One veterans perspective on Veterans day

Veterans day felt different over here. I think that it is acknowledged in a similar way to the United States. It's a public holiday with a day off for a lot of people. It feels more personal here. 

People who are older remember the days of war here. Not so much the young people. Just like in the U.S.  It means a lot more if you had relatives who served in war or you yourself did.  It means more if you lived in a place where the war was real every day.

Many of the cities we have visited had up close and personal experiences with both World Wars. Their cities were bombarded, their homes destroyed. France lived under German occupation for 4 years. People in London lived in the underground during the war.  Will the people in Germany ever forget what happened there? 

The history of  warfare here, the direct effects it has had on peoples lives,

gives a different perspective. When you haven't had bombs dropping on your city, lost loved ones, friends, known the horrors, it's not quite as real. 

When it doesn't feel personal, when no one you know dies or is wounded terribly, it easier to sit back and let your country involve itself in many wars. After all, there are no bombs dropping on your house. Your brother didn't die. That far off war isn't real to you. It's real to those in the middle of it.

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November 13, 2022 at 07:18PM

Did the revolution start without me?

I walked where I was going today which wasn't that far. I didn't realize there was a metro/train strike going on. 

I didn't  even realize it when a big march started at the Place de la Republique, near where we have been staying.  It took me a while to figure out what the march was about. I couldn't read the signs in French. I didn't know what the lettering on the balloons on top of trucks stood for. Someone told me it was against the Ukraine war. Not true.

It turns out it was a march led by unions for wage hikes. This centered around the transportation unions wanting wage hikes. The letter CGT on the balloons stood for the Confederation Générale du Travail (General Confederation of Labor). 

I wondered st the time how all these people could be marching during the day. Didn't they have jobs? Well it turns out they were on strike!

There were loud bangs periodically and I honestly thought at first it was the police setting something off to disperse the crowd. People also had flare devices that produced lots of smoke. Apparently it's all part of the march. Lots of singing and chanting. There were thousands of people. 

The same kind of march had happened in mid October involving a lot more people. I read that the union head said today that if they didn't get what they wanted, the transport union would go on an indefinite strike bringing the metro/ trains to a grinding halt across Paris. 

It really something to see working people out in the streets by the thousands marching for their rights. It's something you never see in the United States.

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November 10, 2022 at 09:10PM

I meet my idol and soul sister

The minute you enter the Louvre you know this is going to be a completely different experience than you have had before.

We entered a section that had somewhat low lighting which only made the beautiful paintings stand out even more. Beautiful doesn't even describe it. The painters you see here are all the ones you have heard about:  van Gogh, da Vinci, Manet, Cezanne, Matisse, Monet, Botticelli. The paintings were like nothing  I had ever seen. I was honestly stunned at their beauty. Moved even. 

It's really something to see paintings by by such famous iconic painters.

That was just the beginning . There was room after room of paintings, some so big you wondered how they ever did it. They depicted people, animals, religion, war, kings and queens, moments in history, everything you could think of. 

There were beautiful Roman and Greek statues including the Venus de Milo, two by by Michelangelo. There was Egyptian art, Asian Art, Islam art, African Art. Just about any of the world is represented. 

Of course there was the most famous painting of all, my idol, my sister in the struggle, etc., etc., the LADY HERSELF, the Mona Lisa. You come into the room where she is and there is a roped off section to get up close. You have to stand in line, you can't get really close up like the other paintings. She is covered in glass with two guards. But I got to see her and it was really something. I think she winked at me.

Then to top it all off, there is part of the museum is called the Galerie d'Apollon. This was built as a reception hall for Louis 14th. Some of the greatest sculptors and painters of the time had a hand in its completion. It is so opulent that it gives you an idea of how royalty really lived. No expense was spared. This hall houses some of the French crown jewels including  140 carat Regent diamond (said to be cursed). 

This visit to the Louvre was one of the highlights of this trip. It's something I'll never forget.

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November 09, 2022 at 07:11PM

Paris is as real as it gets

We've hit the highlights in Paris that any tourist typically sees. Today I decided to go out and find the real Paris, the nitty gritty, part of Paris nobody sees. So I put on my beret, eiffel tower earrings and donned a stylish scarf and off I went. 

The first thing that happened when I stepped out the door was someone blew smoke in my face. Damn, a lot of people smoke here. Undeterred, I headed to a cafe for a cappuccino and croissant. I was ignored at the counter for 15 minutes. I finally got the goods and of course, there was no place to sit.

On to the metro, what could be more Parisian? Down 10 sets of stairs and I'm waiting for the train with 200 other people. The train is packed and my face is shoved against the door window. Unfortunately I am transferring trains so more stairs and another packed train. 

Up from the metro and onto the street, I'm heading for the side streets. No Champs Elysees for this gal. I'm a little hungry, How about one of those out of the way Paris cafes? What? Most  of the cafes are already closed or won't open again until 7:00 pm. I settle for a big mac. I'm hungry dammit!

OK I am not defeated yet. Surely there are a couple of small art galleries somewhere along here. There are. They are closed, only open 1:00-1:30, once a month. 

I come out of a side street to a roundabout and there are a couple hundred people shouting about something. There are banners and speeches are in French so I don't have a clue what they are unhappy about. 

I notice about 10 police vans on a side street with heavily armed police. They ain't taking no chances this crowd won't turn violent, as Paris protests sometimes do. 

Meanwhile, a homeless man sits on the sidewalk with a  cup out while a women who looks like she stepped off the cover of vogue walks by. People rush here and there- a mother with a stroller, an old woman with her groceries, teenagers on skateboards. The sun is shining, it's a beautiful day. 

There is a beautiful building across the street with a gold horse and rider on both sides. I stop to take a picture. Paris is both beautiful and real.

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November 07, 2022 at 09:53PM

the Red Haired King of the coffee shop

I love coffee shops. There were 6 in the hipster hood within 3-4 blocks from me. There were probably 25 more within a mile. I just like sitting in them. It's relaxing.

Over here there are not as many that are strictly coffee shops. I've found very few.. There are, OF COURSE, Starbucks in tourist areas. 

So I'm sitting in a coffee shop right now. I walked in and went to the counter, like you do. A red haired employee said something to me in French. Huh? Oh no, no, no, I was swiftly asked if I was staying or doing takeaway and directed to have a seat there or maybe there...There was one table between two people or two tables next to each other, so I went to the second. Oh no, no, no (we're going to call this guy red haired guy frowned...uh oh. (We're going to call this guy the Red Haired King of the coffee shop)

There were 3 people behind me. I guess I wasn't supposed to sit at the place with two tables. He gave me a frown and I put my tail between my legs and quickly retreated to the other table. All was right in the world and everybody breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Next to me are two Americans talking about their business experiences in Europe and the difference approaches. In other words the American are "how do we get as much money as fast as possible" and the Europeans are-"let's talk about this and have some coffee (or tea..and do you have any biscuits?)".

King red hair flits about the place rearranging the seats of patrons.. The other employees his terrified subjects trembling in the corner. Why do I get the feeling you don't want to come in here on one of his bad days? 

He keeps asking the other Americans if they need anything ELSE (a little more emphasis every TIME). In other words, the coffees gone, move on losers.

I decided the trick is-keep a little bit of coffee in the cup to avoid the wrath of the Red Haired King, keeper of the Royal Coffee Shop Time Clock. . I'm gonna milk these last few drops for the next two hours dammit!

By the way, whatever happened to lingering over meals or coffee?

I did get a very nice design in my coffee which I appreciated. (See photo above which I really should put on instagram because that's what you do. Also thought their cups with "another?" at bottom were cute).

Will I go back? Of course I will, are you kidding?

Five eiffel towers for $1!!

 If I ever had any illusion of living in a big city, Europe has dashed those thoughts. I could not live in the middle of crowds so large you can barely walk down the street. Subway cars so packed, people have their face against the window. Lines, everywhere lines. 

Today we went to a new hotel 30 minutes from the old one. We let 5 trains pass by because they were so crowded.

The thing is we have been in Europe in what is considered the low season of tourism. I cannot fathom what it is like in Barcelona or Paris in the middle of summer. Add in heat, humidity and tourist trinket hawkers, instagrammers in the middle of the streets getting pictures. Getting into museums, restaurants without a couple month prior reservation would be impossible.

Everybody must breathe a sigh of relief in late September when tourist traffic lessens. Even when it lessens, there are still a lot of tourists here. 

Five eiffrThese cities, because they are old tend to be gritty like New York, but the subways are so much cleaner. 

There are as many homeless people here as in the United States. They sleep on the streets. There are a few tents here. No tent cities. 

In some countries the homeless just sat with a cup and quietly asked for money. In the UK they were more aggressive. In Spain there were people sitting and wailing about their situation. I saw the same person do that every day. There were people who sat in a hunched over prayer position with their cup in front of them. People go into restaurants going from table to table asking for money.  The most striking thing I saw was a couple of women laying in the middle of the sidewalk in a rich area with their head and face covered with a cup out. Same problem, different expressions of it.

Safety wise, I haven't felt threatened by anyone in any country. We have used common sense and been careful. 

One big difference is that there are very few mentally ill people acting aggressive and weird on the street here. That is very common in U.S. cities. I haven't seen any really drunk or high people either. You might think, well, you are in tourist areas. In Minneapolis, it doesn't matter where you are, you deal wit this. 

There are no homeless sleeping on public transit here. Many places you have to have a ticket for access. No drunk or drugged up people. There were so many countries that operate their trains and trams on an honor system but you still don't see it. I swear we could have gone through half of Europe and not paid a dime on trains, trams, even a couple longer distance trains. Nobody would have known.

The conclusion: Big cities with millions of people here have many advantages. There are great museums, monuments.concerts, restaurants, beautiful architecture and much more. They are great to visit, but I would t want to live in them.

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November 05, 2022 at 07:00PM

the difference between Americans and Europeans

I've finally realized why most Europeans are less fat than Americans. They are going up 25 sets of subway stairs a day.(har) They are WALKING  up 4 or 5 flights of stairs to their apartments in old buildings with no elevators. They don't drive cars and do a lot of walking.

They are dodging foxes, rats and running away from sewer smells. They are standing waiting for buses that are either early or late, never on time. They are squeezing through crowds on the streets or in subway trains. They are sweating because there is no air conditioning in buildings or in their own homes. 

They are hanging wash because there are no dryers in the majority of homes. They are running to grocery stores daily because there are no big supermarkets in Europe. 

They linger over food and meals in restaurants instead of the gulp and run in America. There's a reason we call it fast food people. They spend evenings out of their homes, in parks, taking leisurely walks,  instead of sitting in front of a television set. 

Work and money are not the be all and end all of their lives. They are not what they do for a living. Spending time with family and friends tops everything else. There is a balance in life  but the balance seems to mostly swing toward relaxation and happiness.

  Just one persons observations.

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November 04, 2022 at 06:45PM