So I came to my last full day in Paris. It began well but got a bit frazzled towards the end.
It dawned another pleasant day, if a bit more overcast than the previous two; the rain gods stayed asleep though.
On to the metro, now a firm friend, to Sevres-Babylone, for the liturgical bookshop on Rue du Four. For once, I got out of the station and set off In The Right Direction! I should have recognized an evil augury.
The bookshop was good, I got what I wanted and headed back. I passed a nice looking cafe, Au Sauvignon, and decided to call in for my breakfast coffee. I really fell for this place, it was that much used term %26#39;authentic%26#39;, the kind of place you could drink a cup of coffee and read the papers as long as you like, and indeed, others were doing that. I%26#39;ll go back there, in fact I%26#39;m researching hotels in the area for the next trip. Which is in 19 weeks and 6 days time. Rheingold at OB.
I walked around a lot more, for the sheer joy of Paris, and discovered the sheer joy of being A Solo Traveller - I could change my mind on the instant and follow any whim. I followed a whim into another market - unfortunately lacking the jewellery tat of Richard Lenoir, because there%26#39;s one cute €3 necklace that I wish I%26#39;d got more of - anyone going soon? Happy to pay postage? I took a photo of the Tour Montparnasse in the distance. Evil augury #2.
More walking, a slight lunch, then onto the Orange HOHO line. I%26#39;d originally planned to do the circuit but somewho the time trickled away, and I only got to Place Denfert Rochereau, and thence to RER Cite Universitaire to meet my Parisien d%26#39;un Jour walk guide, Marc.
I decided to experience the sanisette there - but there was a queue. At the Cite Universitaire station, WCs were advertized! but when I got to it - it looked like a built in sanisette - it said it was libre, showed where to introduce the money, now sealed off, but there was no visible button to press to get in. Ev. Aug. #3.
I like the idea of the Cite Universitaire - student accommodation all together outside the city centre but with excellent transport links in for lectures. Good idea.
The Swedish journalist who%26#39;d also booked the walk didn%26#39;t show up, so we set off across the corner of Parc Montsouris and began the walk. We went up and down all the little side streets with their 1920s villas and artists%26#39; colonies houses. It was very interesting, and Marc was a fascinating speaker. Up Rue de la Tombe Issoire and Ave. Rene Coty to Place Denfert Rochereau, where the trip ended. I planned to retrieve the HOHO bus and complete that circuit back to Petit Pont, where I wanted to pick up some kitsch keyrings. Hey, 12 for €5 seemed a good deal for fun!
A bus was approaching - but I missed it, despite running for it. Sigh. I decided to walk to the next stop, Tour Montparnasse, to get the next one, they only run every 20 minutes and it felt like 20 minutes wasted to just stand there. Consult the battered map and strode off there. Found the tower OK, even I would struggle to miss that but could not, not not find the L%26#39;OT stop, until I saw the bus come and go in front of me. I consulted the map and the transport map but it looked a fair step to any metro stations and I didn%26#39;t have a bus map and by now my brain was melting down, I began to fear I%26#39;d get totally lost. So I waited for the next HOHO - about half an hour, and this one then sat 10 minutes at the stop - why couldn%26#39;t the last one, the one that I%26#39;d jogged for, have done that? It seemed to stop for a long time at every stop, as my time trickled away but eventually I got back to the Petit Pont tourist trap shops for €10 worth of eiffel tower keyrings.
The plan had been to journey home on the HOHO blue line, straight to Place Bastille, but the last one had gone by now, so it was onto the underground system at St. Michel, wishing I had a degree in cartography to understand the split level system. OK, it wasn%26#39;t that hard but my brain was now operating on empty.
Home at 18:50, out at 19:10 for the opera - and then the checkout debacle to which I have previously alluded.
I don%26#39;t know why the afternoon fell apart kind of. Time in Paris seemed a strange thing - the first couple of days I%26#39;d walk so far and see so much and yet not much time seemed to have elapsed. In fact one day when I got back to the hotel room I went online to check my watch was right. The last day, the time just seeped away somehow. I will reflect more as I plan the next trip. 19 weeks and 6 days. Who%26#39;s counting? Me, I can%26#39;t wait to go back.
What made the overall trip so successful and pleasurable for me was:
planning, planning, planning/research, research, research - from Day 1 I kept coming across people trying to get the wrong kind of credit card into ticket machines/not knowing even basic politesses: for me, I%26#39;d read so much and received so much helpful TA advice, that it wasn%26#39;t like visiting a strange place but somewhere I already knew, a bit
so
TA advice
TA and other site photos, especially of the how-to kind
Google street - that was excellent too, streets I walked down looked familiar already
also
having done tons of planning and research but being flexible too, ditching one thing if something better offered
and for me, it really worked well that I had things to do, normal things that I would do at home like opera, church, bookshopping, that I was now doing against a fabulous backdrop that kept beckoning me onwards. For me, and we can all only say what works for us, for me, it was a fabulous way to experience Paris, and worked far better than having a ticklist of sights to be done to work through.
Thanks for all the good advice - all more advice about the next trip welcome. It%26#39;s in 19 weeks 6 days, did I mention that?
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%26gt; I walked around a lot more, for the sheer joy of Paris, and discovered the sheer joy of being A Solo Traveller - I could change my mind on the instant and follow any whim. %26lt;
There%26#39;s a lot to be said for Solo Travel and I wish more people would try it. Although travel with compatible companions has much to recommend it, solo travel has many, many merits.
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Yep, what he said.
It can be a blast when travelling with friends/partners, but I also love the freedom and self indulgence of travelling on my own. Paris is a glorious %26quot;solo travel%26quot; city.
Thanks, Ailidh for your trip reports. Glad you loved Paris!
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Yes solo trips give you a lot of freedom but it is nice to share with a friend.
Thanks for sharing your trip with is.
You research certainly paid off , you have been very adventurous for a first timer, a lot of people don%26#39;t get far from the Seine. Well done!
I also look forward to your next trip.
19 weeks and 6 days..........same for me!..., 5th March 2010. ( this is the longest break between trips I%26#39;ve had,...... Killing me!)
Denise
Love from Lancashire
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%26gt; 19 weeks and 6 days..........same for me!..., 5th March 2010. ( this is the longest break between trips I%26#39;ve had,...... Killing me!) %26lt;
I make that 12 March. I also hope to be in Paris on one of those weekends. :-)
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Yup, March 12th - see, grndma, you%26#39;re a week nearer than you thought!
Thanks again, everyone, for all the good advice, it really helped.
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Great reports Ailidh, I really enjoyed reading them. We were in Paris at the same time as you, but it will probably be a while before we return, so I%26#39;ll be very jealous when you%26#39;re all writing about visiting in March. I%26#39;m always torn between having things booked and planned, to make the most of the time, or just wandering around with regular cafe stops to watch the world go by .... and I%26#39;ve started taking photos of occasional street signs, so that I know where we got lost ;-)
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I enjoyed reading your trip reports. I agree - I really enjoy solo travel, although it%26#39;s nice to have a compatible companion too.
I bought several of the 2 and 3 euro necklaces at the Bastille market, and also the 50 cent earrings. I get lots of compliments. I just say thanks - I bought it in Paris.
Have fun on your next trip. Looking forward to reading about it.
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Thank you. These have been a joy to read. Love it that you have already found your very own café. Oddly enough the Sauvignon is but a couple of minutes walk from the original Gérard Mulot at the corner of rue de Seine and rue Lobineau. If you head along rue de Seine from there towards the river you%26#39;ll find another good café, La Palette. There are some print shops and galleries in that general area I think you will enjoy also.
I%26#39;m looking forward to hearing about your plans for your March trip.
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Thanks for the nice comments.
I never thought about having found %26#39;my own cafe%26#39; but while I%26#39;ve been planning for #2, I%26#39;ve been deliberately looking for a hotel in the area, as opposed to near the Opera Cafe on rue Biscornet, where I ate the first night and another time thereafter and was perfectly pleasant - but yes, Au Sauvignon feels like I want it to be mine. Definitely have to go back and check. Turns out to be a pretty expensive area for hotels, though!
Early thoughts for next time - probably just a literal weekend, over on Friday, Rheingold on Saturday, home on Monday - are around visiting as many other churches called Notre Dame as possible. Apparently there are around 40 but I can%26#39;t seem to find a complete list.
As I look at my watch this minute, and at the date taken logged on my First View photo - right about now, 1 week ago, I was drawing into Mo. Bastille.
SSSSSiiiiiggggghhhhh.
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Wonderful reports Ailidh! We are so happy that you had such a great time..
You didn%26#39;t mention if you had your books mailed home...I got in the habit to do that after having once my bag tagged by the airline (with a huge multi coloured tape) %26quot;caution! unsafe heavy load%26quot; or something like that...
I usually travel with a buddy and by now we are used to accidentally loose one another during the day (one will keep walking while the other pop in a store for 1 minute) , explore something unplanned on our own, then bump into one another a couple of hours later...
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