Paris trip

This is a summary of my trip with my wife to Paris in May of 2012.

Thursday

Our trip began, in New York City, with a subway ride to Penn Station, New Jersey Transit train ride to Newark, and a shuttle to our terminal. We arrived comfortably early, printed our boarding passes, and had our bags examined, weighed, and deemed acceptable to carry on. Because my wife is a preferred flier of silver or gold status, we were even able to board the plane before the masses, which made boarding the plane stress free.
Our first mission in Paris was to get to the hotel. We bought tickets to use the RER train to take us to the Saint Michel Notre-Dame Station. It was about 10 Euros for each one-way ticket. After a quick ride, less than half an hour, it only took us about 15 more minutes to walk with our rolling luggage bags from the “Saint-Michel Notre-Dame” station to our hotel, Hotel Abbatial.

Our room was not ready for checking in when we arrived, so we left our bags with the hotel and took a walk to the Ile d’Cite, where Notre Dame sits. We walked around a bit and eventually returned to the hotel to check in.

After a nap, we decided to go to the Eiffel tower. We bought a ten-pack of subway tickets, and then rode the subway to the tracadero area. On the way, from within the subway, I had my first ever look at the Eiffel tower, and it was impressive. When we got to the Tracadero stop, we walked into a restaurant and had steak, fries and beer. Afterwards we saw the Eiffel tower, saw the Eiffel tower light up, walked around a bit, and then went home.

Friday

First thing Friday morning, we walked over to the Lourve. When we got there, a bit before 9 am, a line of around 100 people or so was already waiting to enter. At 9 am, when the museum entered, the line quickly moved and we were inside the museum in about 15 minutes. The tickets are about 10 Euros each, or they are covered by the Paris Museum Pass. We used Rick Steve’s Audio Tour to help navigate the museum and we only explored the Denon wing. This wing holds the famous Mona Lisa.

We exited the Lourve about 2-3 hours later. We walked through the Palais Royal courtyard towards the Champs Elysses Boulevard. On Champs Elysses, we had Italian food for lunch. We also walked through Laduree, a fancy chocolate shop, which has macaroons (which is a fancy chocolate/snack. We didn’t buy anything there. We also went to the original Louis Vuitton, and we bought a wallet. My wife assures me that with the exchange rate, and tax rebate, we somehow made money.

We continued to walk to the end of Champs Elysses to the Arc De Triomphe. We took some pictures on the street, but we didn’t go up. Unfortunately, this was the low point of the trip. Here, my wife had her phone pick-pocketed. Since we knew the phone was passcode locked, we tried to keep our spirits up, but this definitely brought down our mood. We took a subway to our next planned stop, Centre Pompidou, but lacking energy and a bit distraught about the stolen phone, we decided to go back to the hotel, so that my wife could check accounts and change passwords with the hotel wifi connection.

We then returned to the Latin Square area near our hotel and went to a pub. We sat outside and saw many people walk by and stop to stare into the bar as there was a big soccer match on. We had absinthe, where we melted sugar on top of, cherry beer, and I found my beer of choice, kronenbourg 1664. We ended the night with a trip to Mc’Donalds where I ordered a Royal with cheese.

Saturday

We went to the Orsay museum. The ticket was about 10 euros, but it was also covered by the Paris Museum Pass. This time, the line was even longer than the Lourve, and entrance took about 30-40 minutes. The orsay is a beautiful museum, built in an old train station. We were thoroughly impressed with the collection of art from Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, Monet, etc … We used Rick Steve’s audio tour. However, the pieces were not located where the audio tour expected them to be. Whenever we were able to match a painting to the audio tour, it the audio guide was informative and entertaining. For dinner we found a highly rated Pho place. It was ok, but eerily empty.

Sunday

We went to Saint Chapelle chapel. For about 10 euros again, we entered saw some huge stain glassed windows and left utterly disappointed. For free, you can walk through security, stand next to the chapel, and see one of the stain glassed windows. Then you can leave and save yourself some money.
We then walked all the way to the 7th arrondisement (one of the neighborhoods) to the Rodin museum. We ended up getting salads in the museum restaurant, which was affordable, just as a downpour struck. In another odd pricing scheme, we paid 1 Euro for the garden entrance and about 7 euros for the museum. In retrospect, the garden would have been sufficient as you can see the “Thinker” sculpture and the “Gates of Hell”. Inside the museum, you will find the original thinker with better descriptions. But, if you are on a budget, just go into the garden for 1 Euro. If you are hungry for more, you can buy the museum entrance fee after.

Afterwards we took a subway to Sacre Couer and Montmatre. We walked the steps to the chapel at the top of the hill, took some pictures and went into the town area for some food. We ate some sandwiches and found the area to be completely tourist overriden. The area once set aside for painters was now overtaken by a restaurant.

For dinner, we found a korean restaurant in the neighborhood.

Monday

We tried to go to Belgium on a day trip, but it proved to be too expensive. If you plan on going, it is probably best to buy a ticket at least one day in advance. We returned to our hotel area and had breakfast. After a nap, we took a walk to the Pantheon. It was about 7 euros, which is also covered by the Paris museum pass. We saw Foucalt’s pendulum and a number of tombs for some famous French people.

Tuesday

We went to the Marais Market and walked by the Bastille. We then walked to the Promenade Plantee, which was completely unimpressive.

After a few days of sightseeing, we decided to go to the Luxembourg gardens for a picnic and relaxation. At night, we took a boat tour on the Seine river. This was cheap and nice.

Wednesday

Flew home.

I'm sure we did more on Monday and Tuesday, which included shopping for souvenirs, drinking wine and beer, and eating delicious touristy Greek gyros. However, I didn't take good notes and I don't recall the details now.