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Friday, November 5 to Monday, November 7
Arriving at Gare du Nord, one of the Paris train stations, I had to next locate the adjacent metro (subway) station and then purchase a ticket. I had forgotten that the metro ticket allows you one complete journey (once you leave a station the ticket is no longer valid. Theoritically you can ride the subways changing from line to line, all day long on just one ticket. The Berlin (Germany) system, on the other hand, gives you two hours of subway riding. With that system, you could ride the subway to a store, leave the system, make your purchase, re-enter the system, and ride back home. With the Paris system you would need two tickets.
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Two subway trips later and I was at my hotel, "Mister Bed", where a nice modern room with a bathroom is just 41 euros (tax included of course). [An even cheaper hotel {in Vitry} at 26 euros was Formule 1, but I didn't check it out.] This is quite a bargain in Paris. Though, because of the declining dollar, it was much more expensive than it had been four years ago. My back was really sore now and my teeth were still hurting, so I set my watch alarm to wake me in plenty of time to attend what I thought would be the highlight of the trip: the Friday night skate through Paris. If I had to leave at that moment though I couldn't have made it, I was just in too much pain.
Every Friday skaters by the thousands meet and set out through the streets of Paris, seeing gorgeous buildings and world famous sites like Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower sparkling away in the night. There is a police escort and the streets on the route are closed to auto traffic. Ambulances follow behind to pick up any casualties.
My alarm wasn't loud enough to wake me, but I didn't oversleep much. I still had enough time to get dinner and get ready. I walked over to the nearby grocery store to pick up a sandwich (I still had some juice left over from lunch). As I ate my dinner back at the room I still thought I had plenty of time, but as I prepared I started to worry. I still wasn't sure I could physically complete the skate. I boarded the metro and then later on switched to the line that should take me right to the start of the skate. After waiting several minutes for the subway train along with several other people, a couple of Metro employees strolled up to tell us that the line was down.
Four years ago the same line was down, but only a couple Metro stops away from the start. This time I had many blocks to go. Exiting the metro, I asked some people for directions and started skating, realizing now that I might not make it in time and, sure enough, that was the case. I considered trying to get back on the subway and trying to intercept the skaters later on or just try skating to catch up. I chose the latter, but had to ask pedestrians several times if I was on the correct route. I was slowed down waiting for traffic signals which the mass of skaters didn't have to wait for. Old Paris sidewalks are also tricky to navigate in the dim light.
After frantically skating for a few miles I realized that I wasn't going to catch up with them. Paris was just too big and my map of the skate route didn't identify streets, just major points of interest. And with waiting for traffic signals and slow sidewalk skating my pace just was to slow. The Paris skate is a fairly high speed skate and that's why I had looked forward to it so much. I was so depressed about missing the highlight of my skate and ready to take the Metro back to the hotel when poking above some buildings, I saw the Eiffel Tower blazing away in the night. I had skated a lot further than I had thought. A few more blocks and I was there. Even at somewhere around 11:30 on a very cold night, there were still droves of people around marveling at this masterpiece.
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I took a few photos and then made my way across the Seine River to the Troccadero. There I met a few skaters. They invited me to play tag, but I very smartly decided to let my muscles have a little rest. At about half my age, these guys were marvelous skaters and were obviously very familiar wth the playing field. These guys were flying around, trying to avoid the tagger and avoiding the curbs, bad spots in the pavement, and occasional pedestrians. I never realized that this game could be such a wonderful display of skating skills.
Eventually they left. I wondered how much longer I would have to wait before the Friday Night Skate group would arrive. Four years ago, this had been the spot that Lyn and I had left the skate and returned to our hotel, because the Metro was about to shut down for the night and we would have had to skate all the way back to our hotel room. Would the route still be the same? I was cold and sore and depressed. I decided not to chance any more disappointments and took the Metro back. At one of the stations a Metro employee told me skates were not allowed. I had seen several skaters in the Metro earlier that evening and four years ago we had no trouble at all. I didn't argue and removed my skates, stepped onto the Metro train when it arrived, then put my skates back on out of their view.
When I got back to Mister Bed, I bought one of their high priced phone cards (about $1 per minute for international calls) and gave Lyn the bad news. The highlight of the trip had become the lowlight.
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On Saturday, I had another sandwich for breakfast and called Philippe. My destination this day was Philippe's place in Beaumont-Le-Roger, about an hour west of Paris. He said the train would leave from St. Lazare station, but when I asked around at the hotel desk and the Metro station, they told me it would more likely leave from Gare du Nord. So I headed over to Gare du Nord. I couldn't locate the information booth, but waited in a long line at a ticket counter. When I finally was waited on, the clerk had to go in the back room and search for right train. He came back with a book and finally located the right entry. It turned out I was at the wrong ticket counter and had to wait in another long line. My right leg was giving me lots of problems. The two things that aggravated it most were standing and carrying heavy loads and I was doing a lot of that on this trip. Finally, I got my ticket and, sure enough, the train left from St. Lazare.
I took the Metro over to St. Lazare and bought my lunch of a sandwich and a brownie. The Paris brownies are about the greatest tasting things on earth! I have gotten them at different train stations and they all seem to be wonderful. I waited a long time for the track number of the train I was taking to appear on the large overhead board. Thirty minutes before departure time, it finally did. Once we were under way, I enjoyed my meal and gave my aching body a little recuperation time. My head and teeth and back were all hurting.
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Philippe gave me a smiling welcome at the station, but he needed to do a little shopping before going home. A tile shop was especially hard to locate so he plugged the address into the car navigation system which told us exactly how to get there, turn by turn. On arrival at their gigantic country house, I saw Sarah and met their incredibly cute kids, Alexandre and Pascaline, for the first time. Pascaline (1 1/2) and Alexandre (3 1/2) play well with each other and Pascaline amazingly scurries up and down the steep stairs by herself.
Their 164 year-old house is three stories. There are four bedrooms on the top floor, one of which I stayed in (the hallway on that floor is larger than our second bedroom); three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. The ceilings are about ten feet from the floors and the windows are about six feet high. The house had previously been owned by a dentist who added rooms onto the side for waiting and examining. They are refurbishing the house and may even update the two other buildings on the property, even though they are here about 6 da ys a month. The rest of the time they spend at their Paris apartment.
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I tagged along to the dinner at the home of their friends. It was a surprisingly formal affair with our host, a doctor, wearing a suit and tie. The house, from the 1600's and once used as a hospital, had paintings inlaid in the living room ceiling. A medieval tapestry hung on one wall and an old drawing of Napoleon hung on another. Two more couples (lawyers and a veterinarian) joined us (no children allowed). The four hour dinner, 97% of which was in French, started off with champagne, then wine, braised york ham in white wine, cheese, strawberry torte, and coffee.
I slept better than the night before, but still had a long period of sleeplessness. It was cold in the house, but I managed to stay comfortable under the blankets. I got up early on Sunday for a bathroom visit and Alexandre tried to join me, but I pushed the door shut. I played with Alexandre a little while and then we checked in on Pascaline. Soon Sarah was up and then Philippe. After a light breakfast, Philippe, Alexandre, and I walked around the small town. There were a few stores and a nice church. A Roman soldier stood high in the church steeple and moved with the passing of each hour. Philippe had no explanation as why a Roman soldier would stand guard over a church. The ruins of an old church sat up on a hill where you had a nice view of the surrounding area. Philippe said homes in the area somewhat like his go for around 300,000 euros. Many people, he said, who work in Paris have a home out in the country.
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Two of the best meals on the trip were prepared by Sarah, one of which being our lunch of fish, potatos, zuchini, and tomatoes. In the evening we filled the family car and drove to their Paris apartment. I sat next to the very noisy children, but it was worth it as we had a wonderful mustard meat dish for dinner.
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On Monday, though it was cloudy, damp, and cold, I did some sightseeing. I went to the top of the Arche de la Defense (7.50 euros) and the Montparnasse Tower (8.20 euros), but the views were hampered by the clouds. The former is a building thirty some stories high in the shape of an arch and the latter is about fifty five stories high. On a normal day there are are great views of Paris. I made a VISA telephone call (about $6/minute) to Andy in Basel, Switzerland, the next stop on my journey, then bought my train ticket (49.20 euros) and had a sandwich and a brownie for lunch. As I headed back to the apartment to retrieve my luggage it started to rain.
I was in a little bit of a hurry now as I took the Metro to the Gare de l'Est train station. I bought another sandwich for dinner, then with my body still aching, it took me awhile to find the correct track. But once on the train I was able to relax, read, and enjoy the countryside.
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