Paris Encore 2022 We wrap it up, and put a bow on it.

Here’s my review of our trip.

Covid:

Both airlines that I’ve flown to Europe in the last 6 months, British and Delta, were good about notifying and reminding passengers about the requirements. For our flight to Paris, on Delta, we needed proof of vaccination, or proof of recovery from Covid, and a Passenger Locator Form. I spent lots of time uploading the forms onto Delta’s mobile app, but at the airport the ticket agent just wanted to see paper copies. We both had Covid tests prior to our trip, though it wasn’t a requirement.

For our return to the U.S., we needed proof of a negative Covid test, done within 24 hours of our departure from Europe, and a combination Passenger Locator/Attestation form, which essentially says that we’ve been vaccinated. This form was available at the airport, and collected as we boarded the plane.

Masks weren’t required on the plane, but some passengers and flight attendants wore them. In Paris, the Metro, buses, taxis and pharmacies required masks. Otherwise, there was no mask requirement, and no one asked to see our vaccination cards before entering shops, restaurants or museums. It was pretty much ‘business as usual’ there.

Prior to our trip, I periodically checked the U.S. State Department site for the latest requirements.

Getting There:

We flew from Seattle to Paris non-stop on Delta. It’s about a 10-hour flight, but it was nice to get there without a layover somewhere. I like the idea of arriving in the afternoon or evening, so we don’t have too long before bedtime. Paris is nine hours ahead of Seattle, which means we’ll miss a night of sleep, either flying or on the ground. This time we arrived early in the morning, and it was tough to enjoy the first day.

From the airport we took the RER train, and two different Metro lines to get to our hotel. We wished we’d taken a cab instead. The fee to or from Charles deGaulle is set at 53 euros, probably 30 euros more than we paid for public transportation. We would gladly pay the extra to avoid struggling with our bags through the airport, train station and 2 Metro stations again.

While in the city, we rode the Metro everywhere. We only rode the bus once, and we hired a taxi to take us to the airport for our return home.

Well-worn Metro map

Hotel vs. Apartment:

I like hotels because of the contact with other travelers, and the knowledgeable hotel desk staff. We always seem to hear about something we would have missed, if we hadn’t talked to someone in the breakfast room. In this case it was the Hôtel de la Marine - a gem of a museum that was newly opened. But rooms are more often than not small and cramped, at least in the older, budget-friendly hotels.

We like renting apartments because of the extra space, cooking facilities, and autonomy. It’s a more immersive experience; shopping for groceries, going to the outdoor markets, restaurants and even the pharmacy. Since Covid, it seems like many rentals, and hotels too, have removed any paper from the rooms, so the fliers and binders filled with suggested places and activities are gone. A good landlord, like we had this time, will talk to visitors in person, and recommend the most interesting places to see. Our apartment was comfortable, sparkling clean, and nicely arranged. The kitchen wasn’t meant for serious cooking though, which we missed.

Our little galley kitchen

Timing:

We were in Paris from April 26 - May 11. It was a beautiful time to be there. The weather was mild, and flowers were blooming. Most of our trip overlapped a two-week spring break for the schools in Paris, and a few other parts of France. I imagine crowds were bigger at the major sights, but we weren’t going to the biggies this time.

Promenade Plantée, now la Coulée Verte René-Dumont

Value:

This was a great time to go to Europe, value-wise. One euro equals about $1.05 right now. Using credit cards takes the best advantage of the great exchange rate, and we checked to make sure there were no foreign transaction fees on the card we were using. ATMs are everywhere, so it’s easy to get cash, although the exchange rate will be a little less favorable. And, as I discovered, it will be the least favorable at the airport.

Fresh baguette - 1 euro

Favorites:

Our goal on this trip was to visit sights in Paris we hadn’t seen before. We saw lots of new places - the Picasso museum,  more covered passages, Picpus cemetery, the Grand Galerie d’Evolution, Vaux le Vicomte Chateau, Rue Benjamin Franklin, Bois de Vincennes, Hôtel de la Marine. Each was interesting, and worth visiting.

We returned to some favorite places I’d seen on other trips - Shakespeare and Company, the Promenade Plantée, Père Lachaise cemetery, Trocadéro, and a favorite of both of us, the Eiffel Tower.

A street artist in our neighborhood. Passersby would put a few coins on their own country.

After two weeks, I still have a list of places to see!

We spent our last day doing some souvenir shopping. We were just looking for little things for the grandkids, and there was plenty of stuff to choose from.

Our memories will live on through the pictures we took, and this blog! I really do write about almost everything!

Thanks for joining us on this trip.

And….. that’s a wrap!

Paris Encore 2022 Our last day - Gold, gold and more gold

Today is our last day of touring. We’ve spaced out the opulent palaces, visiting just one per week, so as not to overdose on gold, glitter and glamour. Today we visit L’Hôtel de la Marine. Translation - hotel of the Navy. You’re thinking, that won’t likely be very pretty! Here’s the story:

The hotel was originally the home and offices of the head (intendant) of the royal Guarde-Meuble. This office managed all of the royal family’s furnishings, artwork, tapestries and any other objects inside of their residences. Kind of like Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, except just for the king. This department was created by Henry IV in the 1600s, and given the responsibility of maintaining the royal furnishings, etc. I’m thinking, prior to that, maybe the king’s stuff was just a jumble in the attic and basement, like everyone else’s.

In 1772, the Guarde-Meuble became the first museum of decorative arts in Paris, and the public was allowed to visit on the first Tuesday of each month from Easter to All Saints’s Day - November 1. This was the case until the Revolution in 1789, when obviously the king and queen wouldn’t need all this stuff anymore. They both lost their heads to the guillotine in Place de la Concorde, right in front of this building, in 1793. 

It was taken over by the navy after the Revolution, and remained naval H.Q. until 2015. At that time, restoration began on the lavish apartment of the Intendant of the Guarde-Meuble. Luckily, this building suffered less looting and destruction than other Paris landmarks. Some of the original furnishings were recovered from other locations. Layers of paint were scraped off to reveal amazing wall coverings. The results are beautiful, elegant and over-the-top, yet comfy.

The Hôtel was just reopened to the public in the summer of 2021, so we felt especially lucky to see it. They provide headsets for an audio tour that automatically moves from room-to-room with you.

I guess one could get some decorating ideas from these rooms, and I do like the tchotchkes (translation Yiddish to French is still tchotchkes) all over the dinner table. Rick especially liked the highly sophisticated watchmaker’s lathe, in the picture below.

Little did Marie Antoinette know that she’d be on the outside of this view looking in, on her last day. The Eiffel Tower wasn’t there then, having been built for the Exposition in 1889, on the 100th anniversary of the Revolution.

Wow. We’d had our fill, and reached our quota of gold-leaf today. On the way home we stopped for lunch at a fancy restaurant near the museum, Brasserie Flottes. We weren’t sure if we’d be welcome there, until we saw other diners in tee-shirts. We loved the presentation of our oyster and prawn selection. We ordered that, and a cheese plate à partager (to share). And, I couldn’t resist having café gourmand for dessert. I even shared that.

Tiny crème brûlée, tiny chocolate mousse, tiny panna cotta, and a little cakey thing.

 Plus espresso. Heaven.

Paris Encore 2022 Bois de Vincennes

It’s Sunday, and the weather is predicted to be nice, so we decided to take the Metro to the end of Line 1, the Bois de Vincennes, which includes a Chateau and fortress. Vincennes is the second largest park in Paris, after the Bois de Boulogne. It was a former hunting ground for many kings, going back 900 years. 

Built in the 1300s, the chateau was a country residence for royal families. Now, it’s part of the city. It has the deepest moat I’ve ever seen, and it’s the only medieval royal palace still in existence in France.

I’m sorry the map isn’t clearer. The important buildings are the “keep”, or donjon on the map, the chapel and the residences of the king and queen, which are the long buildings bordering the quad on opposite sides of the enclosure. This map doesn’t even list them as the royal residences, probably because the fort and buildings transitioned to other things over the years, after the king moved to his new and improved Palace of Versailles in 1782. It’s been an arsenal, a prison and a porcelain factory since the royals moved out.

The keep, below, is a fortified central tower. It’s the tallest such building in Europe, and ensured that the royal family would be safe while in residence here.

We didn’t tour the buildings, but took a peek in the chapel, before we were told we needed a ticket to see it. Most of the pictures I’ve seen online are of the enclosure and buildings from the outside anyway, so the interiors must not be spectacular. That’s OK, because we’ll make up for it tomorrow! There’s no shortage of opulence in other historic buildings in Paris!

So, on to the Bois (wood) de Vincennes. The gate and drawbridge which the inhabitants would have used was locked, so we had to backtrack and walk around the fort to get to the park. And, it was across a very wide, and somewhat busy street. We decided to stop for lunch before tackling the park, and luckily there was a restaurant within easy walking distance.

As we discovered, the park is immense, and there was no way we could walk to all of the different areas in one visit. We saw some great walking paths, picnic areas, and flowers. But, there’s so much more to this place! There are a series of lakes and a variety of gardens included in the Paris Botanical Garden. And, lots of sports fields. Cars were parked all along the streets going through the park, so obviously it would have been easier to see by car!

We visited the park on Sunday, May 8, which is the day celebrated as the end of World War II in most of Europe. So, when we saw this parade, we assumed it was related to a celebration of this day. The parade of horses was escorted by police cars, with lights flashing, and followed immediately by street sweeping trucks, the drivers of which were not in fancy costumes. 😊

There was really no crowd of spectators in evidence where we saw this parade, but the riders were all in formal regalia, so they must have been headed to a more crowded area. Plus, they’re walking on the side of the road that was in the shade on this warm and sunny day, so this might have been the preamble to the actual event. Being ignorant of any festivities, we were lucky to see this!

There’s one more thing to do today. I told Rick we needed to see the Eiffel Tower one more time, after dark, with the lights twinkling. That’s the ultimate Paris experience, in my mind!

The Metro was still busy as we headed over to the Trocadéro neighborhood once again. Parisians are having their dinner later than we usually do, so that would account for some of the crowd. And, there would certainly be other visitors heading to the same place we were going, for the best view of the lights.

It didn’t get dark until almost 10, but by then a crowd had gathered on the steps.

It’s magical.

Paris Encore 2022 The Market, Metro and Ben Franklin

We’re actually back in the states now, but I have a few more things to post about our trip. I guarantee it will be just as factual as it was while we were living it. I only embellish when absolutely critical 😊. As my Irish ancestors would say, we never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

We were lucky to be able to enjoy another Saturday market in our neighborhood. It was even busier than last Saturday, although we may have been there a little later in the morning, this time. Lines were longer at the best vendors’ booths, and lines were more plentiful overall. We were glad we weren’t shopping for ingredients to cook up a big meal. We were just on a search for more berries and a few baked goods. It’s amazing how much we’ll spend on dessert in a restaurant, without batting an eye, when the same wonderful things are available at the market, or the boulangerie, for a fraction of the cost.

As you can see above, it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. It’s dangerous to stop in the walkway too, with shoppers charging by in their search for the best fish, fowl or meat.

We picked up a few things for a light lunch, headed back to our apartment, and fortified ourselves for the afternoon’s adventure.

The cannoli look a little the worse for wear, but they were still great. We saved the beautiful berries we found for breakfast.

After lunch, we headed out to the Metro stop to go over to the Trocadéro neighborhood, across the River from the Eiffel Tower. Imagine our surprise when our Metro stop at Picpus was closed for 2 days. Other riders approached the entrance while we were standing there and seemed just as surprised. We’ve been here for 11 days now, and every day we’ve passed the sign, on the wall, down in the entrance tunnel, saying they’d be closed for these 2 days. I don’t really feel too foolish about this, because these other surprised people have probably passed the sign every day for a month. A very nice woman, who spoke English, suggested another route to get to our destination, using another Metro line. So, we headed over to the Metro stop at Nation, and hopped on another line.

It’s Saturday afternoon, and the Metro is crowded with people. No seats are available, so we stand, and hold onto the chrome bars placed all around the cars for just this purpose. In addition, the cars jolt back and forth with no notice, and always come to a jerky stop. So, a sensible person stands with feet shoulder distance apart, just like in exercise class, so that one can shift when necessary. Meanwhile, there are several young people in our vicinity, holding on to nothing, and texting on their phones while all this is going on. They should probably get in line for their knee replacement surgery soon.

This is a very familiar scene to those of you who ride the subway in any city, 

but for us it’s a whole new world.

Our interest in the Trocadéro neighborhood stemmed from the fact that Benjamin Franklin lived in this area during the several years of his residency in Paris. We knew the actual building that he occupied was likely long gone, but we hoped there would be some evidence of his time here. According to the Ken Burns documentary about him, Franklin was much admired in Paris, and a favorite of the ladies.

We found that there was a street named after him, in addition to a statue in one of the parks.

Our visit to Rue Benjamin Franklin took us up a hill in the direction of the Place du Trocadéro. The view of the Eiffel Tower from there is wonderful. The area was very busy with tourists. Once again, we found certain areas of the steps and terraces blocked off.

We spotted a few sections of wire screens, where “love locks” were in evidence. Lovers had been attaching these symbols of affection to bridges in Paris since the early part of this century, until the weight of the locks started to cause sections of bridge railings to collapse. The weight of the locks on the Pont des Arts was said to be about 45 tons, or the weight of 20 elephants, before they were removed by the city. We were guilty of doing this in 2012, before we, and everyone else, realized how harmful it was.

An opening in the barricade at Trocadéro.

Love locks on the Pont des Arts bridge before they were removed by the city.

We hoped to find a place to sit and quench our thirst within sight of the tower, but ended up walking downhill, through the park, passing by the Paris Aquarium.  We found a little restaurant/bar, and enjoyed a glass of wine before walking over to the Pont de l’Alma and the nearby Metro station.

The fountains at Trocadéro

The weather has been nice enough to sit outside at restaurants every day, and dinner tonight was no exception. I noticed our young waiter was wearing some very colorful socks, with a possible cubist design, and I commented on them. He said, proudly, he’d just bought them in Chicago, at the Art Institute. Much to his amazement, I told him my mother studied there. What I didn’t say was that my mother took us into the Art Institute almost every year. After seeing some of the world’s greatest art museums, I realize what a treasure we had in our own backyard!

Paris Encore - Bus 86, Rue Cler, and finally La Tour Eiffel

We decided to follow the advice of the American we met in our neighborhood. She said, “Get on a bus, and get lost!” I don’t think we had offended her in any way. We were chatting about seeing the lesser known sights in Paris, and she recommended taking bus #86, which went from our stop at Place de la Nation, all the way across town. The Metro is great, but you don’t really know where you are. This way we’d see more of the city, above ground; but the bus can also get stuck in traffic. What do we care about that, though? We’re not driving! I told madame that the buses intimidate me because I don’t have a map to refer to 40 times during the course of a day. Well, maybe not 40 times, but lots. She said, just go, get lost, and you’ll love it.

Here’s the other thing, being a person who understands little French beyond, “Would you like another, coffee, wine, Aperol spritz, Madame?” sometimes they make announcements on the bus, after stopping in the middle of the block. Everyone gets off except us, because we have no clue what was just said. Remember the Transit Workers skit on Saturday Night Live? Whatever they said over the loudspeaker was unintelligible! Imagine that same scenario, only in French. You catch my drift. 

In spite of any misgivings, we boarded the bus to see where it might take us. And truly, it was fun to see more of the city, above ground. And yes, there were a few slowdowns because of traffic. We got off at a stop near Rue Cler, one of my favorite pedestrian streets, in the 7th. Rick Steves’ coverage of this street for the past several decades has ensured that there are always lots of American tourists eating and staying in the area. We stopped at a busy restaurant/bar for lunch, and enjoyed watching the people going by.

Rick is always easy to spot in a crowd, being the only person wearing a Hawaiian-print shirt. And, let me tell you, he gets many admiring looks from other men, and women, around town. If only we could find a scarf that would pair with his shirts. That would be truly French.

From there we walked over to the Eiffel Tower. It’s so grand! Sometimes, you walk around a corner on a tree-lined street, and there it is! Even though you’re expecting it, it’s surprising.

There is scaffolding, as you can see, covering part of the tower. It looks like they’re painting, which must be a continuous job. Not only that, but there are barricades up all around the tower. Only people wanting to go up the tower are allowed to enter (maybe they had to have tickets already). We weren’t planning to go up it, but it’s pretty impressive to stand right underneath it and look up. Not possible on this day.  There were crowds all around the barrier, even so.

In the area of any major attraction, there are several young men selling souvenirs. The price seems to be very fluid. In this area, there are Eiffel Tower key chains, jewelry and miniatures with and without flashing lights. I assured one persistent young man that our home is already filled with Eiffel Towers in miniature, on signs, on pillows and in snow globes. He was quite disappointed.

For dinner, we decided to try one of the many sushi places we’d seen in our area. Based on the few tables they had, we could tell most of their business was  ‘à emporter’ (take away). We had a nice dinner, and now we can say we’ve had Japanese food in Paris.

Paris Encore 2022 Vaux-Le-Vicomte and the King

Our plan today is to take the train out to Melun, and hire a cab to take us to Vaux-Le-Vicomte Château. I had read that it was a beautiful home and gardens, built in the 1700s (pre-Revolution) by Nicolas Fouquet, France’s finance minister under King Louis XIV. Fouquet hired three masters to collaborate on it: Louis LeVau for the design of the chateau, Charles LeBrun for the art inside it, and André LeNotre for the gardens surrounding it. Wait ‘til you hear what happened next. When the chateau was nearing completion, Fouquet invited King Louis out to see his masterpiece. Louis visited a few times, and was quite impressed that one man, other than himself, could create such magnificence; that one man, other than himself, could afford it. So Louis had Fouquet arrested, for possibly (probably) embezzling some funds from France’s coffers. Louis then hired the talented trio of designers to work their magic on Versailles, a bigger and costlier, but not necessarily more splendid, palace. He also took furnishings, tapestries, artwork and even orange trees from the chateau, for his own use.

Though Louis had hoped the court would sentence Fouquet to death, sympathetic judges sentenced him to banishment instead. Louis changed the sentence to life imprisonment, and Fouquet spent the rest of his life (16 years) in the fortress at Pignerol, in the Alps, in what is now Italy. Though conditions were harsh, lest we feel too sympathetic, Fouquet had two rooms, and two valets at his disposal.

Fouquet never saw his home again. His wife was allowed to write to him once, after several years, and allowed to see him only once in 16 years, shortly before he died. The chateau passed from hand-to-hand over the years, and survived the revolution by a quick-thinking owner who offered all of the valuable artwork and furniture to the revolutionary government, but only after it was all inventoried. The task was so overwhelming, and the chateau considered to have too much value to destroy, so it was essentially left alone during that time. It’s been owned by the same family since 1875, when Alfred Sommier purchased it at auction, after it had been abandoned for 50 years. Sommier enthusiastically proceeded to restore the chateau to its former glory, at great expense. His descendants operate it today. 

I guess the lesson here is obvious. Don’t outshine the Sun King!

Back to our visit. The train to Melun, oddly pronounced moo-len, left from Gard du Lyon. Tickets were only 5 euros each way, for each of us, and there were options for an express train that took 30 minutes, or the regular milk-run train that took 60 minutes. We took the slower train out, but the scenery wasn’t too spectacular. We arrived around lunch time and proceeded to a café near the station in Melun for lunch. Afterward we walked back to the station taxi stand and hired a driver to take us to the chateau. The cost was a bit over 20 euros each way, and the ride about 15 minutes, and we were told someone at the chateau would call a cab for us when we were ready to leave.

The chateau is situated within a gigantic forest, and the road leading into it is lined with plane trees.

The property is laid out very symmetrically, and closest to the entrance there was a carriage museum and workshop in what had been the stables.

The last photo above shows the special wagon constructed to convey the orange trees.

The inside of the chateau was elaborately decorated.

If any of you ever see this dish pattern at a thrift store, give me a jingle!

Looking out a window at the manicured garden. The animals are statues.

Downstairs were the kitchens, storerooms and wine cellar. There were actors in period costumes talking about what they were preparing for dinner, and what the placement of dishes on the table should be.

This building housed the stables and tack rooms, but from the chateau side all you see is beautiful flowers, arches and decorative brickwork. 

It was a truly beautiful chateau and gardens. Not crowded, like Versailles usually is. It’s possible to rent period costumes here, and we saw a group of children enjoying their finery as they toured the chateau. They host special dinners here too, lit by hundreds of candles, and the decorations at Christmas are said to be spectacular. We were glad we made the trek out to see it.

A nice young woman at the gift shop called a cab for us, and minutes later we were transported back to reality. We took the fast train back into Paris. 

Later that evening we consoled ourselves with the view of our neighborhood statue-topped columns, as seen from our window, up near the servants quarters on Rue de Picpus.