PARIS Pt 3

PARIS

Part 3hree of 3hree

Living in the Marais is a pretty good choice for easy access to anywhere in Paris whether by foot, by bus or by metro. 





The photos in this section of the blog are a collection of images that caught my eye. Some of them were taken in the Marais.

Paris fashion, 2012

  one of the many gay bars in the Marais

We lived only a couple of streets away from a terrific boulangerie, a Carrefour (market) for our wine and groceries, and of course, a great many bistros and restaurants.

Jewish Heritage Museum

                                  

The Pompidou Centre was also just down the street and we frequently used the public library there for its free wifi.

A few more streets to the south and we arrive at the Hotel de Ville and the Seine ... 

Beach on the Seine. Sand is brought in for July and August

... Notre Dame Cathedral is just across the Pont d'Arcole ... Continuing on across the Seine again, over Petit Pont to the Latin Quarter, past the Sorbonne and swinging to the right, is the spectacular Luxembourg Gardens.

On most days we breakfasted in and planned our day. Lunches were usually le picnique with a fresh baguette, cheese and paté, fruit and wine. There are so many great parks in Paris that lend themselves perfectly to this kind of casual lunch. Somehow this doesn't really work on park benches in cities back home.

Even with the summer crowds, there are always chairs available to relax on at the Tuilleries.

The Marais was home to the Knights Templar in the 20th century. We would take Rue du Temple to get our way down to the Jewish sector then over to Place des Vosges where we toured Victor Hugo's house. Hugo, a literary giant, may be best known for Les Misérables, or in English, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The home of the famous author looks out over the southeast corner of Place des Vosges. In the painting below, Quasimodo abducts Esmeralda.

For the history student, Paris is an unending study. There are a million stories in the architecture alone. Look upward when walking around Paris, (be sure to secure your wallet or purse).

These two men really caught my eye. They are reading on the bank of Canal St Martin, perhaps a stereotypical scene in Paris. But notice the older man is reading a hard copy book and the younger man is reading his iPad. An interesting juxtaposition.

On Aug 8 we celebrated our 43rd anniversary in Paris. Had a great dinner at L'Auberge de la Reine Blanche on Ile Saint Louis. 

Anniversary Yogurt
for breakfast

  

The next day, we got up early to catch a train from Gare du Nord to Brussels to visit our friend Edith. Before we boarded the train the conductor punched our tickets then looked closer at them and said,

"You leaving tomorrow, not today. Today is August 8. Your ticket are for August 9."

Joanne and I both said at the same time, quite emphatically, "No, today is August 9!" After all, we knew about August the 8th. Our anniversary is always that day and we celebrated it yesterday, with a degree of romance, I might add.

Because we were both so adamant about the date, he pulled out his pocket calendar. We were sure we had him convinced of his error until he reaffirmed, "See, today is the 8, not the 9."

We saw that he was right. He initialled the tickets, handed them back to us with a smile and said, "I see you tomorrow."

We were both quite astounded, sat on a bench to collect our thoughts and burst into laughter.

"This was just a rehearsal then, finding our way to the train like this and all," Joanne said.

"Yes," I replied. "And so was yesterday's anniversary celebration."

More laughter.

So, we had two anniversaries this year. We ate in and had an even better bottle of wine than we had at the restaurant the night before.

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The Marais is also known for its Jewish community—a very cool Arrondissement.

One sees wealthy Jews and poor Jews walking around amongst the tourists, whom they are pretty skilled at ignoring. They also share the streets and businesses with people of all colours and undetermined origins.

never before have I seen Hasidic hawkers

I had my first-ever Jewish beer—a Maccabee—at the King Falafel Palace in the 4th Arrondissement.
It sure beats Mogen David wine!




We were seated by a multilingual Indian who reminded Joanne of Dev Patel (Slum Dog Millionaire, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), and then served by a very busy blonde French woman.

PARIS IS A PLACE OF COLOUR



For more travel photography with local information visit Gary Karlsen's website.

Gary Karlsen's website

  

PARIS Pt 2

PARIS

Part 2wo of 3hree

Navigate Paris by the monuments. That’s what our new friend Philippe told us (more on him later). 

It is really not difficult to find your way around Paris. It costs you enough to get there so TAKE THE TIME to make your must-see wish list in advance and mark the monuments and cathedrals on your map(s) with a highlighter.

Seek out Ile de la Cité and Ile St Louis and use them as your frame of reference. Why? Because they are central on the Seine, and that is key for Paris—today, and a millennium ago. 

Also, get to know some of the bridges—they are all different,  they are really cool, and they help you locate yourself. 

  

And if you are with your spouse or significant other, the bridges of Paris are inarguably, indisputably,   compass-neutral landmarks (says me).

Now, be prepared to walk your buns off. We did—averaged almost 10 km a day until it hurt!

Henri lV at Square du Vert Galant 

Place Vendome

Place de l'Opéra

Place des Victoires

Not only did we see most of what we wanted to see, but we also had encounters with and the joy of experiencing what we just stumbled upon along the way. We were on an unplanned bonus fitness program that included copious amounts of wine and lots of French things to eat ... didn’t gain an ounce (ou, un gramme - peut-être!). 

Place de la Bastille

Place République

NOTE: there are a few things we would recommend missing, if not, avoiding:

Avoid the upper streets of Montmartre adjacent to the cathedral during peak tourist times. That was like flies to shit. (excusez le langage)

Maybe avoid getting on or off the metro at the Chatelet metro station. It’s quite possibly the busiest in Paris and the crisscrossing tunnels and caverns and stairs and occasional unserviceable escalators are enough to make a grown man cry, especially if he was already miserable from the stresses of hunger, thirst, neurothlipsis and predilection to agorophobia.

• URINE ALERT: Learn how to hyperventilate and squint so you can hold your breath long enough, and see without your eyes watering while walking under certain bridges along the Seine, or when you turn a corner into an alley off the beaten track ... In all big cities, there'll be some drunkard from the night before who has urinated on the street after consuming litres of alcoholic beverages—most likely male gender.

WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT PARIS?


For more travel photography with local information visit Gary Karlsen's website.

Gary Karlsen's website

PARIS Pt 1

PARIS

Part 1ne of 3hree

Yves and Carole, we thank you immensely for the use of your apartment in the Marais. Having such a home base really made it possible for us to see as much as we did in our dozen days in Paris. Exploring the city from a home there is much more rewarding than from a room in a hotel.

The fun began after a late afternoon flight to Paris from Cardiff. Trains from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the Gare du Nord, then No. 4 Métro to Réamur Sébastopol station would have been like a walk in the park had we not broken the first rule of travelling: PACK LIGHT! We ignored this rule, knowing that most of our travelling would be by car and most accommodations long term. And after all, with part of a winter ahead of us, we would need some cold weather things too. In retrospect, this was a bad decision.

Paris has not fully addressed accessibility issues for the mobility-challenged, so one does not want to be hauling around too much luggage in the subterranean maze of the Paris Métro (I had some Escher moments). Then had we not taken the wrong turn upon surfacing to street level we’d have easily bumbled along with our wheeled bags right to the door of the apartment at Rue Chapon,  lll Arrondissement.

When one is at wit's end, he or she hails a cab. Naturally, the driver missed a few turns and the fare doubled. Oh well, suck it up. 

Once settled in we got instant relief with a nice bottle of vin rouge, graciously left for us by our hosts. We celebrated our first night in Paris with a late dinner with Queen Latifa at Le 404. She was a few tables away and great fans though we are, she failed to recognize us in the dark restaurant.

We have been to Paris several times over the years and Paris has never been far from our thoughts. Admittedly, we are just little sardines in the ocean of Paris tourists. Like all the other small fish, we too have romanticized the big city. And like iron to a magnet, we have been drawn back again.

But this time is different. We just want to meander around, go where our feet take us, search out places that we missed in earlier visits, jump on the metro or bus from point A to point B if we have to, and then walk some more and explore again until we are so tired that we return home to ingest it all and to rejuvenate for the next day’s outing.

A word of advice: You are not from here, you don't know your way around enough, you don't even look like a local, so just use the best maps, guidebooks and brochures. You will look more lost and stupid if you don't than if you do. And most importantly, stop for wine, beer, water, coffee and lunches. That's what the Parisians do; except, of course, they are never seen with maps, guidebooks and brochures.

Regarding all that hard copy you are consulting along the way (naturally, you are packing "the best of"), well think again. We have decided that the best guidebook for Paris, or any other destination for that matter, has probably not been written.

The perfect guidebook should tell you which side of the track to stand on in the metro so you don’t find yourself speeding off in the wrong direction.

For example, do you want to go to L’Arc de Triomphe and not Gare de Lyon? 

TIP: Know in advance the name of each station at the end of the line & you’ll pick the correct platform for your train.

Okay, so the tourist has to have some common sense. And after all, how much minutiae can any guidebook contain?

How about at least, a directory or a chapter on toilets?

Ou sont les toilettes?

I have a recollection of many years ago in Paris when there seemed to be pissiors everywhere. FOR MEN ONLY AS I RECALL. What happened to them? Now there are GENDER NEUTRAL self-cleaning kiosks (have coins at hand). But where are they when you really need one?

Where does one acquire the public toilet guide for Paris? Would that sell?

Ici est une toilette!

For more travel photography with local information visit Gary Karlsen's website.

Gary Karlsen's website