Falling in Love with Paris, October, 2006

The Notre Dame bell towers.

We took the overnight EuroStar sleeper to Paris, non-stop once we left Milano. We arrived at about 8 AM the next morning, after a restless 12-hour trip. We had bunks, we couldn't open a window because when another train passed by, you thought the world was ending. The overnight train gave us four full days in Paris, so all in all it was good.

Nothing prepares you for the sheer size and elegance of the architecture of Paris. Seeing it for the first time is like being in a magical stage set. We stayed at the Hotel Parc Saint-Severin in the Latin Quarter, with a view of St.-Severin and, behind it, the towers of Notre Dame. We could have spent our entire time enjoying the diversity of the Latin Quarter.

Look closely at the photo above. The base of the Eiffel Tower is hiding behind the very large trees. When you emerge from the cover of the trees, you just look up and up and up and up.


We walked all over, especially the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St-Louis, where we found a wonderful place for lunch, Restaurant Aux Anysetiers du Roy. I discovered pain au chocolat and will never look at an Italian chocolate brioche the same way again. We also found a wonderful restaurant near the Eiffel Tower, Restaurant L'Ami Jean on the Rue Malar. It was everything I had imagined a country French restaurant to be, which is why I look so happy in the photo above.

One night, we saw a monster on the Seine, a tourist river boat for dining and dancing, that looked like the Nautilus of Jules Verne. Tremendous klieg lights on the sides lit up the embankments as well as the windows of the homes above.

Ever wondered how obelisks were removed from Egypt by the Europeans? Here is the instruction manual on the base supporting the 3,200 year old Luxor Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, originally the location of the guillotines of the French Revolution.


A word about the Louvre...we did try to see the Louvre. We bought tickets, entered and were engulfed by hordes of people following the path of the Da Vinci Code. There were two thousand school children in front of the Mona Lisa...OK, maybe 50. Winged Victory was lost in a throng. So, I can't say that I enjoyed the Louvre. Standing for a long time waiting for a glance at a piece of art bothers both my lower back and my aesthetics. I do not like to suffer for art. There it is...if I am a philistine, so be it. I can study a book about art, I can be an armchair critic; I don't have to stand in front of a painting to appreciate it. I would rather be out in the city, walking among people, marvelling at buildings, parks and the life around me. I have little patience for museums, unless they are in Venice...then I have all the patience in the world. We had lunch at the cafe in the museum and left.

I can't wait to return to Paris.