plus de Paris

Tuesday, September 1

Today we didn't even consider eating breakfast at the hotel. A) It is €8.00, when the same thing at a cafe is only €6.50; and B) We really didn't want to spend any more time at that fleabag hotel than was necessary. So we went to one of the cafes on the main street. I was tired of eating so much white flour, so I just had coffee, while Dave had coffee and a croissant. As we ate, I told Dave that I was having serious second thoughts about the bikes. I was concerned about their age; I was concerned that if we had a flat we wouldn't have a good way to get back, and I was bothered by the €200 obligation if something got damaged. After all, they are older bikes, and who's to say what was damaged before we took them out? On top of all that, the forecast was for rain. So, we decided we'd go to the bike shop and back out of the rental agreement.

Last night I had told the hotel desk clerk that we were planning to move to a different hotel. I cited noise as the reason, and he told me that I would have to talk to the manager in the morning. When we went back to the hotel after breakfast (having forgotten the bike rental contract) the guy at the desk spoke to me and said they could offer us a very quiet room at the back of the hotel. I explained that we could even hear noise from other rooms, so that wasn't good enough. He tried to argue, so finally I just said, "We don't like this hotel. It's no good." He shrugged, as if to say that I don't know what's good for me, but he agreed to cancel our next night without penalty. We went upstairs, packed up and checked out. 

I had the address of another hotel that sounded better, but as we were walking there, we saw another decent looking place, the Mercure, and stopped in. They had a very nice room at a reasonable price, so we checked in, and then walked on down the street to the bike shop.

The guy there was not too happy when we said we wanted to cancel, but what could he do? He refunded our money and accepted our apologies.

So, now it was time for Plan B. Our Plan A (cycling to Versailles) included a stop at the Arc de Triomphe, so I suggested that we might use the Velib bikes and ride over there. Nope, said Dave. He was concerned that if we took one of the bikes we might not be able to find a docking station (they seem to be fewer and farther between than in London) and find ourselves saddled with the bikes longer than we would like. I checked on Google maps and found that it would be a 10-11 km walk there and back, and to my surprise, he was up for that.

This route was more interesting than the one we took yesterday. We started by walking south on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis, a street with lots of Turkish restaurants. Since it was lunchtime, we stopped for a lahmacun, which tasted just like the ones we used to eat in Istanbul. We then turned right onto Boulevard de Bonne Nouvelle, which turns into Boul. Poissonniere, then to Boul. Montmartre and finally Boul Haussmann. All along, the street is lined with shops and restaurants, beginning with low-budget and gradually beocming more high-end. 

In addition to the shops, we passed an opera house; Square Louis XVI, which features a row of cenotaphs; and a couple of beautiful churches. There were also a few tricky intersections and roundabouts, to keep us on our toes.

And finally, we arrived at the arch, which was once again larger and more breath-taking than I had imagined.

  

Looking up...

the tomb of the unknown soldier inside the Arc de Triomphe

Looking down the Champs-Elysees

 

The buildings around the arch are all built in the same style, giving the circle a very pulled-together look. I really liked the rooftop gardens on these two buildings.

After turning around and starting back, we stopped to admire l'Eglise de Saint-Augustin de Paris, built in the 1860s. 

We also ducked into the Gare St.-Lazarre, opened in 1837. This is a beautiful old building on the outside (no photos) and very modern inside, with lots of nice shops. I could not resist buying the granddaughters something sweet from the Petit Bateau shop.

Leaving the train station, we continued east, stopping for a moment to gaze up at the sky-piercing Eglise de la Sainte-Trinité, 

built in the 1860s.

 

We also saw the beautiful Church of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, built in the 1820s. 

There must have been an incredible amount of church-building going on in this city during the 1800s.

 On a more worldly note, this shop window with its display of rose quartz and other minerals caught my eye. I especially love the bunch of grapes and the pillars. So pretty!

And finally, we ended up back at the street of Turkish restaurants, where we stopped for dinner. Dave had his favourite Iskender and was happy to find that, as many Turkish restaurants do not serve it. As we ate, we had the view of this arch, called Porte Saint-Denis. Built in 1672, it was part of the Wall of Charles V. It is a little mossy and worn, but so picturesque. I decided that if I ever have to  move to Paris, I will have an apartment in the building just left of this arch. It's a great location, above a pharmacy, right next to a grocery store and on a street with lots of Turkish restaurants. And there's the arch right next door.

La ville lumiere - Paris

Monday, August 31, 2015

Even though we didn't get a good sleep (thanks to the noise) and even though the 8 euro breakfast consisted of nothing but a croissant, a piece of French bread (white flour, both) and coffee, things did look better in the morning. The streets were not as crowded, so we didn't feel like we had to fight our way along, and the sun was shining. 



Since our hotel was not far from Sacre Coeur Basilica, we decided to begin our sight-seeing there. I had read about Velib, the Paris bike hire system, but Dave wanted nothing to do with it, so we hoofed it uphill to the cathedral. It is a very steep climb, up narrow streets, but it is worth it in every way.

The cathedral itself is beautiful. Photography is not permitted, so I was a good girl and kept my camera in my pocket while we were inside. There are beautiful stained glass windows, an elaborately painted ceiling and simple but elegant pillars. This church is not very old; it was completed in 1914, so it is not even as old as the oldest churches here in Edmonton, but it is beautiful nonetheless.

And the view! We took out our map and tried to match what we saw to some of the landmark buildings. We could pick out Notre Dame, L'Hotel des Invalides and of course the Eiffel Tower, barely visible through the trees.

After finishing here, I again suggested Velib, but that idea was vetoed, so we walked:down, down, down, until we arrived at the Louvre. For some reason, I didn't take any photos there, but it is a totally impressive structure. 

Photo from this website

It is huge, much bigger than I had imagined, and very grand. We didn't go inside, but explored the grounds and the gift shop.

From here we walked to Ile de la Cité, where Notre Dame is located. Again, impressive. And again, I'm not sure why I didn't take more photos. Oh well, there are plenty available online.

I also liked this statue of Charlemagne, right next to the cathedral:

The building above is the Préfecture de Police, on the island near Notre Dame. This building was constructed in the late 1800s, so it is not really old, but I liked the style and also the sculptures of soldiers and eagles (?) lining the roofs.

From this island, we walked along the river, alternating between the left and right banks, and stopping for a late lunch at a sidewalk café. Dave had a "quatre fromage" pizza, while I had a mixte crepe (ham and cheese.) Both were excellent, and thus fortified, we continued on our way.

We saw the famous "love locks" but didn't add one of our own. Supposedly these locks are going to be removed, but we saw several lock-covered panels and people were adding more as we walked past, so I'm not sure whether the plan has changed. Apparently they are bad for the bridge -- too heavy.

We enjoyed wandering around le Jardin des Tuileries, with all its statues, fountain and tree-lined walkways

It wasn't very busy. The weather was pretty decent -- about 26 degrees and a mix of sun and cloud -- but there simply were not many people out and about.

We thought it was interesting that both here and in London's Hyde Park, there are freestanding chairs for people to sit in -- and apparently no one vandalizes them. In fact, we didn't even see any turned on their side.

This striking building is the Palais Bourbon. Despite its name, it is not a place to booze it up, but rather the meeting place of the French National Assembly. It was built in 1728. 

More walking brought us to this bridge: Pont Alexandre III and the Grand Palais. Both the bridge and the building are quite eye-catching. 

Since my suggestion that we try out the Velib bikes met with an unequivocal "no," we continued to walk and finally came to this:

This is one huge structure! We stood and gazed and I tried to get the whole thing in one picture, without success. We opted against going up; we had already seen the city from Sacre Coeur and weren't keen on waiting in line, but it was fun just to wander around and admire the tower from the ground. 

Even the goldfish were big here!

When we had finished oohing and ahhing about the Eiffel Tower, we crossed the Champ de Mars towards the Ecole Militaire (military academy.) This is a huge complex where Napoleon once trained. His tomb is also nearby, but we didn't see it.  

A short walk brought us to the Hotel des Invalides -- hospital for the disabled. This is now a museum, but part of it is also still a retirement home for soldiers. While we were standing outside the fence, trying to figure out exactly what is was, we noticed that there was some sort of ceremony going on. 

It turned out to be a funeral, complete with a trumpeter and drummer. We watched as soldiers carried the coffin to a waiting van. AT first we thought maybe it was someone famous, but now that I know the place is a retirement home for soldiers, I think maybe it was just one of the residents. It was interesting, nevertheless.

On we walked, through streets lined with boutiques and restaurants, to this church, St. Sulpice and then on to the Luxembourg Gardens. 

Photo borrowed from this website

By this time, we were a bit tired of walking, and we wanted to find rental bikes for the next day, so we did some googling. Our plan was to ride to Versailles. 

I wanted to get bikes from a bike shop near the Eiffel Tower, but Dave didn't like that idea. He wanted to find a rental place near our hotel. So I found a bike shop advertising rentals not far from the Gare du Nord and we figured out how to take the Metro up to there. 

The guys at the bike shop didn't speak any English, so it was up to me and my 32-years-in-the-past French. I managed to convey our request okay, but when I saw the rental bikes, I had serious misgivings. The sole woman's bike, which happened to be the right size for me, didn't look too bad, but the men's bikes were almost as old as my last French class. But Dave didn't seem fazed, so we went ahead and booked the bikes for the next day -- at a cost of 30 euros for both bikes. That is a fair price, but the contract also specified that we were on the hook for 200 euros per bike if anything went wrong. We are talking about $100 bikes. I wasn't too comfy about that, especially since we were planning a 50 km ride to somewhere unfamiliar. But we went ahead and reserved the bikes, telling the guys we'd be back in the morning.

After this, we did something I never thought I would do while traveling in a foreign country (I virtually never do this even while in Canada): we went to McDonald's. It was hot and Dave wanted a cold drink, and Rotten Ronny's was right in front of us, so I agreed to go. It was actually kind of interesting. They have computers where you can order, something I had never seen before, and there is upper-level seating, which allowed us a great view of the streets around, so it was okay. 

I have to admit that by this time, I was not too thrilled with Paris. First, the hotel. Then, the streets we had walked on -- dirty, shabby and narrow and not particularly interesting. On top of that, the bike shop. Of course I knew I was tired, not having slept well, so I was hopeful that tomorrow would be better.