Escape to Paris: Day 1

I am horrified to tell you that Ashley and I were up at 6:30am today to catch our train to Paris. Larry walked with us to the tram station, where we caught a tram to the metro station to get to Brussels Midi station. The Brussels Metro made me pine for the sanitary conditions of the New York City subway. There is no air conditioning on the cars, and it was stuffy and filthy-feeling even in September. Ugh! We got coffee and tea at the train station, and then Larry took us up to the platform and Ashley and I got on the train. It was like the train in New Zealand -- we had an assigned car and seats. The train was really nice and clean; the ride was only about an hour and 15 minutes. While we were on the train, we planned our activities for the trip and chatted, as usual. We got off at Gare du Nord station and hustled outside to the cab stand line. We'd heard that Gare du Nord is a hotspot for pickpockets and people begging for money, but I guess we were lucky, because no one bothered us. After 15 minutes in the cab line (where we saw a woman cab driver -- unusual!), we were in our own cab heading for the hotel.

We got to the hotel around 10:30; we're staying at a little hotel in the 4th arrondissement on the Rue de Rivoli, on the right bank just across from the Ile de Cite. We left our bags there and used the restroom in the basement, which had a rather horrifying communal towel for drying one's hands (our room was not ready yet) and then headed out in search of food. The cafe a few doors down from our hotel offered a set breakfast that looked terrific: soft-boiled egg, toast points, fresh orange juice, a croissant, 2 pieces of toast, 2 different jams, butter, and tea or coffee. Perfect. Not to sound like an American tourist, but i was appalled at how expensive Coca-Cola is here...a small bottle (500mL) is almost $8. Obscene. We felt 100% better after having breakfast and set out for an incredibly busy day of sightseeing. Our first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral, which will be closed on Friday because the Pope is in town, so it was good we came by today. We got in the line to see the cathedral for free, which was a long line that moved quickly. The choir was practicing while we were in there, which made the experience really awesome. The sun was shining amazingly brightly for Paris (or anywhere!) so the famous stained glass windows were spectacular.

Seriously, Ashley and I both want to know: WTF is with taking photographs of art at museums?

After Notre Dame, we walked to the other end of the Ile de Cite to see another cathedral, Sainte Chapelle, which Rachel and Joe saw on their honeymoon and absolutely loved. We had to wait in another line for a security check, and of course the people right in front of us were a problem, so we had a big wait, so we went to the next line over, and of course then the person in front of us in that line was a problem. Ashley and I make things slow. We eventually made it through, bought tickets, and headed inside. The lower chapel is small and has a Madonna statue (of course) and beautifully painted vaulted ceilings, but the reason we came was for the upper chapel. The upper chapel is completely covered with stained glass on three sides, windows that have to be 30 feet tall. There were nice chairs all around the edges of the chapel, so we just sat there and looked at the windows for half an hour. They are amazing -- totally worth the wait.

Next we walked to the Louvre, which we were visiting mostly out of obligation since it is practically a vacation destination in itself. There was no line, which was a good surprise, so we got right in and decided to take a break to have a muffin and a bottle of water. We couldn't find the bathroom near the cafe, but we were sure we would find one upstairs, so we set off with the rest of the tourists to see La Joconda, which you probably know as the Mona Lisa. Yes, we saw it. Meh. It's in the middle of one of the galleries, and there were hundreds of tourists crowded around it, taking pictures. Seriously, Ashley and I both want to know: WTF is with taking photographs of art at museums? Who wants to see these photos? And why are people insisting on using a flash? Just bad, really bad. After the Mona Lisa experience, we looked for the restroom, which the map told us was in the hallway with the Mona Lisa gallery. We walked up and down, looking for a sign, but we never saw one. Finally, we checked out a tiny alcove, which had a single toilet in it, which was of course occupied, and there were people waiting to use it. We had settled in for a wait when the door to the restroom opened and a hand in a black glove came out from behind it and slapped a filthy "out of order" sign on the door. Awesome! The map said that there was another restroom at the end of the building, and we looked for it, but all we found was the men's room and a sign saying the ladies' was on the left, but all that was there was a wall. By now it had become a quest. Do we need a password or something? We looked more closely and found the ladies' room next to the handicapped persons' lift. Fortunately, it was well-appointed, with two stalls and a hot air dryer. Seriously, though, how can there be so few restrooms at the Louvre? Do French people not need to use them?

After our victory against the Louvre, we walked outside to enjoy the gorgeous day in the Tuileries, a huge garden between the Louvre and the Obelisk of Luxor. We strolled around, watched men building something, saw some crazy kids yelling nonsense words and yelled back (Flobberteeflee!!!!), and grabbed lunch at an outdoor cafe in the gardens. We had chicken sandwiches on baguettes and, despite our best efforts, inadvertently purchased $10 soda. We asked for Fanta, and he asked whether we wanted medium or large, so we said medium, and when the bill came it turned out that the sandwiches were 6.70 euros, and the soda was 7.50 euros. Crap!

As though we had not done enough walking, we set out to the Avenue de Champs-Elysses and pondered the best way to cross the street. This may sound obvious, but in Paris, there are lots of considerations. Traffic circles here are wide enough for probably 4 or 5 cars to go around next to each other, but there are no lane lines, so everyone just drives like maniacs, and there are motorcycles and (augh!) people riding bicycles in the middle of the whole melee, and no one wears bike helmets. And in the middle of all this, we are waiting for the walk signal. Ack! Somehow, we managed to make it onto the Champs-Elysses and walked the whole way up it. The Champs-Elysses is like 5th Ave in NYC, full of lots of expensive boutiques and tourists looking for rich people. We saw the Renault store, which had a real race car inside, as well as the Chanel, Dior, and Louis Vuitton boutiques. We made it to the Arc de Triomphe and had no intention of visiting it until we realized that there was no way to get there. The Arc is surrounded by a traffic circle that is huge -- probably wide enough for 8 cars -- and has no traffic lights. Our guidebook didn't give any insight, so we walked around until we saw some signs and realized that there is a tunnel underground to the Arc from the Champs-Elysses. We took the tunnel, but we saw that to go up to the top of the Arc would require us to climb 284 steps, and we were way too exhausted to pull that off. As Ashley said, just getting there was our Triomphe for the day. Instead, we decided to admire it from the base and then head back to the hotel by way of the Metro.

We bought tickets for what we thought was the Metro, but there were no signs in English on the ticket machine, and we were a little confused, so we ended up going in the entrance for the RER, the regional rail system, not the Metro (they are right next to each other in the same station). We got out, but of course our tickets would not let us on the Metro after that. We waited in line for the ticket agent to help us, but we had to wait quite a while, because apparently 5:05pm is a good time for the armored car guys to visit with cash. Ack! Eventually, the ticket agent helped us...I guess this happens a lot, because he buzzed us through to the Metro right away. We got on the 1 train to the Hotel de Ville stop, then checked into our hotel. We both crossed our fingers as we opened the door to our room, but we were glad to see that it was clean and had (yes!) air conditioning. We freshened up and headed out for dinner.

The restaurant Ashley picked didn't open for dinner until 7:30, and we were a little early, so we walked down to the Seine to check out the station for the Batobus, which is a hop-on-hop-off boat that goes around the Seine to all the hot spots (we wanted to ride it the next day). After that, we walked over to the Le Marais neighborhood where the restaurant was and shopped at a store called C&A that had good casual clothes. I got a hat, sweater, belt, and bracelet, and Ashley got a sweater. I might have bought less, but we had to linger for a while because it started pouring down rain around 6:45. Anyway, after getting some long-desired wardrobe staples, we walked over to La Toque Saint-Germain for dinner. Ashley ate there last time she was here with Joe, and she remembered that it was delicious. I like deliciousness, so I was all for it.

The restaurant is a really cozy space with lots of wood and nice soft lighting. We both had the same dinner -- gratinee (French onion soup, which I guess over here is just called onion soup), veal with a mushroom brandy sauce, and profiteroles (pastry shells with ice cream and chocolate sauce) for dessert. The waiter was really friendly and nice. I should mention that the waiters and waitresses we've had have all been incredibly nice, and actually, everyone we've met in Paris has been really polite, friendly, and nice. It's a good change from Brussels. We lingered over dinner (the waiters don't work for tips here, so you can sit for as long as you want), and then we walked back to the hotel, taking in the view of the sparkling, searchlighted Eiffel Tower (nauseating) and singing, for whatever damn reason, Billy Joel's "The Longest Time." When we got back to the hotel, we took long-awaited showers and got in bed. The TV had 5 channels on it, and the best option for things to watch was The Shawshank Redemption and then Training Day, both dubbed into French. Seriously! Time for bed.