It was fun coming back to Paris after 11 years. I was able to retrace my steps and see how much things had changed. I actually didn’t expect anything to change since the city was already so old, but change is inevitable no matter the age of the city. One thing that hadn’t changed was the high cost… of everything. The thought of retracing my steps was much more fun than the realization that I couldn’t afford to actually retrace my steps. We wanted to walk up the Eiffel Tower, not just marvel at it from the ground. We wanted to go inside the Louvre museum, not just look at the glass pyramids marking its place. Unfortunately, Paris is a city you need money to truly enjoy and we had run out of money.
When we arrived in Paris we couldn’t afford the luxury of a metro ticket. We were very blessed to have a place to stay because our friends in Lille had arranged for us to stay in their friend’s vacant apartment. The apartment was being used as an office, but the owner had an accident and was temporarily disabled and therefore working from home. The apartment had a sofa bed, TV, full bathroom, a fridge and a microwave. We had everything we would need for the week and we were grateful not only for a place to stay but for some time to ourselves.
We only had €12 to last us until Randy’s next check came and even though the check was expected any day, we weren’t sure how long we would have to wait. So we had to get very creative with our meals; only things that could be cooked in a microwave and nothing over €1 if we could help it. If we were in Portugal, Berlin, or even Spain we wouldn’t have worried about it. But we were in one of the most expensive cities in the world and that brought a bit of stress every day. We bought a lot of bread and some butter. We bought cans of food that we could mix together and easily microwave. The first night we had cream of mushroom soup with chickpeas. Other nights we would have franks and beans or tuna, peas, kidney beans and olive oil salad. We had ravioli from a can for lunch a couple of days and just a package of hotdog weenies for dinner another night. Bread was our filler during the day, since it was the cheapest. It was a long way from the glamorous meals we were eating in Lille, but we did our best to be creative and we got by.
The weather was cold and raining (no surprise), so we spent most of our time in the apartment watching music videos and old movies. We now know a handful of popular songs (and their music videos) that played about a million times just in the one week we were there. With the weather being unpredictable, we having to walk everywhere, and having no umbrella, we took short day trips to see the sights. As the week went on we spent more time outside sightseeing. Of course, we saw all of the famous architecture like the Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triumph, Notre Dame, Louvre pyramids, the Opera house, the Sacred Heart….the list goes on. If it was in Paris and it was a famous, we saw it.
On Thursday we met up with a friend of a friend, Laurent. He was living with his wife, Emmanuelle, and son, Paul-Loup, in a flat just a couple of blocks from the apartment we were staying in. We had a lovely walk around town with him where he gave us a bit of French history and insight. We ate lunch and saw places I have never been in Paris like Sacred Heart (Sacré Coeur) and the Moulin Rouge as well as some great local markets. Then we picked up Paul-Loup from daycare and he was all smiles when he saw us, not shy at all, holding on to his favorite Llama. We picked up some cheese and bread for dinner and went back to their flat. Randy played with Paul-Loup before he got his bath, then dinner and bed for him. We waited a bit for Emmanuelle to come home from a work cocktail party then we ate Quiche Lorraine then chocolate cake for dessert that she made with Paul-Loup the night before. We enjoyed some great conversation with them and learned a little bit about them and Parisian life.
We were to leave early Sunday morning so we spent Saturday doing all of our last minute sightseeing. Well, we tried anyway. Randy’s check had finally come so we had a bit of money to enjoy (finally). I wanted to see the catacombs because they sounded awesome, neither of us had seen any before, it was probably the cheapest sightseeing we could afford (€4, youth 14 -26), and the Parisian catacombs were famous. If we were going to see any, this was our last opportunity. We headed down on foot and when we arrived we saw a line at the door that wrapped around the corner. I asked Randy what time it was and he said 2:00p.m. Well, the men monitoring the line said the wait was about 45 minutes and the last entry was at 4:00p.m. I figured we would make it inside, no problem. That was until we realized Randy’s watch was still on Portugal time (1 hour behind). So those guys monitoring the line were actually giving us a warning that we were cutting it close and might not make it inside today. This was the only activity I had been able to do since we came to Paris so I was keeping my hopes up and praying we would get in before they closed the doors. Well, my prayers fell short because we got to the very front of the line (we were next to go in) when the door man said “No more”. I begged and pleaded with him in my best French, “seulement deux, s'il vous plaît, deux.” He took no pity on me or the fluent French group behind us who begged him for a longer period. I’m sure he hears that from tourists every day so I can’t blame him, but my dreams felt crushed as I watched them pull in the rope and close the door.
In a sour mood we headed toward the Champs-Élysées where a winter festival was taking place along the street between the famous shopping street and the Louvre. The festival consisted of tons of white (North Pole type) huts that sold food, drinks, and Christmas gifts. There were rides for the kids, sculptures made out of old trees, pictures with Santa, and an ice sculpture exhibit (which we couldn’t afford to see). It took me a little while to lighten up after my world came crashing down at the catacombs entrance, but once I started enjoying myself Randy and I both had a great time walking from booth to booth. We tried a bit of the food and randy got some great pictures. It was a wonderful way to end our visit to Paris (despite the frigid weather).
Notre Dame Entry Doors
The tiny "3" person elevator in the apt building
Of course, Le Tour Eiffel
Arc de Triomphe
Randy tried caviar at the winter festival
Relaxing at the Tuileries Gardens
Outside of the Louvre
