Yes, it's time once again to write about our European adventures. In this E-mail, we discuss our first sojourn off these wet islands in the North of Europe to the old continent. With the whole of Europe spread before us, with so many options, so many choices, and so little time, where did we decide to go? Well that's obvious: Paris! Stereotypes will be confirmed and dispelled, advice will be offered (at no one's request!) and we hope you'll laugh and travel along with us on what was a most grand and enjoyable vacation. You'll get to hear about how a short ridiculous man was ridiculous even in death, you'll get to enjoy ice cream while listening to an American jazz band perform on the streets of the Ile-Saint Louis,you'll get to hear about what it's like to stay in Japan-Town, and we'll even ask that most mysterious of all questions: qui sera le meilleur sosie?
So pack your most faconnable outfits and your Gauloises, it's time to go to France!
The idea of going to Paris--when one lives so close to London--may seem like a natural thing, by extension. Obviously, for the better part of the past seven centuries these two cities have been Felix Unger and Oscar Madison; arguably more so than any other cities in the world. There have been countless wars, diplomatic conventions, and cultural exchanges between the English and French and yet, the two remain so staunchly divided. It is a strange marriage, but the two are and always will be connected. Jackie has wanted to go to Paris for a long time since she went there as a child but does not remember and also studied the city a fair bit in high school French class; by contrast, I didn't know anything about Paris except that it was old like London, had a big museum, the Eiffel Tower, and probably smelled funny. A few months back, The Times (only the London Times gets the distinction of being referred to exclusively as "The Times" in journalistic circles. It is, in fact, printed that way) ran a special about the opening of St. Pancras International rail station as the permanent home of the Euorstar high speed train service in London. This special outlay had information about the vacation possibilities now available to Londoners and--specifically--people in East Anglia with the Eurostar service at full capacity. Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris (among others) are now a very short and comfortable train ride away. Being technically minded myself, I was excited at the possibility of taking a bullet train. Being intolerant of flying, Jackie enjoyed the possibility of traveling exclusively by rail. More importantly, St. Pancras is literally across the street from King's Cross; the national rail station where trains from Cambridge stop in London. Hence, to get to the Eurostar would be a 45 minute trip from Cambridge; Paris would just be two hours beyond that. What followed was several months of intense research--undertaken by Jackie almost exclusively--on hotels, restaurants and attractions. Were it not for her effort we would have probably ended up in some moldy hostel with no hot water spending three times as much we needed to on food and sights. Ok, that is maybe a bit much, but Jackie did a stellar job of putting this trip together.
In keeping with our traveling modus operandi, we left Wychfield by cab at 5:15 am on Friday morning. The train into London was a bit more expensive than usual because we were traveling during "peak hours" (rush hour), but it was no less on time or fast; although, our definition of "fast" for trains was about to be rewritten. We got to St. Pancras after winding our way through the unavoidable sea of humanity at King's Cross. Most British rail stations look like Victorian relics that have been less than carefully modernized however it was convenient for the station management. St. Pancras, on the other hand, is as up-to-date and modern as an Ikea showroom in Stockholm. Everything was carefully crafted to give a feeling that taking a rail journey was something significant, again. Now, students of international relations will know that the UK and France are both part of the European Union. To many American travelers this means little other than the fact that the "novelty" is lost when they travel between European countries because they no longer get stamps on their passports. Hence, Jackie and I expected fully to arrive at the Eurostar, claim our tickets, board our comfy and quiet train and be whisked away at 200 mph to France. Not so. The UK's border is maintained according to the Immigration Act of 1981 which essentially means that yes, they are a part of the European Union, but the UK has its own border and will continue to keep it closed, thank you very much. So, we all had to line up after claiming our boarding passes and put our luggage through security checks and then pass through passport control. It wasn't so much an annoyance; obviously, the luggage check was welcome. The passport control would prove to be a frustration on the way home, however.
We boarded our train and immediately noticed that the Eurostar has to have some of the best sound insulation technology in the world. Everything was hushed out once inside the train. It felt solid, secure, and surprisingly comfortable even back in the "steerage" classes. Our train departed St. Pancras spot on time at 7:30am and went almost immediately into a tunnel. The Eurostar has to go underground in order to get out of the city of London from St. Pancras. Even through the tremendous sound insulation, it was still possible to hear the massive turbine locomotive at work. Once out of the tunnel, however, the Eurostar was so glassy smooth and quiet it was impossible to get any sensation of speed. It's hard to say whether or not we were going any faster than the trains that we take on any other day, predominantly because it did not feel any different. Of course, it felt a whole lot better than those trains. From London the Eurostar storms its way to Dover (and up to a max speed of nearly 200mph) before entering the Chunnel. It was only as we approached Dover that I really thought about what we were about to do. The distance from Dover to Calais is a little more than 26 miles. Of course, that means being underwater for a little more than 26 miles. I've never been in a tunnel that long in my life. Not even close. Of course, there wasn't much drama to it. The Eurostar just went into the tunnel--albeit, much slower than it travels over open country--and came out about 20 minutes later. It was then business as usual all the way to Paris Gare du Nord.
Unlike St. Pancras, Gare du Nord is very much your typical European rail station which was something of a disappointment after buying full into the Eurostar model. No matter, though, we were in Paris and it was time to get to our hotel and then out into the city to see the sights. The drive from Gare du Nord to our hotel on the Rue de Moulins was not a long distance, but it was a little tense. Jackie had tried to explain to the taxi driver that we wished to go to the Best Western Louvre Opera on the Rue de Moulins; however, the driver thought that she had said Rue de Moliere. Thankfully, the two streets are about a block apart; so there wasn't much added expense to the ride. But a ride it was, indeed.
FIRST STEREOTYPE: the Paris scooter drivers are crazy, fearless, and have short life expectancies.
VERDICT: absolutely, 100% fact. The scooters would fly up to intersections without regard for traffic or pedestrians. They would wind into spaces that seemed weren't going to stay open for two seconds, let alone enough time to fit a scooter in. Amazingly, we didn't see any accidents. But given that London driving tends to be well-regulated and self-controlled, it was like entering some scene from a movie that takes place in a much less developed nation.
Also, astute students of geography will note that we were now driving on the correct (not just the right) side of the road. However, not spending much time in cars these days, it felt perfectly natural; it's really more of an issue when you're crossing the streets, as we would find out. Miscommunications and scooter acrobatics aside, we arrived at our hotel, dropped our bags off and went out into Paris to kill time until check-in. We headed immediately for the Place de la Concorde on what was turning out to be a gorgeous day. We went by way of the Carrousel de Louvre and the Jardin des Tuileries, so we got to see the Louvre for the first (of many) time during our visit. Everyone was out walking around and enjoying the sunshine, the flowers were in bloom, and there was some gorgeous (as well as interesting) art on display in the Jardin (see the photoblog). More than anything else, it was all very impressive and big. From the Arc du Carrousel to the Louvre itself, to the Place de la Concorde especially, everything had an imperial grandeur to it. This is, of course, unsurprising as Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon "the Most Humble" Bonaparte) commissioned Haussman to redesign Paris to be the most modern city and the most impressive seat of empire that the world had ever seen. Haussman made Paris "the City of Lights" (although, I maintain that that is Perth, Australia, as per Alan B. Shepherd). The streets are wide, the parks are spacious, and it was a really great place to visit. Unfortunately, it took only about an hour (mostly due to photography) to see some of the most notable sights in Paris. Paris may be "bigger" than London, but everything that you want to see is fairly clustered (quite unlike London); thus, in a morning's walk, we had covered much of the ground that we intended to cover that day.
Since our next stop was lunch, it's a fine time to just gloss over lunch, in Paris, in general. Lunch for us throughout the trip would be sandwiches and oh! What a revelation. After being in the UK for six (going on seven) months, we've been stuck in sandwich purgatory. France, although not without her own culinary eccentricities, provided a wonderful array of baguettes that were a comforting statement that yes, there are still people in this world who know how to make a proper sandwich. We highly recommend Cojean; think of it as a French/Parisian Panera Bread, but so much better than that. The prices were not all that different from other (much larger and more prevalent) baguette restaurants in Paris and the food was so much better. We only went there once, but it's endeared itself to my heart for the rest of my life. Of course, you can't go wrong with just popping into any boulangerie or patisserie that also sells baguettes. Just know that, in Europe, the concept of "made to order" does not exist. If the sandwich says that it comes with mayonnaise and cheese, it freaking comes with mayonnaise and cheese and there is nothing you can do about it. It was embarrassing how many times we saw American travelers struggle to convey to a cashier that all they wanted was a sandwich without cheese. Do yourself a favor: by the sandwich and take the cheese off yourself. But now it's time to return to Paris, from our little trip to Digression (or is it digestion?).
Our hotel, the Best Western Paris Louvre Opera was a fine little hotel. It was an old city house that was renovated into a hotel in 2005, so all the rooms had very new fixtures. Yes, European hotel rooms are smallish as compared with American hotel rooms. If, however, you come here with that expectation--and a firm grasp of the fact that there is just less space here--then you will be kindly surprised by what space there is. The location was also fantastic, just a short walk from the magnificent Palais Garnier. Also, it was located in "Japan-Town." I'm not even kidding, one block up from our hotel was a street that seemed to consist only of Japanese restaurants. If you want to be in an area of Paris with inexpensive but decent food, you can't go wrong with the Rue Saint-Anne. The Japanese tour groups would descend upon this neighborhood every night to get dinner and not have to worry about the cultural experience of eating anything unfamiliar.
SECOND STEREOTYPE: customer service in France is awful. Everyone is pretentious, "high-falootin'," and generally unhelpful.
VERDICT: actually, not very true. As we've said in previous E-mails, customer service in the UK is abysmal. Yes, people, for their part, will be very helpful. However, in the case of restaurants or anything of that sort, you very much get the impression that they would prefer to go out of business rather than serve you. Hence, we were expecting something much worse (or at least, a downgrade). We were warned by various Britons that this would be the case. However, we found, that if you tried communicating in French first, then people would come a long way to meet you out of courtesy. Also, our staff at the hotel was very friendly and very willing to offer advice and information. In general, the service in restaurants was good, as well. Maybe we've just gotten used to how things are in the UK, but it was nice to feel appreciated, once again. Also, we think that maybe people didn't have so much of an issue with us because we weren't English.
After dropping off our things in the hotel and relaxing for a bit, we headed out to get some ice cream on the Ile-Saint Louis. Jackie had read about a little cafe that served delicious ice cream and, as the weather was nice, we figured we'd make hay and give it a try. In contrast to the bustling city, the islands in the Seine (Cite and Saint-Louis) are relatively quiet and peaceful. We enjoyed our ice cream while listening to some street musicians play on a bridge that connects the two islands together. They were, by far, the best street musicians that we've ever heard and it turns out that they were an American jazz/swing band that was on a European tour. I think it was, by far, my favorite moment of the trip. We strolled along the banks of the Seine back towards the Louvre, which we planned to visit that evening.
Thanks to Jackie's extensive research (and paperback pal Pauline Frommer) we found out that the Louvre is open free to under-26's on Friday evenings after 6pm. So, yeah, we went to the Louvre for free. Thankfully, the crowds were low(er) thanks to all the tour groups moving on for the day. We made our way straight to see the Mona Lisa; the Louvre's flagship attraction.
THIRD STEREOTYPE: the Mona Lisa is impossible to see through the throngs and crowds and it takes half an hour at least to see it just because of the lines...
VERDICT: ...unless if you go at the right time.
You can see in the pictures on the photoblog that the crowds were really very low around the Mona Lisa (relatively speaking) and it was cool to get to see it, but it made us think: why is it really so special? Taking it just on face value (no irony intended)--and from a non-artistic perspective--there are dozens of works of equally as impressive merit in the Louvre, so why is the Mona Lisa so priceless while those get passed on the way to the Mona Lisa? Museums continue to subject us to subjectivity. From there we walked through the sculpture galleries and then to the Venus de Milo; which begged the same question as the Mona Lisa, given the other complete sculptures that surround it. We finished up our tour of the Louvre by visiting some of the sculpture courts on the way out. The Louvre was a very impressive museum; certainly on par with the V&A and the British Museum. It is just so big, though, that it is impossible to visit it all in one trip. We managed to only cover the classical sculpture section in our two hours there before moving on. Although massive on the outside, the Louvre seems to be even bigger on the inside; and it's only a matter of time before the legs get weary and it's time to undertake more important things, like eating.
That night we sat in our hotel room and experienced French TV for the first time. Our show for the evening was "Qui Sera Le Meilleur Sosie?" I changed the channel to it while Jackie was out of the room and gathered that it was some kind of talent competition; like a "French Idol" or something. When Jackie finally saw the title she said "Who is the best... what?" No, "qui sera le meilleur sosie" is not French for "who is keyser soze?" So with "sosie" remaining elusive, we began to glean more and more. We realized after the first couple of performers that they were in fact not singing, but lip synching. Then, at intervals, they would bring out just a group of people dressed up to look like celebrities. Hence, we figured that "sosie" must loosely relate to look alike (it literally means twin). Unlike most of these shows in the US which are strung out over the course of several weeks, this show went on for hours. We caught the show somewhere already in progress around 9pm and then turned it off sometime after 11pm when it was still advancing towards the "final round." The next day we found out that seven million people throughout France had watched the show with us. I wonder how many, like us, were trying to figure out how exactly this constituted a legitimate form of talent show.
Saturday was much less nice of a day than Friday was. We woke up to a wet Paris with temperatures hovering just around freezing. We began to make our way out towards the Eiffel Tower by way of the Champs-Elysees. We stopped off at the Arc de Triomphe on the way which was so much bigger than I expected. In aerial photographs it always appears to be a little small because it's in the Etoile Charles de Gaulle which is a massive traffic circle. But it is an huge and emotional tribute to France's soldiers who died in the course of several wars (the World Wars most notably). The view over The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was simply breathtaking. We moved on from there down the road to the Eiffel Tower by way of the Trocadero. Again, I was somewhat dumbstruck by quite how big the Eiffel Tower is. We discussed it and decided that it's usually because modern skyscrapers are always compared in scale against the Eiffel Tower (they are often much taller). However, placed in its context, the Eiffel Tower is simply immense. There are no buildings in central Paris that come even close to rivaling its height, making it that much more impressive. Rather than going to the top, we decided to take the elevator to the second floor. It was cold, and a bit wet as we had said, thus we decided it would be better to save the money and the trouble. Also, it was a fair bit misty so it would have been difficult to see anything from up in the clouds. Up on the second story it was fairly windy, a little damp, but much colder than it had been down on the ground. We took in as much of the view as we could and it was very cool. It was easy to imagine being a Parisian or a visitor to the World Exposition back in the 19th century and being up higher than any man had ever been in a building and just looking across the vastness of Paris. It's a view that can't easily be captured in pictures or by words. interestingly we had good cell phone service, but no international dialing plan, so sorry, no calls from the Eiffel Tower.
After leaving the Eiffel Tower we moved on to the Musee de L'Armee at Les Invalides; a hospital built by Louis XIV for his injured soldiers, since converted by Napoleon into a monument to himself. In our photos you can see Napoleon's Tomb which is really quite modest. The crypt is only about 100 feet in diameter and his coffin is only about seven feet long. It all lies in the middle of a large rotunda, surrounded by wall carvings depicting Napoleon as caesar and all the glories that he brought to France during his reign. It was very understated and tasteful. Just like Dennis Rodman's hair used to be back in his Chicago Bulls days. Ok, so it was completely ridiculous and easily one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It's all made even more ludicrous when you consider the fact that La Revolution took place less than two decades before he came to power. By contrast, the Musee de L'Armee is very impressive. Our favorite part was the World War I-II exhibit which ran from the end of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 through the Marshall Plan and the early 1950's. It was many things: emotional, exhausting, powerful, and saddening. But more than all of these things, it was refreshing to get a perspective that was neither American nor British. The French perspective on both World Wars is one that we cannot fully appreciate in the US, as the wars were very distant for us, much as our wars have always been. France lost an unbelievable amount of young men over the course of those two generations and there is no question from that exhibit about what a significant role that both wars have played in shaping France to be the nation that it is today.
Saturday night we went out for our nice dinner to La Pre Verre; a small bistro run by one of the top chefs in Paris. It is popular right now for the Michelin rated and well-reviewed chefs to open up small bistros on the side where they can just serve food in a nice, relaxing atmosphere, however they want to do it. We loved the Southern, New Orleans jazz inspired decor. We sat next to three Americans who were on their way back to the US via Paris and London after spending a week in Egypt on a missions trip. It was nice to have some fellowship on the trip, which we certainly didn't expect, and they were just magnificent people to share an evening with. The food was excellent as well and not extortionately priced or weird (Jackie did try foie gras, though!). We walked home that night encouraged by the uplifting conversation, filled by the wonderful food, and awestruck by the Seine riverside at night.
Having already covered the majority of the sights in the past two days, we planned to take Sunday as a day to walk out to other parts of the city that we hadn't yet seen; specifically, the left bank. This was partially due to the fact that the Paris Marathon was being run that morning and the course consisted almost entirely of the right bank and all the major attractions there. Thus, we sensibly headed in the other direction, but not without getting a chance to see the lead pack of runners go through the first 5k (3.1 miles) in a little under 15 minutes (something I've never even come close to for just a 5k). We started off by going to Notre Dame and actually going inside, this time. The interior of Notre Dame is impressive; particularly the stained glass rose windows. It appears to be of comparable size to Ely Cathedral, and similar architecture. Unlike Ely, though, Notre Dame has undergone several changes and pillagings and was only recently (relatively speaking) restored to what it may have looked like. Also, although worship was taking place, tourists were still walking around taking pictures with their flashes on (despite a sign kindly requesting otherwise). It was a bit sad and unfortunately put a damper on the visit. The architecture on the outside is really very striking, though, and a perfect example of what a gothic cathedral should look like in everyone's mind. The rest of the day we wandered around to the Sorbonne and the University of Paris (continuing Jackie's series of pictures at really old Universities that she just happens to be around). We also visited the Jardin de Luxembourg, which sits behind the French Senate House. From there we tried to visit the Musee d'Orsay; the home of impressionist and contemporary art in Paris. However, being Sunday, most other things were closed thus the line to enter the museum was immense and we decided it would have to wait until we came back to Paris another time. Not to matter, really, I think it was pretty easy to pass on this. We can see those in Sainsbury's anytime.
Following that unsuccessful trip we decided to hike up to a different part of the city that many people believe is just "can't miss" if you come to Paris: Montmarte. Historically and contemporarily speaking, Montmarte is the "artistic" part of Paris. It is also home to that less than reputable house of dubious repute: the Moulin Rouge. Sadly, we were quite disappointed by just how tacky the Moulin Rouge was. We were even more disappointed with the massive queue of people outside who were all waiting in line to enter a place that looked like a slightly more acceptable version of this. From the Moulin Rouge we then walked up the stairs (which felt like all 130 metres) to the top of Montmarte and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Again, it was very crowded because of the large number of things closed. But the view over Paris was breathtaking and the Basilica itself is a fascinating piece of architecture. The rest of Montmarte I think we could do without. Paris is a clean place; Montmarte is not. It was nice to rediscover the fact that the Earth has a third dimension.
Now I know what all of you--particularly female readers--are thinking. There is an elephant in the room with this E-mail. There is something that we haven't yet broached and that, yet, most people jump to almost immediately when they think of Paris. And, yes, on Monday, we went shopping in Paris. Rather, we kind of walked around the stores in Paris and decided that it would be stupid to buy anything in Paris when it can be had for so much cheaper in the US. We visited the Galeries Lafayette, the Printemps, and Fauchon. It was like our trips to Harrod's or Fortnum and Mason in London; fun for a bit, but then sort of cringing at the thought that people think it's desirable to be able to shop in these places. I thought it would be cool to get a Lacoste polo from the store on the Champs-Elysees, but I decided it would be stupid to pay 75EUR for the alligator, when I know it's probably 50USD; granted, it won't have the same street cred, but I'd be the smarter consumer. Instead, I settled for buying a CD at the Virgin Megastore (one of the last ones still open!). Some of you may be thinking about the dates of our visit to Paris and you might be curious as to whether or not we were around for some of the events that have captivated the attention of the international media over recent weeks, and the answer is yes.
After visiting the Virgin Megastore we stood on the Champs-Elysees just up the road from the Grand Palais and watched the Olympic torch go by. Or, that is, we watched the 3000 gendermarie array themselves along the Champs-Elysees wearing body armor that was like something out of RoboCop, the massive police motorcade leading the flame, the bus full of Chinese secret police, and then the small contingent of rollerblading gendermarie and the running secret police surrounding the torchbearer. Hence, to say that we got to see the torch would be a stretch. We actually got to see nothing short of one of the single greatest mobilizations of police manpower in recent memory. It was sad and tragic. No, we didn't see anyone get decked or any of the major protests. As an interesting historical aside the idea of the Olympic torch relay was first approved by this man. The relay was supposed to be a way to drum up support for Nazi ideology. But it's totally different, now. It was a unique experience and, as is always the case, we were witnessing history in the making.
To soothe our jangled nerves, actually, just because we wanted to, we got hot chocolate from Angelina's; a Paris institution. It tasted like someone melted high quality chocolate, added a little milk, and then served it in attractive dishware. Actually, that's probably exactly how they make it. It was just a simple luxury, but so special because it's something that we could only have at that place, in that place in the world. We were quite full after drinking our candy bars, so we struggled to come up with dinner ideas. Also, Jackie was beginning to feel slightly under the weather, so we weren't sure if we wanted to walk too far to get dinner. In the end, we decided to follow our original plan, brave the rain (which eventually gave way to a nice sunset), and walk out to the Marais. The Marais was the historical Jewish quarter of Paris. During the occupation, however, the Jews of France were deported. Since that time, many Jews have immigrated from Israel and given the neighborhood back some of its original character. All we know is that we had some excellent schwarma and falafel that we picked up from a restaurant called L'as de Falafel that was "recommanded by Lenny Kravitz" according to the outside. It was a simple end to an amazing trip.
Tuesday morning we had another taxi adventure to Gare du Nord. This time, the taxi driver seemed to have difficulty figuring out where Gare du Nord is; I mean, it is only one of the major rail stations in Paris. We arrived and worked our way through check-in up to passport control. With our visas in hand we displayed them to the immigration officer only to be turned around and asked to fill out the little white immigration cards that all non-British/non-EU citizens must fill out whenever they enter the United Kingdom. The white cards, you see, are a hold over from the Immigration Act of 1971 when the UK began keeping track of who was crossing their border. The issue now, though, is that our passports are always scanned whenever we leave or enter the counry. Hence, there is a computer system somewhere that knows where we are and when we are there. So, the white cards are just a redundant copy of an electronic system. It was fitting that our frustrations would begin when we first came back into contact with UK bureaucracy; but that's the cost of living here. Our Eurostar trip back was just as good as the trip down to France; this time, however, Jackie wasn't feeling well as I had earlier said. Also, our seats seemed to be on the "band trip" coach, as we came to call it. There were at least 40 French teenagers on a school trip to London and they did not shut up, the entire way. They talked the whole two hours, without ceasing, from Paris to London. But, by that point, I think we were beyond caring. We were tired from our trip, glad to be on our way home, and happy for all the experiences that we had. Our first trip to Europe was, by and large, a fun, exciting, and educational experience that has whet our appetite for future travel. While we know that few cities can rival London or Paris for the sheer volume of their offerings, we're looking forward to the next chance we get to set off. Hopefully, though, it won't coincide with another torch relay.
Au revoir,
W+J
