We are up today to search out the hospital that my father-in-law, Waldo, was put in after he was liberated from a German concentration camp in Mar of 1945. My husband has been on a quest to locate this hospital since around the year 2000. Waldo, a B-17 pilot during the %26quot;duexieme guerre mondial%26quot; (WII), was badly wounded and was put in an interim hospital before being shipped back to the states. We think he was there for 2-3 weeks, possibly a month. My husband remembers him describing his hospital view of the Arc de Triomphe %26amp; Eiffel Tower. Thtough the wonderful power of WWII testimonies on the internet, Al has finally found the %26quot;school turned into a hospital%26quot;.
After breakfast, we use our Carte de Orange metro cards that Karine has helped us get. We use these cards extensively %26amp; easily pay the cost for them the lst day! Soon we are off to find the Lycee Claude Bernard in the Bois de Boulonge area of Paris. There is a light sprinkle out today, but it only takes us a few minutes to locate the school--located near some sort of stadium.
The lst thing we notice after initially finding the bldg. is that it has a plaque commemorating the Jewish students who were taken from it and shipped off to the death camps. It is one of many we will see on our trip this time in Paris. In French it reads:
%26quot;A la memoire des eleves des cette ecole deportes de 1943 a 1944. Parce que nes Juifs, victims innocents de la barbarie Nazie avec la complicite du government de Vichy. Ils flurent extermines dan les camps de la mort.
100 enfants vivaiement le 16th arrondisment
Ne les oblions jamais (never forget them)%26quot;
It makes the place even more poignant to us. We take several pictures of the bldg. for our family records %26amp; I even talk to a cleaning woman who won%26#39;t let us peek inside. Though it was briefly a hospital in 1945, it is again a school.
We discover we are hungry and find a brasserie to have lunch in. I decide to have the plat du jour-- %26quot;hachis parmentier%26quot;. Karine later tells me that this ia a common luncheon special. It is made w/ground beef, mashed potatoes %26amp; cheese. It comes w/a nice salad %26amp; even though I can%26#39;t finish it all, it is a nice warm dish for this cold day. Al and I both share some Cote de Rhone wine. Karine also compliments us later for choosing this wine--as she says this wine area is struggling w/sales %26amp; will appreciate our support!
Next we are off to the Eiffel Tower near the Trocadero metro--an approach to the tower we have never seen. Even though the E. Tower is shrouded in a gray background, the sun is shining beautifully on its top spire. The fountains down below are turned on %26amp; we take an opportunity to snap lots of pictures. Next we take in the Musee de%26#39;lHomme %26amp; this is our only disappointing museum on our trip--for us, not worth the price of admission. An exhibition on brith and birthing practices, it had way too much French for us to decode %26amp; wasn%26#39;t very interesting.
We end up finally at N.Dame %26amp; sit in a nearby cafe to have some more wine %26amp; watch the people passing by (our favorite pastime!). We enjoy the glow of the just-lit cnadles in the cafe.
Late that night, we return to the 18th %26amp; go to an Italian restaurant nearby our apt. for dinner.
Tuesday 12/20/05 Today we sleep in late %26amp; then meet Karine at the St. Paul metro. First, we walk over to Mariage Frere in the Marais to pick up some of their Christmas tea for Gweltas%26#39; mother in Nantes. The smells in here are amazing and they are very busy with
Christmas shoppers.
After this, we walk down Rue Rivoli for many blocks as we are having tea at the Hotel Meurice. None of us have been here before so we are rewarded after our long walk w/the beautiful decorated lobby %26amp; art Nouveau glass
dome. I try to imagine the German army occupying this hotel during the war!
We ask to be seated away from the smokers %26amp; have a wonderful tea in a cozy corner to ourselves. Karines thinks we are only getting the scones %26amp; sandwiches, but we assure her that we will all get to pick out something off the dessert cart--which we do--three things in fact. We all think the chocolate fondant is the best. I also try a fruit tart and a financier. The full tea here is 30 euros. We have a good time comparing French and American children and similar problems that Karine and I have as
elementary school teachers.
We visit the ladies room %26amp; I think Karine likes this better than the tea! It is gorgeous %26amp; I take a picture of her on a big, fancy red velvet chair. The hotel is decorated w/Christmas trees from different Paris florists. After we pay our bill, we walk around %26amp; look at them all, deciding our
favorites. Many have hanging glass vials that hold real flowers like orchards. The most unusual is a tiered tree made out of different budding potato, turnip, and sugar cane plants. Overall, we spend several hours here. As we leave the hotel, we see that it is guarded by several policemen %26amp; we later find out some visiting dignitary was recuperating from surgery here (HOW NICE!)
We walk back towards the Hotel de Ville %26amp; stop by to watch the ice skaters. We shop along the little stalls of a Christmas market nearby. We are interested in some %26quot;saucisson%26quot; of a country vendor %26amp; Karine flirts w/him for a long time. Al and I don%26#39;t understand a bit of their conversation, but we know what she is trying to do--get a reduced price! After all of this laughing %26amp; banter, he only gives us l euro off the purchase price. She later tells us she thinks he should have given us more of a discount and tells us she worked very hard for that one euro~ We agree, especially since we have also bought some cheese from him! However, long after we part ways w/Karine, this cheese, sausage, some pain ancien and a bottle of Corsican red wine make a nice dinner for us. Not too-shabby of a day!
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Lovely trip report , looking forward to hearing more!
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Agreed. J%26#39;adore all the trip reports here!
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