Ahh, Paris

In the summer, all sunshine and flowers and golden sun kissed rides on the river cruises along with dreamy evening walks along the Champs Elysee.

Yeah, right…. Not for our Northwest Washington visitors! I guess it is true, we really do bring the weather with us. It rained a lot in Italy (unseasonable according to locals) and our adventure in Paris was a soaked to the bone ordeal at times.

We arrived in Paris and were met by our driver and headed off to the Hotel Baume. This is a little boutique hotel in the arts district that has balconies that overlook the old L’Odeon Theater. We got checked in by the very efficient staff and get introduced to a little bit of how the other half live. This hotel has a bar and small plates menu with a lounge downstairs where you are waited upon by men in suits. The hotel itself is beautifully appointed in understated rich tones of gold and brown. The desk manager (French born, English educated and a perfect American accent) sends us to our room and shows up a few minutes later with our luggage in tow. They provided us with plug converters for our multi-voltage items and would have provided voltage inverters had we needed them. The bed was very comfortable and everything was definitely European sheikh, with provided bathrobes and slippers along with our Nespresso brand coffee maker. There was comfortable seating and a terrace with chairs, plants and views of the theater and the street scene below us. Visions of morning coffee and fresh croissants on the terrace dance through my head.

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We got unpacked (the rooms are on the smallish side and the hotel will store your empty bags downstairs for you) and settled our stuff before we headed out for our first night on the town. We decided on some light exploring around our little slice of the arts district (6th Arrondissment). We hit the streets in search of some eats and Parisian ambiance. The streets are full of people doing exactly what we are, adding a melange of foreign languages mixed with the native French, creating a potpourri of sounds. This, combined with the traffic sounds and the smells of the restaurants and bakeries that we pass give me exactly the feeling of Paris that I expected.

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We found a great little pedestrian traffic only road full of restaurants and chose a table under the roof but open to the street. The service was great and our waitress from Sicily was a gem. The food was what we expected for our first Parisian dinner and we sipped our after dinner coffees while watching the street scene like true Parisians. Back to the hotel after an evening stroll and then up for a full day of sightseeing.

We decided to try the Big Bus tour for our first full day and off to the stop (on foot) we went. The prediction for rain didn’t deter these hardy Washingtonians and we got our tickets in a rainstorm and boarded the bus. The tour director handed out plastic ponchos for us and we alternated between sitting upstairs (soaking wet) and the crowded downstairs. The Big Bus is known for it’s “hop on hop off” day tickets and we made use of them. We rode to the Arc de Triomph and got off there, taking our pictures and then walking up the Avenue of the Grande Armée where we found a great restaurant out of the weather. We may have been the only tourists in the Cafe Lateral as I heard nothing but French being spoken around us. The food was very french and the service was impeccable for a lunch crowd. We had learned in Italy that paying attention to the local custom is a good way to get in the good graces of the locals. In every place of business we went, someone greeted us and often held the door open for us. We had read (thanks Rick Steves) that it is polite and expected to exchange greetings upon entering or exiting any establishment and to talk with the staff while browsing. We took this to heart and it seemed to stand us in good stead with the locals whether it was browsing in shops or being seated in a restaurant. The locals took these tourists under their wing and led them through menus, directions (more about that later) and general help when we were stuck.

After lunch it was back into the rain and a walk back to the Arc where we headed down the Champs Elysee for that romantic stroll. It poured rain but that didn’t deter us as we took in the sights, including a tour of the Renault store/museum and then on to the grand palace where we caught our bus for the ride to the Eiffel Tower. One thing about the bus is that you are subject to whomever your casual mates may be. We were crowded onto the bus with some very obnoxious tourists in a large group whom were very loud and had no concept of courtesy (the soaking rain, I’m sure, did not help tempers) and we got off at the next stop. This turned out to be a fortuitous stop as it had a great view of the tower and happened to be at the Champs du Mars, which is was a parade ground for the army, the site of the launch of the first hydrogen balloon and a little massacre (google it if you want to).

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After our obligatory shots with the tower in the background, it was back on the bus to the stop nearest the Louvre. The Louvre stays open late on Wednesday nights and our plan was to grab a light dinner and hopefully have fewer tourists to deal with in line.

Join us next time as we explore 1/1000th of the famous museum!

Let’s Go!

BFD

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