PONDERINGS ON PARIS

 On Sept.8th, we left Waterloo Station on the Eurostar train to Paris. This involved traveling through the "Chunnel" under the English Channel which I expected to be rather terrifying...but it wasn't. If you don't dwell on the fact that you are traveling in a heavy piece of machinery under tons of ocean water, it won't bother you. It was fast and comfortable and we arrived at the Paris train station with no problems. My son had a friend who had an apartment near the Eiffel Tower and that was where we had planned to stay. However, it was on the third floor and the building had no elevator and ol' ma' can't climb stairs so we found a hotel information kiosk and the lady there found one "fairly near" the opera. As mentioned before "near" can be anywhere from three blocks to a mile. She found a room for us at the Monterosa, a small, unpretentious little place with a tiny but comfortable room and nice bathroom. At least we wouldn't have to go down the hall to the W.C. The small lift held only three people at a time but it got us up and down.  

After a short rest we set out to explore Paris. First we to took a taxi to somewhere more centered and bought  tickets for the tour bus. That is really the only way to see a city like Paris or London and we really did see a lot! For me, the Eiffel Tower was the most exciting with hundreds of people milling around, over, under and on it. We didn't go up on it though. 

The city was full of leftover rugby fans and there were two fashion shows going on at this time as well so the streets were full. We went into Notre Dame Cathedral and it is breathtaking. We looked for a place to eat but that was difficult because you must eat what and when the French want you to eat. As a result, we had Chinese food in downtown Paris. How stupid is that when you're in Paris!! 

The next day we went to Montmarte on a hill outside of Paris and walked around in the Sacre Coeur church, a beautiful and awe inspiring church. Montmarte is like a village where many famous people, artists, poets and writers used to hang out. There were many sidewalk cafes where we wanted to have breakfast but it was just about 11:00 so they had stopped serving it. We walked around trying to find a place that had the food we wanted and finally found a creperie with a friendly host/waiter. That was a relief after having suffered the rudeness of other waiters. Their food was delicious and we enjoyed that little respite.

Later in the day we wanted to go to the Musee d'Orsay so we got in line and in a few minutes learned that they were going to close in about forty-five minutes and still wanted to charge us full fee. I needed the restroom which was in the basement so down we went. While there we learned that they have many large beautiful statues in that area so we wandered around enjoying them, but then noticed there were guards there and we didn't have tickets so we left. We went out to find a taxi, stood waiting in the cold wind coming off the Seine and then decided to walk to the other side of the river. We finally realized that they don't pick you up unless you're standing by a "taxi" sign. We gave up and walked through the Tuilleres. By this time I was exhausted but we decided that we wanted to see the lighting of the Eiffel Tower at sunset. We got to the  Pompidou Center and went up to the top floor which has a marvelous view of Paris. We had intended to sit there, have a little wine and a snack and wait for the sunset...... well ....surprise! First we were ignored by our child waiter until finally he deigned to give us a menu. It was a shocker! We decided we would buy a split of wine and split a vegetarian club sandwich. This little snack cost almost $30! and it wasn't that good. we figured we were paying for the view and when the waiter gave us the bill it was then that we learned that we were to be shuffled off for the next seating of those whose privilege it would be to see the Eiffel light up. Disappointed, we left to return to our tiny hotel. 

Hope you have enjoyed these stories. All I can say is that I am glad my ancestors left France many years ago. Southern France is nice but gee, Paris.....no thank you!