Day 7 - Last Day in Paris

Thank goodness for Jake's faithful travel journaling! I start each adventure with the best intentions, this time even bringing some colored pens to sketch with, but I just don't have the discipline he does and, in my defense, I was doing some work via computer on this trip and the internet problems were amazing, so I just didn't have the time. We like to look through our old journals - the ones from our first trip to Europe together for example - and they are worth more than gold, so I do advise keeping one when you travel. The memories will fade but you can jog them back with your writing.

Today, after all the running around and drama of yesterday, we decide to do something we've never done before: take the double decker bus tour! The day is gorgeous and we sit on the top level, plug in the provided ear buds and enjoy being rather coddled :)  We've caught the bus at Notre Dame and it's headed to Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th. Like all of Paris it's an area full of history. Like what happens all the time in Paris there is a demonstration of some sort and the bus has to abandon the original route, return to Notre Dame where we hop on another line. We pass the Tour Eiffel, cruise the Champs Elysee, pass the Louvre and Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, Musee d'Orsay, Paris Opera and more..... Lots of sites in a relatively short time and we enjoyed it,

For our last meal we head to  Le Petit Pont again and feast on moules and frites - mussels and fries - one of our favorites! Apres we need to pack up and take the #4 metro line to Chatalet and then the #1 to Gare de Lyon, the huge train station. It's an impressive structure built in 1900 for the Paris Exposition. We have a cocktail in the lounge and just enjoy the architecture and,....wait for it,... the people watching! Soon it's "All Aboard" and we find our overnight compartment, get settled in for
a sleeper trip to Rome. Jake will sleep, me not so much....
xo La

PARIS DAY 4

Today is the day to head to the northeast quadrant of the city, to the 18th arr and the 20th arr to see Sacre Coeur and Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. The area of Montmartre was once the outskirts of town, scene of vineyards and farms, but now a charming, rather hilly area of the city of Paris. There is still a small area with a few vines and - being beautiful Paris - the bistros are often in reclaimed buildings looking much like they always have! Exiting the metro at the Anvers stop we are greeted with sunshiny blue skies, flowers, greenery and crowds of people. One can basically follow the flow of the crowd to the Sacre Coeur Basilica, a Roman Catholic church built on the summit of Montmartre and is therefore at the highest point in all of Paris. Lots of upward climbing steps later we enter the impressive, dark and cool church to walk the interior and light a candle for my father in law who regularly did just that for others in his lifetime. We tried not to be annoyed by the constant photo taking of some of the other tourists but this was difficult given the prominent signage asking that one not take photos in this religious spot. We encountered this bad behavior everywhere, tourists viewing life thru a camera completely oblivious to other patrons and the works of art that they are slowly destroying with their camera flashes. For lunch we stopped at La Cremaillere, which translates to "the rack"(at first I was excited that it was an old dairy or some such thing!) where we had a cocktail and a bowl of soup in the interior courtyard. The courtyard was charming featuring old looking signage, light green arches, hanging baskets of flowers and a large tree that was kept in place by the designer. La Cremaillere gets mixed reviews on the internet so I won't actually endorse eating there and, while the courtyard was pleasant and cool and a nice place to relax after a lot of walking, my favorite way to dine in Paris is at an outside table so I can people watch! Following our respite we metro'ed to the 20th arr and Pere Lachaise, which has it's own metro stop. This ancient cemetery is a fascinating place divided on the map (recommended, buy it upon entry if you plan to look for specific graves) into about 96 irregular areas. On a beautiful day its a pleasure to wander thru the park like atmosphere and wonder about the people who lay in rest there. Some of the graves are very simple, some are monumental. You can peek into small colored glass windows of mausoleums and see old dried flowers and photos placed there long ago. Marvel at the names etched on the stones - I spotted one for Le Duc which is the surname of Aimee, heroine of Cara Black's novels which I've mentioned before in this Paris series. We rambled over to see Jim Morrison and take a photo in our GBDB tee shirts for the band website; Jim's grave is fenced and guarded due to excessive fan behavior. My other 2 must sees: Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. After a long day of walking and sightseeing we headed back to the 5th arr and rested a bit in the hotel. For dinner we chose "our" local bistro Petit Pont, located,not surprisingly, on the left bank side of the Petit Pont bridge and Notre Dame Cathedral. At an outside table we had a leisurely meal of steak frites with a dessert of wonderful cheeses. Jake looked quite the Frenchman doing his best Yves Montand, or was it Jean-Paul Belmondo?, imitation. What a wonderful day.

Day 3 in Paris: Easter Sunday

The bells of Notre Dame begin ringing at 8:15 am and continue for 10 minutes. We take a leisurely walk around the Cathedral and the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St Louis. So beautiful and I am jealous of the people who get to live here! If you like mysteries and Paris you might want check out Cara Black's novels, her heroine Aimee Leduc, lives in an apartment on the Ile St Louis she's inherited from her Grandfather. I have enjoyed this series very much. Anyway, after strolling the Iles we head east down Blvd St Germain to my favorite area (I'm so not alone in that!) of the city: the 6th arrondissement. Rue Jacob, which was home to many historical figures: Colette, George Sand, Baudeliere, Victor Hugo, Jane Birkin(!) and both Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin when in France, is a typical Parisian rue with a narrow street, ivory stone buildings and blue street name signs. We actually stayed on the Rue Jacob in 1989, but at the time didn't understand the significance of this beautiful quartier and how lucky we were to be invited to spend 2 nights in a private apartment. My sister in law's good friend was married at the time to one of the Clarins (yep-the skin care line) family. Didier and Jane took us to Les Halles and pointed us to an adorable little street Le Rue du Cherche Midi for dinner at a bistro there as well as inviting us to stay with them! One evening Didier whipped up dinner for us in their typical and tres petite kitchen and we'll never forget how delicious the bowtie pasta in tomato, ham and cream sauce was. I remember the large, old mirrors that lined the high ceilinged walls. I can't recall the street number or the large wooden entry doors to the courtyard which would have had the omnipresent entry keypad. Unfortunately that marriage has ended and we've lost touch with them both. During our walk we stopped at the bistro Tennessee for a cocktail and felt very at home taking our time and people watching. We strolled the 1st A. as well: the Louvre and Tuileries on our way home to the hotel. For our evening meal we went to Rue de la Huchette around the corner from our hotel for ham and cheese crepes. Huchette is very busy, touristy and, some say, to be avoided - but we had a great crepe and sort of enjoyed the madness of this little street - vendors, eateries, packs of tourists and packs of local kids out for the evening. Another book suggestion, highly recommended if you are interested in the 6th, is Into A Paris Quartier by Diane Johnson. She's also the author of several novels, Le Divorce being well known and also very good. Into A Paris Quartier delves into the history of this historic area which was also home to Reine Margot and the real Three Musketeers (and Henry Miller, Oscar Wilde (who died there) and....on and on). Diane is an excellent writer and you will be enthralled to learn the history of this area in such an engaging book. Again, very highly recommended. bisous, La

Really: Day 2 in Paris!

I spent quite a bit of time while we were in Europe trying to get a decent internet connection (with a 3 week itinerary I HAD to do some work!) and on day 2 we headed to the Apple store. I was able to get some satisfaction, but seriously when I needed a dependable source of internet I headed to the nearest Starbucks. Starbucks is plentiful in Paris, non existent in Rome. After the Apple store, which is near L'Opera we had lunch at L'Entreact, a very typical bistro. Two thirty five-ish Frenchmen sat next to us, they had the full on lunch ascribed to the French ending with small cups of espresso. Jake commented on the lack of: overweight people, tattoos and piercings, saggy pants! Not everyone looks like a fashion plate but they look quite presentable. In the evening we took a series of metro trains to the 19eme where an exhibition of David Bowie paintings was showing at the Philharmonie. The 19th is not what most people think of when envisioning Paris, very working class and immigrant heavy. Architecture not as stunning. We did a ton of walking as my husband was in charge of this particular outing and the long and short of it is: we never found the exact exhibition hall! But we did see a side of Paris we'd never seen before and we mastered the metro system. We met, once again, several very helpful Parisians. Giving up on the art we made our way back to the 5th and had a lovely dinner at the La Fountaine St Michel. Jake enjoyed a platter with salmon, ocean terrine, pate and I had quiche (I know!). Our waiter was the doppelganger of our friend Pete George who used to play guitar in our band and is now a successful comedian and actor living in L.A. xo La

Paris day 2

Or actually more of day 1! I think I'd better start abbreviating some of this or we'll never get thru our trip on this blog. On our way to the O'Kari we stopped at the newsstand to buy a Pariscope which is a weekly magazine that covers the current and forthcoming entertainment events in Paris over the coming week, including theatre, music and films. Again with the nice Parisians - we hadn't exchanged our money and had no Euros - the vendor said "allez" - he gave it to us!! We did return later to pay him. We stopped at Monoprix (an inexpensive chain store that sells a little bit of everything,the clothing and accessories looked very cheap to me) for bottled water for our room. You may know that the French love their mineral water and they have probably as many brands of bottled water as they have cheeses. We chose Volvic with lemon (citron) and both loved it. Not carbonated (or sans gas as they say). It became our 'go to' water while here but not everyplace carried it. We also hit the Pharma for some arnica gel.If you are not familiar with arnica look it up and get some, it's terrific for bruising and sore muscles. The pharmacies are marked with green neon crosses. The Tabac (busy as lots of people smoke in Europe) is marked with a red neon cross. The pharmacy is where you have to go for pain relievers, prescriptions etc. A parapharmacie more closely resembles a drugstore in the US with other products besides medicines available. The Parisians apparently have real problems with cellulite as the shelves are full of lotions for combating it! And scarves are for sale everywhere, along with mini Eiffel tower key rings. We passed. But we did end up with a selfie stick :)

Paris Day 1

Allright, back to the program! So here we are strolling thru the streets of the 5th. Stopping to kiss occasionally cause that's what everyone does! Boulevard St Michel is busy with locals and tourists - lots of people with rolling suitcases, couples - young, old and in-between, working singles moving at a good pace, families. We make sure to keep up with the flow or pull ourselves over to the side when we want to look at something or check our map (discreetly, bien sur) keeping in mind that is is a big, busy city and to stroll mindlessly in front of working people with places to go is not going to make you any friends. I think one of the issues that tourists have with Parisians is that sometimes the tourist doesn't keep this in mind and the French will cluck at you for behaving so rudely and being such a rube. I was so glad that I brought my trench coat - it's a uniform here! Mine has gold lame sleeves (see my profile pic) but most often I saw the typical khaki colored trench and often without the belt being worn, the coat just worn open. I had a reservation for 2 pm at the O'Kari Hammam, a treat I had arranged via email to decompress and kick off the trip. Owned by a lovely woman named Karima - who communicated with me only in french and kindly corrected my email mistakes - the hammam (french for steam bath) is located at 22 Rue Dussoubs in the 2nd Arr. Jake and I took the bus and had a bit of trouble finding the street and then finding number 22. I inquired of an elderly concierge and he so kindly took his big ring of keys, locked his big wooden doors and walked, in the fine rain that was falling, up and down with us till we spotted number 22. We buzzed the entry and were admitted to the private courtyard. O'Kari is located in the lower level - Karima warmly welcomed me, gave me a robe and a paper thong (!!) and showed me the steam room - gorgeous, tiled and very hot - and the serene blue pool outside the steam room to cool off between taking time in the steam. After I was properly steamed up I had a scrubbing - all over - whilst laying on a marble slab like some sacrificial lamb - and had to will my ever relaxing self not to slide off! The attendant showers you off (the floor has drains) and sends you to the massage room. There I did fall asleep - but I never fell off the table! Afterwards Karima gives you some mint tea and the choice of a pastry. She insists on 3 hours of your time saying that is necessary for one to feel the full effects and to fully relax. I had a nice conversation (conducted in broken English and broken French) in the steam room and again in the tea room with a french woman who actually called her daughter so that the daughter could talk with me and impress me with her good English :) Back in the fine rain I walked back to the hotel, again with a little help from some kind strangers. Seriously - if you ask, in your best French, they will stop and pull out a map from their pocket (happened more than once) and practically walk you there. Jake had done some exploring and cafe sitting while I was gone and now we went around the corner to a small resto for some dinner. My appetite was very dull and I had the onion soup which was just ok; Jake felt the same way about the mussels he ordered but we didn't care we were in Paris! Back to Hotel De Suez - very comfortable, clean and with the best reception staff - so friendly and helpful. Also terrific bathrooms - the shower was divine and the commodes have 2 buttons - 1 for #1 and 2 for #2 - very eco and not what you hear normally hear about European bathroom facilities. As a matter of fact all our hotels/apartments while there had excellent bathroom facilities. If you have any questions or want more details on anything just ask. xo, La

Paris on the Cuyahoga

Cleveland is a city divided by a river, the Cuyahoga. Divided just like Paris - which is of course split in two by the Seine. Like Paris each side of the Cuyahoga has it's own flavor. The East side is older and houses the world famous Cleveland Museum of Art and Severance Hall, home to the world famous Cleveland Orchestra. The West side is considered nouveau when considering it's riches which include the West Side Market, one of the few truly European food markets in the U.S. I'd have to say the East side is thought of as more sophisticated and the West side as lower class. Like most generalizations that is not entirely true, but for the purposes of this blog it capsulizes the differences. Cleveland is located at 41 degrees latitude and Paris at 48. So we enjoy similar weather. Otherwise we do not have much in common. Cleveland has a decidely unglamorous image. Living here can be bleak. When I started this blog I decided to change that, for myself at least. I decided to to live a fabulous, chic life here on the banks of the Cuyahoga. Now that I've gone public with this blog, I am going to promote this eurostyle life because I believe it is healthy, enjoyable and more fun than the typical lifestyle 'enjoyed' by my compatriots. I am not an American basher, but I don't think we have the joy of living sussed out the way the Europeans do. I believe in good food and good wine for everyone! Lots of mandatory vacation time! Family time! Walking! Gardening! Time not spent in front of the tv! Exclamation points! (insert grin here).....and more....which I hope to explore and share here. If you are a local, please join me and share your secret/not so secret places and things to do. If you are not from around here I'd still love your input and ideas and to have you join me on this ever evolving journey. Bisous, La