These Feet Can Take Us Anywhere

PART I….

After meeting at the airport, Christine, Jon, and our Portland friend Annie (who’d been in Berlin with Christine), rode the suburban train into Paris center where we took our respective metro rides to meet up with our hosts: we with a friend of Jon’s sister and Annie with a couchsurf host living within spitting distance from the Eiffle Tower! Jon had arrived the night before and had already met our hosts, his sister’s friend Laurent and partner Caroline. They made us feel most welcome, and on the evening Christine arrived, plans had been made to meet up at a small music venue to hear some fine local rock music (a rarity in Paris so we’re told) before driving on to their flat for the evening. Christine was shocked by the sticker price of the beers - 6€ for a pint here instead of the 2.50€ she’d been enjoying in Berlin. Oh well, we weren’t there to drink anyway.

After the concert (where we met quite a few fellow Americans, including a young man from Staunton, VA) they drove us back to their homey apartment in a quaint little suburb called Arpajon. We would be staying with them for five days and it was quite nice that they lived a 45 minute train ride outside of Paris. This gave us the opportunity to experience the glitz and glamour of the city but sleep and wake up in the country. The best of both worlds!

So with five days in Paris - where to start?! We headed straight off the train on a walk towards the Eiffel Tower where we’d made romantic plans with Annie to “meet for a picnic under the Eiffle Tower at 1pm”. We stopped at sights along the way starting with the lovely Jardin de Luxembourg which was originally established by Catherine de Medici (an Italian) and a queen of France in the 17th century.

In the background is the Luxembourg Palace where the French Senate meets, sorry no visitors.

After the garden, we explored the inside of the St. Sulpice Cathedral where they have a really big organ. Jonathan decided to head back on Sunday morning for the end of mass when the organist stole the show (the sermon was in French after all) - really great sound but not overwhelming like he hoped. Apparently, they put lots of thought into the size of pipes to match the volume of the church so that all the notes were evenly balanced. It worked and there weren’t any thunderous low frequencies to rumble in his belly, but the music was still really beautiful.

We walked on through the quiet streets of a city on summer vacation, sometimes checking the frequent metro maps to see if we’re on the right path, sometimes asking locals, and finding yummy deli food to take on our picnic. Finally we arrived, found Annie, and all sat down for a great picnic in the gardens surrounding….

….the Eiffel Tower!

The Eiffle Tower was indeed as impressive as one would hope it would be. It is an enchanting landmark and so much fun to have always in the background or foreground as you stroll the streets of Paris. To be standing directly under it was fantastic, we all agreed.

After our picnic lunch rendez-vous with Annie, the three of us decided to check out the furnishings of her lovely Paris apartment (on loan for two nights via Couchsurfing).

We found the top of the building and spotted numerous landmarks from the 30-story rooftop. Just as good as the Eiffel Tower but it was free! Afterwards we had a cafe and walked across the bridge from Last Tango in Paris.

Our next stop was the Arc de Triomph, which was built by one of the Napoleons to commemorate all those soldiers killed fighting on his behalf - the Nazis paraded through here too. The sculpture here was really stunning and very large!

Then we went off searching for the Moulin Rouge, somewhere around Montmartre, but we settled for the Sacre Couer and took in the beautiful cityscape from this highest and probably the busiest hill of Paris.

Annie had the good fortune of meeting a local who whisked her up in secret to the top lookout. We’re glad that she shared this photo she took with us - nice view eh?

By now we were hungry and Jonathan by some great fortune had on his first day, discovered the little India neighborhood which was just a few stops away on the metro. The place was busy but we were seated right away and at the end of a fantastic meal, the three of us agreed it was the best affordable food in the city. SO Good in fact, that we would return to the same place again before trying still another Indian restaurant down the street which turned out to be even BETTER! Paris was faring far better than we hoped in terms of gastronomical bargains.

The next big day in Paris brought us to another suburb called Versailles - this was the home of the French royalty for some time including the last days where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette endulged their final frivolities. The buildings were so spectacular from the outside that we decided we didn’t need to bother going in, and besides, the gardens were free, and hundreds times bigger than the buildings which were huge!

We picnicked by the grand canal in the sunshine before taking a nap as the tourists rowed their rental boats gently by our snoozing blissful forms. Afterwards we stumbled across some organic artisanal sorbet which Christine instisted be lemon flavor - ouch! The most bitter/tart iced “treat” ever! Still we managed to get it down. We made our way to Marie Antoinette’s house and took a little tour of the grounds before the rain hit. By that time we’d whiled away the better part of a day and were ready to head back.

We got to the subway, headed back to Paris and the three of us enjoyed an excellent meal of Indian food in the ethnic Indian quarter of Paris. It was a stellar day!

Tags: 2009-July, Annie, Paris, Tag Index

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