Paris - a week in the smelly city of love

Hauling our bags up the mountains of stairs from the Paris metro, we were struck by three things that differed from our experience on the London underground: a lack of accessibility features (i.e. lifts), a grimy-ness in the trains and walking tunnels, and a distinct smell of urine.

Ah Paris, you romantic city you..!

We arrived at the end of a gay pride parade - the part where the party has died down and you're left with people walking around only partly dressed, vomit in the street, and a random couple discovering new love next your apartment door. 

On entering our typical no-lifts building in the Bastille area, we murmured prayers of thanks that we were only on the second floor as we clambered up the dark, thin staircase covered in an aged red carpet to our quaint little apartment room that was home for the week.

Over the week it was fun hanging our heads out the window to view the street below and seeing our neighbors go about their lives through the windows opposite. The only trouble was remembering that they could see us as much as we could see them and that getting changed required careful maneuvering behind a small cupboard or going to the bathroom for privacy.

Our first morning (a Sunday) we had a late breakfast at a local cafe. To my delight they had steak tartare, so - breaking all travelling food safety advice - I enjoyed french-style raw meat with salad. Not everyone's cup of tea I know but for me it was a fabulous opportunity.

Nourished and keen to explore, we took a stroll that turned into a hike, and eventually found ourselves at Notre Dame cathedral (more on that later). Out amongst the city we discovered the automated bike rental system that has stations throughout Paris. We quickly took to spending hours bike riding along rows of old houses and the river banks.

[Jahda: Note, unlike Holland where the bicycles rule the road, in Paris they are just another road user. There is kind of a dedicated bicycle lane - that is, there is a lane in which bicycles can be ridden. But in their wisdom, the French decided that cyclists should share this lane with buses and taxis...? So, one day we found ourselves riding back from the Mont Matre district in a bus lane on a major thorough fare, in peak hour, without helmets, and in the pouring rain...but we survived.]

10 mins ride away was Notre Dame, brought to international fame by Victor Hugo in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' which coincidentally saved it from destruction (we were told this was the very reason he wrote the animation, er, i mean, book). Despite its renown, it appears bare and gloomy on the inside in comparison to several other cathedrals we've seen (think St Peter's at the Vatican, St Paul's in London, Westminster abbey...). However, the gothic architecture is fascinating, complete with the 'spider's legs' support structures on the outside. It is also steeped in history. This is the place where Napoleon Bonaparte impatiently grabbed the crown off the pope (who was in the middle of the ceremony) and crowned himself and his queen before the kings and queens of Europe, muttering something that translates roughly as, 'not even God is worthy to crown me'. This kind of humility characterised his reign and perhaps left a lingering impact on the French psyche.

A great thing we did was take a 3hr free walking tour (tip based) past the highlights of Paris. We heard so many interesting stories told in a funny way by our guide. For example, we learned there is a French Academy which aims to preserve the French language by coming up with new French words for English ones. Sometimes the French people agree with their proclamations...
"You must say l'ordinateur instead of dis English word, computer"! "Oui, oui, we will do as you say"
and other times they don't..."we shake our middle fingers at you! We do not like this term "les vacancies" (little holiday)! We will call it 'le weekend' like the English!"

The story goes that this Academy took 4 months to determine that the iPod was masculine and should therefore be referred to as "le iPod". Apparently, they also wanted the Internet lines to France cut in order to stop the non-French web pages from infiltrating people's homes (but I heard this story from someone else later).

[Jahda: I've decided that if Australia ever follows suit, I will apply for a job in such an academy... It could be kind of fun spending the working day making up new words or slang.]

If we tried to watch tv, we never came across English speaking movies with subtitles, they were all dubbed over. Thankfully there were incredible art museums, famous monuments, parks, and French bakeries to fill our time!

Firstly, the museums. We walked passed the Louvre, but in the end we didn't go inside. Too many other things too do. Instead, we prioritised the Musee d'Orsey, which is home to all things impressionism (as in the painting style, not comedians who are 'impersonators') and post-impressionism. For those not familiar with this era, just think Monet... And later Van Gogh (although Jahda tells me that technically Van Gogh was a post impressionist merging into an expressionist).

[Jahda: this was my favorite art museum. Since high school, Impressionism has been my favourite style of painting. As you can imagine, I spent a long time just gazing in wonder at all the different works in the impressionists hall, and wondered why we had spent so long in the other areas (I think it's that feeling that you have to see everything on display even if you have no idea what it is or you only glance at it on the way past). There were some amazing sculptures in the museum along with some very famous paintings.. Some of which we'd seen before in Australia at special exhibitions. Amanda was very patient, waiting for me to have my fill of Impressionism, despite being less captivated than I was. I also decided that I think I prefer Alfred Sisley and possibly Camille Pissarro to Monet. Quite a revelation for me!]

Heeding all the recommendations, we spent one day traveling to the palace of Versaille just outside Paris. We hired bikes and took them on the train with us so we could see more of the grounds; and we're glad we did. The palace was built by king Louis XIV - or as he affectionately referred to himself, the 'Sun King''. As an absolute monarch, Louis could pretty much do what he wanted. It was a lavish palace, as known for its seemingly endless gardens as its palace. It has lost much of its lustre, but while walking through the palace we could still picture and imagine it in all it's glory. Perhaps its most famous room is the 'hall of mirrors'. It was quite an innovation at the time - on one side are big glass windows looking out on the magnificent and extensive gardens. On the other side there are floor to ceiling mirrors, designed to give a sense of size and grandiosity, and glass/crystal chandeliers hanging from the roof. Unfortunately, the art of mirror making was not as refined back then so the mirrors are not the crystal clear ones we have today. Otherwise the room would have been even more magnificent.

The palace is also where Louis 16 and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were living when the revolution rose up. We were told that Louis 16 had only left the grounds of Versaille twice in his life. Marie Antoinette had a little village built on the grounds of Versailles, complete with pond, farm, mill, and other things so she could visit here and play at being a peasant woman, free from the rigid structures and politicking of courtly life.

While trekking or cycling around Paris, we enjoyed stopping in some of the magnificent parks. Parisians often frequent these parks for a romantic stroll, a lunch break, or just to relax and read a book. We did the strolling and occasional lunch break, but didn't had enough time to read a book because there was too much to see!

Of course, we also went to the Eiffel tower. We sat there and watched it sparkle in the night sky...

When we went to see the Eiffel tower in the day light we saw a fierce cloud approaching. After parking our bikes, we were walking across the road with the subway in sight when the storm arrived - what a downpour!! We dived for the cover of the nearest cafe and stood there, huddled with locals, tourists, and waiters alike and waited for the downpour to ease. And we waited. And we waited. It was quite a torrent. The subway was barely 10m away, but had we dared it we would have been drenched - just as if we'd been swimming with all our clothes on. A waiter was cheered by the crowd when he managed to procure an umbrella so he could serve a couple in a secluded area under the cover that was cut off by the rain. One local decided it was too good an opportunity to miss. So he whipped off his shirt, stood in the downpour and shampooed his hair. I think I might have even heard him singing in the shower.../ rain.

While in Paris, we had been planning to visit the Garnier Opera House (think 'phantom of the opera'). We found out the Paris National Ballet Company was doing a performance and given that I love watching ballet and practically never get to see it, and there were, unusually, a couple of seats still available, we put our credit card to work and thoroughly enjoyed an evening watching one of the most famous ballet companies in the world perform at one of the most iconic venues of the world. We felt very privileged and thoroughly enjoyed it. (The ballet was 'La Fille Mal Gardee'.)

[Jahda: it was my first time at the ballet and I also enjoyed it!]

To finish off a superb evening, we bought some citron (lemon) tarts and sat in front of the Eiffel tower waiting for it to be bedazzled (every hour the normal lights are replaced by flashing lights - it doesn't come up so well on photos, but it is quite a sight).

After our pastry, pate and palace-filled Paris week, we headed to Lyon to pick up our lease car and escape to the alps like a family of well known singers...