Vincennes, France

On Sunday, after morning coffee and tea, we picked up Pia and Nathan and had brunch down the street at Le Menec Nogent, then walked two miles into the eastern Paris suburb of Vincennes. We strolled through the 2,500-acre Bois de Vincennes, established in the mid-1800s by Emperor Napoleon III; it is the largest public green space in Paris and three times larger than New York’s Central Park. On a brisk winter afternoon, we toured the Château de Vincennes, a 12th-century hunting lodge that was expanded into a fortress, military headquarters, prison and royal residence for French kings, beginning with Louis VII. The expansive grounds, 172-foot high central tower (the tallest in Europe) and beautiful Gothic chapel are restored and open to the public, with iPad audio tours available. Fun fact: In 1917 during the First World War, the Dutch-born German spy Mata Hari was executed by firing squad in the chateau’s moat. Map link: Vincennes, France

Later that evening, we said goodbye to Danielle and Jay, who left for India and their next leg of travel to visit family. The rest of us made dinner at the house and watched The Man in the Iron Mask, the 1998 star-studded adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel set in 1662 France. 

Bonus Question: What is chiromancy? (Answer at end of post)

Bonus Question Answer: Also known as palmistry, chiromancy is the practice of fortune- telling by reading palms and fingers. 

Paris, France

Friday, Dec 26: After a typical slow start in the morning, we boarded the Metro (subway), headed for the center of Paris, the capital and largest city in France, with a metropolitan population of 13 million. It was a chilly day, with temperatures in the mid-30s and a moderate wind as we shuffled around several tourist areas among large crowds. We stopped at Sainte Chappelle, a beautiful 13th-century chapel covered with stained glass that we visited in 2023, but all tours were sold out for the day. Next was Notre-Dame cathedral, reopened a year ago after suffering significant damage in a 2019 fire, but the long line to enter the church wasn’t moving and we weren’t interested in standing out in the cold for an indeterminate amount of time. We found a cozy creperie, La Petite Bouclerie, for lunch, then took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, which also had a huge crowd—we stood in line to visit the base of the tower but did not go up. Our final stops were a Christmas Market on the Seine, where we warmed up with hot red wine, then across the river and up the hill to the Trocadéro, where we had amazing sunset views of the Eiffel Tower. Back at Marjorie and Murli’s apartment, we were treated to dinner, a children’s string recital by Nathan, Pia and Bertie, and pleasant conversation until 10:45 PM, when we walked back to the house where we’re staying, just an eight minute walk away. Map link: Paris, France

Bonus Question: How many bones are in the human body? (Multiple choice, answer at end of post).   A. 106     B. 156     C. 206      D. 306 

Saturday, Dec 27: In the morning Danielle and Jay toured Rolland Garros Stadium, the home of the French Open tennis tournament, while the rest of us visited Kathleen’s sister Elizabeth and her husband David, who moved to France many years ago and also live nearby. Also in Paris from Nashville are Liz and David’s youngest child, Robert, his wife Danielle and their daughter Bertie. We all met up after lunch and the 13 of us took the Metro to the west side of Paris to see Les Folies Gruss, a family troupe of equestrians and acrobats who put on a fantastic two-hour show to live music. A special treat after the show was VIP access to the horse stables, where got to view the 40+ animals up close. Most of us then ate dinner at Saravanaa Bhavan, an Indian restaurant chain and a favorite of our local relatives, before returning back to the house. 

Answer:  C. There are 206 bones in human adults. Infants are born with 270 bones, but many fuse together as they grow and develop.

Joyuex Noël!, Au Revoir Nice!

It’s Christmas Day in France and we are so grateful to be with family! We don't have major sightseeing plans today and are traveling to Paris later this evening. After packing our bags and cleaning the apartment, we took another long walk around Nice, along the waterfront Promenade and through the Christmas Market, which was much busier today. The weather was sunny and beautiful, with temperatures in the mid-50s and light winds; a huge change for the better over our previous four days on the coast. 

Amy boarded a train around 3:00 PM and the rest of us left for the Nice airport at 5:00 PM for a 75-minute flight to Paris. We took an Uber to the eastern suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, where our niece Marjorie had arranged for us to stay in the house of a vacationing friend near her. Amy met us shortly after 10:00 PM and we relaxed in the well-appointed, three-story residence until bedtime. Map link: Nogent-sur-Marne,France

Bonus Question: What greeting becomes another greeting if you add an A in front and reverse it? (Answer at end of post)

Bonus Question Answer: The Spanish greeting “hola” becomes the Hawaiian “aloha” by adding an A and reversing it. How cool is that?!

Villefranche-sur-Mer, France

On Wednesday Amy, Kathleen, Rachel and I set out on foot from Nice to the nearby village of Villefranche-sur-Mer (“free city by the sea”)—named in the 13th century when it was established as a duty-free port. Today it is another French Riviera stunner, with a charming, walkable town on a deep-water natural harbor. It is the most-visited port in France for cruise ships, which discharge 250,000+ passengers annually. 

Our walking route was the Sentier du Littoral (Coastal Path), which follows the coastline around the cape east of Nice on a winding, hilly and sometimes-paved hiking trail. We spent three hours covering the 5.2 miles, backtracking once, climbing the equivalent of 44 flights of stairs (according to Kathleen’s Apple watch) and stopping often to enjoy the breathtaking views of the sea and coast. 

Jay and Danielle took the train to town and we met for lunch at Les Palmiers, which had many other English-speakers besides us—two other tables and the bartender were Australian. We took a quick stroll past the historic citadel and the adorable 16th-century Chappelle Saint-Pierre, then boarded the train back to Nice. Map link: Villefranche-sur-Mer, France

We returned to our apartment for a quick change of clothes, then attended Christmas Eve mass at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice, a lovely neo-gothic church completed in 1868. We did our best to follow along with the French service and children’s pageant, although much was understood by context and experience with Catholic rituals. After mass, we made an unsuccessful attempt to find some gelato, but stores were closed for the holiday, although several did find some take-out at the ethnic restaurants that were open. 

Bonus Question: Who is the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields? (Answer at end of post)

Bonus Question Answer: Marie Curie won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics and the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She was the first woman to win the prize, the first person to win the prize twice and with her husband Pierre, who was co-winner in 1903, the first married couple to win the prize. She invented the word “radioactivity” to describe the emissions from certain elements and died in 1934 at the age of 66 from anemia, likely caused by her chronic exposure to radiation. 

Antibes, France

On Tuesday, we slept in, had a leisurely morning and spent the afternoon in Antibes on the French Riviera, located between Nice and Cannes. The city was originally a Greek trading post known as Antipolis, due to its location opposite Nice on the Bay of Angels. It is now another gem on the Côte d’Azur, know over the last century as a boating mecca, destination of the wealthy and hangout for artists and writers. Pablo Picasso had a studio here in 1946 in the Chateau Grimaldi, which became the first museum dedicated to the artist and one of the few in the world located in a space where he actually created his art. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald lived here in the 1920s and the Riviera lifestyle inspired his fourth and final novel, Tender is the Night, published in 1934. Map link: Antibes, France

We began our day at Port Vauban, the largest marina in the Mediterranean, named after King Louis XIV’s chief military engineer who improved the harbor and built Fort Carré to protect it in the 16th century. A major sailing and yachting center, the harbor is home to 1,500 boats of all sizes, from tiny sailing skiffs to mega-yacht hundreds of feet long. We walked along the coast to one of Amy's favorite beaches, and she and Kathleen brought swimsuits, but it was way too rough for water sports. Instead we wandered through Old Town Antibes’ labyrinth of markets, shops, restaurants and ancient buildings, all connected by cobblestone streets. We ate lunch at Sau, a small Vietnamese restaurant with excellent banh mi and rice bowls, then resumed our window shopping and visited a couple of pâtisseries (pastry shops) for dessert. 

Art imitating life

Too rough for swimming

Antibes Cinema

We walked past the Picasso Museum, then along the waterfront ramparts, which date back to Roman times, with views of the city, ocean and Italian Alps in the distance. The seas and winds were boisterous and the rain went from drizzle to a steady shower as we got to our last stop, the Antibes Christmas Market. We enjoyed some hot wine, cider and roasted chestnuts before the rain, wind and cold finally got to us and we threw in the towel for the day. After the train ride back, Danielle and Amy made us dinner, followed by chill time at the apartment. 

Bonus Question: What popular instant coffee’s name is derived from the French phrase for “without caffeine”?

Picasso Museum

Bonus Question Answer: Invented in Germany in 1903, decaffeinated coffee expanded into France under the name “Sanka,” a portmanteau of the French “sans cafeine.” Sanka’s bright orange jars and labels were easily recognizable and when General Foods bought the brand and introduced it to the US in 1932, it gave orange-handled carafes to restaurants as a marketing gimmick. This successful branding association remains today and the color orange has become synonymous with decaffeinated coffee. 

Monaco

On Monday morning we were joined early by our niece Rachel, who is studying at American University of Paris. After a late breakfast, we boarded the train to visit Monaco, only eight miles away. The world’s second-smallest sovereign state, after Vatican City, Monaco has the highest population density on the planet, with 38,000 inhabitants living in its 0.8 square miles, 20% of which is reclaimed land that has been built into the sea. It is a hereditary monarchy, with descendants of the House of Grimaldi ruling since 1297. Curiously, the sovereign has always held the title of prince or princess, never king or queen, mainly out of deference to the larger, more powerful nations that Monaco has allied itself with for protection over the centuries.

The current head of state is Prince Albert II, the second child and only son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace (Kelly), the American-born movie star who left Hollywood in 1956 at age 26 to marry and assume royal duties. Albert is an avid athlete, competing in multiple sports as a young man, holding a black belt in judo and competing in five consecutive Winter Olympics as a member of Monaco’s bobsled team. Educated at Amherst College in the USA, he is active in ocean conservation and fisheries management, and Amy has spent time at Monaco’s Oceanographic Institute during her graduate school studies. Map link: Monaco

After a brown bag lunch in the Jardins de la Petite Afrique (Little Africa Gardens) our first tourist stop was the world-famous Monte Carlo Casino, the primary source of income for Monaco. The plaza in front of this beautiful Belle Époque structure which opened in 1865 was filled with holiday decorations and luxury automobiles. Fun fact: Monégasques, as citizens of Monaco are called, are prohibited from working at or even entering the casino, a rule established on moral grounds by Princess Caroline in the late 1800s that still exists today. Another Fun Fact: In the summer of 1913, a roulette wheel at the casino fell on black 26 times in a row, costing gamblers millions.

Bonus Question: Two movies in the James Bond series featured the Monte Carlo Casino. Which are they, and who played Agent 007 in each one? (Answer at end of post)

After the casino, we walked along some of the narrow, public streets that make up the course for the Monaco Grand Prix, first held in 1929 and one of the most prestigious automobile races in the world. We marveled at the famous “hairpin turn” in front of the Fairmont Hotel, where the Formula One cars slow to around 30 mph, then inside the Larvotto Tunnel, where drivers quickly accelerate to 160 mph, with little room to pass as they complete 78 laps of the two-mile course. 

It was a blustery day, with 15-20 mph winds and light rain, as we walked along the waterfront to Port Hercule, Monaco’s only harbor and home to hundreds of luxury yachts. Next to the port was Monaco’s Christmas Village, where we bought treats for ourselves and gifts for others.  

We were getting tired, but walked up the steep hillside along the Chemin des Crèches (Creche Path) which features Christmas nativity scenes from around the world. At the top stood the Palais Princier (Prince’s Palace), where Albert II and his family reside. 

Our last stop was the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate, completed in 1903 and the center of the Archdiocese of Monaco. Many of the Grimaldi family rulers are buried here and it was the location of Princess Grace’s fairy tale wedding as well as her funeral after she died from injuries sustained in a car crash at the age of 52.

The wind and rain picked up and were just plain nasty, so we trudged back down the hill and headed straight for the train station. Back in Nice, we did some window shopping before heading back to the apartment. Everyone except me was hungry, and went out for a late dinner of Indian food, before ending the day together. 

Bonus Question Answer: The Monte Carlo Casino was featured in the 1995 film GoldenEye, starring Pierce Brosnan in the first of his four Bond movies, and Never Say Never Again  (the 1983 remake of Thunderball) with Sean Connery as Agent 007.