The Bailey Expedition

France

Emerging from Pisa on a typically early Bailey start, we zarked westward across the Riviera. We gazed longingly at the Cinquo Terra as we headed onward. We arrived in France with less of a fanfare and more of a recognition that the language had changed between entering and emerging from a tunnel. As we made our way down the Cote d' Azur we decided to take a bit of a detour and head through Monaco and Monte Carlo. We reached concensus that folks who live there seem to be fairly well off. It was something about the size of their yachts... Back on track we decided to spend our days at the beach in a small town just east of Saint Tropez. Frejus has a beautiful beach, classy harbor, and a really cozy and welcoming little hotel that was run by a great French couple (Hotel l'Oasis).

Two days at the beach is about as close to an ideal way to spend summer days as the boys could imagine. If you throw in classical French breakfast of juice, croissants, jam and hot chocolate, you have described their version of perfection. And it was. It was warm with enough wind to create small swells on the sea, and while the beach was quite populated, it was not too crowded. The melodious vocalizations of the children, the contrapuntal cautionings of their parents, and the rhythmic cadence of the surf all provided the perfect euphony on which the Beignette (doughnut) vender's would scat their way up and down the beach. Marvelous mediteranian music.

Today we left the ocean behind and turned sharply northward. We began by heading through Provence with its undulating topography, rocky outcrops and pine trees, and wound our way into Burgandy with its more carefully pressed terrain sporting sunflowers, hay, and endless rows of vineyards. We chose to alight in Auxerre where a marvelous little inn awaited us. We strolled through the town exploring its cathedral, its medieval streets and its pizza parlors, and ended the evening by catching up on the day's results from the Tour de France, just a few miles from us. Tomorrow we step into the maelstrom that is Paris for three days of exploring culture and creativity.

Morning in Auxerre began as it does in most of these medieval cities, with the voice of the cathedral bells beconing the populace to croissants and coffee. After a relaxing petite dejuner we briefly strolled through town gathering those two traveling essentials, a map of Paris and postcard stamps. As we headed out of town we were struck with a bit of inspiration and headed instead to the town of Chablis for a bit of wine tasting and the opportunity to purchase some choice bottles. We headed back to the motorway and into Paris. With some masterful planing and navigating, we plotted and negotiated a direct path to our hotel and arrived unscathed and with narry a single wrong turn. We are staying in the Marais district, only a few blocks from Notre Dame. After checking in we headed out for an afternoon in the city. Our first stop was Saint Chapel. This is a gothic chappel designed for the kings of France to hold the crown of thorns (the most holy relic) and built in the 13th century. It is constructed with a low wall surmounted with towering stained glass windows that completely encircle the room. The light that emminates from this ancient glass has a wonderful glow to it and it is quite a special place. The next point on our journey was the New Shakespeare bookstore in order to find an English copy of "The Return of the King" to feed Griffin's voracious appetite for the Tolkien series. After a brief rest, we headed out to explore the night life and to get a bite to eat. Wandering the streets we encountered a wide ranging variety of individuals and their diversions. This is a cosmopolitian city with visitors and residents from all corners of the globe. We get an early start tomorrrow in a recognizably futile attempt to explore the 4 corners of the Louvre. Click here to view other photos of France.

Morning came late to us in Paris today. We are road weary travelers and it is beginning to show. We awoke to find that across the street a Saturday market was underway and so we began the morning with fresh fruit, bread, vegetables, and we added more wine to the stash. Today's agenda had two items, the Louvre, and the Tour Eiffel. Arguably the worlds most reknown museum, the Louvre has a reputation that is well deserved. It contains an astonishing wealth of materials from across the world and most of the time space continuum (up to the 19th century) and there is a treasure around almost every corner. The only down side is the sheer size of the collection, to attempt a visit on a single day is a daunting task, and frustrating to the museum hungry visitors, let alone those who are beginnning to develop museum and travel fatigue. We needed a break after a brace of hours in its hallways and found it in the form of a gigantic ferris wheel that provided a forshadowing of the tower to come. After a snack we were now ready to tackle Eiffel's creation. This structure is still extremely popular with French and foreign tourists and there was quite a line. It is worth it. The ride to the middle takes just about a minute. There is a short wait for the elevator to the top, but any impatience is assuaged by the view of the city. The ride to the top is spectatular. This is the safest tall structure we have visited, and it afforded a view stretching endlessly to the horizon. We had timed our visit to allow us perfect day views, a great sunset, and the illumination of the tower for the evening, All three were excellent. All that remained was to locate a cab and try and make it home by midnight.

Notre Dame was the main course on our menu today. The line for the tower was long and the sun did its best to spoil our appitite but again the wait was worth it. This is a church rich in history, both actual French and conceived literary (Victor Hugo). The cathedral itself has gone through a very successful renovation and looked sparkling, the gargoyles seem happy and well fed and the bells were in good voice (view other photos of Gargoyles). From the outside at 65meters up, there is a spectatular view of most of the rest of Paris and you can drink in this historic view in all directions. After descending and receiving sanctuary from the sun in the belly of the church, we were particularly pleased to find that there was an Organ recital underway; Bach sounded great in this classic space. With a limited time in the city and only a few locations that we could visit, this was definately one location that left our psyches well fed.

July 14th. We rose early on our last morning in Paris with the hope of visiting a few stores before our departure. It was not to be. This date is known as Bastille Day in France, the day that the French populace rose up against their pastry-eating monarchs and stormed the Bastille prison. This day is now celebrated with a huge parade and most business are closed. So, while we did not get to contribute to the French economy, it just so happened that the parade came right past our hotel. Flyovers by dozens of jets, noisy tanks, scads of motorcycle police, all made for a nice sendoff...until we realized that blocked off streets and parades make for traffic nightmares. Luckly our dynamic duo of navigator extrordanaire and "he who drives down any sized street" whisked us out of the city and northward towards Belgium.