Paris

Last weekend Carl and I went to Paris for a few days. We took the Eurostar train through chunnel-- the tunnel under the English Channel. The ride was very comfortable, and it took slightly less than three hours.

We had been to Paris once before eleven years ago. We went at that time to celebrate the fact that Carl had been hired by Thomson.

Paris, of course, is beautiful -- with the River Seine winding its way throughout the city -- and with all those bridges that cross the river offering spectacular views.

When we booked the trip we were unaware that it was FASHION WEEK in Paris. (I do think there were more than the usual number of beautiful women walking around the city.) So it was difficult to find a hotel room - and we wound up staying on the Rue Rivoli near the Louvre rather than on the left bank near St Germain which we preferred.

We walked by the Louvre many times - but did not go inside during this trip.

Notre Dame Cathedral was one place we wanted to see again. Here is a view of it from one of those bridges across the Seine. The Cathedral is located on a strip of land, almost like an island in the middle of the river.




This is the front entrance to Notre Dame.

This is a closeup of some of the carvings on the top of one door to Notre Dame.

The interior is magnificent. It is so hard to convey with photos - but we keep taking them anyway.

This man was standing outside of the entrance to the cathedral - feeding the sparrows from his hand. He was the second man we saw doing that.




We spent our first afternoon in Paris taking a tour of the city. The guide was a German man in his early 40s who had traveled and lived all over the world - including the U.S. He spoke six languages and in addition to giving tours of the city, he taught English to French students. He had been living in Paris for seven years.

He told us how he thinks of himself as being a resident of Europe as opposed to any specific country there. He said that the formation of the European Union has for many young people reduced their sense of nationalism and patriotism for any particular country - but, rather, has led them to feel that they are Europeans. This is a good development, leading to more cooperation and less competition between countries.

He also told us about a new trend among European young people -- not to get married. They do not see the need to have a legal arrangement with their 'partners.' (Partner is the word I hear used in London all the time when someone is referring to a husband or wife.) They make commitments to each other, and they have children together, but they don't sign a legal contract. The fact is that in many European countries, everyone gets medical coverage and old age pensions. People do not have to rely on getting those benefits through their spouses.
(I remember my son, Matt, recently telling me that a lot of his friends in Spain had also not gotten married, even though some were in long-term relationships.)



During our tour, the guide showed us this statue that Napoleon had created after a war victory. He had all the cannons used in the battles melted down and made into this structure that contains carvings depicting the different events and battles in the war.




The tour also took us to this famous and beautiful church, Sacre-Coeur, at Montmartre.


This church was set high on a hill- and when we looked down from the stairs, the photo below shows the view we saw of Paris. The guide told us that in the older Paris neighborhoods, the buildings are only seven stories high. You can see in the distance that there are some tall skyscrapers, though.




Of course, any tour of Paris has to include a view of the Eiffel Tower. You can notice it is decorated with the circle of twelve stars that represent the European Union. The flag for the European Union is a circle of twelve gold stars on a blue background. Apparently, the leadership of the EU rotates among the members, and France is the current leader. So they have decorated the Eiffel Tower accordingly. If you look closely, you can see the circle of stars in the second section.


And at night, the whole tower sparkles with lights......

We spent most of our time walking around the city and enjoying the sights. I took several pictures of streets in Paris.

One of our favorite streets is Avenue of St Germain. We spent one morning just walking along this street.



We also spent some time there in one of the famous sidewalk cafes. Even though it was rainy and somewhat chilly, the cafes were open. The heaters were turned on and it was very comfortable sitting outside. On St Germain Ave, there were three cafes that are known as gathering places for literary and intellectual people. We had lunch at one of those cafes - The Cafe de Flore.

The next evening, we had dinner at another sidewalk cafe on the Champs-Elysee. We had the dinner after attending a movie at a theater there. The movie was Appaloosa, with Ed Harris as the star, the director, and the producer. The film was in English with French sub-titles. It was fun to watch the 'foreign' film in our own language.

Below is a picture of the very heavy traffic on the Champs-Elysee that afternoon. You can just get a glimpse of the Arc de Triomphe in the background.



Later, after the movie, that same road looked like this:

All the trees had lights strung in them, but they did not get turned on while we were there. We speculated they might be in place for the holiday season. I am sure they will look outstanding when they do get lit up!


Our tour guide had mentioned that he thought that films and the cinema were very big in Paris. As we walked around town, I noticed many of these kiosks with revolving posters that advertised movies.




We also visited the Museum d'Orsay that displayed a large selection of Impressionist paintings by artists such as Monet and VanGogh and others, like Cezanne. The museum itself was very impressive inside - like a work of art itself.




While walking around town, we made some interesting observations. For one, there were bicycles for rent on the spot. A person could take a bike from the bike parking area, paying for it at the machine, ride to wherever he was going, then drop it off at another bike parking area. The picture below shows one of those parking areas. There were many of them scattered around the city.




I noticed that several of the buildings had shutters for their windows.

Wrought iron railings were also a common feature on buildings. These reminded me of the architectural style found in New Orleans (which definitely has a French influence).





There were lots of people on the sidewalks eating these baguette sandwiches in bags. They were obviously a common item ordered 'to go'.


A dish that I discovered was called Croque Monsieur. It is essentially a ham and cheese sandwich with a thick layer of cheese melted over the top. It was so good that I had it for lunch one day and for breakfast the next day. I plan to learn how to make it at home.



We noticed that everywhere cars were parked very CLOSE to each other, as you can see by the pictures of the front and back of the black car below.

The next photo shows more tight parking - along with motor bikes being parked right up on the sidewalk.


Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera handy for the worst of these parking situations. In that case, the man got out of his car, and literally pushed it with his hands so that it moved down a few inches away from the car in front of him. There must have been no more than four inches between his car and the other on either end. Even the Parisians in the street recognized that this was a tighter squeeze than usual; they all grinned and pointed as they walked by him and his car.


The driving in Paris was a little bit of what I would call 'free style.' It wasn't as bad as the driving in Rome is - where they say 'a red light is merely a suggestion,' but it was bad enough that I would not want to drive there - even though they drive on the right side of the road, (and even though I drive regularly in New York). Drivers are making u-turns in the middle of heavy traffic, and they are cutting each other off, and running the lights, all while driving much too fast for a busy city street. In addition, there are motor bikes weaving in and out of traffic constantly. The motor bikes can be rented too - so some of those drivers could be novices who are fairly inexperienced with the bikes.

Carl and I witnessed a collision of motor bikes on the Champs-Elysee one night. Apparently, two or three of them tried to go into the same place at the same time. We heard the noise and looked in time to see people rolling over their bikes onto the road. Fortunately, everyone quickly bounced up onto their feet - to get out of the way of any oncoming cars. One of the bikes was seriously damaged - but none of the riders was. Thank goodness. They were all standing together waiting for the police to arrive when we walked away.


The picture below shows something that Carl noticed. Traffic lights are placed at two levels - one higher and one lower so that everyone can see them. If you look closely at the traffic light pole in the picture below, you will see a smaller light underneath, just above the white part of the pole. Maybe those smaller lights are aiming at drivers of motor bikes.




On the morning of our departure day, we took a trip over to the famous Paris department store, Printemp. The store is made up of several buildings, and it is organized vertically. What I mean by that is the departments are so big that they occupy several floors - one above the other. For example, there is a Home section that is on floors 3-6. There is also a Men's area that is located on floors 1-5. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to wander through some of the departments and see what they had.

The photo below of Printemps shows the two ornate towers, along with some pictures that are in place to cover up scaffolding. In London, there is often scaffolding on buildings- while the buildings are being repaired or painted. The scaffolding is just there for all to see. Well in Paris, the guide explained to us, whenever they put scaffolding up for building repairs, they cover that scaffolding with pictures, so that the building is presentable and looks good, even while repairs are being made.
This is a fashion city, right? Appearance is important.




The train schedule was revised after we booked our trip, so we had to register at the station before the trip to get new assigned seats. We decided to go earlier to the station to give ourselves plenty of time, and it's a good thing we did. All those folks who had come for Fashion Week were returning home, and the lines were very long. That gave me time to take a picture of the train station in Paris. I like train stations, and this was a good-looking one.

This closer shot gives you a look at the soldiers who were patrolling the railroad station.

Finally, below is a shot I took at a sidewalk cafe of a somewhat reluctant participant in Fashion Week in Paris.