Trip Report - Paris, Marais, Plage and my feet are sore!
 

Hi All I will just start now while I have the time. I was in Paris this past Friday to Monday for a long weekend with a friend.

Went for the posh flights this time and flew Aerlingus as the price was good from Dublin. Its nicer to not have that 1.5 hour bus ride from Beauvais especially in the evening. Surprised by Charles de Gaulle airport, looked much crummier that I had thought and a bit like the Jetsons cartoom very 60's.

My friend was a bit under the weather and speaks French a bit better than me so walking to find the taxi rank she looked at some one and asked if he was a taxi (We thought he was like a hackney here as there were a few hanging around in suits). He said yes and took us to his lovely Merc...now to be honest I would prefer the rank as I know we are going to get screwed but I let this go as my friend is a bit wrecked and its pretty easy......well arrived quickly and safely to the Hotel Axial Beaubourg on rue du Temple in the 3rd and it cost.........70 euro...f**king heck! No traffic etc very Pissed off for taking him. I ALWAYS get done over for money once every trip I take. My boyfriend and I laugh about it now but it still annoys me.

It was about 9:30pm by the time we arrived and checked in and dumped the bags...The lift was broken and we had to walk up two flights of skinny stairs with our bags. My shoulder is killing me now. The room is fine but the whole place is not quite as good as expected. For 160 I also think we were done over. I will attach my other post on that later. We went back to a small square we drove by on the taxi on rue du Rivoli and ate outside at ______(will look at notes I think its Enticienelle or similar). Had a glass of champagne first, carafe of Bordeaux with our goats cheese pasta and and Possibly another glass of wine. We were glued to our seats and chilling and had a lovely waiter. The speaking fr3nch so far was going well between the knowledge we both had. The place was nice for a first night but pricey at 87euro for two that included the service charge. The glass of champagne was the most expensive one of trip at 10 euro each. Ah well its a treat and usually 18-20euro in Dublin so there! Off to sleep at the Hotel Axial Beaubourg. Not a terribly exciting night :-)

Why were you taken for money if it was your friend's choice to take that private driver? Well, maybe you were being nice to pay part but if you take a private driver, you should have agreed on a rate ahead of time, right? You know a legitimate taxi is not standing around soliciting business elsewhere, they have to be in the queue (or get in trouble with the head guy, I think). I've never been in any Western European airport that didn't have an official taxi rank where you know is the place you have to go to get a legitimate cab. I have been in some other countries on other continents where it was more a free for all. I think this can be a good thing for people who don't travel much to learn about, though, that taxis are in taxi ranks, and if you take a private driver, you'd better have a firm agreement ahead of time (and know what is a good deal).

CDG is getting a bit faded and maybe sort of Jetson-y.

hey, I like your trip report, I didn't mean to interrupt it with taxi protocol, I was sort of thinking you were mainly posting about that and didn't realize it was a trip report.

I hope you get the time to write more. I want to hear a first hand impression of the plage! Thanks for taking the time.

SiobhanP, looking forward to the next installment.

That old CDG terminal is a disgrace to all of France. Besides for Rome Fumiciano it has to be one of the ugliest terminals in all of Europe!

Do you think you really paid for "location, location" at the Axial? I am so glad you left a post about it because I almost stayed there!

I felt challenged to identify your cafe... (it was fun)

Café L'Étincelle
42Bis rue du Rivoli, 4th
near Square Sainte Croix la Bretonnerie

I appreciate your trip report too, Siobhan. Your review of the Axial Beaubourg is very helpful. It'll save lots of prospective guests disappointment. I'm sure this hotel was written up in Travel & Leisure five years ago. I guess it was fine then but now it's not a good choice--at least not at those ripoff rates they're charging.

Siobhan, keep writing. You have a fine spirit which allows you to continue on your merry way after a mishap or error in judgement. I on the other hand ..... well just ask DH!

Nina

hi siobhan,

i'm so sorry the hotel didn't work out. you were originally booked (or not) for the beaumarchais, right?

hoping the rest of your weekend was wonderful!

yeah...come on! Did you Samba by the Seine?

Hi all just a quick one here as I forgot to bring my notes to work again! Christina is right alwaysgo to the rank but I was not going to Argue with a hungover very PMT, german woman (And my lovely friend!) sometimes you gotta just go with the flow :-). Also yes to anyone I would not reccommend doing this unless you are in a rush and don't mind the expense.

Richard - I think the location was good for our needs..needed to do some shopping etc for things I can't get here in Dublin and the prices are better. I do think the hotel may have had better rooms or nicer ones than ours as we faced the courtyard but maybe they did not want to place us too high with a broken lift. I would do the same as a hotel manager.

Fell asleep Friday night after much enjoyed bordeaux and dinner and watched 2 episodes of sex and the city in French. It was hilarious and Big was still called Big with a french accent. Too funny. Sat we woke up (No noise from builders on the weekend) and went to breakfast. The breakfast lady was such a sweetheart. A middle aged african lady and vey smiley/motherly. Had coffe.croissants fruit cup (a bit tired looking). Why is the bread o lovely and flakey and I cannot get this in Dublin. Totally different.

Being beside BHV we popped in to the hardwarre department and saw a few things to take back for my pother hald (sad I know) and found a beautiful suede and fake fur collar coat...bugger could not but as I would not have any money for the last day! Hit almost every shop from there and got an outfit in H&M for a wedding (Can't believe it myself) and hit occitane etc. People in the shops are so much friendlier than dublin. We have lost our sense of manners with the Celtic Tiger. Made a few stops in unremarkable cafes for my friend to sit a while and have coffee and then wandered across the river to explore this is where we first saw the Paris plage.

Will write more have to do some work Bah!

This is a link to my review of the Hotel Axial Beaubourg I am too lazy to re-post details.

Sorry brain freeze there! here it is http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...hanP&fid=2

I guess I'm confused by this rogue taxi thing. You seem to indicate that when your friend approached the guy you KNEW you were going to get "screwed", but did it anyway, and then seemed surprised you WERE taken. Huh?
If a guy approached you with a "Rolex" under his sleeve for $50 and you buy it suspecting it is a fake, would you still be upset later when you find out it is indeed a fake? Seems like the same thing to me.

Hi richardab
>That old CDG terminal ... has to be one of the ugliest terminals in all of Europe!<

That's what I said when it was new and winning all sorts of architectural awards. :)

((I))

Come on guys ... leave her alone about the taxi rip-off. She explained why she didn't argue with her friend even though she was suspicious. It didn't hinder the rest of her stay, so let it go. She went with the flow and that is what it takes to make a great trip even better.

BHV hardward department is one of our favorite shopping places in Paris - absolutely love that place. We've come home with door closers (numatic that we couldn't find here), drawer knobs, tools and the Bricolage Cafe is something special too.

Really enjoying this, Siobhan.

Keep it coming, can't wait to hear the rest....

Am coming to Dublin mid December so shall be calling on your experience of that city nearer the time!

The Bricolage Café at BHV is rather special isn't it? My only problem is that it's so well camouflaged that I couldn't find it when I was gagging for a coffee!

Patrick I always try to be optimistic in these situations. Sometime you got to go with the flow when travelling with others and Yeah I knew it would be high but was surprised by €70.00. Personally I wanted to take a taxi from the rank but when you having someone not feeling well and want to just get out then yes we paid for it knowingly. Just hate it beacuse I could have used the money for another bottle of wine instead :-).

I love the hardware department and heard about the cafe. Its such a nice idea and looked great. I can spend hours in this pl;ace and sadly brought my partner a present from here....a box with bungie cords and adjustable straps to tie things to the car etc.....sadly he loved it. We moved out mattress from about 2 miles away to our new place recently and tied it with string as his old straps are missing. it nearly fell off in the road and we were holding the it with our hands outside the window as well. Why do I get into these situations! Needless to say it will not happen again now! If I had a truck and more time and money i would stock up for the house on new things like drawer handles and gardening stuff etc.

OK sat after our shop till we drop session in various places occitane, H7M etc (Never made it to galleries lafayette) we crossed the river to rue St Andre des arts. We followed along and was surprised by the amount of people and tourists as it was much quieter on the other side. We just wandered liffle shops and checked out a few menus and decided to come back i the evening as it was a bit livelier. We stoppen in anouth cafe across from the Artus hotel (Name eludes me) and had a glass of wine to restore our feet. Very funny buzzy waiter telling us all the celebrities he met in the cafe recently Sam Rockwell and a heavily pregnant (??? will get the name from my pal ahe is british and was in a movie about a woman married to an oil rig operator who had an accident...jog anyones memory?) just left with her husband. Nice time spent here.

We wnt back to the hotel, relaxed and got ready for dinner and returned to the rue St Andre des arts to Cafe Latin for dinner. We had the Prix fixe menu with goat cheese starters (very nice) and steak for mains (very average) and a cheese plate for dessert and a botle of bordeaux. Wine was really lovely. The waiter though was an ejot. He was a cross between lenny kravitz and jimmy hendrix looks wise and a complete flake. We finally figured out that he was actually American when he slipped up and gave it away while talking to a table near us. My pal is german and has a knack for languages and said that he ansered us in french the way someone who is not fluent would (Or I would!) and I heard the twang in his voice once so we just laughed. He was just too cool for school!

We headed back for a nightcap towards our hotel to find it was pretty dead and wandered a few streets. Some of the restaurants were still busy but not a woman in most of them. It was boys night out! Will finidh with the nightcap later...ever get the feeling in some places you are not welcome??????

OK some time again. I am wide awake now and want to go for a nightcap. Further down on the Rue du Temple were a few places open earlier and now it really seems that the only place was a bar full of men...none of whom would be interested in us ladies. Looks like a bit of a fun crowd so we head in and manage to get a table. After ages I get a waiter to take my order and he is such a little brat as I asked for un coup and a Verre du vin rouge after three attempts he Barks at me in Engish saying "speak engish I can't understand you".....Meow! I was about to start speaking German to piss him off as my pal is German but gave up and ordered in English. My friend is a bit tired now and wants to whallop him. Something happened later and (i.e.his friends came in) and the attitude calmed down to nicer around other people. I have been in his position years ago dealing with people and waiting on huge groups but I never was intentionally rude. Possible he was not happy with us gals there what the hey chalk it up to experience and don't return again.

We sterted watching shows on the German channel in the evenings. I find this so funny and my friend translates what I can't understand. Sunday is quiet and we head off down the plage and walk along the sand. Most seats are empty early and there are some great ativities for kids. They have rock climbing walls and games of all sorts. The hotel du Ville was all sand volley ball matches set up and there were people working to get groups organised and games running. It would be a great summer job for a college student.

I have not mentioned that me feet have ben sliced up from walking in my Clarks's sandals which I thought would be so comfy. I bought a pair of sandal for 15 euro and they sliced my other parts so now I am almost crippled. Forgot to bring my runners and most shops are closed Sundays.

We hobbled through the Jardin Tuillieres and made it to the Louvre but the Queue was almost 2 hpours or more from the look of it and we headed back. By now I am dying and my friend wants to walk to a Cafe by Hotel du Vile we saw earlier....I had to but some flip flops from a souvenir vendor because I could not wear my sandals anymore (6 euro well spent)! Crrawled back to Cafe Marguerite I think t's called to get some soups and salads but only had soups and a beer to chill out...great weather and got some sun that day without boiling.

My pal is not feeling the best this day so I suggest we walk over to Isle St louis for some Berthillion Ice cream (Is this the right Island? I think it is). It was lovely here and I had never been before. I could picture myself in an aptartment here. An Irish woman recently won the Euro Millions (111 miooion euro!) and I was fantasising about what I would do if I won all weekend! Now I will probably be called a Philistine here but the Ice Cream was not that great. I don't know what all the fuss was about. I actually found it a bit sickly sweet. My friend felt the same as well. A few shops were open and a fromagerie which we were sorry we did not buy from as we could not find one Monday when leaving. A froiend told us to try Monsiuer Jerome cheese and we never met the challenge. Afterwards we headed to the Place Vosges.

Once again apologies for the spelling rushed this one and saw hotel du vile...made me laugh!

the pregnant english actress you mentioned the waiter seeing in the restaurant--was it Emily Watson ("Breaking the Waves")?

Yes that was her! The waiter was a real movie buff and was so pleased to meet here and he said she was so nice to him. Maybe he has a little crush :-)

Found my notes! I am still unpacking from a move and everything is lost in the new place.

I forgot to mention earlier we went to the Les Halles shopping centre in search of the gap and while it is a confusing concerete block it has these cool tented chill out areas in the middle outside and chairs to relax in. Kind of a funkier paris plage withpout the sand and club chill out music.

We went to place des Voges in the early evening but did not really stop anywhere. It looked some event was happening later as they were setting up in the part for some music event. We started looking in the Estate Agent windows and the places are high in price but not far away from Dublin prices and far more charming looking than my apartment!

We passed a cheapie kitchen place on the way back that I thought would be rubbish but actually I got a few things I could not get at home like a mustard jar with a tiny spoon and a few small dishes. The big deal was that my friend found these tiny wooden Spatulas for Raclette. I am actually the proud owner of a raclette Pan for 6 thanks to my German freend who brought me one back. I had to get the spatulas and they were a euro each so it was worth it.

We actually wandered through the Latin quarter one evening on the way home and the most evil smell of Oil and something burning caught my eye. It looked like cheese burning on a metal tray and must be some version of raclette but it looked and smelled vile...needless to day we avoided the area at dinnertime.

Also we saw some pretty awful buskers (Street Performers) on this trip as well. In front of Notre Dame on Sat night was a guy playing guitar and a girl dancing/trying to sing and they performed Mostang Sally...had to leave before I wet myself...it was a new level of awful street performance especially when she started dancing and prancing around to the music between the awful singing parts :-). We decided to set up a school for buskers to learn their craft. They are not too bad in Dublin on Grafton street.

Ok this is SUnday now and I will finish ! We head to the hotel again walk out 2 stories to the room anc change and my friend wants to go back to Rue St Andre des arts and we go for a drink opposite the cafe Bicu first and people watch for a while and head to eat. I do not have the name but it is a few don from Cafe Larin on the corner. We had cammerbert as starter each (Huge and a bit heavy) but tasty and Steaks with peppersuace and this was very tastly. Musch nicer than the night before and skipped the cheeseplate for desert as we could not fit it in! I am not a huge sugary dessert person so I always prefer cheese but too full tonight. We had a bottle of Bordeaux withe the meal. Afterwards we decide to do don the road and have an afterdinner drink and a homeless person asks me for money and was pretty pushy and I did what said no thanks and kept walking. Now I knew he had a drink on him but I wsaw out of the corner of my eye he ran up behind me and thumped me on the shoulder. I was gobsmacked and forgot all my bad French and gave out to him in English and my friend did not see or understand why I was fdoing this until I told her. We wanted to go back up the street and my sweet pal had her hand in a fist and now I am laughing at the thought of her in a fight. We did see a lot more hom,eless than when I was last there and people drinking living rough. Possibly it is the nicer weather and no I am not shocked by it as it exists in my own city but I am surprised someone would be aggressive towards me or hit me. They drunks in Dublin would not normally touch another person (Maybe its just women) and I know it seems weird but there is a protocol. Anyway wa made it past him and a few german boys walked by and my friend just stops in her tracks...not our of their beauty :-) but apparently full voiced in German one guy decided they were going for food and someplace to find an easy F**K (Direct quote!)She was disgusted that they assumed no one understood them! We headed back to Cafe latin for a drink to Calm the nerves and lennie Kravitz had the night off nut his more mature and hotter coursin was on Duty that night and we managed to enjoy another bottle of Bordeaux and just laugh and chat until they strated to close. Bloody early closing in Paris we thought but reluctantly went to the Irish Bar next door and had an enjoyable remainder of the evening talking to Students travelling around europe etc. Had so much red wine my feet did not hurt at all when I walked home! Also discovered after about 2 years of not drinking Beer that I like 1662 beer. I usually drink Wine or Irish Cider which is sweet or mixed drinks. Must get some in the shop!

I am not even going to correct the spelling here but apologies. I keep hitting post before edit. I am too fast a typer and a bad one at that!

Hi SiobhanP:

My wife and I have just come back from Paris (6 magnific days). We had similar experiences. A drunk man goes for us, with a violient attitude, fortunatly, other homeless calmed him down. It's a pity, but in major cities there are thousands of homeless.
We stayed at Turenne Libertel Hotel, a three stars, and we have a big issue with the lift during 4 days (completely out of order).

As you've related we found some goods very expensive as the drinks (water: 5.10€, CocaCola: 6.20€ ...) or some museums (Chateau Versailles, with so many queues in every room)

But the city is so incredible that nothing could ruin our vacations there.

We departed from Orly, where the security seemed to be raised. Everything oK, but they open all the lugages of all the passengers once we checked in. So nobody could noticed this untill we arrived to our destination, in some cases the padlock had been broken, present wrappers destroyed, chocolates out of their boxes. That is too much, in you want to check my bags, do it WITH MY PRESENCE.

But the trip was faboluos, fantastic. Paris is one of those places you have to go at least once in your life time.

I guess the last time it was not summer and we did not see as much homeless people and the problem that it is. While I have sympathy for all of these people as there is not on situation tha is black anfd white I was surprised at someone going for me. I am totally losing my NYC street smarts after 10 years in Ireland.

By the last Day (Monday we felt we accomplished nothing but our feet were in blisters and I finally found a soft pair of sandals that I bought and put on Straight away. We left the hotel early after breakfast and left the bags in the storage room and headed to BHV for a final shop and I did a quick round to search for any portable Gadget my other half might like and headed back upstairs. It was decision time on a coat my friednd made me try on and it was heartbreaking because I would not buy it or I would not have enough cash fr the day and trip home. Lovely three quarter suede coat with big fake fur lapels and a tie waist. It looked fantastic and i still regret it but now I have an excuse to go back this winter!

We decided to head up to the Louvre again and see if the lines were shorter and it was a quick wait on a monday. It was pretty packed inside and surprisingly hot so we really only stayed 1.5 hours to my disappointment. I started to feel a bit sick from the heat. I bought a print and my friend got a lovely silver ring in the museum shop.

Now we are planning what foods to take home and did not get to a fromagerie that day so we headed to the the supermarkets on Rue du rivoli. One was somethong like francprix. We bought some wines, cheeses crackers and I hit the bakery next door and got some cheesecake as Finklesteins was closed when we passed by earlier. Once again I nearly pulled my shoulder from the weight but it was worth it!

We headed back to the Axial Beauborg and placed as much in the suitcases and carried the rest and called a taxi. The bags were too heavy for the metro and we were not able for it at this point.

Overall I think it was lovely weather and just a more chilled out trip, stopping when we felt like it etc. I do think it was quiet (August holidays I know) I prefer the buzz when I was visiting other times of the year. The hotel was just ok and I would not go out of my way to return to it. Seems like all the lifts were breaking in Paris!

I may go back in December again with my other half as we had a blast last time and the christmas market was in full swing and decorations etc.

Happy travels