Sidny

General: Spent one week in Paris. A friend met me for the first 3 nights (this has become an annual trip for us-- 3rd year we've done it), then I stayed for 3 more nights on my own. This is my 5th (I think) trip to Paris, so I don't feel a manic need to run/see/do, but also know that I've experienced very little of all that the city has to offer. I've never posted a trip report before, I always procrastinate on getting them done and then they become irrelevant because I can't remember enough about my trip. So, in a timely fashion, here goes...

As we've done for the last 2 years, my friend and I stayed in an apartment—this one in the Marais (3rd Arrondissement): http://www.vrbo.com/305948 I didn’t want to pay the full price for the apartment after my friend left, so I planned to move to a hotel for my 3 solo nights.

Note: I've decided not to do an apartment again for such a short trip. It's not worth the hassle of dealing with an individual landlord, coordinating your arrival time, signing a lease agreement, etc. I also had an issue on this trip because I was bitten by a dog (on both hands!), one week before my trip. (Side Note: Never try to break up a dog fight with your hands. I've been dumb enough to do it before with no ill effects, but will never try it again!) It was bad at first, and I thought for sure I was going to have to cancel my trip—I couldn't shower, could barely dress myself, let alone haul my luggage around Paris. Of course we hadn't bought trip insurance and had signed a rental agreement, so would have been out $450 for the apartment alone if we'd canceled. Not worth it...book a hotel with 24 hour reception and a generous cancellation policy. Luckily, after several days I had healed enough that I felt like I could manage my stuff and my doc encouraged me to go. So, I went...

Sidny

Thursday, 2/24: Direct flight from ORD (Chicago) to CDG. Flight (as usual, IME, at this time of year), was less than half full. I had no seatmates in my 3 seat center section, so was able to lie down and sleep for at least a few hours of the flight.

Friday, 2/25: Arrived at CDG Terminal 2 about 15 mins early, headed off to find where my friend's flight would arrive (also in T2) in a few hours. Tip: Last year I wasn't sure how to find out where her flight was arriving since all the departure/arrival boards in the T2 areas just list flights for those terminals (2A, 2C, etc.). I had remembered seeing a massive departure/arrival board in the T2 train station the year before so I headed there to find her flight info. I'm sure there's an easier way to do this, or I could have looked it up ahead of time maybe, but this was the approach I took, FWIW. Don't recall if this board lists just T2 flights or all flights...anyone? As luck would have it, the rail station is on my way to her arrival terminal anyway so it was easy for me to verify no changes this year. After checking for her flight, I used the ticket kiosks to check the price of a couple of trains (day trips) I was thinking of taking. Note: the machines only take chip and PIN cards, so if you only have US cc’s any purchases have to be made at the ticket windows, but it's nice to be able to see your time/price options on the screen rather than just talking to a person at the counter who's looking at their own screen. Headed over to her gate area, had a coffee, hit up an ATM, freshened up a bit, and waited... When my friend arrived we headed straight out to the taxi stand, no line, right into a cab. It cost us 55 euros to get to the apartment (11:30AM on Thursday). I know this is often mentioned as an approximate price, but as we were staying on the north side of the 3rd, I was hoping for less. I don't know Paris well enough to know the best driving routes, but I did question why the driver took us all the way down to the Seine before cutting across and coming back up through the 3rd. Oh well, we're in Paris and we're splitting the cost of the taxi, so “C'est la vie”!

Arrived at the apartment, called Christian, the landlord, to let him know and he was there in just a few minutes to turn over the keys and show us the apartment. The apartment looked exactly as pictured and Christian was very friendly and helpful. The link above doesn't have pics of the bathroom, which is probably purposeful. It is functional but small (not unusual in Paris, I know), with shower only. I wouldn't want to have to use it every day of my life, but for 3 days (or a week), it was just fine. The apartment was very clean and Christian had left food in the fridge for our breakfasts, though we never partook. The primary bed had a very firm mattress and was on the floor. The futon bed I thought was very comfortable and not hard to pull out/put away each day. The third bed mentioned in the online description is, I believe, basically a camping mattress that I saw folded up in the closet (I would only subject a young child to this “bed”, or maybe a college-aged kid who comes back drunk every night of their trip).

Friday 2/25-Sunday 2/27: I won't keep up a chronological commentary of all that we did in the first three days, as we tend to just wander and pop into cafes periodically for refreshments (the volume of wine consumed naturally leads to foggy memories of our exact itinerary). For winter-time Paris newbies, one drink we order frequently is vin chaud (hot wine), since we insist on sitting outside at the sidewalk tables (which have overhead heaters of varying effectiveness). I suspect this is not commonly ordered by locals (anyone?), but it's a good hot drink as an alternative to coffee, tea or hot chocolate. We both did a great job of staying up the first day...maybe too good. We didn't get to bed until 1AM then slept until 9:30AM. The next night was worse (?), 3AM, forcing us to take it easy on day 3.

High points: we stopped at a wine shop in St. Germain where they were tasting 2 different wines with accompanying cheese/sausage. http://www.ladernieregoutte.net/vins/index-swf.php The staff was very welcoming and friendly. Another day, we popped into a shop at 18, Place des Vosges where Christian Louis was very entertaining and endearing while selling us perfume (www.parfumsonline.com)...and I say this even after he called me “strange”. Also, the Richard Lenoir market on Sunday...we bought a poulet roti (rotisserie chicken) and potatoes, cheese, bread, and wine for our Sunday lunch, which we ate back at the apartment (Tip: don't request the chicken with the darkest, toastiest looking skin. It looked perfect, IMO, and while the skin was crispy and delicious, the meat underneath was dry and overcooked. This might be obvious to some, but it caught me by surprise. Lesson learned!). I just wish we were planning to do some cooking...all the seafood, meat, cheeses, veggies, etc., that were available to buy was mind-boggling and everything looked absolutely delicious. My local farmers’ market has a few things to learn!

Low points: Canal St. Martin district (at this time of year?), was pretty dead...not the vibrant scene I had hoped for. Also, Sunday...since we had already been to the Marais the day before (strategical error), and had stopped at the market that morning in the Marais, and were staying in the Marais, we wanted to head elsewhere but were kind of at a loss for what to do. We wandered near the Seine/Louvre for a bit before finally giving up and heading back to the Marais, which is when we bought the perfume, so all turned out for the best. Tip for those who may not know: the Marais is one of the areas in Paris with the most shops/cafes, etc., open on Sunday, so it makes sense to save your visit there for Sunday and see other neighborhoods on other days when everything is open.

Sidny

As my wine consumption decreases significantly when my friend leaves, I can offer a few more details of my activities over the next few days.

Monday, 2/28: I meet up with the Discover Walks group for a walking tour of the Latin Quarter (www.discoverwalks.com). These walks don't require a reservation and are “free”, though donations are happily accepted/expected by the guide at the end of the tour. Kevin was a great guide and for 90 minutes gave a great commentary on the areas we saw...certainly more insight than I ever could have gained wandering on my own. I was planning on giving him 10 euros at the end, but saw a couple others handing over 20 euros each. I succumbed to the peer pressure (argghhh!), and upped my donation. I really did enjoy it and would highly recommend doing one of these walks, though I think 20 euros was too much...next time I'll stick to my instincts and offer 10.

One of the first stops along the walk was at St. Julien le Pauvre church near Notre Dame (the oldest church in Paris, according to Kevin), and I noticed flyers posted for a piano/opera concert that night. I believe this church (and I know others in Paris), do this frequently. The concert started at 8pm with tickets going on sale one hour before. I came back at 7:50pm and had no problem getting a ticket. Tip: I bought a “cheap” seat, 18 euros vs. 23 euros, and when the lights first went down everyone in the cheap seats got up and moved into the center into the empty, more expensive seats at the back. I don't know much about opera or classical music, though I enjoy it, and especially enjoyed hearing it in that setting.

I should mention that I moved over to a hotel in Montparnasse after my friend left. My thinking was that I was considering taking 2 day trips both with trains departing from Gare Montparnasse. At first I was eyeing a hotel very close to the station, but since I didn't book my room until the night before I was due to check-in, the room/rate I wanted was gone. I found another hotel in the area that was a bit further from the station, but I thought it was nice for the price, and would recommend it. http://www.aberotelparishotel.com/web/ Because I was staying 3 nights, I was offered an internet rate of 60 euros/night (~$85 USD), for a single. When I checked in they offered me a double-bed room for the same price (Room 4, ground floor, with a courtyard “view”). This was one of two rooms in a hall off the breakfast room (Room 3 was about the same size but was the true single with a twin bed so a little more room to walk around--the door was open one day when I walked by). The rooms have a little age on them, but were nicely decorated, were clean and the wi-fi worked well. Note: these two rooms are probably not great for those that like it very quiet since the noise of the breakfast room starts pretty early.

About Montparnasse, I had never been over to this part of Paris before, and I guess I expected it to look different than the very central part I was used to. Sure, there are differences-a few more newer buildings, but you're still very clearly in Paris and it's as clean (or not) and seemingly safe as any other part of the city I've been in. Plenty of boulangeries, patisseries, etc., around. I would absolutely stay in that area again if it would save me some $$$ on the hotel. I use the metro a lot, especially when I'm trying to get directly from Point A to B and not looking to wander, so am not bothered by not being quick walking distance to central sites like Notre Dame or the Louvre.

Tuesday 3/1: I wanted to go check out Bercy Village. Maybe I didn't explore it well enough, but the main buildings (converted from their former use of wine warehousing), were nice but not exciting. The stores seemed to be mostly chain-types, as well as some of the restaurants/cafes. I meant to go over to Marche Aligre while I was out that way but forgot! Leaving there I headed up towards the Bastille, and had lunch at a small bistro that I don't remember the name of. I ordered the “menu” and chose a salad as the entree not knowing what kind of salad it was—didn't whip out my dictionary—but figured if I didn't like it I didn't have to eat it. It came loaded, and I mean loaded, on this small plate with what I think was some type of bacon-ish product. But the menu didn't say “lardon”, I would have known that one. I'm still not sure what it was and since I'm picky about eating mystery meat I just ate the lettuce, tomato and egg. When they brought my plat (risotto w/ shrimp which was fabulous!), the server (not my original one), asked if I didn't like the salad. I felt bad...I think she may have been the chef or the owner of the place. I told her it was fine and made sure to compliment her on the risotto. But I was surprised, I thought it was the Italians who wanted you to clean your plate...what happened to the “Why French Women Don't Get Fat” advice of never clearing your plate? ;-)

Somehow in my wandering I ended up back in the Marais, which I've obviously spent plenty of time in and it wasn't my intention to return that day. But I have no sense of direction, though am sometimes like a homing pigeon returning to areas I know, then seem to walk in circles trying to find my way out. I passed the Carnavalet museum which I'd never been in before and decided to stop in since it's free. I was getting tired of walking though, and since all the info is in French I didn't get as much out of it as I would have if I'd been more prepared or bought an audio guide or something. They did have an English language pamphlet but I was too tired at that point to even try. I decided to give my feet a break and hit a couple of cafes for drinks and to sit and read for a bit. I stopped at this very unique store called Monoprix (kidding!), to pick up some prepared food for dinner to take back to my room and called it an early night. Oh, I stumbled across St. Paul Village that day (a city block filled with shops opening onto courtyards, in/near the Marais), but they're all closed Monday and Tuesday. I would have liked to have gone into some of the shops and will try for it on my next trip. We met a couple at lunch the previous Saturday that own a shop there but when they told us I didn't know what they were referring to...wish we had made a point of walking over there that day.

Wednesday 3/2: Last day in Paris for me, I decided to do my one and only day trip, Chartres. Went to the station, bought my round-trip ticket for 28 euros, and enjoyed the 1 hour trip outside of Paris. The TER train had “upstairs/downstairs”, so sat up top to get better views out over the countryside. This train has no seat reservations so my tickets were good for any train. I left on the noon train and was ready to come back by about 5. Nice to be able to spend the amount of time you want and not have to pre-plan the return trip. So, Chartres...the cathedral is just a few minutes walk (slightly uphill), from the train station. It's beautiful, but the front was covered in scaffolding and there was some inside as well. There is a startling difference in the white walls above the scaffolding that have already been cleaned and the black below it that is waiting its turn. The Malcolm Miller tours weren't happening that day (I think because it's the off season, though I was too late to have hit the one listed in the Fodor's guidebook anyway). For some reason I didn't feel compelled to buy the audio guide, so I didn't get a whole lot out of my visit...just another old, beautiful, ornate church. I'm the kind of person that needs some background to really appreciate something like that. Again, my own fault. Anyway, the location of the church in the city is interesting, it made me think of the book/mini-series “Pillars of the Earth”. I like how the church sits at the top of town on a hill, and it looks so massive soaring above the rest of the town as you approach on the train. I enjoyed following the pedestrian path around town, across the (small) river. It's a beautiful old town and probably very interesting (though crowded), in the high-season with more restaurants/shops open. In the more modern center of town there was plenty of activity and stores open. I had lunch at a bistro then stopped by a Monoprix to get a small bottle of wine for the train ride home to go with my leftover bread and cheese I'd had for breakfast.

When I got back to Paris I wanted to stop by the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson (free on Wednesday nights, yay!). I'm glad it was free because it was crowded (probably because it was free--chicken/egg), and I didn't spend a lot of time lingering over the current exhibit, though the photographs were well-done, of course.

Thursday 3/1: Took the RER to CDG. Total travel time, including metro getting to the RER station, was probably about 1.5 hours from Montparnasse. Flight home was no more full than my first flight so I was able to stretch out and nap again. I'll be landing in ORD in about 2 hours and will get this posted soon. Finally, I didn't procrastinate a trip report!!

Leely2

Sounds like a good trip. Thanks for the info about your apartment and your hotel. I've never stayed in Montparnasse either (have visited, though), and have wondered what it's like.

cw

Nice report. I, too, was interested in your description of staying in Montparnasse. Great that you can do this trip annually with your friend. Thanks for writing.

AnselmAdorne

Thanks, Sidny, for your report.

I found myself nodding my head when you wrote, "Sure, there are differences-a few more newer buildings, but you're still very clearly in Paris ..." There is certainly something about the shapes and proportions of Paris that makes it stand out. And for all the differences between avenue de l'Opéra and avenue de St-Ouen, there is no mistaking that you are in Paris.

Micheline

I very much enjoyed your report Sidny. Thank you for posting it. I felt I was walking along with you.

annhig

yes, nice report. thanks for posting.

i tend to agree with you about short trips and hotels - when we travel with our kids we tend to stay in one place for a week or so and stay in an apartment, when there are just the two of us, we tend to move around more and stay in hotels.

hope we'll get more TRs from you, Sidney, now you've broken your duck.

ParisAmsterdam

That duck annhig refers to did not die in vain! Thanks for posting!

Sidny

Thanks everyone for your comments!

annhig-I haven't heard the phrase "broken your duck" before, but will use it in the future. Probably less offensive than the phrase I would normally use in that situation ;-)

PA-there's nothing I hate more than the senseless death of an animal, so thanks!

Micheline-you must have been drinking wine while reading my report

AA-well said!

annhig

sidney -I'm not surpised you haven't heard it - I realise now that it's a cricketing expression that I used inadvertently.

if you get out first ball, you are out for a duck. [no idea why!] so broken your duck means doing something successfully for the first time. which is what you can tell other people when you use it and they sat "uh?"

farrermog

I'll have to qualify Ann's advice - she probably hasn't suffered the ignominy - and point out that a duck is getting out without scoring and that getting out first ball is a golden duck. Of the others mentioned here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_(cricket)

only the dreaded pair is in common use.

annhig

farremog - of course it is. i was having a senior moment.

doesn't french cricket count?