Friday,
August 5th - France
Gillian and I already knew what 48 hours would
get us in London,
our first city in a 3 country tour of Europe,
where we had arrived 3 days before. After
meeting up with my friend Ann in England we
were on our journey to France. We enjoyed first class reclining seats on a
high deck on Brittany Ferries en route to France,
including sitting on the top deck in the sun, enjoying the warm
weather and sea breeze. We
were ready to start our Tour de France, the second country on
our mid-Summer agenda.
Gillie on Ferry to Cherbourg
After boarding the ferry (http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/)
and departing from my friend Ann’s car in the cargo hold, we
enjoyed a little downtime and solitude in our secluded seats
as the four hour journey across the English Channel began. Reading,
listening to music on the iPod, and napping consumed the first
few hours of this part of our trip; but once we got so cold from
the air conditioning we decided to head up on deck and catch
some sun. It was refreshing
to lie out on deck, and snooze while Roxy Music’s Avalon played
in my ears.
Our first sighting of France included
the fortified buildings in the Channel outside Cherbourg on
the Contentin Peninsula in Normandy. Cherbourg is
known for being part of the Battle of Normandy at the end of
WWII in 1944. Allied troops
landed there and isolated and captured the fortified port in
three weeks as part of their plan to win the war in Western
Europe. For more information on Cherbourg: http://www.ville-cherbourg.fr/uk/
First View of France from Ferry
Once off the ferry we quickly exited this port
town and headed towards Paris,
knowing we were going to stop along the way at some Chateau and
stay the night. A few hours and several unsuccessful attempts
later we found ourselves in Caen,
a 150,000 person city in Normandy,
10 kilometers from Cherbourg and
about 2 hours from Paris. Caen is
known as the city of William the Conqueror, and for its part
in the Battle of Normandy during WWII.
We parked Ann’s car in an underground lot and
wandered around the small city in search of a place to have dinner
and spend the night. We wandered through the cobblestone streets,
stunned by the beautiful old buildings, including the Hotel de
Ville (or Town Hall), Abbaye aux Hommes (Men’s Abbey), Notre
Dame du Froiderue, Englise St. Etienne, and Palace of Justice.
Hotel de Ville (or Town Hall) and Abbaye aux
Hommes (Men’s Abbey)
Men’s Abbey
Notre Dame du Froiderue
Timbered Houses from the Quatran
Eglise St. Etienne
We found refuge in a Best Western Hotel and
after unpacking wandered about the city before heading off to
dinner. Dinner was found on a quaint little pedestrian
street in the old Vaugueux quarter of Caen,
just minutes from the heart of the city. This
suburb derives its name from “val des gueux” (the vale of beggars)
and was formerly a poor part of town with a frightful reputation. It is now filled with shops and restaurants
rivaling any popular spot in any revitalized city, and we had
our choice of restaurants to choose from as we wandered the short
street.
We decided on dinner at La Poterne, a quaint
French restaurant in the middle of the street, where we were
seated outside on the cobblestone walkway and enjoyed a long
leisurely French meal, including steak with Roquefort for me
and steamed fish for Gillie followed by good French red wine. This spot also offered us the chance to people
watch and we enjoyed seeing the French and European tourists
enjoying the beautiful evening with us. We
called it an early night at midnight,
exhausted, knowing the following day would bring a brief tour
of Caen before our
next stop -- Paris.
Saturday,
August 6th – Caen and Paris
We awoke, showered, and breakfasted in the hotel
(a simple meal of croissants, baguettes, butter, jam, poached
eggs, café au lait, and juice). We
checked out of the hotel and stowed our baggage in the underground
lot. Turns out that the
underground parking garage was under the town’s central fortress,
Le Chateau Ducal. This
castle was built by the Duke of Normandy and
King of England, William the Conqueror, as his residence in the
11th Century.
Chateau Ducal North Entrance
We wandered outside the fortress walls in the
dry moat before entering the Northern Gate and Main castle entrance,
Porte des Champs. The castle grounds covers 12.5 acres and contains
the remains of the former ducal palace, St. George’s church,
a chapel, Exchequer Hall (banquet hall), Normandy Museum (formerly
the Governor’s mansion), Puchot and Queen Matilda Towers, and
a café and Fine Arts Museum (a modern addition). For
more information you can check out their website at: http://www.ville-caen.fr/GB/index.html. We finally departed the charming city of Caen and
headed towards Paris,
a two hour drive.
Chateau Ducal Exchequer Hall
Ann and Gillie in
front of the Normandy Museum
St.
George’s Church
Our first view of Paris was
the Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph), built to honor those who
fought for France during
the Napoleonic Wars. We
drove in from the West on Place Charles de Gaulle and then found
ourselves traveling along an outer highway around the city. We
made our way to the Seine River (pronounced
sen) and followed it past the Eiffel Tower and
eventually Notre Dame, which was ½ a block from our apartment. Our
apartment was on the Ile de la Cite (Island of
the City, the center of Paris,
and where the city of Paris was
founded).
The problem was all the one way streets made
it virtually impossible to get to our apartment above the Aux
Vieux Paris d’Arcole Restaurant, owned by Odette et Georges. We
finally found this narrow little alley, and after almost getting
Ann’s Mercedes stuck we managed to pass through and find our
apartment in the 4th Arrondissement. Paris is
made up of 20 arrondissements, or neighborhood boroughs.
First View of Paris – Arc
de Triomphe
First view of the Eiffel Tower
Location of our apartment near
the Notre Dame
Frederique, our host, gave us a premier spot
to park inside the apartment building garage and had his prep
cook help us with our luggage. He
carried two of our bags up about 8 flights of stairs, without
stopping, and we did actually tip him for carrying Gillian’s
overstuffed bag and my full one. Gillie’s charming smiles definitely helped. Our apartment was darling, with fabric covered
walls, matching curtains and furniture, and an amazing view of
the Notre Dame. To rent
this apartment or another one in this 1512 building go to http://larochebrochard.org/wwwf/apartment/index.html
After unpacking, freshening up, and heading
out the door, we found our way to a nearby French café for lunch. Gillie managed her first marriage proposal
from Damian, our funny and fully Parisian waiter. We enjoyed his humorous service, and a nice
lunch of crepes, grilled brie sandwiches, and salad.
The Mirror and Fireplace Mantle
in our Paris Apartment
Our View of the Notre Dame from
Apartment Window
We decided a brief walking tour and then a river
cruise would get us started on Paris. We wandered across the River Seine, past the
Hotel de Ville, also in the 4th Arrondissement. The Hotel de
Ville is the French City
Hall and houses the Mayor of Paris. The Hotel de Ville construction started in
1533 under King Louis I and was finished in 1628 during the reign
of King Louis XIII. After
a fire in 1871 the building was refurbished in the French Renaissance
style and is today used for city administration and formal receptions.
Hotel de Ville
We then walked along the River Seine towards
the Louvre Museum (pronounced
loo-vruh). As we wandered we stopped and looked at the
vendor stalls along the river, where locals sell books, prints,
paintings, magnets, and a variety of other goods and wares; some
touristy, some not so touristy. I
had heard that these vendors could be aggressive and nasty, but
we experienced none of that. They were courteous and left us alone other
than a brief greeting if we stopped at their booth.
We made our way down the Seine,
then crossed over the road in order to see the Palais Royale
(Royal Palace)
and the Musee du Louvre (Louvre Museum). The Louvre is one of the most visited, the
oldest, and the largest art gallery and museum in the world. The first castle of the Louvre was founded
by Philip Augustus in 1190 as a fortified palace to guard Paris.
The Louvre
We briefly wandered through the Louvre Courtyard
where a small fountain was flowing. Through
the arches of the building we could see the famous Louvre Pyramid. The pyramid was constructed in 1989 and serves
as the main entrance to the museum. The
Louvre Pyramid is a large glass pyramid commissioned in 1984
by then French president François Mitterrand, designed by Ieoh
Ming Pei, and built in 1989. It
contains 673 glass triangles.
The Louvre Museum fountain
and glass pyramid in the background
The Louvre’s Glass Pyramid
We wandered past the 70 foot glass pyramid and
the 3 buildings that comprise this part of the Louvre (the Grande
Galerie (East wing), the Denon Wing (South wing), and the Richelieu
Wing [North wing]) to the Jardins des Tuilieres. We
got a brief glimpse of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, built
in 1805 by Napolean 1 to commemorate his victories.
The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
We decided that this was a good place to start
our river cruise on the Seine so we could
enjoy the rest of this beautiful summer day and see the sights Paris has
to offer. It was a great
way to see all the sights in a short time without being harassed
by tourists and traffic. The
River Seine coils its way through Paris and
is a major commercial water way in addition to being a huge tourist
attraction. Over 30 bridges, many of them ancient, cross
the river Seine. At
over 480 miles long total (the 2nd longest in France)
the Seine twists by landmarks in Paris such as the Eiffel Tower,
the Notre Dame, the former La Conciergerie prison, the Musee
d’ Orsay, and the Musee d’ Louvre.
Our first major site was the La Conciergerie,
a former prison, part of a larger complex known as the Palais
de Justice. Thousands of prisoners were housed at La Conciergerie
during the French Revolution and executed on the guillotines. The most famous prisoner was Marie Antoinette
was executed here in October
17, 1793. The palace was originally built in 1248 and
housed King Philip IV and his family; but was abandoned by the
royal family in 1358 for the Louvre. In
1391 it was converted to a prison. France’s
first public clock was added to La Conciergerie in 1370, and
the current clock was installed in 1535.
La Conciergeria, former prison
La Conciergerie Clock, the first public clock
in Paris
The next buildings we cruised by were two modern
glass and chrome exhibition halls known as the Petit Palais and
the Grand Palais (located in the 8th arrondissement). These
two buildings were built in 1900 for the Universal Exhibition
in Paris; the architect
was Charles Girault. The
Grand Palais is 240 meters long and used for various exhibitions
to this day; part of the building houses the permanent Palais
de la Decouverte for scientific discoveries, interactive exhibits,
and a planetarium; it is the largest glass-domed structure in
the world. The Petit Palais
now houses the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (Museum of Fine
Arts at the Ville of Paris).
La Petit Palais
The Grand Palais
The next major site was La Tour Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower). While we had seen it earlier in the day we
were excited to see it again, and up close. It
is one of the tallest structures in Paris and
probably one of the most recognizable monuments in the world. It is also one of them most visited monuments
in the world with over 6 million visitors in 2007, and over 200
million since its construction in 1887. It
was named for its designer Gustave Eiffel.
The Eiffel Tower
The next major site was the Musee d’Orsay (The
Orsay Museum), a former railway station. It
mainly holds French art now and is best known for its Monet and
Renoir collections. The
railway station was originally built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition
but by 1939 it was unsuitable for the longer trains being used. In
1977 the French Government decided to convert it to a museum,
which finally opened in 1986.
The Musee d’Orsay
A view from the Seine River
The last major site on our two hour long tour
was the Notre Dame de Paris, which is still used today as a Roman
Catholic Cathedral and is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. Construction
on this building began in 1163 during the reign of Louis VII
and completed some 200 years later in 1345.
A view of the Notre Dame
The tour ended where it started and we hopped
off to go wander around before heading back to the apartment
to get prepared for dinner. It
was a warm, beautiful, sunny day in Paris with
temperatures in the 80’s (Fahrenheit) and after the cold of England we
really enjoyed the weather and blue skies.
Dinner that night was at the restaurant downstairs
from our apartment, the Au Viex Paris. Frederique,
our apartment host, was our waiter; which was wonderful. We started off with a visit to the restaurant’s
wine cellar to select our dinner wine. With
Frederique’s help we picked a beautiful French red to go with
our scallop and escargot appetizer. I
ordered a monk fish cooked en papillote and served with veggies
and basmati rice. For dessert we had a chocolate explosion with
crème fraiche. It was
amazingly chocolately and gooey. Frederique
was a wonderful waiter and kept us entertained and well fed. You can now visit this restaurant on You Tube
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-7hDq3qiIk
Gillian choosing wine in the wine cellar
After dinner we decided to wander around the
city and check out the Parisian night life. We
were walking in the Latin Quarter (5th arrondissement)
by a little pub and a gentleman called out to us, inviting us
in for a drink, claiming that it was his birthday. Being the celebratory type we decided to go
and see what the fuss was about. Inside
the bar were five gentlemen, all good friends, from various parts
of the world. There was
a tall (6 feet 10 inches) Moroccan named Kamir, the birthday
boy, Que (pronounced Cue), who was originally from Libya but
had been in Paris for many years; a French guy (whose name escapes
me); the Algerian bartender; and a Chinese artist, Mo Mo. They all spoke English beautifully and we hung
out drinking, smoking and laughing for several hours.
Ann, Gillie, Unknown Frenchman, Que, Janet and
Kamir
At one point Que told us that you can tell a
woman’s beauty by her hands. So
we all asked him what he thought of our hands to which he replied, “Okay.” Then he held up his own hands and said, “I
have beautiful hands,” to which Gillie replied, “They’re okay,
but kind of chubby.” His
friends and we all laughed heartily, and after a translation
from English to French, Que was very unhappy with this announcement
from Gillie. He proceeded
to pout and his friends called him “Chubby” periodically or toasted
the chubby birthday boy. It
was wonderful to meet these men; they were very engaging and
funny. However, for an 18 year old Gillie it wasn’t
as fun, so we finally headed out and hit another bar before heading
home at 2 am.
Day 2 – Montmartre
On Monday we got up and headed to the Fabric
District before heading to Montmartre. My
friend Ann was looking for some fabric for her house in England. We took the Metro North of Paris to the 18th
arrondissement, and while Ann was fabric shopping Gillie and
stopped at McDonald’s for some cheeseburgers and fries. Our
hangover demanded some sustenance in the form of American food
today.
We took the Metro to Montmartre,
a little village set on a hill 130 meters above Paris,
known as the 18th arrondissement. This
is the center of artistic life in Paris. Montmartre was made
famous by the writers and artists who lived here such as Picasso
and Berlioz. The Place du Tetre is a fanciful little square
filled with artists displaying their paintings for sale. The artists will also paint you and your traveling
companions if you have time. The
square is also filled with restaurants, cafés and tourists shops. We
stopped to have lunch, bought some presents, and then wandered
around the cute and winding streets.
View of Paris from Montmartre
We visited the Sacre Coeur, a church constructed
during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is characterized
by its unique architecture. The
view from Sacre Coeur is spectacular and the cathedral's stairs
and terrace were crowded with tourists. After snapping some pictures we walked back
down to the Metro and headed back to the apartment to drop off
our goods and freshen up for dinner.
La Sacre Coeur
We took the metro to the Jardin des Tulieres
(Garden of Tiles),
the Central Park of Paris, located in the 7th arrondissement. In the early 16th century the area was a clay
quarry for tiles (tuilerie in French, hence the name). After
the death of her husband Henri II in 1559, Catherine de Médicis
had a Palace built at the tuileries, the Palais de Tuileries.
The palace featured a large garden in Italian style, reminding
her of her native Tuscany. This large garden is now the public park between
the Louvre and Place de Concorde and is filled with old beautiful
Italian statues, trees, and walk ways.
Gardin des Tuileries
We passed the Eiffel Tower and
walked along the Champs d’ Elsyees, enjoying some window shopping
and people watching. The area was packed with tourists strolling
around, enjoying the warm summer evening. Before
hitting the Arc de Triumph we made our way to the restaurant
owned by one of our friend’s sisters (a formal model) and her
Parisian husband (and chef). Citrus
Etoile is owned by this husband and wife team Elizabeth and Gilles
Epie. They were very friendly, offering us a complimentary
glass of Champagne while
we contemplated the menu and enjoyed some fresh bread. Once decided, we enjoyed a beautiful dinner
of tomato bisque soup, blackened seabass with zuchinni and peppered
salmon with a mixed green salad followed by a cheese sampler
platter for dessert. The experience was lovely, the restaurant very
high end and expensive, with impeccable service and a very gracious
hostess. For reservations
or to see the menu check out Citrus Etoile at http://www.citrusetoile.fr
After a leisurely dinner we wandered back down
the Champs de Elsyees, enjoying the city night life, the crowded
Parisian streets, the well lit buildings. We
lingered for a bit near the Eiffel Tower to
watch its nightly light show -- 20,000 flash bulbs give the tower
a sparkly appearance every hour on the hour. It
is very brilliant and spectacular to watch.
Eiffel Tower Lit
Up at Night
Day 3 – The
Louvre
After breakfast with Ann we wished her well
and set off on our own. Ann
headed back to England and
we went to find a laundry facility to wash our clothes and write
postcards. After we successfully
completed these chores we passed a Starbucks and stopped in for
a coffee. We found cheese crepes for lunch at a little
stand and went shopping, searching for presents for friends,
and for ourselves.
We also visited the Louvre today. We actually went to purchase tickets for an
evening tour, which we were told they don’t pre-purchase tickets,
so we decided to just enter the museum, sign up for a personal
tour, and get it over with. We
actually really enjoyed the three hour tour. Our
petite French tour guide cruised us through hundreds of years
of history in a short period of time, dragging us all over the
ancient and enormous museum.
The Louvre was originally built as a fortress
in the 12th Century on the edge of Paris to
protect the city from Anglo-Norman threat. This
is what you first see on the tour when you first enter the “basement” and
are shown the perimeter of this old fortress (Chateau Louvre). Apparently the Palais de Tuileries was built
500 meters from the Louvre, a royal palace built by the Medici’s. The two buildings were connected by what is
now known as the Grande Galerie. In the late 1700’s the Musee
Central de Artes opened in the Grande Galerie and the Salon Carre,
eventually the collections took over the entire palace. By
1882 the Chateau was no longer the seat of power for Paris and
the Louvre Museum was
born.
Our tour guide expertly and efficiently guided
us through this large 600,000 square meter museum to visit the
Masterpieces of the Louvre. The
Louvre houses over 35,000 pieces of art from 8 major departments
and our tour guide ushered us through them in about 3 hours,
keeping us at a staggeringly fast pace. First we visited the Egyptian and Near Eastern
Antiquities (granite Sphinx
and Stele of the Vultures), followed by Greek and Roman Arts
(Venus de Milo, Apollo Belvedere, and Borghese
Vase), Islamic Arts (Pyxide d'al-Mughira and Baptistery of Saint-Louis), Sculptures (Michelangelo’s Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave), Decorative Arts
(Coronation Sword of the Kings of France and Nessus and Deianira), and Paintings
and Drawings (Leonardo
da Vinci’s the Mona Lisa, Johannes Vermeer’s the Lacemaker, Rembrandt’s
the Supper at Emmaus, and Carravaggio’s Death of a Virgin). You could feasibly spend days visiting this
museum and all the wing, floors, courtyards, and areas it has
to offer. This tour afforded us the luxury of seeing
the best of the best, knowing we can come back and visit it again
and again during other visits.
Lourve’s Egyptian Granite Sphinx
Louvre’s Venus de Milo by Alexander of Antioc
After our Louvre tour Gillie and I returned
to our apartment to refresh, redress, and hang out for a bit,
drinking wine, smoking cigarettes, and enjoying our holiday. It
also gave us a chance to reflect on our trip so far, and our
journey the next day to Amsterdam. We had one last thing to visit before leaving Paris,
the Eiffel Tower. At night it is beautiful, and so we wanted
to see it for ourselves up close and personal.
We took the subway system from near the Notre
Dame to the Jardin des Tulieres stop, giving ourselves a little
walk so we could enjoy the beautiful evening. Like
many others, we waited in line at the Eiffel Tower for
about an hour before walking up one flight of stairs and then
taking an elevator to the top. Once
off the elevator we were able two wander around the multi-story
observation decks, checking out the sights from all angles, enjoying
the breath taking view of Paris at
night.
Janet at the base of the Eiffel Tower
We were so busy in our little touristy world,
I had no idea Paris was
as big as it was. As the
largest city in France, with over 2.1 million inhabitants (and
12 million in the metropolitan area), Paris spreads
out over 34 miles. The
city is separated into twenty clockwise-spiraling arrondissements
(or municipal boroughs). From the top of the Eiffel Tower the
relatively flat Paris and
its suburbs could be seen for miles. It
was an amazing view.
View of Paris from
the Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is
the tallest building in Paris,
standing over 1,063 feet, which equivalent to 81 levels in a
conventional building. Construction
began in 1887 and the tower was inaugurated in 1889 for the Universal
Exhibition. Gustave Eiffel’s design was chosen from 107
and cost 7.79 million gold francs. The
structure weighs over 10,000 tons. At
the time of its design it was estimated to have a life of 20
years. Now over 120 years later it is still standing
as one of the most recognizable monuments in the world and is
being repainted for the 19th time.
Our decent back to ground level was a quick
elevator ride. Knowing this was our last night in Paris we
wandered around, soaking up the atmosphere, stopping into small
bars to have a drink and enjoy our reminiscing about our visit
to Paris. At one such bar we met a lovely man named Franck
who invited us to a local bar owned by one of his friends. We readily accepted, finding ourselves smoking
flavored tobacco from a hookah, and enjoying the loud nightclub-like
music. Sadly the night
did eventually end around 2 am,
knowing we had to pack in the morning and head to the train station
for our 12 pm Noon train
to Amsterdam.
Day 4 – Leaving Paris
After we packed and were ready to head to the
train station, Gillie and I headed back to the sight of our first
meal in Paris to
say good bye to Damian, the lovely Parisian waiter who welcomed
us to this magnificent city. Over
a breakfast of omelets and coffee we said our goodbyes, promised
to visit again, and laughed at the terrible treatment Damian
and his fellow waiters gave our fellow tourists.
We locked up our apartment, dragged our suitcases
down the long and crazy curving staircase, and quietly said good
bye to our Paris apartment,
the Notre Dame, and our Tour de France. A taxi took us to the train station where
we quietly made our way to Amsterdam for
the final leg of our journey.
Stairs leading to our apartment
Overall this was a lovely journey to France
and Paris, and I think the French and Parisians are very kind
and helpful. They were courteous, tolerant of our poor French,
and spoke English surprisingly well. I
had “heard” that the French, and especially Parisians, do not
like Americans. But my
experience tells me differently. Like
traveling in any country, if you learn a few words of greetings
and thanks, make an attempt to order your meals in the native
language, and smile a lot, people will be courtesy, helpful,
and sometimes go above and beyond gracious. I fell in love with Paris during
this trip, think often of our little apartment near Notre Dame,
and cannot wait to back and explore all the places I missed on
this first short visit.
If you are interested in any additional travel
stories, you can check out the first leg of my trip, Janet in Great
Britain (http://www.tripsource.com/stories/Janet/GreatBritain.htm)
or my other trips: Janet in Italy (http://www.tripsource.com/stories/Janet/Italy.htm)
or Janet
in Germany (http://www.tripsource.com/stories/Janet/1.htm)
