Blogging
about travel is really difficult for me; first of all, because I don’t travel a
lot, and secondly, because I have so much fun on trips that I want to tell you
about every day and every detail.
However, I’m determined to hold your attention, and therefore have
boiled 12 days down to 10 experiences, that I hope express even a small percentage
of how much fun I had during my 12 days
in France.
TOP 10 EXPERIENCES IN
FRANCE
#1
I
am not a fan of roller coasters or balconies, but every once in a while I challenge
my fear of heights. I did just that
while in France, and I’m glad I did, because riding the Ferris Wheel in Tours was one of my top 10 France
moments. My friends J, W, K, and I were
walking around, chatting and enjoying the city, when we came upon a ferris
wheel. Immediately W & K wanted to
climb on; after all, it was a great opportunity for photo taking. I was pretty hesitant, since I’m afraid of
heights, and J was really hesitant, because he hates ferris wheels, roller
coasters, and the like as well. When it
came down to it though, I had to make myself get on, and against all odds, so
did J. It was a great ride; three
rotations and a beautiful view of the beautiful city that is Tours, France.
#2
In
an effort to show us authentic French food, J took us to a local restaurant in
Tours called Les Relais D’Alsace, which I
realize from looking at the website is actually a chain. Anyway, I’m lucky because I haven’t met a
food I didn’t like, so travel is just a way to meet more foods that I
love. With that in mind, I thought I’d
ask J to just pick something on the menu for me (he speaks French, I do not),
and he was willing to do so… that’s until I saw the selection of mussels (I figured moules was likely to be it).
I love mussels, so that was that.
We enjoyed some drinks to start (I had Kir Royale) and some entrees (which in France are actually the
appetizers… which makes way more sense) – escargot and a seafood pizza sort of
thing. Unfortunately J & W didn’t
love their main dishes, but my mussels were incredible. They came in a huge pot mixed with sauce and
mushrooms, with frites on the side for dipping into the sauce. YUM!
The meal was incredible. We
finished off with espressos and a huge dessert (can’t remember what it was
called) to share. I highly recommend if
you ever see the restaurant in France.
#3
After
3 nights in Tours (Dec. 28-31), we took the train to Paris where we stayed for the next 7 nights at our friend’s
apartment. Note: if you’re so lucky to have friends in far-off places who are
willing to host you while you travel, I highly recommend it. Not only is it a way to save cash, but it’s a
great way to experience a city with a real pro, who might have friends to
introduce to you, little restaurants to take you to, etc. That being said, it’s important to be a good
house guest – stay clean, cook and wash dishes when you can, buy a little gift,
etc. I could not be more grateful to my
two wonderful hosts while in France.
But I digress… in Paris we stayed in the 5th arr. closest to Maubert-Mutualite metro stop. We arrived at the apartment on the afternoon
of New Year’s Eve, put our bags
down, and then went out for a bite to eat and also to grab some much needed
beverages for the last evening of 2011.
We spent about five hours in the apartment; relaxing, getting ready, and
throwing back a few glasses of wine. Note: wine (by Canadian standards) is
incredibly inexpensive in France… like, mind-blowingly so. Enjoy it!
After dancing, drinking, and general merriment, we finally got ourselves on the
metro to head to the Eiffel Tower. Although we celebrated midnight on the metro,
we made it to the tower shortly afterwards and caught the tail-end of the
fireworks display, which was stunning. We
wandered around the park next to the tower, taking it all in. Much like walking around NYC, wandering Paris
is absolutely magical; you’ve seen all these images, sites, etc. in books,
movies, and the like, so seeing it in person is absolutely surreal. I never went to the top of the Eiffel Tower
while in Paris, but celebrating NYE underneath it with a bottle of champagne
and my best friends? I can’t think of
anything better than that.
#4
On
January 2nd, K and I took the metro to the Louvre. It was a Monday
morning, which we read afterwards (in K’s Rick
Steves’ guide to Paris – highly recommend) is one of the busiest times to
go. The line to get into the museum was
longer than any I’d ever seen before; I think we waited an hour. That being said, we chatted and
people-watched and so the time just flew by (the view of the museum from the
line isn’t bad either; lots to look at).
K had read (Rick Steves) that it’s best to follow some kind of tour
through the museum; it’s huge, and just wandering around will tire you out
quickly, and you might get “arted out”.
We followed Rick Steves’ tour of the museum, which focused on making
sure you saw the “biggies”. When we
weren’t looking at the biggies, we just kind of sped through certain sections
to avoid burn-out. My favourite pieces
were: Venus de Milo (really cool to
see in person and such a beautiful sculpture), a statue of Athena (not far from Venus… really tall), and, of course Mona Lisa. Although there was a crowd in front of ML, I got a good view of her. She is smaller than you’d think, like many
had warned me, but it’s still something you’ve gotta see.
#5
On
the afternoon of the day we went to the Louvre, we took a historical walking
tour of Paris (care of Rick Steves). One
of the spots to see on this tour was the Left
Bank Booksellers, and, not far from there, the Shakespeare & Company
Book Store. I know it’s a bit
silly to say that one of my top 10 experiences in France was an English
bookstore, but I can’t help it. It was a
dream world; books shoved in every nook and cranny available, ladders to take
you to the highest shelves… I bought a book (When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris) and got it
stamped with the official Shakespeare & Co. stamp, and bought a totebag,
too. I highly suggest checking this spot
out in Paris if you’re a book lover.
#6
After
buying books and enjoying a break from struggling with my French, we headed to
a pub we’d seen nearby. Once again, this
is a slightly silly place to go to in France, but we couldn’t help ourselves – The
Great Canadian Pub. We enjoyed a
beer (called The Great Canadian, which our server [from Winnipeg!] confirmed
with me indeed is not served in Canada) and some nachos and wings, as well as
the atmosphere which included Montreal Canadiens’ memorabilia, among other
things. Always fun to find a piece of
home in a foreign country.
#7
On
Day 8/January 3, we went to my favourite neighbourhood in Paris – Montmartre. I knew of Montmartre from both the movie “Moulin
Rouge” and also, one of my favourite films, “Amelie”. In fact, we
watched “Amelie” the night before in prep for our day in Montmartre. We took the bus from the 5th arr.
to Montmartre and began by climbing the steps to Sacre Coeur. Before we got
to the top, we paused to enjoy the site of the carousel that we had seen in the
movie the night before. We took some
great photos from outside the Sacre Coeur, and then went into the church for
some moments of silence and the beautiful inside of the building.
After that we wandered through the Montmartre Christmas market, where we got
some mulled wine and souvenirs. Then we
walked past the artists in the square and went to the Salvador Dali exhibit, which had come highly recommended by J and I
can see why; it was so cool to see Dali’s work, and think about just how many
prolific artists spent their days in Montmartre.
After the exhibit we went searching for Café des Deux
Moulins, the restaurant where Amelie works in the film. At first I thought the two restaurants just
shared the same name, but that the film was shot at a different location… now I’m
starting to think it was the same one, just with a slightly different
interior. Either way, it was a delicious
lunch, and fun to see Audrey Tatou’s face on the menu.
After lunch we walked down the hill to the Moulin
Rouge and snapped a few pics. Then
we called it a day!
#8
On Day 9/Jan. 4th, we made ourselves get up early and take the RER (think Paris' GO train) to Versailles. I had been pretty excited to see this, after studying Versailles as part of music/art history, and knowing more about Louis XIV than I do about most kings. Like with Montmartre, we had intended to watch a movie the night before to get us in the mood - "Marie Antoinette" - but we'd never gotten around to it. Anyway, we arrived there on a rainy, grey Thursday morning, and went straight to the info kiosk/store to get some tickets to the castle, gardens, etc.
Wasn't it just our luck that the gardens were closed that day because of the rain and wind? Well, we got our tickets to the castle anyway, and headed there to take the tour. Audioguides are free at Versailles, which is not the case at most museums, so we excitedly got one each. I highly suggest getting the audioguides when you can, as they're fun and really get you into the mood of being there. We toured the rooms and listened to the history as we went. It was really amazing. The castle is absolutely gorgeous and ornate and... royal!!! My favourite room was the queen's bedroom.
The sky began to clear up and the rain ceased, but the gardens still didn't seem to be open. We decided to get some lunch and then try the info place again to see if we could get tickets. After such a decadent tour, we felt we needed a decadent lunch...
After some French-style Big Macs (just the same), we headed back to the info place to no avail - they still weren't opening the gardens. Super disappointing, but we were happy to have seen the castle and a teeny bit of the cute town of Versailles. We headed home to relax and decided to watch "Marie Antoinette" at that point. My friends hadn't given it great reviews but I actually really liked it. I liked it even more after having seen the castle that morning, and the queen's bedroom was made even cooler by the film.
We even ate some special macarons in Marie Antoinette's honour (macarons from La Duree).
#9
When speaking with a friend while in Paris, she told me that I had to try raclette. I wouldn't call myself a foodie, per se, but I'd call myself an eater, so of course I was willing to try it. Our lovely host in Paris just so happened to know of a place close to her apartment, so off we went to L'Assiette aux Fromages.
My friend informed me that raclette is traditionally a sort of post-skiing dinner, and the restaurant totally reflected that, as it looked like a ski lodge/chalet.
For a reasonable 30 euros, we completely stuffed ourselves. We had two fondue pots (one oil, one cheese), two raclette plates, and I believe it was called a tartiflette - almost like a quiche. Mmmmm. Raclette involves putting meats and potatoes on your plate, melting cheese on a little skillet (right at your table), and pouring the melted cheese over the meat and potatoes. I love interactive meals (like lobster!), so raclette was right up my alley. On top of all that food we had lots of wine, followed by coffee and dessert; a very reasonable price considering all that we enjoyed.
#10
Last, but not least: Day 11/Jan. 6th. This was my last full day in Paris, and France in general. We had had a late night (/early morning) the night before, so we allowed ourselves a little sleep-in, followed by a late lunch (Italian - yum!), and then K, W, and I hit the last site on our list - the Champs-Elysees.
We got off the metro at the Arc de Triomphe. It was quite a site to see - like the Eiffel Tower, you know it, and so it's really magical to see in person. Once again, we didn't climb to the top, but we took lots of photos and took it all in. Note: When looking at the Arc de Triomphe, take a look at the traffic around it. To me, there seems to be zero logic to the way it works, but a great amount of anxiety associated with the driving. O.M.G. I would never do it.
After staring at the arc for long enough, we hit the street. The Champs was really cool.
We walked and shopped a bit, taking a side route to see some more stores, and then we ended up at Place de la Concorde to look at the oberlisque. It was really cool; to look at and to learn the story of it. From our vantage point we could also see the Eiffel Tower glowing in the distance.
Finally, as if all of this wasn't surreal enough... We're walking back to the arc from the oberlisque, along the other side of the Champs, and we see a crowd of people gathered outside a movie theatre...
After mingling with the crowd we gather that it's a movie premiere... and not just any movie premiere, but the premiere of "The Iron Lady".
So take a wild guess what (or rather, who) was my 10th best experience in France???
MERYL STREEP!!!!!!!!!
That is it, ladies and gentlemen! Thanks for reading, and go to France!!!
