France 2013 – week 2 – Paris
9 Feb 2013 Saturday. Day 8. Change-over day. Snowing and sleeting early. Difficult to find a bread shop open. There is certainly a different set of shops open on weekends. I carried the two heavy cases to the bottom of the 77 stairs. The agent for the apartment met us at 10am, gave the apartment a quick look-over and us our bond back. It all took 15 mins. We then made our way about 1 km down the hill to Metro 10 Station Cluny Sorbonne. (The RER B Luxembourg station is much closer but by taking Metro line 10 we have no train changes – so easier overall!?) Got out at La Motte Picquet Grenelle and climbed up the stairs.
This station is 100m from this week’s apartment. This apartment is by far the smallest we will be in. We really liked her advertising on the homeaway.com site. Laetitia was to meet us at 11:30am but was a few minutes late and ran!! Such a friendly and nice lady. This tiny apartment has a much more personal touch than the agency-run one from last week. Laetitia was with us for no more than 20 mins.
After we settled down and caught our breath, we went to her recommended lunch spot. Le Zinc at 61 La Motte Picquet with excellent review. It was crowded with families with young kids eating ‘le hamburgers’. We were almost the only people in there eating the duck and lamb casserole. What is the world coming to? Parisians sick of eating duck and now eating hamburgers!! We are in the 15 arrondissement here. Very different from the 5th and 6th we’ve been walking around for the last week. This newer and more middle/ professional class; the 5th and 6th are much older winding narrow streets with more little shops. Spent the afternoon catching up on emails. We are still looking for an arrogant, rude Parisian. So far all is smiles and helpful people. One chap even carried Helen’s heavy case down the stairs at Metro Cluny.
10 Feb 2013 Sunday. Day 9. Very coolish. Snow fell most of the day – a very light fall and none settled on the ground. We woke to the market being set up outside our windows – not that we can hear them – the sound-proofing is excellent. I don’t hear the trains either and they go past about every 2-4 minutes.
The market was well underway by 9am, so we bought a supply of cheeses and charcuterie things – especially a wild boar terrine. Very friendly people. I don’t know what the English and Yanks do to provoke the Parisians to rudeness – you just have to smile and go along with the joke – which is usually me. Today was Marais day. I we took number 8 metro to Bastille and followed Rick Steves’ Marais self-guiding walk. I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the Marais – about which I had heard so much and with so many recommendations. Full of yuppies out shopping in expensive shops. I can see that anywhere.
It might have been the heart of Paris once, and maybe still is. But interesting, it is not. A few interesting buildings though. Place des Vosges, Victor Hugo’s house and the Carnavalet Museum. That pulled us up. We were museum-ed out and bolted for home where we ate a big hole into the morning’s market purchases. By 3:30pm, the market had been packed up and the area cleaned down by the mayor’s staff.
11 Feb 2013 Monday. Day 10. Fairly warm. A very little rain before 8am and then fine. We tried to do too much today. I had in mind trying to knock off 4 of our tourist targets. We began with La Madeleine (where I am singing with the choir on 19 April). i-am-la-madeleine A very large and old church. Let’s say I did a recce. Then, headed to the nearby Louis XVI expiatory chapel. This is where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were re-buried in the restoration. They were each guillotined (Louis 1793 and Marie in 1794) in Place de la Concorde and their bodies thrown into a mass grave ditch (fosse). In 1815, their bodies were exhumed and this chapel built to house them. Unfortunately, it was closed today ‘for technical reasons’.
We then caught a quick metro to the Arc de Triomphe (and used the first part of Rick Steves’ Champs-Elysees Walk description). Napoleon had this enormous arch built to celebrate his victory at Austerlitz. France now uses it as a focal point for remembrance and celebrations. Not much of a queue for tickets. (I dread to think what it must be like in summer.) We climbed the 284 steps to the top for excellent views of Paris. We were extremely lucky to get such good weather and such a fine view from the top. (By the look of the snow shovel tucked discreetly away in a security booth at the top, sometimes the weather can be more inclement.)
We were getting tired by now, but I pressed on. The next was a 1.5 km walk down to the Seine and the Sewer Museum – which has open sewers running through it and which tried to explain the history of the sewers and how they work now. The slow introduction of fountains to provide clean drinking water (initially just one – which explains the painting we saw earlier “The fight over the fountain” of women fighting each other to get to the water); how that clean drinking water became polluted; the unmet need of disposing of human waste – sewage; the re-introduction of aqueducts (long after the vikings had destroyed the Roman built ones); the building of small and then much bigger (self-cleaning) sewers by Belgrand; introduction of laws in 1894 that made it compulsory to send all wastewater to the sewers; handling of floods – esp one in 1910; a sewage treatment plant capable of 2 million cubic metres a day. Now 2,100 km of tunnels. I think we saw Jean Valjean down there somewhere. Extremely good, but we were to tired. Caught the RER and metro home for lunch at 3:30pm!!
We went for a walk to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night. It is about a kilometre from our apartment. A lot of people out at night eating in the cafes and restaurants around here. Right at 8pm, when we were almost at the Tower’s base, it lit up in sparkles for 5 mins. Oh ah!
A word on the Metro. What a great system. Trains every 2-3 mins. Clean. Cheap (the way we buy them, tickets are €1.33 for anywhere in the city. Nowhere is more than 300m from a Metro station. The Metro is certainly heavily used. (In Sydney, we have a clanking, filthy, expensive system with trains every 20 mins. Even in the CBD, stations are about 1 km apart. I wonder why Sydney won’t give up its cars.)
12 Feb 2013 Tuesday. Day 11. Coldish rain and snow early that settled to a constant mist that looked to be drizzling but did not wet the ground. After a very late start (after being worn out from yesterday’s exertions) we took Bus #69 (recommended by Rick Steves) which runs from west to east across Paris – starting at the Eiffel Tower and ending at Pere Lachaise cemetery. A good overview of the city – costs 1 Metro ticket. We then caught the Metro back and visited the Marmottan Museum (which houses an extensive collection of Monets).
I very much liked the Sunrise (the painting that began the impressionist revolution) and a painting at Argenteuil. Unfortunately, one floor of the museum was closed, so we missed a fair bit. I understand that this is normal for this museum – which has much of its collection out on loan. No photos to be taken here – although there are no signs to say that. Just security people running round yelling at people.
We have discovered by now that a stop every hour or so for a coffee, chocolate or patisserie is an excellent idea.
13 Feb 2013 Wednesday. Day 12. A coolish -1C. No rain, but the humidity made it feel like a cold -5C. Market day outside our window again today. Helen saw cars being towed away from the NoPark by the council from 3am. Different stalls today. Many more clothing stalls than Sunday – which was mainly fresh produce. One stall had 16 different varieties of apples – only one that we recognised (Fuji). We headed off to Montmartre. Climbed with our trainload of visitors up through the tourist stalls to the base of the hill, then up the stairs to Sacre Coeur church. (No Photos inside). We did spend quite a while watching the crowd take pictures of themselves and especially the occasional gasp at the ‘living’ statue at the top of the stairs. We did not really want to see much more so after a cup of coffee (and a much needed piss) (Restaurant Le Consulat) headed down to Pigalle Metro.
Helen had picked out Laetitia’s (our land lady’s) recommendation of a Britton pancake place over near Montparnasse for lunch. (Creperie Plougastel, 47 Rue Montparnasse). We each had a different fixed meal of salad plus main pancake plus desert pancake. Excellent. Highly recommended. Our journey today took us on three sides of a big triangle in Paris – almost from edge to edge. Each leg cost us €1.33 (about A$1.50).
Before coming away on this trip, I spent quite a lot of time researching cameras. I used to be quite a photography enthusiast all through the 1970s and 80s. Then, the digital revolution happened and I got left behind with an old (expensive) Nikon SLR body and stack of lenses. I was very tempted to go to a Digital SLR and begin all over again. But, I decided not to. I’ve been there done that; and now I want an excellent camera that I can carry in my pocket. After a lot of exploration, I decided on a Panasonic Lumix TZ30. I am absolutely delighted. Sharp clear photos in all kinds of difficult light conditions. Mainly, I can just leave it on ‘Intelligent Auto’ and it does much better than I can do fiddling with f-stops. Lumix TZ30 – Highly recommended.
I am very impressed with this little apartment. Yes, it small. (It is smaller than our stationary van at Jindabyne and smaller than our bedroom at home.) However, it is exactly what Laetitia advertised. It is spotlessly clean. The kitchen and bathroom are well appointed. It is seconds away from the twice weekly market and about a minute’s walk from the Metro; about 1 km from the Eiffel Tower; an excellent Boulangerie/ Patiserie is 1 minute’s walk away; an excellent restaurant around the corner. Laetitia herself is very friendly, helpful and welcoming. What more do you need? This is property is number 334044 on homeaway.com. One of the three ‘cottages’ that had made very good use of their advertising. Won me over.
14 Feb 2013 Thursday. Day 13. Happy Valentine! Woke to a day of freezing rain and quite cold temperatures. We followed Toranaga’s advice and did not let the weather stop us doing what we want to do. We went for a walk along the Canal St-Martin in NE Paris that cuts across a loop of the Seine. i-am-canal-st-martin A bit icy under foot and wet from above, but an interesting walk. This time, we were following our other Paris Guide Book – a DK Eyewitness Travel Guide – which is an excellent guide book – short descriptions and many small pictures mainly in an interesting 3-column format.
We called in for a quick coffee and to thaw out at Chez Prune (interesting name). As a reward for braving the elements we then took a Metro to Angelina’s – probably Paris’ best and most famous chocolate house. i-am-angelina Wonderful hot chocolates and guckie things – thick hot chocolate that was not sweet or bitter. How do they do that? David Lebovitz (who book ‘The Sweet Life in Paris’ Helen read and whose app I am using to track chocolate and patiseries) has a recipe www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/01/belgian-hot-chocolate
A bit of geography and comparisons. Paris (within the Peripherique boundary) is approximately a circle with a diameter of about 7.5 to 8km. 2.2 million people live within that boundary. For comparison, 7.5 km is how far we live from our nearest gym in Sydney. All of Paris would fit between our house and our gym and shopping centre. Wo ho! Sydney CBD is just a little smaller – with a population of 14,000 and 7 rail stations. There are 245 metro stations in Paris. 245!!!
A bit of history. We know Paris as a beautiful city of wide Boulevards. Paris in the mid-1800s was a slum – as bad as London. Emperor Napoleon III gave Baron Haussmann the job of demolition of medieval neighbourhoods that were deemed overcrowded and unhealthy by officials at the time; the building of wide avenues; new parks and squares; the annexation of the suburbs surrounding Paris; and the construction of new sewers, fountains and aqueducts. Success? I think so. I am Baron Haussmann Er, ‘boulevard’ originally was ‘a wall of big rocks’.
15 Feb 2013 Friday. Day 14. Warm 6C with clear skies from about 2pm. Our last day in Paris. We had been waiting for a clear day to go up the Eiffel Tower. i-am-eiffel-tower-paris-icon It opened at 9:30. We joined the queue (which was already 100m long) at 8:50, and got to the Tower lift at 10am. Extremely good views from the top. We went up with a group of 4 Americans 2 of whom were terrified of the height. After walking around the summit – oh and ah – we took the lift back down to the second level. Certainly a different view – more easy to recognise the perspective. We then walked down the stairs to the first level and got the lift to the bottom level. From there we got the #69 bus back to Rue de Bac to take a photo of d’Artagnan’s house and then walked back to our apartment via Rue Cler.
The shop sale signs are all down today. The sales are finished for the year. The new colours for spring are out. Helen points out the black is the basic colour and each year you get to wear a little bit of the year’s colour with your black. A warm day and the big coats and hats are off in a bit of sunshine.
