Days 11-13, Au Revoir Paris, Buon Giorno Italia

Days 13-15

Au Revoir Paris, Buon Giorno Italia

All our days in Paris were good, but the sights were especially good this last day.  It started with an early tour of the Notre Dame (French for Our Lady).  Most tourists sleep in, so an early start means short lines or no lines.  

We have been in many churches (every time we come to Europe) and don’t personally see anything spectacular about the inside of Notre Dame.  The outside is another story, and there can be a long line for climbing to the top of the tower, but you have to be willing to climb 422 steps. The views were incredible!

One thing Notre Dame has is gargoyles.  They’d been around long before Notre Dame, but they weren’t always as grotesque. Some are considered unique.  There purpose is to move the rain water from the roof away from the building so that it isn’t eroding the mortar in the masonry.  In other words, it helps preserve the building for a long time.  While the church was completed in 1345 A.D., construction started almost 200 years earlier.  It was hard to find fast builders at that time.

For those having read The Hunchback of Notre Dame, he’s the guy in the second picture, not the first.

It took a long time to find him - bottom half and climbing the joint of the walls.  Click on the photo for a close-up, then click on 'X' at upper right of the photo to return to the story.

We had gotten so good at moving around by subway, we headed miles away to the NE section of Paris.  We’re guessing the big draw is this unique church, Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart), with it’s unique exterior. 

What was more interesting was the narrow street lined with artists painting and displaying there works.

Our last act as tourists in Paris was to visit Napoleon’s Tomb.  His body is beneath the golden dome.  More interesting was the War Museum that is located on several floors behind the door.  I could have spent several hours in the museum seeing the old movie clips, photo displays, and artifacts of WWI and WWII.  It’s amazing what the world went through in the first half of the 20th Century.

Friday was a travel day.  We took a one hour cab ride to get to the airport, then waited as our plane was late.  When we did arrive in Rome, we rented a car to drive to Sorrento, Italy, which is located very close to the Amalfi Coast.  The drive that was to take 3 hours took almost 6, and we arrived in Sorrento as the sun was setting.  We got very few directions, but did study signs very carefully.  Our little Fiat Panda was the right car to drive the narrow roads as well as to park.  My biggest concern is parking, not driving.  I’m half Italian, so driving in Italy (or Europe) comes naturally to me :o)

We were in Sorrento 8 years ago with Jan and Dan Studer, our friends from Bonners Ferry, Idaho.  On this trip, we planned to have a little more time as the Amalfi Coast is so beautiful.  We even booked into our Hotel from years ago.  Just about everything about this place is memorable including the entry way.

The weather was good on our first full day in Italy, so we decided to visit the small town of Ravello, which we also visited 8 years ago.  From Sorrento, we took a bus about 15 miles.  The roads are the curviest, narrowest, steepest, ‘baddest’ roads we have ever been on, and 15 miles takes about an hour and a half to drive.  But the views can make it worth it. 

I don’t know what possessed us eight years ago to get on a bus and ride up to Ravello, but it is a more relaxed town than some of the other Amalfi towns.

We like the little town squares . . . 

and we like the ambiance created from the ancient ruins to make restaurants.

In the next post, I’ll talk about the food.  We have been treated to great food so far.  Just to remind you that we are at the sea coast, here’s my pasta dish from a restaurant close to our hotel.  I thought the dish would be about the clams and muscles, but the pasta was great while also being different than any I’ve had.  

                                                                        Buon Appetito!