A Free Man (and Woman) in Paris, Unfettered and Alive . . .

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Although we left JFK a little late, we arrived in Paris on time. In thinking of all of the different ways to get to our hotel from the airport, I decided the easiest would be by shuttle. We got through customs very easily – although Mr. Bean was disappointed they didn’t stamp his passport – that drives him crazy when they don’t do that.

We then went to look for our shuttle and our guy was there with a sign. We picked Bee Shuttle. He showed us where the ATM was, which was easy for us to use (but the poor guy in front of us couldn’t get any cash), we waited for another couple and we were off. Our first site of Paris was the huge Stade (stadium). We then saw Sacre Couer. Then we saw the Eiffel Tower, aah, we’re home. We got dropped off first.

As I said, we were staying at the Best Western Trocadero - 3 Avenue Raymond-Poincare, Paris, FR-75116. The location was amazing – we were literally across the street from the Trocadero museums and the Eiffel Tower was RIGHT THERE. The metro stop was across the street, maybe 50 steps so easy access to everything. The neighborhood looked really nice and there were many cafes with full meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. We went inside and checked in at about 10 a.m. Of course our room was not ready so we stored our luggage. The lobby, although small, was in marble and very nice. There was a breakfast nook and breakfast was, I believe 13 E pp. We never did that as there were wonderful bakeries just a short walk away. I asked about the room situation, i.e. the view of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, they were booked that night; but could switch us in the morning which I happily agreed to while Mr. Bean grumbled that he didn't want to move rooms.

The tough thing about the first day in Europe after a long overnight is what to do. You don’t want to go to sleep so you want to do something that would keep you interested. You also don’t want to do something that, because you are so tired, you wouldn’t really remember. Well, we were meeting the Gay Expat a friend of Mr. Bean near the Louvre so we decided to go to the Louvre. I had made reservations at Le Souffle for lunch that day and was really excited to go there, but Mr. Bean was not hungry at that point, was tired and really wanted to get to the Louvre to check it out. Another reason to visit Paris again (and believe me, there were a lot of those on the trip!)

So we took the metro but first got our metro pass – the Carte L’Orange – what a great thing. It was easy to use BUT we were always worried about losing it. And we almost got busted and fined for no picture, but we’ll chat about that later. We bought our Carte l’Orange and went to the 'Carousel du Louvre' stop and got off. I know this sounds crazy, but the metro was SOOO busy and I absolutely loved it that way – I loved watching people going where they needed to, busy with life, it just fascinates me.

We first took some pictures outside, like the one on top (in which Mr. Bean is podcasting on his I-River); and immediately inside the pyramid - Mr. Bean to the left and me to the right.

I then went to find where to buy the Museum Pass while Mr. Bean went to find a phone to call his friend. We had to find a phone because, although Cingular told me my phone was all hooked up to make calls in France, once we were there, it didn’t work. I was sooo annoyed by this – we tried everything to no avail. So we had to use a payphone. It took us forever to make that call but we finally did it. We were going to meet the Gay Expat at the Louvre café – I forget the name of it but it has the outdoor section right under the overhang of the Louvre on the inside courtyard, in about 3 hours. Gay Expat, what's the name?

I finally found where to buy the museum passes. Mr. Bean then tried to hook up his recording equipment because, as you know, Mr. Bean has turned into a MASSIVE computer junkie which I never would have guessed when I first married him eight years ago and started a podcast this past August. As a result, he bought some traveling equipment so he could record portions of the trip. Unfortunately, the batteries already died so what was my first souvenir purchase in Paris? Batteries from the music store in the Louvre – how sad is that?

We had been in the Louvre before, so we just hit the highlights which I won’t go through here as we all know them – Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, Napolean’s Apartments. We wanted to do so much more; but honestly, we were just too exhausted to do so. We watched some restoration work on some of the greek sculptures which I thought was fascinating and watched a painter doing a replica of

one of the paintings there. Really, I find that more interesting than looking at the art work. We both felt sad that we were just too tired to do more.

We decided we needed some fresh air so we went outside. We were going to go to the L’Orangerie because I LOVE Monet. But it was FREEZING out and it seemed like we kept walking and walking with no success. I later found out from the Gay Expat that we had just missed walking far enough. Reason 2 to go back to Paris. But I must admit I was really disappointed to have missed it this time. We went back to the courtyard and ordered a chocolate chaud and pain au chocolat for me and a café au lait and sandwich for Mr. Bean. And we just ate it right there with the birds with the Louvre as background. We really enjoyed that food wonderfully.

After we finished, we went to the Café to meet The Gay Expat – now when I say friend, and considered him a friend although we had not met him officially yet and had no idea what he looked like. The Gay Expat is an American who is a lucky son of a gun whose partner got a great job in Paris so they moved there last year. They actually live near the Louvre. I can’t even imagine being able to live like that – one can dream.

Speaking of dreams – he was one – an absolute sweetheart. After our initial hellos, his first question was if we liked chocolate – well of course! So he took us to a little slice of chocolate heaven – Angelina’s on 226 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris. The Gay Expat said he goes quite often. This was obvious, because when we walked in, there was a huge line. The maitre de automatically recognized our friend, took us out of the long line and gave us the last available table. Needless to say, I was afraid for my life with the nasty glares we got from people. So we were seated and immediately looked at the huge menu. Well, Mr. Bean did – I was too busy looking at the beautiful décor – it’s all gilt and mirrors like a museum. The Gay Expat asked us if we trusted him for the drink – which we said sure – so he ordered for all of us the Chocolat Africains, which is most closely related to hot chocolate, but ten times better and richer. It’s a thick, creamy, intense pitcher of chocolate which is so rich it is served with a whole parfait glass of rich whipped cream to counteract the richness, as well as a glass of water – which you don’t have to ask for. De-lish. Along with that, I got a yummy dessert but unfortunately can’t remember the name of it. For the three drinks and desserts it was 31 E. The place was amazing, but because Mr. Bean and I were so tired, we didn’t take pictures of either the place or the desserts/drinks; and I didn’t buy any hot chocolate or other items they sell. Once again, I was SOOOO mad at myself for failing to do that – I think I forgot because I was so darned tired. Reason #3 to go back to Paris – return to Angelina’s for more chocolat chaud, take pix and buy some things!

I took a picture of Mr. Bean and the Gay Expat; and we said goodbye to our new friend. He gave us some parting words of wisdom – to make sure we get our pix taken for the carte l’orange or we could be fined – and fined big. We tiredly (not because of him, but because of our lack of sleep) said yes and then returned to our hotel. During that trip back, we saw no place for pix – this problem would soon haunt us later.

Upon arriving at our hotel, we learned we were going to be in Room #2 on the ground floor. I was unhappy with this because I don’t like ground floor rooms, but it was the only one they had. Well, this misconception was wrong as the room was great and had a HUGE bathroom. We believe it was a handicapped room because there was no tub and they had railings and a special chair. The shower just had the floor as the bottom with a drain in the middle. I didn’t like it as everything got wet and I was afraid to use the hairdryer as a result. The room itself was two twin beds. We always ask for twin beds in Europe as we have a King size at home so hate the small beds the doubles and queens usually are. We loved the arrangement here because the twin beds were literally side by side. While we loved it, those who are just friends or parents/child may not like it as much as there is NO space in between and no way to move it. We thought the beds were very comfortable and had no problems sleeping on them. The room was immaculate and we had a very nice courtyard view which Mr. Bean loved and of which I took pictures which are here. Mr. Bean loved the room so much he did not want to move again – but I begged and conjoled because I REALLY wanted a room with a view of the Tour Eiffel. Mr. Bean agreed.

So as we got to the room at about 5 pm, we took showers – which felt sooo good after 48 hours of no showers. We then decided to get some food for the room. About 2-3 blocks away was a lovely bakery where we got 4 HUGE baguette sandwiches – why do Parisian sandwiches taste ten times better than any American sandwiches – pain au chocolates; and our 4 big bottles of our fave soda – Orangina. It cost about 20 E for everything. I really wish they had Orangina easily accessible in the US – I could live on that drink alone! We went back to the room, ate our meal (well only ½ of it) , watched a little French television – love those French game shows! – and made it until 7:30 p.m when we fell fast asleep.