SFO > JFK > CDG
We land in Paris on a Monday morning and the Les Cars Rouges bus takes us into the city in 30 minutes. The plan is to rendezvous with our Couchsurfing host Nicolas at his apartment before he leaves for work. However, a delay at JFK means that we miss him by 30 minutes. Doh. Now we have no place to rest until he’s back at 7pm.
We find a seat and buy a juice at Gare du Montparnasse, the local train station. It’s crowded. My French is terrible. It’s only 9:30am and it’s hot. We’re fading fast and need a place to chill, so we search for nearby apartments using the AirBnb app. One woman has an opening less than 1 kilometer away and says we can check in at 11am, so we book it for the night. Well worth the investment as we’re able to shower, nap, and leave our bags behind.
Exploring
We’re staying in St. Germain, which turns out to be our favorite neighborhood. Cool restaurants, cafés, shops, and very central. The first thing we eat is a Pain au Chocolat aux Amandes. WOW! Our minds areblown by the flavor. [L’atelier Boulanger; 123 Rue de Vaugirard]
On our first day, we’re so excited that we go hard body right away: Notre Dame, Champs-Élysées, Le Marais, Louis V. Walking up a storm, taking the Metro left and right, and eating. We notice that it’s impossible to walk around without seeing a pharmacies everywhere you go. They’re all marked with a green cross (usually LED) in front.
“It feels like we’re in Universal Studios”
Central Paris has a look that’s one of a kind. If I blindfolded and teleported you there, you’d know where you were (or you’d think you were in Vegas). Drinking and dining in corner cafés is very Parisian. Many buildings look like (and probably used to be) palaces. Balconies with iron railings are everywhere, as are shuttered windows and narrow streets.
It feels like you’re on a movie set.
One of the places that really wows us is the Galeries Lafayette, an upscale department store. They carry every designer brand you can think of, and even the children’s section is very bougie. Luckily we don’t make a fashion faux pas by wearing socks and sandals.
Sightseeing
We buy 2-day Paris Museum Passes for €39 each. It gives you free entry to 60 museums and monuments in Paris, plus the ability to skip the lines. It’s worth it for us as we visit the Louvre (€12), Musée d’Orsay (€9), the Palace of Versailles (€15), and the Petit Trianon (€10).
We like the Musée d’Orsay. Masterpieces in front of your very eyes. We spend the most time in the Impressionism and Pointillism rooms. Maximilien Luce’s ‘La Seine a Herblay’ and Paul Signac’s ‘Femme a’lombrelle’ are some of my favorite pieces. Respect.
The Palace of Versailles is a 30 minute train ride & walk from Paris. This is where the royal family lived, including Louis XIII, XIV, XV and Marie Antoinette. It’s the most extravagant estate I’ve ever seen. The gold on the gates and rooftops is crazy bright, and the grounds are so huge that we decide to rent a golf cart to get around.
The Temple of Love (below) is located in the Petit Trianon, a private château that King Louis XVI gave it to his 19-year old Queen Marie Antoinette. She wanted to escape from the formality of the royal court life. Afterwards we watch Marie Antoinette which was filmed on site(and stars Kirsten Dunst / Jason Schwartzmann).
Pro tip: Arrive early (before it opens) to beat the crowds. If you arrive 30 minutes after opening, the wait can be 1-1.5 hours. This happens to us, so we purchase guided tours (€7 each) to skip the line. Well worth it.
As we purchase our tour tickets, the cashier keeps asking if we were really from SF. Later on I comment, “Maybe he thought we were French?”. Melissa has a really good laugh at this. My French is terrible. Another funny exchange happens just moments later when we meet the ticket-checker. Our entire time in Paris, I’m greeting everyone with “ça va?” (an informal, “how are you?”), hoping to start the only conversation that I memorize. Most people don’t respond — I think it’s kind of like saying “What’s up?”.. you don’t actually have to answer. The ticket-checker, however, responds with “Bien, et toi?”.
I’m a bit caught off guard, but am happy to hear it. I smile wide and respond with my best “TRE BIEN, MERCI!!”
Nicolas
“My friends would say i am a very good friend (i hope). But they would also say that i am an out of time and an absent-minded man (i am sure).”
Nicolas is nice enough to let us stay with him for our entire stay in Paris. We meet him on the 1st night and talk for about 15 minutes. Since we already booked the place through AirBnb, we tell him that we’ll be back tomorrow. He gives us a set of keys and we meet him the next night.
We share nice evenings with Nicolas, talking about cars, Obama, French/English words, our families, and more. He cooks us a fantastic dinner on our last night. After some Kir (crème de cassis [blackcurrant liqueur] topped up with white wine), he serves us stuffed veal and potatoes. Bon appétit.
We teach Nicolas some English words: Cray Cray, Grill, Hella, Mad, Like, Bougie, Baller, Hater. He shares some good phrases with us too.
Bib Gourmand = Someone who likes food, “Greedy” De beaux rêves = Sweet dreams Bougie = Candle Ble (wheat) = Money Ratish = Money C’est la balle bébé = It’s the ball, baby (i.e. That’s cool) Lou Lou / Delinquents (“naughty boys in hot areas”) = Gangsters (“They like gold.” “They wear big jackets and big trousers.”) Gourmet = Someone who has good taste (“So I wouldn’t say it is gourmet, but you are a gourmet?” ”I hope so.”)
