I’m already planning our next major trip in my mind (September 2011 possibly). St. Petersburg, Russia.

We have a few rules we like to follow when deciding on places to go.

It falls within almost all of our guidelines (in 2011 it will be only 308 years old. We’re off by 42 years on that part).

I think, also, I’m going to revise our rules about cities that we visit. They should also have laws regarding skyscrapers and the height of buildings (under 10 stories?).

Later.
- M.

Our plane was departing at 1:55pm and we left our apartment around 10:30am. The RER B was running late and we probably waited 25 minutes for the first train which was super stuffed. We skipped that one and waited another three minutes for the next one. Our train ride was uneventful other than this guy (who we suspected works at the airport) smoked a few cigarettes (which is prohibited) near the end of our ride.

The notorious train chain smoker

We snaked our way around the airport crowd, checked-in and then checked our luggage; 24kg and 12kg. While Mike checked out Relay (magazine shop) I ate the rest of panettone and bought a macaroon at Paul’s. During our trip I introduced Mike to panettone and I found out that he’s not a fan of raisins and rather would have the plain panettone! I’m a fan of the raisin/orange one.

CDG

Paris has a great deal of military presence and the airport was no exception. Young men in groups of three in camo gear casually walked around. Mike said: They have guns. I said: They have the biggest berets ever. When I saw them again they seriously had big guns.

Military presence at CDG

I wasn’t becoming a fan of security check-in and today just added to it all. The line was short but ever since the Christmas day plane bombing attempt in the States I think metal detectors has been set to ‘super-sensitive’. I voluntarily removed my boots, skipped wearing my belt that day, wore my thinnest shirt, took out my hair clip and cleaned out my pockets. Then I still beeped going though the detector – Mike (jokingly?) said it was probably my jean button. Thankfully a quick pat-down resulted in nothing of interest. Mike took the longest this time going through. He had a computer in his bag and took that out. Once he took that out he was asked to take out his power adapter and then if you’ve ever seen Mike’s electronics bag you’ll realize this snowballed because Mike has over half a dozen power adapters/plugs for various things and had a couple cameras and he had to unpack all of it. I think he ended up taking up 4 plastic trays for all his items + his shoes. And then he beeped going through because he forgot all about his wallet/coins after the electronic bag kerfuffle.

Okay – really not so bad, it could’ve been worse and we were never pulled aside. I heard in the States it’s been taking 6 hours just for check-in. Yuck.

We found a Virgin store and Mike ended up picking up a DVD boxset, duty free.

We walked over to our gate which (as usually) was one of the furthest and was at this narrowed tip of a new part of the airport. It was so busy and I don’t think it was well thought out with the line-ups of the other gates converging so closely.

We found out our flight was delayed for almost an hour so we decided to check out the liquor shop. We ended up not buying anything and I took pictures of expensive bottles.

Our jet home

Nothing too exciting on our plane trip. The food was better coming from Toronto. We once again enjoyed free wine, free pillow and blanket usage and the interactive video screens that gave us a multitude of choices for movies, TV shows, games, news, music videos and music albums. Mike listened to Pink Floyd and Serge Gainsbourg while I watched My Sister’s Keeper, This Is It (that Michael Jackson movie), some of Le Petit Nicolas (which Mike saw on our trip in) and some of Away We Go. Having so many movie options really does pass the time quite quickly. Mike and I though are pretty good plane people and jet lag is normally very minimal or none at all. I think I took pictures of England and Ireland from the plane.

Ireland?

Customs lines in Toronto were long; it looked like a few planes all landed in around the same time as us. I can feel everyone’s frustration with standing idly in this double- gymnasium sized room and I think part of the problem is there are over a dozen lines you can choose and while you queue you can’t help but look at the other lines wondering if they’re going faster and if you made the right choice.

Thankfully after customs it was quick – we found our luggage carousel and in a few minutes we had picked up our bags. One more queue of security looking at our customs/declaration form and waving us through we were done! Out we went to a bit of snow and a cool wind. I called up Mom & Dad to come get us. When we got to my parents we got some deliciously warm phở gà. Thanks Mom! We gave her an eiffel tower statue and some beurre in a can (this is the item from this trip that we didn’t want to ruin a surprise on).

Some canned butter from our Parisian Chinatown excursion on day seven. Not quite the right one, but Lily's mom says it's still pretty good.

It wasn’t exactly the right one but she said it still tasted pretty good. And we got my Dad an early birthday present — he’s turning 70 this March!

We’ll be seeing the rest of my family this Sunday in celebration of my Mom’s birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!) and Leah’s that’s coming further into January (Happy Early Birthday Leah!). My Mom told me the day Mike and I left Corbin was dreaming and was calling ‘Uncle Mike, Uncle Mike’ and was crying and wanted to see him. They had quite a bonding experience the last three days before we had left for our trip.

Oh by the way, Mike says he wants to retire in Paris. He says he’s quite serious. I guess I’ll have to do some serious French learning. Ou se trouve la bibliotheque?

~ Lily

Our only intention for today was to do a bit more shopping and pick up some souvenirs.

We started out at Le Bon Marche. Lily looked around for a gift for her dad, while I tried on hats (turns out my head is 61cm).

Inside Le Bon Marche

We head north to Notre Dame. We walked through the gardens behind the church.

We passed by Paris city hall.

They still had the ice rink open (although it was nowhere near as busy as that first night we saw it) and the free merry-go-rounds were still up (but not being used).

Outside of Hôtel de Ville in Paris

After this we headed to BHV. BHV stands for Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville as it is right beside Paris City hall. It is another large department store, but the difference with this one is that it has a very large hardware store in it also. There is also a fairly large section aimed at people who do crafts as well.

BHV

We finished up with our shopping and walked by Notre Dame again. No line ups again! Inside we went. This would (hopefully) be our first glimpse of the inside of the church with lights on.

I’m not sure if I preferred it with a bit of mystery of the darkness, when we first went in, or like this, all lit up and highlighted.

iPhone panoramic of the ceiling of Notre Dame

Slightly wonky iPhone Panoramic of Notre Dame

We decided that we would eat out for our last night in Paris, so our search began to find a suitable location. After 40 minutes we decided on Le Boomerang near by the aptartment. It is a tiny, tiny restaurant (maybe 10 tables max. with only 2 of those tables set for 4 people).

The service was very good, once again. The restaurant is run by two brothers, who also run a pizzeria nearby.

Lily got the fondue prix fixe, while I got filet mignon, also a prix fixe. We added a bottle of beaujolais to this. Our appetizers were a ham and cheese salad with walnuts and a pâté. Our desserts were Italian ice cream in vodka and a tiramisu.

The food was quite good, although the salad dressings were a bit too lemony. The waiters were very talkative and giggly.

We were the first evening meal of the night it seemed, but by the time we left the restaurant it was almost full.

We headed back to the apartment (a bottle of wine certainly makes the 103 stairs much easier) and began our ordeal of packing for our departure the next day.

On the news it showed the UK is under siege of snow and it seemed like schools and transit was at a stand-still over there. Paris under a blanket of snow seems romantic but I understand the city doesn’t have any snowplows so having only a few fat flakes falling today is fine by us.

We left in the afternoon with plans of going to E. Dehillerin the famous cookware store. We left the apartment, crossed through a passageway via Institut de France, crossed over Pont des Arts and we were now on the right-bank of Paris.

Locks on the bridge are placed there by lovers to show that their love is locked in.

It didn’t take us long to find E. Dehillerin and I found myself again in this intimidating and also welcoming store. Mike eyed the copper pots with envy and I eyed anything with an E. Dehillerin stamp on it. When we were here in 2008 I had bought a cake pan

Lily with her pan from E. Dehillerin

and it was interesting to see that I couldn’t find it again or any fancy-top cake pan. High turn over of limited supplies or low on inventory? At the end of our visit I got a plastic bowl scraper and Mike sweetly asked for (me) a silicone pastry mat, each marked with the store’s name.

Lily with her new E. Dehillerin purchases and a water carafe from Lafayettes Maison.

Around the area are at least a couple more cookware shops that we perused, La Bovida and Mora.

Nearby I took pictures of more moldy cheese and got a look at whole truffles – I’ve never seen them before!

Truffles

Moldy Cheese

We walked by La Samaritaine, a large department store that hasn’t been open since 2005 – it makes me think of stores Mike and I see in Toronto that close for “renovation” and then never open back up. Supposedly though there are still plans for La Samaritaine to re-open in the future.

We next headed to the two big department stores of Galleries LaFayette and Printemps. Today is the first day of the Winter Sales in France and the streets and stores in the area were understandably busy.

France regulates when sales go on and all stores will have the opportunity to clear their inventory for the next five weeks until 9th of February. Sale discounts are deep! Of course the keen shoppers that we are, all the items we bought today were not on sale! My carafe item is bulky and maybe I could’ve gotten it back home but now it’s with us forever, with me imagining how many sweater layers I’ll have to wear for it to fit in the luggage. Mike got a new fancy wallet at Printemps – Happy Birthday Mike!

Our new water carafe up-close

We headed home going through the Louvre square and I took a bunch of night time shots of the pyramids. It was coldest then and I actually broke out my gloves.

Paris has some of the best lit buildings that show off its depth and architecture and even when cold air is whipping around and you’ve taken pictures of the same building during the day it’s definitely not the same at night.

Oh today was a good day especially when at the end of a day I get two pillows and toasty blankets (away from Mike)! I also finished another book!

~ Lily

A long stroll south

and we were in the 13th. Part of this area is the location of Paris’ larger Chinatown. It’s really spread out (with it’s main focus on a few blocks of Ave. de Choisy) more so than Toronto or Montreal’s Chinatown areas.

There’s a few large grocery stores, a few Asian knick-knack stores and lots of restaurants that seemed to combine multiple Asian style of cuisine.

We were looking for something specific here and we found it. More on this another time.

We had a late lunch at Pho 14. It was a nice, warm rest to our cold day.

On our way back home I stopped off at fnac and picked up a DVD box set of the films Fantômas. Great fun.

After that we headed home and made some dinner.

That was about it for today. Lily’s up next on the blog.

We started out heading towards Le Musée des Égouts de Paris, or the sewer museum.

It’s slightly difficult to spot at first, as there is no physical building for the museum just a ticket booth.

From there you head underground, into a partially operational part of the sewer system.

It’s dim, dusty and it did have a slightly disagreeable odour (not the odour you expect, just an old smell). They provide you with a helpful map (in a language of your choice), although it isn’t a large enough space to really get lost. Lily and I strongly followed their rules.

“
- Avoid any contact with waste water, walls pipes,
- Do not eat,
- Wash your hands when you exit
- Do not run, do not bend over the manrope…
“

These were used to clean parts of the sewer that are inaccessible to people

I enjoyed it slightly more than Lily did, but she feels that you’re better off watching a Discovery channel documentary of the Paris sewers if you catch it.

From here we walked over and around the Grand Palais and onto Place de la Concorde.

Outside of Grand Palais

Le Petit Palais. Across from Grand Palais

We headed up to L’Eglise de la Madeleine, another massive church.

We passed by the opera house

and then up to Galeries Lafayette. This is a large (10 story) department store. It encompasses a couple of different buildings spanning a city block or two.

The domed stain glass roof of the Galeries Lafayette main store.

Galerie Lafayette levels

We maneuvered through the massive crowds to the upper level looking for some lunch. Near the top we hit ‘Lafaytte Cafe’ and, despite the crowd, decided it seemed as good as any spot to grab a quick, late lunch.

37.5cl of wine later we were ready to press on. After a bit more browsing

We moved next door to Printemps, another large department store but not quite as busy as Galeries Lafayette.

Lily was still looking for a few more things to bring back so we quickly browsed the different buildings and then started our trek home.

They celebrate a bit of Canada on this street during December. http://www.letourismeaparis.fr/noel-canadien-et-limousin-rue-caumartin-jusqau-11-janvier/

We passed by Place de la Concorde and it’s large winter ferris wheel again.

After a bit of circling the streets like wild, hungry dogs we settled on Cafe Latin for some dinner.

Cafe Latin

Amazing service, good food and great wine. It’s more a bar than a restaurant, but that didn’t stop them from bringing us a good meal. Fantastic end to a long, good day.

iPhone panoramic of the Eiffel Tower, peak of the Grand Palais, and Place de la Concorde

Lily’s up next with the blog, but it’s going to have to wait as I’ve already taken to long with this one.

I’ve been sick the last couple days but once we got outside I started feeling better. High of +4, low of -4C. We walked along the Seine going westward.

As usual Musee d’Orsay was crazy lined up. It’s hard not to compare when we were last here in August ’08 when there was barely a line and we basically walked in with our museum pass. Is it better to go when the crowds are less, many stores are closed/under renovation and locals are gone or when all stores are open, the museums are crowded, the streets are more alive and we have to keep an eye out on poop more readily?

We passed by what we’ve heard is the smallest apartment house in Paris,

The smallest apartment in Paris? I'd have no trouble believing it.

the National Assembly, and Grand Palais with the wonderful Pont Alexandra III (bridge).

Grand Palais with Pont Alexandra III

From there we walked towards Les Invalides,

walking through the square,

going to the second floor that showed statues and more cannons.

Napoleon from behind

And then we stepped through St-Louis-des-Invalides church for the first time. I hope Mike got some good pictures because at the altar there’s a glass backing and there was more intricacies behind the glass.

Only a few minutes away we took loads of pictures and videos as we walked up the park to the Eiffel Tower.

There were dozens upon dozens of individual street vendors walking around selling miniature towers, even just at the doorway of the official Eiffel Tower store. To which the store was a bit disappointing as I was hoping it was bigger and had a better range of items. I think the stores in the actual tower are better but I didn’t plan on queuing up. Although now that I re-look at their website, maybe I’m better off.

We were near Cite de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine when we went in to warm up as we also noticed the words ‘free entry’ on a sign just outside the doors.

There were over 6000 casts of sculptures made between the late 19th and early 20th century. Casts were of sculptures from all periods all over there world. It was impressive to see how big they originally were and it was nice to get up close to them. Every time I’m close to such sculptural details I get the desire to try and reproduce them in clay. Although I’m not good at clay at all, it’s similar to how I think if I get my hands on a a viola and really focus I will suddenly know how to play it so naturally that I will impress all national leaders and I will tell Mike ‘I told you so.’

So anyways we took a slow walk back home and picked up some miscellaneous items of chocolates and 6×1.5L Badoit bottles. Thinking of places around us we took pictures of some display windows of the Paris Mint that’s right around the corner from us.

Everyday we walk up 103 steps to get to our cozy apartment and I think everyday Mike gets a little bit slower.

~Lily

Enjoy.

We grabbed some sandwiches from Cafe Cosi. It’s just up the street from us and I had heard some good things about it.

Amazing homemade bread, fresh herbs, ricotta, & prosciutto for me. Goat cheese, cucumber & tomato for Lily.
Fantastic.

Sandwiches by Cafe Cosi

From there we headed to Le Bon Marche & Le Grande Epicerie. Le Bon Marche is the only department store on the left bank and also the oldest in Paris (some sources say it is the oldest in the world).

We wandered around eyeing a few things (I’m in the market for a new wallet, watch, etc). Looked at some houseware items we might have some trouble getting back home. Then we moved on to our main destination, Le Grande Epicerie. It’s kind of like ‘Whole Foods’ back home (but with a wine store with an amazing selection attached on to it).

Eggs

Great Stinky Cheese

Foie Gras

The North American food section

We bought some crackers, cheese, meat, water, coffee. The usual stuff, plus a small shopping bag as a souvenir.

By this time Lily was feeling more sick so we headed back for a rest in the apartment (thats when I posted this).

After a homemade dinner we headed out for a walk around Notre Dame.

We’ve never been inside the cathedral (the lineups always seem prohibitively long) but when we got there, surprisingly, there was no lineup. So inside we went.

Our first view inside of Notre Dame

It was dark. They were showing some sort of film about the history of the cathedral. Once we got a bit more acclimated to the lighting, the church itself was still awe inspiring. Maybe more so in the darkness. You couldn’t quite see where the columns ended as they rose up and you certainly couldn’t see all the way to the opposite side of the entrance. The echoing ‘voice of God’ narration to the film added to the otherworldlyness of the whole scene.

After some wandering we headed out to walk around the outside of the cathedral.

St-Denis, the paron saint of Paris, can be seen here holding his head. After it was cut off, he is said to have picked it up and walked two miles while giving a sermon with it.

The back of Notre Dame

From there we headed back towards home. The streets were filled with people and cars. It was a cool but comfortable night.