Paris 2008 - Hostages

31 Juillet (Jeudi) - We were up around 08h00 getting everything together for the journey back to the US. We had already changed our schedule several times because I get fidgety when I have to be some place at a specific time. For some reason, I remembered our plane leaving at 14h00, when in fact, it was to leave at 13h40. I believe in getting to the airport at least a couple of hours before flight time because you never know what kind of glitches you're going to encounter.

Robb went down to the gardienne's office to ask her to call a taxi. The taxi dispatcher told them it was too late, we should have called earlier. Another glaring example of how illogical Parisians can be. There are taxis all over the city just sitting, waiting for a fare, so how can it ever be too late to pick up someone? As much as I like the bus drivers, that's how much total disdain I have for the taxi drivers of Paris.

Mme Chicha's mother showed up a little after 10h00 to inspect and begin her clean-up (bed linens, towels, etc.). Evidently, she is the 'crew' who comes in and cleans up before the next renter arrives to take over the place. She is a delightful woman; cheerful, competent and talkative.

Robb had already taken the bags down to the lobby, so after we got the 'all clear' on the shape of the place, we went down. I stayed with the bags while Robb walked down to Place Léon Blum to fetch a taxi. He returned in a few minutes and we were on our way to Orly Sud. We had no trouble getting a couple of baggage carts and then we were off to find the check-in counter for L'Avion. It was, of course, at the far end of the terminal, but check-in was easy and quick. We had about half an hour to kill before boarding began.

The plane was freezing and I spent a good deal of the flight under my blanket. About an hour before we landed in Newark, it warmed up enough for me to feel comfortable.

We were shocked in Newark when we went down to get our bags. Evidently, American airports now charge $3.00 per cart for baggage carts. The very same carts we used for free in France. On the plus side, we didn't have to haul the bags to the Continental ticket counter. We simply pushed the carts to a drop-off area where they tagged them for the next flight and sent them to the proper airline baggage area. We had almost four hours to kill between planes.

The Continental flight to Fort Lauderdale went rather quickly because I managed to sleep most of the way down, even though feeling like I was stuffed into the tiny coach seat after the roomy, comfortable seats on L'Avion.

When Robb went to pick up our bags in Fort Lauderdale, two of them were damaged. The handle was falling off his smaller bag and somehow they had broken the wheels off his large bag. I know they don't handle the bags gently when loading and unloading the planes, but that seemed a bit unreasonable to me. We found a baggage handler who loaded them onto his cart and took them out to the taxi stand.

We were home a little after 01h00, sad to be back in the US, but glad the travel ordeal was behind us.

1 Août (Vendredi) - It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. This, our longest ever stay in Paris, was a very mixed bag. We learned a lot that we previously had not known, and in a way, wish we still didn't know. Paris is not the paradise we had thought. We would still prefer to live there (or some place in France, maybe Toulouse), but we no longer have the blinders on our eyes.

That's especially true if you have any kind of handicap that prevents you from climbing steps or walking long distances. Paris is not handicapped friendly.

We met some really nice people and we had some nice adventures. We saw some places to which we had never ventured before, and were glad we had the chance to see them. We had always avoided La Défense on previous trips, but it was much better than we had expected. Riding buses as much as we did this time, was a new and interesting experience, though not using the métro as often really cut into our ability to get around. I regret that we never tried using the Noctilien, the after hours bus system.

Before we left for Paris, I was anticipating a more interactive experience due to knowing several bloggers. It didn't turn out to be as interactive as I had hoped. They were friendly enough when we contacted them, or joined them for their outings, but it was less than I had hoped. I mean, I know they have their own lives and friends and such, but I kind of thought at least one or two would call (they all had our number) and suggest a get together for a drink or something. No one did that. It was disappointing on a major scale. I suppose we were spoiled by our friends in Toulouse, who went out of their way to invite us for drinks and dinners.

9 Août (Samedi) - We went to our favorite French restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Sage. Again, we were shocked at the noise level and the place wasn't even crowded. Our favorite waitress, Edith from Limoges, France was on vacation in France. We had a waiter named Pablo, from Equador, who practically hovered over us during the entire meal, which wasn't that good. In fact, we noticed that most of the staff we saw were people we hadn't seen before. We wondered if maybe the place had been sold, but Pablo assured us it was under the same owner, but with a new manager.

We were drinking our café, when Pablo informed us that an armed robbery was taking place just down the street. I turned and looked out the window, and sure enough, the parking lot was crawling with police cars with lights flashing. Naturally, some of us had to go ourside for a better look. According to the people who were already out there, the supermarket down the block was being held up and the gunmen had hostages. The police told us to get inside because they were expecting gunfire.

The restaurant manager handled it quite nicely by offering everyone free drinks (wine or coffee, since they only have a beer-wine license).

After a half hour, everyone was getting a bit anxious to get out and get on with whatever they had planned, but the police weren't letting anyone leave.

Finally, about an hour later, it appeared the police had gotten inside the store and they were relaxing their vigil. Robb suggested we try to leave, so we got into our car and drove to the exit. I stopped and asked the policeman there, if we could leave and he told us to go south because they still had the northern section of the street blocked off.

We haven't seen or heard anything about what actually occured or how it turned out.

11 Août (Lundi) - I won't be posting any further entries here until we travel again, possibly Atlanta, Georgia in September. We're thinking we might move there and we want to check it out. Geoff has a friend who lives there, and has for several years. Maybe we can pick his brain.

If you're masochistic enough to want to read about our dull lives any further, just click on "Whatever" on the top right of this page.

À bientôt, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 29-30 Juillet

Samedi - It appears I am going to finish this trip the same as I started - sick.

Mercredi - This will be the last entry from Paris. By this time tomorrow, we will midway across the Big Pond on our way to exotic Newark, New Jersey.

Today for the first time since last Friday, I left the apartment for a couple of hours. In hindsight, I'm not certain how smart that was of me, but it's done now. I don't feel my best, but I've been worse.

We walked down to rue de la Roquette and caught the 61 bus, ostensibly to ride up to Place Gambetta because the other day I thought I saw an area from where one could view the entire city below. I must have a really, really good imagination, because there was no such place where I thought I had seen it. So we stayed on the bus. We were going to ride to the end of the line again, but we got to a stop where you could see a good bit of the city below you. We were in a totally new part of the city to us. I'm not really sure where we were, but if anyone who lives here reads this, the bus stop was Jean Jaurès in the XXé.

We caught the next bus back to our area where we stopped at La Grande Roquette for a café.

Speaking of buses, I think it would only be fair to say some nice words about the bus drivers in Paris. I told you about the one bad experience when the guy lied to me. That was kind of equalled out by the story of the driver who let us off between stops. But that doesn't tell the overall story. Time and time again, I have seen drivers wait for someone who was at least a half block away running to catch it. I have seen drivers open the door and let someone in who came and knocked on the door while the bus was stopped at a light. So, let it be known that the bus drivers in Paris are another much maligned group who in no way deserve a bad reputation.

A few moments ago, Geoff called to inform me that my car had been towed because the local police who are never around when they're needed, drove through and noticed my tag had expired. I'm sure I re-newed the tag, but I don't think I put it on yet because my insurance expired while I was here and I couldn't see paying for three months of insurance that would be useless. Oh well, time enough to sort that out when we get back.

We are, hopefully, going to have our last dinner in Paris at l'Angella in a few hours. We made it to the restaurant, but after eating very little, I had to leave and go back to the apartment. I was getting sicker by the minute and felt if I had stayed any longer, what little I did eat would have ended up on the table. What a perfect ending for this trip.

À bientôt, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 25 Juillet

Vendredi - Went out and re-took some pictures that didn't turn out too well the first time, after which we went to L'Oisive Thé for a light snack.

During our trip to the teahouse, an interesting phenomena occured. When we first got on the bus, a couple also got on. When we got to our stop, they were somehow already there waiting for the next bus. Now, I know they did not get off the bus before us, and, because of their age and walking difficulties, they could not have gotten off at the previous stop and walked there before the bus got there. So my question is; how did they do that? That's at least the second time that has happened since we've been here. I find it really strange.

By the time we got to the teahouse, I was feeling even more tired than usual and I feared I was on the verge of some sort of illness, which later in the evening, proved to be the case. I have come down with something but I'm not sure what it might be. Just another of the joys of using public transportation.

Now, I don't want to leave the impression that I'm against public transportation. Quite the opposite. I love using buses and métros simply because you get to experience the people as well as the city. But you do have to realize that there will be times when you will contract some sort of illness. It's unavoidable.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 24 Juillet

Jeudi - We decided to go back and view the Musée Guimet today. We had no sooner boarded the 63 bus, than a troop of twelve to fifteen children were brought on by their day care supervisors. I had no problem with the kids, but one of the supervisors, who was seated directly behind me, would not shut up. It was bad enough that she keep her mouth moving the entire time until we got off a stop or two ahead of them, but she was extremely loud.

We walked up to Musée Guimet only to find a long line waiting to get in. We decided to take a walk around the area. In the distance, a few blocks, I saw an interesting building tower and thought we could have a look, but we never got there. Robb was feeling hungry and we came across a nice bistrot just across the street from the Musée Galliéra, I'm not certain but this appears to be the main entrance. At bistrot Galliéra, we sat on the café terrasse. I had fish-on-a-stick and Robb had salmon. Never heard of fish-on-a-stick you say? Well, actually, it was a brochette de Perche. A brochette is usually beef, pork or veal on a skewer with peppers and onions, but at this place they used perch. It was very tasty. Just across the street is a tiny litle "park" with a statue of Rochambeau.

After our delightful repast, we walked back to the Musée Guimet, but the line was still rather long. I was beginning to think we would either have to come back another day or just forget it. Then I noticed a sign pointing up the street indicating the existence of the Centre Culturel Allemand (the German Cultural Center), so we traipsed up there. There wasn't really much of interest. They had about a dozen posters for movies/sports and that was it. We checked them out and went back to the Guimet (be sure to check out the visite virtuelle). If you click on "le version plein ecran" under the words "Michel Urtado" you can see the virtual visit in full screen mode. The line had dwindled considerably, so we joined at the rear and found that the cause of the long lines was a security checkpoint just inside the door.

I don't know if you can get a feeling for the size of the place from my exterior picture, but it is huge. There are five floors and it covers most everything one would consider Asiatique: India, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, etc. By now, I was pretty tired, so we only wandered around the main floor, but even that was quite large, with room after room of mostly statuary.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 23 Juillet

23 Juillet (Mercredi) - We got a late start, leaving the apartment after 16h00, which considering how I was feeling, was a major accomplishment in itself. I really didn't feel like going out at all, but the days dwindle down, etc, etc.

We picked up the 63 bus and rode over to the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d'Art Moderne, which are actually two separate buildings behind the same façade with a café terrasse in the center. Until the other day, when we rode the 63 to the end of the line, I didn't even know they were there. I mean, I had heard of them, but I didn't know where they were. I had been under the impression that the Palais de Tokyo was on the Left Bank near la Tour Eiffel, but now realise that is the Maison de la Culture du Japon a Paris, an interesting place in its own right.

Speaking of La Tour Eiffel, this is the view we got after leaving the bus.

We entered the Musée d'Art Moderne first, only to be told they would be closing in five minutes. I saw people entering the Palais de Tokyo and none were coming right back out, so we went over and found that it is open until midnight. We bought our Tarif Réduit (reduced price ticket) and started our tour. Remember our impression of the Pompidou's permanent collection? Well, ditto for the Palais de Tokyo. One exhibit was a room painted white with a small white box in the center of the floor. Another was a huge mound of garbage, literally. There was one exhibit which, though stupid, was interesting. It was a machine that loaded bottles into a barrel and blasted them against the wall at the far end of the room every fifteen minutes or so. There was quite a build-up of broken glass and I wondered how often they cleaned it and what they did with the glass. Maybe that's where they got the garbage for the other room. My favorite exhibit was a room full of Darth Vader masks on rods. They were all wired to a machine that produced a strange kind of music. It could have been really something if they had used the entire outfit so that it looked like there was a room full of Darth Vaders, but that's just my opinion.

We left there and discovered, just across the street, a beautiful building we had seen during our bus rides, but didn't have a clue about what it was. It is the Musée Galliéra. The sign indicated that the next scheduled exhibition would be in November, so we didn't go in. Beside, we weren't sure it was open because we only saw one person on the grounds and she appeared to be just walking through.

We walked up the street to Place d'Iéna where we discovered a statue of George Washington. On the other side of the Place was another museum about which we knew nothing, the Guimet, musée Asiatique. It looks very interesting so I hope we can go back and investigate a bit further before we have to leave.

We had dinner at l'Artiste Café. We both had the Salade Parisien. Ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots on a bed of greens and topped with a poached egg. Super delicious, but again, more than I could finish.

I saw these two headlines on an internet news site: Obama urges Germans to work with US to stop terror. McCain visits German restaurant in Ohio. I find that hilarious!

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 22 Juillet

Mardi - What a fantastic day we had. Robb may not agree, but I thought it was great! First, we boarded the 69 and rode to the end of the line, Place Gambetta, where we got off and re-boarded one of the buses sitting there while its driver took his break. There were three buses sitting there, which explains why it takes so long for one to show up when you're waiting at the bus stop by our apartment. So, we did finally get on and rode to l'Hôtel de Ville.

We started with a short excursion through the BHV plumbing section, where we noticed that those prices too, have risen significantly. We left and walked over to the quai de Seine, where we got a look at Paris Plage. Neither of us wanted to go down and mingle with the tourists, but it was interesting to see the real thing from the safety of the quai between the bouquinistes. If you're interested, most of the people on the lounges and in the tents, are Parisians who get there before sunrise to secure a place on the sand.

Afterward, we rode down to Avenue d'Italie. While we were waiting for the light to cross the street, a young black girl came over and asked if I knew the location of Avenue de Choisy. She was with a large group, of whom only one was an adult male. I pointed it out to her, but they went the wrong way anyway. If we hadn't been right behind them and saw they were starting in the wrong direction, they probably would never have found it. After sending them in the correct direction, we walked down Avenue d'Italie to rue de Tolbiac, then down to Avenue de Choisy and the Village de Chinois (Chinatown). That was kind of disappointing. There seemed to be more Anglos and blacks, than Chinois. But we walked all the way to Porte d'Ivry by way of Avenue de Choisy. We did stop at a McDonald's and got a milkshake from the walk-up window. Then we walked down to Porte d'Ivry where got the new Tramway Ligne 3, on the way getting the opportunity to see the Petite Ceinture that used to circle the city. We rode to the end of the line and then got back on and rode to the end of the line in the other direction. Once there, we got on and rode back to Porte d'Italie where we planned to get the bus.

Unfortunately, there was a guy there who was so drunk, and smelled of piss so bad, that no one could stand him. Seriously, you couldn't get within ten feet of this guy. We all waited to see if he got on our bus. When he didn't, we got on. But then, son of a gun, he got on by way of the rear door. He no sooner got on, then the rest of us got off; and I do mean almost everyone else on the bus.....he stunk that badly. Luckily for us, the driver came back and escorted him off the bus. We all got back on.

After getting back to the apartment, we decided to go to le Bouchon de la Roquette, a nice little place that we have come to like, that is only five or six blocks from us. But tonight was exceptional. I hope I can explain this to sufficiently describe the comraderie we experienced. We have been there two or three times previously. Tonight, it was as though they have known us forever. You know, like you would greet and treat friends. The waiter did that tonight when I was laughing at Robb taking so long to order. That's just a tiny example, it gets a lot better. A guy and his wife/girlfriend came in. It was his birthday. The owner asked everyone what they would like to drink to celebrate the guy's birthday (his name was Mark). Everyone else chose l'Armagnac, Robb chose Calvados for us. I'm not explaining this as accurately as it happened (I can barely type. I'm so full of alcohol). Previously to this, the owner was going from table to table, joking with everybody and making everyone feel like they were family and in a family atmosphere. It was just so fantastically friendly. Some time during all his table-hopping, he had asked if we were American. I said yes, but Robb said he was Allemand (German), to which the owner replied, "We can't all be perfect." Everyone was laughing, because we realized it was just a comment and not a serious accusation. At any rate, we all got our drinks and toasted the birthday boy (he was thirty). Later, as we were leaving, the owner stopped us and told us how much he enjoyed our visit. I'm sure this doesn't convey the real feeling of the night, but it's the best I can do, under the circumstances. Suffice it to say, it was one of the best nights we've had since we've been here.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 19-20 Juillet

19 Juillet (Samedi) - Another new adventure for us today. We bused over to Place de la République, walked up rue du Faubourg du Temple to the Canal Saint-Martin. I've been reading how it has become the latest "in" area of Paris with trendy bistros and restaurants where all the hip people like to be seen. I was kind of disappointed, although it looks kind of cool in this video.. We walked quite a way along the canal, where we did get to see a tour boat that had to wait at each lock before it could advance in its journey. We passed a few restaurants, but certainly nothing that looked the least bit trendy. Even Hôtel du Nord didn't look all that famous. It is, you know. It was the title and the feature of a romantic movie made in 1938. It has since become a pretty well-known comedy club.

During our walk, we saw this colorful, rather artistic sign for summer festivals throughout the city. Now, if summer would only arrive. I can't believe we have to wear jackets and scarves with only a few days left in July.

We walked as far as Place du Colonel Fabien, where we got the 46 bus to Nation. We then boarded the 57 and rode to Italie2. It is the last day of the soldes and Robb was hoping to find something he liked on sale.

As we were walking through the mall, he became aware that the gold chain he had bought during our first Parisian vacation, had broken. He luckily, found his ankh and his Aries pendant inside his shirt, but the chain itself was gone. We found a jewelry store and he bought a new chain. Then, for some reason, he was feeling dizzy, so we stopped at the Brioche Dorée for a sandwich and a café. When he was feeling a bit better, we bused back to the apartment.

Dinner at L'Angella.

20 Juillet (Dimanche) - Today we made good on our resolve to visit the Petit Palais. It was a much better experience than the Grand Palais, and it is free. You do need to go to the reception desk to get a ticket, but there is no cost for it. Another example of French logic. Both the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais were built for the Universal Exhibition in 1900. If you decide to visit, be forewarned that there is a lot to see and several floors on which to see it. Although most of the art and artifacts are clearly labled, some are not, this was at the bottom of the staircase going downstairs (according to Wikimedia, it is Ugolino by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux) and Sur les Ailes de la Victoire greets you when you first enter the building. Robb stated, and I agree, the building itself is worth the visit without all the fantastic art and artifacts. Even the garden in the center is worth a visit. There are some nice views from the garden. If your visit wears you out, there is a nice, though expensive, snack shop just off the garden.

There are some interesting things to see outside, also. I'm not sure if this was part of the grounds or something entirely separate. This, of course, is on the top of the Grand Palais. Another surprise, was this vintage Citroën driving past on the street in front of the palais.

After, we walked across the Pont Alexander III and boarded the 63 bus. The 63 is one of the best for seeing some of the sites of Paris on both sides of the Seine, and you'll remember, it was the one I thought we were getting on when we were returning from the Grand Palais. We rode it to the end of the line, stayed on and rode it back to Le Jardin des Plantes, where we got the 61 home.

Dinner at Au Cadran Voltaire.

Plus à venir, mes amis.