We made it to India

We made it! Our flights were long, but uneventful (we even left Doha early), and we were able to land in Delhi despite the worst fog in 5 years (multiple flights are being cancelled and diverted). We're hoping the fog will lift sufficiently by the end of the week to enable us to get out again.

India is, well, India. Crowded, dirty, overwhelming, noisy, chaotic...We are so grateful that we booked a tour guide and driver here (Thank you Stephanie!). We have spent 2 days being sheparded around Delhi to various important sites (to be described in another posting), and will head to the Taj Mahal tomorrow. Driving will be difficult because of the fog, but at least we're not trying to travel by train (they're all delayed because of the fog). We are starting to find our own way around the neighborhood a little bit on our own, but are still trying to figure out how to walk in the street while not getting hit by the various motorized things zipping around. We haven't quite gotten secret code of when to veer and when to hold steady. Fortunately, the local drivers are forgiving of tourists and do their best to avoid adding us to their hoods.

We've been enjoying the much warmer climate, though for locals it is quite cold. Lots of folks in wool jackets and hats, and numerous reports in the paper of people suffering from the cold and schools closing too.

We just got back from the sweet shop, so I'll wrap this up. More later.

Museums we saw in Paris

In the end, we saw 9 museums in Paris. You get a bit jaded, "Oh, look, another Renoir, snore" but we saw some amazing art. I really liked the displays of the bronzes alongside the clay models the artists used to think out their work. You could see how the artist built up the figure before casting it.

Our list:

Musee National de la Marine
Crypte Archaeologique de Notre Dame
Musee National de L'Orangerie
Musee D'Orsay
Musee Rodin
Versailles
Musee de l'Armee
Musee de la Mode et du Textile
Musee du Louvre

Other thoughts: buy the museum pass. not only does it help you pop in and out without feeling like you have to spend a lot of time in any particular museum, but more importantly, it entitles you to priority entrance and you can bypass the super long entrance lines.

And, the Musee d'Orangerie does the best crowd control. They keep people outside and only let a limited number in at any time. Beautiful interesting space, not shoulder to shoulder people.

The Musee d'Orsay does the best women's bathrooms. Eight stalls for women, with sinks outside the stalls. Versailles has the worst. Two stalls, with sinks in the stalls so no one can else can use the loo while you wash your hands.

Can we say too many museums?

(THIS WAS REALLY WRITTEN BY AIDAN)
We did a lot today. First, we had a long subway ride all the way across Paris to discover that there was a two hour wait to get into the catacombs. (The line went literally around the block. Well, halfway, but it was a big block. I'm not kidding.) Then we took another long train ride to Musee d'Orsay. We saw an exhibition on masks. We also saw the Corners of the World statue. Does anybody know why one of the (bare chested) women holding up the globe is chained up but the others aren't? Next, we went to the Orangerie. They had eight giant waterlily paintings by Monet, and a bunch of other paintings (at least half of which showed nude or bare chested women, and none of which showed nude men.) Next, we went to the textile museum and saw a bunch of clothes. Then, at 2:00 in the afternoon, we went to have lunch. The pace that was recommended to us had nothing left, so we went to another place that had really good food but only had one server/busboy/barman/cashier, so it was four in the afternoon by the time we started to eat.
In order from top to bottom, the pictures are of: A model of L'Opera Garnier, the clock in Musee d'Orsay (which used to be a train station), Le Baselique de Sacre-Couer barely visible through an exterior clock at Musee d'Orsay, and an idea for police transport that I thought was cool but wouldn't work in Seattle: Rollerblades.

Bon Fete! Bon Annee! Freezing fog!

We got up early this morning and Metro-d to Les Invalides, then walked the last bit to the Eiffel Tower, one of Aidan's chief Paris goals. We did indeed beat (most) of the crowds, but the whole city is a single icy breath and there was no point going to the top. So instead we went for feelings of virtue and hoofed it to the 2-ieme Etage. Thought this would be something of a workout but in fact each floor took about 5 minutes, and we would gladly have walked to the top just to say we'd done it. Alas they don't allow this any more, so we merely walked around and took foggy photos. (In #2 below you can just barely see L'Ecole Militarie at the tip of the telescope, less than half a mile away.)

Afterwards we did a serious hike, via the Arc De Triomphe and Parc de Monceau, all thee way back to Montmartre, for a thaw-out and lunch "at home" and a well-deserved afternoon of reading and napping.

Just back from a quick walk around the neighborhood - mainly so that I could see the Lapin Agile, be photographed in front of Picasso's old atelier just up the street at the Bateau-Lavoir (where he painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon etc. etc.), and generally feel that I was communing with the artistic spirits. Then we ducked into a cafe on Rue des Abbesses for chocolat chaud and vin chaud while people-watching the locals. Smoking having been banned in such places, the men stand at the zinc bar with their aperitifs in one hand and an unlit cigarette in the other. Stubble, a donkey jacket and a raffishly half-furled scarf are de rigeur.

Can't believe it's our last day tomorrow - airport and a full day's travel on Saturday.

Having fun at the butcher's

Here's a picture we took yesterday while shopping for our new year's meal. The butcher is holding the pig's ears (one of about half a dozen sets for sale) for Aidan. You can just see his face in the mirror to the left.