vacation03

Hi all,

I want to share my wonderful experiences on this first trip to Paris/amsterdam with you, hopefully it'll be entertaining as well as helpful for amateur travellers like me. Thanks to everyone who offered great advice and hotel recommendations + help with frustrating process of purchasing sncf tickets online.


My BF and I arrived in Paris on day 1 at #8, port royal hotel on boulevard de port royal. we arrived from CDG by metro and it was a long, hot walk to the hotel. We couldn't find the hotel on our map and as we stood on the street looking at our map two locals asked us in french if we were lost. (i took 4 yrs of French in school so it helped!). I said yep and told them the hotel we were looking for. I was very surprised two strangers had stopped on the road to ask us if we needed help. Started to wonder if it was a myth that the french are rude. There was construction going on on the main road and our hotel room faces this road. I had requested a room facing courtyard but didn't get it for whatever reason. The first day we arrived was very hot so at night we kept our windows open(had to) and hence it was super noisy. Even in our jet lagged state we woke up in between once or twice due to sirens wailing(there's a hospital close by I believe). The room is very small (we stayed at budget hotels in Italy and Spain yet this room was by far the smallest). Bathroom equally so, you would hit your head somewhere or knee somehwere if you moved too much. We are from northern california and not too used to the metro system etc but caught on fairly quick. Maps were free and available at the airport and metros are super convenient. Hotel location is not exactly in the latin quarter, it's in the border of the 5th and 13th? (near montparnesse). By metro and bus you can get into the main part of paris but you gotta change lines. Although I read good reviews somehow we were not happy with this hotel. The location was out of the way, metro was a long walk to get to and the noise and construction made it uncomfortable. My recommendation? Don't bother with this hotel for 76E and breakfast not included. (We found boulangers close by so no problem.)

Our hotel lady was very friendly and helpful.

Day 1: First day we pretty much relaxed at the jardin de luxembourg, close by to the hotel so it was a lovely 20 mt walk or so. We saw so many locals blabbering away in french, sprawled on the lush lawns. We did the same for a good 2 hours, fighting sleep. Our flight arrived at 10am in the morning and by the time we got to the hotel it was 1pm. We freshened up, went to eat lunch(indian restaurant right next to the hotel) and then headed to this park by 4pm. By now the weather is cloudy. No rain but warm.

Around 7pm or so we're so droopy we decided to turn in, except my BF wants to see eiffel and it seems like a good way to end the evening. So we metro it to the eiffel and what a sight coming up from the metro. It was beautiful. Raining by now. We had our umbrella and watched the beautiful tower. Rain stopped as we walked closer and we hunkered down in one of the benches. Walked to the Champ de Mars park behind the tower and took some pictures and headed to a cafe nearby for forgettable food. We metro'd it back home and called it a night by around 9pm.

Day 2: Saturday morning was glorious and sunny and we picked up a museum pass at the metro and headed to Orsay. We followed rick steves' guide which was helpful, and pointed out key insights which were interesting. This took us about 2 hours by which it was pouring outside. We stood outside the museum for a bit and decided to walk to notre dame to see the cathedral. But (lesson to be learnt here) my shoes were not exactly made for rain and were getting wet(i knew i should have got my sports shoes) and i could feel the cold seeping through my feet so we found a taxi and arrived at the notre dame. Cathedral was simply fabulous. We went inside and again followed rick's guide within the cathedral. We sat for a while and simply soaked in the atmosphere - quiet and peaceful. We then walked the park behind it which leads you out to the Seine and some fantastic side views of the cathedral. Probably the best, especially at night. Took some pictures in the rain and continued walking a bit till we reached the Shakespeare book store - small walk. Lovely and quaint, especially when you climb upstairs and see the hopeful writers writing away in one of the rooms. It seems as though anyone is welcome to plop down on one of the dorm like beds and just read or write upstairs.

Rain and slowed to a slight drizzle and we meandered around and walked through the latin quarter and found some pasta place for hot pasta and soup. Felt good in that slightly cool weather. (i think in paris you're okay in any italian restaurant so I didn't bother remembering this one).

Wandering through latin quarter was fun - lotsa loud music playing, salsa, greek cafes open, people drinking etc.

We meandered our way to Germain du pres and ended up sipping cafe at deux magots a lovely cafe on the corner, watching the ppl of paris + tourists walk by. We spend a good 2 hours or so just gawking at everyone and headed back to hotel for a bit.

At night we went into isle de st. Louis, adjoining island to notre dame. Lovely walk from notre dame into St. Louis and the restaurant on the right as soon as you walk into isle st. lousi is really good. Flore en st. Louis? I think. You can't miss it, it's on the right hand side when you cross the bridge over the seine from Notre Dame. Ice cream there was fabulous. Had a white chocolate cone.

It had completely stopped raining and it was quite dry by now so we walked along the Seine and hung out by the river, drinking our wine. plenty of ppl were hanging out there and some kids were strumming the guitar so you can imagine - it added to the intoxicating ambience.


day 3: we headed out to Versailles, the museum pass requires that you cover certain stuff in three consecutive days so accordingly we were saving Louvre for the third day. Train to Versailles was easy enough, 30 mt ride.You must buy a Versailles ticket at the metro otherwise your regular metro tickets won't work. We bought a carnet the first day for 10E but had to purchase separate metro tickets to go to Versailles. Figured this out on the way back, way to, we hopped over the ...what do you call it. to get through the revolving things to get to the train like some ppl were doing because we didn't understand why our carnet tickets was not working and there was no counter open to ask.

Versailles was magnificent. Followed rick's guide again. I had studied this in french class so of course i wanted to now see the hall of mirrors etc. Versailles fulfilled my dreams that I had carried with me since high school french class about marie antoinette, the gardens etc.

We walked all over the palace and gardens, saw the fountains come on and finally were so tired of walking, we hopped on a tram ride through the rest of the extensions of the palace. Weather was cloudy by now.

We headed back to Paris hotel by 6pm. We had planned for a lighted up view of Eiffel, which we got - we left hotel around 10pm and ended up at Eiffel with nowhere to eat. Yep, it was Sunday. And we were late. and it was raining now. And it was cold. WE found some local diner like place, and managed with some soup and sandwhich. Walked to the eiffel, saw her light up and fell in love. Walked to Trocadero(had another pair of shoes thankfully) and took some pics and headed back to hotel around midnight.

Day 4: good morning Marais!!! Yep we switched hotels. No we don't do this normally but this one time i wanted to try different areas. I would not recommend this switching obviously, y ou lose time moving etc. But I'm glad we did it, we loved marais, and we loved Hotel Roubaix. 66E with breakfast, on Rue Grenata, was simply lovely. On a quiet street, bedroom bigger than port royal, bathroom bigger. Walking distance to Notre Dame, Louvre. And hence Germain du Pres. wow.

We moved and were in louvre by 11:00am. We explored only the Denon wing. We both love Renaissance artwork (from Italy trip) and enjoyed the sculptures as well. Needless to say Mona Lisa was a wonder. Not because we are art conoisseurs. We're not. But because i'ts Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. What we've studied about in art class, in french class. It's a masterpiece. I didn't try to understand it too much, I just tried to feel it, and move on. If you have the energy see more, but we prefer to do things slowly. Save more of the Louvre for another time. When we're not tired and we can appreciate and understand these works of art and not just see them and click pictures for the sake of seeing them. It worked out well for us. We felt good, understood the differences in french romanticism, neoclassicism and the renaissance movement. good enuff.

Stopped for lunch at a sidewalk cafe facing the Louvre. Great onion soup.

Evening we headed to Isle de St. Louis again and same restaurant. couldn't help it.

day 5: Tuesday morning we walked a good hour to the Eiffel tower, beautiful walk along the Seine, weather was sunny and slightly chilly but great for walking. The line to go up the tower was so long, we ditched it and enjoyed the tower sprawled on the champ du mars park.

We then decided to cruise the seine, while weather lasted, and spend a good 1.5 hours on the cruise. just a pleasant way to sightsee....commentary useless. 9E not bad.

(i don't know how long I can extend this post, already 2 long, will continue later!)

vacation03

ok continuing.

After cruise we headed to germain du pres for some lunch at a wonderful italian place on the corner of germain du pres and blvd st. michel. Did some shopping along the way at a local store called Andre - bought a lovely bag. (by the way this gallery lafayette was so expensive not sure why it's so highly recommended. we looked in there for about 10-15 mts and left). I found the local stores on these streets inside germain or st. michel much cheaper. Same with Bon Marche, was expensive. I guess y'll go for epicerie? dunno. was surprised why these department stores are so recommended.

I love my green purse - looks like one of those brand names but ....it's not. Unless Andre is a brand name.

We hopped on over to another cafe for some cafe creme and delighted in more people watching. Evening we walked the marais and had a fabulous dinner at cafe hugo at place des voges. loved the chicken & rice dish and onion soup.
All the boutiques were closed but in the daytime im sure that area would have been awesome to explore. We wandered around the streets after dinner and headed back to the hotel. No energy to explore rue de lappe for clubbing. (next visit, nightlife, more marais and go up the tower!!!) ;-)

day 5: gorgeous morning to metro up to Montmartre. Torn between exploring marais and Mont but BF said let's see another part of Paris. So we went.

Loved it. Met some norweigean tourists etc and chatted with them for a while...ate lunch at a lovely cafe in the plaze center - Cafe Eugene.

The artists painting in the square were truly a delight to see....some are painting....some are just available to answer any questions...view from Sacre C was stunning.
We explored the little alleys of Mont. and headed to this Gallery Lafayette behind Opera to see what was so great....didn't find anything and headed to H&M, my favorite store in Europe - we don't have one in CA. bought a tote bage, pants/shirt that fit so diff from US clothes. Love it.
(40E)

We spent the afternoon in the marais eating lunch and then packed up our stuff for next destination - Amsterdam. (Of course I forgot to mention this - we did the jardin de Tuilerries walk after Louvre - loved it. Walked the Champs Elysees - glitzy . Arch Di triomphe - went to the top and got a fab view of the layout of Paris, not to mention the lighted Eiffel at night, blinking away. )

Take aways in Paris - people are friendly. I said bonjour, merci, au revoir, and when people realized you don't understand the language too well, they see the lost look on your face and immediately try to speak english. But it helps to know some french - signs - to tell taxi's where to go if you end up taking them etc...
I don't know why ppl say they are rude. Some may be, but it's a fast paced city...and there are rude people everywhere. But to say the French are rude? hmmmm....not in my experience.

They love gardens. We do too now. They spend so much time in parks. I can see why.

And clothes - ppl, so many of you ask on these posts, how to fit in in Paris or what to wear. I saw so many people, french people dressed in anything and everything. So many of them are wearing jeans. I dont' know where you all go....but we're in our late 20s and we don't frequent the posh high end places....nor do we frequent cheapo places...whatever that means...we go where the crowd is...and as a woman I fit in just fine. Throw on a scarf, accesorize, wear some good shoes that are most impt. good for walking and you're fine. Most of the girls and young women are wearing earrings, long colored ones - to silver hoops. Long skirts(the Indian style that's so in these days) to jeans to pants. Leather jackets, to scarves to black coats to jean jackets. I found the italian better more chicly dressed and i felt way out of place there. But once you throw on some jewelry, and some scarves...you're there.

More on Amsterdam later.

Cosmo

Loving your report. Thanks for posting!
We leave in a couple of weeks for 5 days in Paris with our hotel booked in the Marais district also, staying in the Hoel Sevigne.
Im enjoying the way you write as it is fun but also informative, giving me some good tips along the way. Looking forward to your next posting.
Glad you had such a wonderful time... countdown time for us....

maryanne1

I am enjoying your post. Like you I found the French people nothing but friendly. It does help to know and use a few French phrases.
I am really looking forward to the Amsterdam part of your report as my daughter and I plan to be there in April.

vacation03

Marais is more down to earth, boutiques are very trendy and expensive from outside - you can see the prices listed on the clothes/shoes/bags on the mannequins. But some earlier post said you can find unique clothing here.

Before leaving paris, we stopped at a Sephora. although we have Sephora here in CA, a friend told me I could get perfumes there that I can't here. So i went off to find one, I got one such perfume in Italy and Spain for way cheaper because I got them at a parfumerie not at an expensive store. But in Paris, the perfumes at parfumeries were not exciting, didn't smell that great. A few of the girls at these places were really super friendly and helpful, they walked me through their parfumeries and showed me the inexpensive stuff...but the stuff that smelt wonderful was expensive even here. So I decided may as well go to Sephora in that case. The Sephora on Champs Elysees was just too crowded, and I didn't find anyone to help me so we continued our walk on the Champs toward Arch Di Triomphe.

Instead we went to a Sephora in the Marais, on the walk to the Louvre, and i found some lovely people to help me out - got a heavenly scent, Cacharelle, they said it's not available in the US and i hope it's not, haven't seen it here in CA. It was 33E. My budget for that was like 10E. I know I know, but in Italy and Spain ...well ok Paris is more expensive then.

So my souvenirs from paris: my perfume frm Sephora, did get a body lotion that smells of roses at the parfumerie by the way for 9E, my lovely green purse from Andre, magnets(I always collect them for the fridge). chocolates at a local grocery store(i don't like fancy stuff, actually these chocolates are like the kit kats and stuff we find here at the Safeways at the aisle. That's the stuff I love...go figure.) We did stop by some chocolatiers but didn't fancy any of the offerings...the ones I got from the store were Kinder, with hazelnuts in them and I first tried them n Italy. They are fabulous. But not parisien or anything. I think they are a swiss brand.
I also got some jewelry (necklace, some cheap earrings) in a small store walking through Latin Quarter and at the Marais. I could have done without, but that type of necklace I had not seen here, although I bet we may get it. Earrings were 5E and just needed to accesorize some of my clothes, that's all. I felt people wear earrings and stuff more there than we do here.

Patisseries: well...dissapointingly I didn't find any exciting stuff. To all you people cringing at this statement...i dunno why I didn't!!! In Italy and Spain I went crazy at every pattiserie, buying up those small tiny pastries and eating them all t he time. I loved them. They are small, bite sized portions of flan, custards, and other stuff....but here in Paris the pastries were more medium sized..and didn't look too appealing. i know i know I was surprised at myself too. Dunno why. Did try some creme brulees at the cafes - great. no complaints. I love flan and creme brulee. Tried the crepes. Were good, my BF did not like them at all. I enjoyed the ones with chocolate on them and the plain ones with sucre.
Okay I think I've covered Paris pretty well.....now on to Amsterdam.

Train was no problem - Gare du NOrd was big, but information booths available to confirm where to go etc, so no biggie. Train ride was smooth(i threw up all the food I had eating), but the train ride itself was smooth. Can't blame my puking on the train now. I experienced a lot more motion sickness on this trip than any other time. dunno y. We landed at our B&B at 11pm at night. Taxis at station no problem. Amsterdam operates by trams, not metros. But we had 2 much luggage. The other lesson to be learnt. Pack smarter...take one big box per person(medium sized) and one tote bag or backpack. My BF had a roll on(small), and one duffel bag that killed his shoulders. I had a backpack roll on, duffel bag(small), tote bag, another small duffel bag stuffed with the souvenirs and clothes i had got in Paris. Sigh. lesson learnt.

B&B is on the edge of Vondel Park - a beautiful big park to walk through. B&B is Tulips B&B, found it on the net for 100E per night. Pricy but so worth it. Recommended by Rick Steves also. After the small Parisien hotels, bathroom, this was heavean. It was a room facing the canal(a quiet one), plush carpets, big bathroom....we were in heaven. Especially since it was cold and rainy, coming back to this B&B was a treat.

We deposited our bags, walked over the canal bridge to get some food - most restaurants were closed as it was 12pm by now. But we found a Shoarma and got amazing falafels and fries(the best fries so far that we've eaten) with paprika. yum. Shoarmas are egyption restaurants....they have a lot of these, surinamese food and indonesian. Apparently to eat these foods is to be local. Not typical dutch food. Our shoarma guy was friendly and told us all these little details. Tourists don't come that often apparently anymore - prices are high etc etc. WE got back to B&B by 1pm(food was to go), ate it and fell asleep. Next morning we left by noonish after a wonderful night's rest. Our walk through vondel park was so lovely. Lots of people biking, running....lovely ponds, a fountain, ice cream vendors....people blading....we walked through to the Leidesplein and found a cafe to people watch and have some chips and sandwhiches. It was 1:30pm and most restaurants were closed. Why? Coz our waitress told us dutch don't eat lunch outside - they like to make their food and eat it at work(it was Thursday), so all those restaurants opened from 4:30pm onwards. Anyway there are lots of cafes on the stretch from Leidesplein to the Singel canal offering pastas/pizza/mcdonalds/burgerking/shoarmas.

We people watched as the rain began. Huddled under our umbrella and walked to Singel. On the way you'll pass at least 3 canals. Very pretty even in the rain....the whole area is charming surrounding these canals. I shopped and found some magnets, a windmill for my mother and a dutch doll for her(when her mom went to Holland before she died she got my mom these two things and my mom lost them when she got married so I thought getting her this would sort of be a nice surprise). I found a pair of lovely pointed shoes(in the front, with no heels) for 55E. It was expensive, but so comfortable and fit great. I said what the hell - you live only once. Got them. Found some cheap shoe stores later on , on the side streets, found amazing boots 50% off for 45E but didn't fit great. Looked great, and were so comfy, flats, no heels but damn didn't fit well. Was loose. By the way i found a lot of shoes in Holland and even in Paris for that matter were flats - unlike here where it's tough to find that many flat heeled trendy looking shoes...or boots. Or maybe i haven't gone serious shoe shopping in a while!

We wandered over to Singel canal and to the flower markets - my mother has a lovely garden here so I bought her some tulips that you don't get here in US or that are very rare. Get the ones with the certificate so you don't need to declare them at customs.

We then walked the other side of the canal and found a cafe to do more people watching. There were some boat cruises but not many thx to the rain. We met some lovely dutch girls at the coffee shop and exchanged notes. They told us that dutch food was not that good...and that it was better to try indonesian or thai etc. They gave me pointers on those shoe stores. We talked about how beautiful all european girls seem to appear. And then we got around to the pot stuff. They gave us some good places - and after our cafe creme with them we walked right behind the cafe to the Spui area to the Dampkring - in Ocean's 12? The one with the pot inside - we bought a joint, mild, told them we were tourists..they told us smoke it in breaks and to take only a few puffs at a time.

The smells hit you as you walk in.

We got our joint and walked off in the direction of the Jordaan. You can walk everywhere in Amsterdam it's that small to do. AT least the Singel/Spui/Jordaan from the other side of Vondel Park. We ddin't go to damsquare too much. At Jordaan we found a great Indian restaurant and stuffed ourselves to the tune of the pouring rain outside. drat it. my stupid shoes were soaked. But i was in Amsterdam and nothing could bring me down.

We polished off our food and walked off to the red light dristict. Wow, there were women standing behind doors, some good looking, some okay, some very slim, some a little fat. No children. I dunno what some other posts were saying here that why do you want to go see little children....there were none. Can't take pictures by the way. That's fine.

My BF wanted to see a show - so for 30E(which i was cringing at) we saw one, but it was fun. How many times are we going to do this - they were having sex on stage etc etc....fine a touristy thing you can do once if you want....overall experience was just fun. It was like going to Vegas and going to one of those shows except you see a lot more nudity...well u see sex in amsterdam.

We left the red light and cabbed it in the pouring rain back to hotel to smoke our joint. I wanted to go to the Dampkring to smoke it but BF was concerned about the effects it may have and thot it safer to do it in hotel. We were also wet and cold so we headed back.


Next day was bright and sunny - so we woke up and were out by 10am, walked through Vondel park, rented bicycles at Lediesplein and biked our way over the canals, at first we went back to bike through vondelpark, i was scared of biking on the streets with traffic. Once I warmed up we went onto the streets - it's so much fun! Just follow the signs and watch out for the cars.

We returned the bicycle around noon, had lunch at a pasta place on Lediesplein and hung out a cafe to people watch. It rained some. stopped. thank god. Walked back around 3pm through Vondel park to B&B and picked up our bags, called taxi and headed to station. Train ride back to paris was okay (i puked again, nothing new). Arrived in paris at 9pm. Checked into Hotel Rive Gauche by the Eiffel - no tower view like I had requested, for 95E. Room was clean, bathroom was ok, bed was okay. Will I recommend it? No. overpriced and i don't like staying in that area. We metro'd to St. Louis for dinner again, our favorite restaurant, it was dicey to choose between Cafe Hugo at Marais and this one. So we decided St. Louis again. Stuffed ourselves and thought we'll walk the Seine with our wine bottle. It was freezing. No rain but freezing. We walked through the Seine, drank some wine, and meandered through the Latin quarter toward St.Germain. Went onto Rue Buci which is sooooooooo cute, lovely creperie place there. Arrived at a cafe with heaters above and plopped down for some warmth and people watching. At 1pm Paris was hopping. People roaming the streets, we had one french couple on our left side, and another group of French late 20s to early 30s perhaps on our right. It was a lovely end to our journey. At 1:30pm when we couldn't keep our eyes open we cabbed back to our hotel.

Next day our flight back to USA was 1:30pm. Au revoir paris.

It was a great trip. We were hoping to visit some of the dutch towns in Amsterdam but as you can see we didn't have much time. We also didn't visit any of the Van gogh or Reijksmuseums, nor the Ann Frank house - because we just wanted to experience Amsterdam on the streets etc...in the short time we had. We saved the museums for our return trip during springtime, this way we can see the beautiful tulips as well. After this trip I'm learning it's okay to take it slow, it's okay to leave things out because it allows you to plan another trip back. First time you visit a country you're bound to be a tourist, make some mistakes and learn from them. Also all french people seem to be slim. they eat so much bread and cheese. but maybe they walk it off a lot.

I hope this reports helps! Au revoir for now!

maryanne1

Thanks for your post on Amsterdam. We are also staying near Vondel Park-Hotel Fita. Hopefully there won't be too much rain. I do want to get out of Amsterdam to some of the towns like Delft, etc. and ride a bike in the country. The tulips and other flowers are my big interest on this trip. Good you will get back to do that.
From friends I had heard the Dutch food is not that good,but there are many other kinds of restaurants. Thanks again.

klondike

Thanks for the fun trip report. Really enjoyed it!