PARIS

Day One

As we descended through the clouds on our approach to Paris we could see the farm land and many scattered villages below.


Landing in Paris; as we landed another plane was taking off on a parallel runway.

Immigration and customs were a snap, a glance at the red British (EC) Passports and we were waved through. The weather was cloudy and cool, just right for traveling.


Nephew Steve met us at the airport on time in spite of Art's neglecting to give him the airline and flight number! Fortunately he had told him our arrival time and a bit of internet searching indicated that there was only one flight due in at that time!

We stayed with him in his small bachelor pad--well equipped as you can see! He has a couch which folded down to a very comfortable futon bed.



It is well located near 3 metro stops as well as several shops and restaurants and made an excellent base. The only problem was the stairs--69 from the street! We stayed there 4 nights, touring Paris by metro and tour bus.

The metro is an excellent way to get around Paris, though Art found the many stairs in each station very tiring. If we changed lines, and we usually had to, there were stairs to each line. The claim is that there is no place in Paris more more than 500 metres from a Metro.

Steve had to work a couple of days but we were able so spend some time with him and have him show us around what seems to becoming his adopted city. He speaks French very well, and says that while people can recognise that he is not French most cannot place his accent.

This first day we didn't stray far, walked to Place de la Republique where we got a sim card for Art's phone with Steve's help--Gillian's was still back at the apartment! We later had a good dinner in a small restaurant near his apartment and finally fell into bed about 11:30 PM. It had been one very long day.


DAY TWO

Le Louvre and River cruise

We started our cultural tour at the Louvre, our photos certainly don't do it justice. We spent hours walking around, again too many stairs. Near the end of our visit we finally discovered the elevators. There weren't many and those were not well placed. Obviously they can't chop up the fine architecture willy-nilly so I think they did fairly well. At one point, to avoid stairs, a guard phoned the security centre and then unlocked a security door to enable us to by-pass the stairs and directly enter the next section of the museum where we were heading to see the Mona Lisa.




The long hallway was filled with paintings and statues. Click on the Diana statue and examine her left hand. Is that a remote control or a phone?!












The museum was quite busy even mid week, there were a lot of school tours in progress, and the most popular exhibits were of course the most crowded.



We did eventually manage to get to the front of the pack and to see Mona Lisa up close; almost disappointing--the protective glass detracted quite a bit from the effect and of course made photographing it very difficult.

Soon we had had enough, or perhaps to be truthful Art had had enough walking and stair climbing ,so we left the Louvre and went looking for lunch.




Not far away we found a place to stop, sit and sample the food. We soon discovered that in Paris the food was for the most part good but very expensive. Lunch for 2 was usually in the 60 euro range--about $100 Canadian! The meal in the photos above was excellent--except for the price. Gillian had a Salade Nicoise while Art's was described simply as a cheese and ham plate, he moaned in contentment as he worked his way through it. When you consider the price included 19.6% tax (yes that amount is correct!) plus a 10% service charge (in lieu of tip) the prices are not too bad.


River Seine Cruise Tour.

We went for a wander after lunch to try to find a stop for the open topped tour buses we had seen traveling around. Art had had more than enough walking and stair climbing we thought a tour bus would be a good way to spend the rest of the day before we met Steve for dinner. We didn't spot any right away but soon but came upon across a river tour company operating out of Isle de la Cite. We bought our tickets and were soon on the Seine, cruising completely around the 2 islands and as far up as the Tour Eiffel.


















That evening we met Steve for dinner at a nice sidewalk cafe on Place de la Repblique where we realised we might really have trouble finding our way around Paris, at least judging by the sign to a couple of railway stations! How can East and North be in the same direction?!!






DAY THREE, Friday

Steve had to work today to get the equipment ready for his working weekend, so he was up and gone early, might be able to meet us for dinner later so we were on our own for the day.

What French we had appears to have completely disappeared; every time we try to say something it comes out Spanish. As citizens of an officially bi-lingual country everyone expects us to speak French. We feel a bit sheepish if not outright embarassed quite frequently. Steve suggested " stick an American flag on your shirt, then no o ne will expect you to speak French"! I hesitated to put that comment here in our blog for fear of offending some of our many American friends, but I then realised that most of them would agree with me that, although it was a bit rude, it was funny. For those that I may have offended I apologise. Speaking about funny and languages, several times we have had to resort to Spanish in order to communicate. Buying a new sim card for Gillian's phone this morning was done using a mixture of Spanish and English!



Versaille Indescribable! When we finally got up and going we set off via metro and train to Versaille. The trip went quickly and smoothly and soon we arrived in the pretty little town of Versaille. We took a quick "tour train" (really a tractor in disguise) around town then walked up to the Palace.
At the entrance we found that at the tourist office in town we had been sold the wrong tickets--we had entry just for the grounds and gardens! We turned around and set off to buy the right ones for the Palace when one of the agents ran after us and said we really should see the Palace, and as it was late we wouldn't have time to see both, so he let us in for the tickets we had!

We took hundreds of photos, we won't bore you with them all--besides, it is frustrating to get them placed correctly! One day I will figure out how to attach or link to albums, then we will be able to post the lot!














Art was pleased to see by the wear pattern on the marble staircase that he wasn't the only one to prefer staying close to the handrail! We couldn't guess how many pairs of feet traveled those stairs over the centuries. The royal chambers are off the long hallway above. The picture on the right is the Queen's chamber. Good thing we redecorated our bedroom only last year--it could have been expensive if we had waited until now for ideas!




DAY FOUR, Saturday 13 June

Speaking of photos--most of the next 2 days pics have somehow evaporated!

Today we set off with Open Tour, a double decker bus with open top for a tour around Paris. They have several routes and you can get on or off at any of the 15 or so stops. The routes overlap at a couple of stops and here you can change buses to another route. Tickets are good for 24 hours though for 5 euros more we thought the 48 hour ticket the better bet.

At the first stop on Champs E"lysee we got off to meet Steve for lunch. We wandered by several places including a McDonalds and finally settled on one that advertised crepes, as Gillian had her heart set on a good French crepe. We could have chosen better; we paid 9 euros for a disgusting crepe which was more like a chewy pancake and the same for a "croque monsieur" essentially a toasted ham and cheese sandwich which was about the same standard as the crepe, while a half litre of beer set us back 11 euros--about $15.00 Canadian. Each. Steve says this is very common in the very popular areas--they know that most tourists won't be coming back any way so they don't have to worry about attracting repeat business and regular customers.

















The meal above was one of the good ones, another restaurant in Place de la Revolution, about 15 minutes walk from Steve's apartment. On the way home we passed these three bicycles "securely" locked to the fence. The red one hadn't been there too long by the look of things--in a few days it will probably resemble the other two.


DAY FIVE Sunday

Continue Bus tour, Notre Dame


Steve had left very early this morning for a shoot in Capri, so he was gone when we woke up--almost noon--we had obviously been sleep deprived and were catching up! We carried on with the open tour and visited Notre Dame Cathedral and took way too many pictures again, all of which are hiding somewhere in never-never land.


Later in the afternoon of this our last day in Paris we returned to Steve's apartment to re-pack. Since Steve was not home anyway and we had an early flight (8:00AM) to Marrekech, we decided to go Orly for our last night. We traveled by metro and train to Orly airport and over-nighted at the Holiday Inn, ready for our morning flight to Marrakesh. We thought this
would be a leisurely operation.

Not Quite. A short walk brought us to the metro, to find it very crowded. After only a couple of stops we got off to change metro lines and several flights of stairs later we were waiting for the next train. There were many people on the platform, not a good sign, and when the train arrived it was jam packed, standing room only. A few stops down the line Art managed to get a seat, but we were glad to arrive at our stop, a combined metro and rail station.

More walking, more stairs, though there were a couple of escalators and elevators which helped out, and once a gentleman took Art's two cases (and his cane!) up two flights of stairs. Not to infer anything but this was the only time Art was offered help with his baggage on this trip. Last year in London, on the train and the tube, he never once carried his bags up a flight of stairs.

We finally arrived at the right platform to find that we had just missed a train. 11 minutes later the next one came along. This train too was jammed full but we were able to find seats after a stop or two. There was a very frail looking lady that boarded at the next stop, struggling with a suitcase. Everyone shuffled about until there was room to let down the folding seat for her, inspite of the sign prohibiting its use when the train was crowded--no one objected--she obviously couldn't be expected to stand. Moments later she sat with her suit case on her lap, hunched over her cell phone texting like a teenager!!!

Art noticed a family nearby that he thought was speaking Spanish but they spoke so quietly (even their young daughter) he couldn't be sure.

Eventually the train pulled into the town of Antony where we had to change for the last time for Orly airport. As we stepped on to the platform there was a passage marked Orly Airport, and a little way along we found ourselves in front of an open door to the train! No Stairs! As we sat down the family Art had noticed on the previous train entered and sat across from us. They were from Chihuahua Mexico, and were also staying at the Holiday Inn.

At Orly airport we waited with them for the shuttle bus to the hotel (a bit over half an hour) and soon we were checking in and finding that the bar restaurant closed at 11:30 (PM) As it was by this time 10:30 we just had time for a shower and change before supper.

There is a direct train from Orly airport to Charles de Gaulle airport which will be our departure point for Rome on Friday after our return from Marrakech so we booked in here for Thursday night as well. We also decided to leave a bag here as we are only allowed one carry-on bag for the Marrekech flight. This meant of course that we would have to re-pack!

We got to bed a bit after midnight, setting the alarm and a wake up call for 5:30 AM, the shuttle would leave at 6:00 for our 8:20 departure for Marrakech.