Paris Travel Guide: Versailles Gone Awry

Bonjour Bloggy Friends,

This morning I hopped out of bed with an extra bop in my step. I couldn't wait to see Versailles. This is our very last day in Paris, so we thought it would be nice to get out of the city to get a feel for the French countryside. We finished our breakfast, freshened up and jumped the train to the nearest RER station that would transport us to our palatial destination.

While standing in line for our tickets, however, the attendant announced that Versailles was closed for the day. She gave no reason. It was just flat out closed. We stood dumbfounded for a moment, but when we finally pulled ourselves together we quickly decided on "Plan B" - a tour of the famed Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Ok, I know visiting a cemetery doesn't sound like an ideal second choice to Versailles, but this place is unbelievable. Not only are there hundreds of gloriously famous people buried here, but the size of the cemetery and architectural intricacy of some of the tombstones is astounding. We cruised by Maria Callas' plot in the crematorium, Oscar Wilde's massive tombstone covered in lipstick kisses, Edith Piaf's discreet family plot and of course Jim Morrison's grave, which is so popular that it has to be blocked off by guards and gates.

Fortunately, it was a rainy day so the cemetery wasn't nearly as crowded as it could have been. Yea, we had to walk around under umbrellas and raincoats, but what better way to spend the afternoon in the cemetery? It got even better when we pulled out the lunch we planned to eat in Marie Antoinette's garden in Versailles. Yep, we plopped ourselves on a bench near Morrison's grave, pulled out some bread and cheese and opened a bottle of wine. It would have been absolutely perfect if I didn't have to balance the handle of my umbrella between my ear and shoulder as I ate and sipped my wine.

Later that evening we met my old friend Thomas (pronounced Toomah) for dinner in the Marais. For two summers in the late 90s he lived with my family and I as a foreign exchange student. We lost touch for many years but finally reconnected through Facebook. That's how I was able to let him know that I'd be in Paris if he wanted to meet up. He took us to a quintessential French restaurant called Cafè Rouge. I can't hardly remember what I ate because I was so consumed with catching up with him after all these years. I'm  happy to see that he's living a wonderful life in Paris. He has a fantastic job near the Champs Élyseés and just bought a new flat outside of the city. He'll be moving there with his girlfriend soon.

It was also fun to drill him on the Parisian culture, which Alan and I have been trying to wrap our brains around the whole time. It comes to find out life isn't much different for young, working class Parisians as it is for us - at least in his experience. He says he doesn't take two hour lunches, he picks up his groceries in one quick stop and he doesn't drink nearly as much wine and coffee throughout the day as we had figured.

It was great to catch up with Thomas, but we had to cut the evening short because our train to Amsterdam leaves in the morning at 6:25 a.m. Stay tuned...

Love, Josh

Paris Travel Guide: Marie Antoinette & Getting Dissed by Mona Lisa

Bonjour Bloggy Friends,

Today we walked to the Île de la Cité, an island on the Seine that is home to Notre Dame and other famous sites. We returned there to get a look inside chapel Saint-Chapel, which was built by Louis IX specifically as a showcase for his latest purchase, the Crown of Thorns. The structure is almost completely made up of tall stain glass windows (pictured) decorated with scenes from the Bible. Though the sanctuary is quite magnificent, it only took a fraction of the time to build than Notre Dame because the king was in a hurry to put his famous relic on display. I thought it was gorgeous but much of the aura was lost due to construction being done on one whole side of the chapel. Instead of windows we were forced to look at a tower of cruddy scaffolding. These things happen.

Our next stop was the big momma of art museums, the Louvre. On the way, however, we meandered into the Conciergerie. The big draw for me here was that this is where one of my favorite historical figures, Marie Antoinette, was held captive before her execution. The place was pretty cheesy - with dummies representing Antoinette and other captives in fake prison cells - but moving moments weren't completely lacking. The walls of one room were adorned with names of the more than 1200 victims of the guillotine during the French Revolution. It was neat to scroll through to find Marie and Louis' quietly among them (pictured right). I also enjoyed standing in the actual spot of the famous queen's cell, which has sense been turned into a tasteful memorial with plaques and paintings and such.

Finally at the Louve, we took an obligatory photo in front of the pyramid and grabbed our Rick Steves guide book to seek out the essentials. My favorites were the vivacious Venus de Milo statue, the glorious Winged Victory of Samothrace and DaVinci's La Belle Ferronnière (pictured left). My grandmother had a copy of the latter hanging in her home when I was a kid, so it brought back nice memories. When we finally made it to the Mona Lisa I had to admit I was pretty disappointed. Not only was she surrounded by eighteen layers of onlookers but she was encased in a hazy plastic case that made getting a good snapshot impossible. I guess that's what happens when you're one of the most gawked at paintings on the planet. What a diva.

That evening we had a nice Thai dinner in the Marais before heading home for a little R&R. We have big plans to see Versailles tomorrow, so we wanted to be nice and rested. Stay tuned...

I"ll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh

Paris Travel Guide: Venturing the Left Bank

Bonjour Bloggy Friends,

Today was one of our favorite days.

This morning Alan scooted across the street to a boulangerie where he picked up two croissants and a pastry to supplement our breakfast. I’m not typically much of a bread person, but I couldn’t leave Paris without trying a croissant. They were both delicious - especially with a dab of locally made strawberry jam.

When we finished it was time to hit the streets. Once again we sauntered west along the Seine River to the Pont des Arts. This is a pedestrian-only bridge that is supposedly a meeting place for lovers. Before crossing Alan carved our names into the railing with hordes of others. We can’t wait to look for it when we come back.

On the other side of the bridge was the beginning of the Left Bank. We liked what we saw of it during our history tour, so we thought we’d return to explore a little further. Along the way we saw a Mr. Burns-looking statue of Voltaire, had a moment of silence outside the hotel where Oscar Wilde died and surfed through various art galleries before grabbing an organic scoop of gelato near the intersection of rue de Seine and rue de Buci. This area was popping with locals. It was great.

To wrap things up we visited the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and The Church of Saint-Sulspice, and people watched in the  manicured lawns of the Jardin du Luxembourg. People watching has been one of my favorite activities so far. It’s fascinating to see how the French interact with one another. They seem so laid back, in love with life and a little goofy all at the same time.

Later we had a wonderful meal at a restaurant near our apartment called el Marché. It began to rain while we were there, so we decided to wait it out with a few more glasses of wine.  When in Rome…. Or France…..

When it finally dried up we hopped the Metro to the base of Arc de Triomphe and strolled down the highly commercialized Champs-Élyseés. I was a bit turned off by all the name brands flashing in my face, but that was remedied with four tiny macaroons and a cup of tea at a perfectly charming tearoom called LaDurée.

French macaroons taste a lot like heaven in a cookie. I wish I could bring back a dozen for all of you.

Salut,

Josh

Paris Travel Guide: Exploring Le Marais

Bonjour Bloggy Friends,

Today we thought it would be nice to spend the afternoon in our neighborhood to get a better feel for what immediately surrounds us. What we found is that Le Marais, located in Paris' 3rd and 4th arrondissements, is a vibrant area full of crowded cafes, sweet smelling patisseries and a horde of funky boutiques. It possesses the arty grit of New York's East Village, while retaining a sense of trendiness that you'd find in Chelsea or SoHo. My favorite part about it, however, is that there are few tourists. Besides visiting some of the major sites, we've been doing our best to avoid tourist traps. While this makes overcoming the language barrier more difficult, it's the only way to sufficiently absorb the local culture.

Before coming to Paris we were warned that Parisians would be snooty, but we've found that to be a myth. The people we have come into contact with have been jovial, helpful and extremely patient with our spotty French. To exude friendliness, we approach every interaction with "Bonjour" in the afternoon or "Bon soir" in the evening. Then we ask if they speak English: "Parlez-vous Anglais?" The answer has typically been, "very little," but we've been managing our way through most situations very well. The French seem to be extremely proud of their culture, but they are also willing to extend a hand to awkward outsiders like us.

Continuing through the Marais we spent time strolling through the Jewish Quarter and popping into a few colorful boutiques. Some of our favorite spots have been the ones selling home goods. We picked up a few things to take home before heading a little further west to gander at the modern art collection in the magnificent Centre Pompidou (pictured to the left and at the bottom).

You can't visit Paris without carousing some of the art museums. While I have admiration for classic pieces like the Mona Lisa, it's the minimal, geometric modern art that gives my heart that extra thumpity thump. Within Centre Pompidou, which is a piece of art in itself, we drooled over Pablo Picasso's masterful cubism, imaginative paintings by Joan Mirὸ and slick sculptures by Constantin Brâncuşi. We also became new fans of artists we weren't as familiar with, such as Fernand Lѐger, Vilmos Huszár and Richard Mortenson (pictured right). Besides paintings and sculptures there were also installations of film, photography, fashion and furniture. We must have spent four hours browsing around. We loved it.

The rest of our evening was relaxing. We had a late lunch and lounged under a statue of Louis XIII in Place des Vosges before retiring to our apartment for the night.

Have a great night. I hope all is very well.

Au Revoir, Josh

Paris Travel Guide: Parisian History

Bon soir Bloggy Friends,

Before I could even do my morning stretches, Sugar had already scurried to the supermarche across the street to pick up breakfast: museli, yogurt and fresh strawberries. We've decided to start our day eating in to save money and to utilize the private time to sketch out our daily itinerary. With the windows open, Edith Piaf blaring from my computer and two cafe cremes from our in-house espresso maker, we have created our own little Parisian cafe experience. C'est bon!

On our first full day in the city we decided to school ourselves on some history. From our hotel we walked west along La Seine to one of Paris' most visited sites, Notre Dame. Inside, we snuck around the outer sector of the sanctuary at the same time mass was being held. It limited our view of the center, but it was impressive to hear the choir singing as beams of light shone through the famous stained glass windows onto the kneeling congregation. It was truly awe-inspiring. The enormity and architectural detail of these old churches is fascinating. It boggles my mind to comprehend that this cathedral took two decades to be constructed before finally being completed in 1345. Talk about dedication.

From there we strolled to the nearby Memorial de la Deportation, an underground honorarium that pays homage to the 200,000 French Jews held captive in Nazi concentration camps. Though minimally designed, the short stroll inside the cold concrete structure touched us beyond words. I'm glad we decided to see it.

After a leisurely lunch at a nearby cafe, we had to pick up our pace to see things before they closed. We took a quick jaunt through the artsy Left Bank where we skimmed some pages in the Shakespeare & Company Bookstore and kept our holy going in the St. Severin church. We then crossed back over onto the Right Bank to see the statue of horny Henry IV and fell in love all over again on the romantic Pont Neuf as the Eifel Tower shimmered brilliantly behind us.

I hope you have a great night. I'll chat with you soon.

Je t'aime,

Josh

Paris Travel Guide: Getting Situated

Hi Bloggy Friends. I'm starting to update my trip posts with videos. Come by and check them out if you're interested. 

Bonjour Bloggy Friends,

We made it to Europe safe and sound. We slept most of the way here, thanks to some meds prescribed by our doctor. When we arrived in Brussels (30 min. early) we immediately set out looking for the Eurail that would take us to Paris. Unfortunately, when we finally found the station we were told that the direct train was booked for the afternoon, so we had to get creative and do some transferring along the way. This got us there about two hours later, but the ride was nice. The transportation here is so speedy and efficient - unlike the clunky, turtle-like system we have in America.

When we arrived in Paris we hopped the Metro to the Marais district, which is where our apartment is located. We're renting a quaint little flat on 98 rue St. Antoine that we found on a website called AirBnB. So far we love it. It has everything we need, plus it's in a fabulous location.


After getting settled we set out on foot to follow the Seine River all the way to the Eifel Tower. On the way we stopped for dinner in a funky Left Bank bistro called Cocotte Jolie. When we finally made it to the Eifel tower, we decided to skip the trip to the top because the line was monstrous. Instead, we strolled  across the Pont d'Iena to enjoy the view from the steps of the Palais de Chaillot. We made it there just in time for the light show that illuminates the tower with twinkling white lights every hour. It was the ultimate tourist experience, but at the same time really beautiful and romantic. 

When we arrived back at the apartment we crashed. Even though we rested well on the plane, we were both exhausted from a day full of traveling and traipsing. 


I've been putting together short videos as the trip progresses, but our shoddy Internet service isn't allowing me to upload them onto YouTube. I'll get them up as soon as I can. Be on the lookout for those and my next post, but until then enjoy some of the snapshots I took of our travels and on our first night in  the City of Love.


Au Revoir!
Josh