Paris and the Loire Valley

The last post, “The Best Laid Plans”, provided a broad outline of the next eight months and was written on the day of our departure from San Francisco – destination: Paris. Our intention is to publish a post to this blog every week providing a brief description of where we have been, what we have learned and how we have been impacted by this adventure. This is the first of those reports. Let’s get right to it.

The flight from SFO was long (11 hours), but uneventful (the best kind). We landed around 10:30 in the morning on April 28^th (Liz’s birthday), cleared passport control, picked up our copious luggage and then headed for the taxi queue.

First, a word about passport control. Liz and I had applied for a Schengen visa. We learned from Liz's friend Mike, late in our preparation process, that the Eurozone had changed its visa requirements for US citizens such that for those entering the Eurozone for over 90 days, you would require a visa. The instructions from the website suggested, if you would be traveling in several countries, to pick the one in which you would be spending the most time. That was pretty much a toss up for us between France, Spain and Italy, so we chose France.

As it happens, France has a visa processing center in San Francisco. We completed the applications, arranged an appointment at the center and submitted our applications. We were told it would take up to 15 business days to process which would leave us about 1½ weeks before our scheduled departure…cutting it close, but hopefully not too close.

Approximately two weeks later, we got our reply – visa denied! Reason, because we weren’t staying in France for over 90 days, we presented an “overstay risk”. Uh oh! What to do now? Well, there was too little time to re-apply, so we simply headed to the airport without our visas. As it turns out, since we will also be visiting the UK, Ireland, Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Turkey – none of which are in the Schengen region – we should be OK. Still, having been denied a visa, I was concerned, upon presentation of our passports in France, that we would encounter a problem. Fortunately, we sailed straight through.

Next, a word on our luggage. How do you pack for eight months? Short answer: not easily. Longer answer: two large duffle bags, two suitcases, two carry-ons. And then you agree that whatever you packed and don’t need, you can leave somewhere along the way, and whatever you didn’t pack and need, you can purchase along the way.

Our taxi took us to the home of JB and Caroline Monnier in the center of Paris. JB is a former colleague of mine at Bentley Systems and he and Caroline have become dear friends of ours over the years. They were among our guests at our wedding at Lake Tahoe in June 2017.

Their home is in a perfect location in Paris – situated between the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre and only a few blocks off of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. They have a four-bedroom apartment on the second floor of a classical Parisian building, designed by Hausmann in the mid to late 1800’s under Napoleon’s reign. Caroline, who has exquisite taste, has decorated their home with many items they have procured during their many years living in China. This would be our home for the next four days enjoying the incredible hospitality of JB & Caroline.

That first day was one to take it easy and to recover from jetlag. We visited a nearby museum, strolled through a local park, walked to the Arc de Triomphe and enjoyed a coffee at one of the many cafes on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. After a lovely dinner prepared by Caroline, we were off to bed early, exhausted, but thrilled to have started our trip off in such magnificent fashion.

The next morning, I accompanied JB on a walk to the local bakery, Eric Keyser, to pick up baguettes and croissants. This became a regular routine as there is nothing better in the world than baguettes and croissants in Paris.

Caroline then joined Liz and I as our personal tour guide. We were clear that our intentions were to be visitors and not tourists, so she took us to places of interest to her including a store with unusual ceramics and a taxidermy shop full of insects, butterflies, and mammals right up to a head of a rhino. Caroline joined us for lunch and then bid us adieu as she had other errands to tend to. Before departing, she gave us a list of places to visit before returning home.

Paris is among the great walking cities in the world. First stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral which was blocked off due to the recent fire, but still beautiful to see from a distance. From there we visited several other places of interest including Place de Vosges and the Opera House before heading home. After walking 11+ miles and still suffering a bit of jetlag, we napped before dinner.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Opera House

The next day, after breakfast of baguettes, coffee, fresh-squeezed orange juice and croissants, Liz and I took a train to Versailles. Liz had made this trip before, but this was my first time. This place is jaw dropping and upon first glimpse, I totally understood why there was a French Revolution. Having traveled to many places in the world, I don’t recall seeing anything quite so grand or magnificent as Versailles. Built by Louis XIV in 1682, the palace is over 720,000 sq ft sitting on over 2,000 acres including 230 acres of gardens. Only the Forbidden City in Beijing is larger, but, having been there as well, not nearly as magnificent.

Versailles

The palace was used by the king of France for just over 100 years until the French Revolution in 1789 when Louis XVI was king. By that time, France as a country was essentially bankrupt (after all, who can afford such grand residences) and the people, naturally, revolted. Fortunately, Versailles was spared the total destruction that many other palaces throughout France suffered during the Revolution, and stands today for many to visit (over 7.7 million annually) as a symbol of what can happen during periods of extreme income inequality.

Dinner that evening, April 30^th, was at Bistrot du Sommelier, a short walk from JB & Caroline’s home. I had enjoyed a meal at this restaurant many years earlier with JB & Caroline and list it among my top 5 meals of my life. The owner of this restaurant, Philippe Faure-Brac, was named the world’s best sommelier in 1992. As I recall from my previous experience, the chef prepares a multi-course menu complete with wine pairings. With each wine poured, the sommelier comes to your table and asks you to identify the wine, the grape, the region in France where it comes from, the winery and, for extra credit, the year. If you’re like me, you might be able to identify the wine as either white or red.

Liz’s birthday was April 28^th, the day we arrived in Paris. I had asked JB to book us a table later in the week at this restaurant to properly celebrate her birthday. And our experience did not disappoint! The food, the wine, the environment and the company combined to make this another Top 5 dining experience. Happy Birthday Liz!

JB, Malcolm, Liz & Caroline at Bistrot du Sommelier

Our last full day in Paris was May 1^st – May Day which is a holiday in Paris, as it is in much of the world, to celebrate laborers and the working class. You may have read about the “Yellow Vests” in France. This is a current protest movement that started in October 2018 sparked by a proposed increase in fuel taxes. There has been regular protesting ever since and often including violence. 15 people have been killed and over 4,000 injured including protesters, civilians and police. This movement, not unlike the French Revolution in the late 1700’s, is fueled by income inequality.

May Day attracted over 140,000 protesters throughout France with over 40,000 in Paris. In anticipation of this, police in full riot gear carrying semi-automatic weapons could be seen in large numbers throughout Paris. It seemed like a good day to get out of town, so the four of us headed to Giverny – the home of Claude Monet – about an hour’s drive from Paris.

Our day at Monet’s home, walking through his gardens, transported us back over 100 years and it felt like we were walking through his paintings. It was absolutely magical in every aspect. To be there made one feel that you too might be able to paint with such mastery if only you were surrounded by these environs every day. Ahh, one can only dream and dreams came easy to us in Giverny. If you get a chance, go. Liz said she wants to live in a Monet painting...!

 

Monet's Garden

From Monet’s garden, we drove a short distance to Château de La Roche-Guyon, built in the 1200’s on the Seine River. The château is built into a limestone cliff and includes a lookout castle at the top of the cliff. During World War II, Field Marshall Rommel used it as his headquarters in the defense of Normandy.

We drove back to Paris later that day, had another wonderful meal with our gracious hosts and in the morning said goodbye as we hopped into our Avis rental and began our drive to the Loire Valley. As we pulled away from Paris, Liz and I reflected on our good fortune to have JB and Caroline as our friends. What a perfect way to begin our adventure with these two special people.

The Loire Valley

Only about a 2½ hour drive from Paris our first stop was in Blois where we visited the Royal Château de Blois, yet another spectacular castle. From Wikipedia, the château was “the residence of several French kings, it is also the place where Joan of Arc went in 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her army to drive the English from Orléans.”

From Blois, we drove another hour to Amboise where we would stay two nights at the Au Charme Rabelaisien, a boutique hotel in the center of Amboise. We arrived late in the evening, walked the town, had a terrific meal across the street from the hotel and went to bed early.

The next morning we drove back towards Blois to Château de Chambord constructed in the early 1500’s by King Francis I. This castle is a masterpiece, large and breathtaking. Francis, reportedly, spent a total of seven weeks there before he died, using it as his hunting lodge. It remained unused for almost 100 years when Louis XIV also used it as a hunting lodge before he abandoned the place in 1685. For a brief period, a deposed king of Poland used it as his home, it then went unused until the French Revolution and has largely been unused until it was restored as a tourist attraction in the late 1900’s.

 

Château de Chambord

On the way back from Chambord, we stopped at a couple of wineries (it is the Loire Valley, after all) and sampled some of their excellent Vouvrays (chenin blanc) and Chinons (cabernet franc).

When we got back to Amboise, we first visited Leonardo da Vinci’s house, Clos Lucé where he spent the final three years of his life. Da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 and was a close friend of King Francis I. The day we arrived in Amboise (and the day before we visited his house), President Macron of France and President Mattarella of Italy visited da Vinci’s house to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of his death, as well as Château Chambord. We were fortunate to have scheduled our visits for the next day as these venues were closed to the public on May 2^nd. Although, given that May 3^rd was my birthday, I was disappointed that the venues weren’t closed to the public on the 3^rd as well.

 

Da Vinci's Tomb

Our final stop in Amboise was the Château Royal d'Amboise. This castle traces its roots back to the 9^th century although it was extensively renovated when King Charles VII seized it in 1492 (does that date ring a bell?). Another amazing castle. So many castles and too few days. What’s a visitor to do?

 

Château Royal d'Amboise

Well, this long blog completes the first week’s post. It has been a terrific week. From Amboise, we are off to Bordeaux. Back in a week to report on our escapades here.