Paris, France

PARIS – Sept. 8-13

By Leyla

We began our road school journey in Paris, arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport on September 8 at 4:30pm. We were scheduled to arrive at noon but were alerted before we left for the airport in Denver that our Norwegian Air flight was delayed by 4 hours. We later learned from the pilot that this was due to a bird strike when the plane landed earlier in Paris, necessitating a thorough inspection before the plane could be cleared to fly to Denver for the start of our flight.

We were a bit worried about Norwegian Air, a discount carrier that reviewers seem to either applaud or deride. In our case, it was better than expected. The advance notice of the flight delay gave us more time in Boulder for last minute goodbyes and packing/re-packing. And the flight on the Dreamliner was very quiet and comfortable, even though we were not in the premium seats. We booked 3 window seats directly behind each other so we each had a wall to lean against, and surprisingly, we all slept relatively well and arrived in Paris somewhat refreshed. We took the metro from CDG to our Airbnb apartment near the Luxembourg Gardens. The ride was very straightforward – no transferring and a 2 minute walk from the station, although it took us 15 minutes to get our bearings and to take a few wrong turns and find our place.

View from our appartment

Once settled in our apartment, we went out in search of food. Our street, Rue Monsieur de Prince, in the 6^th Arrondissement is a charming street lined on both sides with restaurants and shops. After walking down to Boulevard St. Germain and checking out the lively cafes in some of the surrounding squares, we decided on a small Vietnamese place near our apartment that was constantly full when we passed by. After a delicious, albeit expensive (it’s hard to spend less than 80 – 150 Euro on any meal) we went home to our apartment to sleep. It has been hot during our entire stay and this night was no exception. Our apartment was on the top floor of a 7 story building with great light and views of the Pantheon We kept windows open to catch the breeze, but it also meant all night noise from the cars on nearby Boulevard St. Michel and the revelers on a boisterous Saturday night. The apartment had a double bed with a single bunk, which Emily slept on. A community of mosquitos had taken up residence in the ceiling above her head and unfortunately she was bit all over her face and shoulders, so the next night we made up the comfortable futon sofa bed for her, which she loved. The apartment was small and could have been nice, but the owners seem to have let it go and it wasn’t all that clean. So far, it has been the only disappointment in our introductory Airbnb experience.

The following day we were scheduled for a bike tour of Paris at 9:30 am, meeting our guide and our group at the Place St. Michel, near the bridge that crosses the Seine to the Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the City where Parisians first settled and the home to the glorious Notre Dame Cathedral. We walked to our meeting place, grabbing a croissant along the way. Our bike tour guide took our group (all Americans except for a couple girls from Singapore) to the major sites, like the Louvre, Place Concorde and the Tour Eiffel, explaining some interesting historic facts along the way. He pointed out the black skyscraper near the Tour Eiffel, the only one in Paris, explaining that after it was built, Parisians were so horrified at the sight that they elected not to allow any more, banishing modern skyscrapers and office buildings to the outskirts of the City. We had a one-hour lunch on Rue Cler where we ate at a sweet Parisian bistro, Le Petit Cler, followed by macaroons. What our family gleaned from this adventure, other than an assortment of historic facts, was how easy and enjoyable it was to ride bikes in the City. Our guide went on roads and courtyards of the Louvre, that we would not have dared to go on our own, thinking it was disrespectful or illegal. He also explained that on one-way streets, there is often a sign that reads to not enter with the words SAUF and a picture of a bike, meaning that bikes are excluded from this rule. So it was customary to ride on the side of a street on a skinny path (marked by a bike and an arrow on the pavement), alongside park cars, into oncoming traffic. Wanting to get around like this during our entire stay, we promptly went home to investigate the Velib shared bike system in the City. Emily is writing an essay on this subject so I will only say that despite a steep learning curve and some major flaws in the system, Velib provided us with the opportunity to happily get from place to place throughout Paris on bikes.

That night we met Drew, a friend of Mark’s from Wesleyan. He and his family have lived abroad in Australia and Thailand and are now based in Paris, although his children are presently in college in the U.S. We ate outside at one of the cafes on the square down the street from our apartment. It was, as expected, entirely too expensive of a meal, but the food was actually better than expected.

Paris Photo Gallery

Paris

Paris (France)

Le Louvre

Paris (France)

Sacré-Cœur

Paris (France)

Luxembourg Gardens

Paris (France)

Our second full day had us exploring Paris on bikes, looking for a place to buy a SIM card for my phone, finally ending up at the place closest to our apartment, although we traveled far afield in search, taking in other neighborhoods in the process. This has turned out to be a common theme in our journey: thinking we need to venture out in search of something only to discover our neighborhood has all that we need. We wanted to finally go into Luxembourg Gardens, a glorious park a block from our apartment, that we had only ridden by because bikes are not allowed. So we ditched the bikes in the afternoon, grabbed crepes to-go at the shop directly below our apartment and walked to sit on one of the many chairs and benches cast about everywhere in the park. In the Luxembourg, we found abundant mature trees and gardens, large cement pond fronting the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens with boys sailing miniature sail boats, a Marionette Theatre, and a group of men with nearly a hundred spectators watching what appeared to be a Boules tournament. But what appealed to us the most was a fantastic playground for kids. We walked all around the fencing looking for an entrance to discover there was only one, because the playground charged admission – more for children than adults! We spent over an hour hanging out with other families, with children much younger than our own. Our child reveled in playing on any equipment she could fit her 14 year old body on (or into), with her enthusiastic Papa in tow, while I reminisced about all the years I sat on benches just like this, from Telluride, to Mill Valley, to Boulder, watching this same child play when she was little. We came out on the other side of the park, just in time to see kids getting out of school, and a lively scene in a lovely neighborhood that was the location of the Airbnb we had wanted to book, but that someone else booked before we did.

Pompidou deck at sunset

We made our way to the other side of the river to the Pompidou Museum, arriving after 6pm. The museum was open until 9pm so we decided to enter, but hunger drove us out early, before we could see all that exhibits. Deciding it was best to ride bikes across the river before it got too dark, we again ate dinner in our neighborhood, this time at a small Japanese sushi place a couple doors down from our apartment.

Day Three started with a scheduled electric bike tour entitled Paris Secrets and Charms, lead by a young man named Olivier, a historian who founded the company with 2 friends with the mission of sharing their passion for little known French History that they had uncovered in their research. Not wanting to spoil the fun, I will simply say that the experience was very engaging and that Olivier’s enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. We made our way to different secret sights in the City, the highlights being a chapel in a residential neighborhood in the Latin Quarter that withstood the ravages of the Revolution, a nearby Roman coliseum, hidden behind an apartment building and the St. Sulpice Church where we investigated the paintings of Delacroix for their hidden meanings and the association with the Knights Templar. After the tour, we took our first metro ride (other than the one that brought us from CDG airport) because we were late in meeting my friend Rita, who I know from my years at Berkeley. Rita moved to Paris after meeting her husband Philippe at the I Beam, a famous club in San Francisco in the 1980s. She and Philippe raised their two boys, who are now out of college, in London and Paris. Given that we are starting to think about high school and college for Emily it was great to hear from Rita about the experience her boys had being educated in Paris and then going to college abroad, one in the U.S. and the other at NYU’s college in Abu Dhabi.

We met Rita at Le Barricou Café in the Marais, enjoying a lunch with more greens and vegetables than we had to date, followed by a walk around the Marais and the obligatory once daily gelato, only in this case, Emily had gelato twice, in the Marais (NOT Amorino which Rita advised is owned by Nestle) but at at a small place Rita knew about and also on Ile St. Louis because Emily had been promised Berthillon. We parted with Rita and took Velib back across the river to our neighborhood, where we dined late, along with all the other Parisians, at Bistrot Huguette, a lively seafood restaurant near Rue Buci.

In front of Sacre Coeur

Our final day we had so many things we wanted to do but had to prioritize. Emily’s back was hurting from walking, so we started with a long Velib bike ride along the Seine. We considered a visit to Musee d’Orsay but after lunch at a small Parisian spot with a set menu called Au 35, featuring quinoa, and with limited time left, we elected instead to bike on congested boulevards, past the busy roundabout at Bastille to the 11^th arrondissement, where there was a special exhibition called Atelier des Lumieres. We got lost and it took way more time to get there than we planned. We got in just minutes before the box office closed at 4pm. So glad we made it! Paintings by Gustave Klimt and Hundertwasser projected on all surfaces, including the floor, set to music, created an incredible immersive experience. We also wanted to make it to the Sacre Couer for sunset, so we took the metro, climbed the stairs to the church, arriving minutes before 6:30 mass, climbed more stairs (300+) to the top of the dome and took in the setting sun and the amazing views from this spectacular spot. I had never been to Montmartre and was charmed by the hilly streets and neighborhoods. We sought out a place Olivier had recommended – Hotel Particular de Oscar. Set in a hidden garden behind closed gates, greeted by a buoyant tuxedo clad maître d, Emily felt certain we would run into someone famous. We had a drink and appetizer before heading out to a place Rita recommended for dinner. However we were rerouted by the maître d who directed us to a less touristy place called L’Homme Tranquile (which is owned by his Mother, the chef, it turned out), where we had a delicious, traditional French meal, most of which we took home in doggie bags for the next day’s train ride, because we were full, we were tired, it was late, and we needed to get home to pack.