Day 54: Good-bye, Paris!

Time really has flown by. Has it really been 2 months since we left Seattle? That means our trip is 25% over!

J and I have really enjoyed this experience so far. However, we are looking forward to spending the holidays with family and friends back in the States.

I will be posting a back-log of entries on Paris and Barcelona, but this shall be my final post from Europe until May 2009 when we complete our RTW loop. I leave you with a picture of our last meal in Paris:

- 50 oven-ready escargot from Monoprix (no, we did not eat all of it)
- 2 Greek sandwiches with fries from Planet Food (our favorite cheap eat in Paris!)

Current Location: Paris, France

RTW Lodging: Artist's loft in Paris

Atelier 3
75 Boulevard du Montparnasse, Floor 5 Apt #3
Paris, France

Convenient location in Montparnasse
  • (Picture 1) Located in the middle of Montparnasse: on top of the Bievenue Montparnasse metro station & kitty-corner to Tour Montparnasse.
  • (Picture 2 & 3) The gate to a small alleyway that led to our building was located next to a crepe stand. How convenient!
  • Three block radius: Monoprix (supermarket), weekly farmers market, weekly artist market, 5+ movie theatres, FNAC (electronics/bookstore), post office, SNFC (high speed train), Galeries Lafeyette.
  • Unfortunately, it did not have that cozy neighborhood feel.


Strange apartment layout

  • (Picture 4 & 5) Enter into the apartment from an outdoor balcony with an old-school key.
  • (Picture 6) Downstairs: entryway, bed, closets, bookcases of random stuff including some travel guides and the smallest toilet room (yes, only the toilet) in the whole world.
  • (Picture 7) Winding staircase in front of the entryway leads to the loft
  • (Picture 8 & 9) Loft: kitchen, shower stall, dining table facing a large window


Adequate amenities

  • Double bed
  • Unlimited wireless internet
  • (Picture 10) Decently equipped kitchen w. gas stove, gas oven, large sink, good pots and fair utensils
  • Microwave and refrigerator
  • (Picture 11) Lots of light
  • Secure entry into building
  • Enough space for two people who don't mind listening to each other pee (see below)
  • Very small elevator


Relatively inexpensive

  • 1900 USD for 31-night stay (less than $62 per night)
  • Rented directly from owner (www.vrbo.com)
  • French/Portuguese apartment manager who lives in the building next door and don't speak a word of English.


A ridiculous (bad) bathroom

  • There was no bathroom
  • Toilet: fit into its own room where the door could not be closed if in use. To wash our hands we had to go upstairs.
  • (Pictures 12-16) Shower: absolutely ridiculous. just look at the pictures.

Day 51: A date in Paris

Dim sum at Asia Palace. I woke up today and wanted dim sum. It's kinda nutty, if you think about it - we'll be in Boston in less than 4 days. However, J humored me. After consulting Chowhound, I led the two of us over to the Chinatown in the 13th arrondissement. I put my confidence on a thread that had a huge side discussion on where to get some sort of Asian black beans that no one seemed to be able to find. (When I looked for Beef Noodle Soup in Vancouver, I trusted the thread that had a heated discussion on which of two eating establishments served the best hand-made noodle with the soup.) Unfortunately, it was somewhat of a pricey (by Chinese standards) dud. The Su Mai and Fried Turnip Cake were merely acceptable and but the Shrimp Chang-Fen and BBQ Pork Buns were definitely sub-par.

Opera at Palais Garnier. After lunch, I wanted to go to the Louvre and Champ Elysees areas. I haven't seen the Tuileries Garden and wanted to window shop the famous street on the last weekend day before Christmas. Our walk from the metro to my targeted area led us by the famed "rich man's" opera house - the Palais Garnier. At first, J just wanted to snap pictures from afar, but we spontaneously decided to buy some cheap tickets from a scalper. The opera was Fidelio and the start time was 15 minutes ago. Our seats were pretty bad and I learned that I find watching the orchestra more interesting than watching the stage performance (the conductor was so intense that I thought he was going  to have a heart attack), but it was a pretty awesome experience. For example, the French are so serious about having no interruptions after the show has started that we were asked to stand for the remainder of the 1st act (1 hr 35 min) in the back of our section. In fact, doors to the seat box can only be opened from the hallway by the ushers with a special key! In Act 2 we found that standing wasn't so bad because there were so many bad seats in the balcony section that a large percentage of the ticket holders opted to stand through the performance, even if it was at the expense of other patrons behind them! In contrast to the poor stage visibility, the sound was absolutely amazing. We could hear every single word so clearly! On our way out after the opera, we picked up a performance schedule for the Palais Garnier and was surprised to find out that we just attended the final performance of Fidelio! The continuous clapping, hugging of the cast and crew on stage and three curtain calls suddenly all made sense!

Dessert at Laduree. I knew of this place only as "the shop where that Frenchman we met at lunch recommended to get the best macarons in Paris." I didn't know of its name until we got there (J knew but never mentioned the name) and realized that it's the same place our friend Kelly told us to go just yesterday! The place was a mad house for take-away so we opted to sit in their cafe. We enjoyed 3 types of macarons, a cafe creme (close to a latte) and a pot of tea (J was actually trying to order cold milk, but got tea instead). The macarons were heavenly. A little sweet, but it melts in your mouth. For the next hour we nibbled on these delicate and absurdly expensive desserts, sipped our hot beverages, and exchanged ideas on what we thought was the storyline of the opera. You see, the entire thing was sung in German and subtitled in French. We had to make up a story in our heads based on the minimal physical movements of the performers,  the emotions of their singing and whatever French words that look English or have recognizable Latin roots. We got the main idea - a tyrannical warden who has it in for a certain prisoner who's lover has disguised herself to get into prison to help her prisoner lover escape.

Dinner at Quick Burger. After our stop at Laduree, we continued to the Champ Elysees via Place de la Concorde. The entire avenue was flooded with Christmas shoppers. Our stroll brought us past a Quick Burger, a fast food joint that J's been wanting to try since we first saw it in Barcelona. Since we only have 3 days left in Paris we decided to eat dinner there. J had their VIB (very important burger) burger meal, and I got 5 fried chicken wings. Tasty, but McDonald's is still my preferred fast food restaurant. J's curiosity was finally satisfied.

As we headed home on the metro, I realized that today had the makings of a pretty romantic date! Well, at least the middle part of it. A date in Paris! Who gets to do that?! =)

1. Asia Palace place setting
2. Palais Garnier
3. Foyer of the Palais Garnier from ground level
4. Foyer of the Palais Garnier from the 2nd floor
5. The door to our seat box. Notice the lack of a door handle.
6. Stage and orchestra pit
7. Center balcony - all good views
8. Side balcony opposite our seats. You can see that each seat box is comprised of 6 seats arranged in 2 x 3 row configuration. 1st row are the only decent seats.
9. The view from our seats
10. Laduree storefront
11. The ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde
12. Christmas shoppers on the Champ Elysees.
13. Our meal at Quick Burger.

Current Location: Paris, France

Scrumptious desserts from Paris

Besides the occasional craving, I'd hardly consider myself as having a sweet-tooth. J even less so. However, we couldn't help ourselves from trying the delicious looking desserts in Paris!

1. café (a shot of expresso) - a common dessert substitution or addition to a dessert
2. crème brûlée from La Coupole
3. mille-feuille (custard fillings between puff pastry sheets) from Lenotre
4. a chocolate mousse-like cake from Lenotre
5. a single scoop of fresh strawberry ice cream from Berthillion - so famous that we had to eat it, even if it was while walking through the streets of Paris on a winter-y mid-December day.
6. raspberry and strawberry tart from a boulangerie on Rue Cler (previously posted)
7. fig tartlette from Paul
8. almond tartlette from Paul
9. raspberry tart from Gerard Mulot
10. a raspberry mille-feuille with a side of French almond and chocolate macarons from Gerard Mulot - the macarons are much tastier than the American versions

Our favorite dessert is definitely the mille-feuillet. We've already had it twice from two different stores. It may be time for a 3rd. The only dessert that still eludes me is the Grand Marnier Soufflé. Anyone know a good place to go? I don't suppose there is a restaurant in Paris that will let us in just to eat a dessert souffle....

Side-note: This reminds me of how one of my elementary school teachers taught the class how to not confuse "dessert" from "desert." You want a second helping of "s" in "dessert" - the one you eat. Cute.

French Laundry

This post gives "French Laundry" a more literal meaning.

Call us spoiled, but this was the first time that both J and I have done laundry at a public laundromat. We first scoped out the place during our first few days in Paris. At that time, we took pictures of the directions so that we can have the translation in hand when we actually go back with dirty laundry. 2 weeks later, we decided it was time to take the plunge and just do it. Overall, it turned out OK. We came home with enough clean clothes to last us until Boston, made friendly chit-chat with a girl from Wisconsin and I have a funny story about how I almost bought fabric softener instead of detergent from the supermarket but was saved by a nice store clerk who spoke not a word of English. 

1. Directions for the washer in French
2. Directions for the dryer in French
3. The washer
4. The dryer
5. J unloading the dryer
6. Clean laundry!

We are dorks..

In honor of Puzzlehunt 12 being announced J and I wrote this puzzle. It was inspired by our recent trip to the Louvre. We are sad that we won't be in Seattle with our team during the Hunt, but we hope to improve our 4 AM to 8 AM PST statistics from Australia. Enjoy!

Email the answer to jm.rtw.posterous@gmail.com.
 
Written by: J & M
Photography by: M
 
If you'd like a hint, highlight the white text below:
 
Parlez-vous français ?
 

Christmas came early this year

You're at the departure gate and it's Sunday at 8:20 PM, just about 5 minutes before they start boarding your plane. Suddenly, a woman's voice booms over the airport broadcasting system, "Ladies and gentleman, boarding for KLM flight #2441 to Paris will begin shortly. We are currently looking for passengers to give up their seats. Volunteers will be provided with hotel accommodations overnight, be given seats on tomorrow's flight to Paris and be compensated 250 EUR in cash or 300 EUR in vouchers. If you would like to give up your seat, please approach a KLM agent at the gate."

What do you do? Well, it's something I've always wanted to do, but never have. I'm always in a rush to get back to school/lab/work the next day, eager to start my vacation or on my way home for the holidays. I think the most heartbreaking opportunity I had to turn down was during Spring of 2003. I was on my way to Seattle from Denver for my graduate school interview with UW and coming in early to be able to spend two extra days with J. What did I turn down? Hotel accommodations, 1st class seat to Seattle the next morning, two 1st class domestic tickets, plus $500. After I got into Seattle and told J the story, he said I should've taken it. Blah!

This time we had nothing to lose. First, we were already assigned disjointed seats. Second, the reason we picked a Sunday departure is because all the other days were more expensive. Third, I have no schedule or commitments to honor. Fourth, J is more or less on flex time. Fifth, we were not looking forward to showering in our Paris apartment again. And above all else, 500 EUR would cover our hotel and plane ticket expense for this trip! Needless to say, we jumped at the chance.

Here's a list of what we each received:

- KLM compensation packet: 10 EUR voucher for food inside the airport (or, 2000 mileage credit, or 15 EUR towards on-board duty free purchase), 5 minutes international call (or, 15 minutes on the internet), 50 EUR off your next KLM flight.
- Overnight accommodations at the Crowne Plaza
- Overnight kit including an XXL t-shirt, socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, shaving cream, deodorant, make-up remover and comb.
- Shuttle transfer to and from the hotel
- 3-course dinner meal
- Breakfast
- A seat on the 7:30 AM flight to Paris
- 250 EUR cash (we did not opt for the 300 EUR voucher)

Some things were expected while other things I felt were very thoughtful of them. Above all, I was impressed with the service. I half expected to be arguing with someone about us not being "in the system" but everything was taken care of from beginning to end. That night James had three dinners - the first one at the airport which he paid with his own money, the second one with the two 10 EUR voucher we received and the last one at the hotel which consisted of soup, entree and dessert.

The next morning we got on the 7:30 AM flight to Paris and was home by 10:30 AM. Thank you, KLM, for a free trip to Amsterdam!

Day 41: Parisan scam artists pick the wrong person....

I have read extensively on scams to look out for during our trip. I guess I should consider myself lucky that up until today it's only been tried on me three times - twice in Barcelona (just 3 walking steps apart) and once in Paris. Today marked the fourth attempt and, boy, did they mess with the wrong person at the wrong time because I was already in a really pissed off mood.

It happened at the bottom steps of the Sacre Coeur. J and I started our ascent to the top of the hill when 2-3 guys with colorful strings in their hands tried to stop us. From the looks of it.. it was the classic "friendship bracelet" scam. I first gave them a polite "No, thank you." But, they were extremely aggressive. I tried to walk past them, but 2 of the guys blocked my path. They basically cornered me because I had the railing to my left, one guy in front, another guy to my right and J behind me. I next said, "No!" a couple of times in a higher volume, but that didn't work, which surprised me. In the meanwhile, J is sticking out his arm trying to fend them off while also firmly saying, "No!"  Finally, I screamed at them, "I AM EXTREMELY UPSET RIGHT NOW SO LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" and pushed my way past them. Honestly, images of me punching them in the face and holding them by their coat lapel and kneeing them in the groin flashed before my eyes, but it was probably a good that I didn't. Despite all the anger I could have unleashed on them, it would be hard to overcome three 6 feet tall well-built men with who knows what kind of weapons in their pockets.

As we left, I heard a lot of "F* you... F* you F*ing you.. F*... F*.." I smiled inside. Me being a 5'4" vulnerable-looking Asian girl, they probably thought I'd be cake...