Paris, France -day 2

We were extremely ambitious today. I couldn't help but wake up at quarter to six, my brain still stuck in Eastern standard time. Shay got up at seven and we planned the day. Elena told us Paris is small and we could walk or bike everywhere in a day. We were going to put that to the test. We got ready to go. I was very happy I brought pants as only the tourists wear shorts here. The temperature changes throughout the day and it doesn't get humid the way it does in Ontario. Having a sweater for cooler evenings is a must.

We stopped at a cafe on our street and stood at the counter for a bit with the locals waiting to order, until the kind waiter gestured that we sit. Ordering in French wasn't necessary, but if I didn't try I wouldn't be forced to. Everyone here speaks English. We had coffee (which is espresso, they don't do filtered American coffee), green tea and two croissants. I have had a croissant in years. This one was ridiculous.

After breakfast, we stumbled upon an open air market on Boulevard Richard Lenoir. The market is huge! We walked by yesterday and saw all of the stands and wondered if there was something about to be set up for the season. We thought that there was no way that they would set up and tear down everyday, but they do! As we walked through, we passed blocks of vendors, selling fish, seafood, meats, cheeses, fruits, clothes, shoes and anything else you can think of.

There was even some live entertainment.

We wanted to try out the Velib system. Here you can rent a bike with a credit card for 1.70 Euros. As long as you return it to another stand in the city after 30 minutes, you don't pay any surcharges. (1-2 Euros per extra hour or so). For that 1.70, you get the bike for 24 hours.

We hopped on and braced the traffic. Paris has many bike lanes on every street, that even have their own lights system. Some streets are better as they have completely separate bike lanes from the road. Others, are a little terrifying. Biking around the Bastille,...not a walk in the park. It's a free for all with vehicles of all sizes. We made it out alive thankfully.

The Velib system is pretty good. Stations are easy enough to find, there are 3000 of them, and it was easy to check your bike in and take it out again to continue on your way. 

The down side...when the computer couldn't find a server-no bike for you! When you show up to a station and all the bikes are already gone or are severely damaged, no bike for you! When you show up to a station and it is already full of bikes...bike to another station! When it works, it's great! We got around the city all day with very few interruptions.

Biking over the Seine River

Our first stop of the day was Notre Dame. This was our first introduction to tourism in France, as the Republique area is not as touristy. Shay and I must have looked enough like locals because people were asking us for directions. The Cathedral is immense, with herds of people gawking at it from every angle. We came, we gawked, and we fled.

Notre Dame Cathedral

They had a line all the way down the street to do a loop in and out, and others lined up around the block for a paid tour. Since we both share a hatred of large crowds, we hopped on a bike and headed up the road en route to Centre Pompideau.

We got hungry and wanted to eat at a restaurant we had found on Yelp: Comptoire de la Gastronomie.  It is on Monmartre at Etienne Marcel. It is a market on one side, restaurant on the other. It was absolutely delicious, and we were very happy with our choice. Shay had the foie gras ravioli and I had the chicken supreme. 

Chacuterie!

We wanted to eat there for the rest of the day. But there was so much more to do!!

We have had a hard time adjusting to the no tipping rule in France. It feels weird to enjoy a delicious meal, and be served with such care, then to walk out and leave nothing. Apparently, gratuity is included in the cost of the meal (which is one reason food is more expensive). We loved the food and service and so I asked them about tipping. Does it happen here? Is it an insult to not tip? They explained that it does not happen, sometimes 1 or 2 euros if you think the service is good. It is not expected, nor is it sought after. We ended up leaving something anyway.

We left after finishing our wine, which is the same price as water, and headed over to the Louvre. Shay's friend is from France and has a friend who works at the Louvre. He set it up for us to meet her. She got us in and gave us headsets for a guided tour free of charge! Thanks Yannick and Mara!

The Louvre is insane. It's palatial walls and epic grounds are humbling. 

It is vast, it is spectacular, it is incredibly full of tourists, well the one Italian section is...the rest is really enjoyable. 

Some of the exhibits we enjoyed were the Italian Painters (aside from Vincent Van Gogh), though they were very hard to appreciate with all the attention the Mona Lisa was getting. A little ridiculous. 

I think there is art somewhere at this museum too?

The Napolean Apartments,

I've been thinking about re-decorating. Table for 42 please.

And the Sculptures. This exhibit wasn't busy at all. It was a little difficult to navigate though, as a big chunk of this section is under renovation, making it a laberynth to get from one section to the next. It's easy to go across the main floor, but we could not exit, as we did not have a ticket with which to re-enter. Lots of walking in circles!

Not being immature or inappropriate at all!

On the other side of the street there is a bridge with a gated fence. This gated fence has been covered with locks, where people have left their names and initials. Some have gone as far as to show up with a ore-engraved lock to leave. Others, buy a lock from the guy on the corner who will also offer the use of a permanent market. 

The best part of the Louvre was the conversation we overheard on our way in. It was around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. There was no line to enter, so we walked right in past security. A man pulled up on a rented bicycle and the conversation went as follows:

"Hey, what's this building here?"
"Pardon, Monsieur?"
"Behind you, what is this?"
"This is the Louvre"
"What's inside?"
(hesitation as the guards share a glance to gauge whether or not this guy was serious)
"Inside the Louvre? It's a museum. Art"
"Oh. How long's it take...to do it all?"
"Two weeks, a month..."

At this point we had already made it inside, laughing along with the guards.

After a few hours, we opted to get the bikes again and head over to Champs Elysee to see the Arc de Triomphe. We found a snow globe at one of the tourist shops, the only thing I have to buy, and walked past the ferris wheel and carnival rides. We finally found bikes and tried to navigate oir way to Champs Elysee. By this time it was around 530 or 6, and it was busy everywhere. The streets were packed, we kept getting forced up on to the sidewalk (more out of fear, and lack of direction). We dumped the bikes and decided to go right to the restaurant. It was another we had found on Yelp called Framboise. It is a creperie that sells a variety of sweet and savoury crepes. When we got there, they told us they were not open until 7. We didn't want to sit on the corner for 15 minutes, so we walked up Champs Elysee to see the Arc de Triomphe. It is large, and heavily guarded by automatic assault weapon clad soldiers. 

We opted out of climbing it, as they charge for this, and took our tourist picture and headed back to the restaurant...via bike to save time.

The restaurant which was empty, was now bustling. Without a reservation, we were lucky to get a seat. They were happy to seat us, and offered us the English restaurant (something almost every restaurant has). We were not disappointed. We chose the fixed plate of one savoury dosa, one sweet crepe and cider for 18 euros per person.

Chicken Tandoori

Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese

Raspberry and Mascarpone

Apple, caramel and walnut

This was amazing. We met the girls beside us who were from Paris, and thought we were British. They were comparing our accents to those of the couple to the other side of them who were more obviously American. They gave us some pointers for the next leg of our journey in Biarritz. After dinner, we needed to work off all that we indulged.

We headed out in the direction of the Eiffle Tower, looking for a bike stand. After a photo op in Place Au Canada, we found a station. 

It only had broken bikes, so we continued onwards. The next station we found had two bikes, so we grabbed them. Finding the tower was easy. We biked along Quai d'Orsay, which led us around to the tower. There was a bike stand across the street. There was a small line to check your bag, but buying tickets for the stairs was easy. It costs 6 euros per person, and once you had your tickets, you could walk right up. It took about 10 minutes. I think we were lucking out with lines at attractions here.

Getting the first level was easy!

The second, a piece of cake!

Well we may have broken a sweat...

Thew views were beautiful. We were lucky to make it up while the sun was setting, to see it in the day and the night. "Twilight in Paris is really everything I hoped it could be."

After the lights came on, it was getting crowded. We wanted to head down before the masses, so we searched actively for the stairs. They are not easy to find as half of the tower is under construction creating a maze of dead ends and blocked exits. We would have sprinted down if it were up to us, but the slower movers made that difficult. These people really needed to learn some stair etiquette!

When we got to the bottom, the nearly empty bike stand had filled up again, and we easily found a bike to take home. As we were getting ready, the light show on the tower came on, turning the vibrant yellow glow to a shimmering silver.

Biking home in the dark wasn't hard at all. Quai d'Orsay forked into Saint Germain, which took us all the way up to the Bastille and Richard Lenoir which brought us back to Republique. It took about an hour and a half, but it went by really fast. We changed bikes 3 or 4 times to make sure we didn't get charged an extra hour. These roads had great bike lanes with a separate light system, and they were very easy to navigate. There are so many people out, that there wasn't a neighborhood we drove through that made us uncomfortable. There is a brasserie and restaurant on every corner. People are out here every night. The patios are always full, rows of tables set up theatre style to face the street.

We made it home and needed to rinse the day off of us. Shay wanted to go out again for a snack and a drink, but we needed to shower. Our neighbourhood was bustling when we got in at 12:00, but after a shower, it was starting to disperse. We wanted a snack more then anything, so we walked down to ave Republique. We were hoping to not have to resort to Mc Donald's, and were surprised to find a late night bakery and creperie side by side. This is a dangerous combination at 1 in the morning, but a delicious one!

Paris, France

After a very long, loud, 7 hour flight from Toronto, we arrived in Paris at Charles De Gaulle. This is probably one of the most poorly organized airports I have visited. We were let out on the tarmac, and had to wait on the stairs of the plane before a shuttle arrived to carry the mass of passengers to the actual terminal. We were then shuttled to Terminal 3, a tiny 'room', with two doors of which to enter, where we had to wait on the bus again before entering, as the 'room' was too full. We joined the line for non-resident passports, and hopefully awaited our turn, next to the sign that said "8 minutes wait from this point." Much to our dismay, and at least 40 minutes later, we made it to the security desk, where a very happy and polite guard, stamped our passports and welcomed us to France. Not all terrible.

We thought after the long wait, our bags for sure would be ready. Not the case. There were three poorly marked baggage conveyor belt thingys (the correct words have left me so I am going with 'thingys'), but they were shooting out luggage from 4 different flights. Ours was on the same belt as a flight from Iceland and both bags had not been unloaded. We sent them through Oversized Luggage because of the straps on Shay's backpack, but in France, everything comes out together. Needless to say, they came out eventually, and next to the family of vomiting children, we were the last to leave the terminal.

Signs for "Paris par train" are very easy to follow and find. There are no cobble stones here, just smooth pavement paths. We were lucky it wasn't raining because all of the paths to trains and buses and subways are outside.  Paris is easily accessible with rolling luggage (Mom and dad, bring your rolling suitcases!) We figured out how to buy tickets, and went down to the platform to find trains heading into Paris Centre. We switched lines at Gare Du Nord. From here we had to walk upstairs and follow signs for line 2 at La Chapelle street. These are very well laid out once you get upstairs. Line 2 is great. The stops flash as you approach on the overhead map, and they are lit up until they have been reached. Extremely easy to follow along. You need to remember on all of these trains, that you have to open the doors yourself to get off, and sometimes even to get on. Saw some near misses!

Elena's flat was not far from Caronnes station in the Republique (11 arr.), right next to Le Marais, and north of Bastille. Walking distance from everywhere! (As Elena so kindly pointed out). We found her flat with some assistance of the friendly bakery shop owner who directed us down a cobblestone pathway. Up the number 1 stairwell, through a door we had the code to, and up 4 flights of curly stairs where we were greeted with cold beverages and warm kisses.

Don't trip!

Elena had a city map waiting for us, with all the sites highlighted, and even offered suggestions for things to do, and how to get around. We were very grateful for her hospitality as we fought to keep our eyes open! Here are the views from our window in all directions.

Elena showed us around the small, yet very well situated and functional apartment. 

We showered, changed and headed out for a cappuccino. Anything to keep us awake. The Republique, Le Marais and Le Bastille are wonderful neighborhoods, and there are creperies, bakeries, groceries, restaurants and pubs on every corner. We stopped here and there for a drink and a bite, and wandered up to Republique. It is a massive square with people running amuck in every which direction, around a monstrous liberty statue. Very cool. 

Some things we have observed in our short time here:

Driving here is nuts! There are bikes, scooters and motorcycles that follow their own rules, and cars that drive down streets at barreling speeds in all directions. Intersections are often five way, and motorcyclists sometimes opt for the sidewalk to cut corners. The green man means walk, the red man with his hands on his hips means stop. There is no in between so don't lollygag across the street or you will be challenged!

Helmets for cyclists of all kinds are voluntary and seem somewhat unpopular. It is not uncommon to drive a motorcycle with one hand and read a book with the other...while carrying a baguette.

Everyone is carrying a baguette at all times, usually two. Many people are snacking on said baguette on their way home.

TIL that children can be homeless in Paris. And they aren't fashionably waving oversized Revolutionary flags or grabbing bullets off of fallen soldiers, they are asleep in a phone booth underneath their passed out mother, or snuggled into a sewer grate with their father. Sometimes, at the ripe age of 4, they are playing with dirty water at a sewer grate, completely and utterly alone. It can be very unsettling. I can't picture my sister in-law not intervening here. How have these children not been removed from their parents??

Happy hour is from 5-8, and drinks are half price! Patios are packed as everyone takes advantage of this after a long day at work. People don't go home early on a Wednesday night.

Wi-fi in the city isn't great. At the apartment it's amazing, faster then what we have at home, and the long distance is free. We made it our mission to have everything planned and uploaded to our Paris map before leaving. The offline Paris map App is a must. Ulmon makes a free version for a variety of cities, and it allows you to look up points of interest, as well as plot your own on a map, and call it up without internet. Very handy!

Round and round and round you go at the Bastille

After happy hour in the Bastille, and some dinner, we headed home. No walk home is complete without a stop at the market and bakery. It cost only 4 euros for 1.5 litres of water and a bottle of wine! We are going to gain so much weight on this trip.

Mille feuille and apricot turnover. Not a bad bedtime snack.

After finally putting our feet up, it wasn't long before being up for 48 hours straight caught up with us. We'll need our rest for a busy day tomorrow!