Rita was pregnant with our second child, and it was looking like this would be our last chance to travel without children. The last two times we went away in January, we went to hot places (Hawaii & Playa del Carmen), but Rita insisted that we should go to Europe and do some sightseeing. Sam went along. Rita had been to London twice as a kid in January, and took a day trip to Paris as well. With plenty of Kosher restaurants, we were set food-wise. We booked flights to London, and home from Paris, and booked the train through the Chunnel. Hotels were booked using Starwood points.
London
Day 1 – Westminster
The sights – We checked into our hotel, and it wasn’t until around noon, that we started out on our day. We walked around the Westminster neighborhood of London, starting at Buckingham Palace (where we basically just walked by the fence), through some of the famous sites. We used Rick Steve’s walk as a rough guide, but didn’t really follow in order. We saw Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, and a bunch of statues/monuments.
Westminster Abbey – Along the way, we stopped in for a tour of Westminster Abbey. We did a Verger guided tour, and this was much more than the tour of a church. The history of England is found here, being the site of many royal coronations, the burial site of many famous Englishmen, and memorials to wars etc.
Changing of the Horse Guard – Instead of waiting for hours to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, we opted for the Changing of the Horse guard, which was supposedly a bit easier to get close to.
Churchill War Rooms – Next, we visited this awesome museum in the bunkers below the government headquarters where Churchill ran the WWII war effort from. We learned about this great leader, how close Britain was to defeat in WWII, and saw how he inspired a nation to victory. Many of the rooms were preserved as they were left more than 50 years ago.
Reubens – That evening, we took the tube to the famous Jewish deli, Reuben’s.
Day 2
Tower of London – We kicked off the day Friday at the Tower of London. We took the Beefeater tour, which is recommended to get some stories about this prison/castle. There was a creepy exhibit on torture devices, a ton of medival armor, and the crown jewels. In all, we spent about 3 hours here.
British Museum – We spent the afternoon in the British Museum. We joined a docent tour of some of the museum highlights. There are a ton of famous and important pieces to see here, including the Elgin marbles (from the Greek Parthenon), the Rosetta Stone (from Egypt), the Lindow Man (thousand year old man turned into leather) and the Lewis Chess set.
Day 3 – Shabbat
National Gallery – Since it was free, we were able to visit the National Gallery of Art on Shabbat. We joined two guided tours, and spent a lot of time with a few of the pieces in the museum. It was like Art Hum all over again.
British Museum – During our visit to the museum on Friday, we bought the book “Through the British Museum with the Bible.” Having read it the night before, we were able to come back and visit some of the pieces that have significance in ancient Jewish history, including the siege of Lachish, Taylor Prism from Sancherib of Assyria, the expulsion of the Northern Tribes, and more.
This was also the weekend that President Trump was inaugurated, and there were several women’s marches around the world including in London.
Paris
Day 4
Musée de l’Armée – Hotel des Invalides – Sunday morning we took the train to Paris. It took until about 1pm to get there, and then we walked around the city a bit towards the Hotel des Invalides. This complex of old military buildings and hospital, is a museum to the French Army, and includes Napoleon’s tomb.
Champs-Elysées Walk/ Arc de Triomphe – After dinner at Il Conte, we walked along Champs Elysée to the Arc de Triomphe. You can climb the Arc, and get nice views all the way to the Eifel Tower from the top.
Day 5
Sainte-Chapelle – We started our day on the small Ile de la Cite island in the middle of Paris which was home to churches, and other famous sites. This church was newer than Notre Dame, and had beautiful stained glass windows from the 13th century depicting the entire story of the bible from side to side from Genesis through the New Testament.
Conciergerie Tour – The Conciergerie is a former courthouse and prison in Paris, where Marie Antoinette was held captive. We did an iPad augmented reality tour which was cool, and told the story in a unique way.
Pont Neuf – Famous bridge connecting the Ile de la Cite to the Les Halles neighborhood, it’s the oldest crossing the Seine. We also put a love lock on Pont des Arts.
Louvre – This famous museum has the second half of the most famous objects in the world. This includes the Mona Lisa, several famous paintings and sculptures. The Mesha Stele referencing the Israelite war with Moab in Kings I was something Sam insisted we find as well. The museum itself is something to see, with the famous glass pyramid, and the excavated castle in the lower levels.
Day 6
Notre Dame – This famous catholic cathedral has a lot of sculptures inside and outside including all of the kings of Judah, famous stained glass rose windows, and classic gargoyles. We also saw several relics which they consider pieces of the cross, Mary’s hair, etc. in elaborate reliquaries.
Deportation Memorial – On the tip of Ile de la Cite was an unassuming memorial to the French deportees / victims of the Holocaust. This place was empty and it was sad to see how little attention it got.
Le Marais Jewish Tour – Around 11, we met up with a small group for a tour of the Le Marais neighborhood. This is the traditional Jewish quarter where we saw some of the Jewish sites, both old and new. We learned about the Jewish experience in France during the Holocaust, an active synagogue in the area, and the memorial to the Shoah. Of course, we stopped for lunch at the famous L’As du Falafel.
Museum of Art & Jewish History – French Jewish History Museum which had interesting Judaica, and some art. They had a cool painted sukkah.
Musee d’Orsay – This art museums had pieces from the impressionist period, in an old railway station building. There were paintings and sculptures from Monet, Manet, Renault, and van Gogh.
Tour Eiffel – As it got dark out, we went to the Eiffel tower. It was nice to see it lit up – we didn’t go up and just took pictures from the base.
Day 7 – Versailles
Versailles – Our last day, we took the train to Versailles. We toured the various rooms in the famous palace including the Hall of Mirrors, and the gardens. It was winter so the gardens were pretty bare (It was really cold). But it was nice to see the history of the place and the key role it played toward the end of the French monarchy.
L’Orangerie – This impressionist museum is most famous for Monet’s water lilies room. At this point we were pretty museum-ed out, but Rita didn’t want to miss this one!
