The Naive Vermonter's Guide to Paris

Bon Jour mes amies et les etres qui nous sont chers!

I am writing after consuming a superb dinner at L’Gaigne Restaurant located on the edge of a section of Paris called

Le Marais.

We walked home, pass Hotel de’ Ville and then Notre Dame. It’s late so it’s unlikely that I will finish adding to our

vacation blog.

Ahhhhh Paris! City of light, love, fashion, art, architecture, beautiful women and doors, and truly great food.

It’s been fabulous so alas .....

I am submitting for you my short version of the “Naive Vermonter’s Guide to Paris”.

1. Your reserved accommodations.... If you cannot afford to rent an apartment or pay for a very expensive hotel room be prepared to stay in a postage size hotel room. This will require planning and skill on your part as the room only accommodates a bed. You will need to organize your luggage and bags around the perimeter of the room, and in such a way that you will not stumble and hurt yourself when you get up to pee in the night. If, at some point during your stay, your partner is stationed at the foot of the bed you will need to be in good enough physical shape that you can climb onto the bed and leap across in order to gain access to the bathroom.
2. Street Attire.... Pack your black! No kidding. They are serious about black clothing here. And it’s fine by me. I mostly watched women and what they wore....black pants or skirts or tights with mini-skirts and a black top, black boots, and often something red as an accessory accent like a scarf or very large handbag. Or, lots of blue jeans with black tops and jackets, and of course the very stylish black boots or high heels. Chic ponchos are also popular and truly perfect for the very mild fall weather.

2a. Pack all of your scarfs! Everyone, well most of the women and a large population of men wear very long scarfs wrapped around their necks. It doesn’t matter what the daytime temperature is outside....wear a scarf!

3. Shopping....Bring lots of money!!! When shopping for family, friends or yourself bolster yourself (and your wallets) with the knowledge that the good real stuff costs more than you can probably afford. Especially when the U.S. dollar is in the toilet as compared to the Euro. We LOVED looking and did splurge a bit on hats at A’ la Bonne Renomme (definitely worth checking out...the clothes and accessories are fabulous) but for the most part even the vintage shops pushed our wallets to the edge.

4. Pets.....Bring your dogs! Parisians love their dogs and take them everywhere. You will find them in restaurants, markets, fine clothing stores etc. We did not see any on the metro but I did see one riding on a scooter with it’s owner.

5.Transportation....If you are thinking about renting a car, scooter or bicycle during your stay in the city...DON”T! The traffic is amazingly dense and incredibly busy. Bicycles and scooters are very popular but one really needs to know his/her way around and be very confident and aggressive. Parking on the street is free and all of the cars are extremely small and cute!! (I believe the Smart Car is the most popular car in Paris) but more often than not cars are so tightly packed along the curbs that it probably takes a good 15 mins. to extricate oneself from a parking space. Or, have a few friendly bystanders help you lift it out.

AND - the mass transportation is excellent. We did not have an opportunity to try the city busses, but the Metro is fast, efficient and clean. Make sure you get a pass for however long you think you will be using the metro.

6. Bring lots of tissues...at least I needed them, for visits to very special places that were emotionally packed for me. I found myself weeping in the Louvre, esp. when viewing “the Death of the Virgin” by Caravaggio, or the painting “Saint Anne with Mary and John the Baptist” by da Vinci. Notre Dame and Sacre’ Cour Basicilla were other places that brought me to tears...the history and beauty were a bit overwhelming and my cultural background added to the emotional impact.

7. Taking photographs...Do not be shy. Take photos everywhere! Even in the museums. Ignore all the signs that say don’t take photos. You will find tourist throughout the Louvre and Orsay having pictures taken of themselves in front of every famous masterpiece. The Japanese have this down to an art. They carry around tripods, set them up in front of a monument or whatever, position the camera, set the automatic shutter, stand in front, smile and voila! their portrait is done without having to ask for help.

8.Eating out....Bring your appetites!! Large ones at that. First; make sure you eat a croissant every morning. You will never have croissants like the ones in Paris and the fruit confiture (jam) you spread on it can be one of your food basics! Second; seek out as many chocolatiers as you possibly can during your stay. The Parisian chocolate is, as the cliche goes, “to die for”. And...I love cheese, all kinds of cheese and French excel in this area of cuisine...breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert! This was heaven for me. Every meal has been a wonderful experience...esp. the dinners. And how can I not mention the wine. It’s cheap (i.e. less than drinking water) so drink lots, plus it’s good for you. Bon Appetit!!!

9. Language....I advise you have a few pat French phrases memorized. The residents of this fair city truly appreciate our awkward attempts to communicate with them in their own language. It’s good to know when to switch from “Bon Jour” to “Bon Soir”. We figured 5 p.m. was safe.

10. Our favorite places/areas to hang out...

Le Marais...we both loved this area of Paris; the fashion, flair and fallafel (notably the best in the world!), the Memorial de la Shoah and “Cacao et Chocolat” a great chocolate shop.

Montmartre... wonderful highlights are Musee Halle Saint Pierre (outsider art), the Moulin Rouge, and “Denise Acabo”, a really great chocolate shop. This area is where the 19th century artists used to hang out and drink “absinth”.

Jardin du Luxembourg....a beautiful place to rest/relax/nap, suitable for lovers (esp.), players of bocce, the whole family...and your dogs!

Musee Louvre, Musee d’Orsay...both incredibly beautiful...but - a note of caution...when you visit the Louvre you might want to go on the sunniest, mildest day of the year. We went on a gray, rainy morning along with about 10,000 other visitors.

...and of course we really enjoyed just walking the gorgeous old cobbled, winding streets crammed with picturesque shops and restaurants and wonderful architecture, people watching and, finding more!!! great chocolate shops.

Please don’t miss the Eiffel Tower. It’s beautiful and the atmosphere reminded us of one huge happy party.

Au Revoir et A’ Votre Sante!

And lots of amour,

Marie

P.S. Oh, and yes, there is a longer version...

Thursday AM

Had a very hard time sleeping last night until Marie woke and rubbed my back.  I was up for 2 1/2 hours, thinking about today and tomorrow, despite no espresso after dinner and a very full day.  Maybe my body is preparing for the time shift again?  Cloudy but no rain this morning.  We'll get going on our day soon.  The plan is Musee d'Orsay and Luxembourg Gardens, with a stop at 27 rue Fluerus to pay homage to Gertrude Stein.  We saved some of our entree Camembert roti du pain for breakfast this morning.  So we'll only purchase un petit petit dejeuner to complement that.  At least I won't overeat one meal today!

Wednesday - Marais Day

Wednesday we had a big breakfast and headed north to the Seine. Being at Shakespeare and Co was fun.   I felt like an ex-pat, as though I belonged there. Picked up a used copy of a Emma Donoghue novel and a new copy of George Orwell's memoir of Paris and London. From there we crossed the river to Notre Dame. For me it is an architectural and historical wonder. For Marie, all that and more. Better I let her explain. From there we walked over bridges to Isle St. Louis and then the Marais on the right bank. We went through heavy security into the Shoah Memorial museum. Interesting to note the French use the Hebrew term, Shoah, rather than the English Holocaust. There were only a few people in this amazing FREE museum as opposed to thousands at Notre Dame. We spent two and a half hours trying to take as much in as possible. I continue to learn my own history. We left feeling moved, drained really. But our walk through the neighborhood- the stores, galleries, restaurants (inc lunch at L'As du Fallafel) revived us! Bought ourselves great hats at one shop and had the best chocolate yet at Cacao et Chocolate. Walked home a new way and found all the Hallel restaurants on the right bank between the Seine and St Michel. Lunch on Thurs? Rested before dinner and then ate at a new restaurant near our hotel. Haven't had a bad meal yet! Got caught in a thunderstorm running home. But all is well.

Wednesday before bkfst

Today we are going to walk to the Marais (the 4th arrondisement).  Along the way we will stop at Shakespeare & Co, since I've nearly finished Stegner's Crossing to Safety and am in need of another good read.  I've loved this one.  I'm thinking of buying a small book in both English and French since I've enjoyed re-learning my high school French this trip.  I think I might prefer to work on grammer, and verb conjugations again in the context of a novel rather than taking up a language primer.  We'll see.  After the bookstore we'll see Notre Dame, and then go over to the Shoah Memorial.  Hoping to eat falafel on rue Rosiers, and just enjoy people watching at Pic CLOP, per Mike Bosia's recommendation!  The Jewish Museum is a possibility there too.  Still not expecting great weather (we had all that France could give in Provence, I guess!) but it's not raining now and it has only drizzled, no pouring rain since we've been in Paris.  Though we haven't thought much about home, I saw a gorgeous photo of autumn trees posted by a Hardwick friend on Facebook this morning and I had a stab of homesickness.  As much as I love to travel...and this has been a wonderful trip... I will be happy to be home too. 

Tuesday in Paris - apres matin

We had a great day, despite another morning of drizzle.  A nice breakfast including an omelet and croissants, then a metro ride to Montmartre where we went to the Musee d'Art Naif - a totally different experience than the Louvre yesterday.  It was small and intimate and we had almost the entire museum to ourselves for a few hours.  Saw a great show by Marie Morel who we will look into further.  We were so taken with her work.  We had an inexpensive Thai lunch before leaving the nighborhood and then took Metro to Champs Elysees to see L'Arc de Triomphe.  By then the sun was out, so after snapping pictures and taking in the spectacle of thousands of tourists from all over the world and many roads with many lanes of traffic converging, we walked down to Tour Eiffel.  At that point, the skies clouded over again, but it didn't rain.  We did our best to avoid the trinket sellers and con artists, and enjoyed a man feeding pigeons.  Back at the hotel right now resting up before dinner.  We are loving this city and finding it very manageable.  My French is improving!

Tuesday in Paris

I haven't slept as well in Paris as I did in Provence, though Marie says it was noisier there than here.  No matter.  We're up and beginning to think about getting ready for our day.  We made our plans last night for the next three days.  Today is Montmarte and some sight seeing - L'Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tour before heading back to the 5th for a nap and then dinner.  Today is our "learn how the Metro works" day.  Everything else we want to do is really within walking distance and we see so much of the city walking that it is our preferred method of transportation. 

Last night we had Mexican food in Paris.  It was a really cute restaurant, just a few tables, and the food was great - even if my chimichanga was open-faced rather than wrapped!  Marie had a Tamal Azteca, which I didn't recognize, until I had a bite, as a tamale - and delicious.  There was another anomaly - ratatouille on my plate, which I'm pretty sure is not a Mexican dish, but that too was yummy.  She had some guacamole on hers, which she said was garlicky and terrific. 

Weather started out rainy yesterday, but by the time we left the Louvre, the streets were drying and blue sky was sneaking out between clouds.  We woke to rain again this morning but it has stopped now.  We'll take rain jackets and umbrellas and be prepared for whatever comes today. 

Monday in Paris

We got up late today and went out to have petit dejeuner at about 10 AM.  We were at the Louvres by 11:00 and after a few false starts - trying to decide whether to get a Paris museum pass or not (we didn't) - we were inside and exploring about 11:30.  Marie walked me all over - of course, we barely scratched the surface - but we saw Italian and French painters including Delacroix, Gericault, Ingres, David, Da Vinci, Watteau, Giotto, Vermeer, and Elizabeth Vigee LeBrun.    We were in the section that highlighted the WInged Victory of Samothrace.  By 4:30 I was beat and ready to take a rest before dinner.  On the way home we took Rue Dauphine and found a half dozen places to have dinner this evening.  We'll see how far we get when we head back out. 

Paris on Monday

We are connected to the internet now via Orange France WiFi - 15 EUR for 10 hours over the next 30 days.  It feels good to have use of my Macbook since I've lugged it all over France. We had a long day of travel yesterday - waiting time, train and taxi to our hotel.  But everything went pretty smoothly.  We went out about 5:30 PM to explore our immediate surroundings and found a nice place to have dinner - small and intimate, food was great - more peasanty than the gourmet meals we ate at La Bastide des Bois Breant, but that was always more food than either Marie or I could eat.  The place last night seemed to have no problem with the two of us splitting an appetizer, entree, and dessert.  That might have been because each of us had two glasses of wine!  Or maybe it's simply that Paris is more used to Americans' faux pas.  We are planning today now. 

We're getting started a little later on our last day in Provence. Marie had time to draw a bit and I read a few more chapters of Crossing to Safety. The mistral from yesterday has subsided and we are back to warmer temperatures and a perfect blue sky. Soon off to see the Roman aqueduct at Pont Gard. More later.

Today's adventure was in an old (make that ancient) quarry town with the remains of a medieval castle at the top of the hill. We first saw a 40 minute slide show of Picasso's art projected on multiple walls of an underground quarry. Marie taught me the difference between analytic and synthetic cubism there. From there we toured the castle ruins with recreated battering rams and catapults and a comprehensive audioguide. Afterwards we wandered through town for another hour or so before going on to Van Gogh's asylum.

Yesterday we were in Camargues. We visited a ranch for the raising of bulls for the French equivalent of bull-fighting. It is not harmful to the bulls! Really, it's a race, not a fight. The object is to snip some colorful strings and tassles from the horns of an angry, confused bull within 15 minutes of the start. Contestants are dressed all in white -(the better to see blood?) and the bulls are black. It must be quite a spectacle. We were ferried out to a pasture where 80 or so bulls, cows and yearlings were grazing. A group of French cowboys wearing colorful shirts, hats, and riding white horses joined us. The cowboys demonstrated how they separate the race bulls from the herd to transport them to the arena where the competitions are held. We all loved the beautiful horses and the volunteer cowboys who work with the rancher for free because they love the camraderie and the activity.

nn. It was charming, delicious and reasonably priced. We haven't been disappointed yet!

y in the french ganache. Back to La Bastide for a quick hour and then off to dinner at La Bergerie - our restaurant choice in
Maubec - other than our i

nbons and chocolates to sample and buy. Marie and I agreed that she will try a more concentrated liquour in her next truffles. We liked the strong brand

ch we went on to a large chocolate maker shop, not the quaint smalll shops we expect to find in Paris. But here we had a tour and a huge selection of bo

e were grateful for Jackie's planning and her flexible understanding leadership style. We have never felt controlled only well taken care of. From lun

ollowed his example. We had a nice lunch in the village center where M and I conversed with a PA couple who were winging the trip on their own. Again w

, the summer home of Pope Clement V who was French and preferred to get out of Rome in summer and enjoy Provence insteAd. smart Pope! Seven more popes f

complished but Jackie explained that he has been learning wine since he was four years old. From there we visted the ruins of the Chateau Neuf des Papes

ng on the position of the nose relative to the wine. We enjoyed our guide who was the owner of his fourth generation winery. He seemed young to be so ac

nserted into the glass. Most of us were unable to identify specific fruit aromas but we could tell that there were differences between wines and dependi

arc which had to do with vicosity and alcohol content. We learned about smelling the wine and how it smells different depending on deeply your nose is i

ere we had a nice tour of the wine cellar and then very extensive lessons about wine tasting. We learned to swirl our glass and then to look for legs and

Today I am sitting sur la plage en Camargue on the Meditteranean sea. But I am a full day and a half behind in blogging Yesterday we visited a winery wh

Jackie has kept us so busy, it is impossible to keep up with blogging. We've had enough wonderful adventures for a week in the last two days. Yesterday we went to a mountain village of Gordes and spent the morning in the market shopping for table cloths and matching napkins and a few gift items. Our next project was to get the cheese for our communal picnic. Feeling ever braver with my VERY spotty French, I must have said something simple about fromage to the 60-something cheese vendor at which point he took a look at both Marie and me and clearly started flirting with us. I am sure (though I missed most of what he said) that he asked me didn't I think Marie was very sexy. Having no quick retorts of any kind, I could only answer honestly, oui!

We had our picnic of baggette, cheese, salami, ham, tapenade, tomato, melon and fruit tart on a picnic bench at the olive oil farm we visited next. Unknown to us before we arrived, the olive maker also makes a terrific rose wine which he graciously offered to our picnic. His tour of his grove and the machinery and process of mAking olive oil was as great as his wine.

From there we went on to Roussillon- home of ochre and it turns out, also a hiding place for Samuel Beckett. We walked there and through the town and had dinner there before heading home to Maubec. Our day ended about 10PM. Too exhausted to write then, we just cleaned up and fell into bed!

Yesterday we explored our little village of Maubec, la vielle and la jeune. The new part (circa 1800) houses a post office and epicerie, soccer field, and tennis courts. The old part built into the mideval fortress wall has elegantly restored homes, an ancient church, and raised cemetery, not unlike those we have seen in Mexico. We had a great meal in another village called Coustellet where Marie and I both embarrased Jackie by first asking to split a meal and then, even worse, asking to take half our cheese plate home with us. We are afraid we are about to be voted off the island! We visited a lavender museum in the afternoon where we learned the difference between lavandine (a common hybrid) and true lavender. And then with free time to ourselves, Marie and I went off on a hike for an hour and a half before cleaning up for another gourmet meal at La Bastide. We read for a half hour and had another peaceful slumber until well after our usual wake up time.

Sunday late afternoon at La Bastide du Bois Breant - Maubec

I would have have liked to report that we had a long but uneventful trip to Provence.  But alas, that was not the case.  The trip was long -- true.  We had cramped seating, of course, on the big jumbo 777 jet and though uncomfortable, Marie and I both slept part of the trip to Paris.  The food was edible though not great and Marie ate little of her pasta, all of her salad.  It was a half hour out from CDG when Marie got up to visit the W.C. and the next minute she was lying in the aisle of the jet completely passed out, and unresponsive to me.  I dropped to the floor and held her head and called her name, but she was not there!  Terrified again (memories of last year's ordeal flooded my mind), I realized that there was a young man behind me who obviously wanted to be closer to Marie but did not want to displace me.  I could tell that he could be of more use to Marie than I, since I was doing nothing helpful, so I moved a little to give him access.  Later he identified himself as Laurent, un medicin!  The stewards and stewardesses were great, and brought pillows and oxygen quickly, and then supplied Laurent with a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope.  Laurent's English wasn't very good, but good enough to reassure me that "this is nothing serious".  Still, it wasn't over quickly.  Even after Marie was back in her seat, protesting that she was fine, she fainted again.  Twice I ordered and then cancelled the medical team planned to meet us at landing.  When Laurent suggested that we delay our trip to Provence for a couple of days and just go to the hospital to get a checkup, I was reminded of how quickly I jumped out of the wheelchair I found myself in after fainting while visiting my Grandfather in hospital.  There was NO WAY Marie was going to the hospital instead of Provence!  Since she was fully back in her head and body, the decision was now out of my hands, which didn't mean I wasn't worried, but we went on-- on to a full strenuous day of travel by train -- lugging suitcases up and down staircases and running for trains.  And Marie was strong and fit and conscious!  It was a trying day but a wonderful one, made all the better by our knowing how lucky we are to be where we are - healthy and together.

We are struggling with Macbook and French Ethernet connection. So this blog entry is from a text message from my iPhone. THAT is all we are struggling with! Everything else is wonderful. Jackie is a terrific tour guide. She knows her clientele well and has paced this trip exactly right for us so far. La Bastide du Bois Breant is lovely. Our room is spacious, comfortable and homey. Meals have been scrumptious. And our companion travelers are friendly, punctual and fun.

Left a gorgeous day in VT and have landed in rainy D.C. Marie is blasting through The Book Thief so she is on the trail of a bookstore in terminal C for fear that livres anglais will be unavailable or just harder to find in Provence.

Getting ready

I have the jitters. Friends tell me it's excitement...it feels more like anxiety, the anxiety of responsibility / of needing all the pieces to be in their proper places, all the lose ends gathered and wrapped into correct and polite bows...in other words - everything is done that (I think) needs to be done by Saturday a.m. There's a few gardens that still need to be cleaned and organized, the fridge to be cleaned, chocolate candy to be packaged and delivered, house plants to be watered, last minute banking, a bit more harvesting/canning/freezing, house sitters to be oriented, there's recycling and composting....and, last but not least, we still need to pack - lightly. We are encouraged to not bring too many clothes, books, art supplies ... but what about all those shoes I know I will want to wear in France! Clothes are pulled from closets and drawers, laid on the guest bed to shuffle and pick through deciding what's the best, most practical and of course fashionable.

Chores and Decisions! That's what's making me jittery these last couple of days before we depart.

Taking iTunes rented movie

I'm downloading The Soloist movie for airport layovers.  We've rented iTunes movies when traveling before, and found the 17" screen on my MacBook Pro isn't bad to watch.  Also on our list of possibilities are Doubt and State of Play.  Other suggestions?

Flagging our bank debit cards

Our tour guide operator advised that we check with our bank to be sure our debit cards would work in France. Talked with the Credit Union this morning. And I learned that we do indeed need to "flag" them for use in Europe. All set now. Another reason we are glad to be doing one week with an experienced tour operator and afterwards five days in Paris on our own.

Pre-trip excitement

This morning Mara gave me the name of the falafel vendor in the Marais that a bunch of friends have mentioned - L'as du Falafel on rue des Rosiers. With name and street we are sure to find it now! I also located our Paris hotel using google maps. You can see it here too. Google's street view isn't very useful in rural areas, but in cities it can be wonderful. I love seeing the balconies our hotel is known for on my laptop before we arrive, Grand Hotel des Balcons. http://bit.ly/8kIKy

One week and counting....

We're off to France just one week from today. Though we haven't done much except the essential planning - accommodations, transportation reservations, and basic outline of the trip, we've been gathering articles, iPhone applications, and recommendations from friends. Just have to make time now to read the stuff! I decided yesterday to take the laptop so we will have email, we can download photos each night and we can keep an online diary of the trip here.

This is where you can find us:

Hello dear ones:

Marie and I will be in France 9/27 - 10/9. We leave on 9/26 from Burlington at about 2 PM. The first week 9/27 -10/3 we will be in Provence staying at this address:

La Bastide du Bois Bréant
501, chemin du Puits-du-Grandaou

84660 Maubec-en-Luberon
Tél. : 011 33 4 90 05 86 78

Our tour guide leader is Jackie Grandchamps, (cell) 011 33 6 33 26 83 22

From 10/4 - 10/9 we will be on our own in Paris at:

Grand Hotel des Balcons

3 rue Casimir Delavigne

75006 Paris

Tel: 011 33 1 46 34 78 30

And if all goes well with AT&T, we should have cell service in France at our usual numbers:

Linda 802-578-8810

Marie 802-578-8809

calls (incoming and outgoing will cost us $.99/minute so calls should be sparing or emergency, please.) Not sure if text messages will work or not. We have received mixed messages from AT&T.

There is a six hour time difference between the east coast USA and France. France is six hours ahead of east coast, example - at noon here at home, it is 6 PM in France.

We will be taking our laptop with us, so email will be free, though not as instantaneous as phone since we'll only use it early in the morning and later in the evening. Please do write us. It will be great to hear from home!

Read our online travel blog at http://LindaEMarkin.blogspot.com