Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Eiffel Tower at night
Taken from the banks of the river. In March we took off for 3 weeks in FRANCE! Let me start by just saying “Tre Bien”. This vacation was SO MUCH FUN!!! How can trips just keep getting better and better? Hard to believe, but it seems they can. I think it’s more like the saying “Each child is your favorite but in a different way”. This saying applies to our kids (borrowed) and our trips. As a matter of fact, the main point of this trip was to visit with Elise and Robin; both way over-due for a visit.
As usual we joined up in Dubai, due to us still being separated at the time. We had a difficult time finding each other at the Dubai International Airport. It’s a big place so we had agreed to meet in the Business Class Lounge; you remember the place I described so well in the last newsletter. I arrived at the airport first and had to wait a few hours for Mike to get there. Our arranged meeting time came and went; where was Mike? Mike was thinking the same thing as he waited for me in the Business Class lounge. But wait, I was in the Business Class
Corner market
This market was in the film Amelie and located near our apartment. lounge...????? Turns out that Dubai airport has three Business Class lounges! We finally figured it out and reunited once again.
Arriving into Paris was just too easy. Passport Control was almost a joke; the passport person barely glanced at our passports and waved us through. On the other side was a very nice man holding a sign with our names on it. When you fly business class with Emirates Airlines, one of the perks is limo service at certain airports (such as Charles De Gaulle in Paris) which will take you up to 50 miles from the airport for free. Phillipe got us loaded into the car and off we went toward Paris, taking us on a scenic route to our apartment, giving us a preview of some of the monuments and sites of the city. Yes, our apartment!
Since we were going to be in Paris for 2 weeks, we decided to rent an apartment instead of staying at a hotel. The benefits: being able to cook, experiencing the city more like a Parisian and having more space. The drawback: no maid service. It was an easy decision. We rented a small (very small) 1 bedroom apartment
in the artist district of Paris called Montmarte. It had a village feel to it with lots of small shops and restaurants plus a metro station just 1 block away. It was located on the 7th floor with great views. From the living room we could see Sacre Cour (one of the newer cathedrals - only about 150 years old and on the tallest hill in Paris), and from the kitchen you could see Notre Dame (if the day was clear). But to see the views you needed to open the windows and lean out; all part of the experience.
Our days would usually start with one of us heading downstairs to the bakery across the street for some fresh, warm croissants then back up to the apartment. Mike would be making espresso or cappuccino and we would set out the cheese plate (oh the amazing cheeses.....) Everything was so delicious and we savored every bite.
We did a very good job patronizing the local shops. We are still having a tough time deciding if our favorite places were the bakeries or cheese shops; a small shop with nothing but cheese; stinky, moldy, glorious cheese. We usually had
at least 4 kinds of cheese on a large plate in our fridge. Soft, hard, goat, cow, yellow, white, blue, we had it all. The large grocery store was an adventure for us. In the large store, there were 2 aisles of just yogurt, 1 aisle for cookies/biscuits; in the produce section you bag your own produce then weigh it on the scale and punch in the number & picture matching your produce. Out pops your price sticker (just like the grocery store deli counters in the states). Most people do their shopping at small stores that sell one thing; wine, cheese, meat, bread, etc. Did I happen to mention that the French wines are Mike's favorite?
Paris is a large city but to us it soon became as small as Rogue River, in Oregon. Paris has the largest (and in our opinion) best subway system in the world. One of the first things we did was buy a metro pass that would allow us unlimited metro use for 7 days. We started feeling like a real Parisian when we had our orange cards. Distance was no obstacle. If the place we wanted to go was across town that
Paris Park
Not far from the Louvre. just meant it was at most a 15 or 20 minute commute away. We rarely had to wait more than 15 minutes for the next train, most of the time just 5 minutes. The trains were clean, comfortable and fast; the stations very easy to figure out. Lots of stairs though, Paris is not a handicap friendly city, that’s for sure.
We had heard for many years of the reputation of the French and Parisians, in particular how rude they were. We found this just the opposite. The people in Paris were very helpful and patient with tourists. In the 2 weeks we stayed in Paris we never had a negative encounter. We found it made a big difference if you at least made an attempt to speak French. We learned some basic words, numbers and courtesy phrases. We always greeted in French and asked if they spoke English before we started speaking English. This little effort on our part was always rewarded with a smile.
One of the situations going on while we were in the city, were student riots. It was on all the news reports and all CNN showed, were people throwing Molotov cocktails and
Notre Dame
Side view of Notre Dame causing general destruction and mayhem. We only ventured into student demonstrations twice, and what we saw was nothing even close to what was shown on TV. The first time we were waiting on a subway platform and the platform was packed with students going to a demonstration. They were carrying signs and had words painted on their faces. On there faces were also lots of smiles. The second time we were coming up out of the metro to visit the Catacombs and emerged into a large group of students and an equally large group of riot police in full gear. Everything was peaceful and calm. We determined (after what we experienced and in talking about it with our French friends) that the actual student demonstrators were not the ones causing the problems. The violent ones were not even students but just thugs who enjoyed creating chaos. Same as in any city.
Anyway, I was saying we were emerging from the Metro on our way to the Catacombs; quite an experience. The Catacombs are tunnels under Paris that are lined with the bones of millions of people. The tunnels started life as a quarry and there are over 300
kilometers of tunnels under the city. During the 1800s many cemeteries in Paris became the source of disease, so the bodies were dug up and the bones transferred to the Catacombs. It was just a bit creepy but mostly interesting. The tunnels ran for several blocks, with some paths closed to the public. Like I said, creepy but worth seeing.
After a few days, we had realised that March was the perfect time to visit Paris. True, the weather was not the best, but the tourist traffic was very light and museums not too crowed. This is exactly how we like it and we are willing to deal with alittle rain and gloom if that's what it takes. Tonight we meet up with Robin, finally; for the past few days he has been high in the French alps, visiting with his parents and getting in some skiing. A few days later Elise will travel up from Marseilles to spend a week together, then travel south with us to meet her parents.
This brings part 1 to an end. Part 2 will follow soon. Promise!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.213s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 14; qc: 77; dbt: 0.0737s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb