Author Archives: Trudy

Notre Dame

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Day 5, Thursday, September 4, 2025

The morning didn’t get off to a good start. We tried to purchase an online e-SIM from Orange. I think it took almost two hours! Seems we need to confirm the purchase on our credit cards by entering the code they send to our phone number. Only problem is the phone number they have on file is our home land line! It took forever but we finally got it done, so now we have two different cell phone providers…hopefully at least one of them will be working when we need them. It poured rain this morning so at least we were still home when that happened. After the rain we set off to visit Notre Dame.

The restored Notre Dame is now open for visitors. I last visited the inside of Notre Dame in 2014 when I spent a month in Paris. It looks amazing, it is pretty much impossible to tell what is original and what has been replaced because of the fire. Our first view of the interior is stunning.

The Rose window on the south side of the Church.

This sculpted wall from the 14th century depicts scenes from the life of Christ. It forms a separation between the choir and the ambulatory. This is just one small section of the long carved wall depicting the story of the life of Christ.

The side chapels have been cleaned, repaired and repainted.  They are absolutely stunning.

I love the sun shining through the stained glass windows.

Another view of one of the two rose windows with dancing lights from the stained glass.

Looking up towards the second floor galleries I see more coloured light.  The chandeliers provide a warm glow as well.

We are impressed with the restoration.  Notre Dame is back!  It took 700 million euros and one thousand artisans to complete the restoration.  We stay for Vespers and listen to the organ music and a young woman with the loveliest voice singing the Psalms. This is how cathedrals should be visited, when they are full of music and prayer.

Outside we take our first selfie of this trip. Unfortunately the rooftop is not yet open.  I loved the time I spent up there in 2014, visiting the gargoyles and enjoying the wonderful views of Paris.  There are 387 steps to climb in the south tower to visit the rooftop.  It is supposed to open September 20th.  We are planning make time to do this on our return to Paris on the way home.We walk towards the Louvre and find a place for tea and a snack.  We stroll along the Seine and find a place to sit, but it was very busy, lots of cyclists, joggers and people going by so we walk to the Tuileries Garden just west of the Louvre. The name comes from the tile kilns which occupied the site before the palace.  

  On the way we walk through the Flower market, just before they close.

This lady was making the most fantastic bubbles, they were huge and there were so many of them blowing in the wind. I would love to know the recipe for her bubble mixture.

This bride and groom were having their wedding photos taken but I thought they weren’t very comfortable following the photographers cues.  There were lots of retakes.

The sun is setting on the Olympic Cauldron…very impressive.

Time to head home and we walk a few blocks to our metro line, which Bob can’t find….I see it right away…it is kind of hard to miss!

A Frustrating Day

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Day 4,      Wednesday, September 3, 2025

We are still jet lagged, me more so than Bob.  After a quiet morning we decide to find an Orange store to buy a SIM card for Bob’s phone.  Not so easy,  We walked about twenty minutes to the first store, only to discover that it was an Orange office building, no sales!  Next we take the metro to another Orange store in a big shopping centre, only to discover that they do not sell SIM cards (go figure!) and they send us to a Tabac store in the mall.  They only have one kind of SIM, and it isn’t one that will work for us…so we Google the location of another Orange store closer to the centre of Paris, take the metro again and surprise!  They don’t sell SIMS either! Turns out we have to download an E-SIM.  We sat down in the store to do that, thinking that if we have problems we could at least get some help, only to find that our Koodo roaming plan isn’t working again!  AARGH!  Enough…we quit and decided to go find a patisserie and buy some pastries .

We pass a world Heritage site, the Tour Saint-Jacques, a tenth century tower that is all that remains of the Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie Church. It always amazes me to see that something so ancient has managed to survive in the middle of a city.

We pass this interesting fellow dancing in the street, and he smiles after Continue reading →

Quiet Day

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Day 3, Tuesday, September 2, 2025

We slept in until after 11:00 this morning! Our Airbnb is nice and quiet as it is in the back yard of a house and we have a very comfortable king size bed.

Today was a pretty lazy day, just getting over our jet lag. We went for a bigger grocery shop at a huge Carrefour store that was a twenty minute walk away. Now we are well stocked. We stopped for our first baguette at a local boulangerie on the walk home. It was only €1 euro and still warm so we each broke off a piece to eat on the way home. So good!

I spent part of the day organizing and while I was filling one of my nutritional canisters look what I found inside! I burst out laughing. On our fiftieth anniversary our grandchildren hid 50 of these little mice all over our house. Our granddaughter was at our house the day before we left for Paris…I believe she is the culprit responsible for this little creature! I think we will have to name him…any suggestions?

We Are In Paris

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Day 2, Monday, September 1, 2025

Our flight had several turbulent episodes but nothing too scary. We were flying on the Dreamliner…a huge plane. I can’t sleep on a plane so I was very grateful to be able to watch movies all night long.
We walk down steps onto the runway, board a bus and drive to our terminal. During this bus trip I lost my balance and started to slowly fall backwards! Bob and another gentleman caught me before I hit the floor so all was well and everyone had a good laugh.

We pass through customs in Paris and our suitcases are waiting for us on the carousel. It is always a relief to see they have arrived. We added a roaming package on our home cell and it started working as soon as we landed. So much easier than trying to find somewhere to buy a SIM card at the airport, especially as the only SIM card store we saw was closed.

We caught the RER train into Paris, and then an Uber for the last part of the trip to our Airbnb. I chatted in French with the driver and we had a nice conversation.

Our cell worked really well until we got outside our Airbnb and then it didn’t work at all and we couldn’t message our hosts to let them know we were here! We stood outside for about five minutes after knocking repeatedly on the door. Then a little four year-old boy looked at us from the upstairs window and smiled, and I asked in French if his mommy was home and he shook his head no, then I asked if his daddy was home and he shook his head yes, so I asked him to get his daddy and tell him that we were here.

That worked and we were able to get inside. We had a nap, went for a few groceries, made a simple supper and then bed.

We Are Off on Another Adventure

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Day 1,     Sunday August 31, 2025 

Today we fly to Paris to begin another extended holiday.  Getting ready for this trip seemed  more difficult than our previous trips. Maybe I am just getting older? Who knows? Somehow  everything got done that needed doing and we were able to leave for the airport this morning. Our plane left on time…now our holiday has started. 

In no time we are landing in Calgary.

This is the easy part of the trip. The flight to Paris is eight hours and forty minutes, and the plane is completely full! No chance of an empty seat between us so that I can lie down to rest. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so today will be a very long day. We will land in Paris at 11:00 am local time and check into our bnb at 4:00. That is a 24 hour travel day!

If you haven’t signed up to follow my blog consider doing so. You will receive an email whenever there is a new post. So much easier than having to remember to check to see what is new.

The Last Ten Days of Our 2023 Trip…Finally

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January 1, 2025

It has taken me forever to blog the last ten days of our 2023 Trip to France…more than a year, but I am finally getting it finished now.  

I decided to use the original dates for these last ten posts so they show up in the right place on the blog, so no, you didn’t miss them way back in November 2023.  Thanks for following along on our trip and apologies for taking so long to finish these last posts for our trip.

You will need to scroll down past the “We Are Home…More Blog Posts To Come” November 28, 2023 post for the final ten days of our trip.

We Are Home…More Blog Posts to Come

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Tuesday, November 28, 2023

We are home after a long 24 hour travel day. We had a fantastic time in France for three months but we were ready to come home.  Now we just need to recover from a 24 hour travel day and a 8 hour time difference.  We are both rather  jet-lagged…and waking up at 3:30 in the morning!  It usually takes at least  a week or so to adjust to the time difference.

I love looking out the window when flying.  

Approaching Calgary. We flew to Calgary in a Dreamliner.  It is a huge plane that holds 320 passengers and the plane was full.

I am horribly behind on my blog, partly because it takes quite a while to do each post and partly because I was not feeling all that great after getting Covid the beginning of November.  I will finish blogging about the last three weeks of our trip, but it may take a while. December is a busy time getting ready for Christmas celebrations.

We Are Home!

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Day 91  Monday, November 27, 2023

We are awake at  6:30 to begin our journey home.  An uber ride takes us to the Denfert- Rochereau train station where we catch a train to the Charles de Gaulle Airport.  The morning commute is a busy time…our first Uber ride cancelled after we waited almost ten minutes, so we ordered a second uber.  Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long for it to arrive.

I was able to carry on a conversation with our driver who is from Tunisia.   I have been learning and practicing French online with Duolingo and it has certainly helped with my vocabulary and grammar.  Being able to converse in French, even imperfect French has been really useful on this trip, and I have really enjoyed it.

There has been a bigger police presence the last week or so, in the metro and on the streets.  Makes me wonder what they know that we don’t.  Police officers in Paris come in all sizes.

It is an interesting morning. In addition to the heightened security, we see three people in need of medical attention this morning, while waiting for our train to the airport. A young man who collapsed on the ground, a woman sitting surrounded by people trying to help her and an older man who was being helped to a seat after he fell.  I wonder if there is something in the air this morning?

We arrive at the airport after a very crowded train ride.  A young lady standing near us, almost faints, and we offer her what help we can.  At the airport there are groups of soldiers patrolling, armed with machine guns!  Maybe it is a good thing that we are going home?

This sign speaks to me…I’ll never forget Paris either.

It is a wet rainy day.

I do enyy Bob his ability to fall asleep almost anywhere.  After a bit of a wait at the airport…

We are on the plane and starting the journey home.

Good bye France. Good bye Paris.  À bientôt.

I love looking out the window on a plane…

it is so strange seeing the world from this viewpoint. We land in Edmonton just as the sun is setting. It is good to be home, but I can’t wait to return to Paris…one day soon I hope.

Thank you so much for following along on our trip to France and a special thank you to everyone who took the time to write a comment or two.  I can’t believe it took me over a year to finally finish these posts, but better late than never!
Till next time…

Packing For Home

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Day 90, Sunday, November 26, 2023

My original plan was to attend one or two last figure drawing session today, but the reality is that I am just too tired,  Instead, I stay home and spend the day packing…yes, the whole day!  It shouldn’t be that hard.  All I have to do is put everything that is going home into our suitcases but the reality is that somehow this takes me the whole day!

I had planned on drawing these lovely seed cones that I picked up near our B&B in Cannes, but it never happened.  I am so tempted to take them home but I really don’t want to get in trouble for bringing plant life back into Canada, so, sadly, they go into the garbage.  We spend the evening tidying our apartment and getting everything ready for our early departure tomorrow morning. I am sad to be leaving Paris, but it will be good to be home.  I am just not looking forward to the long travel day tomorrow.

 

 

Boat Ride on the Seine and the Orangerie

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First of all, if you are a subscriber and you are having trouble seeing the photos in yesterday’s post you should be able to click on the “View on Blog” option on the top right side of your email notification, or just type trudymason.com in your browser and you can see it properly there.  No idea why the photos aren’t showing up!  Sorry.

Day 89,  Saturday, November 25, 2023

I am out of the apartment early to go shopping for those conté crayons I promised to get for my friend.  Then I need to meet Bob near the Eiffel Tower for Bob’s birthday boat ride.

We arrived back in Paris on the 16th but other than going to my life drawing sessions I haven’t been out and about very much. Having Covid hit me much harder than Bob, and I have been pretty low energy ever since, so it is nice to wander the streets of Paris at least one more time before we head home. I check out a couple more art stores, but only find a stick or two of conté at each one! I head towards the main Sennelier store, hoping I will find what I need there.  On the way I pass several little galleries and peak in the windows.  I liked these large drawings by Diana Quinby at Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre.  I wonder if I will ever try doing such large drawings? Luckily the Sennelier store has all the conté crayons I need!  Yay!

The Louvre on the other side of the river.  We didn’t even go inside this trip…just too many other things to do and see.

This sculpture is titled The Bird of Peace by Mira Morić.  We could certainly use a lot more peace in our world!

The front of the Musée D’Orsay with posters of the two shows we visited.  I do love this museum…it is big but almost doable in one day, unlike the Louvre, which is sometimes overwhelming.  The Louvre definitely needs several days to even begin to see most of the exhibits.

Even though it is cool today there are lots of people out walking and exercising along the Seine River. There are several group classes taking place as well as people working out individually.

I walk by the entrance to the beautiful Pont Alexandre III, on my way to meet Bob.  I have never walked this route before so I enjoy seeing a bit more of Paris.

I am almost at the boat docks for Bob’s birthday lunch cruise.  It is near the Eiffel Tower.  I arrive before Bob and I am worried that we might be late, as people are already boarding, but all is well.

A selfie as we enjoy a glass of wine before our meal.  

and then a photographer comes by and takes this picture for us. Because this trip is for our 50th wedding anniversary and today is Bob’s birthday we had almost a dozen photos taken of us, while everyone else only had two or three!

Our menu. 

Bob is enjoying his birthday treat!

Bob’s Fondant Beef, onion cream, potatoes with mushrooms and rich jus, and my Glazed salmon steak with red cabbage, black rice and lobster coulis.  Both meals were delicious!

They are still working on restoring Notre dame and the building is covered in scaffolding.

We headed east on the Seine River and see some of the more modern part of Paris before we turn around and head back towards the Eiffel Tower.

Bob’s dessert comes with a sparkler and the singing of ‘Happy Birthday’ and lots of clapping.  He definitely enjoys all the attention!

Bob has the Chocolate and vanilla pot with praline crisp and I love my Coconut cream, raspberry and pomegranate coulis with soft almond biscuit.  All our food was delicious.

We purchased this photo as a keepsake. I would have liked to buy a few more photos but they were €20 (about $30) each!We pass the dock near the Eiffel Tower…

and the Statue of Liberty!  Bob was surprised to see this statue but I remembered her from my last trip.

We pass under Le Pont de Bir-Hakeim with its  beautiful decorations before docking.  We both had such a great time and enjoyed seeing Paris from the Seine River.

This map shows our route, the lunch cruise follows the black line on the map. You might have to zoom in a bit, I couldn’t manage to make this image any larger.

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After our wonderful luncheon on the Seine we do a bit of exploring. As we walk along the north side of the Seine we see several monuments.  This one is dedicated to the Russian soldiers and officers killed on French soil between 1916 and 1918.

This monument was erected by the school children of the United States.  This link https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-insolite/detail-insolite-statue-la-fayette shares an interesting, often overlooked detail about this monument, one we did not notice until I was doing a bit of research while writing this post.

As we make our way back towards the Louvre, we stop for a photo of Le Pont Alexandre III.  It really is a magnificent bridge!Jeff Koons gifted his Bouquet Of Tulips to Paris in 2019. I did a bit or research trying to find out a bit more about this sculpture and came across this interesting article. https://www.museemusings.com/blog/jeff-koons-goes-to-paris

Parisien’s love their ‘baskets’ or running shoes.  Seems like everyone wears them now.

Next, we line up to enter the Orangerie to see Monet’s “Water Lilies”.  It is a good thing we have purchased our tickets in advance, because once again, the line up for those who do not have tickets is very long.  Our line was long enough…can you see Bob in his blue coat?

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is now permissible to take photos inside the Orangerie.  When I visited in 2014 this was strictly prohibited.  

The paintings are enormous, and there are eight of them displayed in two oval rooms designed expressly for this purpose.  Bob is not as enamoured with these paintings as I am.

I was thrilled that there was a Modigliani show downstairs!  Amadeo Modigliani is one of my favourite painters and there were many paintings that I knew and many that were new to me.

I wasn’t feeling well, so we left the Orangerie and walked a bit outside and the fresh air helped.  This is the fountain that Bob took a photo of several days ago…The Fountain of Rivers.  It is extremely ornate.

We decided to walk and see some of the Christmas lights on the Avenue des Champs Élysées before going back to our apartment.

Nearby we see a small stand selling crêpes.  I simply have to have at least one crêpe, before I leave Paris… they are delicious.

It is a bit chilly but the yummy crêpe warms my hands and tummy…now we can go home.