We ate some of the leftovers for breakfast, and packed up what we could safely take with us. Then we waited for the two cabs I had scheduled the night before. One cab arrived, and said he’d come back for the second half of the group.
We were cutting it close enough already, and I called the taxi company office in a panic. I said I was afraid we wouldn't all make the train if the cab had to return to get the other half of our group. We had been told the ride took 20 minutes each way. That wasn't going to work! The lady on the phone said, no madame, no need to be afraid! I said I was worried. She said, worried? I could hear her typing on her computer, apparently looking up the translation of the word "worried." No madame, don't be worried!
Well, the cab ride didn't take 20 minutes each way, so the second group, including me with the tickets for all of us, made it in the nick of time. We got settled in for our fast, almost 6-hour, ride to Paris.
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| The view from the train as we leave the Riviera. We'll hope for sunshine next time! |
I have to say our time in Nice was somewhat of a disappointment, due solely to the bad weather. I've been to Nice a few other times, at different times of the year, and the city, the market and the beach have always been lovely. The city is beautiful in the sunshine, and there are so many places to walk or hike. We were staying on Mont Boron, a large hill with a park at the top. Castle Hill is also a fun place to visit, with gorgeous views of the city and the bay. There are also some nice hikes along the coast in Villefranche, the next town over, and other towns along the coast. And Monte Carlo is only a train-ride away, but would have meant lots of walking outside to see everything. The almost constant rain meant that we didn't venture out to see any of those places. We still managed to get out every day, but tended to stay closer to home. And, at least we had a big, comfortable house to spend time in while we were there. I suppose Elton John and Sean Connery were staying inside too.
We arrived in Paris at 3:41 and took 2 cabs to our apartment, Maison Courtyard Marais, which we found through AirBnB, and which was located in the 3rd arrondissement, in the neighborhood known as le Marais. Our apartment was located in a building with an interior courtyard, so we accessed our place from the courtyard. Unfortunately, there was scaffolding all around the courtyard, and construction going on the whole time we were there, so we didn't have a very charming experience with our little courtyard.
We all got settled into the various bedrooms, and decided to head out to see the Eiffel Tower, and have some dinner.
There were a few Metro stops within 2 blocks of our place. We found the ticket office and all purchased a packet of tickets (a carnet) to last for the few days we were in Paris. I guess we didn't neatly "find" the ticket office. When you're under the streets in the Metro stations, sometimes you walk for what seems like blocks to get from a stop to your connection on the next line. The ticket office was around somewhere, but we didn't know where.
I remember standing in the passageway looking around and an older Asian lady stopped to talk to me. I assumed she wanted some directions, so I pointed to the nearest passageway leading out of where we were. But no, she was stopping to ask if I needed help finding something. She was so nice, and helped me figure out which direction to go. She must have been a local, and her English was great too.
We got off the Metro at a stop near Rue Cler, a neighborhood in the 7th arrondissement that some of us stayed in several years ago. It's a nice pedestrian street, with some great small hotels, and lots of shopping and eating opportunities. During the day many of the shops open onto the sidewalk, and there are also carts selling a variety of produce, cheese and meat, in addition to flowers. There are cafés and restaurants with outdoor seating when the weather is pleasant. Rick Steves has made it very popular by writing about it, and the result is that it's very visitor-friendly, but still a market street that attracts locals.
We were there after dark, and in the rain, so we didn't see the colorful displays of food and flowers, or market carts, or people sitting outside. It was fun to point out all of the places we'd been to the others who had never stayed there, and in addition, we knew the way to the Eiffel Tower from there. I can't say I've never gotten lost in that area with all of its streets that angle off in crazy directions.
It was raining as we headed up the Parc du Champ de Mars toward the Eiffel Tower. It was dark by then, and most of the tourists were snug in a bistro somewhere. The souvenir hawkers were still out though. One of them approached us offering umbrellas for 15 euros. We said, no thanks. How about 12 euros, he said? No, thanks. Maybe 10 euros? OK. We were all kind of straggling along, not really walking together. So, one of us paid 10 euros for an umbrella, and another paid 6 euros a few yards behind the first customer. I think the sales guys were wanting to get out of the rain too.
The rain was coming down pretty hard by then, so we high-tailed it into the first restaurant we saw that was near the tower. It was late, but still busy. We got seated and ordered some food. We knew that the lights on the tower would start twinkling on the hour, and we wanted to be sure to see it. So, as it got nearer the hour, a few of us jumped up to run outside. The waiters jokingly tried to stop us. I'm sure they've watched a million tourists do this very thing. Eating at this place, Le Dome, where they could run outside to see the lights twinkle when it was time.
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| Our apartment in Paris. The kitchen was really too small to do much cooking, but we managed |
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| One of the bathrooms in our apartment in Paris |
We all got settled into the various bedrooms, and decided to head out to see the Eiffel Tower, and have some dinner.
There were a few Metro stops within 2 blocks of our place. We found the ticket office and all purchased a packet of tickets (a carnet) to last for the few days we were in Paris. I guess we didn't neatly "find" the ticket office. When you're under the streets in the Metro stations, sometimes you walk for what seems like blocks to get from a stop to your connection on the next line. The ticket office was around somewhere, but we didn't know where.
I remember standing in the passageway looking around and an older Asian lady stopped to talk to me. I assumed she wanted some directions, so I pointed to the nearest passageway leading out of where we were. But no, she was stopping to ask if I needed help finding something. She was so nice, and helped me figure out which direction to go. She must have been a local, and her English was great too.
We got off the Metro at a stop near Rue Cler, a neighborhood in the 7th arrondissement that some of us stayed in several years ago. It's a nice pedestrian street, with some great small hotels, and lots of shopping and eating opportunities. During the day many of the shops open onto the sidewalk, and there are also carts selling a variety of produce, cheese and meat, in addition to flowers. There are cafés and restaurants with outdoor seating when the weather is pleasant. Rick Steves has made it very popular by writing about it, and the result is that it's very visitor-friendly, but still a market street that attracts locals.
 |
| Rue Cler market street, in daylight |
We were there after dark, and in the rain, so we didn't see the colorful displays of food and flowers, or market carts, or people sitting outside. It was fun to point out all of the places we'd been to the others who had never stayed there, and in addition, we knew the way to the Eiffel Tower from there. I can't say I've never gotten lost in that area with all of its streets that angle off in crazy directions.
It was raining as we headed up the Parc du Champ de Mars toward the Eiffel Tower. It was dark by then, and most of the tourists were snug in a bistro somewhere. The souvenir hawkers were still out though. One of them approached us offering umbrellas for 15 euros. We said, no thanks. How about 12 euros, he said? No, thanks. Maybe 10 euros? OK. We were all kind of straggling along, not really walking together. So, one of us paid 10 euros for an umbrella, and another paid 6 euros a few yards behind the first customer. I think the sales guys were wanting to get out of the rain too.
The rain was coming down pretty hard by then, so we high-tailed it into the first restaurant we saw that was near the tower. It was late, but still busy. We got seated and ordered some food. We knew that the lights on the tower would start twinkling on the hour, and we wanted to be sure to see it. So, as it got nearer the hour, a few of us jumped up to run outside. The waiters jokingly tried to stop us. I'm sure they've watched a million tourists do this very thing. Eating at this place, Le Dome, where they could run outside to see the lights twinkle when it was time.
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| The Eiffel Tower in all its glory |
After our late dinner, we headed out to find the nearest Metro stop for the ride home, and would have hailed a cab if we'd seen one. It had been a long day of travel and everyone was longing to drop into a feather bed at the palace, which wasn't where we were headed, unfortunately. Our cozy, little apartment would have to do.
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