Two More Days in Paris
So we stayed one more day... get over it.
Day Two in Paris was another hot and sunny one. We had big plans for the day. First, a north-south trek to hit Montmartre, Notre Dame, and the Catacombs. This was to be followed by a jaunt westward to Versailles, just outside of Paris. Oh how naive we were.
Our first order of business was to book our room for another night, but unfortunately they were all booked up, but they suggested the Hotel Savoie just down the street. We stepped in there and booked our room for the night at the same price. A room with two beds and no shower. It wasn't ready yet so we left our bags with them and headed off.
We took the Metro up to Montmarte and began our search for the Basilique Sacre-Coeur, Paris's highest point. We began climbing the ramps and steps toward the top. Along the way we got hit with our first tourist trap. We knew of these types of things. At the Eiffel Tower there are hordes of guys selling little souvenirs for cheap. They are, apparently not supposed to be doing that, but there doesn't seem to be much effort to stop them. These guys at Sacre-Coeur though, got us good. They play the whole "we're from Africa" card playing on our western stereotypes of African language and traditions. They kept saying "hakuna matata" because they knew we would recognise that. We said our usual "no not interested" but their persistence prevailed and before we knew it they were weaving us bracelets. Thinking it was just a good will gesture we began to walk away, and that's when we found out that they wanted 7€ each. We negotiated down to about 5€ for the pair to get them off our back.
At the top is the church with its onion domes. We took the walk around the interior as a service was taking place. Seemed a bit odd but when in Montmartre, do as the... Montmartians do? Behind the church are the little streets and shops of the area. The streets are teeming with scores of artists desparately wanting to sketch your portrait. I guess a hundred or so years ago one would see Van Gogh and Lautrec hanging around in the cafes here.
On that note, our next stop was the famed Bal de Moulin Rouge, at the bottom of the hill and a little jog west. The area has all manner of shops from cheap luggage to kebab shops. Closer to the Moulin Rouge are the seedier adult-type shops, complete with flashing neon signs. I'm sure it's a sight to be seen at night, but the sun was shining bright at that point.
We headed down to the Ile-de-la-Cite, the very heart of Paris, where stands the mighty Notre-Dame. The island is mostly old fortress-type buildings. In the centre there is a garden market with flowers and trees of all kinds. Enjoyable to walk through save for the spring allergies. At Notre-Dame we sat for a moment and then headed in to see the place. Much to our delight there was no charge to walk around inside. There were great rose windows and a line of stained glass windows along the apse.
From there we decided we should go back to the hostel and check in to our room properly. By the time we got back there we were getting tired and the room was inviting, despite it being a little less fancy than the ones before. I got to reading the guide book we brought and noticed that both the Catacombs and Versailles closed in the late afternoon. It was already getting on in hours so we decided we ought to stay another day so that we could take that in. In any case, we hadn't quite figured out how to get to Belgium or where to stay so best not rush the departure.
After giving it some thought we figured the best way to get to Brussels was by bus. At 22€ each, it sure beat the price of a train. While Darryl had a nap, I hopped on the Metro to Gallieni Station to book the Eurolines bus for Saturday afternoon. That was sorted, but before booking a hostel we decided we ought to talk to our very very distant relative Jouri, who lives near Brussels. After a brief chat he said he'd get back to us with some details, so we left it at that. That evening we strolled around a bit before heading home to bed.
On Friday morning we arose at a decent hour to make the most of our time so we could hit our two destinations. We added a new destination to the list before hitting the Catacombs. We said to ourselves if we were ever in Paris we would look for the offices of a sugar-trading company called Bauche. For many years we've known of the company through its website at www.bauche.com. We located it on the map and using Darryl's Blackberry we found our way there.
Expecting some kind of sign, we were a bit disappointed to only find a small plaque that bore the name "Bauche" with some delivery instructions beneath. While there taking photographs of the sign, a smartly-dressed, grey-haired man walked up and looked bewilderedly at us and the sign in a kind of "what do you think you're doing" way. I immediately began to say, "Je m'appelle Mark Bauche et..." and he said, "Mr. Bauche? Mr. Bauche." The introduction was made. He stopped briefly to ask where we were from and I asked if I could take his picture. And that was that.
Back on the Metro, we found our way to the Catacombs, though not without a bit of confusion. After paying the 7€ to get in we descended down the long spiral staircase into the cool, dank depths. There are over twenty kilometres of tunnels beneath Paris from the days of the quarries. The tunnels led us to the ossuary, the final resting place of millions of bones very neatly stacked along the tunnels. These were exhumed from cemetaries to make room for new developments in Paris. The walk takes about forty-five minutes, and when we came to the end, we re-ascended some eighty-three steps to the street above. But we weren't sure where we were.
Once orienting ourselves we headed back for the Metro and found our route to Versailles along the RER, the lines of train that carry one outside of Paris. This was all included in our daily train passes, however, so for only about 9€ we were able to ride the Metro all day, and get to Versailles and back. It went to good use.
At Versailles we followed the pilgrimage to the gargantuan chateau that was built by Louis XIV and his court to escape from the evermore exasperated French public. The Baroque chateau and gardens are now a museum. We walked around the gardens a bit and then at 4:00pm we went to buy tickets (because the price dropped by €3.50). We met a young Canadian couple from southern Ontario in line. Backpackers like us. They were heading south to Spain though. This was the second Canadian pair we had met that day. An older couple had approached us in the Metro. They were also from Southern Ontario and were mainly checking out sites relevant to the Wars: like Vimy, Somme, and Ypres.
In the Versailles Palace we collected our audio tour guides and began the journey through the building. The audio guide was really great. It really beats finding the English blurb on a panel and reading the info. The palace looks very much like it did in its heyday, with paintings by Le Notre and David, and sculptures by Bernini. Along one side are the king's apartment, with all his overdone rooms themed in Roman mythology. Along the back is the famed Hall of Mirrors, (currently under renovation) with its grand view to the never-ending vista to the west, where the sun sets. It was here where the Treaty of Versailles was signed after World War I. Louis' bedroom faces directly east to catch the rising sun. He was, afterall, the Sun King. The other side is a reciprocal of the king's apartments, except that it's... you guessed it, the queen's apartments.
Back in the garden, we began walking toward the lake through the labrynthine parterres. When we'd had enough of walking we turned and headed back to the chateau. From behind us we heard someone say "Canada." There was a retirement-age couple walking behind us. When we turned around they said, "Regina." So after meeting only easterners, we finally met some Saskatchewanians. We walked and talked with them all the way back to the chateau, and then headed on to the RER to make our way back into Paris. Sitting on the train, the rain began.
We walked toward our hostel down Rue Richard Lenoir in the rain. It looked like our plans to sit on the bridge with bread and wine wasn't going to pan out. When the rain stopped, we headed out for some French kebab and took it back to the hostel to eat on our little patio. Later we cracked our wine and had a glass each before hitting the pillow for some sleep. In the morning we did some laundry, checked out of the hostel and hit the Metro toward Gallieni station to catch our Eurolines bus to Brussels, where we were due to meet Jouri Bauche. The ancestral search part of journey was beginning.
Cheers.
Day Two in Paris was another hot and sunny one. We had big plans for the day. First, a north-south trek to hit Montmartre, Notre Dame, and the Catacombs. This was to be followed by a jaunt westward to Versailles, just outside of Paris. Oh how naive we were.Our first order of business was to book our room for another night, but unfortunately they were all booked up, but they suggested the Hotel Savoie just down the street. We stepped in there and booked our room for the night at the same price. A room with two beds and no shower. It wasn't ready yet so we left our bags with them and headed off.
We took the Metro up to Montmarte and began our search for the Basilique Sacre-Coeur, Paris's highest point. We began climbing the ramps and steps toward the top. Along the way we got hit with our first tourist trap. We knew of these types of things. At the Eiffel Tower there are hordes of guys selling little souvenirs for cheap. They are, apparently not supposed to be doing that, but there doesn't seem to be much effort to stop them. These guys at Sacre-Coeur though, got us good. They play the whole "we're from Africa" card playing on our western stereotypes of African language and traditions. They kept saying "hakuna matata" because they knew we would recognise that. We said our usual "no not interested" but their persistence prevailed and before we knew it they were weaving us bracelets. Thinking it was just a good will gesture we began to walk away, and that's when we found out that they wanted 7€ each. We negotiated down to about 5€ for the pair to get them off our back.
At the top is the church with its onion domes. We took the walk around the interior as a service was taking place. Seemed a bit odd but when in Montmartre, do as the... Montmartians do? Behind the church are the little streets and shops of the area. The streets are teeming with scores of artists desparately wanting to sketch your portrait. I guess a hundred or so years ago one would see Van Gogh and Lautrec hanging around in the cafes here.On that note, our next stop was the famed Bal de Moulin Rouge, at the bottom of the hill and a little jog west. The area has all manner of shops from cheap luggage to kebab shops. Closer to the Moulin Rouge are the seedier adult-type shops, complete with flashing neon signs. I'm sure it's a sight to be seen at night, but the sun was shining bright at that point.
We headed down to the Ile-de-la-Cite, the very heart of Paris, where stands the mighty Notre-Dame. The island is mostly old fortress-type buildings. In the centre there is a garden market with flowers and trees of all kinds. Enjoyable to walk through save for the spring allergies. At Notre-Dame we sat for a moment and then headed in to see the place. Much to our delight there was no charge to walk around inside. There were great rose windows and a line of stained glass windows along the apse.
From there we decided we should go back to the hostel and check in to our room properly. By the time we got back there we were getting tired and the room was inviting, despite it being a little less fancy than the ones before. I got to reading the guide book we brought and noticed that both the Catacombs and Versailles closed in the late afternoon. It was already getting on in hours so we decided we ought to stay another day so that we could take that in. In any case, we hadn't quite figured out how to get to Belgium or where to stay so best not rush the departure.
After giving it some thought we figured the best way to get to Brussels was by bus. At 22€ each, it sure beat the price of a train. While Darryl had a nap, I hopped on the Metro to Gallieni Station to book the Eurolines bus for Saturday afternoon. That was sorted, but before booking a hostel we decided we ought to talk to our very very distant relative Jouri, who lives near Brussels. After a brief chat he said he'd get back to us with some details, so we left it at that. That evening we strolled around a bit before heading home to bed.
On Friday morning we arose at a decent hour to make the most of our time so we could hit our two destinations. We added a new destination to the list before hitting the Catacombs. We said to ourselves if we were ever in Paris we would look for the offices of a sugar-trading company called Bauche. For many years we've known of the company through its website at www.bauche.com. We located it on the map and using Darryl's Blackberry we found our way there.
Expecting some kind of sign, we were a bit disappointed to only find a small plaque that bore the name "Bauche" with some delivery instructions beneath. While there taking photographs of the sign, a smartly-dressed, grey-haired man walked up and looked bewilderedly at us and the sign in a kind of "what do you think you're doing" way. I immediately began to say, "Je m'appelle Mark Bauche et..." and he said, "Mr. Bauche? Mr. Bauche." The introduction was made. He stopped briefly to ask where we were from and I asked if I could take his picture. And that was that.
Back on the Metro, we found our way to the Catacombs, though not without a bit of confusion. After paying the 7€ to get in we descended down the long spiral staircase into the cool, dank depths. There are over twenty kilometres of tunnels beneath Paris from the days of the quarries. The tunnels led us to the ossuary, the final resting place of millions of bones very neatly stacked along the tunnels. These were exhumed from cemetaries to make room for new developments in Paris. The walk takes about forty-five minutes, and when we came to the end, we re-ascended some eighty-three steps to the street above. But we weren't sure where we were.
Once orienting ourselves we headed back for the Metro and found our route to Versailles along the RER, the lines of train that carry one outside of Paris. This was all included in our daily train passes, however, so for only about 9€ we were able to ride the Metro all day, and get to Versailles and back. It went to good use.
At Versailles we followed the pilgrimage to the gargantuan chateau that was built by Louis XIV and his court to escape from the evermore exasperated French public. The Baroque chateau and gardens are now a museum. We walked around the gardens a bit and then at 4:00pm we went to buy tickets (because the price dropped by €3.50). We met a young Canadian couple from southern Ontario in line. Backpackers like us. They were heading south to Spain though. This was the second Canadian pair we had met that day. An older couple had approached us in the Metro. They were also from Southern Ontario and were mainly checking out sites relevant to the Wars: like Vimy, Somme, and Ypres.
In the Versailles Palace we collected our audio tour guides and began the journey through the building. The audio guide was really great. It really beats finding the English blurb on a panel and reading the info. The palace looks very much like it did in its heyday, with paintings by Le Notre and David, and sculptures by Bernini. Along one side are the king's apartment, with all his overdone rooms themed in Roman mythology. Along the back is the famed Hall of Mirrors, (currently under renovation) with its grand view to the never-ending vista to the west, where the sun sets. It was here where the Treaty of Versailles was signed after World War I. Louis' bedroom faces directly east to catch the rising sun. He was, afterall, the Sun King. The other side is a reciprocal of the king's apartments, except that it's... you guessed it, the queen's apartments.
Back in the garden, we began walking toward the lake through the labrynthine parterres. When we'd had enough of walking we turned and headed back to the chateau. From behind us we heard someone say "Canada." There was a retirement-age couple walking behind us. When we turned around they said, "Regina." So after meeting only easterners, we finally met some Saskatchewanians. We walked and talked with them all the way back to the chateau, and then headed on to the RER to make our way back into Paris. Sitting on the train, the rain began.
We walked toward our hostel down Rue Richard Lenoir in the rain. It looked like our plans to sit on the bridge with bread and wine wasn't going to pan out. When the rain stopped, we headed out for some French kebab and took it back to the hostel to eat on our little patio. Later we cracked our wine and had a glass each before hitting the pillow for some sleep. In the morning we did some laundry, checked out of the hostel and hit the Metro toward Gallieni station to catch our Eurolines bus to Brussels, where we were due to meet Jouri Bauche. The ancestral search part of journey was beginning.
Cheers.
posted by Mark Bauche at 2:56 PM
..........................................................................................................................................................................
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home