In 1972 our family made our first trip together to a foreign country. The original plan was to make the trip in 1971 already, but then we moved to our new house and we decided to wait another year. Of course there has been some trips to other countries (even to Paris as well) in the past, but that was before Jenneke JR. was born. Between 1962 and 1971 the family spent their holidays in Nunspeet on the Veluwe in "Hotel Veld en Boszicht". Which we enjoyed very much, but this first trip to Paris was a trip we will never forget. Jenneke JR. made the same trip again in 1975 and 1976 with her Highschool friends and then, for the last time so far, in 1982 when she was studying at the BDA (Bibliothecarian and Documentation Academy) here in Den Haag.

But back to our first time together in France. It was during the eastern holidays and we started on April 3, 1972 with going to the railwaystation H.S. There our train left at 11:41 a.m. A tourmanager welcomed us and gave us some interested information about Paris. We drove to Roosendaal and got a locomotive from Belgium and some Belgium conductors. After that the train drove to Brussel where they changed the locomotive again. This time in a French one. Another tourmanager arrived who gave us a piece of paper with programs we could chose for the upcoming days. Because a part of our family was familiar with Paris already, we decided only to take a tour that same night trough the streets of Paris to see all the buildings with their lights on.

Around 17:40 a.m. we arrived in Paris. They planned to arrive at 17:02 so in fact we were a little too late. On the place before the station there were some busses located to bring the people to their hotels. We had bus number 7 which made his first stop at "Hotel Royal Fromentin", our Hotel. Inside we had to sign up and received the keys from our rooms, number 34 and 35. To locate the Hotel, we also got a little map of Paris. To go upstairs, you had to take a small (typical France) elevator. The only thing you had to remember, that you didn’t close the door behind you when you left your key inside. Then it wasn’t possible to open the door again and you had to go downstairs for a duplicate key. It happened several times during that five days that someone forgot his key inside.

At half past seven we had diner in "Weinhotel Luce" and we waited till 21:15 till the bus arrived for Paris by night. Wow, wasn’t that incredible! The bus drove along a lot of interested buildings and streets like de Place de la Concorde, Les Champs-Elysées and L’Arc de Triomphe and La Tour Eiffel. Most of the buildings are only lightened up on special days and the fountains are only working on these days too.

La Tour Eiffel by night and..................................................... L’Arc de Triomphe by night

We arrived back in our hotel around 23:00 where we got the keys of our rooms and went to bed. What an exiting first day of our trip!

We woke up at half past seven and then at 8 o’clock we got a phonecall (every room has its own phone to order things downstairs) that breakfast was on its way. There were really nice croissants with tea and cafe. After our breakfast we took the Metro to go to Palais de Chaillot. It’s a kind of Palace and we walked the stairs down, walked a little further and reached La Tour Eiffel. After crossing the Seine we went upstairs into La Tour Eiffel to watch over Paris. I believe, everybody knows that Jenneke jr. doesn’t like high’s that much and that her father isn’t such a hero about that either. There was so much wind at the second level, we took the lift again to the first floor. There it was very windy as well. After taking a deep breath we carefully looked over the balcony to watch some buildings from upstairs. Taking a drink on that first level was an experience we’ll never forget. Luckily the restaurant was surrounded by glass, what maked us feel more comfortable.

View from La Tour de Eiffel.......................... La Tour de Eiffel

After our drink we went downstairs again and walked over the Champ de Mars till L’école Militaire where we stayed for awhile. Then we passed it and walked to the Dôme des Invalides where we bought some tickets to go inside. Inside you find the grave of Napoleon and some other graves as well like for example of Marshal Foch.

The Dôme des Invalides

We spent there some time till we got very hungry and decided to eat something across the street. The place was obvious a "hit" by a lot of cabdrivers, because we saw a lot of them eating their lunch.

At half past one, we walked to the Place de la Concorde to take a drive with the metro to the Place Pigalle, then we crossed the Boulevard de Clichy and walked to the Rue Houdon. You had to climb a lot of stairs then to reach the Place du Tertre with their painters. A friendly man gave every tourist a little map so you could reach the Sacré-Coeur on the easiest way.

That was nice, but not really necessary for us. At the moment we entered the Sacré Coeur it started to rain so we quickly went inside and watched the beautiful enameled windows. It was possible to buy a candle to burn for someone you loved or died recently. Now it was really raining and we spent some more time inside hoping that the weather would change and indeed, after awhile it became dryer and we walked the stairs down and trough a small street with the name of Rue de Steinkerque. Then we arrived at the Boulevard Rochechourart followed by the Boulevard de Clichy and we were back in our hotel. We changed our dresses and went back again to Luce for our dinner. To end the day we watched some streets in the neighborhood of our hotel and went to bed.

As usual we woke up at half past seven and our breakfast arrived at eight. This day we started at Place Pigalle, took the Metro and drove to the Place de la Concorde. Crossing the street we watched the obelisk in the middle. Then we walked through the Tuilerieën, a big garden with sculptures like Julius Caesar. When you left this garden you came on the Place du Carrousel where you can find the little L’Arc de Triomphe. Then it’s not far away till you reach the Louvre.

The Louvre just opened its door for that day, so we had to wait for some time till all the people who were waiting outside, were inside, but that didn’t take long. After a few minutes we became our tickets and surprise: we met the two people we traveled with from Den Haag to Paris earlier that week.

Inside we watched the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. We left the Louvre after a hour. If you want to watch everything, you can spent a whole week there, but that wasn’t our intention.

The tourmanager had told us earlier that week, that they cleaned up the whole church just recently, but that it wasn’t possible to clean up the tower in the middle. Inside we saw also some enameled windows. The outside of the Notre Dame is very impressive. A lot of ornaments and if you’re staying in front of it and looks up, it seems or the whole church is falling down on you. A very strange experience.

After the Notre dame we took the Metro for a drive to the Madeleine

and after that we visited the Place de L’Opéra. The last building is very special. It has a green roof with a short of crown and two enormous ornaments on the left and right side.

The last thing we visited that day was the L’Arc de Triomphe on the Place de L’Etoile or as they called it in 1972, Place Charles de Gaulle. It was possible to go upstairs inside the L’Arc de Triomphe and we saw the big streets which are coming together around the L’Arc de Triomphe. We had seen that in movies some times, but in real life it was very impressive. All the cars driving in so many directions….. When Jenneke jr. visited Paris in 1975, there were some flowers laying under the L’Arc de Triomphe for the unknown soldier.

The L’Arc de Triomphe was so impressive, that we almost forgot the time and we arrived a little too late in Luce for our dinner. It has been a day, which was very exhausted so we went to bed very early and slept well.

This morning we visited the Place Odéon and went to the hotel where a part of the family stayed 15/16 years ago. It was still there! Then we walked a little back to the Jardin de Luxembourg. They started to built a building that supposted to be even higher as the Tour de Eiffel. When we walked further, we came by the Panthéon which we visted.

The Panthéon

They just started a tour inside, so we joined the people there. After the Panthéon, we took the bus to Place Pigalle and went back to our hotel.

After our dinner, it was time to buy some souvenirs. We decided to buy a little Tour de Eiffel and a keyring with the L’Arc de Triomphe. And then it started to rain again so it was better to go back to our hotel and to descide what we wanted to watch the last day of our trip in Paris.

Because we had to let our luggage outside our rooms, before we left the hotel, we were not ready before half past eight. They would pick up everything and brought it to the station. After our breakfast we left the hotel, took the Metro and drove first to the Place Vendôme with the obelisk of Napoleon, then walked trough a big street to the Place des Vosges. In the past a famous man lived in one of the houses here: Victor Hugo on number 6. Then we walked over to Hôtel de Ville and walked down the stairs of the Seine. It was very cold now so we decided to eat again at the Palais de Justice.

Then it was time to go back to Luce where some busses where we had to wait till the train arrived. There was a misunderstanding about the places inside the train that had to be solved first, but at half past three the train left the station on his way back to Den Haag.

On station H.S. in Den Haag we realized that the train was too long for the station. 15 carriages instead of 7 so we had to take a walk through half of the train before we could reach the platform to get out. We called a cab that brought us home and so ended our first family trip to a foreign country. And that wouldn’t be the last one….