Unrealistic? Just a little.
Paris didn’t fall short of my imagination – it was amazing. Unfortunately, my imagination had rather judiciously edited out the more pragmatic details of international travel in a new city with a limited budget. I had forgotten about the stress!
We took a morning flight to Paris, and as you can imagine, I was pretty wound up the night before, so sleep was late in coming. On the trip to the airport, I was trying to suppress the urge to bounce up and down on my seat...I was on my way to Paris with the man I love! The flight was short and simple, but it was very nice to be flying with someone for once. Apparently there are no customs travelling between countries in the EU, and part of our deal was no checked baggage (meaning no liquids), so we were out of gate in no time. Charles de Gaulle airport, however, is not particularly small, so it took considerably more time to get out of the airport. Our first indication that Paris is a little pricey was the ten euro train ticket we had to buy to get us in the vicinity of our hotel.
We board the train, and I am still quite bouncy, although the lack of sleep and hunger begin to catch up to me, putting a bit of a damper on my spirits. Part of my excitement was the chance to use a language I was at least a little familiar with – French, and since Jason is not a big fan of the language, it was going to be up to me to talk to people. I quickly learned, however, that my four months of classes meant I might be able to order food, but didn’t help nothing in terms of getting around, since I couldn’t read signs in the metro stations. When transferring from the train, we decided to find a bite to eat, since I don’t handle stress well without food or water. What we didn’t realize is that you can’t re-enter a train station in France – you have to buy a new ticket. Luckily the guy at the ticket booth took pity on us poor ignorant tourists and let us back on to the train without having to pay another ten euro.
We were staying in La Defense, an area outside of the main part of Paris. La Defense is the business district, and the train station is right in the middle of a whole lot of tall buildings with poorly marked streets. For those of you who haven’t been to Paris, let me explain something about the city planning. Instead of a grid system, streets tend to spring up wherever and end wherever – usually at a roundabout of some form. I suspect this is not some sadistic trick but rather the result of the long history of how Paris has evolved. The city almost forms a series of networks, but to Jason and me, the left-brained, grid-based Canadians, the streets seem to meander without rhyme or reason. As he knew I generally like to navigate, Jason left the reading of the maps to me, a good plan when one has a map. Navigation in a strange city, however, is inherently stressful, but not having a map makes it much worse, as I found out during the next hour and a half of trying to find our hotel. The map we bought of Paris conveniently did not include this section of the city.
At this point, I should mention one other fact that impacted my trip to Paris – the day before we left, I developed a nasty UTI. Most of the women reading this are likely nodding in sympathy…let’s just say it interferes with normal bathroom functioning. I spent WAY too much time in Paris hunting for cranberry juice.
It is now almost 4pm, and I’m hungry, dehydrated, and my feet hurt, when the sign for our hotel finally appears. A bit of a rest and a few glasses of water later, we head out with a map and helpful directions from our friendly concierge, our destination: Notre Dame! The excitement, dulled by a frustrating afternoon, begins to build once more.
We take Le Metro into Paris, and the minute I step out of the tunnel into the warm afternoon sunshine, I discover the Paris of my dreams – old apartment buildings with wrought iron grates, studded with ruby flowers. A new tower/statue/fountain at every juncture, a testament to old glory, figures frozen in bronze and marble. Delicately arching bridges spanning the boardwalks of the Seine, leading to Ile de Cite, an island so full of historical architecture that the cars seem out of place. Jason and I wander through this visual wonderland, catching little details in every glance – a gargoyle here, an old clock there, a Roman soldier watching over the modern world.
Then, the most intricate and astounding of all: the Cathedral Notre Dame. The incredible detail of this church, both inside and out, is overwhelming – the stained glass alone is remarkable. We managed to get there just before it closed, the dark wood interior lit by jewelled sunlight through the patterned glass, perfumed by the incense at the altar. It was an interesting combination of sacred and public space, as we followed a priest taking pictures of all the patron saints. As we walked to the garden out back, the sun began to burst forth from the clouds, creating an almost heavenly light in the sky.
Afterwards, we sat outside and ate crepes, which I followed with a dinner consisting of four types of cheese, a tiny handful of salad, and crusty bread.
Ah, Paris!
More to come…
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