Paris 2012

Day 1

We arrived from Orly International Airport after another marathon 24 hours of travel, this time from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur (7 hour layover) and finally on to Paris with a 14 hours flight. We overnighted on the plane, the discount airline - Asia Air. Discount means you will have to give something in return for cheap air fare. 8 hours into our flight I was really wishing we had managed scoop the cheap upgrade the flight attendants announced just as got on the plane for the first class air beds, but we were not quick enough to say yes. Mid point, I was ready to pay just about any price, but thankfully all things come to an end and we landed in Orly for the first light of a new Paris day at 8 am.
I was not thrilled to have my picture taken here...

We took a series of skytrains, metros and trains into the 7th arrondissement. The trip took about an hour as we sort of unsure about how to use the system, and we did have to transfer from one station to another 3 times. The savings was good though, it cost us about 9 euros each, better than 40 + tip for a taxi. I can tell you that climbing the stairs out of the dark belly of the metro into daylight and finding yourself in the heart of Paris was an immediate thrill. Impressive, stone apartment buildings surrounding us, already we could see amazing tiny restaurants and then the many small off shoots of lanes off the main street, we could even see the Eiffel Tower! We had huge smiles on our faces.

We rather easily found our prearranged apartment rental (used Air B&B and booked 2 months prior to our arrival) on Rue St. Dominic and were struck by the amazing patisseries, no less than 4 in a 2 block walk to our new home for the next 5 days. The shops displays were works of art themselves - treats beautifully arranged in the window. Coming from Asia, where we have been bakery deprived for the last month, it's sort of like a kid in a candy store. All of Paris was like that to us.

Our apartment is in a very old building.

A slim non descript door leads off the main street right next to a Kiel's shop, through a narrow dark hall to an old wooden stairwell.

Unsure we followed them up to the first floor's tiny landing with 3 smallish doors that don't look like apartments. One of unmarked door swung open and low and behold, a representative for the owner was there waiting for us. The owner's wife had gone into labour and he had sent a fellow let us in. Apparently she gave birth to baby girl that evening.

The apartment is perfect, probably not quite 400 sq. ft with a tiny kitchen open to the living area. The bedroom is separated by a large sliding door and the small bathroom is off the bedroom. It's sparsely, but nicely decorated in Ikea and little modern and ancient at the same time. Very comfortable for us and in an obviously wealthy fashionable neighborhood.

We were like kids in a candy shop after 4 weeks in Asia, being here in Paris was a luxurious change of venue, we couldn't wait to get outside and see it.

The Eiffel tower can be seen from our street and is 10 min walk from our new home, so off we went. We strolled slowly taking our time to stare into the shops windows and checking out the large selection of excellent restaurants along the way. They all look so amazing. Each is unique, old and the owner goes into great detail and care with their displays.

The area we are in is a wealthy residential district. Cobblestone lanes, and narrow streets connected by boulevards leading over the Seine River. It's peppered with clothing boutiques, restaurants, pastry shops also shops specializing in chocolates or gifts or collectables. They are each so unique, like works of art that we feel we are at an amusement park, there is so much to stop and gawk at. Not like home where you can count on a chain restaurant that strive to be the same. Here each is unique and stands out in a different way. Then we came around the corner to the Eiffel Tower, the epitome of Paris and again we can't take our eyes off it. We just stand in awe

It's freezing, like minus 4 which is incredibly cold for us coming from 31 degrees in Thailand. The good news about this weather is there is no one here. No lines, actually a bit of a line for the elevator, but we take the stairs to the first and then 2nd level each one we are sucking it all in as we take in the view of Paris. Then we pay the additional 4 Euros to travel all the way to the top. Above all of Paris, we get the aerial view of the monuments, the Seine snaking it's way through, the many bridges crossing it. We can see the the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre we are on the Eiffel tower - it's very exciting for us. A perfect way to get acquainted with the city before we explore.

From our birds eye view we decide to walk over the bridge to see a cemetery that we've spied from above and then make our way to the Arc de Triomphe and walk down the Champs-Elysees.
The cemetery is it's own walled city and reminds me of the one we went through in New Orleans, cryptic vaults with the names of families and their bodies buried below, many dating back to lat 1700's and right in the middle of the city. Turned out to be Passy Cemetary, rather obviously it was filled with the bones of the aristocrats of Paris in the 1800's.

From here we gawked our way through the streets of the 16th arrondissement through to the Arc. It is a most impressively large structure, detailed with statues and carvings all about Frances many wars. We have seen this monument so many times on TV or in print and knowing it was finish line for the Tour de France (Frances famous grueling bike racing) it was sort of like being in Disneyland, only this was all real.

From here we walked down the fashionable Champs-Elysee with it's many high end Louis Vuitton store (5 floors high) a Mercedes dealer showing off only their highest end cars and endless boutiques, shops and restaurants - including, unfortunately MacDonalds of all things. Then we walked back to our apartment and recharged a little with an amazing baguette and some delicious wine.

We didn't let our full tummies stop us from going out for dinner. We had to try it all and picked one of the many restaurants right outside our door. It was a Tuesday and the quaint little restaurant (named Hotel Thoumieux, though there was no hotel) was packed with locals. In Paris we notice they crowd you in beside each other on tiny tables which they move out so you can get in. It's very friendly your new neighbours greet you with a hearty bonjour and immediately a basket of crusty fresh bread and butter is placed on your table. We had a small dinner and a 1/2 bottle of wine for 90 Euros $125!

Not sure how long we can last here. It is very expensive that's for sure and culture shock coming from Thailand, but heh, we are going to experience all we can.

Day 2

A good nights sleep and we are ready for a big day. First on the list was to get Ian a jacket to go over his jacket, so we were headed to a specific store for something cheap. Our apartment is full of previous visitors guide books and we found a Frommers book "24 walks in Paris" We were going to Forum des Halles, which is a huge underground mall, so we picked a walk close by.

The entire area used to be the biggest market of all in Paris until 1969 when the then president decided to be rid of the market and turn the area into a mall. It's a crying shame as the market sounded incredible, but now there is a crumbling modern mall in this historic spot. The good news is that Feb. 1st is the best time ever to shop in Paris, the stores have literally everything on sale and Ian picked up a big puffy jacket for 15 euros! good score.

Right beside the mall is St. Eustache, a massive and most impressive church - so we popped inside for a look.

Then we were already hungry and the book suggested Au Pied de Cochon, a famous french restaurant that specializes in pigs feet, so what the heck. It was a beautiful space, service was amazing. It's casual, but the waiters are dressed in tuxes and we were duly impressed with how everything was done just right. We both had the french onion soup, which was like nothing we have tasted before - delicious.
and the decor was another stunning example of how the french do classic.
We headed on walking tour which took us through some amazing streets and a 19th century arcade with shops like a special collection of antique canes? stamps, old coins, curios, old (very old) books, estate jewelry, antiques - a store with just collection of stuff that you would never in your life imagine finding in a store, plus amazing chocolate and more patisseries - we had died and gone to heaven

If were not looking at amazing shops, we were looking at amazing architecture, or more pastry shop windows!

We also visited the oldest patisserie in Paris called Stoehrer where we bought some amazing rich creamy quiche we ended up having for dinner.

They day shoots by and by and it's already 6pm and we were very tired. We are also getting over our jet lag. We shopped on Rue Cler which has many beautiful open to the street shops (cheese, meat, produce, wine) and picked up some salad stuffs and wine to have with our quiche for dinner and after that we ended up staying in. A good idea since we were both out like a light by 9pm.

Day 3

Today is even colder. Paris is being hit by a cold spell with unprecedented bone chilling winds and below average temperatures. Today is -7, so I decided not to run. We got out early to get into the Opera House "Opera Garnier" one of the most extravagant building in Paris - that's saying something because to us, they are all very extravagant. But the Opera house is over the top!
First I might mention that 9:30 am is still very much rush hour in Paris and getting the metro is a squeeze. We were however the first in the Opera House and actually had it to ourselves for the first 15 minutes, which you might imagine is pretty amazing. We walked up the incredible marble stairway which uses multiple varied marble carved and polished to form the most impressive steps I've ever seen. We entered the auditorium - the only ones in the theatre - we could feel the sound of silence. I don't think I can explain the opulence of this building, it is so detailed and lavish and over the top, so I will just add pictures and tell you that being there and standing there in it's glory and with it's history dripping into you is an out of this world feeling. We don't see anything like this in North America, the detail, the art, the magnificence. I would love to attend a ballet there and I would love to have been there 100 years ago with everyone in their finest attending an opera. Imagine!

Suffice to say we were both in awe of this impressive building.
From here we took the metro to the island on the Seine River where Paris began and to the church of Notre Dame. Building of this church began in the 1100's and was finished 60 years later. Incredibly preserved, it's many ancient stain glass windows let in only a tiny glimmer of daylight into the massive stone cavern of it's interior. Everything is huge and oppressive, the walls of stone and decorated muriels, the tombs and the elaborately carved wood. We were lucky as a service was going on when we arrived and we were treated to echoy melodic tone of a choir soloist ringing about the stone cavern as we made our way around yet another of the worlds wondrous sights to see. It's almost too much!

From here we crossed over the Seine to the Latin Quarter. This area, like everywhere in Paris is rich in history. We went by Picasso's home, the workshop where the Guillotine was invented (over 3,000 people were guillotined during the Revolution), the first coffee house where the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson, Lafayette would ponder the questions that plagued them. Look at the ancient cobblestones on the street.

This area is also where Dante wrote his "inferno" and the likes of Hemingway and James Joyce found inspiration in this corner of the world. I can see why, it's a world like no other here.

You would have to spend month in Paris to truly experience these treasures tucked into nooks and crannies, here and there. There is so much to see that is not in the guide books.
We stopped at a Creperie for lunch and indulged ourselves once again before heading to the metro again to the next stop, the Catacombes.

Peculiar, strange, scary, odd and bizarre - non of those words describe where we went next. Beneath the streets of Paris's Denfert area (a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris, lies the bones of aver 6 million Parisians dating back to the 17th century. Apparently sometime in the 1800's the residents of Paris were getting ill due to contaminated water which was spread from the many cemeteries around the city. A decision was made to move the bones to an Ossuary (bone depository) and so Les Catacomes was conveived. The bodies of the buried were dug up and brought by horse and carriage in the dark of night and deposited in the old quarry tunnels of the Paris, but not only that. They were actually arranged in pattern. One can walk through the old quarry to the ossuary and view carefully and artfully arranged skulls, femurs and miscellaneous bones that go on for ever. It is a sight I'm sure I shall never see again - eerie, not exactly beautiful, but to see the bones or so many laid in a pattern upon pattern stirs up emotion as you walk through the long narrow winding halls - careful not to trip!

It reminded us that in the end we are all the same, no matter who we think we are.

Day 4

Off to Versailles and it's now -9!