Schmidt World Tour 2006

During the course of the trip, I decided to hate the French. Did I have a reason for this? No, not really. I simply choose to hate them because I could. However, I also heard during the course of our trip, from other Americans, about how rude the French were to them. So, now, I am ashamed to admit I really do love Paris and I am indifferent to the French people. I do not hate them but I do not love them and I am still ecstatic that Italy beat them in the World Cup finals. Viva Italia!! Besides, after spending several days in Paris, the Italians were doing enough on their own to poke fun at the French and rub in their World Cup victory. Last, Clint and I did not have one bad experience with any French person. While one woman at a store was not overly friendly, the native San Franciscan woman also working at the store, countered any coldness I felt from the Frenchwoman. But the lack of rudeness towards us could also be because we opened every conversation with French and not English. A major tip from our world travels. If you are going to travel to a non-English speaking country, do not expect or automatically assume they speak English. Further, be considerate and learn some words in the native language; it goes a long way. Otherwise, do not complain when they are rude to you because you have been disrespectful by expecting them to speak English.

For me, Paris is by far my favorite city in Europe. I never thought I would say that, but now I have. Paris offers everything -- stunning architecture, delicious food, amazing art and of course, fabulous shopping! Everyday my eyes were riveted by the stores we passed on the streets, the gardens, the bridges we crossed over the Seine and the neighborhoods we encountered. I would move to Paris in a heartbeat, but Clint does not want to live in a big city.

I arrived in Paris to some dreary, rainy weather. Clint and I decided to have some "alone time" which meant he stayed in Amsterdam with a friend enjoying the herbal delights and sexual fantasies of that city, while I attempted to do some shopping in Paris before he arrived Sunday night. I only had one shopping mission in Paris -- to go to the Herve Chapelier store. I love their bags and they are waterproof (a major bonus for Seattle weather). My mission was accomplished very quickly and I was able to take in the Champs D'Elysee at the same time. I also got a glimpse of the Louis Vuitton flagship store. Of course, it was the first thing I saw as I exited the metro. After making my purchase, I headed to the Modern Art Museum at the Pompidou Center. The museum was interesting in that it forced you to walk through a bunch of exhibits of varying degrees of artistic talent in order to see such classics as Warhol, Pollock and Kadinsky. Needless to say, I was not pleased by the shit I was seeing on my way to these artists' work. After the museum, I retired to the hotel early and was asleep by 8:00 p.m., since I had not had much sleep before I arrived in Paris. A sad life I lead on the world tour.

I spent my first full day in Paris touring more art museums (I can never get enough) because the shops were closed. Actually, that's not true. I really do love art and it is hard for me not to visit major cities without going to at least one museum. My first museum of the day was the Musee D'Orsay. All I can say is the permanent collection is amazing. They have all the big name pre-impressionist, impressionist and post-impressionist artists. The museum itself is located in an old railroad station which provides an unique backdrop for displaying the work. The building strikes a fair balance between making you feel like you are not clustered together with the rest of the patrons, while at the same time providing an intimate environment in which to display the works. I was thrilled with the amount of Rodin sculptures in the museum's permanent collection as well as an entire room dedicated to Van Gogh. The museum also had one Klimt painting and alot of works by Monet, Manet, Sisley, Pisarro and Renoir. After the Musee D'Orsay I headed to the L'Orangerie. Unfortunately, the line to get in was very long and I also remembered Clint expressing an interest in going to that museum so I took off for the Fashion museum. It was closed. But I was blown away by the walk to the Fashion Museum. I walked along the left bank of the Seine and saw the magnificent Pont Alexandre III bridge, the Obelisk as well as the grand and petite palaces. Everywhere I looked, I was amazed by the architecture of the buildings, the manicured gardens, the flow of people and the Seine. Paris took my breath away with each step as I moved forward along the Quay. After my walk, I went back to the Jardin Tuilleries and into the Jeu de Paumes museum to see a special exhibition of Cindy Sherman's work. The exhibition featured several different series of photographs featuring Cindy Sherman in various costumes, make-up, prosthesis and poses. It was thought-provoking and even a bit perverse at times. Having still not seen quite enough artwork for the day, I headed to the Picasso Museum in the Marais neighborhood of Paris. Picasso's family donated the collection to France in lieu of paying Picasso's back taxes. After a short visit to the museum, I wandered the streets nearby looking for the subway in vain and discovered some delights. First, there were quite a few boutiques in the area with some great stuff and they were open (even on a Sunday, quite good fortune). Second, I ended up in a garden/courtyward of sorts that was interesting and provided some good rain cover. I eventually headed to the metro and went back to the hotel. For dinner (Clint's train did not arrive until late), I ended up going to an Cameroon restaurant near the hotel. The food was delicious and I downed a half-bottle of Bordeaux (so tasty) by myself. Let's just say when Clint arrived at the hotel, I was in a very jolly mood.

CLINT IN PARIS = NO MORE SHOPPING, BUT I CAN STILL TRY.....

Once Clint arrived in Paris, my shopping days were over. So we headed to the infamous Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. [Travel tip for anyone traveling to Paris and planning to go to the Louvre. Buy your tickets for it at the Virgin Megastore in the Carousel. You pay 1 euro extra for each ticket but it is worth it because you avoid some major lines.] The Mona Lisa is a beautiful painting but there are serveral other DaVinci's at the museum which, in my mind, surpass the beauty of the Mona Lisa. The Louvre is enormous and houses tons of artwork extending over several different periods. As a result, it can be very overwhelming. We did not see everything in the Louvre. But rather, picked a few areas of interest and went there. Clint is interested in sculptures and Spanish paintings, so we spent quite some time checking out the French and Italian sculptures as well as perusing the Spainish galleries. We were both disappointed to see there were no Goyas. We also perused the Egyptian Antiquities collection as it is suppose to be the second best in the world after the Egyptian Antiquities museum in Cairo. The pieces in that collection were varied and impressive but I did not see any Queen Hatshepsut relics. But Clint was pleased to see plenty of Horus and Ramses II statues. Whatever. When will these people learn Queen Hatshepsut was the best ruler ever! After the Louvre, we walked around the Jardin Tuilleries and ate some baguettes not too far from the U.S. embassy. Our embassy in Paris (like many around the world right now) was a fortified fortress. It gave me goosebumps to see the amount of security surrounding our embassy. After baguette eating (which is a must for the French), we headed to the Eiffel Tower. On our way to the Tower, I took Clint on a tour along the left bank of the Seine that I had undertaken the day before. He was impressed with the beauty of the bridges, river and architecture but not quite blown away. The Tower is impressive but the lines to go to the top of the Tower were massive. I thought for a second I was in line for Space Mountain at Disneyland in the middle of July. We decided to skip a trip to the top because of the long lines and instead continued our walk to a viewing point across the way from the Tower. The views were excellent and Clint got some great pictures. After the Tower we headed to the Arc d'Triumph. The Champs D'Elysse runs off the Arc and Clint wanted to walk down the Champs to see it first hand. The wide boulevards in Paris (such as the Champs D'Elysee) are alluring. After our romantic (not really since I was pumped up on espresso) stroll down the champs D'Elysee we headed to the L'Orangerie. It is a small museum located in the Jardin Tuilleries. It has recently reopended after some renovations in order to allow more natural light to capture Monet's "Water lilies". This particular museum was created around 8 of his "water lily" canvases that are enormous. The paintings were impressive but, as Clint pointed out, it was easy to be distracted by the seams in the canvases. The museum also had a decent collection of other impressionist painters including several Renoirs that I fell in love with -- his paintings of flowers are magical.


Our next day in Paris was again spent mostly at museums. First up was the Rodin museum which I had read about in a travel magazine. Since Clint had expressed his interest in sculpture work, I thought he might enjoy the museum and he did. I was delightfully surprised to find out that the museum also exhibited some of Rodin's own personal art collection, including several Van Goghs. As it is my goal to see every single Van Gogh painting in the world, this was perfect. Rodin's sculptures are impressive and his Gates of Hell sculpture (which I first saw the cast at the Musee D'Orsay), blew me away. The detail of the sculpture along with the symbolism is brilliant. There is no other way to describe it. Rodin's work in general is very expressive -- the sculptures come alive. The museum is located in Rodin's old home and gardens and, as a result, it is an intimate experience and a quiet place to whittle away a few hours from the bustle of the rest of the Paris. After the Rodin Museum, I dropped Clint off at the Musee D'Orsay and I headed for Paris' biggest department store, Gallerie Lafayette. Unfortunately, it was closed because of a National Holiday. How unfortunate. A few hours alone in what was to be shopper's paradise was ended just like that. But along the way, I saw the Opera House which is an ornate, gold-guilded, large building. I was impressed enough with it to drag Clint to it the next day and also drag him into Gallerie Lafayette. He was actually pretty cool about letting me walk around the store. I didn't take long and he was able to find himself an ice-cream so we were all happy. After meeting Clint at the Musee D'Orsay and finding him something to eat, we headed to the St. Germaine neighborhood, Latin Quarter and finally to Notre Dame. We were sightseeing tourists in full force. While the Notre Dame is large, I was really disappointed when I saw it. For some reason I thought the architecture would be even more gothic in nature and the gargoyles would be larger and more menacing. Also, where the hell was the hunchback?


Our last day in Paris was spent wandering around the city with no purpose. We walked around and around and around. I managed to Jedi mind-trick Clint into walking down the Rue St. Faubourg Honore several times --- great shopping street which made me very happy. Hey, at least I could window shop even if I could not actually go inside the store. While we were in Paris is when the British police thwarted the airplane bombing attacks which meant we could not buy any French wine. :(

I am looking forward to my next trip to Paris. But as I told my friend Brandy, I think (even though everyone says Paris is a romantic city) that Paris is the perfect place to go with girlfriends so you can shop, drink wine and eat the delicious cheese and other Parisian food. Now, I am off to learn some French.