Homage

In our day-to-day lives, Notre Dame de Paris didn't have much of a presence. But as the central monument of the entire country - did you know that all distances in France are measured from Notre Dame? - no visitor escaped being brought there. Consequently we've amassed quite a collection of shots of the place, and it's high time we posted a few.

Aux Folies

There's a café/bar down the street that's as emblematic of Belleville as the Chinese restaurants, the halal butchers, and the hill itself. It's called Aux Folies, and it's bobo central.

Busy all hours of the day, it's packed starting around 5 pm and continuing past midnight. No matter what the weather, as long as it's nighttime, every table outside the place will be occupied by smoking bobos. (Just in case you forgot, "bobo" stands for "bourgeois bohemian" and corresponds to "Williamsburg Trust-funders.")

Alyssa's shrug says it all. Of course the place is constantly crowded - it's way hip! And I'm not even being sarcastic. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em - that's what we did!

Hipness means: neon signs; pinball machine; tables and walls plastered with lacquered-over concert programs, sheet music, and ads from back in the day; the wicked cool, graffiti-covered, underground art gallery-laden Rue Dénoyez adjacent to the café.

It's only a minute up Rue de Belleville from Métro Belleville. And just in case you needed any more reasons to check it out, there's this tabletop, too amazing for words:

Eiffel Tower Tips

There are many things I love about Paris, but the Eiffel Tower (ET) is not one of them. Don't get me wrong - it's great to look at from far away and from up close, during the day and at night. I'm a big fan of the symbolism of it, its history, its architectural characteristics. But I don't like big crowds, I don't like waiting in line, and I don't like tourist traps. (ET: check, check, and check.) So even though we've been to the ET four times since September, until last week I hadn't actually been up the tower since 1999.

Last week, of course, was a special occasion: the first time my mom has ever visited me in Europe (she waited until my fifth stay of 2+ months to take the plunge). Once I had committed to "going up," I did everything in my power to eliminate the obstacles that normally keep me earth-bound. And I succeeded. If you, too, are interest in avoiding crowds, shortening your wait, and generally enjoying your experience of the ET, I have the following advice to offer:

1. Go on a weekday, preferably early in the week. Three of the four times we've been to the ET this year, it was Saturday and the place was mobbed. My mom, Cathy, and I went on a Tuesday and were shocked at how few people were around.
2. Arrive early. The tower opens at 9 and most people - especially jet-lagged people - aren't capable of getting there that early. We got there at 10:30 and walked right in (in part thanks to #3 below). By the time we left at 11, the line had already tripled in size. Cousins Ethan, Sandi, and Jacob arrived at the ET around 11 on a Saturday in October and waited around 45 minutes to take the stairs. 
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3. Buy tickets in advance. Most tourists don't know you can buy and print tickets online. Everyone waits in line for an hour or more just to buy tickets, then another lengthy period of time to enter the tower. Who wants to spend a trip to Paris waiting in line? Not this guy. Look, there's even a special entrance, just for you! 
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4. Take the stairs. The southwest pillar is the only one that allows you to climb to the first and second floors. The line there is usually shorter. Climbing is not only good exercise but gives you more time to appreciate your surroundings without the crowding you'll surely experience at each landing. And if you like counting things, you'll love counting the 600+ steps you'll take. Notice how the sign for the stairs includes an unfortunately-designed stick-figure (photo and Nazi-stick-figure-identification courtesy of JP): 
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5. Go up only as far as the second floor. I know this sounds lame, but due to construction (continuing Jan. 4 through Feb. 5) we were forced to stop at the second floor, and it couldn't have mattered less. The view from the second floor is ridiculous - you can see all of Paris quite clearly, as well as many of the suburbs. The higher you go, the better the chance you'll be in the clouds (literally) or that the ground will be too hazy to make out much of anything. Moreover, after you get up to the second floor, you have to wait in a new line to take the single elevator up to the summit. So now you're waiting in line for another significant chunk of time, which (again) is not my idea of funtimes. Consider that the first floor is 187 ft. (57 m) above ground level, the second floor is 377 ft. (115 m) high, while nearly every other building in Paris (with the exception of the Tour Montparnasse) rises no higher than 121 ft. (37 m). This is all to say, there's nothing you can see from the summit that you can't see from the second floor.

This advice serves mainly to ensure a speedy, efficient, and relatively un-crowded visit. It does not ensure ideal visibility, which depends heavily on the weather and season (going earlier in the summer is better than going earlier in the winter, since the sun is higher, which diminishes glare from too much light or haze from too much pollution). Here are two examples of the view from the second floor.

Tour Montparnasse, as barely seen through the early-morning glare and haze during our visit last week.

The difference is clear in a photo from Maggie and Alyssa's visit on December 26.

Lest you think me a rabid, unrepentant anti-towerist, I offer a slideshow of gratuitous beauty presenting views of and from the Eiffel Tower over the course of our stay thus far. Enjoy!

Paris in a day

Alyssa and Michelle were mostly recovered from jet lag by Sunday morning, so we decided to take them on a long walk through a few different neighborhoods and past several of the most important sights in Paris.

We began at our apartment and walked down rue Faubourg du Temple to the Canal St. Martin in the 10th arrondissement. We were lucky enough to catch a boat passing through the locks on its way down the canal.

After meandering across Place de la République, we entered the Marais district, historical center of Paris' Jewish community and current place-to-be, in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements. We detoured into the Centre Pompidou (home of Paris' modern art collection) to use the toilet, marvel at the finds in the bookshop, and admire the postmodern architecture. Unlike last time, we didn't go up to the 6th floor to see impressive views of the city, but you can see them for yourself via the museum's own webcams.

We continued our journey through to the Hôtel de Ville, not a hotel at all, but the City Hall of Paris. We've seen the place in front filled with exciting exhibitions before. Right now, it's covered by an ice skating rink and two free carousels as a gift from the mayor to celebrate the season.

We crossed the Pont d'Arcole on our way to the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris...

...made our way to the Louvre...

...and stopped to enjoy the view.

What a day! There's actually a great story from lunch, but I'll let Louis tell you all about it.

One night in Paris

Alyssa and Michelle could only stay for one night in Paris, so even though they were very jet-lagged, Louis and I somehow managed to drag them out of bed after a brief mid-afternoon nap (well, Panda helped, too). We had made plans to meet up with Joy and Jake at Galeries Lafayette, one of the big department stores that we have visited twice before.

It was nice to get out of the cold, go inside, and see the grand Christmas decorations.

As we were walking around, Joy saw a dress she liked. It cost only 1400 euros, and even though we all thought she looked great in it, she decided not to buy it.

We passed through the "épicerie," which is really a giant gourmet supermarket, and marveled at the huge table whose multicolored spices filled the whole floor with delightful scents.

Back outside, we walked a block over to Printemps, another grand magasin (epic department store). They didn't have a central area with amazing decorations, but they did have a "Russian" theme going on. I especially loved the larger-than-life nesting dolls.

To give you a sense for just how big the store is . . .

Through careful study of this complex map, we figured out that the real highlight of Printemps is its rooftop deck, from which you can see the whole city in all its amazing shapes and colors . . .

La Madeleine, with la Grande Roue de Paris (Ferris wheel) just to the left

A Printemps turret bathed in red light, with the back of the Opéra visible to its left

Eventually we took 8 flights of escalators down from the roof to leave Printemps . . .

. . . and headed to dinner at Le Mesturet, another restaurant on Jesse's list that's very close to Louis' primary place of research. If Alyssa, Michelle, Jake, and Joy wanted to experience tasty traditional French cuisine at a reasonable price, they couldn't have done any better than Le Mesturet. Louis' three-course meal (just as an example) included:

Smoked-salmon-topped puff pastry, greens with fennel vinaigrette

Parmentier de canard - mashed potatoes over roasted duck, baked just a few minutes

Mi-cuit gâteau de chocolat (chocolate cake with a moist center), topped with cardamom ice cream

What a night!

Visitors Out The Wazoo!

Michelle and Alyssa - friends from Somerville - decided to fly through Paris on their way to visit another former Somervillian (Talya) in Israel so they could visit me and Louis. They only had 36 hours, so we tried to make the most of it.

Michelle, Alyssa, and I brave the cold for a great view of the Eiffel Tower from the Palais Chaillot

They lucked out - we had great weather all weekend. This made the view from the Eiffel Tower especially worthwhile for me and Alyssa after having waited in line to climb up, while Michelle and Louis walked around the Champ de Mars.

Can you pick out Michelle and Louis?

Despite their jet-lag, Alyssa and Michelle were real troopers, begging to be dragged around the city so they could pack in as many sights as possible during their short time in Paris. They took advantage of Métro and bus rides to catch a little shut-eye.

For lunch, Louis, Alyssa, Michelle and I met up with Jake and Joy around St.-Germain-des-Près and enjoyed a sumptuous feast of traditional French foods (notably croque monsieur [grilled ham and cheese sandwich, with the cheese on the top], croque madame [grilled ham, cheese, and fried egg sandwich, with cheese and fried egg on top], and croque chicken [no idea]).

Jake and Joy shared moules frites (mussels and French fries)

The brasserie, called Horsehead Tavern, was trying really hard to give the restaurant an anglophone flavor, but didn't succeed completely...

After lunch, Jake and Joy went for a long walk while everyone else retired to the apartment for some rest in preparation for the adventures yet to come that evening!