More Paris

We have a lot of stuff from Paris since we were there for a week, so we'll probably just put up things occasionally as we get the chance.

Our first day we decided to walk around and get the lay of the land. We walked down Rivoli to Notre Dame. This is us at point zero.



I know you're shocked. I'm actually wearing shoes.

We walked behind the cathedral. The park was filled with flowers and had a little playground with a spinning disk Ali almost forced a child off of. She had to settle for this picture to commemorate the experience instead.



The next day we took advantage of Paris's awesome Velib bike system. For those that don't know about it, Paris has set up an extensive system of bikes throughout the city. For 1 euro a day or 5 euro a week (and cheaper for Paris residents), you can take a bike at any of the Velib stations and ride free for 30 minutes before dropping it off at another Velib station. At that point you have presumably reached your destination or you can grab another bike at a close by station and head off again. It's a great way to see the city, although I was slightly unnerved by riding in the bus/taxi lane with cars passing within inches of us. But all the Parisians seemed to be doing it and I wanted to fit in.

We planned to ride from our place in Le Marais down to the Champs-Elysee. We knew it would take more than 30 minutes so we planned on switching bikes midway through. Unfortunately, we didn't have a Velib map so we had trouble finding a station to drop the bikes off. They are usually just off some of the main roads and hard to see while biking. Even when you find one, there is a good chance it will be full in which case you have to go around the corner to find another one. Fortunately, each Velib station provides a map of the nearby stations, tells you how many open spots there are for bike drop off, and gives you an extra 15 minutes to find the station. Eventually we found one and peddled up the Champs-Elysee, but again had trouble finding a station and probably had it out longer than the 30 minutes. It had gotten hot and we were thirsty.



Fortunately the view was good.

We headed up to the Arc De Triomphe and continued our conquest of the highest buildings in Europe by taking the stairs to the top. This was probably one of the tougher climbs, but we're getting really good at it now. And the view from the top was great. You can see in every direction: towards the Eiffel Tower;



down the street to the new grand Arch, the Arch de la Defense



to Sacre Couer in the distance (which we unfortunately didn't get to this trip).



and straight up the Champs-Elysee to the Tuillerie Gardens and the Louvre.

After leaving the Arc, we walked straight up the Champs-Elysee past stores with items I can't afford and wouldn't buy even if I could and into a Nespresso store that took up 2 levels and had an employee to customer ration of approximately 3:1. The Sephora was similarly daunting. The stores were certainly interesting, although apparently a shadow of what they once were. Similarly, the cafes have a lot of history, but now charge up to 6 Euro for a shot of espresso.

We arrived at Place de la Concorde. Here I am doing I do not know what with the arc in the background.



Directly behind the gate in front of me is an obelisk which was transported from Egypt in the 1830s. It is also where over 1,000 people were beheaded by the guillotine.

Finally we walked up through the Tuillerie Gardens and by the Louvre...



finishing with a stroll along the Seine where we saw a lady walking her cat on a leash.



It's blurry, but let me assure the cat did not seem pleased.

It was a very busy and long day. It was also very warm which wore us out. It also spoiled us for the rest of the week which god cold enough that even I felt it.

We finished the night with some steak and moulles frites. It was a good first day in Paris, but reminded me how big it is and how much there is to see.

Avignon (September 27-28)

On the way up to Paris from Nice we decided to make a stop in Avignon. As far as we can tell, Avignon is famous for two things: 1) almost being the official home of the (Roman) Catholic Church and 2) having a destroyed bridge that is also the inspiration for a children's song. It turns out one day more or less was a good amount to see both of those things.

After we arrived and got situated we went to the former Palace of the Popes. In the early 14th century, the newly elected pope moved the Papal Residence to Avignon rather than stay amidst the violence in Rome. A number of successive popes decided to stay in Avignon despite constant wooing by Rome. Eventually, the residence was moved back to Rome. However, these events also led to the Papal Schism during which time three men all claimed to be pope. It also led to the creation of the word "antipope," which is pretty awesome.

As for the palace itself, it's big and interesting, but largely empty. It was hard to get a sense of what it was actually like because there wasn't much left of the time it was actually used (which makes sense given it was 600+ years ago). The tower has a very good view of the city and river and you can see why the popes found it an attractive location. You can see the castle in the background of this picture.



Next we went to see the famous Pont D'Avignon. It is famous because it is half a bridge and because a song was written about it. It was not famous to either one of us though as we had never heard of it before we went.



It was inspired by Saint Benezet who was divinely chosen and proved so by lifting a heavy rock (or something). The bridge used to be a full bridge. Then it was not. Then it was again. Then it was not. This repeated a number of times until they finally gave up.

It became additionally famous by this song and frollicky dancing:


Now that will be in your head for at least a week even though you have no idea what the second line is.

We were there on a Sunday night so unfortunately most of the restaurants I had heard about were closed. We ended up in a cute little plaza at a place that served tartines and charcuterie plates.

The following morning we walked along the river and took funny pictures.



We didn't get a chance to do the tourist train that we had heard about. One it was a little pricey for what it was. And two, I decided it went slow enough that we could just walk alongside it and listen to the audio recording if we were really interested. Nevertheless, it's a very cute little train.



Avignon was a very nice little stop over. I found the town to have a very pleasant vibe and would be happy to go back, especially as a base to see other cities in the region. I would avoid Sunday nights however.

Nice, France (September 25-27)

Our first stop in France was in Nice. It was nice. We enjoyed moules frites for the first time in the trip, discovered the wonders that are French sandwiches (Salami, butter, and cornichons on a half baguette? Why, Yes, please that sounds wonderful! And it is.), wandered around the big food and flower market, sampled Socca, and also took advantage of the large number of cheap, delicious Asian buffets in Nice. After a month straight of Italian food, we were ready for a change.

Most of all we spent our time relaxing on the beach with roughly 17 Euro worth of English reading material (1 Economist, 1 New Yorker, and a Soduku book) and playing with the camera.

We watched the sun set


had a bottle of wine and got all romantical


Played with the timer on the camera



The rocky beach made things interesting. It was hard, and tough to walk on, but they made a really cool sound when the waves splashed ashore and drew back there was a sound just like when you pour milk on rice krispies!


Every time we sat down we caught ourselves saying "Oof!" which in French sounds like . . . "Egg!" so this was our "Oeuf" rock.


We took about 40 pictures of us hanging out at the beach and had a great time. It was nice to get in some relaxation in the sun before heading to Paris for all the serious sight-seeing. Also, just as an aside, Nice should change their name to something else for the purpose of internet searching. Try looking up "Nice Restaurants" or "Nice Hotels" on Google. Sheesh.

Full Moon In Paris

Full moon and the Eiffel Tower from Trocadero


Full moon and the Pyramid at the Louvre


Something from a Dan Brown novel? If you line up the moon with the top of the pyramid . . . a massive super secretive secret will be revealed . . . the moon lines up with the pyramid.

Paris, France - September 29- October 5 (Top 5)

Paris was AMAZING. There will be more posts to come. Nom food. Lots of mussels and steak. and Falafel. All kinds of good stuff. So these are my top 5 things that we have pictures of and aren't going to be featured in future posts (aka us playing in Paris in no particular order):
1:
Being silly along the Seine. It was great for Crepe and Cider picnics followed by Sorbet even though it was cold most days, as well as general beauty and seagull watching.

2.
Floating "petit bateaus" at Luxembourg Garden. We kicked those kids' asses.

3.
Self portraiting at the Louvre. Not only photography skills being displayed here, friends, but also smiling through the wintery cold.
4.
Fantastic (Extremely heavy and un-stealable) relaxation chairs in the Jardin des Tuileries. No straight backed chairs for these people. They know how to enjoy an afternoon in the park.
5.
Versailles Sheep. Kev had never met a sheep before. Blackface there was the leader. In about 4 minutes there was a large flock of sheep surrounding. If you walk up to a field of sheep and go "BAhhhhhhh" "Baaaaahhhhh" the sheep think you are going to pet/feed them and all come over to the edge. Then they become very bitter that there is no ham sandwich shared with them. Who knew sheep enjoyed ham sandwich? I guess as long as it's not a lamb sandwich what do they care. Also, why are there so many sheep at Versailles?

Ciao Italia

After Rome and one night in Genoa, we are out of Italy and in Nice. We were in Italy for exactly one month (August 25th-September 25th) although it wasn't really by design. Now we have a couple of nights in Nice, one night in Avignon, and 7 nights in Paris. Any recommendations for any of the above places are welcome.

After finally getting pretty comfortable with communicating in Italian, I'm sure it will be a little frustrating to have to deal with a new language (and new menus and food items). My first purchase in France was a bottle of water specifically designed for women. The logo on the bottle just didn't give it away enough.

We'll get through the remaining Italy posts shortly.