Paris Trip - Thursday 11 Dec 2003
Dec. 18th, 2003 05:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
memelainaGot up and packed my carry-on (everything else packed the night before) and drove to Denver airport. Parked at the Pike's Peak satelite lot. BEGIN DIGRESSION. We always do this now, after discovering that not only is the "outer" parking at DIA twice as expensive, but - due to intelligent design and strong communications skills among airport planners - you can't drive a mini-bus into the actual parking building for drop offs so anyone parking in the outer lots has to get into a standard low-rise van (with no place for luggage) to be trundled to the airport. The satelite lots are serviced by pleasant full-sized buses with luggage racks and take all of four minutes longer to drive you to the terminal. END OF DIGRESSION. Flew to Chicago about 1:15pm and then on to Paris. Food on international flights has certainly deteriorated, and if you aren't flying business or first class it's hard to even keep hydrated. On the other hand, a 767 is a lovely plane and much, much more comfortable than the giganto wide-body planes. I took a xanax and slept most of the way over the pond.
We arrived, went through passport control, and I used my non-excessive French language skills to get the guy to stamp my passport. Mostly these days they just glance at them and toss them back to you. Kent took out 400E from the ATM (ah, remember the days of traveler's checks?) and we got in line for a taxi into the city. I was very glad for those non-excessive language skills as our cabbie was asian, didn't seem to speak much French, and seemed determined to take us to the Hotel Saint Louis en l'Ile. After verbalizing and then writing the correct address for the Hotel Saint Louis Marais to no discerable effect, I had to take out a map and show him where to go. When he finally did arrive at the correct street it was at the wrong end of a two-block one way street. Did he go around to the other end? Of course not, he BACKED UP the two blocks to our hotel - on a street narrower than my driveway and with cars parked chockablock along one side. Fare after all of this was 45E (should have been less than 40) and I paid but gave no tip.
We left our luggage at the hotel and walked over to the Musee Carnavalet - the museum of the City of Paris. We toured some rooms, but were again disappointed to find that the Roman and Medieval rooms were closed. They seem to be closed whenever there is a special exhibit on - something to do with traffic patterns within the hallways. We saw some 17th and 18th century paintings and portraits, some painted rooms with lovely ceilings, two oval/round boudoirs, and a medieval garden under construction in one of the courtyards. On the way out I bought two three-day carte musees for 30E each. The web places that will sell them to you in the US before you leave want $48 each plus a $10 handling fee. Had a fairly extended French conversation with the cashier who wanted to be sure that I knew that there was no charge for the exhibits at the Carnavalet except for the special exhibit (the one for which the roman rooms were closed off...). I managed finally to convince her that we wanted the cards to visit OTHER museums, and she agreed to sell them to me.
If you've never visited Paris, I strongly suggest the Carte Musee. It's a little card that you fill out with your name and the date of your first museum visit and it not only gets you into any of five dozen museums in Paris, but it lets you jump to the head of all waiting lines and walk right in. They sell them for one, three, or five days. The Carte Visite for the metro (subway) however is a rip off and you will almost surely pay far less by buying a carnet (ten) of metro tickets and simply using them one by one - one ticket for each trip on the metro (anywhere to anywhere).
We walked back to the hotel and the manager showed us three rooms. One on the ground floor right behind reception (not usually a good location) and two on higher floors. The ground floor room (#1) had two twin beds linked together and made up as a king, and a very nice tiled bath with shower. The two higher rooms had standard double beds and looked rather seedy. We took #1 and went off to seek lunch while they made it up for us. Ended up on the Ile St. Louis at L'Auberge de la Riene Blanche and had our only real French meal of the trip. Kent had moules and beef bourganion and chocolate mousse and I - being a bit careful of my still disturbed tummy - had onion soup gratinee and a lovely white fish in orange cream sauce, and creme caramel.
We returned to the Saint Louis Marais, lowered the shutter over our window, napped for three or four hours. About seven we went out and walke to the Place de Vouges and had a very nice dinner at a cafe on the far end of the Place that is undobtedly very touristy and overflowing in season, but was comfortable, pleasant, and almost deserted on an evening in mid-December. We both had ravioli with a cheese and cream sauce. Kent's was stufed with a pesto cheese, and mine with plain cheese. For dessert he had a perfectly ripe pear, sliced that very minute and garnished with a strawberry. I had something that looked like a little round brownie with candied orange bits on top, but was warm and soft in the middle like pudding cake and served with a little cream pot of custard sauce. MMMMMMmmmmm. Gastronomically this was definitely our best day in Paris.
Our room was very dark and very quiet. Expecting our usual jet-lagged early morning wakefulness we did not set an alarm. Amazingly we both slept soundly until 9am.
We arrived, went through passport control, and I used my non-excessive French language skills to get the guy to stamp my passport. Mostly these days they just glance at them and toss them back to you. Kent took out 400E from the ATM (ah, remember the days of traveler's checks?) and we got in line for a taxi into the city. I was very glad for those non-excessive language skills as our cabbie was asian, didn't seem to speak much French, and seemed determined to take us to the Hotel Saint Louis en l'Ile. After verbalizing and then writing the correct address for the Hotel Saint Louis Marais to no discerable effect, I had to take out a map and show him where to go. When he finally did arrive at the correct street it was at the wrong end of a two-block one way street. Did he go around to the other end? Of course not, he BACKED UP the two blocks to our hotel - on a street narrower than my driveway and with cars parked chockablock along one side. Fare after all of this was 45E (should have been less than 40) and I paid but gave no tip.
We left our luggage at the hotel and walked over to the Musee Carnavalet - the museum of the City of Paris. We toured some rooms, but were again disappointed to find that the Roman and Medieval rooms were closed. They seem to be closed whenever there is a special exhibit on - something to do with traffic patterns within the hallways. We saw some 17th and 18th century paintings and portraits, some painted rooms with lovely ceilings, two oval/round boudoirs, and a medieval garden under construction in one of the courtyards. On the way out I bought two three-day carte musees for 30E each. The web places that will sell them to you in the US before you leave want $48 each plus a $10 handling fee. Had a fairly extended French conversation with the cashier who wanted to be sure that I knew that there was no charge for the exhibits at the Carnavalet except for the special exhibit (the one for which the roman rooms were closed off...). I managed finally to convince her that we wanted the cards to visit OTHER museums, and she agreed to sell them to me.
If you've never visited Paris, I strongly suggest the Carte Musee. It's a little card that you fill out with your name and the date of your first museum visit and it not only gets you into any of five dozen museums in Paris, but it lets you jump to the head of all waiting lines and walk right in. They sell them for one, three, or five days. The Carte Visite for the metro (subway) however is a rip off and you will almost surely pay far less by buying a carnet (ten) of metro tickets and simply using them one by one - one ticket for each trip on the metro (anywhere to anywhere).
We walked back to the hotel and the manager showed us three rooms. One on the ground floor right behind reception (not usually a good location) and two on higher floors. The ground floor room (#1) had two twin beds linked together and made up as a king, and a very nice tiled bath with shower. The two higher rooms had standard double beds and looked rather seedy. We took #1 and went off to seek lunch while they made it up for us. Ended up on the Ile St. Louis at L'Auberge de la Riene Blanche and had our only real French meal of the trip. Kent had moules and beef bourganion and chocolate mousse and I - being a bit careful of my still disturbed tummy - had onion soup gratinee and a lovely white fish in orange cream sauce, and creme caramel.
We returned to the Saint Louis Marais, lowered the shutter over our window, napped for three or four hours. About seven we went out and walke to the Place de Vouges and had a very nice dinner at a cafe on the far end of the Place that is undobtedly very touristy and overflowing in season, but was comfortable, pleasant, and almost deserted on an evening in mid-December. We both had ravioli with a cheese and cream sauce. Kent's was stufed with a pesto cheese, and mine with plain cheese. For dessert he had a perfectly ripe pear, sliced that very minute and garnished with a strawberry. I had something that looked like a little round brownie with candied orange bits on top, but was warm and soft in the middle like pudding cake and served with a little cream pot of custard sauce. MMMMMMmmmmm. Gastronomically this was definitely our best day in Paris.
Our room was very dark and very quiet. Expecting our usual jet-lagged early morning wakefulness we did not set an alarm. Amazingly we both slept soundly until 9am.
