Paris 2010 - Day 1 - 24 November 2010

Aer Lingus did the trick again.  So far we’ve had good luck flying with them.  The first hour of our transatlantic flight from Boston was a bit bumpy, but the rest was mostly smooth.  Had the same A330 with the individual TVs like last time.  Got to Dublin on time despite taking off a bit late in Boston.  Forgot we had to go through security again in Dublin so Joe was forced to put down 2 entire Nalgenes.  Second flight to Paris was smooth as well, and we were on the ground by 11am in the huge Charles deGaulle airport.

Wish Rick Steves did a better job explaining train tickets from the airport.  He doesn’t mention anywhere that you need a separate ticket to/from the airport, and that the carnet of 10 tickets is only valid in the city of Paris itself.  Guess we should have known.   Despite our ticket troubles, I have to say the trains are very efficient here.  They run frequently and signage is very good.  The only other confusing part was trying to figure out how to get to our apartment once we got out at Place Monge.  Lucky for us, we met a postman who pointed us in the right direction.

Rue Mouffetard in the 5^th arrondissement Latin Quarter was a fantastic place to stay.  Just outside our apartment at 111 were lots of fruit stands, bakeries, chocolate shops and more that were open from early in the morning until late at night.  It proved to be the perfect location.  Amaury gave us the building code and left the key to her 3^rd floor apartment so we were able to let ourselves in.  My first impression was that the apartment didn’t look as nice or as newly redone as the pictures online.  By the time we left, I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

We decided to fight jet-lag with quiche and a sandwich at the local bakery just steps outside our door.  From there, we set off on the Metro to explore Paris.  Had to buddle up since winter seems to have arrived here in Paris. It was probably in the low 30s today, which is colder than any recent fall days at home.

Our first stop of the day…tour of the Opera Garnier.  Tours only run here on Wednesdays, and lucky for us we were here on the right day.  Our tour guide was excellent and shared lots of French/Parisian history with us on the 1.5 hr. English tour.  The Opera house was absolutely beautiful!  As we learned, this was a place people came three times a week to see and be seen.  Our tour guide compared it to a country club where people half watch the same show over and over while socializing with their friends.  We went up the grand staircase, into the orchestra seats, inside a private box, and to many rooms off the main lobby.  Joe was slightly disappointed that we didn’t get to go down to the lake below the theater that provided inspiration for The Phantom of the Opera.  However, we both agreed that the tour was well worth the 12 Euros (actually 9 for us as students!) even if we both dozed off during a light check in the plush orchestra seats!

From the Opera, we ventured to Gallerie Lafayette, Paris’ version of Harrod’s, El Corte Ingles, or Bloomingdale’s, to get a view of the city from the 7^th floor terrace.  Christmas decorations are starting to pop up around the city.  Gallerie Lafayette already had their huge Christmas tree up and gifts hanging from the ceiling.  The view from the top was a nice first look at Paris with all the major sites visible in the distance.  Finally caught my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower here!

The Louvre was open late today so we walked there next, took a few pictures in front of the glowing pyramid outside, and entered very quickly with our Museum Pass.  Pretty much all of the museums have metal detectors or scanning machines as well as mandatory backpack checks.  Our only complaint was the hassle of shoving all our valuables from our bags into our pockets every time we left our bags somewhere.  

Today we toured the Sully and Denon wings of the Louvre with a Rick Steves audio guide.  Had a little trouble finding some of the artwork as the rooms had changed a bit.  However, we did find the statues of Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (well done ancient Greece!), Giotto’s St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata, Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, and the beautiful enormous paintings of The Marriage at Cana (Veronese) and The Coronation of Napoleon (Jacques Louis-David).  And yes, of course we crowded around the tiny Mona Lisa with everyone else, and tried our best to get a picture with this famous lady!  

Getting out of the Louvre proved to be challenging.  The museum is massive and has so many levels that the sortie is difficult to find even with good signage.  At one point we ended up on the ground floor of the museum in the moat before eventually finding our way out.         

MK and TK arrived in Paris just a hour or two after us, but we played phone tag all day and kept missing each other at all the sights.  In the end, we decided to do our own thing and meet in the morning instead of chasing each other around.  Can’t remember why we decided to head to the Bastille neighborhood of the city, but we did manage to find a Rick Steves recommended restaurant.  Had delicious mushroom risotto and a burger and fries at Les Bonnes Soeurs, even though the prices were more than they should have been.  I rarely pass up dessert, but tonight we were so tired we went right back to the apartment and fell asleep.