I flew American Airlines. Usually the trip seems to be around $1,000, but at this time of year the tickets are cheaper and I was able to get one for $660. And then I learned about the upgrade "fees": for a guaranteed upgrade, you need 25,000 miles each direction and to pay a fee of $250 each direction. Business class actually had several empty seats on my return home on a Tuesday, but I had already done the guaranteed thing. The food was wonderful, the service was wonderful, everything wonderful.
Took the train from Charles de Galle airport to a metro stop in the city. Easy enough to do, but here's a lesson: the train dumps you inside the metro station, past the ticket machines. Since I had never walked into a metro station from the street, I didn't understand what the problem was, but I could see ticket machines inside the metro station, past the gates. But no machines outside the gates. What to do? After bothering the helpdesk man with bad French he just gave me a free ticket. So really, I just needed to walk to the exit and get a ticket to enter the metro.
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We stayed at the Hotel Brighton, which is off the Tuileries Garden. Basically, if you start at the the Arc de la Triomphe and take a straight shot down the Champs-Elysee, you end at Concord Plaza. Behind the Plaza is a wall... that is the start of Tuileries. The road takes a jog over next to the garden, and that's where the hotel was. It is a fabulous location, but $$$.
The cemetery is about 100 yards from the Raspail metro stop. Went to see the graves of Jean Paul Satre and Simone de Beauvoir. The cemetery includes many other famous residents, including Jean Seberg, whose marker was covered with love notes. Many interesting and varied monuments.
After visiting the cemetery walked down Blvd. Raspail past the Vavin metro stop to the Notre Dame de Champs stop.
On my walk, I was attracted to the sidewalk shellfish market in front of the Bar a Huitres at the Vavin metro stop (we later saw another location near Notre Dame; there are three locations). We returned for dinner and it was our best value-for-the money dinner of the trip: excellent fish for a total of 58.00 euro for the two of us.
Rodin's famous sculpture of Balzac happens to be at the Vavin metro stop. (Here is a picture of the sculpture in a different location.)
Went to visit the Victor Hugo House by taking the metro to Place de Bastille (we happened to return here later) and then walking up Rue St. Antoine and then up the alley called Rue de Birague. The walk was charming and Rue de Birague opens onto the beautiful Place de Vosges, a large square/park surrounded by homes. Victor Hugo lived in a house on the square for many years and someone donated some money to turn it into a museum, consequently admission is free. The museum is quite small, but overall visiting the area and the square was a nice activity.
We then went for a short shopping walk in the area of the <CHURCH> name. This included visits to the famous Fauchon gourmet market and the Maison du Muer <SPELLING?>
La Maison du Chocolate at 52, rue Francoise 1er. Aside from chocolate for purchase, one can sit and drink a special cold version of hot chocolate in either a sweet or bitter version for 6.65 euro. Ms. Checklist had sweet and I had bitter and we were both quite happy. I bought a mix to make the drink at home, but haven't attempted it yet.
Louis Vuitton. We stood in line to be permitted to go into the Louis Vouton store, quite near the Arc de la Triomphe. I had some idea that I might splurge on a purse for 300 U.S. dollars or so. Turns out that Louis Vouton purses are more than twice that price, and I managed to go broke in Paris quite nicely without one anyway.
Belle Ferronnier. Directly across the street from La Maison du Chocolate, so we saw it while shopping and returned at the end of the day for dinner. This is the meal we were most unhappy with, at 70.00 euros total for the two of us. The cheese platter was good enough, but the bread might as well have been from an American supermarket, and my shrimp pasta was served with the shrimp whole and in their shells. As I tried to work out the challenge before me, the couple sitting next to us carried out a conversation in French that if they had been served such a thing they would demand it be taken back to the kitchen and the shells removed however as I was an American I probably wasn't going to be able to get into an argument like that. They were right; I ate them with my fingers. Oh, and the background music was American 80s music... that and the proximity to the Arc and the English on the menu and the hamburgers... we should have just gone somewhere else.
Arc de la Triomphe from the side opposite the Champs-Elysee.
I had remembered this from my childhood trip to Paris as a fabulous visit, and it was just as fabulous as I remmebered. Located on a steep hill above the Moulon Rouge, the top of the dome is the second highest point in Paris after the top of the Eiffel Tower. We got lost and went the wrong direction, which really wasn't a lot of fun. In any case, there is no way to reach it without walking uphill.
Front plaza of Sacre Coeur, overlooking the city.
The Eiffel Tower (the only thing in Paris higher than Sacre Coeur) is hiding behind the tree on the right.
It was raining, there was lightening, every guidebook says it isn't worth going to the top anyway. We went to the top. I don't know how to define worth it: it is only about an additional six euro to go to the top versus going to the second level... on the other hand, it is a miserably crowded little platform (did I mention it was raining and we were going to die from lightening any second?) and the view isn't any better than the second level. Whatever... it's the Eiffel Tower so you have to go, but don't think it's going to be romantic at the top.
Did I mention it was a lightening storm? And my travel companion allowed me to continue on to dinner without pointing out I needed to brush my hair. Nice!
The first picture is on the top platform. Second picture on the street with the tower in the background.
Following dinner it was a beautiful night and we were engaged in fabulous conversation, so we just walked all the way back to the hotel. This involves passing through the square known as Concord. From Concord looking back toward the Arc at night is beautiful.
Through some confluence of it being October and being the first Sunday of the month almost everything a tourist would want to do was free today. Therefore my travel companion decided we should do everything, starting here. This museum was definitely worth it; as interesting and less impossibly huge as the Louvre.
Park across the river from Notre Dame.
All original content copyright 2006.
Page last updated 07 October 2006.