Life goes on...

This post is a copy of my final report to tripadvisor.com. There may be a little repetition - sorry:) Tripadvisor is a brilliant resource, no matter where you're planning to explore. I'm going to Macau tomorrow! I'm going to Macau tomorrow! With Karen and Whitney and Rachel! Yay!

I'm back home in Hong Kong, now, and Paris seems another world away. I neglected my blog, so these tidbits are not necessarily in the right order.

We had wonderful weather during our month in Paris, but one slightly rainy day, we headed up to Sacre Coeur, and it was beautiful. I didn’t research the route carefully enough, though, and we were momentarily lost and the kids were a bit edgy in the neighbourhood in which we found ourselves…. It’s a wonderful church to visit, though. Our day in Versailles was wonderful. We bought the Transilien tickets, which included the RER fare. It meant we were able to skip the regular line, which was long. It’s worth noting that if you have under 18’s they don’t need to queue. Some places, like the Musee de l’Armee, or the Louvre, still require under 18’s who are free, to line up and get the ticket, but Versailles doesn’t. We went right in. Don’t try to take any food into the chateau. The xray machine will catch it. My favourite thing was Marie Antoinette’s estate – it’s amazing – probably more like a fairytale village than a real one, though. Make sure you study the map, as it can be a bit confusing. We hired bikes for an hour at the end of the day, to ride around the canals. It was 6.5 euros, I think. Cheaper rates for half and whole days.

We had two great Eiffel Tower experiences. We ate at Altitude 95, for my son’s 18th birthday. We had a brilliant time. The food was delicious, the waiter very friendly. He joked about with our 11 year old. We came down near 11, and saw the very blue Tower do its sparkly thing. Surreal. Another day, we took a picnic in and ate on the most beautiful grass, sort of between the Champs de Mars and the tower – a sort of out of the way, quiet little place. Then we lined up to take the lift. Unfortunately, some time around 10, they closed off the 3rd floor due to overcrowding. This happened another night when we went, so I’d suggest going earlier if you really want to go to the 3rd floor. I so did! I love the iron lady, and find myself thinking about it….. Angelina’s Tea Salon is worth it for the atmosphere, but I found the Mont Blanc a bit bland. Very sweet but not much flavour. The Africain was very nice, but I prefer an Italian hot chocolate, which I find richer. Worth going though – great fun.

The Vedettes du Pont Neuf were great fun and quite economical. If you go at night, quietly check out the park right next to where you exit the boat, on the right. It was teeming with rats! My 11 year old found this fascinating… My husband and I really enjoyed the Musee de l’Armee. It is vast! So much to see. I was particularly interested in the Resistance section, and the Deportation section. Don’t take young kids to this particular part – it is far more graphic than the Memorial de la Shoah. It’s interesting – it doesn’t focus on the people, like the Shoah Memorial. It shows the brutality of the camps. Warning – graphic photos. We went back on the 14th July (it was free!) and saw the bits we missed on the first day, and the kids and I bought sandwiches for about 4 or 5 euro at the cafeteria. We also went to the Musee Carnavalet in Le Marais, which was interesting, but I was museumed out by this stage and didn’t soak it up as much as I should have.

Someone on tripadvisor recommended buying ready-made meals at Picards, and we found one right near our apartment. They were super – economical, and the kids loved them. My husband and I did, too.

Bastille Day was slightly disappointing. So many streets were blocked off that we couldn’t get near the parade. I did see some interesting helmets, towards the end, when the crowds had thinned and we could get a little closer. The flyover was the one spectacular highlight. Afterwards, we went back to the Musee de l’Armee, just in time to have the helicopters come and land right next to us, so that was a little compensation. After a visit and lunch, the kids went home, my husband went back to see visit World War I and II again, and I went for a second visit to the Louvre, to wander around self-indulgently. It was wonderful. I laughed afterwards though. When I came out from the Louvre, a ring scam perpetrator got me!!! I kicked myself that the scenario was a good two minutes in before a light flashed ‘TRIPADVISOR – GOLD RING SCAM!) and I realized what was happening. The woman seemed so nice, so motherly! I laughed out loud. I should have realized straight away, of course, or at least when she ignored my suggestion that we find a policeman, to turn it in. Later that night, we went to the Champs de Mars, with every other Paris resident/visitor, but the fireworks were all fired from the river side of the Tower, and they only seemed to be fired from the ground, rather than the higher floors. The real bummer was trying to get home. We walked all the way to the Marais, mostly in a huge crowd of people. It was a long day.

A friend joined us for 1 day, and when I made some suggestions about itinerary, she wanted to do the bikeabout bicycle tour, so I did it a second time, with her. She absolutely loved it. I cannot recommend it enough.

For our very last day, we relented and went to Disneyland. After only having been to Hong Kong Disneyland, Euro Disney was fantastic. We had a great day. I wish I’d decided to go, earlier though. If you buy the tickets through FNAC, five days before you want to go, they are only 29 euro, instead of 49, for adults. They have a promotion on at the moment where you go back for free, but there must be a seven day break between visits. On the way, a Quebequois guy heard us talking in English, and warned me about taking care of valuables on the metro. He went on to tell how he was stabbed three times in the stomach when someone stole his expensive camera. To the surprise and probably concern of the other non-English speaking RER patrons, he lifted his shirt right up and showed me his scar! It was a bit strange. He stood with his hand on the top of his pants, and I had this horrible fear that he was going to flash my daughter and me. Fortunately, he didn’t. I blame the ring-scam lady for making me paranoid.

It’s so hard to be brief! We loved Paris. It was sad leaving the apartment. I was very shocked at how poor CDG is, on the way back, because we had to spend some time there. After checking in, there was absolutely nowhere to sit until our boarding gate was posted and we were allowed through. So many people sat on the floor! Including us! I feel a sense of sadness about not being in Paris, now, but I was also glad to see Hong Kong again. As we stood on the Peak yesterday, with our visitors, my husband reminded me that just over a week ago, we were on the Eiffel Tower. Sigh. One compensation is that I’m off on a girls’ trip tomorrow, to the Macau Venetian for a couple of days. From the sublime to the ridiculous! Thanks for all your help. Tripadvisor is an amazing resource. Au revoir, mes amis, et merci.

What I will miss about Paris

The history. I loved soaking up centuries of stories. The place is full of narrative. The French put up lots of little signs around the place marking where events happened. There are still cannonballs stuck in building walls from centuries ago. I sat on Charles V’s toilet. I walked where Napoleon walked. I walked around the keep of medieval castles. This was absolutely the greatest aspect of Paris, for me.
The food. Patisseries, chocolate, baguettes, our incredible meal on the Eiffel Tower for Alex’s birthday. The cheeses. The ice cream. It was all wonderful. I admit that I brought home 8 packets of demi-baguettes which need another 10 minutes in the oven, and 4 packets of crepes...
A sense of celebration. It seems like the whole time we were in Paris, (I’m on the British Airways Airbus right now) there was always some party happening. There was the Fete de la Musique, the Fete du Cinema, summer events, 14th July, the Solidays celebration, the Tropical carnival at Bastille, the markets…. There was a feeling of joy about.
The music. I was amazed to see Parisian buskers. Often, these would be a string octet, or quartet, an opera singer, or someone with a clarinet or a violin would hop on the metro, play for a bit and then pass a cup around. I really saw people playing piano accordions in parks and on bridges. I thought about Brisbane, and the guy who used to play under Anzac Square, with the recorded karaoke tracks…. It was wonderful!
Sleeping in. Enough said.
Totally uninterrupted family time. We spent almost every minute together. After the first few days, I wondered if we’d survive. I used to think I’d like to be one of those families that goes and lives as an experiment in an ecosphere, or in Antarctica, but after the first couple of days in Paris, I thought it mightn’t be such a good idea. After a couple of weeks, though, I decided that we would not only survive, we would enjoy it. It was so much fun being together!

What I will not miss about Paris

This is a short list: the smell of cigarette smoke and the smell of urine.
I couldn’t believe how many people smoke in Paris. Even at Disneyland, with kids everywhere, there were smokers. After the Parade, when it was dark, and the fireworks were about to start, I looked into the crowd, and the cigarettes put on their own little light show. I can’t believe I’m looking forward to breathing Hong Kong air!
The second thing is the smell of urine. In Paris there are public toilets and there are public toilets. It could be a territory marking ritual, as people (I’m not going to be sexist and say it’s only men….. ) seem to pick a spot and stick to it. Perhaps someone smells someone else’s urine and wants to put their own scent over the top of it. I noticed it in parks as well as metros, and on some streets. I would say I smelled human urine every day. Euros. I like Hong Kong dollars much better. I’d rather have $100HKD than 10 euro. It just seems like more! I had to keep reminding my family that amounts were not in dollars.

The Happiest Place on Earth

I am sitting at Charles de Gaulle Airport, waiting at Gate 29 to board our flight to Heathrow. This is not one of the world’s great airports. After we checked in, and discovered that our seats are all separate on the London/Hong Kong leg, there was nowhere to sit down until our boarding gate was posted. Like tons of other people, we ended up sitting on the floor. Now we’re quite comfortable.
Yesterday the kids and I went to Disneyland. It was FANTASTIC!!! We had a ton of fun. We went on all the roller coasters and lots of other rides. It was quite busy, but we used our Fastpass to save time, and we didn’t spend a huge amount of the day queueing. The parade was a bit of a letdown, though. It’s just all lights, and the actors looked more like the mannequins than the mannequins did. We had lunch at Pizza Planet, which was fun.
On the way there, we had an interesting experience on the RER. A Quebecois man heard me talking English to the children, and he asked me what the time was. When he stood up, waiting for his stop, he started talking to me, and he warned me to be very careful of valuables, because there is a lot of crime in the Metro. He started to tell me this story about how he got stabbed three times because someone wanted his expensive camera. Then he lifted up his shirt to show me the scars on his stomach! I don’t know what all the French were thinking. We were talking in English, so they would have had no idea why he suddenly flashed his belly. I was a bit worried he might do worse, but luckily that was the end of it. An interesting start to a Disneylicious day. It was such a hoot hanging out with the kids, and spending time doing something completely silly and fun. One of my favourite parts was when we were lining up for Thunder Mountain, and I showed them the ‘dreaded Tapeye’ – something I learned at university. It involves lightly but quickly tapping on someone’s eyelids, preventing them from opening their eyes. Alex thought I’d said the German Tapeye, and he then invented the German Holdnose, where you squeeze someone’s nose and cup the same hand over their mouth, so they can’t breathe. We laughed our heads off trying to perfect this maneuver, and managed to do it to each other simultaneously.
During the parade it struck me that Disneyland prepares kids for Las Vegas as adults. It’s absolute escapism. Nothing is real. There is so purpose but to have fun. Technology is crucial and often very impressive, always designed to make things which are unreal look real. And there are incredibly bright lights. The parade is really nothing but bright lights. At one stage, one of the princess/prince combinations held hands and suddenly they were illuminated by lights sewn into their clothes. I imagine these outfits are not very practical. Prince Charming couldn’t get very far with that power cord coming out the tail of his tux.
It was a super fun day, with great fireworks. Euro Disney is a million times more entertaining than Hong Kong Disney!
Today we spent packing, doing the washing, and cleaning the flat. It was very rushed, but we made it. Outside the terminal, there is a Concorde on display. Can’t wait to get home!

Les Francais

I have conducted a very complex and rigorous study of French people while in Paris for the last month, and here are my conclusions. French women are better dressed than Australian women, but not more beautiful. French men are better dressed than Australian men. Both sexes are slightly shorter than Australians. Many of them smoke.
French women are always better dressed and more elegant than the average Aussie woman. They almost always wear heels, and I don’t think they’d be caught dead out in their tracky dacks. I bet they don’t even own any. It’s a standard joke that all the white tennis shoes belong to foreign tourists. I was surprised to see that a lot of French women, even quite young ones, wearing stockings, even when it was very warm. A larger percentage of French women go braless than Australians. They tend to dress up more, but wear less makeup. It took me a while to be able to articulate the slight hardness about them. Their look says “Come hither” and “Get lost” at the same time.
They kiss a lot in public. They smoke too much. They are mostly very friendly.

Versaillles

On Monday, we spent the day at Versailles. It was beautiful, and it’s a spectacular chateau. The gardens are amazing and vast. My favourite part was, as it was last time, Marie Antoinette’s estate. Louis XVI built this little escape place for her about 1.5 km from the chateau. There is a hamlet of cottages, little ponds, animals, a gazebo, a lighthouse, and lots of walks. It was absolutely beautiful. Given that she herself was an Austrian princess before she came to France, I think she had a rather idyllic view of country life, especially considering how tough things were for the poor at that time. It looks more like a fairy tale village than a real place. It is beautiful though, and I can see why she wanted to spend time there. I was a bit sad that she was guillotined. There must have been other options. It’s ironic that the public wanted to kill her because of her position and wealth, when today people can’t get enough of it. Thousands flock to ‘her’ chateau and her little estate. The exhibition about her life at the Grand Palais was jam-packed when we went to see it.

Aux armes citoyens!

I kn0w I have been terrible at maintaining my blog since Alex's birthday, and I will catch up. Here is a quick, unedited summary of yesterday, Bastille Day.
In the morning, we went to the parade, but we couldn't actually see it, because so many roads were blocked off, and by the time we got to a spot where we could see the road, there were too many people in front of us, but I can tell you that some of the soldiers wore very nice helmets.
The flyovers were fantstic - I always love them.
Next we went to the Musee de l'Armee, which was free for the day, and that was a treat. David and Hugo were lining up to get in a fighter jet cockpit, Alex was taking photos and Rachel and I were sitting on the softest grass ever, when the helicopters came flying very low over us and then landed in front of the musee. We went into the Musee and saw the suits of armour, which we missed the other day, and then the kids said they were too hungry to continue, so we went to the cafeteria and ate some sandwiches. David kept looking at the Musee. The kids said they'd like to go home, so David stayed at the Musee, the kids went home on the metro, and I went to the Louvre for a last look. It was also free yesterday. I had a wonderful, indulgent time looking at things by myself, and got see some Donatello (I loved him) and Michaelangelo sculpture, and Rembrandt, and Fra Angelica, and Botticelli (the most beautiful women in the Louvre, in my opinion, but they always look sad - Mary even looked a bit cranky in one painting), Rubens (love those cherubs), Van Dyck, and more I'll remember later. Of course I hung about with Leonardo again for quite a while. The exhibit which surprized me the most was Napolean III's rooms - they made all the other chateau interiors seem like a tent. They were incredibly opulent and gorgeous.
Afterwards, on my way up Rue de Rivoli, a woman found a ring, and offered me money to keep it. TRIPADVISOR talk about the 'gold ring scam' every week - I can't believe it took me several minutes to realize that was what it was. She was so pleasant and motherly!! I laughed out loud when I realized what was going on.
After vegging with Rachel in front of youtube for an hour or so, we headed off to get McDonalds (about $10 AUD for a meal) we went to the Champs de Mars, outside the Eiffel Tower, to see the fireworks. There were literally tens of thousands of people, and it was a bit stressful. The fireworks were great, with fun music (operas and well-known classics) but if I'd known how hard it would be to get home, we probably mightn't have gone. We walked as part of a crowd for about three kilometres, then caught the metro on the other side of the Seine. It was the first time I've been in a train that was so packed you didn't have to hold on to anything.
It was such a relief to get home! Today is a big day - I'm taking the kids to 'the happiest place on earth'. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like. It's the most expensive Disneyland yet. The day will cost a little bit more than our dinner on the Eiffel Tower, but we thought we'd go out with a bang. Wish we'd had more sleep, though!

Happy Birthday Alex!

Yesterday was Alex's 18th birthday. We had a WONDERFUL day! In the morning, David, Rachel and I went off to check out the Bastille markets - fruit, vegies, cheeses, seafood, meat, spices, olives, clothes, shoes, fabric - all sorts of stuff. It was really fun.

After we got home, Alex and I set off to do some birthday shopping. We went to Les Halles, but it was all a bit overwhelming, and we ended up buying nothing. Forum des Halles is kind of dark, and we wandered aimlessly for ages. In the end, Alex had had enough and we put off the actual purchasing part for another day.

We did however make it to Angelina's Salon de The, opposite the Tuilleries garden next to the Louvre. I'd read a lot about it on travel forums, and was keen to try its famous hot chocolates. There was a queue of over twenty people in front of us, but we were stalwart, and waited. The queue actually moved quite fast. Inside, the decor is lovely. It was established in 1903, and boasts the patronage of many famous writers and historical figures. I would say it's worth going, but mostly for the atmosphere. The 'Africain' hot chocolate was lovely, if not quite hot enough. I still don't think it's as good as a good Italian Chocolate, which is much more rich and thick. It was good, though. I had one of their famous Mont Blanc patisseries, which is a smallish circle of meringue, topped with whipped cream, covered in chestnut-flavoured icing. Chestnuts don't have a lot of flavour, in my opinion, but it was very sweet. Alex had a strawberry tart which he said was fantastic. It was fun, and I would certainly go again. The wait staff were extremely polite and the lady who looked after our table was very friendly. I found something interesting in the ladies' room upstairs. There was a sort of a cubicle with three sides covered in mirrors, so you could stand inside and look at yourself from all angles. I'm not sure how it has impacted on patisserie sales...

Alex and I came home and everyone got ready for our big night out. We bookede Altitude 95 on the Eiffel Tower, to celebrate Alex's eighteenth. It was SO MUCH FUN!!

Our sitting was at 9pm, which was fine, because we wanted to see the tower lit up, and it's dark until after 10, so the time suited us. The information booth people below the tower pointed us to the particular booth we needed to go to in order to buy our tickets to take the lift up to the restaurant - a little over 4 euros each. We then bypassed the queue and went up directly to the restaurant. It was one of my most fun nights, ever. We sat by the window in the corner, with a beautiful view of Paris, as well as being quite close to the steel frame of the tower. The service was excellent. Our young, friendly waiter played with Hugo a bit, over the night, and was wonderful. The food was fabulous. It doesn't always get great reviews, but our food was excellent.

We started with an amusing amuse-bouche - a short coffee cup full of a tomato mixture with herbs and garlic and croutons and little bread sticks. We'd booked a set menu online. For starters we had the choice of smoked salmon with little pancakes, or foie gras in truffle sauce. We had both and tasted each other's. Divine. So rich! For our main meal, we all chose veal and it was incredible. It was like a little roast, covered in a sort of spinachy butter. The vegetables were covered in a frothy roux sauce, with extra sauce in a tiny glass. I'd never had cooked radishes before, and they were beautiful. There was also what the waiter described as an old French vegetable - sounded like 'crone' but I can't find it in the dictionary. Hugo ate every bit of his vegetables. It's all in the sauce, apparently. The meal was divine.

Dessert was delicious. Some of us had their special cheesecake, and some had the Opera chocolate cake. It was such a fun night. The staff were very attentive, and the food was fabulous. And the view! I think it is something I will remember til I'm an old lady.

Afterwards, we admired the view for a while, and then we descended in the lift, and walked along the Champs de Mars, so we'd have a good view of the tower at midnight, which was only ten minutes away. The tower was illuminated a deep blue - quite spectacular. At midnight, as it does every hour, for ten minutes, the whole thing started to sparkle wildly - lights all over it flickered furiously. It made me gasp out loud! We had fun taking photos, and playing around.

Afterwards we took the metro home. It was an absolutely fantastic experience.

Sacre Coeur

On Wednesday, we had our first rainy day. It wasn't too bad, though. We went off in the afternoon, to try and find the German Operations room under the Gare de l'Est. Unfortunately, it's being worked on, and won't be open to the public until at least next year. A quick look at the map showed us that Sacre Coeur wasn't too far away, so off we went. In order to change trains fewer times, we took the metro to Chateau Rouge, and planned to walk. Stepping out onto Chicken St, we turned right instead of left. This took us to a very African part of Paris. It looked completely different. Eventually we were directed the right way, and walked up all the stairs to Sacre Coeur. At the top, near the church, is a beautiful park. The path is completely covered by a hanging ceiling of plants, which must look spectacular in bloom.

Sacre Coeur is a beautiful church. Inside there's a notice which says that someone is always praying there, day and night, and you can sign up to take a time slot during the night. There's also a sign which says that in 1944, thirteen bombs fell around the outside, and nobody was killed. It was a lovely place to sit peacefully for a while. Afterwards we walked down and made our way home. The Funiculair is a cable car which you can take up or down to save you walking the stairs. It's covered by regular transport tickets. We didn't see Montmartre really, and will have to get back there.