Tuesdays With Paris
I’ve been making fun of the French since I was a kid. The Simpsons made fun of them (in many episodes), so I thought it was cool. I always had the image of the French as beret wearing, snooty, up tight chain smokers who needed the US and A to bail them out of two world wars. Yet, despite the mock animosity, France was always an indelible part of life no matter where you lived. French food, French laundry, French fries. It was a name and a place you knew that was never far out of reach and more easily relatable than Texas ever could ever be. I always felt that France would be a place I would get to visit. I mean, everyone goes there, right? Especially Paris. Paris is a city shown on movies, TV, cooking shows, travel shows, books and on and on. Paris is a place that feels so alike and so familiar without ever having been. I really liked being in Paris. Even in 36 degree celsius heat. Oh, what? You don’t know the metric system, so ignorant American? That, dear Yankee is close to 100 degrees in your fahrenheit. Yeah, it was hot.
We arrived in the early evening on the smelliest plane ever. Stereotypes were coming to life before we even got there. I was not amused. However, the best victory of the day was seeing our luggage squirting out onto the carousel at baggage claim. Hot dog, that was a happy time. After retrieving our bags we lined up like lemmings and proceeded through the military-like immigration check point before being admitted into the country. Just kidding, we walked right past a few security guard types playing grab-ass and smoking Virginia Slims. So much for our passport stamp.
We found our train and made it to our stop, which was a shopping mall. Coming up to street level, we were hit by heat like I haven’t felt since Iraq. And seeing all of the Burkahs around, I definitely had a flashback or four. Us being us, we had scouted out apartment location on a map prior, so we made the 15 minute walk with no incident. On the way there, the neighborhood was so vibrant and going down. Bars and restaurants of every variety. Shops, liquor stores, delis etc. It was a really exciting area and awesome to call home for a few days.
Our apartment was on the fifth floor of a super old building. No elevator allowed us to get in a quad workout #nodaysoff. The apartment was very cozy (small) but had everything we needed for a few days. We snooped around the apartment and went back downstairs to do a little exploring. We picked up some stuff for a quick dinner at home and called it a night.
Romanesque column built by Napoleon depicting his military campaigns in front of the Ritz Paris.
The heat was so oppressive and coupled with the recent events, lines to major attractions were very small. As in nonexistent. We got up to the Eiffel tower in 10 minutes. The Louvre had no line. The d'Orsay Museum: no line. Because of the heat the only place with a line was The Catacombs. With a constant cool temperature year round, it was the best place to beat the heat, regardless of how macabre it was. The creepy, winding tunnels underneath the city allowed us to have a brief reprieve from the furnace above. I knew it was hot when Kristin was a proponent of going down there, because she can hardly watch Earnest Scared Stupid without getting nightmares. It was a really creepy tour, but very interesting.
Catacombs are the creepiest. 3 million dead underneath the city.
The food scene in Paris is one of the best I've seen outside of the US. The options available are limitless. We did not have any real French meals outside of crepes for lunch. The day before we had Turkish food at a food market. Another lunch meal was having baguettes in a park outside of the Louvre. Tre chic. For dinner one night we had Vietnamese food. I mean c’mon. It was so great. This place was right by the Opera House (an incredible building, by the way) and super good. Pho! In Paris! We loved it. Again, the food options were limitless, giving Paris 9 thumbs up from a food perspective.
We knew that we had to take a night stroll to experience why Paris is called, “The City of Lights”. So, with bellies full of Pho, we took to walking toward the Seine River. Paris is a city meant to be shown at night. It takes on an entirely different feel. Even the culture changes. There is a whole night time scene that emerges. The locals take to the park and picnic under the lights of their city. They are fiercely proud of Paris and rightly they should be. Paris really is a place people should visit. Especially Americans. There is a lot of respect the French give to America. We have had a relationship with them since the 1790’s and there are monuments, roads and places named after some of our greatest leaders. Paris is a place that commands respect and truly is an amazing, beautiful city.
FINAL THOUGHT:
Paris is an amazing place and full of kind, friendly people. The French have a reputation of being snotty. In the short time we were there, we were treated with respect and kindness from pretty much everyone. Our AirBnB host was so nice and gave us outstanding suggestions. The French lady who helped us buy tickets to Versailles at the train station was super sweet for helping the obviously confused American swearing at the ticket machine (Le ticket, what the hell is that!?). The bartender at Le Fumoir who, through broken translation, figured out how to make a Moscow Mule. Running into this many friendly people, I don't think was a coincidence, maybe I had the French wrong this whole time.
