Paris Untour, Fall of 2004
by Alison & Frank Davis, Rancho Palos Verde, CA
Tuesday September 7 2004
We had decided to fly Air France directly to Paris from Los Angeles instead of changing in Heathrow, so we checked in at 3:30 pm at the Delta terminal without any problems. We had a good flight with good seats and food. On arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport we were met by Joanna and found an ATM right away for cash. Our driver took us on a hair-raising drive through the traffic to the apartment on Frederic Magisson in the 15th arrondissment. I took the tiny elevator up to the 6th (in France, 7th in U.S.) floor and then Frank tried to close the elevator door with his foot not quite inside, so the door touched his shoe and refused to close. This meant carrying his luggage up all flights of stairs and the elevator being out of service for the next 24 hours! Not a good start!The apartment is small but quite adequate and sunny. The only bedroom has two small cots/beds which were rather wobbly, the living room has a sofa bed, TV and fireplace, there is a small dining area, small well-equipped kitchen with tile floor, and a tiled bathroom with separate W.C. We had a view out over the courtyard in back and over the street and roofs in front. We unpacked and lay down for a little rest.
We went round the corner to the Monoprix supermarket for food supplies to supplement what had been left in the apartment refrigerator. We were very tired after the flight so had an early night.
Thursday September 9
Woke early and had breakfast in the sunny apartment. Felt much better. I made sandwiches for lunch but forgot to take them with me! Left them on the counter! We took the Métro to the Ile de la Cité and found Notre Dame without much trouble. It was a lovely day and there were many people about. We walked around outside taking photographs and then into the Square de Ile de France. It was lunch time by now so we found a sandwich shop on the Ile St Louis and took it down to the bank of the Seine to eat while watching the boats and enjoying the sun. It was so wonderful to be there after all the planning!After lunch we went inside the cathedral and spent time soaking up the beauty of the architecture and windows.
After sitting out in the sun some more, we went across the bridge and found the meeting place for the orientation. We were a bit early, so we went inside St Julien le Pauvre, the oldest church in Paris, which now belongs to the Greek Orthodox church and has some lovely icons. We sat in the park in front and then went to the Navigator Restaurant to meet Joanna and the Untourist group for drinks and orientation. We had a good session talking about places to visit and things to do.
We went back home to rest and relax before a home cooked dinner - haute cuisine - seeing as we were on the 6th floor!!
After dinner I had the idea to walk to see the Eiffel Tower which was shining its searchlight into our neighbourhood. It turned out to be a bit of a longer walk than I had judged, but we went to the river and stood on the bridge and enjoyed the sight of the illuminated tower... the river looked beautiful, too, and a barge went by with strong lights shining on the trees along the banks.
We had some excitement late at night, as a firetruck was in the street near our building with its ladder extended all the way up to the top floor next door. A fireman climbed up and looked in but went down with out rescuing anyone and then they all left so we went back to bed without knowing what had happened.
Friday September 10
It was cooler today and we woke earlier and got an earlier start on the Métro to the Arc de Triomphe. It was busy there and we stood for quite a while just watching the traffic going around the Etoile. It was amazing that vehicles moved the way they did! Those entering the circle have the right of way, not those already in the circle, so that was different! It was nerve-wracking to watch cyclists and motor scooters changing lanes! We went over to see the Arc close up but did not go up inside. Standing there, facing west we could see far in the distance the Grande Arche of La Défense, which is three miles away, almost in a straight line and which we would visit later.We followed Rick Steves' walk down the Champs Elysée and enjoyed the different stores especially the Peugot car dealership with all the futuristic cars. We had coffee on the sidewalk café and became part of the scenery! Sephora's cosmetics was another interesting shop to wander into. We stopped for picnic lunch in the park and then continued on to the Place de la Concorde. This was most impressive, the obelisk fountains and the history of the place made it memorable. La Madeleine seemed quite close so we walked there through Rue Royale and we sat in the church awhile to rest and absorb the atmosphere. Then we took a long leisurely walk back through the Place de la Concorde and over the Seine to the Pont Alexander III which is beautiful and ornate. We sat on the grass and watched people on Segways go by. Les Invalides was beckoning so we walked there and into the church of St Louis where Berlioz' Requiem had first been played. Then we went to the front garden area and admired the flowers. We were getting a little fatigué by then so we hightailed it to the Métro home for nap and dinner.
I bought a couple of éclairs at the patisserie and the saleslady wrapped them in a lovely pyramid of paper and tied it with colored ribbon with a loop to carry it by. That same evening I read in Adam Gopnik's book "Paris to the Moon" his experience of the very same thing!
Saturday September 11
Awoke to a cooler breeze but sunshine.We waited for a man who was coming to look at the wobbly beds and he came around noon, said they would replace it (but never did). Frank decided to have a day off from sightseeing as he was not feeling well. He was also recovering from recent shoulder surgery.
I went to the Musée national des Arts asiatiques- Guimet, via the Trocadéro. I took pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the fountains and walked to the museum in the sun. It was a wonderful experience - the art is so extensive and covers many countries. The building is recently remodelled and very beautiful. There is also an annex of Buddhas which has a whole lot more to see including a zen garden which was being worked on. By this time clouds had started to build and a few drops of rain fell. I wanted to get to my Métro stop so I hurried on, but was caught in the deluge of the week. The rain was blowing almost horizontally across the Trocadéro plaza and umbrellas were being blown inside out. The Eiffel Tower was almost hidden in the clouds. Everyone was running and getting soaked to the skin! I sheltered awhile under an awning but it was hopeless, so I just ran to the Métro and found lots of people sheltering there. The train trip was interesting - lots of wet travellers! The sun came out by the time I got home! We had a beautiful rainbow visible from the front windows.
In the evening we watched the news about the 9/11 anniversary. We only had French TV channels so it was interesting to find out what was going on.
Sunday September 12
Had a good breakfast but then Frank had severe abdominal pains so had to lie down and rest. We were anxious, but he took medications and rested during the morning. I left after lunch (while Frank rested the remainder of the day), to go to St Germain-des-Prés and the Left bank. I saw the church there, walked around the streets and shops towards the river and came out through the Institute de France which I had read about in Gopnik's book. I crossed the Pont des Arts into the Louvre court and walked around the outside - the Pyramid and the Arch Carroussel and then back over Pont Royal,along the Quai Voltaire to Boulevard Germain-des-Prés and the expensive shops. Luckily it was Sunday and they were closed!I saw a wonderful wall of Sèvres ceramic decoration in the Square de Félix Desruelies. I found nothing about it in the guide books but it was certainly worth seeing. Then I went to the enormous Saint-Sulpice church. There is an interesting copper band inlaid in the floor which runs to an obelisk in the northern corner. At noon on the winter solstice the sun light passing through a hole in the upper window in the south transept strikes points on the obelisk. The plaza in front of the church is quite impressive with a huge fountain and statues.
I went home to check on Frank who was doing a little better and able to eat some egg and take a short walk through our neighbourhood, exploring some of the shops along Rue du Commerce.
Monday September 13
Frank was feeling better today, so after making sandwiches again we left to see the Musée Jacquemart-André. It is in an unprepossessing building with its back to the street and with renovation going on, but inside it is wonderful. We used the audio guide and went through all the rooms of great art including a Tiepolo fresco over the stairs and wonderful Italian art rooms. We had lunch in the restaurant there, under a Tiepolo ceiling and had an interesting conversation with a man at the next table who wanted to speak English.We returned via the Trocadéro and Eiffel Tower. It had turned windy and cloudy but we walked all around and got close to the tower but didn’t climb it.
On the Métro home we were entertained by musicians - accordianists who passed around a collection plate afterwards. We saw lots of these musicians during our stay, ranging from good to awful. One elderly man seemed quite sad playing the violin. One wondered about their life stories.
The rain started just as we arrived home and became really heavy. We did our usual nap, then dinner.
Tuesday September 14
Sunny and clear - a good day for laundry! I went to buy detergent from the supermarket and then we loaded up the machine and got it started. Luckily there were instructions in English! We left it running and went to Montmartre, getting off at Métro Abbesses, and looking at the church across the street (St-Jean de Montmartre) which was interesting, with lovely modern stained glass windows.We took the funicular up the hill to Sacré Coeur and joined the throngs milling on the steps. A man was playing a celtic harp on the lower steps and everyone was enjoying the views of the city. The church itself seemed much greyer than when I had seen it 40 years ago! Also there was a patch of red paint on one of the domes which was quite unsightly. Inside we explored and admired the mosaics and were fortunate to be in time for the nuns' noon prayers and hymns. Their voices were so pure and clear in the church, it was quite a lovely experience.
Outside behind the church we found a lovely little park where we had lunch. There is a small man-made waterfall there and we were entertained by a girl modelling for a photograper. She posed at the edge of the falls in her jeans and boots and was quite attractive until she started to smoke!
We followed Rick Steves' walk around Montmartre and enjoyed the sights, especially the little vineyard and the cafés. At the Place du Tertre there were many artists and tourists and we went into a café for some crêpes. (The restaurant the Steves' had recommended was closed). At our restaurant we were given tough old crêpes from a stack previously cooked. It was quite disappointing and not what we expected. Later we were to have a better crêpe experience.
We saw the Moulin Gallette, the houses where various artists lived and then went to see the Moulin Rouge lobby.
We returned home from the Métro at Pigalle stopping for some dahlias at a florist shop to brighten up our apartment. The laundry was done and we used our little clothes-line as well as the dryer to dry the clothes.
Wednesday September 15
Sunny and partly cloudy today. We got our bed linen ready for the staff to change and had a restful morning doing postcards and getting cash.Our plan was to see the Musée Louvre and to go after 3 pm when it was cheaper. It turned out to be cheaper after 6 pm that day so we were out of luck!
Anyway, we went to the Place de la Concorde and had a lovely walk through the Tuileries in the sun. The statues were beautiful and there were sunbathers by the Octagonal Pond. Trees were turning red and brown and it was just lovely. We had a picnic lunch in a side park near the Arc du Carrousel and then went to the Pyramid to enter. The baggage-check line here was fairly short and we descended and bought our tickets through a machine, which saved time.
We made the mistake of following Rick Steves' through the Louvre and were caught up in crowds of crowds. The scene by the Venus de Milo was a mad-house of people photographing their friends and family by the statue. Same with the Winged Victory, but the worst mob was by the Mona Lisa. Everyone was holding their camera up overhead to take a picture of the picture and were crowding against the rope barrier. It was too much - no one was actually looking at the art!
We did enjoy lots of art in other rooms, also courtesy of Rick Steves, and then we headed out for a breather. We found the food court and rested with a coffee and pastry before tackling the Richelieu Wing, which was much saner and equally interesting. The Cour Puget and Cour Marly displaying French sculptures are just wonderful. We we made our way to the Dutch paintings via Napoleon III's apartments. These are jaw-dropping sights of luxury and excess. On the way out we had to see the Ruebens room - a vast hall full of huge paintings.
We left around sunset and made it home in time to collapse before a dinner of leftovers, and bed.
Thursday September 16
Another sunny day. We left early (for us!) to see the Place de la Bastille with the Colonne de Julliet and the Opera house there. The latter is a very interesting modern building, but we did not go inside. We walked to the Place de Voges via the Hôtel de Sully - a lovely building. We sat in the park and had lunch and watched the people. A group of women came, in pairs and singly, and had their lunch sitting around the sandbox with their feet in the sand! After lunch we headed to the Beauborg area to see the Georges-Pompidou modern art museum. The building really interested us and we took the escalator to the top floor for the view and then came down to see the art. I was a bit disappointed in the art, but did enjoy the Matisses and Bonnards, among others. There was a wall devoted to an artist's room as it had been in his time, with all his collection of masks and artifacts and strange objects from all over the world. It was quite fascinating but unfortunately I don’t rememember the artist's name. We had a nutrition break at the café there and decided we had had enough art for that day and would head out to see La Défense at the end of the Métro #1 line. It was cooling off now and people were going home after work, so we joined them.La Défense is an amazing area; la Grande Arche is one of Mitterand's projects and it opened in 1989. It is a huge square arch under which Notre Dame would supposedly fit, and which houses offices. There are many wonderful skyscrapers and interesting buildings with glass facing. In between are huge sculptures and art works, including a Calder piece - a great red stationary piece. It is a totally pedestrian area, with stores and apartments too, plus a fabulous waterfall/fountain. We spent some time there but were not able to see everything in this short time, plus it was getting dark.
We took the Métro at the Esplanade and were home later than usual.
Friday September 17
Sunny again!This was the last day we could use our Paris Visite card so we decide to travel to Versailles and use that and our Museum pass. I did a little grocery shopping before we left and then we went to Les Invalides to change to the RER train to the suburbs. It was an interesting two decker train and we found the directions easy to follow in Steves' book. We followed the crowd to the château and were awestruck by the size of the courtyard and the palace. We had our usual sandwiches sitting outside the south Parterre, as there is no picnicking in the gardens. After that we went into the gardens and sat on the main steps admiring the view down the long vista, with fountains and flowers and grand canal in the distance. It is very wooded there and it is amazing to think that 7000 trees were lost in the storms of 1999.
We walked around separately and met later at the Orangerie overlook: an amazing sight with the designs in the grass and the trees in planters all around.
We then went inside to see those splendours and followed the tours; lovely rooms and art. The hall of mirrors is being restored and so only half of it is on view now, rather disappointing not to get the full effect, but another reason to return. We saw almost everything but not the Trianons. After a nutrition break we headed home and caught the 6 p.m. train back to Paris. It was interesting to see the suburbs and outer Paris areas. We arrived home with aching feet and had a late dinner.
In the evenings we were often entertained by bats flitting around the courtyard outside our kitchen window, as well as the searchlight of the Eiffel Tower.
Saturday September 18
Frank had a bad night so was not feeling up to more sight seeing this morning, so I took off to see the Montparnasse cemetery. It was another sunny, warm day, great for a walk. Everyone was out shopping in the street market along Edgar Quinet street near the cemetery. It was a fabulous market with everything imaginable for sale - I was sad I couldn't buy things as I was a bit far from home. I did enjoy the sights and sounds on the way to the quiet cemetery where I picked up a map and found my goal: Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre's grave. I wandered around and found more interesting graves but locating them was difficult even with a map, especially they were in the middle of a section. People were tending the graves, bringing flowers and a stone cutter was working on chiselling the headstone of one grave. I found Boucicaut, which is the name of one of our closest Métro stations. He was the founder of Bon Marché.I returned home through the farmers' market and found Frank rested and ready to go to Musée D'Orsay.
We arrived at 2:30 and had to go through a baggage search before entering the fabulous converted railway station building. Rick Steves has good recommendations for this museum and we saw a great deal of impressionist art. The crowds were not too bad. The reception rooms and dining room are wonderful. We stopped to look at the view from the top of the building and had a pain au chocolat to keep us going. The museum closes at 6 pm but the personnel start evicting visitors at 5: 30.
We were home by 6:30 and decided to try a local restaurant for dinner. We picked Le Petit Machon which is close by and recommended by other Untourists: We were the first customers of the evening. The food was Lyonnais style and I had an excellent steak and Frank had duck. The food tended to be salty for our palates but we had lots of water. The dessert was wonderful crème brulée and we enjoyed it all. We walked home full; it started to rain just as we got inside the door!
Sunday September 19
Some younger neighbours had a loud party Saturday night so we had trouble sleeping through the music, screaming, and singing, both in their apartment and in the street. At 3 a.m. it was suddenly quiet, as if a switch had been turned off!We had planned to attend an organ concert after Mass at Saint-Sulpice, but as Frank was still sleeping, I left on my own.
I entered through the imposing front entrance from the plaza, with its huge fountain. Mass was just ending, so I was very lucky to be in at the beginning of the half-hour concert. It was wonderful to hear the organ in such a surrounding. The organist played some César Franck and Widor. Afterwards I wandered around the Place and then returned home for lunch.
We had a second concert that day at St-Eustache, in Les Halles area and so we took an interesting route via Place St Michel where there were many people gathering. This weekend was the Journée de Patrimoine, when public buildings were open free to the public and this increased the number of people out and about. We walked over the Pont Neuf and up to Les Halles where the park was full of families enjoying the sun. The church of St-Eustache is huge and impressive with lovely windows and decorated pillars. Someone was demonstrating the organ and showing how the pipes were made. To fill in time we explored the underground shopping area, which was so-so, and watched swimmers in the Olympic-sized pool of the sports center there.
This organ concert was also wonderful, starting at 5:30 with Bach and then some Mozart variations and other works. The lady organist described to the fairly large audience each piece she played.
We retraced our route home through the crowds and were home to see a lovely sky from our rooftop windows.
Monday September 20
It was definitely cooler today, and after breakfast we left to see La Sainte Chapelle on the Ile de la Cité. We arrived at around 11 a.m. and found a long line of people waiting to enter. This was for the baggage check and it was an extremely slow- moving line. People with museum passes did not get to go to the front, so there were some unhappy customers. It was noon by the time we entered and it was breathtaking to see the lower chapel as well as the wonderful stained glass of the upper chapel. Choral music was playing in the background, so we sat and enjoyed the atmosphere and beauty of the place. We then walked over to the left bank to go to Musée de Cluny - the medieval museum. As there was no restaurant in the museum we found a crêperie on Blvd St- Germain-des-Prés, which was a student hangout with an upstairs room seating 25 people. They were serving wonderful fresh crêpes full of spinach and salmon for me and chicken for Frank. We were so full we couldn’t eat the dessert crêpe but had coffee instead and then headed over to the Museum. It is a beautiful place, with many interesting displays of fabrics, stained glass, tapestries from rural life and stone heads of kings of Judah from Notre Dame. The main attraction is the room with the tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn which are quite spectacular and detailed. A large tour group came in and disturbed my contemplation so I left and returned when they had gone. There is a wonderful chapel there, with a beautiful vaulted ceiling, and some lovely calligraphy, so I enjoyed it all. Frank was really tired, so went home to rest, because the Untour dinner at the Navigator restaurant was scheduled for 7 that evening.Everyone was there from the group and we shared our experiences over the most delicious dinner! Kir, salad and pâte, duck confit, cheese plate and coffee with dessert of floating islands was my choice and the meal went on til 10 p.m! We got to know our fellow Untourists a bit better, as well as hearing about Joanna's antique business. It was a lovely evening.
Tuesday September 21
This was our last full day. We did some packing and made lunch before heading out for the Rodin Museum. We saw the downstairs rooms of the house first then had our lunch in the outdoor café. It was cool and cloudy, but no rain, and we wandered around the gardens looking at the statues there before going back inside for the upstairs rooms. I think we had covered Rodin very thoroughly by the time we left!I had an errand for a friend - to bring back some Macaroons from La maison Ladurée, a tearoom which serves wonderful pastries. The closest was on Rue Royale, near the Madeleine, so we made the trip there and after walking all around the Place looking at the expensive stores, we went inside to see the action. Many people were lined up for the macaroons, which are sold in boxes of various sizes. There are many flavors so it was difficult to choose, but I asked for a mixed box for my friend and then bought a couple of larger ones for us to sample. They certainly were delicious! We ate them on a bench (tacky, I know!) watching the traffic circling the Place de la Madeleine.
Dinner was the remainder of our supplies and then more packing. The next occupiers of the apartment came round to bring some of their luggage, so we visited with them a little.
Wednesday September 22
We were up early, of course, and waited on the steps of the apartment building for our shuttle to the airport. Unfortunately, the driver was 45 minutes late, and though he had phoned us, he had done so after we had left the apartment, so we had no idea what was happening. I made several attempts to contact Joanna and when I finally did use the phone at the corner store, she was not home. I left a message and then our driver arrived. He was very apologetic. Luckily, we had plenty of time before the plane departure, but we had to pick up other Untourists en route. We had an interesting drive across town, seeing some sights we had not seen previously, and made it to the airport in plenty of time.Check in was easy as could be - we were the first ones there!! Charles de Gaulle airport is very nice and light with some good shops and some expensive coffee!
The flight home was marred by babies crying practically the whole time, so we were extremely thankful that friends were picking us up at Los Angeles airport!
Once again we had a great Untour trip, seeing so much, but leaving much more for the future!
As an aside, we did not experience any anti-American sentiment during the trip, or anti-British sentiment either. I learned French in England and several times when I spoke French I was asked if I was English!
One other thing, I took the green Michelin Guide with me to supplement Rick Steves' book, and am really glad I did. It is more detailed and serious. Rick can get a little flippant and "cute" at times, though there is a lot of helpful information in his book.