Paris was, uh, crowded. With people, cars, metro was also crowded. Not that I thought it wouldn't be. But living in Barcelona for a month and a half and being exposed to the crowds here seemed nothing compared to Paris.
Metro was similar to Barcelona's, and we figured out the metro lines easy enough. But not only was it more crowded, it was not as clean (inside and out) and it was older. Stations didn't have very many seats, so you stood a lot while waiting. Metro maps were more difficult to read since there were 20 or so lines, and we're used to only 8-9? in Barcelona (which seemed like a lot when we first got here). But it was an adventure to figure out which line to get on, where to connect, get off, how to get to the next place, etc. And if most people generally don't look at you or smile or say much to you in Barcelona (they generally don't), they really keep to themselves in Paris.
We had several people refuse our (French) gospel tracts (even when offered by Marianna!) In Barcelona, most people accept them--especially from a cute smiling child, and about half are friendly about it. But there was this one man who we gave one to in Paris, and he seemed really interested. Didn't speak English, but tried using hand motions to ask if he needed to fill out information on the back and mail in. Also showed us a picture of a cathedral in a magazine and referred to the tract, as in connecting them. All of this with a "Paris smile" even.
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| Man making crepes |
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| Eager children waiting for crepes |
Food in Paris: as in Barcelona, lots of sandwiches on French bread sold at outside cafe's. French fries we tried once, and weren't all that great--what's wrong with this picture? Maybe because it was an outside place that specialized more in sandwiches and crepes. Crepes we tried a few times. Too sweet for me, but the children enjoyed them and it was neat to watch them being made. Beignets were also too sweet for me, but were quite good for a pastry. Children especially liked the ones filled with chocolate (actually Nutella). Jam-filled ones were pretty good. I enjoyed the fresh veggies, fruits, salads, unique juices, veggie quiche tarts, smoothies. And the little cookies left in our rooms each day were nice too--not too sweet :o) A bottle of water could range from 1 euro to 2 euros 50 cents, maybe even 3 euros. Same with juice. So we found the cheaper places and tried to get it there when we could. But hey, you can only carry around so much in drinks. Food in general was way expensive, which we expected. We just tried to find affordable places to eat/snack, and "mostly" succeeded. My favorite restaurant was actually a less expensive, less fancy one--a Turkish place (tender chicken kabobs, tasty rice, salad)--delicious!
Our hotel was small, but clean. Beds were very comfortable, and the children loved sleeping on bunks. Each room had a set of bunks and a single. And having a girls room and a guys room was kind of fun. At least the girls thought so. :o]
Buildings and structures were very impressive.
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| Outside Le Grand Palais |
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| Le Grand Palais |
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| Le Petit Palais ("small palace" . . . on a Paris scale, that is) |
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| Le Petit Palais |
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| In front of Le Petit Palais Gate |
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| In Le Petit Palais Garden |
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| Harpist playing outside of Sacre Couer (very nice playing) |
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| "Live statue" outside of Sacre Couer (Funny guy actually; when people walk up close slowly, looking at him, he suddenly steps on hidden horn and scares these unsuspecting people. Made a group of college age girls squeal--Everyone around laughed, including them, finally. Hilarious) |
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| Sacre Couer |
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| Front of Sacre Couer |
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| The Pantheon |
We decided Paris for us wouldn't be a preferable place to live, but was a great place to visit.
Here is how our last day in Paris went. Walked to metro to go do some last day sight-seeing. In afternoon, we got on metro again, and at last stop, we split up. Jim and Josiah went to hotel to get luggage, the rest of us walked to tram stop. We took tram to train station, they show up with luggage a little later. We buy train tickets, took train to another tram station. Took tram to airport, airplane to Barcelona, got on bus, off bus, walked to metro, took one line of metro, switched lines, took another metro, walked to apartment. Makes me tired just thinking about it again.
It was good to get back "home" to Barcelona. Funny that it felt that way. Now we can relax a little, slow down some, have some space, and get back to somewhat of a routine. Sort of.
Enjoying snacks outside the Eiffel Tower (crepes and churros)
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Enjoying snacks outside the Eiffel Tower (crepes and churros)
8 comments:
Wow! Can't imagine actually seeing all these things in person!! Great pics, again! You describe Paris exactly as I've always heard it described--crowded and unfriendly. Sounds like you all made it just fine, even finding good food. You're still wearing jackets. Is it going to warm up? A little warmer here these days. Glad you made it safely "home" with lots of incredible memories!--Pam
Halfway point! Glad you had a good time in Paris. The pictures are great and the kids seem to really be having a wonderful time. You're all experts at the whole European way now, right?? Yeah, I know. It is weird when it starts to feel like "home" even though other things still seem so different. Your US home will come too soon, so make the most of these days and enjoy the adventure! We are enjoying following along.- Jen
Thanks for posting the blogs. Glad you could make it to Paris. If you want to get out of town again, one suggestion is Girona, which is only about an hour train ride from Barcelona. It's where I've stayed for a couple months each of the past two years. The old part of town is very historic and great place to walk around, including the street Forca, where my apt. was. For a small sea-side town, I rode to Tossa de Mar a few times -- it has a cool fort there. Riding in the Pyrenees is one of my favorite things, but may not work for you. Another Herf
I will just comment briefly on the weather: the Barcelona weather is like late Spring in Murray. It is mid-50's in the morning and high 60's, low 70's in the afternoon. Very nice. Every. Single. Day. Usually we take coats for the morning or late night. In Paris it was a few degrees cooler for two days, so we had light coats for those days. Jim
So - John - if I go to Forca street in Girona and say "Me llamo Herf", will they give me a good rate on an apartment?
I will look into visiting Tossa de Mar. We went to Figueres (near Girona) a few weeks ago for a day trip and it was enjoyable. The downside is that the train tickets were about 100 euros round trip. It is a little more difficult (and expensive) moving six people around than moving one person who can bike up the Pyrenees!
Jen--was wondering if you felt the same way after travelling somewhere and then returning to Regensburg ("home" for a while). Here, we have a kitchen, we buy groceries, cook, do some school, know where to get things we need (mostly!), even have a regular church. So we go away to an even more temporary place, and we get back, and go "ahhhh." Familiar?
Jim . . Actually my landlords in Girona like me and would give you a good rate. There a lot of gringos there . . . Lance's apt was about 50m from mine. I did see you went to Figueres . . I really enjoyed Dali's museum and even his home in Cadaques, which is a nice, seaside, 'artists'' town. You must be taking the express trains, because I don't remember the tix being that expensive, but like you say, it's only one of me. You could rent a car for less than that.
Very much so. The comfort of knowing how to get things and do the day to day seems to make it feel like things aren't so "foreign". Then you venture away and get out of that comfort zone again. I wondered at one point if I would feel out of place here once I returned because we were getting so comfortable being there, but it was so nice to get back to the people and things we missed I adjusted quickly. However, some things are going to stay with you. We ate out at Cracker Barrel this weekend and the kids asked the server "Which drinks come with refills? We only like to order those now."
It does seem to get easier the longer you are there. So enjoy that comfortable feeling! Of course just about the time you think you've got it all figured out and can go anywhere, you'll be boarding a plane back to the USA.
By the way, my kids said to tell yours that they liked the cinnamon and sugar crepes the best!
I'll be praying for you and hope you have many fun and happy days there before heading back here.- Jen
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