Eight Days In Paris - Old Favorites and New Experiences
May 30th, 2014, 02:45 PM
#21
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I'm enjoying your report,ssander! We were in Paris the same time - I left the US one day later than you. This was my 5th stay in Paris since 2001 also, so I was looking for some "less touristy" things to do. I'm glad you enjoyed the book, "An Hour From Paris". I' ll try to do a report, too. I've been back a week now, so think I've recuperated finally! Looking forward to the rest of your report.
May 31st, 2014, 02:00 AM
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DAY 06 - SUN MAY 25
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Breakfast in our room — the usual.
Today we are going to Vaux-le-Vicomte, the palace that inspired Versailles. Long story short: Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s finance minister, built it with three of the finest architects, landscapers, and interior designers of the day. It was so beautiful that a jealous Louis (urged on by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, conspiring private secretary Prime Minister Mazarin) had Vicomte arrested on a false charge of embezzlement, hired the three creators of the palace, and built Versailles.
It’s not easy to get to. There are plenty of trains and RERs from Gare Lyon to Melun, the nearby town, but there are only bus connections to the palace on weekends…and not too many of those. Our first snag was at Gare Lyon. The ticket line was long and slow, and there were two separate lines. The RER trains were slower than the other trains, so we picked the line that did not say “RER.” Needless to say we picked the wrong one. It turned out that — and correct me if I likely get this wrong — since Melun is in the zoned area, even non-RER trains use the RER-type ticket.
When we got to the right ticket window, we were informed that work on the line would cause a delay that would make our train late. There was, however, an earlier RER train that would get us to Melun only a little late for the bus connection, so we took that assuming (hoping) that the bus company knew about the delays and would wait for the appropriate train. Luckily — though the train ride was a little longer than planned — we were right, and arrived at the palace OK.
After a scary start, our luck changed. The weather was completely rainless and somewhat sunny. The palace was beautiful. We walked the 80 or so steps to the dome for a breathtaking view of the grounds. We saw the carriage museum. The rooms, furniture, and tapestries were outstanding. We walked all over the grounds. There were sword fighters and horsemen in costume. But there was something else about it that, it turned out, was happening only today.
Over half the visitors were also dressed in period costumes. We had passed through a room on the way to the main building where you could rent costumes, but most of these folks had come already dressed. (the parking lot was full of them.)
It gave the entire scene an eerie time-warp feeling, seeing people having picnics and strolling the grounds…and not in a Disney-fied way., because these were not employees…they were clearly visitors, though visitors from another time, enjoying the palace and grounds as were we.
It turned out that today was a special day at Vaux…where everyone was encouraged to dress up. We had really lucked out.
We ate lunch at the cafeteria, and it was very good and reasonably-priced. A huge slice of roast pork with mashed potatoes and some kind of vegetable mix, and a salad.
Our return trip was uneventful. Since today was Sunday, our Navigo Semaine passes would end, so I stopped at a tobacco shop and picked up a carnet to carry us through Monday and Tuesday.
After a long rest, we were ready for dinner…at Equinox. Entrees were breaded zucchini flowers and a pepper quiche. Plats were steak and frites (Linda) and chicken Basque (again) for me. We both had the litchi dessert that I had had a couple of days ago.
After dinner we walked up Rue Vieilles du Temple for a bit. Seeing the Filles du Calvaire Metro station, and noticing the time, we decided to go down to the Eiffel Tower to watch it show off. We go there just in time. Then we headed back to the hotel for the night.
[…more to come…]
DAY 06 - SUN MAY 25
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Breakfast in our room — the usual.
Today we are going to Vaux-le-Vicomte, the palace that inspired Versailles. Long story short: Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s finance minister, built it with three of the finest architects, landscapers, and interior designers of the day. It was so beautiful that a jealous Louis (urged on by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, conspiring private secretary Prime Minister Mazarin) had Vicomte arrested on a false charge of embezzlement, hired the three creators of the palace, and built Versailles.
It’s not easy to get to. There are plenty of trains and RERs from Gare Lyon to Melun, the nearby town, but there are only bus connections to the palace on weekends…and not too many of those. Our first snag was at Gare Lyon. The ticket line was long and slow, and there were two separate lines. The RER trains were slower than the other trains, so we picked the line that did not say “RER.” Needless to say we picked the wrong one. It turned out that — and correct me if I likely get this wrong — since Melun is in the zoned area, even non-RER trains use the RER-type ticket.
When we got to the right ticket window, we were informed that work on the line would cause a delay that would make our train late. There was, however, an earlier RER train that would get us to Melun only a little late for the bus connection, so we took that assuming (hoping) that the bus company knew about the delays and would wait for the appropriate train. Luckily — though the train ride was a little longer than planned — we were right, and arrived at the palace OK.
After a scary start, our luck changed. The weather was completely rainless and somewhat sunny. The palace was beautiful. We walked the 80 or so steps to the dome for a breathtaking view of the grounds. We saw the carriage museum. The rooms, furniture, and tapestries were outstanding. We walked all over the grounds. There were sword fighters and horsemen in costume. But there was something else about it that, it turned out, was happening only today.
Over half the visitors were also dressed in period costumes. We had passed through a room on the way to the main building where you could rent costumes, but most of these folks had come already dressed. (the parking lot was full of them.)
It gave the entire scene an eerie time-warp feeling, seeing people having picnics and strolling the grounds…and not in a Disney-fied way., because these were not employees…they were clearly visitors, though visitors from another time, enjoying the palace and grounds as were we.
It turned out that today was a special day at Vaux…where everyone was encouraged to dress up. We had really lucked out.
We ate lunch at the cafeteria, and it was very good and reasonably-priced. A huge slice of roast pork with mashed potatoes and some kind of vegetable mix, and a salad.
Our return trip was uneventful. Since today was Sunday, our Navigo Semaine passes would end, so I stopped at a tobacco shop and picked up a carnet to carry us through Monday and Tuesday.
After a long rest, we were ready for dinner…at Equinox. Entrees were breaded zucchini flowers and a pepper quiche. Plats were steak and frites (Linda) and chicken Basque (again) for me. We both had the litchi dessert that I had had a couple of days ago.
After dinner we walked up Rue Vieilles du Temple for a bit. Seeing the Filles du Calvaire Metro station, and noticing the time, we decided to go down to the Eiffel Tower to watch it show off. We go there just in time. Then we headed back to the hotel for the night.
[…more to come…]
May 31st, 2014, 02:09 AM
#26
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One more thing...Vaux was new for us. We'd been to Versailles twice. Actually, IMHO, once every ten years or so is enough for Versailles. It's obviously much bigger and extravegant with all the extra sections to visit, but Vaux was much less crowded (even on the special costume day) and quite similar in the interior. I recommend it as an alternative visit for Versaille veterans.
SS
SS
May 31st, 2014, 04:24 AM
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DAY 07 - MON MAY 26
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Breakfast in our hotel room…Linda, a real “flan”-atic, had flan again. I switched to a crumb fruit tarte.
We had planned to go to the Louvre today, but at the last minute decided to go to the Pompidou, which we hadn’t visited last trip. (We’ve been to Louvre many, many times.) The Contemporary floor was closed for renovations, which was OK with me, since I am more of a Modern-floor (1900-1950 or so) fan. It’s a very nice museum, but there are a number of small museums that, IMHO, offer a better experience for pre-1950 20th c. art — the Courtauld Gallery in London and the City Museum of Modern Art in Paris (More about that tomorrow).
For lunch we finally went to A’s au Falafel on R. Rosiers. We had been there on our first trip in 2001 and found it OK but not to our taste. We felt we owed it another try, since it is recommended in just about every travel guide book. We had schwarmas and frites — it was actually not bad…but I guess middle eastern spices are not on our A-list of flavors.
We then took a walk around Les Halles, including the fountain of the innocents, St. Merri and finishing up at St. Eustache. We thought we’d walk down Rue Montorgueil and check out the market stalls, but nothing much was going on that day. Also, we checked out a few chocolate shops. Tomorrow, our final day, would include picking up a few gifts for our kids and the neighbors who were collecting our mail.
Rest.
The weather was pretty good, so we decided to wander around the Marais for a while…started out in the south, through Village St. Paul (most places closed) , the St. Paul St. Louis church, over to Bastille, up to R. St. Gilles, and back down Vieille du Temple.
Dinner was pizza, salad and beer at Sant’ Antonio, then ice cream at Amorino — we shared a cup of chocolate, vanilla and (amazing) raspberry. Finished the day with a walk over to Ile St Louis to watch the river.
[…more to come…]
DAY 07 - MON MAY 26
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Breakfast in our hotel room…Linda, a real “flan”-atic, had flan again. I switched to a crumb fruit tarte.
We had planned to go to the Louvre today, but at the last minute decided to go to the Pompidou, which we hadn’t visited last trip. (We’ve been to Louvre many, many times.) The Contemporary floor was closed for renovations, which was OK with me, since I am more of a Modern-floor (1900-1950 or so) fan. It’s a very nice museum, but there are a number of small museums that, IMHO, offer a better experience for pre-1950 20th c. art — the Courtauld Gallery in London and the City Museum of Modern Art in Paris (More about that tomorrow).
For lunch we finally went to A’s au Falafel on R. Rosiers. We had been there on our first trip in 2001 and found it OK but not to our taste. We felt we owed it another try, since it is recommended in just about every travel guide book. We had schwarmas and frites — it was actually not bad…but I guess middle eastern spices are not on our A-list of flavors.
We then took a walk around Les Halles, including the fountain of the innocents, St. Merri and finishing up at St. Eustache. We thought we’d walk down Rue Montorgueil and check out the market stalls, but nothing much was going on that day. Also, we checked out a few chocolate shops. Tomorrow, our final day, would include picking up a few gifts for our kids and the neighbors who were collecting our mail.
Rest.
The weather was pretty good, so we decided to wander around the Marais for a while…started out in the south, through Village St. Paul (most places closed) , the St. Paul St. Louis church, over to Bastille, up to R. St. Gilles, and back down Vieille du Temple.
Dinner was pizza, salad and beer at Sant’ Antonio, then ice cream at Amorino — we shared a cup of chocolate, vanilla and (amazing) raspberry. Finished the day with a walk over to Ile St Louis to watch the river.
[…more to come…]
May 31st, 2014, 06:18 AM
#28
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Just found this. That day nap worked for me in Madrid, ssander. Arriving first thing in the a.m. is wonderful but fatigue does hit. I googled it and your hotel looks wonderful—the rooms so charming. That Gare Montparnasse has a rooftop garden, let alone 2 museums, was good to know. The Belleville Open Doors will be a must see if I can get back to Paris. You’ve given us Paris veterans many new ideas! Wish there was more than one more day with your TR.
May 31st, 2014, 10:03 AM
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DAY 08 - TUE MAY 27
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Breakfast in our room…along with an orange, we shared flan plus a chocolate croissant for Linda…something called an <i>exotique</i> for me. I have no idea what was in it, but it was great. We also had milk (from the Monop’ down the street) for a change, instead of coffee.
Today turned out to be a day when some things didn’t turn out as planned…but a good day never-the-less. We started out at the Tuilleries checking out all the statues and greenery. Then, passing the Jean d’arc statue, we started our exploration of the passages. This was a composite map I made from information on Fodor’s from Kerouac and Degas (no longer with us).
It was a lot of fun…plus we had a great find: a wonderful children’s toy and book shop called <strong><i>Si Tu Veux</i></strong> in Gallerie Vivienne. We needed a gift for our 5-month old grandson, and we wanted a book, but so many books are printed in China…we wanted one from France. We found <i>Bonjour, les vaches!</i> by Yuichi Kasano, a beautifully illustrated book in French (which is OK, since he can’t read English, either.
Next we passed the Fontaine Louvois with its women representing four French rivers: the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne and the Saône.
We continued on to Galleries Lafayette with its amazing dome and went to the roof to check out view. We also looked at some of items for sale. I took a photo of a display of watches, one of which was priced at €79,000…a little out of my range as a souvenir. (There were some watches that had no price at all, so maybe the €79K one was a mid-range item.)
Back to reality: We stopped at a chocolate place to pick up the gifts for our family and neighbor, paid our hotel bill, and headed to the BHV for lunch. I had a nicoise salad and a plate of fruit and Linda had a regular salad bar plate.
We had seen posters for the Paris 1900 exhibition at the Petit Palais, so we went there, only to find an excruciatingly- slow-moving line. We should have bought tickets in advance. After about a half-hour of waiting and very little progress, we gave up and walked to the Museum of Modern Art of the City.
This is one of our favorite museums and a real hidden gem that, I suspect, most tourists do not visit. It has an amazing collection of modern art — 1900-1950 or so (plus a contemporary section). We walked through the first five or six rooms enjoying the paintings, only to discover that over half the modern section was closed (for renovations?) In the hall, we could barely see parts of the rooms of beautiful Fauve paintings, and a Matisse…but that was it. We checked out the contemporary section, which really was pretty good, but we were still disappointed. Oh well…now we have a good reason to return to Paris.
We took the Metro back to St. Paul (where I bought tickets to CDG from the machine — cash of course, since my credit cards are low-tech), walked around the southern Marais a bit again, and crossed over to Ile St. Louis. We decided to keep wandering, and crossed Pont de Sully to the left bank. We went down the stairs to the riverside and walked past Notre Dame, arising at St Michel for a last look at the fountain. Then we proceeded down Rue Saint-André des Arts and up Rue Mazarine, finding ourselves back at the river at Pont des Artes.
Yes…we hate the locks, too. The first time we ever saw them was in Sevilla in 2012 — just a few on one of the bridges. It has really become a scourge.
In the morning I had made another 50%-off reservation at Le Caveau de l’ile, so we had a short rest, and walk to Ile St. Louie for our dinner. Linda had liked the onion soup I ordered last time, and I had liked the skewered lamb, so we both ordered soup and lamb. It was a very enjoyable last meal in Paris.
Finishing up a rainless day, we went to Amorino and shared Ecuador chocolate, Tahiti vanilla, strawberry and raspberry. Then back to the hotel to pack.
[…more to come…]
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DAY 00 - WED MAY 28
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Just oranges and crackers this morning. Gotta leave early for our 11:15 flight home.
The Metro/RER ride to the airport was quick. One year we had had a horrendous backup at the security line to our satellite in Terminal 1, and almost missed our flight, so this time we got there with three hours to spare. After fixing a minor seat assignment problem and breezing through control, we had a yogurt snack and walked to our gate — there was no line at all at security. Naturally with us getting there early, the plane was over 2 hours late arriving from Philadelphia!
Fortunately, they turned over the plane quickly and boarded without problems. We were 1:40 late leaving the gate, but there was no wait on the runway and the jet stream was kind to us. We were only 45 minute late landing. Unlike our last trip (Rome) when it took an hour to get through control in PHL, there was nobody…I repeat, nobody…in line ahead of us, so we actually got to our home earlier than we had originally expected. It was a good ending to an amazing trip.
DAY 08 - TUE MAY 27
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Breakfast in our room…along with an orange, we shared flan plus a chocolate croissant for Linda…something called an <i>exotique</i> for me. I have no idea what was in it, but it was great. We also had milk (from the Monop’ down the street) for a change, instead of coffee.
Today turned out to be a day when some things didn’t turn out as planned…but a good day never-the-less. We started out at the Tuilleries checking out all the statues and greenery. Then, passing the Jean d’arc statue, we started our exploration of the passages. This was a composite map I made from information on Fodor’s from Kerouac and Degas (no longer with us).
It was a lot of fun…plus we had a great find: a wonderful children’s toy and book shop called <strong><i>Si Tu Veux</i></strong> in Gallerie Vivienne. We needed a gift for our 5-month old grandson, and we wanted a book, but so many books are printed in China…we wanted one from France. We found <i>Bonjour, les vaches!</i> by Yuichi Kasano, a beautifully illustrated book in French (which is OK, since he can’t read English, either.
Next we passed the Fontaine Louvois with its women representing four French rivers: the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne and the Saône.
We continued on to Galleries Lafayette with its amazing dome and went to the roof to check out view. We also looked at some of items for sale. I took a photo of a display of watches, one of which was priced at €79,000…a little out of my range as a souvenir. (There were some watches that had no price at all, so maybe the €79K one was a mid-range item.)
Back to reality: We stopped at a chocolate place to pick up the gifts for our family and neighbor, paid our hotel bill, and headed to the BHV for lunch. I had a nicoise salad and a plate of fruit and Linda had a regular salad bar plate.
We had seen posters for the Paris 1900 exhibition at the Petit Palais, so we went there, only to find an excruciatingly- slow-moving line. We should have bought tickets in advance. After about a half-hour of waiting and very little progress, we gave up and walked to the Museum of Modern Art of the City.
This is one of our favorite museums and a real hidden gem that, I suspect, most tourists do not visit. It has an amazing collection of modern art — 1900-1950 or so (plus a contemporary section). We walked through the first five or six rooms enjoying the paintings, only to discover that over half the modern section was closed (for renovations?) In the hall, we could barely see parts of the rooms of beautiful Fauve paintings, and a Matisse…but that was it. We checked out the contemporary section, which really was pretty good, but we were still disappointed. Oh well…now we have a good reason to return to Paris.
We took the Metro back to St. Paul (where I bought tickets to CDG from the machine — cash of course, since my credit cards are low-tech), walked around the southern Marais a bit again, and crossed over to Ile St. Louis. We decided to keep wandering, and crossed Pont de Sully to the left bank. We went down the stairs to the riverside and walked past Notre Dame, arising at St Michel for a last look at the fountain. Then we proceeded down Rue Saint-André des Arts and up Rue Mazarine, finding ourselves back at the river at Pont des Artes.
Yes…we hate the locks, too. The first time we ever saw them was in Sevilla in 2012 — just a few on one of the bridges. It has really become a scourge.
In the morning I had made another 50%-off reservation at Le Caveau de l’ile, so we had a short rest, and walk to Ile St. Louie for our dinner. Linda had liked the onion soup I ordered last time, and I had liked the skewered lamb, so we both ordered soup and lamb. It was a very enjoyable last meal in Paris.
Finishing up a rainless day, we went to Amorino and shared Ecuador chocolate, Tahiti vanilla, strawberry and raspberry. Then back to the hotel to pack.
[…more to come…]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
DAY 00 - WED MAY 28
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Just oranges and crackers this morning. Gotta leave early for our 11:15 flight home.
The Metro/RER ride to the airport was quick. One year we had had a horrendous backup at the security line to our satellite in Terminal 1, and almost missed our flight, so this time we got there with three hours to spare. After fixing a minor seat assignment problem and breezing through control, we had a yogurt snack and walked to our gate — there was no line at all at security. Naturally with us getting there early, the plane was over 2 hours late arriving from Philadelphia!
Fortunately, they turned over the plane quickly and boarded without problems. We were 1:40 late leaving the gate, but there was no wait on the runway and the jet stream was kind to us. We were only 45 minute late landing. Unlike our last trip (Rome) when it took an hour to get through control in PHL, there was nobody…I repeat, nobody…in line ahead of us, so we actually got to our home earlier than we had originally expected. It was a good ending to an amazing trip.
May 31st, 2014, 03:20 PM
#34
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Kathie...
It's actually called <strong><i>Le Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.</strong></i> I was giving a very loose translation.
It's free, and it has a fabulous collection...except now, when some of the rooms are closed.
http://www.mam.paris.fr/en/home
SS
It's actually called <strong><i>Le Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.</strong></i> I was giving a very loose translation.
It's free, and it has a fabulous collection...except now, when some of the rooms are closed.
http://www.mam.paris.fr/en/home
SS
May 31st, 2014, 11:56 PM
#39
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nicerue50...
In our case, our card (Cap One with no foreign transaction fee) was rejected regularly at transport ticket windows (train, RER and Metro), even for very small amounts. Otherwise, it was fine, including the large hotel bill.
Our ATM card had no problem...but we only used it once.
But you can't generalize from our experience. The wide variety of experiences in Fodor's posts only convinced me that there is no set rule you can rely on regarding non-chip cards.
My advice: Take several credit and ATM cards, and be sure to let the card issuers know in advance that you are going.
And since we know we will return to Europe, we always take at least €75 home with us to bring on the next trip -- at least enough to get us from the airport to the hotel.
SS
In our case, our card (Cap One with no foreign transaction fee) was rejected regularly at transport ticket windows (train, RER and Metro), even for very small amounts. Otherwise, it was fine, including the large hotel bill.
Our ATM card had no problem...but we only used it once.
But you can't generalize from our experience. The wide variety of experiences in Fodor's posts only convinced me that there is no set rule you can rely on regarding non-chip cards.
My advice: Take several credit and ATM cards, and be sure to let the card issuers know in advance that you are going.
And since we know we will return to Europe, we always take at least €75 home with us to bring on the next trip -- at least enough to get us from the airport to the hotel.
SS
