Europe Christmas 2009: Day Two at the Louvre!
December 29, 2009
Today was our first full day in Paris (said “Pair-Reeee”) and boy golly did we do a lot! And, once again, I never knew my feetsies could hurt like that!
The first part of our day is tied together with the common theme of “oops!”
But let me explain…
In the morning we got up and went downstairs in our hotel for some breakfast. We weren’t 100% sure if breakfast was included in the cost of our room but we thought it was, so when we went downstairs and didn’t see anybody asking for money or room numbers we just figured it was included. Well, after we got our breakfast stuff (I got a bowl of cereal [very French of me, I know] and Chris got lots of croissant-y and meat-y stuff) and sat down a little woman came over and asked for our room number.
At that point we looked at each other with a little flash of fear in our eyes. How much was that breakfast per person you ask? 15 friggin euros!! So basically that was, and god willing will continue to be, the most expensive breakfast of our trip. (As I write this I’m shedding a baby tear)
But, we basically said there was nothing we could do, stole an extra pain au chocolat to make ourselves feel better, and headed towards the Louvre!
So breakfast was “oops” number one.
Oops number two happened right when we got going at the Louvre. Trying to be technologically savvy (and avoid long lines), we opted to use one of the machines to get our museum tickets. While getting them we decided we’d pay what we thought was a measly extra two euros to get into the special exhibit on Venetian masters (think Titian and the like.)
Well, we got our tickets, headed over to the special area, went through (sans problems), I realized I had to pee, headed back out of the special section, peed, decided we’d rather go in this other non-special section of the Louvre first, tried to go through, and the little ticket taker Frenchman said “no, no – the special exhibit is over there.”
Long story short we ended up spending all that money for just the special exhibit – not the regular Louvre admission plus the exhibit. At that point we headed back to talk to a real human and luckily we had to just pay a few more euros and we got the dual pass we were looking for.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
Oy-vey! For “oops” numero two.
After all that we spent the vast majority of our day trying to make our way through as much of the Louvre as possible. In reality, I really think you need at least two days dedicated to it. Three would be even better because then you wouldn’t have to do marathon museum-ing each day. But, for the amount of time we were there, we saw all the stuff on our big list.
Having now interviewed Chris in detail I can report that his favorite thing there were the Napoleon the Third apartments. Surprising isn’t it? But actually, they really were super awesome and ostentatious. And, since we weren’t really seeking them nor expecting them to be so amazing, I think it made the experience even better.
Basically you walk through different rooms that show how the beds were, how the study was, the formal dinning room, etc. and you just get a sense for how abso-freaking-lutley richer than god these people had to have been. I mean I cannot even begin to fathom it. And the stuff was just so remarkably beautiful. We were both totally into it.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
As for me, other than the apartments, I’d say I though the Vermeer paining was something very special. I’ve taken (and so has Chris) a lot of art history classes in my day and one of the things we agreed was missing from learning about art in the classroom was having a sense for the size of the painting and how being in the same room with it, given it’s size, really impacts your experience of it. For the Vermeer painting we saw this was especially true. By just seeing a photo of it I don’t think it seems all that amazing but, for some reason, when you see it in person and it’s so very small, surrounded by such a large frame, you feel like you are witnessing this very private moment and she doesn’t know you’re there. You feel movement not in the Degas/Impressionist let’s-paint-a-scene-that-really-happens-in-only-a-second (like a ballerina in a certain position) way, but in the real-life, looking through a crack in the wall and watching her weave way. Make any sense? Anyways, I was surprisingly into that painting. Oh, and the mermaids I spotted in one of the Rubens. (but of course!)
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
After we spent forever walking around (you know it’s intense if I’m telling Chris he’s leading me on a death march!), we headed over to the Galeries Lafayette to see the window displays that everyone talks about.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
But first we stopped at a chocolate shop and picked up a bar of chocolate and a little box of macaroons!
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
But back to the oh so famous Galeries Lafayette… Well, I thought the displays were neat and all (though the gingerbread men looked seriously evil) but holy god it was not worth the insane busyness. It took forever to wiggle through to see them and…I don’t know… they were cool but they weren’t that cool. Let’s just say Splash Mountain has better moving animals.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
By far the best part was the beautiful dome inside. It’s hard to believe a dome like that is inside of an overly-glorified department store and not some museum or something.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
After taking lots of pictures of the dome and giant tree we walked around the monsterous store for a while, hoping that with time we’d come to understand what the big deal was. But, to be honest, we never got it. Perhaps it’s because we live in the bay area and have access to as many malls and fancy-schmancy stores as we’d like, but I do not recommend wasting your time in Paris in a department store. No no no.
The only good that came out of it was we bought a bottle of Sauternes to drink later.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
After finishing up at the department store we decided to be a bit spontaneous – so we hoped on the Metro and headed to the Jewish district (the Marais) in hopes of finding some food and walking around somewhere new (and hopefully less crowded.)
Getting off the Metro I could already tell we’d come to a good area. Things were lit up and active but there weren’t a zillion people all over the place. The shops were super cute (I went into one and saw the cutest crystal hair thing) and there was even a row of art galleries we took a peak in.
Inevitably, though, I had to pee. And in Paris, that can be a bit of a problem. We walked around looking for one of those little bathrooms you pay for on the street but, alas, there were none. But then, like a beacon of light in the darkness, I spotted a McDonald’s. And sure enough, they had a bathroom! So advice for all you travelers out there – the big American chains (McDonald’s and Starbucks to be specific) have bathrooms you can use! Yay!
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
After the peeing fiasco was over we thought we should eat dinner. Not being that hungry (the time difference has gotten our eating all out of whack), we weren’t in a particular rush so we decided we’d look in our Michelin guide and just walk to whichever sounded particularly delicious. We found one (L’A.O.C. is it’s name), headed over to it, and were denied. Why? Nobody knows. I’m guessing it’s just closed for the holidays (friggin’ French hippies).
After that we just ended up walking back home (which was probably another mile or two) and satisfying our hunger with our bottle of sauternes (chilled naturally with all the plein air walking!) and a granola bar.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 2 |
‘Tis the life!
Europe Christmas 2009: First Outing in Paris!
December 28, 2009
The video below gives a summary of what we did after making our way to our hotel, but for those of you who aren’t into videos, I’ll give a recap.
We ventured out of our hotel bundled up in furry hats, big scarves, and our most “no really, it is really cold” jackets (which, in our part of California are a bit hard to come by) and headed out towards the Notre Dame cathedral. We read that there was an organ performance happening there in honor of Christmas, so we figured we’d check it out. On our way we walked through parts of the Latin Quarter (home to artsy students and the like), saw the Sorbonne (one of the oldest universities in France), and even managed to make our way into a much lesser known church – which had some quiet, shadowy, lovely, and ultimately unexpected chapels inside.
In European cities it seems that at practically any turn you can come across a gorgeous and ancient building that’s just saturated in history – it’s part of what makes coming over here so special.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
After leaving the smaller church, we finally made our way to Notre Dame – right as the sun was setting. There were loads of people in and around it but I found that (at least for a little while) sort of exciting.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
Once we made our way through the quick line, we were inside. Thousands of people were sitting in the cathedral listening to the organ and watching one of the church leaders light candles. Around the perimeter of the seats were all of the little chapels, where you could make a small donation to the church (admission is free), and light a candle under different saints (I believe…not being Catholic myself!)
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
Being inside of the cathedral reminded me of my trip to the Vatican in that, whereas I’m there as a spectator of the religious traditions, there are a lot of people who are there to take part in them. In other words, it’s not just like I’m seeing a piece of history - stuff is happening in these places right now!
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
After Notre Dame, we walked across the river to a little area outside the Hotel de Ville, where an ice rink was set up and there was a small carousel you could ride for free. Chris and I seized the opportunity for a short break and got on our respective horses!
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
After that we had our first bite to eat in France – a waffle of sorts baked fresh and drizzled with warm Nutella (which is everywhere over here). Delicious! The sugar reenergized us and we made our way to the Louvre and then all the way to what was to be our first Christmas market experience – on the Champs-Élysées.
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
Christmas markets basically consist of a bunch of vendors setting up cute little chalet-looking mini shops on a walkway and selling stuff. There are food vendors, who sell stuff like crepes, vin chaud (warm spiced wine), sweets, and even (as at this one) sandwiches made with salmon that was fire smoked right there. Other than food it really seems to depend on where you’re at, but generally speaking, you get a lot of crip-crap cutsie stuff (little dolls, jewelry, toys for kids, etc.) The Christmas markets in Paris (as I look back now, having gone to a few) are sort of touristy/ filled with cheapish stuff. But I wasn’t really looking to buy anything so that was ok with me!
After that Chris and I slowly headed back to our hotel – and boy we were tired. My feet were killing me! Killing me! And my little baby hands were freezing. Apparently my jcrew gloves are not sufficient for Paris winters!
So day one in Paris was a success – we walked around and got a good sense of the city and where a lot of stuff was… and now we’re ready for our next big day!
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
To see all the photos so far…
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| Paris 2009 Day 1 |
Europe Christmas 2009: Getting There!
December 28, 2009
After virtually an entire day of traveling, Chris and I successfully made it to Paris! But before we get into what we’ve done on our Christmas day in Paris, let’s spend a moment recapping the joy that was flying here.
At 5:30AM on Christmas Eve, Chris got up to shave and shower. I, not believing in the need for such things, got up at the slightly less obscene 6AM. After getting on our travel clothes (i.e. clothes we could bare to sit in for a day), we headed for Chris’ work. He wanted to stop by for a minute in the morning (good worker he is) and from there we could take a hotel shuttle to the airport (he works at a biotetch startup in South San Francisco which happens to be about a 1 minute walk away from a hotel.)
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Well, as we were driving up there we got a call on Chris’ phone. I picked it up and in a flurry of robot speak I deciphered that a flight going to Texas (was it Austin or Dallas?!) had been canceled. At first I told Chris the robot-girl said Austin, which would have been good (though confusing), since we were flying through Dallas. But then, I admitted I couldn’t remember what she said and decided to check online. The first site (like flighstats.com or something like that) said our flight was on time - but then I went to American Airlines and it said it was canceled! Canceled! I’ve never in the history of flying had a flight canceled! And it was my connecting flight to Paris!
So instead of taking the hotel shuttle we decided to cab it, with Chris on hold with American Airlines – trying to figure out what we’re supposed to do. But, since he was still on hold when we got the airport and some woman handed us a slip saying “your flight has been canceled, call this number” – he got off and we instantly got through on that other number.
Luckily, since we were there early enough, we got on to the early flight to Dallas – which was a huge relief! A couple we met while trying to get our seat assignment said they were scheduled to go out to Paris four days before, but it had been canceled and this was their second chance to make it to see their son and grandchild. I would suck so much to be paying for a hotel in Paris that you couldn’t use!
So we got on the plane, endured our fair share of turbulence and made our way to Dallas. At that point all I wanted to know was if our Paris flight was going to make it out. The snow was really starting to come down and I was trying to be optimistic – but with our first flight canceled I was becoming a bit paranoid.
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In the end, our flight did make it out but we had to sit on the runway for 3 ½ hours. Why you ask? Well two main things: first, because there was some cargo door malfunctioning issue (comforting, I know), and second, after that 30 minute escapade, we then had to get in a line to de-ice the plane (once again, the warm fuzzies were surrounding me.)
But in the end, I was just happy we got on our plane! And, about 8 ½ hours later (aka about 12:30PM on Christmas day), we landed in Paris!
From there we took the RER (train) to pretty much a ten-minute walk from our hotel (a Best Western in the Saint Germain).
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
[As a side note: for those first time RER takers from the Paris airport – both the trains will take you to Paris. There are two tracks but the airport is at the end of the line for both, and only one line goes that far down. So just hop on either one. We had a guy yell at us when we came down “you guys, this one to Paris!” and we got on. After a second I started feeling uneasy thought to myself “ok…why would he be yelling at all these people that his BART-like train is the right one to get on?” Turns out he was just begging as the train started. In the end harmless, but as I learned on my last trip, just trust your gut and pretty much (and I hate to say this) 99% of the time, don’t do what some guy (who already looks a little sketchy) tells you to do. Even if he’s right, if you feel weird, the worst thing that will happen if you wait is you’ve got to sit for an extra 15 minutes for the next train. With Chris there the situation was different, but if I were alone I 100% absolutely would have not gotten on that train. Just keep it in mind fellow travelers! Look out for yourself so you can have fun!
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
But now back to making it to the hotel…
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| From Paris 2009 Day 1 |
The hotel we’re staying at is quite the step up from my backpack-through-Europe adventure in the summer of 2008! Not that it’s fancy or anything, but we actually have our own room and it’s nice and clean! And I don’t have to worry that people are going to steal my stuff!
So there’s the story of how we finally made our way here!