Final Thoughts . . .

Evening on the Seine

I wrote this blog as a diary of my trip and also to share with those who may be contemplating a trip to Paris in the winter, and for those who might consider traveling to Paris alone. As this was only my second time to the City of Light and my first time traveling overseas alone, I realize I didn't venture too far beyond what most tourists normally do. Traveling to Chartres and Bruges was huge for me as those were unknowns and figuring out the trains and navigating through these unfamiliar cities was a personal accomplishment. Other than a few minor bumps in the road, I have no complaints about my 10 days abroad.

Some final thoughts . . .

• Would I rent an apartment again or stay in a hotel? I would say for the length of time I was in Paris (10 nights), I would definitely rent an apartment again. Although it wasn't a huge space, it was far more spacious than most hotel rooms and having a fully equipped kitchen was a perk when I wanted to eat in. The washer/dryer was also a bonus. And the price was less than I would have paid at a hotel.
• Would I go back in the winter? Absolutely! I think I was a bit spoiled with the great weather in Paris this past winter and had it been raining everyday, I may feel otherwise. But the quiet of the city, the lack of lines and throngs of tourists . . . it definitely fit my personality being there in the off season.
• What did I enjoy the most? Walking along the Seine on a brilliant, sunny, Sunday evening. Wandering around Pere Lachaise with merely a dozen or so other tourists. Seeing the Chartres cathedral for the first time. Coming home and knowing that I now have a warm familiarity of this city that I love so much.
• What did I dislike? Arc du Triomphe and Champs Elysees . . . busy, overcrowded with way too many tourists. Dining out alone at night. I really did feel alone and wished for someone to share memories of the day's adventure with.  Dog poop on the sidewalks. Why don't Parisians pick up after their pups??!!
• What did I wish I would have done? Gone out more at night. Photography is my hobby and I wished I would have done some night photography of the architecture lit up by the famous Parisian floodlights. I was a bit apprehensive being alone and, being under the weather for a good part of my trip, I was pretty exhausted at night.
• As far as speaking the language . . . I have a very minimal French vocabulary but I knew how to ask for tickets and transportation directions. I am very adept at ordering a glass of red wine! I can get by in a restaurant just fine. I know the pleasantries of Bon Jour, Au Revoir, Merci and always Sil Vous Plait. But . . . it was very apparent to the Parisians that I did not speak French as they almost always responded in English.

I may add to these bullets as I reminisce about my time in Paris but for now, this is it. Vive la France!

Day 10 - Musee de Cluny & Final Day in Paris

Final day in Paris . . . woke up sad to know I would have to pack my bag that night. Fittingly, I suppose, today's weather reflected my somewhat somber mood, gray and raining at times. I wasn't really sure how I wanted to spend my final day but I knew the Musee de Cluny was within walking distance from my apartment and is considered one of the most underrated art museums in Paris. The drizzly weather made going to a museum an easy choice.

I took a couple of art history classes in college, I've probably been to more art museums than the average person and I always think I know what I will like but I have to say, I really, really enjoyed this museum, more than I would have ever imagined. Perhaps it's something that comes with age but the more art I see, the more I realize there's just something about art from the Middle Ages that really strikes a chord in me. I can't quite explain it in words (which is, perhaps, what great art is supposed to do: render one speechless). Medieval art is that which was created at the end of antiquity (roughly around 476) and the beginning of the Renaissance (around 1330) and, to over-simplify, it is art that is both secular and religious in nature. The Cluny has a wide variety of both, the most famous of which are The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. I was actually lucky visiting at this time of year as the tapestries had been on loan in Japan up until early November, I believe.

Musee Cluny

Musee Cluny

The Lady and the Unicorn - Musee Cluny

The Lady and the Unicorn - Musee Cluny

The Lady and the Unicorn - Musee Cluny

Musee Cluny

After The Cluny, I decided to wander towards Paris' covered shopping passages which were on my "If I Have Time" list and was also perfect for a rainy day. I'm not a big shopper but these passages were very quaint with independent shops and restaurants and a part of Paris I hadn't seen before.

Paris Passages

Paris Passages 

Hotel Chopin in Paris Passages

Another random item on my list was to photograph the Metro from Bir-Hakeim, one of the very few elevated Metro stations in Paris.

As an aside, I simply love the Metro. Perhaps it's because I live in Seattle and we are woefully behind the times when it comes to public transportation but every time I visit a city with a mass rapid transit system, I'm always in awe and wish we had something similar in Seattle. Although the Metro is old and rife with graffiti in places, I think it is one of the most romantic aspects of the city. More often than not, there are musicians playing in the halls of the stations and every now and then a person playing the accordion will get on the train and it is just oh . . . so . . . French. I'm sure I would tire of it as a local but as a visitor, I'm a sucker for it!

Bir-Hakeim

As the weather began to turn for the worse, I made my way back to St. Germain, had a quick dinner and then back to the apartment to pack my things. Au revoir, Paris!

Day 9 - Tuileries, Musee L'Orangerie & Tour Montparnasse

There were actually two Impressionist art museums I wanted to visit while in Paris, L'Orangerie being one and the Musee Carnavalet being the other. Sadly, the Carnavalet was closed during my time in Paris, preparing for a new exhibit, but L'Orangerie, which houses Monet's murals of water lilies, was open and well worth the visit.

L'Orangerie is located in the Tuileries garden so I took the Metro to the nearby Concorde stop and wandered around Place de la Concorde and the gardens before going into the museum. More blue skies today! For a couple of months during the summer and then a few more in the winter, a huge ferris wheel, La Grande Roue, is erected in Place de la Concorde. Apparently it was dismantled just a few days after I was there.

La Grande Roue

Fountain at Place de la Concorde (no water running)

For some reason, I was really fascinated by the green chairs in the Tuileries. In warm weather, I'm sure these are hard ticket to come by but many were empty on this cold but sunny day.

Tuileries

Green Chairs with Shadows - Tuileries

L'Orangerie is a small art museum but packs a punch, especially with Monet's water lilies. The two oval rooms showcasing the large murals are breathtaking. It's pretty amazing that Monet painted these when he was suffering from cataracts and nearly blind. No photos are allowed of Monet's murals but you can photograph any of the paintings downstairs. Below are a few of my favorites:

Musee L'Orangerie (Marie Laurencin)

Musee L'Orangerie (Picasso)

Musee L'Orangerie (Monet)

Musee L'Orangerie (Renoir)

After touring the museum, I had a leisurely lunch and a couple of glasses of wine. After all, I did say I wanted to live the life of a Parisian! I then took the Metro out to the Jardin des Plantes, the main botanical garden in Paris. It was a peaceful escape from the "city" but it was what you would expect from a garden in the winter . . . not a lot blooming except in the greenhouse.

Sprawling grounds at Jardin des Plantes

Given that the weather didn't look so great for my last day in Paris, I decided to spend the late afternoon at Tour Montparnasse. This 59 story building is considered by many to be an eyesore in Paris but, ironically, affords some of the best views of Paris. In fact, many consider the view from atop the Montparnasse tower better than the view from the Eiffel Tower. I'm not so sure about that (for me, the Eiffel Tower is just too romantic) but one thing's for sure, unlike the Eiffel Tower, there was absolutely no wait to get to the top of the tower and there were very few tourists. Before going up the tower, I took a quick tour of the nearby Montparnasse Cemetery to see the graves of Jean Paul Sartre & Simone de Beauvoir and Susan Sontag:

Montparnasse Cemetery

Montparnasse Cemetery

And a couple of photos of Paris from Tour Montparnasse:

Paris from above - Tour Montparnasse

Paris from above - Tour Montparnasse

I spent quite a bit of time writing this evening, reflecting on my trip so far and feeling a bit sad that I only had one day left in Paris. Time was simply going by too fast!

Day 8 - Neighborhood Walks

After yesterday's big adventure to Belgium, today was a bit more low-key. I decided to walk from my apartment across Ile Saint-Louis, one of the two natural islands in Paris (the other, of course is Ile de la Cite), and then north into the Marais, another arrondissement that I was not all that familiar with, having only been there once before at night. The day was overcast and one of only the two times throughout my entire trip I had to take out my umbrella.

Building and courtyard in the Marais

One of my destinations was the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis cathedral. I remember stepping inside just briefly back in 2006 and recalled that it was pretty amazing so I wanted to return. This was the first Jesuit church in Paris.

Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Cathedral

Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Cathedral

Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Cathedral

After visiting the church, I made my way to Place des Vosages, the oldest planned square in Paris. Once again, this was a spot I can only imagine how much more beautiful it would be in the spring or summer. On this winter day, however, it was just gray and rainy. While there, I also walked by the Maison de Victor Hugo, where the writer lived for 16 years before he died.

Statue of Louis XIII - Place des Vosages

Sign denoting Victor Hugo's house

After grabbing some lunch, I headed back to the 6th arrondissement, the neighborhood where I was staying, to check out a couple more churches (more churches . . . I know!), St. Germain, the oldest church in Paris and St. Sulpice. Neither church is as striking as say, Notre Dame or Chartres, but they were both beautiful nonetheless.

St. Germain Church

St. Germain Church

St. Sulpice Church

St. Sulpice Church

St. Sulpice Church

St. Sulpice Church

St. Sulpice Church

I spent the remainder of the afternoon just wandering around my neighborhood. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the hotel where Oscar Wilde died was just around the corner from my apartment. L'Hotel, as it is known now, is a luxury four-star hotel, much different than what it was in Oscar Wilde's day. There is a simple plaque attached to the outside of the hotel denoting it is where Oscar Wilde died. There were also other famous residents of the hotel, including Marlon Brando and Jorge Luis Borges.

Oscar Wilde plaque outside L'Hotel

Day 7 - Bruges

I was up bright and early this morning to make my way to Gare du Nord (not only the busiest railway station in Paris but in all of Europe) to catch the high speed Thalys train to Brussels and then transfer to an IC train to Bruges. I arrived at Gare du Nord early, having not been there before and wanting to have enough time to figure out where I needed to be to catch the train. True to its reputation, the station was very busy but surprisingly, not overwhelmingly so. Being a weekday morning, it was mostly commuters and even though there were a lot of people, everyone was moving around in a calm and orderly fashion. I had time to grab a petit dejeuner of a croissant and espresso and actually found a bench to sit and watch the enormous departure board as I awaited the announcement for my platform. The Thalys train experience was awesome. It travels 300 km/hr and pretty much hugs the highway. As you pass cars on the highway they look like they are standing still! What would have taken 3 hours by car was 1 hour by train. And the ride was quiet and comfortable. I could definitely get used this mode of transport!

From Brussels to Bruges was another hour on a "regular" speed train . . . sigh. I arrived in Bruges around 10:20 am and hopped on one of the many busses that run from the train station into historic city center. Because I was only spending the day in Bruges, I decided to follow Rick Steves' walking tour rather than wander aimlessly on my own. I am not the best with directions but I have to say, I really honed my map-reading skills today. One of the first things I wanted to do was to climb the belfry (the famous medieval bell tower) that is featured prominently in the movie In Bruges. The belfry was built in 1240, suffered a fire a some point soon thereafter, and rebuilt in 1280. The uppermost part of the belfry was not added until 1487.

Belfry as seen from the courtyard below

It's a 366 step climb to the top along a spiraling staircase that gets narrower and steeper the closer you get to the top you get. There aren't railings to hang onto but there is a rope you can grab if needed, which I did frequently! Also, traffic flows both ways, up and down, so be prepared to squeeze by others which can be a challenge in some of the narrower sections. It's actually a great way to interact with other tourists. Luckily, there are several places to stop and catch your breath along the way. The view from the top is amazing and I'm glad I brought my small point-and-shoot camera as the lens on my DSLR was too big to fit through the fencing that surrounded the windows.

Bruges from above 

Bruges from above

Bruges from above

I followed Rick's walking tour through the Market Square, which was actually set up as a farmer's market on this day, Bruges Square and City Hall, the latter of which I toured. Unfortunately, the main church in Bruges is closed on Wednesday afternoons so I wasn't able to go inside of that. But there was plenty to see and do besides.

City Hall

Statue in Bruges

Market Square

At the end of my walking tour, I picked a pub to enjoy some Belgian beer and a light meal. Rick Steves recommended getting out of the city center and heading somewhere more local. A 20 minute walk led me to Cafe Vlissinghe (http://www.cafevlissinghe.be/cafevlissinghe.be/home.html), the oldest pub in town dating back to 1515. I ordered a Bruges Zot ("Bruges Fool") beer, a prizewinning golden ale brewed locally and a ham and cheese sandwich with a salad. My wish for a dining companion finally came true. This little guy didn't leave my side until my food was taken away!

Bruges Pooch . . . so cute!

After lunch I spent time just wandering through the city, enjoying its colorful buildings and canals and shopping for chocolate. Bruges is considered the "little Venice" of the north with its many canals but the city reminded me more of Amsterdam (I've never been to Venice.) There were more people on bikes than in cars, even on this cold and windy winter day. As the afternoon lingered on, it came time to find my way back to the train station. I wasn't sure where to catch a bus back to the train station (my guidebook was woefully lacking in this regard) so I walked. After one wrong turn and a backtrack, I caught the 4:30 pm train back to Brussels and then back on the high speed Thalys train to Paris. Bruges was awesome and definitely somewhere I would like to return. Had I known I would have enjoyed it as much as I did, I would have stayed a night or two.

Wandering the streets in Bruges

Yum!

One of the many bicyclists in Bruges

One of the many bridges over the canals in Bruges

Canal bridge and buildings in Bruges

"Postcard View" in Bruges