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| Ah, Paris! |
Our next day took us to Paris. We had booked train tickets before the cruise that left La Havre (the port) at 8:05. The ship was scheduled to let us disembark at 7:00. We set our alarm clock for 6:00 so we could have breakfast and then head out. I was up at 4:30 because I couldn't sleep and I was worried about Paris. Since the Paris excursion was mostly planned by me, it put some pressure on me which I"m not used to on vacation. I got Lisa up around 6:00 and we got ready, had breakfast and headed down to the Grand Foyer of the ship where we were supposed to depart. We were meeting 4 others from our group and we were all on the same train to Paris. We were there a little before 7:00, but they didn't open the doors. The crew member helping the passengers off the ship told everyone the last time they were in La Havre the ship was not allowed to let passengers off until 7:45. That worried me because that would have only allowed 15-20 minutes to get a cab and get to the train station. Thankfully we were only about 15 minutes late getting off the ship so then we had to get a cab. There were 0 cabs at the port. When one showed up, the line of people waiting for a cab turned into an aggressive mob to get in the cab. After a few minutes there were enough cabs and everyone in line got a cab. We made it to the station, walked into the main boarding area and were a little confused. First off, we realized it was another country because nothing was in English; only French. Next there were not signs or instructions telling us what to do. Four of us had tickets so the other two went in to get tickets. I went to look for a restroom and could not find one. Once all six of us had tickets, we went to board the train. We were supposed to be in class 2, car 12, seats 23 & 24. None of the cars had numbers. They did say class 1 and class 2, but no car numbers. We finally found someone to ask and he pointed to the train. Nothing specific. We got on the train and tried to tell some people they were in our seats because that is what we were told. One of the people in the group, which I'm assuming was a teacher, spoke perfect English and told us that they were all in the right seats and that we were supposed to be in the next car. So we moved back a car and just picked 6 seats. No one bothered us. Everyone seemed to just pick a place to sit and didn't worry about their ticket. After we got our seats, I decided to look for the restroom again. I found one, but it was locked. I went back to my seat and the train started shortly after. As we headed out, a lady that worked on the train walked through our car and as she made it to the end I noticed she unlocked the toilet. I headed back and began to do my business. As I did, the train stopped. I finished and went to flush and it would not flush. I waited for the train to start again and it still didn't flush. I decided to maybe use some water from the sink to make it flush, which kind of worked, but then the faucet would not stop running water. It also said not to drink the water, which was a little concerning. I was going to wash my hands, but there was no soap and no paper towels. I finally gave up and left. When I got back to my seat, I first asked Lisa for hand sanitizer and then told her about my experience. She laughed hysterically. This was not a great start to the trip.
The train ride was a little over 2 hours and was fine. The website we bought our tickets on said it was non-stop, but we stopped twice to pick up more people.. Again, no one seemed to care where their ticket was assigned so they just sat any where. The ride was mostly through countryside which was pretty, but the closer we got to Paris, the more run down the areas became. When we were about 1 hour and 45 minutes in to the ride, the architecture changed to more of the Parisian architecture I have seem in movies and other places. We arrived on time and our frist stop was the toilets for the ladies. They quickly found that they had to pay to use the toilet. I did not have any Euros at the time, which I tried to find an ATM and could not. We gave up and headed downstairs to find transportation. Now I kind of assumed we would take a cab to the hotel. Two of the people in our group had been to Paris in the recent past and enjoyed using the Metro. That is fine, but we did not really discuss it. We went to get tickets, but when we went to use our debit/credit cards, they did not work. This became a theme through the rest of the trip. The European cards have a chip in them and the US ones do not. Without a chip, their readers will occassionally accpet our cards, but not always. I ended up borrowing Euros to buy 2 two-day passes (which we only used to and from the train station), whcih was 43 Euros. Yikes! Don't do this unless you are going to use the Metro. The girls still had to use the toilet so we asked where to find one and it was back up at the top where we started. We went back up and we did have some change so they were able to use it. I did not go, but apparently the attentdant in the women's room was very rude. There was talk of a hand gesture, but again, I wasn't there. While they were using the toilet, I did find an ATM and got some Euros (another common theme of the trip). We went back downstairs and used our passes to get to the Metro. We had to change trains once, but it was no big deal. The Paris Metro is similar, but very different from the London Underground. The Metro was much dirtier and seemed to have significantly longer walks between trains and exits. The trains of the Underground seemed nicer, quieter and newer than the Metro as well. We made it to our destination and when we made it to street level, we were in Paris. It was gorgeous. There was a cafe right on the corner, the trees and architecture were amazing. It was actually a great spot to reveal Paris. I had an idea of where we were because I had used Google maps to find the hotel before the trip. There were some buildings to the left that looked familiar and after looking at a map we headed south. Now again, having an idea of where we were, as we walked I looked back where we started and the Eiffel Tower was visible just over the tops of the buildings. Wow! That was pretty cool. We made our way to the hotel and walked in. It was a very quint, boutiquey hotel and the lady that worked the front desk, Latiesha, was very helpful. She spoke great English and helped us check in and even found a dinner reservation for us. Two of the rooms were ready, not ours again, so we waited in the lobby for the other 4 to drop off their stuff. While waiting, Latisha started signing "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and within minutes she had it playing on the hotel stereo. Next was George Michael "Faith". It was really pretty comical and comforting. The others met us in the lobby and we headed out. They wanted to find a place for lunch, which Lisa and I were not very hungry. Latiesha had instructed us to head back to the Metro station, turn right and then take our first left. The street was called Rue Cler. This place was awesome. It was just a street with open and outdoor shops, florists, patiseries, fromageries, wine shops, cafes, and others. Very cool. Apparently Sunday mornings this street becomes more of a market and traffic is blocked off. It was really pretty busy. The rest of our group could not decide on somewhere to eat. We decided to go out on our own. We left the rest of the group and headed toward the Eiffel Tower.
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| Rue Cler |
The Eiffel Tower was about 3 blocks west of where we were. The smells of Paris (other than the smoking) were great. All of the cheeses, pasteries, roast chicken and others. Mmmmm...... We made our way to the park in front of the Eiffel Tower and walked out in the middle to see it. It is really pretty amazing. I was skeptical because one, it is in my nature, but it is just a big tower of metal. It is actually very impressive. You can see it from most parts of the city as well. We walked closer and closer to get different pictures and views. The closer we got, the more we were harrassed. There are what I'm going to call pick pocket gangs all over this area. They wanted to talk, or have you fill out a survey or anything to get you to stop so they could distract you and steal your stuff. This was really annoying. We made our way through them and all of the other tourists, to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. I wanted to get over to the Trocadero, but found that the street behind the Eiffel Tower was closed because a marathon was going on. It took a little while, but we made our way around the marathon and walked toward the bridge to the Trocadero. Before crossing we stopped and got a crepe. It was filled with cheese and was really pretty good. The guy making the crepes was a little rude, but all in all it was fine.
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| Me and a Crepe in front of the Eiffel Tower |
We walked over to the Trocadero and there were even more pick pocket gangs. We did find a few cops walking up the hill so we stayed close to them. It was interesting how the pick pocketers stayed clear of the cops. I watched a couple vear clear of the policemen because they didn't want to get in trouble. Once at the Trocadero we had a great view of the Eiffel Tower. It is gorgeous up there. We also had a great weather day. It was sunny and about 65 degrees. Really great.
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| Bridge going to Trocadero |
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| Looking back at the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero |
After the Trocadero, we headed towards the Champs Elysees. I had added data on my iPhone so I could use the Maps app on the phone. It worked great. We headed toward the Arc de Triomphe and then went down the
Champs Elysees. The Arc de Triomphe was huge. It was much more impressive than I expected. The Champs Elysees was pretty cool too. It is a very large main street. There is plenty of room to walk on each side, which is what we did. We found a cafe to stop and have a break and a snack. Lisa wanted champagne and cheese, so that is what we had. Wow! Their cheese puts our to shame. They were great. We had a roquefort, camembert, another stinky cheese and a harder cheese similar, but milder than cheddar. Very good. Our water was awesome as well. He spoke what I called Frenglsih (the French version of Spanglish). He was really good about mixing the French words in with the English so we could understand, but also learn.
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| Arc de Triomphe |
After our snack we decided to head to the bank of the Seine. It was a little further than we wanted to go, so we decided to find a cab, which was not as easy to find as it was in other areas. When we finally did find a cab, we were delayed due to a roller skating race. that was pretty silly. Kind of looked like cyclists except on roller skates. The cab took us to the Louvre. It was about 3:00pm at this point and we were not sure what to expect. The Louvre is an amazing sight. The pyramid actually looks great at the entrance. The building used to be a palace, but has been converted to a museum. There was one problem: the line. Wow, was that a line. They closed around 6:00 so we didn't want to wait in line and waste the time in line and not get to see very much inside. We decided to move on and walked down the right bank. This is a great area. There are little shops up and down the river. We walked by Pont Neuf, which is a famous, beautiful bridge. We made our way to Notre Dame Cathedral. We thought maybe we could walk through it before the end of the day. Nope. That was incorrect. When we got there, they had just started mass at 4:00pm. Then there was a concert going on at 6:30. That area was really busy. The cathedral though is spectacular. It is very different from the ornate Westminster Abbey. Notre Dame has the flying buttresses and gargoyles. It is much darker than Westminster. We walked around the outside of the cathedral and took a bunch of pictures.
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| Le Louvre |
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| Pont Neuf with the Eiffel Tower behind |
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| Notre Dame Cathedral |
Before we left for Paris we were told to take the Batobus, a river cruise boat, back to the other end. We found the port close to Notre Dame, and tried to read information about it. We were confronted by 2 different people trying to sell their tickets. Now, we just got here and have already dealt with the pick pocket people at the Eiffel Tower. We declined both offers and then decided not to take the boat. It was 15 Euros per person for a day pass. We were only taking it back to the Eiffel Tower and then walking over to our hotel. We decided to take a cab instead. While trying to find a cab, we stumbled upon Shakespeare and Company, which in my research before the trip I found that this was a bookstore that an English author started and he let penniless writers stay while traveling. Ernest Hemingway spent some time here. It was interesting that we happened to pass it. We found a cab (which was our second Mercedes cab, pretty nice) and headed back to our hotel. Parisian cabs are similar to Vegas cabs. At one point he cut off 4 lanes of traffic to make a left turn. It was crazy. We got close to the hotel and we had him drop us at Rue Cler where we started. We wanted some pastries and champagne. At the wine shop, we met another American couple about our age. They were from Chicago on their honeymoon and were near the end of a 20 day European trip. They looked exhausted. The shop clerk was confused when we told him that we were not together. He was also very helpful picking out a bottle for us and explaining a little about the wine and the region. We went back to the hotel and our room was ready. It was almost 6:00 and dinner was schedule d for 7:30. When we got to the room, we put our stuff down and looked outside. I was in awe. The view from our room was unbelievable. It looked right at the Eiffel Tower which about half of it stood about the tree line. We were on the 4th floor of the building and it was a great view. Lisa and I just took pictures and looked out the window while we waited for dinner. Oh, we also had a macaroon or two. Yummy.
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| View from our hotel |
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| This is sitting in bed. I still can't believe it. |
Dinner was at a French restaurant that apparently catered toward the English speaking crowd. I don't think it was a touristy place, but they definitely aimed toward the English and Americans. It was amazing. Very small place, probably only sat 30 people, but it was great. We started wtih the waiter bringing us a glass of sauvignon blanc with black currant liquor. So good. We then got a bottle of Bordeaux for the table to share. Lisa started with escargot and I got oysters. The oysters were very good, a little different from their American cousins. Maybe a little sweeter. The escargot came in the shells and was a little tricky to get out. Once you did, holy cow. They were worth it. They were head and shoulders better than the cruise's escargot. For the entrees, Lisa got a filet with mushroom sauce and frites, and I got roast chicken. Oh my god! The sauces that were on these plates were unbelievable. Lisa's steak was cooked perfectly and the mushroom sauce could have been eaten with a spoon. It was rich, creamy, with a hint of red wine. My chicken was awesome. It was a thyme, cream sauce with mashed potatoes and green beans. The chicken was extremely tender and had a great flavor. The mashed potatoes more than likely had more butter than potato in them. Oh, and French butter? Yea, it puts any other butter to shame. They had it on the ship too and I asked for it every night. Salty, creamy, with a hint of sweet. So good. We ended the meal with a creme brulee. The sugary crust was not as good as others, but the custard part of very good. Overall, it was a great meal.
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| Our Dinner Spot |
After dinner, we went back to the hotel. Lisa and I watched the hourly "sparkle" of the Eiffel Tower and drank our champagne. All in all, this was one of the best days ever. Spending a day in the romantic city of Paris with my wife and enjoying a great meal, then ending it with the Eiffel Tower and champagne. Amazing....
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| Again, from our hotel room |
Next up, more Paris, then cruising..........
(Post trip note: The rest of our group went to Normandy this day. Not only was it cold and raining the entire day, but the American Cemetery was closed due to the government shut down. They still had a great time, but it was a very different day than what we experienced.
We also checked the Fitbit at the end of Paris Day 1, and she and I walked around 22,500 steps. I couldn't believe it. The thing of it is, I could have gone more. There was so much to see that I didn't feel tired until we stopped.)
