October 7, 2019. Trip Oversight
“You must be oh-so smart, or oh-so pleasant. For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant…and you may quote me.”
-Harvey, James Stewart
Top 12 Trip Picks
• Pyramids of Giza
• Parthenon – Athens, Greece
• Meteora, Greece (Kalabaka)
• Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
• West Cork, Ireland
• Banks of the Seine, Paris, France
• London along the Thames
• Luxor, Egypt
• Dublin, Ireland
• Peloponnese, Greece
• Dubrovnik/Trogir/Zadar, Croatia
• Cappadocia, Turkey
Lesson Learned: No matter what, go to France. Everyone owes themselves this experience. While there, no matter its reputation, keep in mind that French food can be hit or miss, just like everywhere else in the world (except maybe Italy, where it’s always fabulous). We’ve had very good meals here (with great service), and we’ve had food we refused to eat and sent back to the kitchen, always with waiters snarling at us because we are stupid Americans. The Greeks do fabulous pork and lamb, Croatians great lamb, bacon and sausages, French snails, pastries, and sauces are wonderful. We enjoyed the Croatian wines as much as anything we had in France.
Traditional French sausage is like kissing a pig’s ass. It’s awful. It’s made out of tripe, I knew that, and I’ve had tripe many times, but I thought the chef would at least wash it out before they put it in the sausage. I don’t think they did, they must consider it extra aroma and flavor. I consider it shit.
When you order meat here in France be sure you are aware they do a lot of raw meats and when you order medium, it’s more like what you’d expect medium rare to be in the States. If you order something rare…….make sure its dead before you tuck in.
All in all, I think the food in Italy was better than what we’ve found in France. I will be the first to admit, we’ve not gone to a Michelin star restaurant, but do we have to? Eating in Paris is already as expensive as New York City or San Francisco, so I really don’t want to pay for that level of experience. I also don’t want to wear a tie to dinner.
If you come to France, you’ve got to do the snails. Other than that, the buyer beware.
If Everybody Likes You, You’re Pretty Dull
Seven months on the road and countless sites seen, cities lived in, countries visited, and cultures experienced leave you with countless memories. The experiences fill you with fresh opinions, unexpected thrills, new friendships, and real-life exposure to images and places we’ve dreamed about our entire lives, and twice as many more that we never expected. It also leaves you with a yearning to see more. Ellen and I were on the road for 213 days, eight countries (not counting Iceland, or Bosnia-Herzegovina), we slept in 51 different beds, visited 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and explored who knows how many towns and cities.
But we’ve also got a list of the things we’ve seen, and places we really enjoyed. Friends continually ask what we enjoyed the most on our journey. That’s tough to decide, or rank from first to last. That’s like asking “What’s your favorite food.” or “Who is your favorite child?”, give me a break. Our trip experience was cumulative, and difficult to separate the experience into discrete events. Much of what we did or saw built upon the events of the previous day or week, and blended over our travels to paint our memories. Here are a few of our favorite memories from our travels in 2019. You may have heard of these places before, but here’s a list of experiences we’d do again. Today I’ll review, Banks of the Seine, Paris, France.
We’ll Always have Paris
How can you not enjoy Paris? It’s a world class city with so much to see. We spent over 3 weeks here and still had more we wished we could have seen. According to Paul McQueen, in 2017, “There are more than 6,100 roads in the city of Paris and you can rank them any number of ways: by age, length, average property price, and even, subjectively, by beauty. But none of that means anything if they’re not especially fun places to hang out.”
I think we walked almost every one of the 6,000 streets during our stay. We even got to the point where we knew the short-cuts down side streets to find our next adventure. But, none of the sights we found rivaled our boat ride on the Seine at sunset. It’s the best bargain in Paris. Ten Euros for a one-hour ride. Be sure to do it. If nothing else, it’s the best way to ensure you are on the streets of the Left Bank after dark soaking in all the sights and sounds of this vibrant city. Go out, eat, drink a little too much, get lost, get found, watch all the people, and discover why this city has such a romantic reputation.
Our normal routine started with a walk around the city. Or, perhaps jumping onto the metro for a distant locale before we hopped off for a little walk-about. One of our favorite walks took us to the Petit Palais. It was on our list of places to see. There are so many museums in Paris, you need to pace yourself to keep from over-saturation of culture and art. Too much can make you numb to the splendor you see. We don’t have a personal rule, but we try to keep it to one museum a day, and often we’ll skip a day of visiting museums. The Petit Palais (small palace) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Of course, it’s right across from the Grand Palais. The Petit Palais is only small in the sense of comparison to its big brother. If you dropped it in Washington D.C. it would dwarf, or at least rival any museum in the city. In 1894 a competition was held to select an architect to design a new exhibition hall for the 1900 Exhibition. The competitor architects had the option to do what they pleased (alter, destroy, or keep) with the Palais de l’Industrie. In the end, Charles Girault won the competition and built the Petit Palais as one of the buildings that replaced the Palais de l’Industrie.
The best advice we received about Paris was given to us by a millennial couple in a café one evening. “Don’t judge the French people based on your encounters with Parisian waiters.” Perfect. I couldn’t have said it better.
It may take a little more effort to become acquainted with the French, than say it is with Greeks or the Irish, but they really can be friendly (though they can still be snooty as well) and it would really help if you spoke a little French. We got along just fine in Paris.
“I gave up drinking once — it was the worst afternoon of my entire life.”
-Humphrey Bogart
Like all large cities, there are tourist scams in Paris. We’ve seen a few of the common scams which you may encounter. First are young women that present you with ‘petitions’ while you are walking through busy place (i.e. Sacre Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, or Musee d’Orsay). Do not sign the sheet as they’ll demand money. Not only that, they’ll follow you around persistently claiming your signature was a promise to pay them. The locals try to shoo them off, but women shysters are thicker than flies around a West Texas feed lot. Another common scam is being offered something by beggars, seemingly for free. C’mon people, you know better. Nothing is ever free. Don’t accept ‘bracelets’ or roses when someone offers you one in a restaurant. I did see one lady drop the rose to the pavement and stomp on it in Athens, but I thought that went beyond rude. Just say “No Thanks.” These people are just trying to make a buck, after all. So, despite the person insisting it’s a gift, once you accept the ‘gift, they’ll demand compensation for the ‘gift’.
“Le Marais?’
‘It’s a little district in the center of Paris. It is full of cobbled streets and teetering apartment blocks and gay men and orthodox Jews and women of a certain age who once looked like Brigitte Bardot. It’s the only place to stay.”
― Jojo Moyes, Me Before You
I’m not going into any detail on what to do in Paris. If I did, this post would be 50 gigs long. Its worth noting that on the first Sunday of the month Paris museums are free. Crowded, but free. We saw the Museum d’Orsay this way. We had a great time and saved ourselves 28 Euros. If you don’t go on this day, book your tickets online. This will save you up to an hour on your visit. Check around, most busy venues do this. You can also buy a Paris Pass or a Museum Pass. This will save you time and money. We skipped this because we are here for a month, but if you are going to be here for 4 or 5 days, and plan on packing sites and museums on your itinerary, this may be the way to go for you.
“Our countries have been friends dating to the very existence of the United States. France is the only power that has never been at war with the United States.”
- Marine Le Pen
Lastly, keep in mind that Paris can be an expensive city, especially in the summer. To help minimize the financial impact learn to love the metro. It goes all over Paris and is very economical to ride. Buy the book of ten tickets, called a carne (kar-nay), which are sold at a discounted rate, or just buy a metro card that you can recharge. You can also split them up among multiple riders. Make sure that you hold on to your ticket until you are finished riding, and have exited the station as some transfers require feeding your ticket again.
Where to stay: Find apartment in one of the smaller arrondissements (districts). There are 20 arrondissements, which start on the Île de la Cité and spiral outwards in a clockwise circle. Find the city flavor that suits your style and your pocketbook. Book in advance, the good places stay booked, but are easier to snag in the off season.
How long should you stay: As long as you can, while avoiding June through August.
What to see:
• The Seine
• Sunset Seine river cruise
• Musée du Louvre
• Eiffel Tower
• Champs-Élysées/ Arc de Triomphe
• Sacré-Coeur Basilica
• Montmartre District
• Musée d’Orsay
• Left Bank
• Centre Pompidou
• Pere-Lachaise Cemetery
• The Catacombs
• Le Grand & Petit Palais.
• Luxembourg Gardens
• Chateau de Versailles (reluctantly)
• Musée Rodin
• Sainte-Chapelle/ Conciergerie (combo ticket)
• Burned out Notre Dame Cathedral
• Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann
• Moulin Rouge Caberet
• The Pantheon
• The Opra House
• Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
• Le Marais District
• Jardin des Tuileries
• Musée Picasso
• Canal Saint-Martin
• Many, many more things
Next Up: London along the Thames