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LYB's Trip report - searching for a rude Parisian waiter, emotional visit through Normandy, seeing beautiful men in Bruges, getting cranky in Brussels, and a bad start in Amsterdam ends with a perfect fall day.

LYB's Trip report - searching for a rude Parisian waiter, emotional visit through Normandy, seeing beautiful men in Bruges, getting cranky in Brussels, and a bad start in Amsterdam ends with a perfect fall day.

Old Nov 27th, 2005, 10:35 PM
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lyb
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LYB's Trip report - searching for a rude Parisian waiter, emotional visit through Normandy, seeing beautiful men in Bruges, getting cranky in Brussels, and a bad start in Amsterdam ends with a perfect fall day.

Well, I've been back for a month and a half and finally, I'm getting around to writing my trip report. I hesitated to write it at first, not knowing if I really had something new to bring, but then I remembered that when I travel to a city for the first time, I do read every travel report to get an idea as to waht can be done in one day and everyone does have a different perspective.

First let me say that I've never had a dying desire to go to Paris, I think growing up in Quebec, Canada, and having French citizens live in Quebec but constantly telling us how France was so much better, I had a slight negativity towards France. The same applied to Belgium. As far as Amsterdam, I had always wanted to go so that I could go to the Anne Frank House.

But having gone to Italy and London, I decided that I should go see Paris and of course, I figured that all the Paris lovers couldn't be wrong. So, Paris was the starting point for my trip. Then being an admirer of the WWII generation, I knew that I just had to go to Normandy if I was in France.

Once again, being this close to Amsterdam, I couldn't imagine not going to Amsterdam and seeing the Anne Frank House. So stop #3 was set...but then I realized that I would be going through Belgium, and thought, what the heck, I might as well go to Brussels and go to the Animation Museum since I've been a Tintin fan all my life. When I mentioned to my best friend that I was going to go to Brussels, where she visits a lot since her husband's family lives there, she told me I should also go to Bruges...

Now, the cities were set, and only the details had to be put together...for the next 12 months! With the help of a lot of people on this board, I planned and changed my plans, etc....finally, the day came and I was off on my two week quest, with my hotel reservations, train tickets, car rental, and all of my guide book information in hand I left on Delta from the west coast and transferred to Air France in Atlanta.

I only positive things to say about Air France, I would definitely fly them again.

Now, on to the next message for the actual trip report......
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Old Nov 27th, 2005, 10:53 PM
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ok I'm listening ~
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Old Nov 27th, 2005, 10:56 PM
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Lyb,

The French-speaking people living in the province of Quebec are not "French citizens". They are Canadians. And I very much doubt our "cousins" from Canada rave so much about France!

A French citizen (From France).
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Old Nov 27th, 2005, 11:22 PM
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PARIS, SUNDAY, OCT 2

I arrived in Paris late morning and was picked up at the airport by Bee Shuttle, which I had arranged previously. Though I hadn't reserved a private van, as it turned out, there was no one else in the van and it didn't cost me anymore..yeah! It was overcast and sprinkling driving to the hotel, but I didn't mind as the van driver gave me a mini city tour on the way to the airport. He was extremely polite and pleasant and next time I go to Paris, I will reserve them again. I was grateful that I didn't have to navigate through the RER/metro or anything else after being on a plane for 14 - 15 hours!

I stayed at the Hotel St Severin in the Latin Quarter. The girl at the reception was so nice, friendly and helpful. She usually had my room key ready to hand to me the minute I walked in the door. I never had to tell her my room number, having 60 rooms in the hotel, I was impressed.

I got up to my room and my first impression was that the room was dirty and the furniture extremely tired. Fortunately, the bathroom was clean and I checked the sheets and they were clean too, so I decided that everything would be okay. I got unpacked a little, got my maps out and went out to explore.

Since it had been raining, I left my sunglasses back in the room...bad decision! The sun came out and my eyes were not happy!! I wear sunglasses all the time so my eyes are sensitive and it made it difficult to enjoy walking around...though I was certainly grateful that it wasn't raining anymore.

I went to visit the St Severin church down the street from my hotel, where I lighted a candle to thank the powers that be for a safe trip over the big ocean . Afterwards, I walked over to see Notre Dame, just around the Seine, (maybe 5-10 minutes at the most aways from my hotel) but I didn't go in since there were long lines to go in and I was too tired to really enjoy it anyway. Then I walked over to the Ile de la Cite to go see the bird market. By the time I got there, I think a lot of the vendors had left and I wasn't extremely impressed, in all honesty, I was rather dissapointed.

I realized that I was hungry...I looked around and finally found a cafe that appealed to me, Les Deux Palais, I had a Croque Monsieur. The waiter was fun, flirted with me and that's when I started wondering when I was going to encounter the infamous rude Parisian waiter.

After eating, I was going to look around and then as I was standing at a corner waiting for to cross the street, I realized that I was leaning on the lamp post, yawning and not caring about anyting around me. It was 5pm and I started thinking that maybe I needed a rest and Paris would be better tomorrow.
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Old Nov 27th, 2005, 11:33 PM
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Trudaine,

I know that the French speaking citizens in Quebec are Canadians, I was one of them, I was born there and I spoke only French for the first 12 years of my life. I moved to the states when I was 12 years old. The people I referred to were French and Belgian who had moved to Quebec, but always seemed to lament how their home countries were better than Quebec. Always made me wonder why they were in Quebec if France/Belgium was so much better...but remember, this is the perception of a young child and almost 35 years ago.... read on, you will see that my perception of the French people changed drastically during my trip.
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Old Nov 27th, 2005, 11:59 PM
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PARIS, MONDAY, OCT 3

When I forgot to mention at the beginning of my report, but mentioned it in my response to Trudaine, I'm originally French Canadian and therefore speak fluetn French. It was so fun to be able to speak French to someone else than my parents and aunt (my sisters and I always speak English together, unless we don't want someone to understand what we are saying ) Many people in Paris and through Normandy recognized my accent as being French Canadian, and assumed I was Canadian, I did explain that I really was an American but was born in Canada. For everyone who asks if the French hate the Americans, I never felt that at all, everyone was extremely nice and helpful. Maybe that I spoke French with everyone helped, I don't know, but my experience was very positive.

By the way, here's something interesting...sleep is good for you. On my first full day in Paris, I was finally rested and again had enthusiasm about being in Paris. And my room also looked better, I looked at the bedspread and realized that it wasn't dirty, it was just extremely worn and really needs to be changed. The hotel is renovating room by room, so I would definitely recommend the hotel because the location is great, it is clean and as the renovations continue, it can only get better.

I had breakfast at the hotel and was out at Notre Dame by 9:30am/10am. There was no line and I went right inside. I really enjoyed the church itself but especially liked climbing all the way to the top of the church bell and the great view of Paris from up above.

That's when it hit me that I truly was in Paris! THE Paris and this was THE Notre Dame and it was THE Eiffel Tower that I saw in the distance! I was now truly ready to explore Paris.

The first thing I had to explore after Notre Dame was a store so I could buy a scarf. It was cold and I hadn't come prepared...but I thought there were worse things that having to shop for a scarf in Paris. I scoured the stores in the Ile de la Cite..the cheap tourist traps and the nicer stores. The choices...my goodness, it was difficult to pick just one, there were so many different types and colors, if I hadn't controlled myself, I could have easily bought a dozen or more...but I did buy just one...for the moment at least.

Now that I was warm and cozy, I crossed to the right side of the Seine and started walking towards the Arc de Triomphe, my ultimate goal for the day. I enjoyed just walking, looking around and hearing the noises of Paris. I'm sure that I must have had a stupid grin on my face.

Though I didn't go inside the Louvre, I walked around the inside court and admired the architecture of the building before I continued walking through the Jardin des Tuileries where I had lunch at one of the little cafes, Chalet de Diane. This is also when I started thinking that maybe I should move to
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 01:20 AM
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Part 2 of Monday..(I guess Fodors thought my post was too long and cut it off...here's the rest)

.... This is also when I started thinking that maybe I should move to Paris. As I was finishing my meal, a man sat at a table next to me and started talking to me. He then said that maybe we could get together, I politely declined, I had plans of my own.

I walked down the Champs Elysees and found this lovely little park on the side that was so quiet and peaceful. I sat there for a while writing in my journal and realized that I hadn't seen the dirty, dog poop infested Paris that so many people refer to. I thought Paris was a very clean city and loved how there were trash cans all over the place and constantly being changed. Where is this dirty Paris these people talked about?

Now that I was rested, I was ready for all the shops on the Avenue. When we were still living in Canada, as a teenager my sister was a big fan of Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan, they were huge pop stars in the late 60's and it seems, have retained a certain amount of popularity in France, so I went into the Virgin Megastore to find CDs. Wow, that store really is MEGA, there were so many choices, I had a hard time picking which CDs to pick, but I succeeded!

I had bought postcards and stamps, and as I got closer to the Arc, I looked for a cafe that I could see the Arc as I wrote my postcards while I had something to eat and drink. Again, another nice waiter! Did all the infamous rude Parisian waiters go on vacation while I was there?

Afterwards, I went on to the Arc. I climbed to the top and again enjoyed great views of Paris. While enjoying the view, I plotted my next move. I decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower and take the RER back to the Latin Quarter. I walked back down to the street and realized that today, I had climbed 387 steps to the top of Notre Dame and then 284 steps to the top of the Arc...a total of 671 steps up AND down...my legs certainly weren't getting a vacation!

I took the Avenue Marceau and enjoyed that almost everyone around seemed to be locals coming home after work..it wasn't filled with tourists...like me.

By the time I made it to the Pont De L'Alma, my feet were getting tired, I had comfortable shoes on, but feet can only take so much! So I decided to take the RER from there as opposed to going all the way to the Eiffel Tower.

I got my ticket from the booth and again the man at the booth flirted with me...by then I decided that French men either like redheads a lot, or they simply flirt with everyone!

It was about 6:30/7pm when I got back to the room, the RER stop is barely a block away, and I had every intention on refreshing a little and going back out for dinner. But I made the mistake of lying on the bed while I looked at my purchases of the day...I woke up it was 9:30pm! I was exhausted but happy, I realized I was starting to fall in love with Paris.

More tomorrow on the rest of my trip...and yes, it's going to be long!
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 01:24 AM
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It's late and I should go to bed, but I just realized that I forgot to write why I started thinking I should move to Paris...I'm not hit on that often at home....It was kind of funny, I started wondering what was going on....

>>This is also when I started thinking that maybe I should move to Paris. As I was finishing my meal, a man sat at a table next to me and started talking to me. He then said that maybe we could get together, I politely declined, I had plans of my own.<<
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 03:51 AM
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hi lyb,
I'm enjoying your trip report so much- and loved the photos too-nice scarf!
It is a challenge to take photos of yourself when traveling solo- and you came up with some good ones! I loved the one in the glass reflection with the Rodin especially!
Your stories are bringing back some great memories of my last trip to Paris a few years ago, which was also solo, though I stayed with a friend in Montparnasse, and only have a few sentences of French.
Waiting for your next installment....thanks for these vignettes!
 
Old Nov 28th, 2005, 04:50 AM
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I feel like an idiot. I have been enjoying the report but cannot find the photos to which Blissa refers. Did I miss a link?
Thanks for taking the time to post the report, it is highly entertaining.
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 05:29 AM
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Glad I'm not alone. I've loved the report and when I saw mention of the pictures I went back and looked but I can't see where to find the pictures either. HELP!!!

I have to say we never did run into a rude Frenchman on our holiday in France. We did see two very rude American ladies who we suspected would go home and tell how the French were rude when they were SO at fault they embarrassed me. I have no french at all and the french fell over themselves in supermarkets & restaurants to be helpful to us. I'd go again in a nanosecond.
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 05:37 AM
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The link to lyb's photos are mentioned in another thread she posted. I'm at work now so no time to search, but if you click on her name the thread should be listed-they're worth a look!
 
Old Nov 28th, 2005, 05:53 AM
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Thanks for the good read! Paris is so seductive, if you are not careful you do fall in LOVE! We have visited 6 times and have yet to find the "rude Frenchman".
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 06:40 AM
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http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1

Thanks, Blissa. That was confusing as heck. Now, to go see them for myself.
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 06:43 AM
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http://lynnsview.com/Gallery/

A direct link to the photos.
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 07:01 AM
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Salut Lynn,
Un très beau récit de voyage.
J'attends avec impatience la partie sur Bruges. Après tout, même 'en exil' depuis bientôt 25 ans, on reste brugeois. J'ai dit à mes amis que tu as pris une photo de leur porte d'entrée le long de la Spinolarei.
A+
P
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 07:38 AM
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Thanks for the link, cmfong.
lyb, enjoyed your report as I sipped my café au lait. Your photos are very good. You have a wonderful eye for detail. Thank you.
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 10:06 AM
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Sorry everyone, I thought about adding the link to the photos to the report but as I mentioned, it was getting late when I did this and forgot.

Glad everyone is enjoying it...I'll add more today...after I do a must clean up around the house...
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 10:07 AM
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I am, indeed, enjoying this!
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Old Nov 28th, 2005, 10:14 AM
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Enjoying your report and photos, lyb! Looking forward to more.
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