Paris “must do” Tourist Explorations

Seems like forever since I was in Paris (1 week ago) so I wanted to share a few bits from our busy schedule. We used Uber everywhere and would have highly recommended it to all of you intending to go to Paris, but in light of the Taxi protests and burning of Uber cars, I will suggest taking the Metro and train instead. They are easy to use and get around on, not to mention cheap. Just hold on to your wallet. I’ve got to hand it to the Uber drivers, however, they know how to make you feel that you are riding in luxury. They pick you up in very nice cars and offer you water and magazines to read!

Fair warning – we did so much every day that I will have to divide this post into a few posts! There is so much to do in France that we had to narrow it down and pick and choose. Since mom and I had been to France before, we picked a few of our favorites that we thought Dana and Cathy would enjoy most and should experience. Mom and I are the art lovers of the group so we tried not to overwhelm my sisters with ALL of the great art exhibits to visit. Last time mom and I were in Paris, we enjoyed seeing one art exhibit after another to our complete delight. On this trip, each day was filled with a mix of activities that delighted us all. For example, the day we went to Notre Dame we also went to Galleries of Lafayette. We also enjoyed the Tuileries Garden and eating at Angelina the day we visited the L’Orangerie and the Louvre. The day we went to D’Orsay we also visited a Paris flea market.

Historical Sites we visited: Notre Dame (Shown in the previous post) and Versailles

Art Museums we visited: Louvre and Musée de l’Orangerie and D’Orsay

(Click on links to learn more about the places we visited) Advice: Don’t forget to buy a Paris Museum pass!

Versailles

Lots and lots of tourists!

Mirror reflection

Wouldn’t we all like to have a second home like this?

Beautiful architecture – they just don’t make it like they used to!

Gardens of Versailles

Yes, real life does imitate Art – or is it the other way around?

Trimmed trees – oh so nice!

Little known fact: Food at restaurants in Versailles are more than just awful! Just look at this! I still don’t know what type of meat this was and I swear I ordered ham! Best thing to do is grab a fresh baguette, meats and cheeses in the morning and have a picnic on the beautiful lawn and watch the boats row by.

Fun and Bizarre Fact: To escape the rigid court etiquette and formal ceremonies of Versailles, Marie Antoinette series of buildings built where she could pretend to be a shepherdess or a milkmaid. It was called Hameau. The farm buildings were constructed realistically with cracks in the walls to show age. Cows were washed and groomed before the Queen arrived. She would also take lambs for walks with silk ribbons as leashes.

Musee de L’Orangerie

Fun Fact: Monet was seen as a rebel at school. He would draw caricatures of his teachers and friends instead of doing his work.

Angelina

Our lunch of choice before going to the Louvre! This place is famous for their hot Cocoa! Yum! It was like drinking an incredible melted chocolate bar.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking…pause…wipe drool off face before continuing.

Louvre

And this is only a small section of the Louvre!

Yes, tourists love to do silly stuff!

Dana wouldn’t pose with a statue upon my request but wanted to do this.

Nice way to cover construction work!

Fun Fact: The museum is the size of 35 American football fields.

Before, during, after the Louvre –Tuileries Garden

Fun Fact: Tuileries, which is the French term for tile, had previously been occupied by many workshops that made tiles.

D’Orsay

While people are taking pictures all over the place at the D’Orsay, I thought I would share two pieces that were on loan that I had not seen in person before. These were a real treat to see!

Le Pont des Arts, Paris – Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Portrait D’un paysan – Vincent Van Gogh

Fun Fact: This incredible place was once a train station!

Merci de votre visite

“Sans Gluten, no, no, impossible,” said the Frenchman

“No? No Bread?” said the waiter as he rolled his eyes at me! This was a funny first experience when ordering a hamburger without a bun the first night. I even showed the waiter my French celiac explanation of what celiacs cannot eat but I think he still thought I was nuts. Luckily, the market down from the hotel sold gluten-free bread.

Seriously, it has not been too hard to be gluten-free in Paris. The only hard part is watching my sisters and mom eat croissants, baguettes, quiche, and pastries every day. I am enjoying seeing them so happy and listening to them make joyful noises each time they try something new.

It did not take this family long to find ice cream! As you will see in the picture, it is difficult to only choose one flavor of ice cream for desert. The chocolate ice cream was a favorite because it was a wonderful semi-sweet chocolate.

One day in Paris, we went to the restaurant, Angelina , to eat lunch and try their famous hot chocolate. It is located right near The Museum de Orangerie and Tuileries Garden. Everyone should come here! The lunch was wonderful and the hot chocolate was like drinking luscious melted chocolate. The fresh whipped cream served with it made it all that much better. Yum!

Merci de votre visite

Harmony Is No Longer For Sale!

Last time I saw the small town of Harmony , CA (population 18), it was for sale. I am not sure who bought it but now it is definitely a place for all to visit! Harmony can easily be passed in a blink of an eye as you drive between Cambria and Cayucos on Highway 1. Look for the signs and the word “pottery” and you won’t miss it.

Harmony is a great spot to enjoy a scone and a true machinano. The real kind that is served in a tiny cute cup. ( I felt so European.) Even the owner had old world charm with his accent (Italian, perhaps?) and his friendly demeanor. My friend Yvonne swears the scones are homemade and the best she has ever tasted. (She is my official taster and reviewer of all things with gluten while she is staying with me.) We ate and drank in their cute little garden area. Next to the garden is a pottery store, small chapel and exterior decor that reminds you that this town is steeped with history. Down the street (literally a few yards) is a glass blowing studio and store. I REALLY wanted to buy a number of pieces in this store but since I won’t be paid until the end of September, I held off. Besides, some of the pieces I wanted would eat up an entire paycheck for me! Expensive, yes, but we are talking high quality glass blowing here. I have been to a lot of glass stores this summer and I will say that hands down, this glass blower creates the most beautiful work I have ever seen. His eye for color and detail are truly amazing. So, expensive, yes, but justly so.

So you may wonder where do the population of 18 live in Harmony, I did to. So, I drove my little car, ignoring the dirt road ahead sign, and took the only small road I could find. There were a few houses, but not many. At the end of this road was a dog kennel and I wondered if the town of Harmony counted the dogs in their population because I could not figure out how they came up with a population of 18 with so few houses. Anyway, like “bears to honey,” I found another barn to photograph and this made my day. It was like finding a secret treasure hidden away.

Takin the side road…

My friend Pam has been telling me all about this beautiful back road she takes from Antioch to Brooks. So, getting up with the roosters, she took me along this wonderful country back road starting at 5 am. Here are some pics we took along the way:

We saw beautiful sunflowers:

We enjoyed California’s golden hills:

Here are a few pics that I am playing with via multi-medium technique:

Thank you Pam for showing me this beautiful area! If anyone out there wants to suggest other places I should travel to take photo’s, I would love to hear from you!

A quick trip…

to the mountains.

My mom wanted to take a trip up to Yosemite so of course, I agreed that we should go right away. 🙂

Look familiar?

We decided to go up, up, up along Highway 120. We stuck to the upper ridge above the valley floor on the Tioga Pass.

We visited Mono Lake. If you ever go to Mono Lake, you must visit Whoa Nellie Deli! Be sure not to drive past the Mobil gas station or you’ve missed it. This lovely yummy gem is inside the gas station! The food is delish and you get to eat it outside looking at the beautiful Mono Lake and listening to a local band.

Mono Lake View:

We visited the Tufa along Mono Lake just in time for sunset. The word Tufa may sound like a name out of a Dr. Seuss book but these beautiful looking sculptures are formed from alkaline waters, supersaturated with calcite.

We stayed at a motel in Lee Vining…won’t give mention of motel here due to no air conditioner in the middle of summer….lol I will give mention to the attached coffee shop, Latte Da Cafe, because they had my two favorite things, baked gluten free items and organic coffee. Yum! It was a great start to start our adventure to the Bodie ghost town!

Only an eighth of the town remains but the rangers there are doing a great job conserving the past. I can’t imagine how incredibly difficult it must have been to live there during it’s violent heyday. A murder a day and -30 degrees in the winter was no place for families, yet young children did live and go to school here right beside the miners.

As I end this post, here are a few pics of what those brave souls saw during the summer.

Astoria, Oregon

Astoria is a cute little town with a few shops to visit on main street. A few movies have been filmed there (Kindergarten Cop, to mention just one) Here, in Astoria, I found my dream shop. Seriously, it is called Vintage Hardware at the Astor Hotel. I love looking at salvage materials from old homes, antiques, art, and incredibly old architecture. This shop had all this inside one big old hotel. Here are a few pics from the internet:

One of our KOA staffers suggested that we go to Astoria’s Column. The Astoria Column has served for over 80 years as a beacon on the Pacific Northwest Coast. It sits in a wooded area 600 feet above sea level on Coxcomb Hill, Astoria, Oregon’s highest point. To be honest, not knowing anything about it, we thought it was strange to be going to see what looked like a big poll. Many may pass this up thinking the same thing we did, but don’t. You arrive at the top of the hill to what is an amazing view. I would have taken pics of it except it was raining. The Column is not just a poll but instead a work of art that is a summary of triumphs, conflicts and turning points of the frontier. It is beautifully crafted. You can even go inside of it and climb to the top.

Who could resist….

A cute furry little baby even if it does spend it’s life in a cage.
I really have a hard time visiting places that have animals in cages. I really feel bad for them. However, put a sign-up that says you can hold a baby bear, how could I resist?

Yvonne and I visited the West Coast Game Park petting zoo. Many of the animals had been rescued (which made me feel better), but still some are being bred there as well. I decided that this would be a great opportunity to take some pics of animals that my students may study during the school year. I figure what better attention grabber at the beginning of a lesson than showing yourself petting a bear, right?

We really lucked out the morning we saw the animals. The weather was cloudy but not rainy. It was the perfect day to travel to our next kampin Kabin. (I am getting in the KOA campground mode and making all my c’s be k’s now.) Our next site was only a few hours away. Highway 101 takes you along tree hugging roads to cliffs next to the ocean. The views are amazing.

We arrived at our next KOA in Lincoln. It was ok. The bathrooms were not as clean as the first KOA and the room a bit dusty. Boy, did I sneeze a ton. Anyway, by this time it was raining. We expected this on this trip due to the early timing in the season. We felt a bit timid about going hiking in the weather so what do these California girls do best? Shop!

Antiques here we come! Or so we thought… they were more like over priced garage sales taking place in buildings. Oh, well. The highlight of the day was visiting a glass blowing studio and ceramics shop. Both had unique items. Lincoln has beautiful beaches and hike possibilities, however the weather really affected these plans.

After very little thought, we decided that staying four days in Lincoln was too long and changed our next two camp nights to a KOA 2 ½ hours up the road.

Oregon or Bust!

Thelma and Louise are at it again…aka…Celia and her BFF, Yvonne Hyatt. Have you ever had a friend that you can talk and laugh with for hours on end and never tire of their friendship? Well, Yvonne and I have been friends for over 21 years and still make each other laugh those belly ache laughs that just won’t quit.
My first trip this summer is up the Oregon Coast. Yes, away from the farmland of last summer and keeping it coastal this year. (Don’t be surprised if I can’t resist taking a picture of an old barn or two along the way however.) Yvonne and I took off in a car packed to the brim with camping gear. Of course, I we had the trusty essentials in the front seat: GPS, Pandora and homemade granola. It was Oregon or Bust!

But then…things distracted us along the way. First, we just had to stop at Pour Girls Coffee. Great little country coffee shop owned by some sisters. Then, because I am often confused half the time, we had to stop at Confusion Hill. (Don’t ask-just someone trying to make a buck.) No need to stop at if you are traveling up Highway 101.

BUT DON’T MISS THE REDWOODS! Yvonne and I stopped and with my trusty hiking shoes, we walked a little trail while surrounded by these great giants. (What? You don’t hike in flip-flops?)

This was a great spot to have lunch, and a healthy one at that. YUM, Mango Salsa Chicken Salad! It really was like having a “fiesta” in my mouth. Thanks Yvonne!

Back on the road again and low and behold we were going over a hill and came across the most beautiful site! Clam Beach! We just had to stop and roll around in the sand for a while. The sand dunes were so amazing that you could hide between them.

But we were on a schedule, or so we thought, so we only stayed for a short visit. Elk, did I mention you have to watch for elk along 101? As you get closer to Oregon you definitely hit Elk Country. Yvonne yelled, “ELK!” and I pulled over to a lovely area that consisted of a drift wood carving store, campground area, an old schoolhouse with an old fire truck in front of it, someone selling hot dogs and of course, elk. Yes, elk lounging around looking like they were waiting for someone to feed them one of those hot dogs.

A few pictures here and there and we were off to experience a tall tale. It was at the Trees of Mystery that I got to visit my old friend Paul, yes, Paul Bunyan and his beloved ox Babe. It was great to see and talk to him. Yes, I said talk to him. It is easy to confuse the statue verses the real Paul sometimes but don’t be fooled. There Yvonne and I were just casually taking pictures reminiscing Paul’s great Tall Tale. I commented that Paul sure had a hairy chest and to my surprise he assured me (loudly) that it was ok because the hair kept him warm at night.
(Ok, this is where I just have to say, “Wouldn’t that be an awesome summer job?”)

WELCOME TO OREGON!

Camping, camping comes in many forms. Before my forties, I would scowl at the wimps not roughing it. A tent and only a tent meant you were camping. Bathroom and shower? Those were for softies!

Then I hit the forties, ok I’ll admit I am forty-six. Yikes, that is hard to say. You know you are getting old when your birthday rolls around and you think you are turning the age your were last year. Sadly, that is exactly what I experienced this past May.

Anyway, imagine you are hearing angels sing from the heavens now. Ok, that is what I heard when we drove-up to our cabin at the KOA campground. You can see by the pics how cute it was. I know, that is a girlie thing to say, but seriously, it had hanging flowers and a swing on the porch! Cabins had nice beds, WIFI and electricity-need I say more? Oh yes, I have never been in a cleaner bathroom and shower facility in my life. It was perfect!

We were “home”.

Bryce Canyon-It really is orange!

If you have ever seen photo’s of Bryce Canyon (like mine you will soon see), you might wonder what the big deal is. You truly have to visit this place to understand the shock and awe of what is there.

I know I am a few days behind on my blog so let me first catch you up. I drove from Salt Lake City to Bryce. I was excited to go see the place that thousands of people from all over the world travel to each year. My drive went from sunny to stormy quickly. In fact, I have never had so much rain dumped on my car at once. It is amazing how big the raindrops are here. They are huge!

As soon as I arrived at my hotel (I stayed at the Best Western Grand-A+ for the room, grade C+ for the breakfast), I decided to check out the tourist traps across the street. (It was cloudy and not a good time for pictures so there was nothing else to do.) Here they have your typical huge store where hundreds of tourists flock to buy their “one of a kind” overpriced vacation memento. Can you tell I am not impressed with places like this? But of course, I had to go check it out. I confess I did try on a cowboy hat. Anyway, after having fun tourist watching a bit, I headed back to my hotel to go to bed early. I wanted to beat the tourist buses that head into the park at 8:30 a.m.

Foodie Fact Alert: The best thing you can do at a place like this is to bring your own food. The restaurants are way overpriced for food that is pretty bad. The only place I would recommend here is Subway. It is still pricier than ones at home but at least the food is fresh and not greasy.

So I need to give a big thanks to Dana’s friend Kim and my cousin Heidi! They told me to head to the park early in the morning and to take the Queens Garden Trail. This was the perfect advice! I entered the park at opening, 8:00 a.m., and beat the tourist buses by a good half hour or more. Then instead of starting this trail where the tourists do (sunrise point), I started my hike on the opposite end (sunset point). This gave me additional time to take pictures without a lot of tourists milling about. I did not run into the tourist bus visitors until the very end of the trail. Here are a few pics I took along the way:

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Believe it or not, this is just a small fraction of the pictures I took. I still can’t believe how many pictures of rocks you can take and still want to take more here. Mind-boggling.

All in all-a great place to visit!

Have you ever been to Paris

and Dingle in one day? I now, can say I have! Dingle’s welcome sign states that it is “The Capitol of the World” while Paris boasts a population of 479!,

Ummm, what can I say about Dingle? It is very small. There are a few red barns. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, it looks like this:

Paris in the summer, ahhhh. As you can see by the signs, Paris is older than Dingle even though they are only across Bear Lake from each other.

Just as Paris, France has the Eiffel Tower, Paris, Idaho has the Paris Tabernacle:

The average visitor may not believe their eyes when they hear that all the wood is made out of pine in the tabernacle.

Apparently, the settlers who built this tabernacle thought pine looked cheap, so they hand painted all the wood to look like oak.

The reason the ceiling looks like it should be on a ship is that a shipbuilder made it!

To get stone to build this building, people would wait for the lake to freeze over in the winter, then cross the lake, cut the rock and then bring cut stones all the way back across the lake.

Side note for my antique lovers out there: There is only one antique store in Paris. Everyone in town agrees that the store is overpriced but the owner makes really great pizza. (It is amazing the things you find out from a tour guide, isn’t it?)

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Versailles

Musee de L’Orangerie

Angelina

Louvre

Before, during, after the Louvre –Tuileries Garden

D’Orsay

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