Flashback: Paris
2016: September 2 — 4
Just a few weeks into marriage, and we arrived in la ville de l’amour. We had 48 hours in Paris and were determined to make the most of it.
We grabbed the metro heading into the city, and then made the short but seemingly long and difficult walk to our hotel with all of our bags. We kept having to remind ourselves it was legitimate to have 4 bags for 2 nights in Paris, because we actually were carrying all of our belongings for the next year. At the very least, we’re going to need to ditch some stuff before we start traveling again. :)
After getting to Hotel Max on Rue Alesia in the 14th arrondissement (French version of neighborhoods — the 14th is in the center bottom of the map here), we set out for our first half day of sightseeing.
Obviously the first thing to do was eat a crepe. I’m pleased to report we did this quite effectively, and even ate more than one crepe. Check. We also began a habit of eating outside, which is what 99% of people do here (weather permitting). Even with the street a few steps away, the sidewalks of Paris beat the majority of atmospheres in American restaurants.
Next we sat off for the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Palace, where the French Senate is located as well as some very well manicured gardens. There’s an expansive pond in front of Luxembourg Palace and on weekends or during the summer, countless children can be seen circling around the pond guiding sailboats they rent for a few Euros an hour.
After taking a nap in the gardens, we set off for a scenic bus tour (i.e. window seat of a public bus) of the city and the Seine River, ending up near the Eiffel Tower.
Kate’s love of fruit stands peaked very strongly at this point when she eyed FRESH FIGS. This has now become such a habit that #figlife would be an appropriate hashtag for most days.
We picked up a few other items from a pâtisserie and a convenience store, and set off for a picnic on the lawn in front of Le Tour Eiffel.
We stuck around for a while to watch the light show and stumbled across a group of waltzers just doing their thing in the most romantic setting ever.
On our way back to Hotel Max, we ran into another strange phenomena… 100s of roller-bladders just casually making their way through the city.
The next morning we enjoyed more outside eats, including the killer view from our balcony. We’re still working on figuring out how the french can eat sweet bread every morning and stay so skinny.
Our full day in Paris was all about the sites: the Ile de la Cité, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Louvre Museum, biking, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Arch de Triomphe, and a very strange encounter with an artist at a multi-floor apartment building art exhibit (we left with a memento he drew for us).
Thus far, we’ve been attempting to travel on the cheap, which means we haven’t really paid for any ‘site seeing’ beyond transportation and lodging. Fortunately, there’s plenty to occupy yourself with that’s free, and one of our favorites was walking around inside Notre Dame — reading about the history, absorbing the immense cathedral, and sitting in silent prayer. Wild that construction on the church began almost 900 years ago. Paris is old.
We walked something like 30 miles during our time in Paris, and that doesn’t include alternative means of transportation.
Paris has a network of shared bikes that you can take from one station and return to another, with fairly low prices if you use the bikes for under an hour. Turned out to be a great way to experience some of the city and work our way towards farther out sites.
Our typical tourist day was an excellent collage of some of Paris’ finest sites, and left us thoroughly satisfied with the city.
We spent our last half-day in Paris exploring Canal St. Martin in the northeast section of the city. It’s supposed to be a more artsy area, and there’s a fun history about how they rallied together to preserve the canal before it was converted to a large road after canals became not such a big thing.
Walking to the canal we ran into a protest, and the reality that racial or ethnic tensions are not confined to the States. This rally was in response to a wave of crime committed against Chinese people in France, where 13,000+ gathered to show their unity and desire for authorities to beef up security.
After making it to the canal, we enjoyed a delightful lunch in the park with pizza from Maria Luisa, a highly rated pizza joint in Paris. Interestingly, one of the guys working there lived in Ohio for a while and is in the middle of migrating to France. Small world.
Ah, Paris. What a unique and wonderful place. À bientôt!
