[We are still continuing with my travel diary from the summer of 1999 when I had the opportunity to experience Europe. I liked France until I went there. — Present-day Carrie]
Yes, folks, you heard (read) me right. We’re just gearing up for a 10 our bus ride through France to Switzerland. About to leave the French hotel and Paris.
Let’s see, what’d we do yesterday . . .
Oh yeah. Went to Musee d’Orsay, which is where there’s a lot of Impressionist paintings. Saw Cathy’s favorite Degas paintings, & I saw some Monets & some Renoirs. Wonderful. Then we went to lunch & walked around a whole lot, then we made our way toward the Louvre.
On the way Steven & I got on this gigantic Ferris wheel & saw a wonderful, tres formidable view of Paris. Got some good pictures.
We didn’t walk around in the Louvre much. Our feet were killing us. Saw the Mona Lisa. Very brown. So much stuff in there; magnificent. Saw Venus do Milo 8 winged victory & some stuff that I’ve seen before but can’t think of the name.
Then we went & ate, then got on a ferry boat & sailed down the Siene. Now that was fantastic. All the famous buildings are right along it, almost in a line, one after the other. Hopefully those pictures come out as well. Saw the tunnel that Princess Diana had that fatal wreck in.
That’s about it for yesterday. Today’s events are still a mystery, since it’s only 8:19 in the morning.
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We’re on a bus. I’m freezing. And we’re not moving. On the side of the French equivalent of an interstate. About 10 minutes ago we blew a tire — one of the inside ones & therefore complicated to fix, so we’re gonna be here a while it seems. [Steven’s handwriting] Hi, I’m bored. Its steven, by the way. [/Steven’s handwriting]
Wish we could’ve at least stopped where there was some good scenery, but noooo, we’re in some sort of forest and powerlines.
[two games of tic-tac-toe and a game that I can’t remember the name but it’s a bunch of squares with our initial letters]
[sketch of the view outside the bus window, with note, “You know I gotta be bored when I start drawing the boring view outside my window.]
[sketch of bee and three stick figures that look like were sketched by Steven. I drew the bee.]
Oh, God, we’re being attacked by huge mutant French bees! There’s 2 of ’em in the bus, very near me. Lord! They’re trying to kill them but they’re only making it madder.
Yay, they got it. But there’s another one. Steven’s after it. [Steven’s handwriting] I missed. Pooh!! [/Steven’s handwriting]
Oh well.
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Okay, we’re finally on the move. It’s 2:31 now, & we blew the tire around 12:10. The problem was . . . the French police. They are so inefficient. Right now we have a French police escort cause they still think the new tire is unsafe. Save, our tour director, cussed them out*. Course, he’s British, too, so he doesn’t like French. I can see why.
Now the police are making us pull in this place (w/ no food) to get a new tire. Lord.
A rare finished painting by da Vinci (bigger)
Musee d’Orsay by boat (bigger)
*Dave cussed out the French cop when the cop tried to get on the bus. That I remember clearly. He did it in French, and it was pure poetry.