Paris, France
This is the first blog I wrote – actually just emails. I’m reposting, just to get it up on the blog, and also because I got a kick out of rereading them! In addition, I always take lots of pictures. I think I average nearly 2,000 for a 3 week trip. So any of the pictures in these blog posts are generally taken by me, with a few mixed in taken by my traveling companions.
Arrival – Day 1, Paris, France, Sunday, October 6, 2013
Long day getting here but we have arrived! The most amazing thing was seeing the Eiffel Tower materialize out of the fog as we flew over Paris towards the airport. Stunning. We explored the neighborhood a bit last night and promptly got lost. It helps if you bring the map for the Paris flat, not the one for the Chelsea flat in London. More to follow!
A lot more happened than just that paragraph that I sent out. One thing was that my reaction to the flights were amusing as all get out to Sharon. I hate flying. The long flight from Vancouver BC to Frankfurt, Germany was fine. Well, mostly fine. Except when the landing gear retracted and made the most horrendous noise. Sharon looked over at me and said ‘It’s fine. If it doesn’t make that noise, we’re in trouble. Gear must go up.” Great. It was a long flight.
It also didn’t help that the next flight, a short hop from Frankfurt to Paris, was on a much smaller plane, that rattled the whole way. I looked over at Sharon who just shrugged, and commented that we ‘weren’t on Big Bird’, and promptly went to sleep. I wasn’t so relaxed.
But out of that short flight came the best view I’ve ever seen of the Eiffel Tower. It looked like a toy in a Matchbox Car set. I was looking out the window as we descended, and it literally materialized. First the tip, then on down to the bottom as the fog rolled away. Sharon had mentioned that there is always one moment on your first trip where you realize you really are out of your own country. That was it for me. I really wish I had a picture.
We also landed at a terminal at the Paris de Gualle airport that I’ve yet to go into again. I called it the ‘habitrail’ terminal, because it looked for all the world like a hamster habitrail cage out of the 1970s. The building is round, and all through the center are escalators enclosed in plastic tubes. Another place I wish I’d gotten a picture.
Walking around that terminal was an eye opening experience in itself. This was clearly the terminal for arrivals and departures from the Middle East and Africa, as well as Europe. I have never seen so much ethnic dress in my life. Paris is truly a melting pot of peoples. My first view of Europe, and I was already learning how small it is.
The ride into Paris from the airport gave me my first view of the city, as well as my first experience with Parisian traffic and driving habits. I happened to be seated in the front seat of our shuttle – a snubnosed mini van – that allowed me a first hand look at eaxactly how close a Parisian driver can get to another car. Oh. My. Word. I didn’t think it was possible to drive that fast, that close to another car. I wasn’t sure we’d live to get to our apartment.
Our flat was another eye opening experience. European flats are not like American homes or apartments. They are tiny. The kitchens are the size of a closet with dorm sized refrigerators. This is because most Parisians live outside their homes. They gather at the neighborhood cafes, and small coffee shops. Often they are out in the many small parks that dot the city. That is why most of the buildings have some kind of retail shop on the ground floor, (cafe or bakery) and apartments above. Parisians shop for their meals each day. The local grocery stores are within walking distance, and there is always a neighborhood bakery.
Our apartment building was just off the Rue Cler, and was originally constructed for
the workers building the Eiffel Tower. The stairs were small and winding, the flow from room to room made little sense, with odd doors that could lock or unlock to make a bigger space. The layout of the interior of the apartments may change many times over the years, but the outside always remains the same.
The door locks, like many European locks, have keys that turn more like combination locks than anything else. The owner told us to first turn it right a few times, then left, then chant a prayer over it to be sure it would open. The whole place was quirky like that. For instance, outside my bedroom window (which looked out to the back wall of another building), a piece of carved stonework was hung. It was about two stories up, and right at my window level. I often wondered idly what museum or archeological sight this had been looted from. I’ll never know.
RE: We are Here! – Day 2, Paris, France, Monday October 7, 2013
Today began with walking over to see the Eiffel Tower (since it was in our back
yard) for a short stroll and a look around our area. But just beyond the tower was the Seine, so we went over for a look. The short stroll turned into a full afternoon when we ended up hopping onto the Batabus and touring along the Stein. We toured Norte Dame and Saints-Chapelle. Spectacular. Then we explored the Latin Quarter looking for a tapestry shop which we never found. But we saw lots of cool stuff. Then back on the boat back to our home stop at the Eiffel Tower, where we watched the sun go down and the lights come on. Home in the dark, and only semi lost this time. Tomorrow – Versailles!
Have I said that we’re having a good time?!?
My first view of Paris is hard to describe. This is a city that survived World War II intact, thus, I was seeing the true Paris. The old Paris. Tiny shops, street side cafes with rows of seats and heat lights so they can be used all year around (hence the tiny kitchens!), the wide walkways along then Seine, the two story carousels on either side of the Seine near the Eiffel Tower, and the buildings. The amazing buildings. I love architecture, and Paris is a feast for the senses.
Versailles – Day 3, Paris, France, Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Sharon’s iPad has finally stopped speaking to her in French, so she is now sending out emails.
Today was Versailles. If this is what it is in the off season I really don’t want to see it when it’s crowded. It was hard to see much off anything because of the pushing and shoving from those who insisted on the best photo opportunity regardless of those in their way. We did talk to a very nice docent who gave us wonderful antecedents about the occupants lived. The gardens were vast, and everything (from the palace to the grounds) was on a massive scale. it was like the distance from the space needle to Weslake Center in Seattle x 4!
We found our train just fine (thank you Sharon!) and trekked under the Eiffel Tower once more this morning to get there. I think I’ll probably have more pictures of than than anything else.
That was more than enough for today! Not sure yet what tomorrow will bring, but probably the Louvre.
Versailles is vast. Look at it from a satellite map. It’s really amazing. The palace alone covers a huge amount of territory. Then you get to the gardens. Those house two other palaces (Grand and Petite Trianon), as well as Marie Antoinette’s Shepherdess Village. There is also a working farm. We took the tram around to the lower part of the gardens, and had lunch near Appollo’s fountain at the center of the Grand Canal.
We ate next to the pool and the rowboats. We discovered that you don’t want to dip your toes into the water, because there are the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen coming right up to the edge, mooching for food. We found ourselves throwing small bits of our lunch hoping they stayed in the water! They reminded me of piranha, they were so greedy. So were the geese. We managed to avoid those, but some of our neighbors weren’t quite so lucky.
And Today We . . . – Day 4, Paris, France, Wednesday, October 9, 2013
. . . Did the Louvre. Or a tiny fraction of it. Once we got there. Sharon made me chart out our trains. I got us off a stop earlier than we should have, so we wandered around a bit. We stopped at a tourism office and asked a gentleman how to get to the Louvre. He looked at me kind of funny and said ‘just down the street’. I said yes, but which way! He got a small smile and pointed. (Stop laughing, Steve – I can hear you from here!). This guy had a real deadpan sense of humor and he got quite a kick out of us.
We’ve found the French people to be reserved, but very helpful.
The Louvre was absolutely amazing. We saw Mona and Venus of course, but the amazing thing was Napoleon’s apartment. And the furniture, china, and silver in the objects d’art wing made the whole trip for me. I was able to look and study things the way I wanted to at Versailles.
Tomorrow we are going to Chantilly to see the museum of the living horse. Sharon is making me figure out the train route. Personally, I think that’s brave of her, but there we are. More tomorrow if we make it back, my navigation skills being what they are.
The architecture of France makes the whole episode at the tourism office very easy to understand. The buildings are all attached, and nothing is over six stories high. So there are blocks and blocks of buildings that run on and on. One block will look just the same as others. Businesses on the ground floor, apartments with semetrical windows above.
Doorways open up into courtyards inside the block. So a ‘block’ of buildings is just that – a square (or pie shaped block) with an open center courtyard. Check out the satellite map of Paris, you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, the blocks really do look all alike to some extent!
I’ll leave with a couple of final pictures. The facade is the entry of Norte Dame, and the stained glass is from the interior of San-Chapelle. Paris is truly amazing.
Suzanne’s Travels 