Europe trip (Part 2): More Paris!

Part 1 (Paris) - Part 2 (more Paris) - Part 3 (Fonte de' Medici) - Part 4 (Montalcino and Montefiridolfi) - Part 5 (La Petraia) - Part 6 (Florence) - Part 7 (more Florence) - Part 8 (Cinque Terre) - Part 9 (Pisa, Fiesole and Volpaia) - Part 10 (Lost in Siena) - Part 11 (Siena) - Part 12 (Rome) - Final


Still haven't adjusted to Toronto time yet; I woke at 5:30 a.m. and finally gave up trying to go back to sleep, made myself a cup of Casablanca tea from Mariage Frères. Mint and bergamot, yummmm...

Thanks for the comments to my previous post. I especially liked the one from Amanda Snyder: "Scott and I had a moment in London when we were at Westminster Abbey looking at the coronation throne. Our guide explained that the carvings on the chair was from the 1700's when you could sit on it. Various school boys carved their names on it. Scott leaned over to me and said 'The graffitti here is older than our country.'"

I can SO identify with this!

But back to Paris. Don't forget that you can click on any of these images to read my Flickr comments about them...



Jeff and I only had two full days in Paris, so we knew ahead of time there would be no way to visit all the usual "must see" tourist attractions, and we didn't want to be rushing from one place to another, not being able to take the time to actually enjoy any of them. Instead, we opted for just a few and spent the rest of the time just getting a feel for the city: exploring the narrow streets, peering into shops, people-watching, discovering delightful markets like this one...



We strolled down the Champs d'Elysée and dropped by Ladurée, an upscale chocolate shop that my friend Joey told me about.

Martin GK had recommended climbing the Arc de Triomphe. As he predicted, the queue was quite short and the view well worth it. Here's a view of the Champs d'Elysée from the top of the Arc de Triomphe:



Jeff and I also visited Sainte-Chapelle (more gorgeous stained glass!), the Musée d'Orsay, Tuileries gardens, Luxembourg Gardens, rode the Metro, checked out Victor Hugo's house. I'm glad we decided not to go to the Louvre; even at the Musée d'Orsay, I felt as though I could have spent days exploring the gallery instead of hours. I love art galleries, but I get more satisfaction looking at fewer pieces of art for a longer time than rushing through each room with barely a few seconds on each piece. When we lived in downtown Toronto, I bought a membership to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) so that I could go whenever I wanted.



On our walks through Paris, we kept running into avid soccer fans who were in Paris for the Champions League final: Arsenal v Barcelona; they wore team jerseys, waved flags, chanted and yelled. Greek restaurants smashed plates in their doorways at night while fans cheered inside; I'm not exactly sure what ritual this was, but we're theorizing it said something like "HEY! Come inside and cheer your favourite team here! We know how to party!!"

Here's a bunch of fans who gathered at The Great Canadian Pub (yes, Jeff and I were highly amused by the name) to watch the big game:



Barcelona won.

And now I have to talk about the food in Paris.

Ah, the food. For me, food is a vital aspect of travel enjoyment. I love trying new cuisines, comparing how other cultures prepare dishes, checking out the produce. I LOVED each and every meal I had in Paris. Some of my favourites:

- A sandwich I ate in a small park near Victor Hugo's house, bought from a street vendor. Flat bread sliced in half and stuffed with sliced tomato, basil and brie, and grilled until the brie melted a bit. YUM.

- Walnut chestnut ice cream cake in the La Rotisserie d'en Face (2 rue Christine).

- Our lunch at Delmas restaurant on Rue Mouffetard, where we sat at one of the outdoor tables and watched passersby. My St. Jacques salad (with scallops) was fantastic:



I had heard rumours about the Paris locals being rude to tourists. I'm sure this has happened, but Jeff and I never came across it. To tell you the truth, the only rudeness we experienced on our trip came from other tourists. :-\ Like any big city, the Paris locals tend to be busy and rushing around, but downtown Toronto can be like that as well.

I loved Paris, and hope to go back someday.



We fly to Italy in my next Blathering...

You can see my Paris pics here and all my trip pics here.

June/2006 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments