(Based
on the book “Complete Guide for Visiting Paris”, 1975)
When
you decide to visit Paris, France, normally you will land at one of the airports
in Paris (either at Orly or Charles de Gaulle) and, from there, you will have
to take a bus to another local terminal.
This bus will leave you at either the Invalides or the Porte Maillot
terminal. From there, you would have to
decide how to get to your hotel - by taxi or the metro (subway). After you arrive at your hotel and unpack and
relax a little, you will probably want to start sight-seeing right away.
Paris,
France is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, famous for its people
(artists, intellectuals and historical figures), the metro, and its many
churches and monuments. There is the
Seine River, which runs through the centre of Paris and adds much to its
allure. There are many things to do and
see for a tourist – enough to keep you busy for a long time, depending on your
interests and your travelling companions and people you may meet along the way.
My
best friend, Gloria, and I went on a trip to Europe in the spring of 1981. It was to be the “trip of a lifetime”, since
neither of us could be sure we would ever be able to return in the future. We visited 10 countries of western Europe
(including its tiny principalities). As
it turned out, France was one of my favourite countries and I loved Paris on
sight! We stayed in Paris for one
wonderful, memorable week – I’ll never forget it.
If
you wish to travel through Paris via the metro, it is certainly the easiest,
fastest and most inexpensive way to move around the city. We learned very quickly how to travel using
the metro. All you need is a subway map
and a cursory knowledge of French so that you can read the signs above each
station platform and in the trains. You
can buy a pocket map to carry with you; there are large maps, as well, outside
of each station showing the various metro lines in different colours. You will need to look at the map and find the
name of the station at the end of the line on which your station is located in
order to find your way to your destination station. You may also have to change lines at one of
the stations where the lines of the metro intersect. However, directions to get onto different subway
lines are plentiful and clear, so you won’t get lost.
Once
you are on the train riding to your destination, you will very quickly become
absorbed in watching the other passengers.
There will be men with their noses buried in their daily newspapers,
women busy knitting or reading, and lovers involved with each other, totally
oblivious to those around them.
When
I met Sam at our first Paris hotel (called the Hotel Berthier La Tour), Gloria
and I were on a bus tour with 48 other people in late June 1981. Sam happened to be a very sexy Frenchman
working as a bartender in our hotel.
Paris was to be the last stop for Gloria and I on our tour; the rest of
the tour passengers would end their trip in London, England. Gloria and I wanted to stay in Paris because
we wanted more time there than just the 2-3 days reserved in the tour. But, the disadvantage of staying longer in
Paris was that we had to change hotels once the tour ended and everyone else
left for London. We already had a
reservation at a very seedy-looking hotel (it looked more like a shelter and
smelled like one too). Of course,
there’s no way that we could have known what it was like beforehand. Thus, we needed to change hotels in a
hurry. That’s how we ended up at the
Quirinal Hotel on Rue Lafayette. As I
recall, it was not far from L’Opera (the Opera house). From there, we planned all of our daily
excursions: la Place de la Concorde, le
Sacre Coeur, la Place du Tertre, Montmartre, le Louvre Musee, and so on. It was so easy to travel anywhere you wanted
to go within the city limits and it was a lot of fun too.
The
French people can be very friendly, as long as you have some knowledge of
French and are willing to use it to communicate. French people love to sit in open-air cafes,
sipping their “grand crème” (milk coffee) and eating a “croissant”. These are considered snacks that will tide people
over until either lunch or dinner time. Parisians,
in general, love to spend a great deal of time in the bars and cafes at all
hours of the day and night, chatting about business and politics or whatever
happens to catch their interest. A
typical Parisian talks in a mocking and ironic fashion, making fun of things
and people, while gesturing colourfully and injecting his/her own slang into
the French language. This makes the
French people very interesting and charismatic.
The French taxi drivers and the “quatres-saisons” (four season) vendors
who sell fresh fruit and vegetables are particularly famous for having this
quality.
You
will probably want to start shopping at almost the same time that you are
sight-seeing. Shops selling food are
open from 8:30 am (the bakeries open at 7:00 am) till 1:00 pm, and then again
from 4:00 till 7:30 pm. Other shops,
like fashion boutiques, bookshops and hairdressers, are open from 9:00 am till
7:00 pm without interruption. Food shops
are also open on Sunday mornings, but are closed on Mondays (either all day or
only in the morning). The big department
stores are closed on Sunday and Monday mornings, but are open the other days
from 9:30 am till 6:30 pm. Once a week,
some of them stay open later, till 11:00 pm.
You could pass an entire day at one of these big department stores
because they each have a restaurant, a tea room and a hairdressing salon. Of particular importance to tourists, if you
visit a shop that sells fashions, jewellery or other luxury goods, you only
need to show your passport and a special card issued by your bank or American
Express and the sales tax will be waived.
I’m not sure why they do this for tourists though – it might have
something to do with customs.
Regarding
French cuisine, you can enjoy a “light meal” at a Parisian “Drugstore” at any
hour of the day. For example, you might
have an “assiette anglaise” (cold meat / ham sandwich), or a “croquet-monsieur”
(toasted ham and cheese sandwich), or sandwiches of any kind. There are 6 Drugstores in Paris in various
locations. If you want to eat and walk
around at the same time, you can buy various things to eat like hotdogs, crepes
(thin pancakes), wafers, or “krapfens” (doughnuts). But, if you want to eat in a “real
restaurant” instead, you would be able to eat things like “steack pommes
frites” (steak and French fries), or “pot-au-feu” (boiled beef served with
vegetables), “boeuf bourguignon”
(similar to a delicious beef stew), or delicacies like caviar or “pate de fois
gras” (liver paste, I think). There are
many interesting and unique cooked foods that need to be sampled to really be
appreciated. However, beware that the
French love to eat fatty foods and, if you have to watch what you eat, it might
be difficult for you to do so in Paris.
As
for Gloria and I, we ate mostly in the cafes and bars because the food was
usually light fare and something we liked and could afford. After all, we were on the budget tour this
time ‘round. My goal now would be to
visit Paris a second time and eat a really nice dinner at a “real restaurant”,
like the one in the Eiffel Tower or at Maxim’s on L’Avenue de Champs Elysees,
or something to that effect. However, I
will settle for being able to visit Paris just one more time and, hopefully, be
flexible enough regarding which hotel I can afford to stay in and how long I
can stay in the city. One thing is
certain: when staying in Paris, you must
always do as the Parisians do!
published by Authorhouse, copyright 2011, Anne Shier. All rights reserved.
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