Reminiscing on my recent trip to Paris.

My third trip to the City of Love.  I have to admit Paris itself is not my favorite city.  I judge my love of a city by how at home I feel there.  Paris just never feels right.  A city ripped down and made falsely homogeneous in the 19th C, just feels off. I feel most at home where I can find what I consider a more real Paris. 

That being said, I must still share my favorites from this trip for anyone looking to do something a little different while there. 

Grab a cup of coffee or tea (yes, even from Starbucks, which somehow fits in this fashionable town) and run down to Shakespeare and Company to spend time perusing the greatest used bookstore ever.  Once you step inside this gem and wander around, you will understand how this store fits in my feeling of real places.  There are books for you in English, and it feels as homey as wandering along the bookstalls on the Seine. I doubted until I asked the gentleman just inside the door for a good book on the history of Paris.  His four suggestions and the comparative explanations he gave led me to buy two volumes that have turned out to be exactly what I was looking for.  What a wonderful souvenir from Paris!

We found an older version of Paris wandering along the Rue Mouffetard.  Little store fronts, narrow road, food stalls. . .What a wonderful place to roam.  We bought some overpriced fruit at the first place we stopped.  Probabaly best to check around or to walk here on market days. There is a crepe stand around 150 Rue Mouffetard that gave me me such much Nutella I could not finish my crepe!! (Don't forget to have at least one crepe in Paris!)  The walk was great and we stopped at this wonderful out of the way cafe whose view is pictured above.  This square was quiet but was filling with locals as we left later that day.

Find a Pattisserie.  Find a less expensive not so fancy one.  Ask the french person working there what they love and try it.  On my first visit, I discovered a heavy cake chocolate filled stacked beast of a dessert called La Religieuse.  I will share a picture of the one I had this trip here. It was heaven.  So much so that I failed to even offer Steve a bite.  The name refers to a nun wearing her habit. . .

La Religiuse

The Christmas market is different here than in Germany. It was still open on Sunday, January 6, and was a lot more gimmicky than the wonderful crafts and candies you find in the markets in Cologne. And the cheese was way overpriced.  It runs along the Champs Elyssee from the Place de la Concorde toward the shops and the Arc. We started at the giant ferris wheel in the Place and were ok paying the 10 euros each to take the two revolutions ride just for the view. 

We have found a touristy restaurant with a decent view of the Louvre.  It is on the left bank of the river at an intersection just across the bridge from the Louvre where the Tulleries used to be.  Tons of traffic and car fumes, too many people and very touristy part of town.  It is called La Fregate.  We go there and have Onion Soup.  The big deal for us with this restaurant is the story.  You see the real D'Artangan (and Dumas' inspiration for writing The Three Musketeers was a "companion" to the King during his imprisonment during the Revolution.  He lived at this location.  His given name is Charles.  We never refer to eating at La Fregate, we just go Charlie's Place for soup!!  (By the way, yes that Onion Soup on the menu in Paris, it IS referred to as FRENCH Onion Soup in the US.)

We went to two less well known museums in Paris this trip.  One is under the Ile de la Cite across the square from Notre Dame Cathedral and has some of the Roman and Middle Ages masonry under the city exposed for you to see. It is called the Crypte Archeologique.  Pay for the audio guide with your tour. 

The other was the Catacombs.  If you have not heard of them, do a little research first.  There are underground tunnels throughout the footprint of Paris.  All the lovely stone you see in the city was quarried from mostly under the city. Added to that, earlier in time when the city's cemeteries were spewing disease, someone thought a great way to respectfully dispose of the bodies in the cemetaries would be to move all the bones underground to the tunnels.  For years they did this emptying many cemetaries.  The Catacombs is a tour through a small section of these underground tunnels and ossuaries.  Also, we did not know we could get an audio guide here, but there are signs in the tunnels for them, Be sure and ask if there is an audio guide.  Go once, take your camera, and go first thing in the morning as they only allow 200 people underground ata time.  So there is always a line once it opens.  Both of these museums were short trips 2-4 hours.  Easy to do and still sit in a cafe in the evening. 

We found a castle within the city to visit.  Closer than Versailles.  Less well known, but interesting to see.  Chateeau de Vincennes.  You will need to buy a special metro ticket for this one since it is just outside of zone 1.  We made it through about half of the audio guide stations in half the day.  We had to stop to eat and meet our train home.  If you decide to go here, dedicate an entire day, have planned meeting points and times throughout the day and just wander.  There is a great donjon built around 1300 that just screams "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"  The audio guide is very informative and covers a lot of the history of the Chateau. 

 

The other secret to enjoying Paris is to always see the Tower for me.  There is just somehting about it that screams Paris ( :) ) .  I enjoy an evening view and always look forward to the first five minutes of the hour when it sparkles.  Also take the time to read menus and talk to restaurant owners as you travel here.  We found two very amazing restaurants near our hotel near the Asemblee Nationale.  Neither was in a travel brochure, or on a busy street or square. 

 

Bon Voyage!!!!