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Paris trip report (long)
I just got back from my first trip to Paris a couple of days ago. (My
wife had been once before for a day or so). Our trip was from Saturday to the following Sunday. Friday: I hadn't been sleeping well, so my plan Thursday night was to get a good night's sleep, knowing that I would be pretty much losing a night's sleep on the flight over. We left from K.C., a 7 hour time change. We would get there at 10:00 a.m., which is 3:00 a.m. our time, so the night is pretty well shot. Well, I only got 2 hours sleep, which ruined my plan. I was pretty much a zombie at work, and had my wife not called ("What are you still doing there?!"), we would have missed the flight. But some creative driving got us to the airport on time (but we had to park in the $18/day parking). But at least we didn't miss the flight! Saturday: The flight was scheduled to arrive at 11:00, but got there an hour early. We flew Continental. I liked the flight fine, except for the leg room. Continental has a nice feature of showing you on a map of where you are at each moment of the flight. When we arrived in Paris, leaving the airport turned out to be much more difficult than getting there. The customs part went fine (very fast -- the clerk didn't even say a work, just a quick glance at our passports). I wasn't able to get euros before leaving, so my plan was to get just enough to get transportation into the city where we could get them at a better rate than at the airport. I was surprised to find they only had to lines to exchange currency. After waiting for maybe 20 minutes in a very slow moving line I found out when I got to be about 11th that the line was going to close right in front of me. That is, I was 11th in line and they were going to serve the next 10. I was unpleased. So I went to the information booth to find out how much a bus was, and found out it was $20E. I asked a taxi driver if he would take dollars, and he said no. So I had a brainstorm. I decided to find out if anyone wanted to buy dollars. I walked down the line shouting, "I've got dollars! Does anybody want dollars?". Everyone, it appeared, wanted euros. I was about to give up, when success hit at the last moment. A fellow wanted to buy $100 dollars, and then a lady next to her a couple hundred more, so I wound up with $300E at a very favorable rate. We took a bus to the city. The bus seemed to take forever to get away from the airport. I found out later that it was going from one airport to the other to pick up passengers, which is why it seemed to me we had left and were still there (because that's what happened, sort of). When we got downtown I asked, "Have we left the airport yet?" We were told the best stop for us was the Arch de Triomphe, which was exciting. It was quite a site to see as our introduction to Paris. But we were preoccupied in finding the Metro. We met a young lady on the train who helped us find where to get off. I got a chance to pracise my French. It turns out she was studying to be a French teacher for foreigners. She said my French was very good. Everybody told me that. But's it's not. It's very good compared to someone who knows nothing, but my vocabulary's too limited. But at least I know enough to carry on a conversation. So she told us which Metro stop to take, and we struggled our way to the hotel (she was 2 stops off, so we had a longer walk than we should have). I wouldn't do it this way again, but I didn't mind travelling on the Metro and walking with the bags as I was interested to see things. My original plan was to stay awake until night time, but that was impossible. My wife and I took a 3 or 4 hour nap, and then went to Notre Dame and walked around. We got back around midnight and got right to sleep, so the nap didn't hurt us. I actually slept amazingly well the whole time there. Usually it takes me 10 to 20 minutes to unwind and get to sleep, and everything has to be just right. No noise. No lights. Not this week! I think it took me an average of 1.2 seconds to get to sleep, and didn't matter if the T.V. was on or anything else. I think it was a combination of wine and too much walking. Sunday: We spent most of the day on the islands. It was an intersting walk. The real estate places have the clever idea of posting rentals and places for sale on their doors. That way if you see something you like, you can just walk in and you're already at the right place! I think it's very practical. My premonition was right that the prices would be prohibative. There was one place for sale for several thousand dollars which was 20 square meters. That's not too much bigger than the cube I work in. I discovered a great mystery on the island. There were cars parked in a line with maybe 12 inches of clearance between the cars. I couldn't figure out how they got that way, as it appeared impossible to me that the cars could have been parked that way. My mistery would be answered later. I went to a craperie and explained that I was thirsty and wanted some water right away, but it didn't do any good. They brought the beverage, then the meal, and finally the water, when I didn't want it anymore. Oh well. The food was so-so. As was the service. This was my experience overall. Actually we found some nice places towards the end of our stay, but I was disappointed overall with the food, which I attribute to unrealistic expectations. I was assuming I could just walk in anywhere and the food would be good, but found that it's pretty much like anywhere else. Some places are good and most aren't so good, and you have to know which is which. None of the place we went to were bad at any rate. And at least Paris is jammed with chains of things like KFC, McDonalds and so forth. That's not to say these aren't there, but the percentage of propriatary restaurants to chains is much higher there than in the States, which I liked. Another thing I noticed was the decor was always in good taste. I was curious to see how the reputation of the French being rude would bear out. I found that the people I met on the street were extraordinarily helpful and courteous. I can't think of one bad experience. Those working in the service industries were another matter. There were some who were excellent, but others who were downright rude, which surprised me. One would expect curteousness when you are spending money, but that wasn't the case. Another thing that was interesting was the speaking of English. I was told the French appreciated others speaking to them in French, but found people would speak to me in English even though I was speaking to them in French and they had no idea that I spoke Enlish. I say they had no idea because I spoke to my wife the entire time I was there in Portuguese. So they had no reason to assume I spoke Enlish. I guess the assumption was that since French wasn't my native language, I must speak English. Sunday turned out to be the first Sunday of the month, so the Louvre was free. We spent about half an hour there before it closed. So that was Sunday. Monday: We walked from the Louvre to the Arch de Triomphe and saw the ceremony they have for the unknowned soldier. That was a very nice walk, although tiring. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to walk. It went Louvre-Tuileries-Concorde Plaza-Champs Elysee-Arch de Triomphe. I enjoyed the view from the Arch de Triomphe, as much as the view from the Eifel tower. There's no bars or glass to obscure the view, and there are interesting things to see from every side. Tuesday: In the morning the car parking mystery was explained. I saw someone park in parking space that had only 12 inches or so of spare room. It was a brilliant tour do force that I wouldn't have believed had I not seen it with my own eyes. I felt like giving the guy a standing ovation. The funny thing was as soon as the guy had finished, the guy in front of him drove away. They have many small cars in Paris, which is practical considering the parking. In particular is a car called Smart, which is worth doing a Google on. We went to the Musee D'Orsay even though you're not supposed to (because the Louvre is closed, so it's crowded). I didn't like it as much as I expected to. The Louvre, on the other hand, I like more than I expected to, so things evened out. We went on a boat cruise on the Seine in the afternoon. We had to walk a long way to get to it as no one seemed to know where we needed to go. Once we got on it we had a nice cruise, although I could have done without the picture takers that obscured our view for much of the cruise. Wednesday: We were very tired from the previous day's walking, so we slept most of the day. We went to the Pompidou center and looked at the Museum of Modern Art. That wasn't my cup tea. We ended the day going to the Moulin Rouge. That was more like it! Lots of fun. Thursday: We went to the Louvre in the morning and later to the Musee de Montmartre. I thoroughly enjoyed both. The latter especially, as it was something I did on a lark. It's a private musuem, so not included in the pass for the Museums, but easily worth the $6.50E. In addition to many paintings by Monet, there are many by Morisot and a few others. We finished off the day going to the Sacred Heart church. Friday: We finally made it to the Eifel tower. The weather had not been cooperating, but we decided to take advantage of what looked to be an opportunity. It was overcast, but there was pretty good visability. The line moved by pretty fast. I enjoyed the Eifel tower fine, but not so much as I had been led to believe. That is, it seemed from what others had written that this was something you just couldn't miss and so forth, but I enjoyed the view from the Arch de Triomphe just as much. This isn't to say anything bad about it, but just to say that for me it was one of many pleasant experiences in Paris. We went to the Hotel des Invalide and saw the Musee de l'Armee (which my wife enjoyed a lot) and the Musee de Rodin (which I enjoyed). Saturday: We saw some of the Grand Magasins, the department stores of Layfayette and Printemps. Layfayette has a wonderful view from its terrace. These were interesting stores. My wife had a really good time. In the evening we split up with her going back to Sacred Heart for some shopping and me going to the Paris Go Club (go, for the unitiated, is an oriental game of skill, such as chess). Sunday: Back home. If/when we go back we plan to spend more money. We were extremely thrifty this time, spending altogether, including Moulin Rouge, just something over $1000 for 8 days including everything (other than air and the hotel). Next time I'd like to go to some nicer restaurants, take in a couple more shows, and my wife could do some shopping. Also we'd like to see Versaille. I think my wife would like to see less museums. We'd probably also try to walk around less. Oh la la! Sore feet! |
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Paris trip report (long)
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Paris trip report (long)
Tom Ewall wrote:
I wasn't able to get euros before leaving, so my plan was to get just enough to get transportation into the city where we could get them at a better rate than at the airport. I was surprised to find they only had to lines to exchange currency. After waiting for maybe 20 minutes in a very slow moving line I found out when I got to be about 11th that the line was going to close right in front of me. That is, I was 11th in line and they were going to serve the next 10. I was unpleased. Next time you might try your ATM card. In addition to being cheaper than exchanging cash, it always, as you have perhaps discovered, far faster and more convenient than trying to change cash or checks. miguel -- Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu Site remodeled 10-Sept-2003: Hundreds of new photos, easier navigation. |
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Paris trip report (long)
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Paris trip report (long)
In article , Go
Fig writes Thanx for posting your review, there aren't enough of them posted... myself included. I'm going tomorrow for four days and if I can manage to remember what I get up to will post something. Meanwhile, here's about as much as I can recall from my last trip there in 2002 when I and a companion went during Bastille weekend (July 14), though not specifically for that particular reason. We travelled from London Waterloo via Eurostar and got a discount rate of UKP70 even though I think we missed the cut off date for the offer. During the trip I updated my PDA diary, something I should have done while I was in Paris as well. We stayed at Hotel Williams du Pre in rue Mayran (9eme arr), just off Rue La Fayette). I think the rate was about 70 euros a night, but not entirely sure now. It was clean, comfortable and convenient - only a 10 minute walk from Gare du Nord. I chose it because we were visiting a friend and his apartment is just round the corner. Another hotel (Trois Poussins) wouldn't take my booking because we were only staying two nights but it was a 'busy weekend' and although there were vacancies, they wanted a booking for three nights. The Williams du Pre had no difficulties with this. It was Saturday lunchtime when we reached Gare du Nord and while my friend got ready we had a drink in a little cafe bar on the corner of La Fayette and Rue Cadet. After visiting his fifth floor apartment we strolled toward Opera, stopping in occasional interior and clothes stores, and then on to Place de la Concorde, which was being readied for the Bastille ceremonies the following day. I'm sure I've seen it before on earlier visits, but the scale of the place is impressive. He bought a book in an English bookshop opposite Jardins des Tuileries, and we then wandered through the jardins, stopping at a little park cafe for a glass of wine and a chat. Very civilised. We returned to the hotel on foot and after freshening up, we set out for Hôtel de Ville. We were planning to walk but it began to rain, so we dived into the Cadet metro. At Hôtel de Ville we emerged into a downpour, but it quickly eased off and we explored the area. My friend described it as a little like London's Soho. We found a little trendy bar up a short alley way and stopped here for a drink before moving up the street to the restaurant we'd booked - Le Gamin de Paris. The unusually decorated ground floor dining room was packed, so we took a table downstairs. I can't remember much about what we ate, but I know it was OK if not remarkable. Our waiter turned out to be from the UK. After the meal we returned to the bar, which was busier than earlier, but we sat at the same table as before and had several more drinks - Cointreau digestifs for me. The music was loud but not overbearing and included a lot of jazz, while the crowd was friendly and interesting - I'm sure it included several transvestites. It was quite late by the time we left - it might have been around 1am, in search of another interesting place to find a drink. We were quite drunk by now and headed for Le Louvre, but were too late for the cafe bar or wherever it was that our friend thought might still be open there. We strolled instead through the grounds and then followed the river, which took us out of our way home. We then decided there was no chance of another drink anywhere, so headed back the hotel, which was now quite a way off. We meandered through deserted square and avenues, and then joined a taxi queue, where a group of young beggars accosted us. Although we weren't next in line, our host dived into a waiting taxi, we climbed in too, and it sped off to shouts from the vagrants and others in the queue. Bit embarrassing that. Next morning I was watching telly in the hotel room which was showing the celebrations taking place live in the Place de la Concorde. It was odd, seeing and watching squadrons of air force planes fly overhead from the hotel room, and then watching them appear on the screen seconds later. Only later when I got home and heard the news did I realise that there had been an incident at the ceremony involving a man with a knife. After a shower and quick hotel breakfast, we joined up with our host again and strolled up Rue de Rochechouart, which on a Sunday morning is lively with locals buying delicacies for breakfast or lunch and eating in cafes. We continued climbing up to Sacre Couer, which was teeming with visitors, but rather than go in we just admired the view. On the way down we found a restaurant in which we had lunch. Again, nice food, but couldn't tell you what I ate. Our host had other business that afternoon, so we took ourselves off to Le Tuileries again. The exertions and drink from the night before had wearied us to such a degree that we weren't able to do more than sit in chairs next to a fountain and doze for an hour or so in the sunshine before returning to the hotel to collect our bags. At Gare du Nord, as we had time to spare, we stopped for a drink at one of the nearby restaurants - 11 euros for a large beer and a coke - outrageous! Nothing much to report about the Eurostar trip back, apart from a large man opposite who cleaned out a litre tub of Ben & Jerry's and then snored the rest of the way to Waterloo. I was too tired to care and probably nodded off as well. -- congokid Eating out in London? Read my tips... http://congokid.com |
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Paris trip report (long)
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Paris trip report (long)
On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 11:43:28 -0700, Tom Ewall wrote:
Another thing that was interesting was the speaking of English. I was told the French appreciated others speaking to them in French, but found people would speak to me in English even though I was speaking to them in French and they had no idea that I spoke Enlish. I say they had no idea because I spoke to my wife the entire time I was there in Portuguese. So they had no reason to assume I spoke Enlish. I guess the assumption was that since French wasn't my native language, I must speak English. That does not quite match our experience. When speaking Portuguese to my wife around Paris, about half the time people around would end up answering us in Portuguese. Especially at places such as street market. I would tell her in Portuguese, "I think you need to give him one more penny," and the guy would immediately follow in Portuguese, "sim, mais um centavo." |
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Paris trip report (long)
Next time you might try your ATM card. In addition to being cheaper than
exchanging cash, it always, as you have perhaps discovered, far faster and more convenient than trying to change cash or checks. Also you can buy a ticket into Paris on the RER with a VISA card. |
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Paris trip report (long)
Another thing that was interesting was the speaking of English. I was
told the French appreciated others speaking to them in French, but found people would speak to me in English even though I was speaking to them in French and they had no idea that I spoke Enlish. I say they had no idea because I spoke to my wife the entire time I was there in Portuguese. So they had no reason to assume I spoke Enlish. I guess the assumption was that since French wasn't my native language, I must speak English. The French are very good at spotting Americans & Brits. My wife is very good at it, and I, an American, am making good progress. I sometimes spot them before she does. Often I will spot an American and she'll tell me I'm wrong. We'll come up with some ploy to get close enough to them to hear them speak and she'll be right. Frustrating it is! But seriously, Americans in Paris stick out like a sore thumb. Sounds like you had a nice trip. I think if you had read a lonely planet beforehand you would have had an even better trip. A little preparation can make a trip go more smoothly. Michael |
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