Backpacking in Europe: Paris

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I did my backpacking trip around Europe almost 5 years ago. I didn't write anything about it, but I did take a lot of photos. I'll write what I can remember about the trip and once I finish writing about each city, I'll probably come back to the posts and update them from time to time when I remember something else worth writing about. More than describing places (difficult to do considering the time that has passed), I'm going to write about anecdotes and also select the best photos of each city (I have a total of about 3,000).



My trip in a nutshell: from Chile I flew to Madrid and immediatly from Madrid I flew to Paris. The other cities I visited were: London, Edimburgh, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Geneva (and Annecy), Milan, Venice, Rome and finally Madrid (also including Córdoba and Toledo). It was a really full on vacation and I had a blast. My vacations started on a Friday (I flew that same day in the evening) and ended on a Sunday (and I was back in the Academy the next day).



I did this trip just before I started my last year (and also my thesis) of naval electronic engineering in the Chilean Navy Polytechnic Academy. Somehow I managed to get 6 weeks of vacation (quite a luxury) and I really wanted to do some backpacking in Europe during those 6 weeks. I planned a very busy itinerary, covering about 15 cities in 42 days. I knew I was going to be rushing through Europe, but my idea was to get a very broad overview of the continent and also meet with relatives and friends.



I flew on Friday, December 15th 2006 and arrived the next day in Madrid. After a short stopover I flew to my first destination: Paris. I was met at the Charles de Gaulle Airport by Gérard and Sophie Bacqville. The Bacqvilles are longtime friends of my parents. In February 1982 I was 3 months old and my father was sent to France to do a 1 1/2 year course in the French Navy. Gérard Bacqville did the same course with my father and that's how they met. Of course, I had no idea what they looked like and the last time they had seen me I was 1 year old. Somehow, at the arrival section of the airport, we managed to find each other and I was then driven to their house in Mountreuil, about 45 minutes from the center of Paris. They didn't speak any English or Spanish, so I had to make an extra effort and try to communicate in French. Fortunately, I had taken French lessons during that year and I was able to build up a few phrases. Over the following days I slowly got better at it.



Their house was spacious and they lived with 2 of their 3 sons: Guillaume and Benoit. I stayed in a self contained studio that was part of the house, but separate from the house, with my own bathroom and a small kitchenette. Perfect start. That evening we had dinner and then I guess I must've gone to bed pretty early.



The next day it was Sunday and Gérard and Sophie took me to Versailles. We spent most of the day there and had lunch in a small restaurant nearby. The palace and its gardens were simply magnificent.



Despite being winter, it was sunny almost every day (it was cold, but totally bearable). The next three days (Monday - Wednesday) I took the metro to the center of the city and walked along the most famous places. I walked a lot during my stay in Europe. I decided not to take any tours at all and just walked the cities with a map, taking photos and ocassionally stopping during the day to get something to eat; my favorite way to explore new cities. Every night I met with the Bacqvilles back at the house for dinner (they all worked and/or studied, so there was no one in the house during the day). Cheese and bordeaux wine was always part of dinner (definitely something I grew fond of) and it was the time of day to put my French into practice.



One of the days I wandered through the city, I had lunch in a restaurant called "Au Chien qui fume" (http://www.auchienquifume.com/). My mother had given me a list of three things to try when I got to Paris: soup a l'onion, eclaires and bagette with ham and cheese; three of her favorite things to eat when she lived in France. I tried all of them during those days. At that restaurant I had the soup a l'onion and I asked the waiter to take a photo of myself and the soup and of course e-mailed it to my mother. One of the evenings I had dinner with the Bacqvilles they had eclaires (2 meals from the list checked, 1 more to go).



Tuesday, at around lunch time I met briefly with Loyse De Pury, a Swiss friend of Anne-Lise Weinberger, a Swiss friend of mine. I met Anne-Lise in Chile in 1999 during a World Scout Jamboree and we've stayed in touch during the years. We've also seen each other every 4 years or so (by coincidence, nothing planned): we met again in 2003 in San Diego, California, where I lived for 5 months and in 2007 I stayed at her house in Switzerland during my backpacking through Europe (but that's getting way ahead in the story). Anyway, Anne-Lise hooked me up with a few of her friends in a couple of cities during my trip.



Loyse is an actress and I can't remember if she was studying and/or working in Paris at that time. She was kind enough to make some room in her busy schedule and meet with me for coffee for about an hour, between rehersals. We met by a cafe near the Saint Paul metro station. Reconstructing this story, I found a photo that we took at the metro station and that's how I know the name of the station. I also remembered where the cafe was in comparisson to the station, so using Google Earth, I found out (if I'm not mistaken) that it was the "Cafe la Favorite" (http://www.cafelafavoriteparis.com/). Amazing the things you can do today with internet and a little eidetic memory. I had a really good time with Loyse, but after an hour she had to rush off and I accompanied her to the metro station. From there I went to the Bastille.



During those three days I visited the most renowned places, including: L'Arc de Triomphe, Les Champs Élysées, Tour Eiffel, Ile de la Cité, Notre Dame, Le Louvre, Gare du Nord, Pont Alexandre III, Place de la Concorde, Le Sacre coeur, walked along the Seine, Quai de la Tournelle, etc.



On Tuesday evening, I received an e-mail from a British friend, Paul Engeham (retired Royal Navy Lt-Cmdr and Falklands War veteran), asking me to give him a call. I got a hold of him and he invited me to have beers the next day in London with a group of his friends. London was my next destination and I was going to stay with a British family there, also friends of Paul. That evening, I had the last dinner with the Bacqvilles, thanked them for their awesome hospitality and said goodbye (I was leaving Paris before they returned from work the next day).



Wednesday morning I took the few hours that I had to walk through Paris and take the last photos, went back to Montreuil, had a ham and cheese baguette for lunch, in the street (3 out of 3 of the list), packed my things and went to the Gare du Nord station to take the train to Waterloo station in London where I was going to meet Paul.



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Any comments on the post are greatly appreciated, thanks!

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Photos

With the Bacqvilles
Gérard, Guillaume, Benoit and Sophie

Comments

[Home and Away]

I just started Following all these years later...
so am starting with your first blog of your trip to Europe. I like that you have gone back in time to add previous trips, and will continue to update this blog as you remember anecdotes of your time there.