Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Today was a very, very busy final day to this week-long
cruise segment. We had a great pink sky sunrise this morning over Paris and our
boat’s partial view of the Eiffel Tower. We were up for breakfast at 6:30am or
so and off the boat for the first included excursion of the day by 8:30am. We
had a city tour of Paris from 8:30am to 11:30am. It was pretty much a waste. If
this was your introduction to the city it would be very sad. Unfortunately for
at least some on the bus it was. It rest of us were just annoyed. We didn’t
expect much more than a drive by at most of the sights listed in the program
and that happened given traffic. The sad part was the mysterious misallocation
of free time. At 15 of 10am, the bus stopped in front of Les Invalides and they
told us this was where we would have our 30 minutes of free time. They unloaded
us. The gate to the grounds was closed with a sign that said it would open at
10am, that was 10 minutes from when we found it. The Rodin sculpture garden was
across the street and also closed but from the bus we had seen The Thinker and
some other bronzes but the guides did not mention it. I should say here that
there were 3 language groups and 2 guides on a single bus. It was not
comfortable for anyone. Once I saw that there was a line for a soldier-run bag
check to enter the grounds of Les Invalides and a place to buy tickets inside,
I thought it was a bad idea and we should go try to look through the fence at
the Rodin’s. Clay didn’t walk to try to walk there and back. I went and asked
our English-language guide if admission was included in our tour here since
they told us to go visit Napoleon’s Tomb here or use the restrooms or have a
coffee if we wanted to pay. She again replied that entry is free, go see the
tomb or use the restrooms or if you want you can go to the café and buy a
coffee. We got in line. At 10am or so we went through the bag check. Everyone
who approached the rotunda door of Napoleon’s tomb was turned away. We went to
look for tickets as Clay pointed out perhaps tickets are free but required.
Tickets were 9.50 Euros. I met the Celebrity guide and she showed me the stairs
to the café restrooms. I knew Clay wouldn’t make it so I went to look for
ground floor or HC restrooms. I found our dining companions who had just been
told they could use the facilities there with a 9.50 Euro admission ticket. I
took them downstairs to where the café restrooms were and we all paid 50 cents
to use them. Clay was walking back to get on the bus and we were all ready to
leave except the couple who had vanished inside the grounds and did not return
to sight until 10:30am, a full 40 minutes after we had been dropped. They
argued that the first 10 minutes didn’t count against their free time since we
stood in a bag check line. For what? It was a scandalous waste of precious
time. We drove by only the front of Notre Dame at full speed from a good
distance and I’m sure no one even got a good photo. Our final stop was at a
good distance from the Eiffel Tower. We were given 5 minutes to get off the bus
and take photos. You were close enough for that but not close enough to look up
and get a feel for the size and weight and scale of it. A good half dozen of
the group decided that was what they wanted and they head off towards it at the
end of the 5 minutes instead of coming to the bus. I pitied the Celebrity guide
who had to go run them down and herd them back against their will. It wasn’t
her fault. It was the local guides and they wouldn’t hear any suggestions when
we all balked about the 30 minutes at a closed Les Invalides so that was
already the end of that.
They dropped us back at the boat for a 2 hour lunch! We ate
upstairs at the buffet quickly but not quickly enough to do anything else since
Clay was not walking. We had hoped to find a free hour to take the sightseeing
balloon moored about 5 minutes stroll in front of and to the starboard of the
boat. It would be better sightseeing than we had all morning! Instead we spent
the next 50 minutes packing. Well, it had to be done.
At 2pm, they called us to the bus again for the guided
Louvre tour. All English language this time, same 2 guides. They divided us
into stairs and fast walkers and elevators and slow walkers. A group of only 10
wound up with our guide from this morning. That was just as well because she
knew I wanted a Paris Starbucks mug and had promised to guide me to one! She
did an excellent job and we went in with low expectations anyway. But she
really knew the Louvre and gave us a special tour. Unfortunately, we were with
Philistines and they didn’t want to be there. Six dropped out. Three walked in
front of the Mona Lisa with no barrier, no line and no wait and never looked at
it. Then had a snit when they figured it out, probably because I told the 4th
of their party who was in front of me in line looking around when she made eye
contact with me that she should be looking at the Mona Lisa and she told the
others when we left the room. That left 4 of us on tour with the guide. One
only wanted the gift shop and she knew I wanted a Starbucks mug and the
underground of the Louvre was where we would find it so, she cut our tour short
and satisfied everyone but herself and Clay who wanted to see the Vermeers and
Rembrandts. I would have like that too but I never assumed it was a
possibility. I got my mug and our dining companions’ guide told them there was
no Starbucks within walking distance of the Louvre!
We came back for a 6pm disembarkation talk and a 7pm dinner.
It was easily one of our worst meals on this segment and we have had some truly
bad dinners! At 9pm we loaded the bus
one final time in the rain to go out for a bateaux mouche night-time
sightseeing cruise. Only about 20 people showed up for it. I have no idea how
many people had it included and just skipped it. It would have been easy to
skip with the lateness, leaving first thing tomorrow early and the rain. But we
were glad we went. We were on a boat that held 1000 people and there were maybe
60 onboard. We could all duck in and out without bothering each other and so we
all had a good view even with the rain.
The Louvre was the most changed since I was last here in
1976. The underground work and glass pyramids are shocking and I think maybe
appalling. The guide was young and probably only knows it with an underground
bus garage and shopping mall and metro station so she thought it was all great,
but I couldn’t have ever imagined it even though I knew it had been done. The
other change is the Eiffel Tower. It was green when I last saw it. Today it was
tan. The guide said the paint it a different color every 7 years and she had
seen it pink, blue and purple I think! Also, I believe she said they started
lighting it at night for the millennium and that Parisians liked it so they
kept it. They start lighting it at 7pm and for the first 5 minutes it sparkles!
They keep it lit until 1am and on every hour it sparkles for 5 minutes.
Spectacular! Whoever invented adhesive ace bandages should be whipped and
whoever put sparkle lights on the Eiffel Tower should get a Nobel Prize for
happiness. Which begs the question why there isn’t such a prize.
Tomorrow we leave Amadeus Diamond in Paris for a private car
transfer with our last solo dining companion for Amadeus Symphony in Chalon sur
Saone and our last cruising segment.
