RyanOnTheShip: France and the Azores.

Nov 1-5,

Paris

We went to Paris today! Rode the bus from the ship for a couple hours, which I slept through both ways. I’m not sure why, but it felt really good. They dropped us off at the Tower and we went right over and stood in line for the elevator tickets. We couldn’t go to the top because of “congestion.” Don’t know what that means, but the second deck about half way up still afford a spectacular view of the city. We hiked the stairs back down, which was fun and also gave good angles for pictures.


These seemed to be large pneumatic cylinders or possibly just counterweights. They went up and down when the elevator went up and down.

Next we looked for a nice place to eat lunch, which we found ten blocks or so away. Probably still close enough to the tower that a lot of tourists go there, but there were locals too. A couple people got steak and fries, but I ordered the mixed cheese and meat appetizer which was totally the way to go. The cheeses were great and the meats were also very delicious. With a glass of wine and a baguette, it was exactly what I wanted to be eating in Paris. After lunch we headed back toward the tower. The other guys wanted to see the Louvre, but I’ve been there and there would be no time to look around at this point, so I just went down and walked along the Seine for a little way and then back. It was amazing how desolate the walkway right by the river is. The sidewalk about 15 feet above and along the street was crowded with people, but if you went down the steps to the river, you could walk in near isolation.

Josh, Me, Matt, Josh, and Kyle lunching.


I ordered the right thing.


Recognize that?

After this I headed back to the tower and met everyone at the bus. There was one straggler who there was some worry she wouldn’t catch the bus. (Serious business) But she came running up about 5 minutes after the appointed time, so all was well. A really nice day, although we of course only barely scratched the surface of even the touristy things to do in the city.

Getting pictures with the heavily armed security.

Woah. Did I get on the bus to Redmond?

Cherbourg

This was a nice smaller French town. Not that small of course. It did have a port big enough to host a huge cruise ship. But it also had some really old buildings made of stone that you look at and think, “yes that is definitely French. I wandered around not really looking for anything most of the time I was here. For a while I did sit in a café/restaurant and drink some cider, which was exceptional, (this region is also known for its calvados, an apple based liquor, maker of the Norman Hole, so I thought I should try the cider) and use their internet. After that I wandered more and then tried to find art supplies, which I found with time running out and then hopped on the bus back to the ship. Success!

Sea Day

It was good to do a couple shows again today. The weather was lousy though. Annette said that earlier it looked like someone had been to the shop with a salt shaker and shook a fine layer of salt onto everything, but by the time we were cleaning up, it was wet enough that everything dissolved, so we just hosed everything off and hoped for the best. The ship was also rocking as much as it has this whole trip, which is quite a lot. The furnace door was opening and closing by itself and you had to keep control of the yoke in front of the glory hole lest it roll backward or forward without your bidding.

Vigo

I really like Vigo. There is a very touristy shopping district, but also some really amazing fish markets. I found one off the beaten path that seemed really exceptional. It was a big market with lots of stalls, but the whole place smelled incredibly clean. I’m sure there was not a scrap of unaccounted for fish or crab or lobster in the whole place.

The town has lots of really narrow steep streets and stone buildings with great iron railings on all the little balconies. Eventually I made it to the top of the hill where an old fort looks over the whole city. There was no one else there for a while until a couple other tourists showed up. It was a great spot. Almost totally deserted and with great views over the whole town.