Jim & Happy : Paris

Bonjour!

I am writing this from the backseat of the car on our way to Avignon (Wed 18 Sept) singing to ABBA. The iPod is on shuffle, obviously this wouldn’t be Jim’s choice. Laurel is sitting in the front to prevent any unpleasantness that tends to happen with Jim and I over directions.

We left our Paris accommodation this morning at 8am, walked ten minutes to the train, caught two trains to the airport an hour in total. At times I feel like the backpacker from 25 years ago, not sure if that is a good or bad thing. At the end of the day it is all good but there are moments of trepidation of ‘is this the right way’, ’those men look like pickpockets’, ‘is the food going to be tasty in this restaurant’ etc etc

We are not tour group kind of people but the one advantage would be the transport issues – there wouldn’t be any, they are all taken care of and your itinerary is set. We are happy to plan and research our own sight seeing but a tourist information office is always helpful and we didn’t come across any in Paris but the hotel reception was helpful.

Anyway back to Paris, the past three days have been busy with sight seeing and that is without even entering any museums or galleries, well just the one, ‘The Catacombs’ but that was underground but still classed as a museum.

Sunday morning we walked through the streets of Montmartre to find the double-decker bus tour pick up point, you know by now it is our favourite touristy thing to do and a fun way to see the major attractions with a vantage point for photography. Jim and Laurel are competing for ‘photo of the day’. It is very amusing; the competition is steep so you can imagine the teasing that is going on between them.

The streets of Montmartre were quiet. It was a peaceful time to be walking around especially through the red light district, Moulin Rouge being in the middle of it. Once the city woke up it was all go. We were lucky to see a fun run coming towards us starting from the Eiffel Tower, thousands of women all wearing pink so we assumed it was a breast cancer or similar fund raiser.

On our way back to our starting point we passed a parade of hundreds of people this time (not thousands like earlier) all dancing to the beat of drums waving Brazil/French flags. Jim thought it was to celebrate the world football (soccer to Australians) competition. We were moving at a snails pace alongside the parade and everyone on the bus was being prompted by the crowds below to dance along. It was just like being in Rio at carnival time I imagine, I have never been to Carnival.

On Monday we walked around the corner from our hotel to catch the funicular up to Sacré-Coeur. Seemed a tad strange passing the gypsy beggar at the door and then being part of a never-ending queue walking round the pews taking in the atmosphere. You forget it is actually a church with a service going on. After a look see inside we caught the toy tourist train around Montmartre to view the major attractions. A few carriages upfront Laurel met a man she knew from Brisbane, a father of one of her son’s friends. How’s that for a small world!

It started to rain when were on the toy train so when we hopped off I bought a rain hat. Jim says I looked like I was going fishing. I also bought a pair of knee high stripped socks with Paris written on the side. My ankle cotton socks were not going to be enough if the wind and rain kept up. Hat and socks both purchased from a souvenir shop – they are everywhere throughout the tourist attractions all selling the same kitsch souvenirs. Funny, these shops appear to be owned by Indians. Not sure how they make any money because there are so many. I guess it shows how many tourists flock to Paris along with the African and Eastern European immigrants. I don’t want to make a political statement because I don’t’ know enough on the subject but it is obvious after being in England and Paris that people the world over are keen to move out of their own countries to what they believe will be a better life – not so sure about that. Becoming a beggar and living on the streets doesn’t seem like a better life. It is a shame governments can’t find compassion and sort out their own countries problems. Enough of that, back to sight seeing palaver.

Yesterday we made our way once again on the Metro to see the Catacombes. The Metro is a cheap and easy (if you can read a map) way to get around Paris. The ticket sellers speak English which helps. We stood in line for 1.5hours, paid our 8 Euros ($12) each and climbed down 130 steps to see the underground ossuary and the 6 million bones and climbed 83 steps up to bring us out 2km away. It took 45 minutes. Check out the Google link, the whole idea of what they did is mind-boggling.

http://www.catacombes.paris.fr/en/catacombs/more-2000-years-history

Afterwards we wandered around Montparnasse. It appeared more like a suburban neighbourhood. The buildings were not as ornate as we'd seen, more modern and even a tad non-descript. In the afternoon we made our way back to the hotel after yet another baguette for lunch to research a bike tour we were keen to do in the evening. It was with Fat Bike Tours. You met the Fat Bike Tours rep at the Eiffel Tower at 7pm, rode a bike for two hours around the various tourist attractions followed by a Seine River cruise for one hour. We agreed it would be fun so we made our way once again on the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. While we were waiting it started to rain and rain and rain (thank goodness for my fisherman's hat). We weren’t keen to ride in the rain so we opted for the river cruise only. We eventually found the river access for the cruise, there are many. Paris is known as the City of Lights and seeing it by night on the river was impressive.

We have walked many miles and used the metro to see the various sights. We could have used a taxi here and there but the traffic congestion is heavy so that would have been pointless. Walking and the Metro were the faster option even if a little frustrating at times. Unfortunately we missed out on a few fun things we wanted to do mainly because you have to book a few days ahead (we didn’t have a few days ahead) and Monday is a popular day off. Overall we found the attractions of Paris worthwhile to visit (a second time for Laurel & I) but it is just another big city with big city problems of pollution, overcrowding and influx of illegal immigrants and associated problems. The locals we had contact with were all helpful and polite.

You know the book 'French woman don’t get fat’ Laurel says she knows why now because they walk so much (and smoke).

Don’t forget to look at the fantastic photos on Flickr that Jim has taken – don’t let Laurel hear me say that – only joking her photos are just as good.

Au revoir!