Paris: Day I

Not our real luggage.

We arrived in Paris at about 9:15 in the morning, having left Vienna at 7:00. This means we left our apartment at a little after 5:00 to catch the 5:30 shuttle to the airport. The inconvenience of such an early departure was completely outweighed by the benefit of getting to Paris with a whole day ahead of us.

We'd done some research (surprise!) to make sure we knew what to do once we got to Charles de Gaulle. Here's how. We followed all of the suggestions and had no problem finding the trains that go directly to Paris. We got on the RER B to St. Michel-Notre Dame, which was just a few blocks from our hotel in the Quartier Latin.

Our hotel was a wonderful, bohemian old gem: Hotel Saint Andre des Arts. Friendly staff, heavy keys that you leave at the desk when you go out, creaky and uneven stairs, and very basic accommodations. What the hotel lacks in luxury, it makes up for over and over in location. It's a great place to stay, and I can't imagine staying anywhere else.

We got to the hotel before noon and left our bags. Starving, we wandered the neighborhood and found Erik Kayser - a boulangerie chain, but one worth visiting. We grabbed some pieces of quiche and something sweet and walked around, eating them straight from the white paper they were wrapped in. A great start to what would become quite a gastronomic adventure.

After checking in and leaving our bags in our room, we headed out to explore. We walked from our hotel across the Seine to Notre Dame for a quick look. The weather was wild and I said to M, "Rain, sun, rain... there's going to be a rainbow."

It's hard to see, but there is a rainbow in this photo

We then walked over to Sainte-Chappelle, but there was a strange line of people who didn't seem to know if it was open, or if we had to wait for a tour, or what. So we decided to return in a bit.

I'm so glad we went back - it's extraordinary. I like this description:  
"Come and visit the Sainte Chapelle, a masterpiece of Flamboyant Gothic architecture built by Saint Louis in the heart of the Palais de la Cité on the Ile de la Cité in Paris. Discover its unique stained glass windows rendering the air iridescent with light and colour, symbols of the Heavenly Jerusalem." (from http://sainte-chapelle.monuments-nationaux.fr/en/). 

After that, we had lunch (or maybe lunch before St. Chappelle) and then returned to our neighborhood. While we were wandering around, we made a dangerous discovery. Its name is Maison Georges Larnicol and it is dangerous because they make, among a million other confections, these. We'd never heard of Kouignettes before. They are sticky, buttery, chewy rolled-up puff pastries with fillings such as FRAMBOISE (M's favorite) and CARAMEL AU BEURRE SALE (that's salted butter caramel and I am now addicted). Take a look at these beauties:

Photos from http://www.chocolaterielarnicol.fr

For those of you who know my husband, you know that he loves chocolate more than most anything. I am pretty sure I'm tied with chocolate for his affection. However, when he bit into the Frambroise Kouignette, he forgot about chocolate, me, rare first edition books, socks with stripes, and all the other things he loves. Seriously. So... we made this shop our daily stop before going back to the hotel each evening. Until one night... but you'll have to wait for that.

After discovering these little marvels, we decided we really ought to think about dinner. We happened to be walking down the narrow cobblestone street where Le Procope is. It was on our list of brasseries that we thought we might try. Not at the top of the list, and fairly touristy, but since we were right there, we decided that we'd just pop in and find out if we could make a reservation. Well, we decided that I'd pop in to make a reservation because "I speak French." (*snicker*) - since I'd just finished German classes the day before, my brain was finally thinking in German. I couldn't blubber a single word in French without adding something German. I was saying "Danke" all over the place. I forgot how to say 15 in French - our room number - I kept saying "Guten Morgen, Madame" to clerks. Quelle horreur! In any case, in I went.

The waitress I encountered in the empty restaurant (it was about 4:30 in the afternoon) led me to the hostess. She said "Non." There are no reservations for tonight. "Okay. Merci. Au revoir." But wait - "Uh, Madame, oww ehrrlee ehrr you weelling to have zee reservation?" "What time could you take us?" "Dix-sept heures et demi... C'est possible." DIX-SEPT HEURES ET DEMI. Think, Ellen, think. Okay. "Ten-Seven Hours and a Half." - Got it! 17:30. I'm still getting used to the 24:00 clock, so I have to then think about what that means. Subtract 12:00 from 17:30... 5:30 pm. "Oui, merci. Danke." I mumbled our name and stumbled out of there, my face hot with stupidity.

With an hour to waste, we popped into a cocktail bar called Le Pub Saint-Germain and had a drink. Then off to the early birds' dinner at Le Procope.

 

 It didn't seem very busy to us. Even by 7:30 (er.. 19:30), it still wasn't full.

It was fine. Nothing special, but we had fun. Then.... guess where we went after that?

We were exhausted after such a long day and knew we would have to go to bed early, since we had reservations at a museum the next morning at 9:30.