1980 Paris (7/5-6/1980)

Saturday, July 5, 1980

Arrived in Amsterdam about 10:00 and went first to the post office, then to restrooms, and then hopped the next train towards Brussels. The plan was to pick up my suitcase and to continue to perhaps Paris. Our train itself was headed to Paris and was to stop at Brussels Zuid. We were a bit confused when the train stopped at the Nord and Midi stations. As we left the Midi station, we saw that it was also the Zuid, and thus we were on our way to Paris! We were standing in the foyer of a first-class car, but it was standing room only throughout the train.

View from the train in the Netherlands

Arrived about 17:00 in Paris Gare du Nord. We needed to change money, so Terry and Kathy stood in the long, long line while I went to get Metro information and to figure out how to get to the hotels. We bought the 2-day tourist ticket for the Metro which cost 10 times the cost of a one-way ticket (about $10 total).

Paris Metro tourist ticket in its plastic case

We were finally on our way to the Paris YWCA, but on arriving at the address we found it was an office for the aging! So we tried hotels on Île St. Louis, but they were all filled. We tried hotels on the Left Bank, right up to the one I stayed at last year. They had one room left, but not for three people. A client there said we would have better luck further from the center of the city. So off we went. About three hotels later we took the first available room at the Hotel Minerva (3 stars) for only $55 a night. It had a double and a single bed, and apparently the desk clerk was concerned about the sexes of the three persons and how sleeping arrangements would be made. That the three persons were all female solved his dilemma. After settling in, we walked up to Boulevard St. Michel to find a crêperie and found a tiny one up on a second floor. We got savoury rather than sweet crêpes, mine with egg and Terry's with ham, egg and cheese. Kathy had an omelet with mushrooms. Down below our window at the crêperie we saw and heard a guitarist serenading cafe patrons. Then he passed his little tin cup around! After dinner we walked to a Metro station and along the way we saw some kind of rhythm band with a leaping concertina player who had bells attached to his legs. We took the Metro towards the Sacre Coeur Basilica on Montmartre. From the Metro station we followed the signs to the funicular (up a steep street past real black marketeers), and found our tourist ticket was also good on the funicular. At the base, some guy offered to take a picture of the three of us using our camera, and when we said no, thanks, he thought we didn't understand his French. We rode up to the basilica and admired Paris at dusk below us. We entered the cathedral and marveled at the number of devotional candles which created a lot of smoke. Organ music was being played and we felt privileged. Then a Mass began (at 22:15!), so we stayed.

Sacre Coeur interior (TAT)

Sacre Coeur

Postcard of Sacre Coeur on Montmartre

We decided to walk down from Montmartre rather than take the funicular. Lots of people were on the stairs admiring the city lights and singing Simon and Garfunkel songs to guitar accompaniment. Someone was selling fluorescent plastic strips that people were tying into necklaces that glowed a brilliant green. We Metro'ed back to our hotel, and in one of the long Metro corridors, a guy wanted persistently to talk to me, the one who understands the least French! When I ignored him, he thought I was a sad case, but I think he is the sad case for bugging people like me. When we got off at our Metro station we ended up following a large group of formally dressed girls speaking English right to our doorstep. We figured a lot of hot water would be used that night, but we had nice hot showers. Kathy had found 20 centimes under the table at the crêperie, so we went to bed a little richer. Slept well.

Sunday, July 6, 1980

Awoke at 08:00 and had the included breakfast of tea and croissant rolls. Saved the regular rolls for later. Decided to take the room for another night. Walked over to the Pantheon where Rousseau and Voltaire are supposedly buried. Then on to the Luxembourg Palace Gardens. A man had a remote-control model submarine navigating in a pool.

Kathy and Terry at the Luxembourg Palace

There were a lot of joggers, and one gendarme guarding the palace. Our tourist tickets were also good for the RER (Réseau Express Régional/regional trains) which we took from the Luxembourg station to transfer to the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. A long line had already formed to take the tower elevator, so we decided to come back when the museums had closed. We Metro'ed to Place de la Concorde (being restored) and found that the Orangerie Museum was closed (for restoration).

Place de la Concorde with statue representing Lyon

Place de la Concorde with a statue representing a lion!

Place de la Concorde Luxor Obelisk (TAT)

We tried the Jeu de Paume Museum to find it didn't open until 11:30. Being only about 10:30, we walked through the Tuileries Garden, to the Louvre. (In the Tuileries, two Jewish boys asked Terry to take their picture with their Instamatic, which she did.) It was super crowded at the Louvre, being a free day. We managed to canvass the whole museum, and saw the notables such as the heavily protected Mona Lisa. Also Venus de Milo and a huge statue ignorantly mistaken for Venus. We saw Egyptian artifacts including sphinxes and a fairly modern looking mummy. We saw crown jewels, plus lots of paintings, sculptures, etc. We Metro'ed to Jeu de Paume and joined the line there to see 19^th century impressionists including Van Gogh, Gaughin, Renoir, etc.

Jeu de Paume ticket

We walked across Place de la Concorde to the Petit Palace, but decided its museums weren't interesting enough to merit the cost. We continued up the Avenue Champs-Élysées stopping at McDonald's for lunch. Someone had left Mona Lisa prints at our end of the counter, but soon came to retrieve them.

Champs-Élysées (TAT)

We saw L'Arc de Triomphe and then Metro'ed to the Carnavalet Museum.

L'Arc de Triomphe

It rained on us a little. Once inside the museum we saw many interesting historical artifacts including the effects of Napoleon (including a teeny glove) and of some kings (including a hair locket of one of the Louises). We stopped to admire one of the sculptured hedge gardens in its courtyard.

Carnavalet Museum ticket

Carnavalet Museum courtyard

As we walked to the Victor Hugo Museum, apparently a door handle along the narrow street reached out and tried to pick Terry's pocket. Not realizing that, Terry continued walking along, but was suddenly pulled back by the door handle in her pocket. Comparably, the stone sidewalks have been tripping Kathy, and she says they have a natural grudge. The Victor Hugo Museum supposedly has French Renaissance façades. It took up the three inside sides of a square and had a series of arches at street level. Hugo was apparently a poet, cartoonist, writer, sculptor, sketcher, artist, etc., best known for the book, "Les Miserables."

Victor Hugo Museum ticket

We walked over to Place de la Bastille, the supposed site of the guillotine/prison/bastille. 

Place de la Bastille

Metro'ed to the Cluny Museum which we finally found after hoping to cut through a park, but having to make a U-turn back to the only open gate. This museum had old ruins of a church (a former Notre Dame?) and the supposedly famous tapestries of the "Lady and the Unicorn," six tapestries with five representing the senses. There was also a wood carving of St. John the Baptist's head on a plate which initially Terry and I didn't see. When Kathy asked, "Do you wanna head for dinner?" I thought it was a bit early for dinner and Terry said, "NO, but I wanna head for a toilet." We broke up in giggles when we caught sight of the carving and realized what Kathy meant.

Cluny Museum ticket

We then walked over to Notre Dame, following the Left Bank a bit to see the bookstalls.

Left Bank with Tamiko and Kathy (TAT)

We went inside the cathedral to see the stained glass windows.

Notre Dame's rose window

Notre Dame

Back outside in the square was a huge crowd surrounding a couple drummers and a lot of hopping dancers doing semi-pseudo-African things. After watching a while, we walked down to see Pont Neuf, the supposed oldest bridge in Paris.

Pont Neuf

Taking the Metro again (back at the Bastille we had the experience of waiting at the station for over a half hour before giving up and taking another Metro route; also Terry had seen a rat on the tracks earlier in the morning and Kathy has been looking for another ever since!), we went to Montmartre and again took the funicular up toward Sacre Coeur. But this time we turned left to Place du Tertre where the artists hang out.

Place du Tertre

There were several land- or city-scape-artists, but they were by far outnumbered by portrait artists, even those wandering around with sketchpad in hand to stand and do your portrait. Super-excellent work was being done. We then found a "grocery" store to get things for our dinner. The proprietor only spoke a little English, and he even gave us a spoon for the mousse pudding we bought. It started pouring rain, so we took the funicular down and Metro'ed to our hotel. There we ate bread with bologna and cheese, and had mousse for dessert. The cheese got too warm during our ride to the hotel and really stunk! After dinner we Metro'ed to the Georges Pompidou Center, a big awkward building.

Centre Georges Pompidou (TAT)

Centre Georges Pompidou

There were a couple exhibits with free access, but most had to be paid for, even on Sunday. We went where we could for free in the building, including up the escalators on one glassed side to the top.

View from Centre Georges Pompidou

View from Centre Georges Pompidou

Back down in the square a vendor whizzed a Chinese yo-yo past Terry's head. We then Metro'ed back to the hotel and settled in for the night. Our clothes we had washed the night before were still damp! In the Metro we were only harassed a little by a couple guys, but they took the hint to leave faster than most.

Bidet in our hotel bathroom

Next: Versailles: