PARIS, France
So the first of these unusual escapades was to visit the cemetery where Jim Morrison is interred. The short ride on the subway was amusing because just when we thought no more people could fit on, a 4 piece band jumped on (consisting of Trombone, piano accordion, guitar and saxophone WITH an AMPLIFIER if you please !!). They merrily started playing Makarina type dance music and afterwards touted for money for their efforts.
The journey to the cemetery meant changing trains at Gare Du Nord then take a short walk down the street to La Chappelle Metro station. A walk through the Little India of Paris actually. Well we thought the walk would be short – turns out the station was closed due to renovations. This meant walking another 500 mtrs to catch the connector to Phillipe August. Checking our map for the umpteenth time we were on the right path. There they were - the Cemetary Gates – CLOSED !!!
When we finally found the site tucked away amongst huge monoliths, we were quite taken back that the gravesite wasn't as ornate compared to others surrounding it. But his was the only one there that had fresh flowers on his grave.
What you can’t see in the photo is Tony foot tapping and bopping his head to the music. I was waiting for him to break out in song (which is always out of tune – so very grateful he didn’t). I would have threatened him with another climb up the Eiffel Tower if he had.
The party begins. Til then......
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| Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Paris |
On a 747 from JFK International Airport to Paris the flying time would take around 8 ½ hours via Frankfurt where we would disembark, check in through immigration and then continue on to Paris on a much smaller plane.
In fact, by the time you count the time getting to the airport, allowing for luggage check-in, security controls, immigration and just generally sitting around waiting - add at least another 3-4 hours wasted, minimum. Once we arrived at Frankfurt we had to then catch a shuttle bus from one terminal to another and we couldn’t believe how large the terminal was because it took about 10 minutes to get there. Having said that, it was nothing compared to Charles De Gaulle later, and thankfully our exit out of there was seamless. The reason for this is with most of Europe being part of the EU, our entry point was Frankfurt, Germany where all checks had been carried out.
With our plans to stay at Nanterre-Ville in NW of Paris city, we’d worked out we’d have to catch an RER train then transfer over to the M (for Metro) line, change at a station called Chatelet Les Halle and make our way to another platform for the St. Germain-en-Laye line. But first we had to get out of Charles De Galle. We just followed the crowd out of the airport and fluked it. TJ found the ticket office and somehow managed to work out the ticket situation. All was good. That was until we got to Chatelet Les Halle – it has about 10 different exits to about 10 different train services, which branch out into about 12 directions for the 1, 2, 3, 4 etc, etc A, B, C1, D2, T7, and just about every other letter in the alphabet. http://www.aparisguide.com/maps/metro.htm It was a crazy maze of underground networks. It didn’t help to have luggage either, but after working out the NYC subway system, the difficulty here would be the language.
It had been a long time since either of us had learnt French at school, and it was funny we were trying out the words on each other that we could remember. And … trying to come up with some sort of conversation – Comment allez-vous la pomme de terre peu de la Seine …“How are you little potato of the Seine River” – just doesn’t sound right! There were a couple of occasions where I heard myself say a few little words in Spanish, but I must be excused. (1) we’d travelling through mainly Spanish speaking countries up to this point and; (2) after navigating our way on the Paris train network we were that worked up, we had to find the closest bar and have a couple of very nice French Rosẻs to settle ourselves. Finding that little bar was also a discovery of little cafes, bakery with the most divine pastries, and where we stayed was just a 5 minute walk to the station. We also saw a row of cars which turned out to be a Pariseinne car hire scheme, much like the bike hire in Brisbane. A Park and Go system. There was a good reason why we didn't get International Drivers Licences for this reason - I would have driven off with the car still attached to the post.
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| Paris Car Hire Scheme |
Our window overlooked an open area which looked much like a car park, but what we didn’t realise was that every Wednesday and Saturday the car park transforms into open market that sells just about everything you could imagine. We’d find out everything is about half the price of that in Paris itself.
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| Vacant Lot in Nanterre |
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| Transformed Lot in Nanterre-Ville |
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| Eiffel Tower |
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| Tony happily enjoying the views from the Eiffel Tower. |
Nanterre was not what either of us expected, nor was Paris. For example, the French don’t wear striped T-shirts or berets any more. The different cultures which now inhabit France, and indeed Europe, has given the country a blend of different nationalities and that little market in Nanterre exposed us to some of this. We could have been in Algiers, Italy, Russia, Romania or Costa Rica. It was exciting! And so would be our first big experience in Paris – climbing the Eiffel Tower.
We’d read in Rick Steve's travel guide that one of the local buses (the No. 69), goes past most of the famous attractions and sites for the cost of a Zone 3 fare ie. $1.50 for a day ticket – and you can hop on, hop off as often as you like until the buses stop that night. Our first stop we aimed for was Champs de Mars, the one for the Eiffel Tower. We’d hoped to get to the top, but it wasn’t until we got there that, to Tony’s relief, only one lift was working to the highest point, and the queue waiting time was around 2 hours. So we decided for the quickest option – climb the stairs to the second level. Again, I have photos of Tony to prove he achieved another milestone in our travels.
The view was great, a little hazy and nice to see that inner Paris has been left relatively undeveloped and the old buildings retained. In the distance we could see the outer localities with towering high-rises and heaps of surrounding ‘green’ space.
A visit to Paris is NOT a visit unless you go to see the Le Louvre, Champs de Elysse, Arce De Triomple and Notre Dame (we did see those). But as is our usual style we like to do things spontaneously, ie. discover places off the beaten track and have some fun at the same time.
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| Le Louvre |
So the first of these unusual escapades was to visit the cemetery where Jim Morrison is interred. The short ride on the subway was amusing because just when we thought no more people could fit on, a 4 piece band jumped on (consisting of Trombone, piano accordion, guitar and saxophone WITH an AMPLIFIER if you please !!). They merrily started playing Makarina type dance music and afterwards touted for money for their efforts.
BUT be WARNED: These people distract travellers with their music and dancing. If anyone gives them money, their 'scouts' look to see where the traveller/commuter puts their wallet, purse etc. Then when leaving the train, these people, ie. the band and their scouts will pickpocket people shuffling in the crowd.
Paris, especially the tourist attractions, is notorious for pick-pockets and thieves. We witnessed another example - a gang of youths riding the escalators in the crowded subway. The group had separated into two (2). One group riding on the 'up' the escalator, the other waiting at the bottom of the 'down' escalator. When the first group were half way up - the group at the bottom HIT THE RED EMERGENCY Button. When the commuters were looking around to see why the escalator had stopped, these conniving young theives were running up the escalator 'pick-pocketing' then running DOWN the 'down escalator, and running away with people's belongings. These youngsters would have been no more than 15 years old, some younger probably about 10. Just shameful! From recent reports the police were increasing their under-cover patrols to fight off this problem. Another note: in most tourist attractions signs have been erected advising the public to beware of theft and pick-pockets. Here is a useful site with some other good advice on How to Not get Robbed in Paris, worth reading. http://www.thelocal.fr/00000000/how-to-avoid-getting-robbed-on-the-paris-metro/&template_version=light
The journey to the cemetery meant changing trains at Gare Du Nord then take a short walk down the street to La Chappelle Metro station. A walk through the Little India of Paris actually. Well we thought the walk would be short – turns out the station was closed due to renovations. This meant walking another 500 mtrs to catch the connector to Phillipe August. Checking our map for the umpteenth time we were on the right path. There they were - the Cemetary Gates – CLOSED !!!
There were other people trying to get in and after asking some broken English /French questions we found out a funeral service was in progress and also because a huge storm was heading in the same direction. Inside the cemetery grounds are very old large mossy trees and because of their age many fall over in high winds/storms. Guess they didn’t want any more accidental ‘bodies’ that day. Was this a messge from Jim Morrison? So to our disappointment we didn’t get to see Jim’s gravesite that day but we did the next by findng another line bypassing La Chappelle station. But we couldn't bypass the crowded subway.
When we finally found the site tucked away amongst huge monoliths, we were quite taken back that the gravesite wasn't as ornate compared to others surrounding it. But his was the only one there that had fresh flowers on his grave.
Another activity we decided to do was take a boat cruise along the Saint-Martin Canal which flows into the Seine. The reason this canal boat ride is different is because it starts 27mtrs above the water level of the Seine and progresses through 9 different locks which descend at intervals of 3 metres each time. That might not sound very exciting but the canal also runs underneath Paris, through a series of tunnels and the only light in those tunnels comes from vents from street level above the boat.
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| Saint-Martin Canal |
Hearing the history about the canal and what it was used for back in the day was really interesting.
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| Port du Pantin Open space |
On one of our many walking treks we visited the area around Port du Pantin where we discovered a creative arts centre, sort of a master planned modern district of theatres, libraries, music halls and open areas of parks, play grounds, sculptures and water features. Here we found a Music Library which was, at that very time, featuring 3 x Bob Dylan movies (gratis). Tony being big fan of music from that heyday was eager to watch at least one. Here is a photo of him watching some of his favourite musicians in action in “A Tribute to Bob Dylan”, filmed 30 years ago, with Neil Young, The Band, George Harrison, Eric Clapton.
What you can’t see in the photo is Tony foot tapping and bopping his head to the music. I was waiting for him to break out in song (which is always out of tune – so very grateful he didn’t). I would have threatened him with another climb up the Eiffel Tower if he had.
Now carefully have a look at the next photo of a bridge railing. You are forgiven if you couldn’t guess - they are Padlocks, thousands and thousands of them. So we were curious to find out what that was all about. People attach these “Love Locks” to two (2) main bridges in the centre of Paris – I guess Paris is supposed to be the city of “LOVE”, and this symbolises that.
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| Love Locks |
We thought about attaching a couple of padlocks to the bridges ourselves, but so far our recent experiences with padlocks have been a couple of mishaps with the padlocks on our luggage ie. lost keys on 2 occasions and had to (1.) Angle grind a padlock off and; (2.) Use a Hammer and Wire Cutters to force another padlock open. So we weren’t exactly in the market for “Love Locks” but if there was a bridge with “Spare Keys” we would love to hear about it. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2012/04/the-love-locks-of-paris-pont-des-arts/
Another story about these padlocks, that we think is based on a bit of bull, is that – as the story goes – there were so many locks placed on the rails of a bridge that the bridge collapsed. Don’t think that one is true, but has a Wow factor anyway.
One night (a Saturday night) we ventured into Paris to see the Eiffel Tower with its beautiful flickering lights. I’ve watched it at 2 o’clock in the morning on the SBS Weather reports after all the shows have finished. You know -when you’ve woken up at some ridiculous hour, TV still going and nothing exciting on. So you sit there checking out what the weather is like in Armenia or Dubai. and other places around the world until you realise they are re-runs from weeks ago!
Anyway, we ventured in to catch the No, 69 bus (stop laughing – it is a real Paris bus No.) and when we got to our destination found that the last direct train service back to Nanterre-Ville finished at 9.30pm. 9.30pm. It was only 10.pm. How ridiculous. This is a city that is supposed to be so cosmopolitan, so open, and so closed at 9.30pm. And on a Saturday night. You could see the panic on our faces, in a strange place, strange country, but we’d found out that we would have to catch one Metro to some station (forgotten the name due to the pending panic attack) then another, then an RER train which ran until 1.00am. We didn’t get to see the Eiffel Tower in lights, but when I get home I will be able to see it between the hours of midnight and 4am for sure!! If this is the city of LOVE then I know why no-one is out on a Saturday night.
Anyway, we ventured in to catch the No, 69 bus (stop laughing – it is a real Paris bus No.) and when we got to our destination found that the last direct train service back to Nanterre-Ville finished at 9.30pm. 9.30pm. It was only 10.pm. How ridiculous. This is a city that is supposed to be so cosmopolitan, so open, and so closed at 9.30pm. And on a Saturday night. You could see the panic on our faces, in a strange place, strange country, but we’d found out that we would have to catch one Metro to some station (forgotten the name due to the pending panic attack) then another, then an RER train which ran until 1.00am. We didn’t get to see the Eiffel Tower in lights, but when I get home I will be able to see it between the hours of midnight and 4am for sure!! If this is the city of LOVE then I know why no-one is out on a Saturday night.
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| The Grand Arche |
Although the Arc de Triomphe is a very famous arch, there is another in Paris, not as well known but one we discovered on one of our mystery tours - called the Grand Arche - a modern structure in Nanterre Prefecture. This area, again another master plan, has been designated for universities, more parklands and lakes, and is the heart of government and administration in Paris, and full of SUITS !! The area is undergoing major rejuvenation and public works with pedestrian malls, open space and apartment buildings. Perhpas to house the beauracrats of the public service. The Grand Arche is the prominent feature of this area, looks spectacular and has a mall in this precinct dedicated to the Grand Master, Charles De Gaulle.
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| Esplanade Charles De Gaulle |
Our stay in Paris comes to an end and I know that Mr Wood, my Yr 9 French teacher, would be proud of me even if I did throw in a little Spanish. I was only practising for our next destination. Madrid.
Now that will be interesting because at the very time we are there Spain plays off Italy in the finals of the Euro Cup 2012.
The party begins. Til then......
Liz and Tony
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| Aussie Bar in Paris |
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