holes. Brannenburg Gate, built by Napoleon, is covered by a huge picture cloth of itself as it is being renovated.

Berlin is a very interesting city and as the guide books say, it is continually changing as much as it is continually building. It wasn't until after we got here that I realized that we had been in perhaps the most unchanged city in all of Europe, Paris -- and then in perhaps the most changed city in all of Europe, Berlin. The two are worlds apart! Paris seems happy to be itself over and over again and Berlin seems to not want to see the same thing twice.

All over Berlin there were bear statues that artists have painted. I don't know the details as to why. The numbers keep growing and it's probably over 300 now. Sometimes they would even be on top of buildings or other surprising places. It was fun to find them and to check them out. MK has taken pictures of probably 100 of them.

In Berlin we've had one day of clear weather, most have been overcast and cool. Today as we flew out, wouldn't you know, it was clear.

We all enjoyed Berlin very much. It's very clean. The city streets are spacious. They drive on the right. Good food.

Tuesday 23rd we left Bob at Tegal Airport in Berlin as we went on to London. He flew back to Paris and caught his flight to Atlanta. We sure are glad he invited us over to Paris while he was there. It was a great opportunity to experience Paris with someone who knows French. Thanks, Bob.

And now we are in the London Kensington Hilton for 3 days and then to the London Heathrow Hilton for 3 days.

Love to all,

Becky & Marilou

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Thursday, October 25, 2001

Howdy All,

As our plane approached London I was struck by how extremely large the whole metro area is and how all the row houses look like a frozen dance of geometrically minded brown worms all lined up parallel to themselves; some straight, some bent consecutively this way and some bent all that way. They go on in their still choreography for as far as the eye can see, an incredibly huge pattern of sameness.

The first day we were here we rented a car and drove to Southampton, about an hour south of London to see the garden center that Charlie Demmock of "Ground Force" works at when not filming the show. We found the place in Romsey, and they told us she doesn't actually work there anymore though she still lives in Romsey and had been by the center the day before. Shucks, we had missed her. We still had fun finding the spot and it really is a beautiful water garden retailer.

Then we noticed how close Stonehenge was to our location and without having planned it to begin with we made it to the old rocks just before sunset. The gates were already closed, so we walked along the roadside by the fence and took some pictures. I had sort of written off seeing Stonehenge this trip because the behind the ropes tour that allows a small number of people to go right up to the stones after public hours was over for the season and that's how I had wanted to see Stonehenge. I am very happy to have seen it, now, even from the road. It's only about 50 yards away. And the countryside around the circle is beautiful rolling pastureland.

MK has worked it out with Hilton for us to stay at the Kensington and not move to the Heathrow. Back many months ago when we planned this stay the bookings here were different. I'm guessing that some cancellations came up due to the terrorist situation.

So, by being closer to town we've made it to three plays in as many nights; "The Blue Orange", "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg", and "Feelgood". This has been one of the best parts of visiting London. Each afternoon we go to the half price booth in Leicester Square which is right in the middle of the theater section of town and check for what's available for that night. The first night we got first row seats at half price. The theaters tend to be small victorian styled venues and the productions are first rate.

Saturday 27th, we went to the Teddy Bear Fair that was one of the main reasons we worked London into our plans. The fair is being held in a grand hall north of town in the suburbs. We took the Tube and then a short bus ride to the exhibition hall up on a hill. When we looked back toward London the view was quite unexpectedly expansive. The giant ferris wheel was just visible as well as all the spires along the Thames River. There's only a few skyscrapers. So, anyway, we went into the bear show and had a great time. We saw Heike, a bear maker, whom we met in Alpharetta. She now lives again in her home country of Germany. Spent hours looking at all the fun and creative bears all these European artists have made.

After being in London for several days now, I've realized how similar Calcutta is to this. The Brits just recreated London in India. They are both up-river port towns with poorly planned street systems and have become very over populated and polluted. The main difference is that Calcutta has more Indians. A joke, ha ha.

London has grown on me after 5 days. After sleepy Berlin I had a bit of a delay in getting up to speed for crazy London. And London IS pretty crazy. There are more than 300 different languages spoken here. 25% of Londoners are of foreign origin. The Brits, of course, drive on the WRONG side of the road and they behave quite bizarrely when behind the wheel of a car. I wonder ... did the Indians get the bazaar driving habits from the Brits or visa versa? Though there's not near as much horn honking here as in India, thank goodness!

We've not seen some of the more traditional sights in London -- Big Ben up close, the changing of the guard, royal palaces or inside churches. We did go to the Tate Modern, the newest museum here. There we enjoyed an extensive show on the Surrealist movement. We have gotten around the town allot, though. Today we are going out to Kew Gardens where there's is a very large collection of orchids. Tonight we are meeting Heike and her London friends, with whom she is staying, for dinner at an Indian restaurant.

While we'll drive in the countryside, we tube, taxi, or bus ourselves around in the city. Traffic here is horrendous!

It's been very interesting to be in Europe during these times after 9-11. We have had insightful conversations with people of middle eastern heritage as well as folks from the countries we've traveled through. People are concerned about their safety. People are living their lives as best as they can. We are really the same.

Tomorrow we fly home.

Love to all,

Becky & Marilou

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Sunday, November 4, 2001

Howdy All,

The last day, we were returning the rental car and I was driving on a through road in a residential section of town, not far from the Avis return location. It was morning rush hour traffic. I was in a line of cars behind a stopped garbage truck. Each car in front of me negotiated the pass between the truck and on-coming traffic. My turn came. I was nervous to make the move. I waited for a gap in the oncoming traffic. None came.

The folks behind me began to honk their horns. I clenched my teeth and went for it, trying to thread our car between the parked truck and the on-coming traffic. About half way past the rear corner of the truck, I saw Marilou throw her hands up in front of her face. The next instance, there was a loud smashing banging sound and at the same time glass from Marilou's side window came exploding into the car.

I was so determined to get on around the truck and away from this situation, I continued to go forward. More scrapping sounds issued from the passenger side of the car as I just kept going. In my adrenalin charged state, I didn't stop until a block or so away when Marilou said I really needed to stop so we could get the glass off of her.

On a side street we pulled over and got out to assess the damage. Fortunately, Marilou wasn't hurt. The side mirror on Marilou's side of the car had caught the edge of the truck and slammed into the window. In my hast to get on past the truck I had run the length of the car from the mirror back against the end of the bumper of the truck. A long crease showed my poor judgment. I doubt that the truck was any worse for it, I didn't go back to see.

A Bobbie was walking the street where we stopped and asked if we needed help. I told him what had happened and that we weren't hurt. He smiled and said we could sweep the glass out onto the curb and not to worry about anything. He walked away, I'm sure, thinking, "Those Americans, where do they get their licenses"?

We drove on to the car return and the attendant had a good laugh, too. I was very glad we had taken the extra insurance on the car. The most the incident cost us was about $150. The car was seriously damaged.

Not to mention the flat tire we left in the boot. The attendant understood that we didn't want to drive to the repair station even just a few miles away to get it fixed as we were supposed to, after the harrowing experience we'd survived getting only that far.

At Heathrow airport, an hour or so after returning the car, both of us got searched, bags and all. No problems, just a first for all our bags to be poked through. We had arrived at the check-in early and they weren't busy, so we think they entertained themselves by going through our stuff. They were very nice about it.

The flight from London to Atlanta had maybe 20 people on it. As we departed the plane in Atlanta, the pilot sounded very sincere as he thanked us for flying Delta.

So, until the next trip, be seeing ya.

Love to All,

Becky & Marilou

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