Note: sorry we don’t have more pictures from Paris, the trip sort of went in a different direction….
With a certain amount of resentment at the early travel time, we made it to the airport in time for our flight. David began practicing a few key phrases in french and I was doing my best to put what words I remembered into intelligible sentences. We were determined to speak French in spite of ourselves and I’m proud to say that we did fairly well. Since neither David or I are too concerned about appearing foolish to strangers, we weren’t stymied by pride. Consequently we had a lot of fun talking with people throughout our stay.
During our flight we made friends with a Parisian named Piérre who would prove to be a good person to know once we were on the ground. After landing we went through the usual steps of leaving the airport and made our way to the train station. The station had lots of options for transportation and lots of long lines. We were pretty confused about which one was right for us but had finally determined our best choice when Piérre approached us with an offer. In our search for the ideal transport we had gleaned that the next train wouldn’t be coming for a while, but being completely ignorant tourists we had accepted that fact without concern. Piérre gave us a more thorough explanation: there had be a significant problem at a station and the delay was at minimum an hour, but likely much longer. As he had been traveling for work and needed to get into the office he offered us a ride in his cab which we gratefully accepted. So off we went toward the business center of Paris. We still needed to catch a train to our side of town, but since we were getting dropped off at la Defense we had a look at the modern response to the Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately it was an overcast day, so we could only barely make out the arch at the other end of the Champs Élysées and unfortunately that was the last we saw of the world famous Parisian landmarks.
Another baffling experience in the train station finally found us on the right train to arrive at the stop closest to our hotel (David had figured it all out ahead of time and downloaded a couple Paris map apps on his iphone). We had to walk a few blocks through the hustle and bustle, but once again David’s excellent navigational skills brought us to our destination. I was a bit worried that this hotel would be a repeat of the third rate place I’d stayed with Alexa, but I underestimated David’s research skills. We had a really nice room with a french style window looking out over a pretty park. I was keen to check out the Pilates studio in town and it turned out to be just one street over from where we were staying, what luck! David couldn’t wait to have a crepe, so with our two goals, we took to the streets. We were successful on both fronts, I scheduled a lesson for the following morning and we had a tasty snack at a local cafe. The people there were quite friendly and tolerated our remedial command of the language.
Next we were off looking for a walking guide of the city. My Pilates instructor had suggested an area that he thought would have the appropriate shop so we headed that way. We passed a kiosk that automated bike rentals. David was elated since he loves to ride bikes and his flat feet aren’t designed for extensive walking. Once again David’s credit card was rejected by the newfangled European system. We walked on. We crossed the island where Notre Dame is located and joined the throngs of tourists making the circuit through the extraordinary cathedral. I was amazed by the size of it all, David just wanted to get out of the crowd. He’d seen so many awe inspiring monuments to God in his two tours of the UK that the initial impact of the human congestion overshadowed his impression of the architecture. Ah well, it was a short walk through. We were approached by a few different Romanian girls begging for the help of foreign tourists, especially people from the US. The first one who approached us asking first our citizenship and then for our donation earned a touch of sympathy until we saw the girls gathering together and chatting as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Not that I blame them for asking, but neither David nor I are keen to hand money over to strangers. We prefer to donate to organizations. The vast number of tourists and our inability to blend into the landscape left us feeling a bit alienated from the romantic image of Paris, and perhaps our experience was skewed in the direction of intolerance for our role as tourists from that point on. For my part, my enthusiasm for finding a book of walking tours was waning, it was all so big and commercialized and our feet could only carry us so far.
On the way to the book store we passed my favorite Parisian shoe store, now this was more like it! I had a mission to purchase a new pair of shoes for Alexa’s wedding, what luck that David brought me to the city that has my favorite shoes! The clerk was friendly and helpful. As he was a lover of languages, especially English, we abandoned French almost immediately especially given the importance of the purchase! So after lots of trials, I settled on a pair and put them on hold since I had to go fetch my credit card. We stopped in a couple book stores but didn’t find what we were looking for and pretty much gave up on the idea of walking tours.
Next we headed to the area that I was most familiar with, the first arrondissement, and the restaurant that offered my favorite tiramisu. The meal was delicious, David was in virgo heaven reveling in the subtleties of texture and flavor. He wasn’t so happy when the bill came, those Parisians know how to get money out of tourists! When they ask you if you’d like water they automatically bring you a €10 bottle without telling you. This is the sort of tidbit I should have remembered from my last visit, as it all played out, I could see that we were heading for a pricey bottle of water but I held my tongue because frankly I sort of like fancy bottled water (yes I’m a sucker). David asked the waiter and he was kind enough to give us the scoop: if you prefer the free water out of the tap, you have to request “une carafe d’eau”. Now we were onto their game and the rest of the time enjoyed free water.
Later we planned to call my credit card company and confirm that I was indeed abroad and could use the card with (guess what?!) one of those special little chips in it. We have no idea why my student Amex has a chip; but thank heavens it does, because it meant we could get those bikes from the kiosk just around the corner from our hotel. So into bed we went ready to hit the streets with wheels in the morning.
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