Weekend in Paris

 After a short two hour flight, I had arrived back in Paris, ready to experience some of the sites and tastes (and smells) that I missed in my prior trip to the city.  With dinner reservations later in the evening, I thought I had plenty of time to take the Air France bus into the city, and check into the hotel.  While the bus arrives every 15 minutes, it was over an hour delayed, and my dinner plans were at risk (More on the reason for the delay later in the blog).  Once I arrived at the bus stop, I had to make my way over to the business district of Paris, known as La Defense.  After a couple taxi rejections, one informed me the La Defense area was just up the street, and I started to walk.  Paris, like all European cities, was built 100s of year ago, and unlike US grids, parallel and perpendicular streets are nonexistent, which make navigation extremely challenging.  To further complicate things, street names will change from one block to the next, and street signs are actually posted on the 2^nd floor of the corner buildings.  Even in La Defense, which was built recently, you will find multiple roundabouts, on different levels, with pedestrian walks 3 stories above street level.  Needless to say, I finally found a taxi to take me to my hotel, and I arrived at my hotel, 3 hours after the dinner reservation. 

 The next day began much better.  Using the metro, the morning started with tea and breakfast at a café while people watching in the city.  Across the street was the famous Denise Acabo Chocolat Confiserie, where I picked up some really great tasting chocolate and caramel delights, almost too sweet for my taste, however, as most who know me will say, that is highly impossible.  Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower for photos, and a nearby museum which had a photography exhibit that contained some very interesting and dramatic work by the photographers, as well as narrative about the artist and the reasons behind their work.  The afternoon ended with a tour of the sewers, which most would think sounds odd, but Paris was one of the first cities to develop a system for water filtration.  The system dates back to 1370 when the first underground system was constructed.  Unique compared to other tours in Paris, it was interesting to see but I did welcome the fresh air once the tour ended.  Later in the evening, rain dampened the plans for a river cruise, so it was off to dinner, which the menu consisted of seafood and I sampled different crustaceans.  Unlike American cuisine, all of these samples were still in the same form which they were caught in the sea, complete with head and legs.  But this is all about new experiences and living the European way, not trying to force my American way of living in a foreign land, and actually, the food was very tasty.   

Notre Dame de Paris

 The next morning, I got a late start, but headed to Sacre Coeur and found a great view of Paris from above.  As typical in Europe, there was a nice festival with local arts and crafts near the church.  The next stop was the Galeria Lafayette shopping center and a tour of the opera house.  The afternoon ended with a walk through the Louvre courtyard over to Notre Dame Cathedral.

The Louvre

 The trip definitely would not end without some drama.  My flight out of Charles De Gaulle was scheduled to leave at 8:40 PM.  Since I became very familiar with the subway, I thought departing hotel at 5:40 PM would be perfect.  I talked with the Metro sales agent and bought my ticket to the airport.  At the transfer station, I waited for my train to CDG.  After 30 minutes, and 5 trains passing, I wondered what the problem might be as I was starting to cut my flight close.   

Arc de Triomphe

La Defense Arch

Finally, I inquired and was informed that because of the Air France strikes, trains to CDG were not running, and I had to take the train to a different station, and then take a shuttle bus to the airport.  I found out the strike was the same reason why my shuttle bus took so long on Friday.  It might have been nice of the sales agent to inform me of this change, or maybe have the metro post a sign at the transfer station, but no time to complain, as I was starting to cut my flight close.  However, the other thing I did not realize was daylight savings in Europe began a week earlier than the US (Not that I had any clue US daylight savings was Nov 6), and while I made it to the airport at the time prior to departure I thought I would, it came with a little more excitement that I thought.  Labor strikes and maintaining flexible plans will be just another thing I will have to learn while residing here.

Opera House

Sacre Coeur

Inside the sewers (Fortunately, this is not a scratch and sniff)

Finally, from Notre Dame, there are numerous statues on the cathedral, and this one of St. Denis is only one holding holding his head.  He was Bishop of Paris and was martyred shortly after A.D. 250. After his head was chopped off, Denis is said to have picked it up and walked ten kilometres (six miles).