Paris in the Springtime...

Parisian Daze

The first impression we got of Paris was that everything was grand.  I don’t think there is a French word for “understated”.  Coming from Canada where absolutely everything except the weather is understated it feels overpowering.

Nothing subtle about Paris

On our travels we have seen quite a few over-stated places.  Las Vegas comes to mind.  Comparing Paris to Las Vegas is like comparing Champagne to a movie-theatre sized Coke.  One is pleasantly intoxicating – the other just gives you gas.

The location where we are staying in Paris is a bit of a distance from the major attractions but it is very close to the Metro.  This is both good and bad.  The bad part is that it takes about 30 minutes to get to the tourist areas.  The good part is that it takes only about 30 minutes to get away from the tourist areas. 

Since we are neophytes to Paris we decided that the first place we should see is the Champs Elysees.  There are two reasons for that.  One is that it is where the Tour de France finishes and, although the Tour is not on yet, it is still a place I wanted to see.  The other reason is that it is written as “Champs Elysees” on the Metro map and we could read that.

The Arc de Triomphe at the head of the Champs Elysees

The Champs Elysees is a lot longer than I thought and the surface is cobblestone.  The Tour de France riders make 10 circuits of the Champs Elysees on their final day.  That must be torture.  They are already exhausted by 21 days of racing and now they have to race 10 times around the Champs Elysees on those cobbles for the glory of being the stage winner in Paris.  No wonder they take drugs.

At the top of the Champs Elysees is the Arc de Triomphe.  This was erected to celebrate the victories of Napoleon.  It was erected by Napoleon.  Why didn’t he just make himself a nice plaque and hang it up in his living room?  It would have been cheaper and, certainly after spending all his money on killing other people, it would have been whole lot easier on the treasury.  It is truly an impressive structure with a lot of intricate scrollwork and detail.  I guess Napoleon wanted everyone to be impressed with his erection.

The Champs Elysees is one of the areas of Paris that is dedicated to the high priced stores.  It has the world’s largest Adidas store.  We went in just to see what they had that other Adidas stores did not.  They just had more of what the other stores had.  It was worth a look, anyway.  One of the weirdest stores we came across was a two-storey shop dedicated to the Nespresso machine.  The Nespresso machine is an espresso machine that uses cartridges of pre-ground espresso coffee to make you a nice little cup of espresso coffee. How can you dedicate two floors to a little coffee maker?  They managed it.   And it was working – the place was full of people buying espresso machines and special wooden or leather sheaths of espresso pods.  Ah! Modern merchandising!

The next day we went to the Louvre.  If you are in Paris you are required to see the Louvre otherwise you cannot say you were in Paris.  The Louvre is truly awe-inspiring.  There is so much to see in there that it almost beggars the imagination.  The building itself is huge and it is jam-packed with works of art dating back to Ancient Egypt or even earlier.  The Louvre houses some of the most famous works of art in the world including the Venus de Milo, Michelangelo’s “Dying Slave”, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and, of course, the Mona Lisa.

Things you don't want to see at the Louvre

We managed to get right up to the guardrail in front of the Mona Lisa and were able to look straight into the steely gaze of the security guards.  It was hard to spend any time with Mona because of the other tourists pushing up against you trying to get their glimpse.  The Chinese Tour groups all wanted to take pictures of each other in front of the Mona Lisa and were not averse to shoving you out of the way to do it. 

Meet Mona.   Likes the outdoors and Renaissance Art.  Likes to hang around in the Louvre.   

We spent all day at the Louvre and did not see even a small portion of all there was to see.  We caught the highlights and we saw quite a few of the Dutch Masters like Rembrandt and Van Eyck whom I particularly like. 

Meet Venus de Milo aka Aphrodite.  Into Greek culture and food.  Not as handy as she used to be.

The next day we went to Chateau Versailles.  This is a monument to excess and decadence.  It was instrumental in the French Revolution so I guess it had its place.  It is hard to imagine the royalty living in such excess when the majority of the French population were trading recipes for rat.  It was certainly worth seeing but you get pretty tired of seeing room after room of posh furniture and paintings commissioned by the Royalty depicting the magnificence of the Royalty.  It was certainly magnificent in its grandeur and the architects and artists that created it were obviously exceedingly talented.  I guess the French people in general were not that impressed - they beheaded those that commissioned the work. As an artist that certainly does not look good on your resume.

My worst nightmare - standing in the famous Hall of Mirrors in the Chateau Versailles

We went to the Eiffel tower.  That is an impressive structure.  Like the CN Tower or the Seattle Space Needle it is a structure that stands straight up and whose sole purpose seems to be “ See - mine is bigger than yours”.  I think someone is compensating for something…  The Parisians are very proud of it and want everyone to come.  They have elevators that will take you to the top but they cost money and they cram you in there like cream in a doughnut.  So we climbed the tower.  Well, we climbed to the second floor – although that sounds wimpy it more impressive when you think that the second floor is actually 42 stories up.  After that you have to take the elevator.  Those elevators slide up and down the tower and periodically spew out streams of tourists…  (Ok, enough with the phallic symbol jokes…)  The view from up there was amazing and makes you realize just how big Paris is.

Telen being impressed by the world's most famous steel erection

The D’Orsay museum was my personal favourite.  It is a bridge between the Louvre and now.   Whereas the Louvre has artwork from the beginning of art to the 1800s the D’Orsay has artwork from the 19^th Century until modern times.  That means it has work from the Impressionists and post-impressionists.  Including work from Van Gogh.  It was a huge thrill to be standing less than a meter from his “Starry Night” – especially when we saw the exact location he was in Arles when he painted it.  Yes, I am a geek – you don’t need to rub it in!

OMG!  It's the D'Orsay!!!!

Too many museums, too much artwork, too much of Rand's blithering

We went to Notre Dame Cathedral – the location of the famous novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.  Telen was less than impressed with me when I touched the holy water and started writhing on the floor, slavering at the mouth and screaming, “It burns, it burns!”  All right, I am exaggerating a bit – I didn’t slaver.  I am generally not that impressed with huge churches – which are examples of self-aggrandizement.  But, you have heard THAT story before…

The Famous English language bookstore in the Latin Quarter.  Haven't heard of it?  It's famous...

We wandered around the Latin Quarter.   We really liked that.  It was a maze of narrow, winding cobblestone streets crammed with small cafes, restaurants and weird little shops.  It felt like I thought Paris would feel like.  We liked it so much that we went back a second visit.  Telen was disappointed to learn that she could not get Nachos and tortilla soup there – I had to explain that “Latin Quarter” did not mean Mexican.  It was named the “Latin Quarter” because it was the home of most of the universities there and the language of learning in those days was Latin.  It turns out she could get her Mexican food. There were a number of Mexican restaurants there.

Looking for Tortilla Soup in the Latin Quarter

 Paris is known as the “City of Lights”, among other things, so we went for a nighttime stroll.  It really was beautiful with all the monuments and bridges lit up.  The Eiffel Tower was lit up but was not sparkling like I thought it would.  The tour boats on the river would go cruising past with banks of huge spotlights giving the riverbanks photonic broadsides and blinding the tourists walking along the river.  I guess it was fun for the tourists on the boats watching all the land-based tourists staggering blindly around and crashing into each other.

Paris at night.

Paris is a grand city.   I can’t think of a better adjective to describe it.  Everything is done “grandly”.  There are monuments everywhere – mostly invoking Greek or Roman mythology – so lots of large statues in heroic poses.  All the buildings are large and very ornate.  The music, art and food are plentiful and very rich.  We were there for nine days and there was still a lot that we did not see. 

Telen Writes:

Paris is huge - there are 2 million inhabitants in the central core.  The D’Orsay museum is just across the river from the Louvre but it can take 15-20 minutes on foot.  Apparently the first Napoleon ordered the building of huge monuments and spaces for military parades and at the same time, to impress the common people of his power.  Well, my legs and feet protested louder and louder as the days went by.  We walked and walked, at least 6 hours a day in Paris in order to take in the sights.  Yup, it is that huge. 

Our B & B is complete with a full kitchen.  This meant that I could explore whole- heartedly in the local food market for culinary ideas.  Here in France, bread is sold in the “boulangerie” and sweet treats are sold in the “patisserie”.  You buy meat from the “boucherie”, and vegetables and fruits in the “fruiteria”.  I just love going through these shops – Rand just follows along carrying my purchases like a donkey.  This is where you find friendly personalized service and fresh produce.  Yesterday in the Saturday market, Rand and I saw some huge mangoes reminiscent of the ones from Australia.  The vendor gave us a sample to taste and it was really good.  He took great pride and deliberation in picking out the best one for us.  It was just a lot of fun watching him.  The mango he picked out for us was indeed perfectly ripe and delicious.

Our host Celine and Jide are a couple of awesome people.  They are also keen travellers.  They made a point to have coffee with us to chat about travels and life in France.  

Twilight on the Seine