My viewers

This blog keeps track of how many people view my blog and what countries they are from.  Most of the people come from the United States but people from the following countries have also taken a look -

France, Canada, United Kingdom, Lithuania, S. Korea, Iraq, Spain, Brazil, S. Africa, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Cyprus. 

Interesting, right?  I wonder how they happened to find me?  Welcome one and all!

Paris Museums

One of the best museums we visited in Paris was the Musee d'Orsay (Museum d'Orsay).  This museum is in a beautiful former train station in the heart of Paris along the Seine.  The museum itself is a work of art.  The museum houses the largest collection of Impressionist art in Europe, featuring artists such as Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh and Cezanne.  I love Impressionist art.  You will also see works from such artists as Gauguin, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec.  The famous painting Portrait of the Artist's Mother (Whistler's Mother) is also at the d'Orsay but I don't remember seeing it.

Another favorite museum in Paris is the Musee de l'Orangerie which houses Monet's Water Lilies on eight hugh curved panels in four rooms.  The water lilies are in the pond at Monet's famous garden in Giverney.

The Wonder Years

The classic TV show The Wonder Years is another great family show that ran from 1988 to 1993.  The show was told from the point of view of 12 year old Kevin Arnold played by Fred Savage.  The Wonder Years is known for the voice-over narration of the adult Kevin by actor Daniel Stern.  I was a regular viewer of this show and I remember it fondly.  Here is the opening theme by Joe Cocker -

Beautiful song

This is my favorite Celine Dion song.  I love the words...

Random trip memories

Here are some memories of our European vacation that I don't think I've mentioned (excuse me if I have!)

Hotels generally don't look as good in person as they do on their websites.  Although our hotel in London came close.  It's called The Park City Hotel and is located in the royal Kensington and Chelsea district of London.  Here's their website:
http://www.theparkcity.com/

Our hotel in Paris was recommended in Rick Steves' guidebook but it failed to impress.  The room was so small it barely contained a bed and little table.  But the good thing about it was that we could see the top half of the Eiffel Tower from the bathroom!  The elevator was really tiny too.  It was only big enough for the two of us and after riding in it once, I opted to take the stairs.  They did have a laptop in the lobby that was free.

Our hotel in Bruges was good.  It's called The Walwyck Hotel Brugge.  They had a huge bell you could ring at the front desk (one of those bells a teacher has on her desk).  We forgot to take a picture of it but they gave us a postcard of the bell.  The innkeepers were very friendly and gave us good restaurant recommendations.  They had a flat screen TV in the room that we watched Enemy of the State on and enjoyed the commercials.  The floors were quite squeaky though. 

We stayed at a nice B&B in Amsterdam called Tulips.  The owners, Karen and Paul, were very nice.  I had told them it was our 30th anniversary so they had a small bottle of champagne in a silver bucket and a napkin with champagne glasses on it.  They included a note that said Many Congratulations! From Paul and Karen.  They also had a bottle of cherry liqueur on the table with 2 little glasses and they put chocolates on our pillows at night.  We had great bagels at a place called Bagels and Beans.

Here is a photo of me outside the B&B -

The museums were great in every city but the ones in London were excellent and free except for special shows like the Grace Kelly one I wrote about earlier.  The Louvre was beautiful but it was extremely overcrowded, hot and noisy.  It was hard to see the Mona Lisa with the huge crowd in the room and the painting is behind glass.

Lots of people ride motorcycles in Paris.  Nobody wore helmets while riding their bikes in Amsterdam.  The tram system is great in Amsterdam.  We saw some guys break dancing in Amsterdam which drew a big crowd.

Well, I have to stop for now.  I'll write more memories later.  Oh, while I'm thinking of it, actor Jeremy Irons does the narration on the headphones for the Westminster Abbey tour and he says, "God bless you," at the end in that deep wonderful voice of his!

Doors to the Westminster Abbey

All Through The Night

You may have noticed that The Sopranos is on my favorite TV shows list.  It is truly a brilliant show.  Here is a clip from the ending of Season 3 where Soprano daughter Meadow and her friend Hunter sing a solo with their school choir -



By the way, edited reruns can be seen on A & E.  I recommend seeing it uncut on DVD though.

Build Me Up Buttercup

Since I lost the video of the movie Something About Mary with this song, I found another one showing the group that recorded the it, The Foundations -