Dec
11
2008
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We landed in Charles De Gaulle early Tuesday morning and after no less than 3 security checks of our passport (absolutely no customs) we were stamped and collected our luggage. Charles De Gaulle airport has a reputation for being one of the busiest in the world but you’d be surprised for thinking otherwise from the scale of the facilities in the arrival terminals. We put on our backpacks and legged it to the connecting Paris metro.
Asked once how his travels in France went, Canadian journalist Jean-Benoit Nadeau replied “you have to love France, but not the French”. It’s not hard to understand why. My initial (and obviously incorrect) preconception was that everyone in Europe was bilingual. I would merely approach them with my two most well known and well rehearsed French lines and the proceed the conversation in English. This was not how things played out. Me: “Bonjour” Reply: “Bonjour” Me : “Parlez-vous Anglais?” Reply: “Non” And this was pretty indicative of most conversations with Frenchmen and women. Occasionally “Non” would be replaced with “A wee-dle” and limited discussion could take place. Otherwise we missed the smile, the warm greetings of “hello” or “hey mate” that we take for granted back at home. There’s no wonder people consider us aussies to be so friendly. Communication barrier aside, the Paris metro system is surprisingly simple when you ... ahem ... connect the dots. The trick is to know is which station you’re getting off at and what the terminating station is in the direction you’re heading. After that piecing together the connection stations is a matter of seeing which of the 12 lines cross at which station. Once the metro was mastered we could effectively travel anywhere in Paris for just over a Euro a trip. Our accommodation was initially situated in the rural areas to save money but intervention from higher powers subsidised our accommodation to a closer and more central area near the Bastille. No matter how crap the room, budget backpackers should always try at locate their accommodation centrally. It saved us an enormous amount of time, tiredness and money and greatly increased our appreciation for Paris. We spent the rest of the day exploring the area, discovering the source of cheap food (read: baguettes) and marvelling at the architecture of Parisian townhouses and the picturesque streets. The following day we partook in a fantastically delicious hot chocolate and crepe breakfast while we watched the city start up. Parisians love Nutella. Everything from crepes, cookies and baguettes can come optionally saturated with the rich chocolate spread. There was no conflict of interest here: we shortly acquired our own 850g jar which is touring Europe with us to this day. I lost my glove in the metro. I must have dropped it shortly after buying my ticket – a difficult task to do with gloves on. That day we made our way to a free tour which we had heard a lot about – the walking tour was to cover most of the main attractions of Paris and serves as a great overview of the city which you’re visiting. NewParis tours works on a tips only basis which means that the tour guides really have to EARN your money. We were lead by Luke an English lecturer at the local university. His passion and love of Parisian history really came out in his explanations of the history behind the various monuments. We loved the tour so much we put the camera aside and tried hard to listen to him over the traffic and repeated the tour in our own pace for photos later on in the week. We saw Notre Dame, the river Seine, the location of the execution of the last of the knights templar, Pont Neuf the Tulleries garden, the Concorde, Champs-Elise, Arc Du Triumph. There is simply too much to write about in the short space here, but have a look through some of the pictures in the gallery for a better idea. Jet-lag plagued us the first few days in Paris, limiting the amount of time we could see the sights, but over the following days we followed the tour in our own pace, visting the highlighted attractions with a new found appreciation. Food was mostly self-catered (budget decision) acquired from markets nearby but we soon found that cheaper still was breakfast specials at McDonalds and lunch specials at Subway. We ate a light dinner usually something typically French to make the most the local cuisine. We did not try escargot or frogs-legs. In the preceding days we visited both the Louvre and Muse d’Orsay. The Louvre required an entire day and we barely scratched the surface. Spending just 30 seconds at each item would mean it would take approximately 4 months to see the collection on display. It would take longer if you account for, say closing hours, eating or weekends. You don’t realise how daunting the task is until you attempt it. That’s not even considering the stuff not on display. It truly is an amazing collection however without background knowledge you take less away. We hired audio guides and they were worth every euro, drawing attention to important details about the sculptor, hidden facets of the paintings. We of course saw the Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo. Muse d’Orsay is a more achievable collection but you’d still have to leave at least a day to see it all. However it was a similar case of knowing what you wanted to see before going. Having someone who is interested / knowledgeable in art just adds to the whole experience. After the Louvre we purchased cheap rush tickets to an authentic French comedy which we watched until boredom over took us. Getting onto the internet was not difficult. Interestingly asking for wi-fi got us blank looks and stares. When one Frenchman running an internet cafe put two and two together he recognised our request as: “Wee-Fee”. We discovered free “Wee-Fee” in McDonalds and made full use of our laptops, there were no power outlets. There are also free wi-fi hotspots dotted around Paris – there are signboards in the ground which alert you to these areas, we found one of these behind Notre Dame and used it to call home. Over the week we visited the Catacombs in which the exhumed bones of a french graveyard were ordered into a quarry and the smooth limestone crypts of the pantheon contain the graves of french national heroes – both spooky but spectacular. We also explored Les Invalides and explored the districts of Montmarte and Pigalle and saw the Moulin Rouge. We wondered at the magnificence of the grand staircase of the Opera Garnier and conversely the modern architecture and art of the Centre Pompiduo – a building literally turned inside out. We also set aside a day for Chateau De Versailles which was a disappointing and expensive visit after the majesty of the Louvre. The building was only partially restored, there was very little information regarding the lives of the royals. To add to it all at the time of our visit the palace was being used to display the modern art of Jeff Koons – quite a stark contrast especially when juxtaposed to the classical themes we intended to visit. Without a doubt the sheer size and scale of the gardens of Versailles was more impressive than the palace itself. We also visited La Defence and the Modern Arc – the skyscrapers of Paris are few and sparing, they don’t litter the skyline as in Hong Kong. There were Christmas markets set up nearby and we wandered through these to get a taste of what Christmas would be like in Europe. Afterwards we went back to Montmarte and ate in a cosy little piano cafe in the patch of restaurants which Picasso and other greats used to frequent. Paris is certainly a place where you can enjoy the finer things in life – this can mean exploring the culture, the city or the cusine. We loved Paris and felt that spending anything less than a week here would not do it justice. While the money was tight, especially when it came to attractions and food and it could take a lifetime to explore the city in any level of depth we gave it a fair stab - we can definitely say we saw everything we came for. Paris is well deserved of its fame for its effortless style and elegance.
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