An Aaron in Paris
Sunday, August 26 - Friday, August 31, 2018
Paris, France
I know this is a little cliché, but I've been working on a gratitude journal lately, and today's entry will say, "I am so grateful that I got to spend four days in Paris with Aaron". (I know, you don't have to tell me. It's a bit sappy... I'm a romantic, what can I say?) But come on! I got to spend four days in Paris with Aaron! How lucky is that?! I'm going to keep going before I embarrass myself completely.
Anyway. As something of, you know, an expert tour guide, I was SO EXCITED to show Aaron around on his first visit. I don't know if we hit all the most conventional must-sees, but as one Parisian told us, "The Louvre will always be here when you come back".
We started out our first day, briiiiight and early, landing at CDG at 6:00am. After spending hours comparing Metro/Bus RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports or "Autonomous Operator of Parisian Transports) ticket prices, we decided a week-long Pass Navigo Découvert fit our needs the best. The Paris Metro system is divided into 5 zones. CDG is in Zone 5, Versailles is in Zone 4, and central Paris is in Zone 1. To buy a ticket from CDG to central Paris is about 10€ each way, and each ride within Zone 1 is 1,90€. So if we only rode RATP transportation twice a day, we were already at almost 30€. (Spoiler alert, we rode the Metro more than twice a day!) The Navigo Découvert Pass costs 22€ for a Monday-Sunday week (which fit our trip perfectly!), 5€ for the card, and another 5€ to get a photo for the card. The card is good for 10 years and can be refilled. Plus it's a nice little souvenir!
We checked into our hotel, Hotel Moderne St Germain early, and hit the town before 8:00am. We walked right into Notre Dame Cathedral without waiting in line! You can't go to Paris without stopping at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame de Paris
We were going to try and climb the bell tower, but LOL we didn't feel like trying to navigate their complicated online queueing system. You have to download the app "DuckTheLine" and choose a time and then also still wait in a line??? It probably actually isn't that complicated but we went to the Musée de l'Armée instead.
Here are my thoughts on the Musée de l'Armée, as someone who took one whole museum studies course. They have a great collection. Probably thousands of suits of armor, uniforms from many periods and countries, military instruments, toy soldiers, swords, firearms, these HUGE topographical maps. And they have Napoleon's tomb. They've done an interesting job incorporating a few digital displays of different battles on topographical tables. Their building is also impressive, with the huge courtyard with a statue of Napoleon looking out over it from the second story. But their use of space and curation is horrible. They have some big rooms with a lot of things to see, but then they have others that have three rather unnotable pieces or that are completely text! Not to mention the signage doesn't clearly navigate you through the museum chronologically, even though it is collection-wise set up chronologically... Which leads me to their use of text. There aren't enough signs, but there is way too much text in a way too small font. Nobody is going to read 30 essays in a 20 point font in each room... That's just my five cents. Despite these super picky faults I've found, it's still impressive and worth a visit.
Aaron imitating the statue of Napoleon
(That you can't quite see in the background but it's there!)
Not gonna lie, after our visit, we crashed and took a two-hour nap. Whoops. But we woke up feeling refreshed and had a good meal at Delmas on Rue Mouffetard. Aaron tried 1664, a French beer, and said it actually tasted alright. But I don't know if I'd trust that review because Aaron also told me orange is his favorite flavor of Starburst, and everyone knows pink is the best. I'm not sure he has a super refined pallet. I think I'll just stick to a St. Germain or Aperol Spirtz.
Aaron at Delmas
After dinner, we took a walk through Luxemburg Gardens and introduced ourselves to all the ducks and queens of France.
Me at les Jardins Luxembourg
We finished out our evening with a trip to the Eiffel Tower. Instead of going right up to it, we went to the popular viewing area, the Trocadéro. There were people dancing to music (we tried!), out selling drinks and sparkly Eiffel Tower keychains, and taking pictures. We spent 2,50€ to ride one of the many carousels. It was just fun.
Aww the Taj Mahal
Vlog 80. An Aaron in Paris (8/26 - 8/27)
We hit up the Musée d'Orsay on Tuesday. (Much better curated than the Musée de l'Armée, thank you very much.) We spent way too much time trying to find the Picasso exhibit we'd seen advertised on the outside of the building and managed to find one single Picasso, on loan from Washington... And it wasn't even a classic Picasso, it was from his early period! "Boy and Horse" or something like that. Thankfully, we realized the Picasso exhibit doesn't open until September, and our faith was restored in the Musée d'Orsay.
Aaron on top the Musée d'Orsay
Then we headed over to the Montmartre district to stroll around. All the artists we out painting or drawing portraits for passersby. We had a salad (Aaron) and a chocolate ice cream (Cristiana) at a street cafe and enjoyed some people watching, before deciding to climb the dome of Sacré Coeur! (P.S. I think Aaron and I can both agree that the ice cream was superior to the salad, but someone said he needed "real food".)
Sacré-Coeur
On top the Dome
Now, if you know me fairly well, you'll know I have a thing for natural history museums. I love them. And I have been wanting to go to Paris's Grande Gallerie d'Evolution for YEARS! Their entire natural history museum complex is spread out across the Jadin des Plantes, with the exception of the Musée de l'Homme, which is at the Trocadéro, but this is the building I wanted to see. And I wasn't disappointed! It's in this old, open building that they've renovated to include lighted ceiling and wall tiles, and elevators. The lights change to simulate the passing of day to night and back. Most of their collection of animals is out, instead of being in glass dioramas. Most of the other comparable natural history museums I've visited (the Field Museum of Natural History, the American Museum of Natural History, etc.) use dioramas to display their animals. I liked how different but equally well done it was. Not to mention, we got in for free!!!
The Grande Gallerie d'Evolution
Vlog 82. Orsay Can You Seeeeee
That night, we were lucky enough to be invited over to Aaron's aunt and uncle's house for an authentic French dinner! It was FANTASTIC! Thank you thank you to Merri and Jean-Pierre for welcoming us into their home.
Some AMAZING profiteroles
On our last day, we woke up early (and by early I mean I rolled out of bed at 9:30am) and took the bus to the catacombs to get in line. The catacombs stretch for miles under Paris but only a little stretch is open to the public. (Although I've heard you can illegally hire a private guide to take you into other areas, and that there are even secret dinner parties down there! Next trip, Aaron?) They were originally stone mines. Bones have been stored down there since the late 1700s, as a solution to overflowing Parisian cemeteries. It didn't become what we see now until the 1800s when it was arranged as a tourist attraction. What I forgot about the catacombs, is that there are all these dramatic plaques with death quotes on them. Some 1800s designer had a lot of fun with this place. Over the door to the ossuary, they painted the Virgil quote, "Stop! Here lies the empire of the dead", which, frankly is a little melodramatic. But fun! Super fun! I would've done the same thing.
The Catacombs
Now... All week we'd been riding the metro, right? And they have all these signs plastered up down there advertising different events and things. And we were reading them like any good consumer would do, and we happened to see that there was a Game of Thrones exhibit in town... So like the huge nerds we are, we paid 20€ to go to the Game of Throne Experience and see a bunch of the real props and costumes! Wow. Just... Wow. No regrets. Plus we got these bomb pictures on the iron throne! (It did, however, spark a debate over which of us would sit on the Iron Throne.)
Cristiana on the Iron Throne
Aaron on the Iron Throne
We rounded out our evening by seeing Ionesco's "La Leçon" at Theatre de la Huchette. I think I mentioned it in one of my January posts, but Theatre de la Huchette has been playing two Ionesco shows, "La Cantatrice Chauve" and "La Leçon" since 1957. I think my January review of the theater was less than positive, but I enjoyed myself quite a bit this time. And I managed to stay awake! I think I just like "The Lesson" better than "The Bald Soprano". Aaron was a good and willing sport, to sit through a show completely in French. But luckily, as a theater major, he's read "The Lesson" and was able to appreciate other aspects of it.
Vlog 83. [insert GoT music here]
Maybe the best part of the evening though was after that, we got a pair of Nutella street crêpes, and walked along the Seine. There were a bunch of boat bars docked, with tables spilling out onto the walkways and live music. ALSO, omg did you know Paris has loads of rats?! There were a bunch of them crawling around at night, especially on some of the less populated river walkways, and by Notre Dame. We even saw a baby rat! And a subway mouse! I mean, I've seen "Ratatouille", but I guess I just didn't believe it. That'll teach me to doubt Pixar.
I'll call this masterpiece, "Little Subway Mouse"
What a great way to end the summer, amirite? Thanks for a great trip, Aaron!
View from the hotel balcony
À bientôt, Paris!
Cristiana
