Us in Paris
Bonjour!
I wanted to give a written account of our trip to Paris because there are just some things that are impossible to capture with a camera.
We had transit experiences that were very nice and very terrible.
The nice ones were the times we walked around the city, stumbling into neighborhoods and cafes we wouldn't have been able to find so easily had we been trying to. Paris is a lovely city to stumble around in. There are rows and rows of beautiful buildings that create a quaint yet fashionable atmosphere. Though our feet became impossibly tired by the end of our trip, I'd do it again.
The terrible transit experiences were a result of poor timing (usually our own fault but we learned our lesson). The most exhausting was when we woke up at 2:30 to catch our 3:45am bus to the airport. Nothing makes sense at those hours, and it's terrible to see the next day coming when you can't remember sleeping enough. Paris is less than an hour by plane but from one flat to the next, our total transit time on the first day was over 7 hours. In a surprising turn of events, that first day was the day we walked the most and stayed out the latest (there was a inevitable crash that night which we felt for the next three days).
Then there were the bikes. Now many of you know that bikes and I are good friends, but the Paris bike share program did its worst to mar that relationship. If you've been to Paris recently, you've seen the countless Velib stations with goofy looking bikes. On the surface it seems like a good idea: you pay for a day-long ticket (a few bucks) and then you pay for how much you use it: if you ride for less than 30min at a time, there's no charge. If you want to ride for longer it's another few bucks per hour. All really affordable (we thought).
We had one successful go with Velib, though the bikes weren't great, we had fun riding a bit around a quiet neighborhood. After that we had zero success: we tried to take out bikes again and could only get one before the computer at the self-serve station crashed. Then began a desperate search for an open station at the center of Paris (in less than 30 minutes). A free space at a Velib station is one of those things you see a million of when you don't need them and then the instant you need one they all disappear. After riding through some rush hour traffic and checking 3 different stations, I finally found an open space. Then I realized we didn't have working phones and I had left Makenzie waiting for me on a bridge somewhere. I sprinted back and everything was ok.
Velib's next trick was to not tell us (they probably did but it wasn't clear) that the €150 deposit for each bike wasn't returned when you brought the bike back, but 8 days later. So after two days of riding €600 successfully shut down our UK bankcard and freaked us out to death for an hour.
The last terrible transit story I'll tell (because this post is feeling pretty negative so far but really it was a great trip) is about our last bus which took us back to Oxford. Customs had taken longer than expected and our return ticket was only for the bus leaving an hour after we landed. With a few minutes to spare we began sprinting through the airport to the bus terminal. We saw our bus once we got outside and it had it's lights on. Not just the headlights and brake lights, those lights that come on when you reverse. I ran up to the door slapping the side with my non-refundable bus ticket in hand.
There was a moment: he just looked at me like he hadn't decided if he were going to stop or keep going. Then he opened the door and let us on. We sat down and for an hour or so afterwards looked at each other every so often as if to say, "did that just happen?"
Dramatics aside, our trip to Paris was the perfect way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Our plans were proportionally scant, so we had some time to explore while making sure we saw the important things. Like I said before we did a lot of walking, which gives a vacation a nice pace. You're forced to appreciate where you are for longer and also to look for interesting things in between the tourist traps.
We planned the trip to coincide with the first Sunday of the month when Paris' museums are free to go see. We could only do three: the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, and Musee de l'Orangerie. We saw so many beautiful works of art that day. A favorite of mine was in l'Orangerie, Claud Monet's Water Lilies. No pictures were allowed but it would've been impossible anyway. Four paintings were in each of these huge oval rooms. Each painting was between 18-40ft and all of them curved with the room. I like the Impressionists, but this was one of the most beautiful way to experience art.
While we didn't find delicious food everywhere in Paris, we did find the most delicious food we've ever eaten. We did some research and found a reasonably priced bistro out of the main mess around the Eiffel Tower. We got the fixed dinner and it was the best decision because everything from the appetizer to the dessert was meticulously paired to compliment each other. We were aching for hours afterward, not because we felt sick, but because we knew we wouldn't have a meal like that for a long while, and it was so good. If you ask me, don't pay for intermediately good food, just save up to eat the good stuff every once in a while.
The last wonder I'll tell you about was something we just stumbled upon. We walked along the river often and then found this interesting looking section with bright benches and some public art called Les Berges. We walked further along and found out that it was a public space with various exhibits design by artists. It wasn't a gallery, it was a series of interactive things for people to enjoy. My favorite was the water fountain that dispensed free sparkling water (HOW REFRESHING). There were also clean cubicles with chairs and cushions for people to sit and relax for a bit, a greenhouse with benches, food carts, a tent with a bunch of art supplies for kids to use, and everything else. It was like walking through cloud of really good ideas, like everything you see is a great addition to the waterfront.
Though we were exhausted from the walking and sometimes stressed from the various transit mishaps, the trip was a good one. We saw a lot, we did a lot and there's still more to see and do. I guess we'll have to go back someday.