Paris and Barcelona - Isable's trip report (sort of ) with photos
Apr 8th, 2006, 07:24 AM
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fishee - I don't know that specific camera but I like Canons. My "backup" camera is a Canon Powershot S410. I'd say almost a quarter of the photos I take are with that camera. You can get some pretty good info and reviews on www.dpreview.com
annette - I did a lot of research before we went to Barcelona, but that's just the way I like to travel. It would be a pretty easy city to do without a lot of planning. Barcelona is all about the architecture, the experience. There aren't alot of museums, etc (well there are certainly some, Picasso is a big one but I didn't do any museums). We had beautiful weather so just wandered around. The two day tourist bus is a good deal. One day doesn't give you much time to hop-on and off, and the two day is only a few euro more than the one day. I would say the highlights are the Gaudi buildings on Passeig Gracia, the Parc Guell, the Barri Gotic (the cathedral and surrounding streets), and the Port/Harbour area. I also really enjoyed the Spanish Village on Monjuic, the Monastary and the Parc Citadell. Most people would include the Sagrada Familla (new cathedral) but it just didn't do much for me, for Gaudi I much preferred the apartment buildings and the Parc.
I haven't been to Wales, but I can highly recommend Barcelona and it's a good place if you only have 3 or 4 days. It seemed managable and although I would love to have had more time, and I will go back sometime soon, I didn't feel that rushed like a short stay in larger cities can feel.
annette - I did a lot of research before we went to Barcelona, but that's just the way I like to travel. It would be a pretty easy city to do without a lot of planning. Barcelona is all about the architecture, the experience. There aren't alot of museums, etc (well there are certainly some, Picasso is a big one but I didn't do any museums). We had beautiful weather so just wandered around. The two day tourist bus is a good deal. One day doesn't give you much time to hop-on and off, and the two day is only a few euro more than the one day. I would say the highlights are the Gaudi buildings on Passeig Gracia, the Parc Guell, the Barri Gotic (the cathedral and surrounding streets), and the Port/Harbour area. I also really enjoyed the Spanish Village on Monjuic, the Monastary and the Parc Citadell. Most people would include the Sagrada Familla (new cathedral) but it just didn't do much for me, for Gaudi I much preferred the apartment buildings and the Parc.
I haven't been to Wales, but I can highly recommend Barcelona and it's a good place if you only have 3 or 4 days. It seemed managable and although I would love to have had more time, and I will go back sometime soon, I didn't feel that rushed like a short stay in larger cities can feel.
Apr 8th, 2006, 08:46 AM
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isabel, thank you for the excellent report and I just love the photos!
I think some people have their trip reports up so quickly because they sort of start them before they get home, with copious notes etc. I try but it always ends up coming out as a stream of travel consciousness lol.
We keep playing with the idea of Barcelona, while my son might be in Madrid next year, it would not be a bad idea to meet up with him in Spain, so looking at your photos just whets the appetite!
Re: paying for apts..We stayed in the ParisPerfect Apt in the 7th last Spring and since we made the reservation a little less than 2 months in advance, we had to pay the full amount. We used American Express. and they credited the account when we returned home (the next day) for the security deposit..
Thank you
I think some people have their trip reports up so quickly because they sort of start them before they get home, with copious notes etc. I try but it always ends up coming out as a stream of travel consciousness lol.
We keep playing with the idea of Barcelona, while my son might be in Madrid next year, it would not be a bad idea to meet up with him in Spain, so looking at your photos just whets the appetite!
Re: paying for apts..We stayed in the ParisPerfect Apt in the 7th last Spring and since we made the reservation a little less than 2 months in advance, we had to pay the full amount. We used American Express. and they credited the account when we returned home (the next day) for the security deposit..
Thank you
Apr 9th, 2006, 12:50 AM
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Hi Isabel,
Your report is very timely.
My wife and I will be leaving on the 19th of this month to spend 4 weeks in Spain (our first visit). Barcelona will be our first stop (for 4 nights). We will also be going to Figueres, Madrid, Seville, Cordoba, Jaen, Ubeda, Baeza, Granada, Ronda, Jerez, Toledo and Salamanca. I hope that the four years I studied Spanish decades ago will come back to me "in a flash" when I need to remember them again.
I am a keen camera bug like you, spending far too much time editing shots, and I hope to shoot gadzillions. I'm bringing loads of cameras and accessories, all fitting into a trolley-type cabin-size bag with wheels that I can lug around.
I don't know if you'll ever visit Asia where we live but if you do, you must go to Kyoto (Japan) in autumn and to Bangkok around this time (they are celebrating their New Year next week). See my photos of these two places at www.pbase.com/ningtrnt.
Your report is very timely.
My wife and I will be leaving on the 19th of this month to spend 4 weeks in Spain (our first visit). Barcelona will be our first stop (for 4 nights). We will also be going to Figueres, Madrid, Seville, Cordoba, Jaen, Ubeda, Baeza, Granada, Ronda, Jerez, Toledo and Salamanca. I hope that the four years I studied Spanish decades ago will come back to me "in a flash" when I need to remember them again.
I am a keen camera bug like you, spending far too much time editing shots, and I hope to shoot gadzillions. I'm bringing loads of cameras and accessories, all fitting into a trolley-type cabin-size bag with wheels that I can lug around.
I don't know if you'll ever visit Asia where we live but if you do, you must go to Kyoto (Japan) in autumn and to Bangkok around this time (they are celebrating their New Year next week). See my photos of these two places at www.pbase.com/ningtrnt.
Apr 9th, 2006, 03:50 AM
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Scarlet - I really think you would love Barcelona. And about that stream of travel consciousness comment - well that's probably what the Paris part of my report - when I finially get to it - will be. I'm almost done editing the photos, they'd be done today except the sun has finially come out here so I think I have to go rake the yard.
CTMiles - you also will love Barcelona. And we loved Spain so much with just our taste of it that we are planning on Sevilla for next March. I'm sure your Spanish will come back to you. In Barcelona everything is in two languages - Spanish and Catalan, which is mix of Spanish and French. Since we had just come from France(where I spoke very bad HS French) and I was trying to speak Spanish (which I took a long time ago in College) and they speak Catalan - it came out Italian! Go figure. I didn't even think I knew any Italian, though I've been there several times recently and my husband is learning Italian so always walking around the house speaking it. But in the end, if they didn't understand English, they understood smiling and pointing so language was not a problem.
CTMiles - you also will love Barcelona. And we loved Spain so much with just our taste of it that we are planning on Sevilla for next March. I'm sure your Spanish will come back to you. In Barcelona everything is in two languages - Spanish and Catalan, which is mix of Spanish and French. Since we had just come from France(where I spoke very bad HS French) and I was trying to speak Spanish (which I took a long time ago in College) and they speak Catalan - it came out Italian! Go figure. I didn't even think I knew any Italian, though I've been there several times recently and my husband is learning Italian so always walking around the house speaking it. But in the end, if they didn't understand English, they understood smiling and pointing so language was not a problem.
Apr 14th, 2006, 07:21 AM
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OK, I finially finished the Paris part of this. The photos are in the "Paris 2006" gallery at www.pbase.com/annforcier
Here's a brief rundown of the highlights of the Paris portion of our trip.
Our first three days in Paris were brilliantly sunny but absolutely freezing. I’m so glad I brought my silk longjohns. It didn’t bother me too much, I was just so glad to be there, but I think Allison the southern belle was a bit shocked. I don’t think she believed me when I told her it could be cold, and I probably didn’t make it sound like it would be as bad as it was. I think the highs were in the 40s and it was windy. In the last five years I’ve been in either London or Paris this same week in March and it’s never been this cold. You can tell by the flowers, or lack of them, that they are several weeks behind where they usually are in terms of spring. There were crocuses, not daffodils and forsythia like there usually are. In looking at my pictures from previous trips you notice a huge difference.
But despite the weather we mostly just walked around our favorite neighborhoods, shopped, sat in cafes. Since it was Allison’s first time she said everything was new to her so she didn’t care what she did. Her only requests were the Louvre, the D’orsay and Notre Dame. One day I took her to the D’Orsay and left her there for five hours (her request) and I did a walk in the 16th that I’d always wanted to but never had time for. It was Ok but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone with limited time or on a first visit. The best example of Art Nouveau is at 29 Ave Rapp near the Eiffel Tower anyway (be sure to go around the corner to the courtyard on the side, I’d missed that the first time I was there). Also the metro stations at Chatelet and Abbesses (in Montmartre) are almost as good as the one at Port Dauphine. Of course Allison loved the D’Orsay (who doesn’t?). Unfortunately she missed out on the Louvre as we had planned to go on Monday evening but they’ve stopped having open hours then (and they are closed on Tuesday and we left on Wednesday). She’ll just have to go back. We did get to show her the interior of many of the wonderful churches including Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, St Etienne, St Sulpice, St Germain, etc. She made the same comment I’ve often thought – if we had churches like that back home I’d probably go more often.
One interesting thing we did was to have lunch in the basement of La Madeline. They have a café set up there that’s been going on for over a hundred years. Volunteers cook and serve the food (7,50€ for three courses). We sat with three Parisians who work in the church. They were surprised to see Americans there. They also said they thought American tourism was down in recent years and they were very happy that we were there. They told us the whole story of the restaurant – that the church began it as a place for the young women who worked in the factories in the area to have a safe place to have a good meal. All the cafes in the area were full of men, and back then it was not proper for young women to eat in them. The restaurant now serves free meals to the homeless (and has a place for them to shower and do laundry) and the meals they sell help subsidize the free meals. Anyway, after hearing the comment about lack of American tourists in Paris I realized that I hadn’t heard that many American accents. But after we left there that day we heard plenty and I guess it was probably the areas we were in.
One day we did a day trip to Chantilly. We had planned on also going to Senlis but due to train schedules that were not what I expected we didn’t have time. Also, the chateau is quite a ways from the train station. The signs say 2km but it sure felt like a lot more. With no gardens in bloom and the moat drained and under construction it wasn’t as wonderful as it probably would be on a nice summer day, but it’s a cute little chateau and I’m glad we went. That’s definitely the chateau I want. The ones in the Loire are just too big, this one is a nice manageable size. We though Allison should see a French chateau and this was a lot easier than going all the way to the Loire. We also visited the Chateau Vincennes which is no where near as impressive, but it’s only a 20 minute metro ride from central Paris so worth the couple of hours it took. It’s also under re-construction and the interior is closed at present.
Here's a brief rundown of the highlights of the Paris portion of our trip.
Our first three days in Paris were brilliantly sunny but absolutely freezing. I’m so glad I brought my silk longjohns. It didn’t bother me too much, I was just so glad to be there, but I think Allison the southern belle was a bit shocked. I don’t think she believed me when I told her it could be cold, and I probably didn’t make it sound like it would be as bad as it was. I think the highs were in the 40s and it was windy. In the last five years I’ve been in either London or Paris this same week in March and it’s never been this cold. You can tell by the flowers, or lack of them, that they are several weeks behind where they usually are in terms of spring. There were crocuses, not daffodils and forsythia like there usually are. In looking at my pictures from previous trips you notice a huge difference.
But despite the weather we mostly just walked around our favorite neighborhoods, shopped, sat in cafes. Since it was Allison’s first time she said everything was new to her so she didn’t care what she did. Her only requests were the Louvre, the D’orsay and Notre Dame. One day I took her to the D’Orsay and left her there for five hours (her request) and I did a walk in the 16th that I’d always wanted to but never had time for. It was Ok but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone with limited time or on a first visit. The best example of Art Nouveau is at 29 Ave Rapp near the Eiffel Tower anyway (be sure to go around the corner to the courtyard on the side, I’d missed that the first time I was there). Also the metro stations at Chatelet and Abbesses (in Montmartre) are almost as good as the one at Port Dauphine. Of course Allison loved the D’Orsay (who doesn’t?). Unfortunately she missed out on the Louvre as we had planned to go on Monday evening but they’ve stopped having open hours then (and they are closed on Tuesday and we left on Wednesday). She’ll just have to go back. We did get to show her the interior of many of the wonderful churches including Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, St Etienne, St Sulpice, St Germain, etc. She made the same comment I’ve often thought – if we had churches like that back home I’d probably go more often.
One interesting thing we did was to have lunch in the basement of La Madeline. They have a café set up there that’s been going on for over a hundred years. Volunteers cook and serve the food (7,50€ for three courses). We sat with three Parisians who work in the church. They were surprised to see Americans there. They also said they thought American tourism was down in recent years and they were very happy that we were there. They told us the whole story of the restaurant – that the church began it as a place for the young women who worked in the factories in the area to have a safe place to have a good meal. All the cafes in the area were full of men, and back then it was not proper for young women to eat in them. The restaurant now serves free meals to the homeless (and has a place for them to shower and do laundry) and the meals they sell help subsidize the free meals. Anyway, after hearing the comment about lack of American tourists in Paris I realized that I hadn’t heard that many American accents. But after we left there that day we heard plenty and I guess it was probably the areas we were in.
One day we did a day trip to Chantilly. We had planned on also going to Senlis but due to train schedules that were not what I expected we didn’t have time. Also, the chateau is quite a ways from the train station. The signs say 2km but it sure felt like a lot more. With no gardens in bloom and the moat drained and under construction it wasn’t as wonderful as it probably would be on a nice summer day, but it’s a cute little chateau and I’m glad we went. That’s definitely the chateau I want. The ones in the Loire are just too big, this one is a nice manageable size. We though Allison should see a French chateau and this was a lot easier than going all the way to the Loire. We also visited the Chateau Vincennes which is no where near as impressive, but it’s only a 20 minute metro ride from central Paris so worth the couple of hours it took. It’s also under re-construction and the interior is closed at present.
Apr 14th, 2006, 08:04 AM
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Ann, that was wonderful reading your impressions of Paris and telling us through your friend's eyes what she thought. I was just telling someone last night, I don't understand why we can't do gothic architecture as in the past. Oh, well.
I haven't visited any of the chateaux yet so I'm eager to see what they look like through your camera's eye.
Thanks for telling us about the basement of La Madeleine; I've passed by there several times but had no clue about it. How did you hear about it? Makes me want to eat there just to support the homeless.
I haven't visited any of the chateaux yet so I'm eager to see what they look like through your camera's eye.
Thanks for telling us about the basement of La Madeleine; I've passed by there several times but had no clue about it. How did you hear about it? Makes me want to eat there just to support the homeless.
Apr 15th, 2006, 02:48 AM
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laartista -I'm glad you had a nice lunch time trip. I do the same thing - makes lunch tend to last a long time though.
Beatchick - I think you'd like the Madeline restaurant (when's your next Paris trip?). I can't remember exactly how I heard about it but I have an article, perhaps KC saw it when she was a student there. The woman we ate with also kept asking me how I heard about it, and we probably were the only tourists there. The food was actually quite lousy, but the atmosphere was great, the idea of it is great, and since you sit at tables with other people we got to meet these nice people so it made lunch quite interesting. Hope you like the photos.
Beatchick - I think you'd like the Madeline restaurant (when's your next Paris trip?). I can't remember exactly how I heard about it but I have an article, perhaps KC saw it when she was a student there. The woman we ate with also kept asking me how I heard about it, and we probably were the only tourists there. The food was actually quite lousy, but the atmosphere was great, the idea of it is great, and since you sit at tables with other people we got to meet these nice people so it made lunch quite interesting. Hope you like the photos.
Apr 15th, 2006, 06:51 AM
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And don't forget the Art Nouveau "Toilettes" under the Madeline Church. I saw them several years ago and assume they're still there!
http://www.jack-travel.com/Paris/Par...ic_Toilets.htm
http://www.jack-travel.com/Paris/Par...ic_Toilets.htm
Apr 15th, 2006, 05:04 PM
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Oh, Isabel, forgot to tell you - LOVE THE PHOTOS!! Thank you so much for getting them up so quickly for us. I know it must've been a bear to get them on-line so quickly. But you know I'm one of your biggest fans with your photos.
Don't know when I'll be in Paris next but you know me, I always dream of Paris!!
Don't know when I'll be in Paris next but you know me, I always dream of Paris!!
Apr 16th, 2006, 11:26 AM
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sfarah -you're right, I did forget to mention the toilets. I too had read about them and wanted to see them. They really are quite nice. They close for an hour at lunchtime though.
Beatchick, I'm sure you have a list of things to do on your next visit, whenever that is, so put lunch at the madeline on it. I think some people would find it a waste of time (since the food was not so good) but I think the experience was worth it.
Nikki - yes, I really did love staying in the apartment. The neighborhood was nicer than I expected and closer to things also. And I did explore the area more than I probably would have if I'd stayed else where. I didn't even really know about those two portes/archways, so they were a nice surprise. And isn't it great to have your local supermarket (monoprix) in such a fabulous building. Makes Stop and Shop back home seem so boring.
Beatchick, I'm sure you have a list of things to do on your next visit, whenever that is, so put lunch at the madeline on it. I think some people would find it a waste of time (since the food was not so good) but I think the experience was worth it.
Nikki - yes, I really did love staying in the apartment. The neighborhood was nicer than I expected and closer to things also. And I did explore the area more than I probably would have if I'd stayed else where. I didn't even really know about those two portes/archways, so they were a nice surprise. And isn't it great to have your local supermarket (monoprix) in such a fabulous building. Makes Stop and Shop back home seem so boring.
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