Category: Travel

Today’s homecoming was as perfect as could be asked for. Hilary, Mike, and I had an excellent lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. I had never anticipated that blackberry sauce would be so delicious on mashed potatoes and mushrooms. From there, we walked a bit along the Canal Saint-Martin before I picked up a couple of bottles of French wine and was kindly escorted by Mike to the RER train to the airport.

The security people at Charles de Gaulle airport are the most laid-back I can ever recall seeing. They waved me through with about the same level of attention as the guards at the entrance to the Louvre pyramid. EasyJet also deserves praise, for delivering us to Luton a full half-hour early – no mean feat on a light that normally lasts only seventy-five minutes.

At Luton, I had my final stroke of luck. I caught a bus to Oxford just as it was pulling out of the stop and the driver was kind enough to let me aboard. As such, I arrived in Oxford about two hours earlier than planned. I also managed to finish more than half of Barack Obama’s book while traveling – something I had predictably neglected while in Paris.

Many thanks to Hilary for being an excellent and interesting travel companion. I am exceptionally appreciative towards Mike for housing us, feeding us, and spending so much of his own time helping us to have a really interesting and comprehensive Paris experience. As comprehensive as can be attained in four days, that is.

PS. Photos will be appearing online soon. I have learned to put them on Facebook last. Otherwise, everyone looks at the small ugly versions there, rather than the large nice versions that are posted in other places.

This evening, while we were watching the evening prayers and song at Notre Dame, a massive thunderstorm broke out. As a consequence, we got completely drenched – though it was in a jovial kind of way. We then pushed onto the most crowded subway train I have ever seen, filled with people seeking respite from the deluge and lightning. The contrast with all of our earlier time here was stark: none of us was carrying anything more substantial than a t-shirt, having been spoiled by hot days and warm nights since the 26th.

Earlier in the day, we visited the Paris sewers. Inside of actual stinky sewer tunnels, there is a self-guided tour that explains the development and functioning of this system. While it is not entirely pleasant, it is probably something every dweller of a big city should experience directly at some point. Otherwise, one is failing to understand an important means through which city life in the modern form has become possible.

Aside from the vaults and voices of Notre Dame, today included our first sampling of crepes. There was also an energetic water fight between Mike and Hilary, who were both so thoroughly sopping already as to make a few extra buckets largely irrelevant. Finally, there was further sampling of the fine food available here, although we still haven’t actually had food served to us at a restaurant.

Rain made us decide to skip the Canal Saint-Martin, but I am hoping to see it before my departure tomorrow.

Yesterday was mostly spent in Montmartre. We assembled materials for a picnic at a market near Mike’s, then headed over by Metro. The steps leading to Sacré Coeur were well speckled with people appreciating the view. Inside the building itself, one gets a much more sombre sense of grandeur than the upwardly elongated outside view suggests. We filed around the inside of the massive church, then headed over to a fortuitously discovered park for an excellent meal of baguette, fried peppers, sun-dried tomatoes of the best kind i have eaten, wheat beer, mozzarella, and white wine. We have yet to eat in a restaurant, largely because of the excellent opportunities afforded by street markets.

From there, we walked to a flat wooden pedestrian bridge across the Seine. On it were several hundred people, mostly of about our age. They were generally sitting in little circles of seven or eight, with food and wine in the middle. From there, one can clearly see the Eiffel Tower at a distance. It seems as though it is projecting two beams outwards from a rotating platform, but there are actually a series of lights that rotate through 180 degrees, then hand off to the next in sequence.

That arrangement became entirely evident one Metro ride later, when we found ourselves at the base of that elegant structure. As well as being lit by large numbers of tungsten lights – giving the structure an orange glow and nicely illuminating how the girders connect – the tower has been covered with thousands of flash bulbs that sometimes begin firing, seemingly at random. This creates the same kind of effect you see in movie portrayals of stadiums: where thousands of fans all firing flashes create a sparkling effect in the stands. Walking away from the tower, towards the former military academy, one follows a long lawn covered by young people arranged similarly to those on the bridge.

Today’s plan has shifted to include several targets of opportunity. The making of banana pancakes is a given. Beyond that, we may visit the sewers and catacombs. Hopefully, we will have a look at the Canal Saint-Martin, which is not too far north of where we are staying, about 1km from the Seine in the 12th arrondissement. It now seems unlikely that we will visit Versailles, but that is not overly regrettable. There is plenty to do in Paris before my flight back to England tomorrow evening.

PS. A nine square metre apartment can actually operate fairly reasonably with three people in it, as long as things are done logically and with constant attention paid to how much stuff needs to be stowed away at any particular time, in order to accomplish whatever task has been undertaken.

I need to issue a quick but important correction. Earlier today, I said that I was surprised by the similarity between Paris and London. Admittedly, the museum districts of the two places resemble each other to a greater degree than one might expect, during the daytime. At night, downtown Paris is a far different (and enormously more pleasant) place. Based on limited exposure, it reminds me of the things I like most about Montreal. People are everywhere, there are public performances going on late into the night, there are families to be seen, and the rest of the things that make a city feel public and alive. The contrast with a few drunken gangs of hooligans wandering from pubs to kebab vans – as is the norm in London – is striking and highly favourable towards the Parisians.

That said, I am heading back out into it. I want to see the illuminated Eiffel Tower. The bridges across the Seine are certainly very appealing when lit by contrasting incandescent and fluorescent lights and packed with groups of friends sharing cheese, bread, and wine.

PS. The verdict on the falafel: better than I had previously and capable of being a tasty snack. Still not something I am ever likely to wish for when unavailable, as I do for delicious vegetarian poutine with miso gravy.

Hilary and I spent this morning and afternoon exploring the Louvre. The combination of art and architecture is superb. I especially like the high-ceilinged galleries of the Denon Wing and the marble sculptures. Thankfully, the place was a lot less crowded than I have been told it gets at the height of summer.

The general Paris experience is surprisingly familiar. I suppose I expected it to be much more different from London than it actually is – at least on a superficial level. One pleasant surprise is that I have been able to operate fairly well in French, though I am sure any kind of in-depth conversation would be far beyond me at the moment. Hopefully, next year will bring opportunities to become conversant again.

Tonight, we are apparently visiting an area famous for having the world’s finest falafel. It’s not a foodstuff I have ever really enjoyed, so I suppose this will be the ultimate test of whether that is the product of exposure to inferior falafel or an abiding personal dislike of the stuff.

Tomorrow, we may be going to Versailles.

Hilary and I have arrived safely in Paris and passed a very enjoyable evening in Mike’s company. A longer description, along with photos, will appear at a time when I am not sitting outside with a borrowed laptop, accessing the web courtesy of someone’s unsecured access point. People who have ‘must see’ suggestions for this city are encouraged to post a comment about them.