Paris - City of......Everything!


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Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris
November 17th 2006
Published: November 17th 2006
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Holy cow - we were without internet for 3 weeks, & man, did I feel it! You never realise how much you use it sometimes until you don’t have it, especially when most of your friends are miles away. Vaughan could use the internet at work, & in some respects, I could use it at my work as well, although many websites are blocked, so I couldn’t access my email - boo hoo! But FINALLY we are back on track - the keys on the keyboard are even dusty! We are both doing OK in our new flat & are all set for Vaughan’s secret journey for his birthday (which isn’t until December 11th, but I have set up a surprise for the weekend of the 25/26th November). As for our most recent trip to Paris, here’s a bit of a travel blog for you, which I wrote a few weeks ago (sorry if it’s a wee bit out of date now). We found Paris amazing, both got as sick as dogs, & generally enjoyed a lot of outdoor space & decent weather - they are the memories we will bring back from our trip away, but for me personally, I certainly enjoyed it a lot more than most other places that we have visited so far. It lived up to expectations (which can be difficult when you see so many different things around here!) & was generally a really good time. I can’t wait to go back & put my French skills to use again! By the way, for all you single ladies who complain there are no good-looking men out there, I finally found them - they are all in France!


Day One - Not much happened here, if you discount the fact that we had scrabbled to move flats the day before. Although we had a couple of weeks left to go in our last place, Vaughan thought it might be nice to get away from our psycho flatmate & have everything settled before we went away, so I could also enjoy my birthday more when we got back by being able to relax more. Vaughan made it home from work in time for us to head down to the city (Waterloo Station) as this time we were catching Eurostar, a fancy high-speed train that you can catch to France/Belgium, through the Channel Tunnel (ie: underwater - scary!). For some stupid reason, just as we had gone through customs & Vaughan was all proud that he had brought his NZ passport with him (so he could get entry/exit stamps, which he doesn’t usually get in his British passport), he realised that he wouldn’t be able to get back into the country coming back to the UK, because he doesn’t have a visa in his NZ passport, & had left his British one back at the flat. Nevermind - we just figured we would sort it out on our way back.

The train journey was excellent - quite slow on the UK side, but through the Channel Tunnel & France it was very fast (over 300kph) & it felt like we were absolutely flying! The whole journey took about 2 hours & we arrived in Paris without any hassles, arriving at the hotel after buying a map & taking the Metro for a short distance. We stayed in an area called Pigalle, which is next to Montmarte, up on the hill overlooking Paris Central. Pigalle is basically the red-light district, so we were a bit worried about what it would be like there, but after arriving very late on a Friday night & seeing the area, we found that there was nothing to worry about. Everything was very clean & well-controlled. I didn’t see any ‘working girls’ or drunk people falling out of clubs, or in fact, anything that was even remotely seedy or scary. Both locals & tourists were walking around by themselves in the dark without any problems, & we found that there were quite a few stores in Pigalle itself, which offered a good range of tourist stuff, food (gotta love those French pastries), chemists, & especially music stores - not CD stores but musical instrument shops. They out-numbered the other stores by about 2:1 & it was really nice to wander past them all, looking at all the guitars, violins & drum kits etc inside. Pigalle & Montmatre were known in their day as areas where writers, poets & musicians came to try to make a living.

We were impressed on our walk with all the nightlife going on in Pigalle (not just the strip joints), & it was nice to see that we could eat or get a coffee late at night there (fairly unusual in London unless eating at an exclusive restaurant in the city, & getting coffee at night is virtually impossible) - it wasn’t cold, so we just walked slowly to the hotel. We had expected a bit of a dump of a hotel, which Paris seems notorious for, as well as shoe-box sized rooms rented out for a small fortune, but luckily I had done my research & we were quite happy with where we were staying - sure, it was quite small, but not the smallest I have been in, & it had been recently redecorated, & had a fairly large bathroom. No worries.

Day Two - I woke up feeling like I hadn’t slept, & as I had been sick for about a week with a bronchitis-type cough, really sore throat & a fever, the first thing we did was seek out a chemist (we only had to walk about 50m, as they seem to be everywhere in some European countries). I had also woken up with an infected eye (nice!) which I found to be quite odd, since I have never had trouble with my eyes like that ever before. I managed to soldier on, despite all the coughing fits & hot/cold sweats, as I really wanted to make the most of our time in Paris - first stop, the closest pastry shop that looked like it made yummy stuff. I got to practice my French that I picked up at work/school, when attending French class with Lewis (I’m actually quite good at ordering stuff I don’t know anything about, which I think Vaughan was relieved about, as he has zero French skills) & then we headed down to the central city to see the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is on a small island in the middle of the Seine (River) - we lined up for a few minutes & then made it inside. I had not known what to expect, & although it was smaller than anticipated, it was very beautiful with stained glass windows right up to the roof. So colourful & pretty, it was apparently built many centuries ago to illustrate the books in the Old Testament (of the bible) for those who could not read. I discovered it had perfect acoustics as well, when I had another coughing fit & had to go outside, as the noise was reverberating off every wall in an area where you weren’t even meant to be talking - hehe! At least I could see the humour at the time, but it was still annoying.

From there we just kind of had a bit of a small walk around, as I still wasn’t feeling too good, & then went over to Rue de Rivoli, one of the larger streets, which eventually led onto Champs Elysees (the main street) - there were so many tourist stores & tons of outdoor cafes & restaurants on the way. I would love to go back for an extended period in the Summer sometime & eat at as many different places as possible. The streets were all very wide & tree-lined - completely different from London - there seemed to be so much space, even in the central city, & it was really refreshing. On the way to Champs Elysees we went past the Louvre (Museum) & the Jardin du Carrousel, Jardin de l’Oratoire and Jardin des Tuileries (Gardens) at the rear, which cover 25 acres of the central city. The parks were incredible, with all kinds of things to do - gravel walkways, paved walkways, grass areas, trees, flowers, merry-go-rounds, roasted chestnuts for sale - all kinds of great stuff. At the far end of the Jardin des Tuileries was a large central roundabout called Concorde Square, which had a huge Obelisk in the middle of it, that was apparently a gift from an Egyptian Emperor many years ago, after the people of Paris could not agree whose statue they should put in such an important place. On the other side of the Concorde was the bottom of the Champs Elysees, half of which was surrounded by park on both sides in the lower part (closest to the big parks behind the Louvre that we had just come past), & half of which held hundreds of ‘high street’ shops - it was still very wide here, & it was nice to wander along without crashing into everyone, despite all the people. At the top of the Champs Elysees was another large roundabout called Charles de Gaulle Square, with the Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph) at the top. I think the whole walk from Notre Dame to the Arc de Triomphe was about 5 or 6km or so, but it was really enjoyable, with all kinds of parks, shops, monuments & people to see on the way. I could imagine it being just as enjoyable in the cold Winter snow - I don’t imagine much at all could take away the charm of that central area. I really liked it there.

We decided to try & get over to the Eiffel Tower before it got dark, so we could get a nice view of Paris. It wasn’t far away, but I was feeling so incredibly unwell by that time however - I am not sure how I kept going at that point, but I think the positive & pleasant air of the city had a lot to do with it. It took us about half an hour to get there & the sun was still shining brightly when we lined up to go up the top. Vaughan stood in one line (to go up the stairs - I think I would have literally coughed up a lung if I had had to walk up there), & I went in another line, to get the elevator up - they both only went to the first & second platform, at which point you had to buy further tickets for the lift straight up to the very top. It took forever in my line, with all the other lazy people - at least I had an excuse, but it was really boring with no one to talk to. It took about 2 ½ hours to get my ticket - I hadn’t been thinking about how it was the school holidays, & a Saturday evening to boot, so had not anticipated that it would be so busy. Eventually I made it to the second platform & met Vaughan (luckily), who had not actually been waiting that long for me. Good on him for climbing the stairs!! It was a bit windy, but very pretty, & we could see all the important parts of the city (many of which we had just walked past earlier), as well as Montmatre Hill in the distance, where we were staying. Just then, we could see the sun setting through the clouds that had come over, & they became a beautiful brilliant bright red as it got darker outside. I had a wee look around the shops & cafes there (yes, there are shops up the tower - no place is more suitable to make more money from tourists!). Suddenly I heard everyone gasp & followed their gaze up the tower to see the lights covering the outside had been switched on, & they were all sparkling off & on - it looked incredible. I had not realised that this happens on each hour for 10 minutes, after dusk (I’m assuming it’s every night) - so pretty! At the same time, two large spotlights started revolving from the top of the tower, down onto the city. It really was a great time to arrive there (of course, I could not have planned it better, & it made the long wait in the line suddenly seem worth it). After a wait for the top elevators (for ages) we made it right up the top - it was actually kind of scary, as I don’t think I have ever been up so high in the air on anything before. By the time we got back down on the elevators (after also waiting quite some time in the ‘down’ queue), Vaughan seemed a bit grumpy about all the waiting, as he had started to sneeze, & not feel so good himself. I felt incredibly weak & as if I had done far too much for how ill I was, so we took it slowly back to the hotel & pretty much just collapsed. After a while we ventured out for some really nice Japanese food at a restaurant just around the corner, which was a really nice end to the day, but I was grateful to get back to the hotel for some sleep. Unfortunately my cough had other ideas than letting me rest at all, so it was quite tiring to be there in general, but I had still had a great day.

Day Three - Today I felt a tiny bit better, & my eye wasn’t so sore or yucky, so I was able to move around a bit more without feeling like my body was about to fall apart! After a stop at the pastry shop again (mmmm…chocolate croissants), we went back into town, & it was nice to see all the cafes again, just opening for the day. There were also quite a few boutique stores (expensive), but many of the clothing stores especially, were still reasonably priced. Apart from when we were in Florence (Italy), I have never really loved the fashions as much as I did in Paris. I actually felt like I could be into clothes quite a lot if I lived there, & so many of the styles & colours really appealed to me. It was such a stylish place in general, but not catty at all like London - it seemed OK to be any style or type of person you wanted, as long as you picked one & went with it with a little effort (in London you have to be the into the latest season’s stuff or you’re nothing). It’s hard to describe, but I just liked the lifestyle, atmosphere & everything that everyone was wearing. Anyway, we went to the Louvre (Museum) & lined up - it was a little bit busy because it was Sunday, which is cheaper than the other days of the week. We stood in line behind an older American guy who was very chatty, smart & entertaining, & the lined moved quickly, so we were soon inside. The entryway was beneath one of the huge glass pyramids that I had heard so much about when reading the Da Vinci Code last year - the surroundings (& general buildings) of the Louvre were built in medieval times, in a castle-type fortress shape, which was made to defend the central area of Paris against enemies. Over time & through the ages, these buildings have remained (although they are now kind of under the ground, but you can still see them from the inside of the Louvre), & newer buildings have been extended around them, in a square shape (with a courtyard in the middle, which houses the even newer glass pyramids). These newer buildings look perhaps to be from around the Baroque-era, but who knows, as buildings clearly aren’t my thing. You descend down into the Louvre, which is all also pretty much underground. It’s massive, with three different galleries branching off towards from the central area (Napoleon Hall). Right - first off, Mona Lisa. It didn’t take us long to find, but there were so many people trying to get a look, & security had put barriers around it, so you couldn’t get right up there. In some parts of the Museum you could take photos, but not there, unfortunately. I knew that the Mona Lisa was meant to be a lot smaller than everyone imagined, but even keeping that in mind I still thought she was tiny (maybe only about A3 size), but I was really glad we got to see her. Vaughan didn’t understand the big deal so it was kind of funny when the picture turned out to be so small as well. We just ran off to another part of the museum with the giggles. We managed to track down Venus de Milo for Vaughan (I don’t know anything about sculpture), & generally just wandered around looking lost. We visited the area which detailed the history of the building (the medieval stuff I was talking about before) & kind of got bored - not specifically with any of the art, as much of it really was spectacular, but when you don’t know much about it, you can only look at it for so long.

We made the escape for some lunch (more pastries), & did some souvenir shopping for a wee while. I fell in love with all the Chat Noir (Black Cat) merchandise (which is by an artist called Toulouse Lautrec), so I debated the necessity of having various Black Cat items to take back home (Shall I get the apron? No, maybe not. OK, well surely I’ll like this commemorative plate? Hmmm…...what about this thimble, or even the handbag? Shall I just buy one of everything?), & after settling on a mug, poster & magnet (much more rational), we headed off to see the Catacombs, where the French preserve their dead underground. Unfortunately by the time we got there (although only 3pm), they had cut off the line for the day, as by the time the people from the back of the line got inside & did the tour, it would be closing time. We were actually quite disappointed, & didn’t really have anything else planned - in a way this was good as I still was feeling quite unwell, & we went back to the hotel for a rest instead (well, Vaughan went back for a rest, I went back to have a coughing fit the entire time, as was becoming my habit).

After a while we thought it was time to go out for a bit of dinner, before our much-anticipated show at the Moulin Rouge. I had wanted to go into town, but Vaughan suggested a place nearby that looked like it had good seafood, so we went there & it was really nice. Before the show we had a bus tour to go on (part of the same deal), so we ventured into the city to meet at the rendezvous point, which was on Rue de Ravoli, near all the tourist stores & the Louvre. The tour was quite good although they did not give us much information. It was nice to see all the places lit up at night time, & to learn a few things about the city as we drove around. At the end they dropped us at the Moulin Rouge show & got us all organised with our tickets. While we were waiting to go in I felt really ill, & had to rush into one of the restaurants nearby, where I started vomiting. I was somehow thinking that perhaps I wasn’t meant to be in Paris for the weekend at this point, what with already being ill, & now having my head in the toilet bowl of some foreign eatery, while waiting for a show I had anticipated for about 4 years. I felt a bit better when I got back outside, & we went into the show, which was in a brilliant old theatre. The top levels were all skinny balconies & the bottom floor (which was large) curved slowly towards the front. Everyone had a seat at a table (most tables sat 6 people), although it was incredibly cramped. Luckily two of the people at our table complained that they couldn’t fit in their seats, so the waiters took them out & never replaced them with anyone, giving us a bit more room. Vaughan & I were right on the top balcony, leaning on the edge, so we had a perfect view. There was free champagne, which I had been looking forward to as a treat, but of course I couldn’t drink it with feeling so unwell. The show started & I thought it was a bit cheesy at first (guys wearing white, with glitter), but after a while it got a bit more traditional & colourful. The sets (backgrounds) were great & the dancers were excellent - I especially liked the acrobats & the French Can-Can dancers. I had expected it to be a story kind of show, but it was made up of a lot of small dances & skits. Every so often some acrobats or clowns would come out & do a skit to give the dancers a rest - these bits were actually really amusing & probably the best part of the show. I had to keep leaving my seat about every 15 minutes to throw up in the toilets. I felt really sorry for the girl next to me who had to keep moving her chair every time I came & went, but she was really nice to me. The bathroom attendants must have thought I was weird because I was down there so much. I didn’t want to leave the show as I still wanted to see as much of it as I could, plus I wanted Vaughan to see it since we had paid for tickets - they weren’t cheap! About 10 minutes from the end I suggested that we leave before the crowd, as I wasn’t sure about being stuck in the middle of all those people trying to get outside. I ducked into the gift shop & bought a couple of things, & then we walked back to the hotel. Luckily we didn’t have to wait for the bus like the others, as our hotel was only about an 8-minute walk from the Moulin Rouge theatre. I got some fresh air & some water, & although I was still sick after we got back to the hotel, I managed to sleep through most of the night (apart from coughing) & did not feel ill at all afterwards. I blame my dinner! It was a shame really, but I did still get to see a lot, & I did enjoy myself. Vaughan seemed to have enjoyed the show quite a lot as well, so I was glad we had stayed. It was still worth it although I might like to go again sometime.

Day Four - Our last day in Paris! I woke up in the morning feeling much better - my eye infection had mostly gone & I didn’t feel sick, although I was very weak. Vaughan couldn’t stop sneezing, so it was his turn to feel sorry for himself at that point. We checked out & went out to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, which is the most visited cemetery in the world (I’m not sure why). Vaughan wanted to see Jim Morrison’s grave (perhaps he’s a big draw card), although there were many other famous artists & musicians who had been buried there over the years. You could even get a guide to the cemetery, although we didn’t get one. It was quite large & really impressive. It was perhaps more what I had expected to see when we went to the cemetery in Vienna (Austria) to see Beethoven’s memorial, with heaps of wee buildings and large tombs rather than the small headstones & graves that we are used to seeing in NZ & in the UK. It was a bit of an adventure in itself trying to get around the wee hills & between all the buildings, but it was quite interesting, although of course, we couldn’t read any French engravings. From there we headed back to Pigalle so we could walk to the Sacre Coeur (Basilica/Cathedral), which was a huge white domed building near the top of Montmatre Hill. The walk through Montmatre to get there was quite enjoyable, but we didn’t walk right up the hill to see inside the Cathedral, as we both felt quite shattered. We had a quick look in some of the shops (of course, I was still on my Chat Noir mission, but managed to refrain from buying anything) & then headed back to Pigalle for some McDonalds. Luckily I was there, as they couldn’t understand a word Vaughan said (we had bought McDonalds in the city with no problem), so I felt a bit sorry for him. Never fear ‘Basic French Toni’ was on hand to get through the food crisis, & order us two (‘deux’) cheese (‘fromage’) burgers, a bacon royale (‘roy-arle’, like in Pulp Fiction - funny!) burger, & large fries (‘grande frites’) - nice one! I was proud of myself, even though it was just McDonalds. At least I had the pronunciation down right, so we didn’t look too much like freaks!

In general I thought that Paris lived up to it’s reputation easily. After the cramped one-way, dirty & treeless streets of London, it seemed even more impressive. Apart from the insane wait to get up the Eiffel Tower, I would recommend it to anyone, even if you’re coming from New Zealand. There’s so much to see, & I didn’t feel the usual fatigue of seeing too many cathedrals, museums etc, which you often get over here (because there is so much choice & it all feels the same after a while). The atmosphere was great, the language barrier was far smaller than in any other non-English country I have been to, the people were more friendly than I expected (everyone says the French are rude but I don’t think I found that much at all), & it really was such a good time. Plus, you can’t forget about the shopping! I am sure that everyone could find something to their taste in Paris, no matter what they were looking for. Next time we go back I look forward to seeing the Latin Quarter (small lanes, lots of tiny shops) & having a cruise on the River Seine. And taking the Eurostar was much easier than flying - plus you only have to be there 30 minutes beforehand, rather than 2 hours, & you don’t have so many luggage checks. What a fantastic place! Paris comes with an extremely high recommendation by me - yay! In fact, I might almost dare to say that it has been my favourite place in our travels so far, but will keep you posted.

And for anyone interested in Vaughan’s passport debacle - they didn’t even care, & just stamped him back in to the UK as a tourist. All that worry for nothing………who said holidays have to be difficult?! Bye for now - miss you guys heaps, as always!
Please write xxxxxx

PS - I was still ill for my birthday, but thanks to everyone who sent me gifts, cards, texts & emails - it was nice & I had a good day relaxing in bed (instead of being at work). I got to go out a few days later with some friends for a quiet pub meal, but after having even more time off work & taking 2 trips to the doctor (which are free in this country), I have discovered that I have had a severe chest infection all this time, which has left me open to catching other bugs more easily. Have got my wee stash of antibiotics set up now, & look forward to maybe having another mini-celebration when I am better (perhaps combined with Vaughan's). Cheers guys xxx


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17th November 2006

paris looks great.!
I'd hate to admit it but I'd probably end up with something else on my plate than a bacon cheese burger. Vaughan was lucky you weren't mad at him lol. could have easily ordered him something super gross and he'd never have known the difference ;). Trudging through the city still sick seems like it was still rewarding!
18th November 2006

Thanks
Thankyou once again for our trip to Paris!!! we went up the Eiffel Tower at night, with all the lights looked like lace, spectacular. You two need to take some vitamins, hope the health has improved dramatically. Love you and miss you lots. M. B and the just walked Shari dog.

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