Tag Archives: Paris

Day Tripping in Paris

14 May

During a recent afternoon and overnight in Paris in April 2024, before my Burgundy barge river boat trip, I had some great experiences and a one unfortunate experience in what I thought was a taxi. After briefly settling into my centrally-located Parisian hotel, the concierge recommended a French Brasserie, a fave as I love seafood. Brasserie Flotte was a pleasant serendipitous walk, which was occurred between the rainy showers. It had a traditional brasserie feel, with lots of locals.  Staff was attentive and responsive to my questions and requests. I ordered one of my most loved Parisian dishes, meunière, and it was cleaned and cooked perfectly. I also enjoyed the simple accompaniment of spinach. Great wine selection, with many of my French wine favorites.

Brasserie Flotte
Sole meunière

Perfectly sated, I headed back to my hotel for a needed a siesta after my ridiculously early wake-up time to make my departure flight from Alicante to Paris. Upon awakening, a live jazz music aficionado, I searched for what I thought was the best prospect, and boy, was I right. I may not excel at lots of things, but for reasons I don´t understand, I have unusual luck with finding great restaurants or eating spots, from dives, unmarked (nearly secret) eateries, and luxurious and exquisite cuisine, and fabulous live music venues focusing on jazz, R&B, and American Standards.  I also love classical music including chamber music, but you don´t need much skill or luck to find those. So on this night in Paris, I took a cab to Le Duc des Lombards, in the 4th Arrondissement which hosts some of the top rated jazz bars in Paris in an area with lots of jazz bars, so I figured if I didn´t like that venue, I could venture to another nearby. I arrived after the start of the set, but could immediately hear the music was great. While traveling alone when you are older with a physical disability can often be a challenge, sometimes there is a silver lining. Instead of having to go upstairs, the lovely hostess found a seat for me downstairs. As she explained ahead of time, my seat would be blocked from direct view by a wall support but there was a live video feed. However, just by standing up from my stool and leaning to the left, I could see the band performing.

Crystal Lewis at Le Duc des Lombards
Le Duc Jam session

The band was stellar, especially the singer, Crystal Lewis, as well as the trombonist and pianist.  The musician on trombone was able to jam with musicality, an unusual feat for most trombone players. The ad for the concert listed a trumpet player, so I did not get the name of the trombone player who probably was a substitute. The pianist was listed as Johan Dalgaard. Afterwards Le Duc had their standard jazz jam with stellar audience participants. Word of warning, waiting with people at the taxi stand/rank area outside Le Duc afterwards, I entered a vehicle that looked like the other cabs. I usually immediately check the meter upon entering a taxi, but in this case I did not. When I arrived at my hotel, he tried to charge me an outrageous amount, claiming he was Uber. I gave him the same amount as I paid to get to Le Duc and then quickly exited the cab as he continued to try to convince me to pay more.

Dijon market
Delightful dish on our barge

After the delightful week barge cruise in Burgundy, we were driven back to Paris, where I walked only a short distance to the opulent, historic Café de la Paix, opened in 1862, (which is across from the Paris Opera House, Palais Garnier) where I have enjoyed many a good meal, as they specialize in fish and seafood. Sadly, I wasn´t able to make an advance reservation because of unpredictable arrival time (and it was good I didn´t as a car fire about 50 yards ahead of us delayed us for about 45 minutes).  I had just enough time to squeeze in a lunch there before catching a cab to the airport to return my home in Altea Spain. Sadly, without a reservation or a wait, I was unable to sit in the main restaurant, but was seated quickly in the more casual café. I had been looking forward to the restaurant´s delicious trout, so the kindly waiter asked the main restaurant if I could get it. Alas, I could not, but I had a lovely quiche, salad, and a generous wine pour from the kind waiter as consolation for not being able to get the fish. While walking to the restaurant, the sporadic rain had stopped, but as I dined, it re-started. An exit to a quickly-arriving hailed taxi made my relaxing transition to the airport an easy transition to head home.

Café de la Paix

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MEETING PAUL BOCUSE

21 Jan

My Pressed Duck Number

My Pressed Duck Number

There we were-unexpectedly personally greeted by Paul Bocuse at his eponymous restaurant as we ducked in from the sudden downpour. As a dedicated foodie, I was determined to make the pilgrimage to Paul Bocuse’s L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges near Lyon. If you are a lover of French food, he needs no introduction. His accomplishments and accolades are many including being named the “Chef of the Century” by the esteemed Culinary Institute of America at their Leadership Awards Gala on March 30, 2011. We had reservations for my son’s 21st birthday. Up to that point we had enjoyed a fabulous week in Paris, with fantastic food including the famed pressed duck at Tour D’Argent and many types of offal.

Once we got to Lyon, we sampled the delicious, hearty traditional cuisine Lyonnaise in the many convivial bouchons, all the while anticipating our evening at Paul Bocuse. We were surprised at the distance the restaurant was from the city, but enjoyed the cab ride through the countryside. When we arrived, we saw an unexpectedly colorful exterior on the building. Just as we were exiting the cab, the rain suddenly poured from the dark clouds. We huddled under umbrella provided by restaurant staff and scurried toward the entrance.

Paul Bocuse menu

Paul Bocuse menu

Once inside, we were immediately greeted by Paul Bocuse who shook our hands. I am not the least enamored by movie or sports celebrities, but I was so moved at personally meeting Paul Bocuse that I was speechless. Then I stupidly bowed to him and started crying. Everything that night from the food and beverages to the service were impeccable. I had labored through the French menu with my limited French, but my fluent son had no such problem. As we were leaving, they offered us a souvenir menu, which I took in English; it just didn’t seem right, though, to order from anything but a French menu at the venerable Paul Bocuse.

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Quality, Bargain Travel within Europe

8 May

Water Wheel: Treviso

While I loved my new life as an ex-pat in the lovely Mediterranean village of Altea, Spain, I relish the opportunity to affordably travel to other destinations. For my most recent trip, I went to Venice, Paris, then back to where I live, with all three flights costing only 150 Euros.

 

There are many low-cost options available for transportation and accommodations. My original plan was to go to central Spain to the historic, beautiful and interesting cities of Salamanca (with arguably the most beautiful plaza in Spain), Segovia (with its intact Roman Aqueduct), and Avila (with its intact medieval city wall), all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Spain has the second most UNESCO World Heritage Sites, after China.

 

Piazza San Marco

However, getting to those locations from where I live is not easy to do in a timely manner via train or flight. I did not want to rent a car or take ride-sharing Bla Bla Car. As I did not want to spend many hours to get to my destinations, I looked at the direct (non-stop) flights that departed and arrived from the two airports closest to me, Valencia and Alicante. Originally I found direct flights from my preferred airport of Alicante to many destinations, and I decided to go to Venice, then Paris, then home to Alicante airport. I also checked for airlines and hotels that accepted dogs, as I initially planned to take my small dog, Pepper. I subsequently decided not to take him because it would preclude us from going to events like the ballet in Paris, or restaurants which have only indoor seating.

 

Often flight, bus and other transportation schedules within Spain and Europe are not published until a few months before departure. Whereas my initial search found direct flights from Alicante to Venice, when I went to book it, there were no scheduled flights for March, none until July. Being flexible and willing to search for other options can yield reasonable alternatives. I was going to meet my son in Venice on a Sunday in March, and all the flights with more than one leg took a ridiculous length of time. I then found a flight the prior day, a Saturday, to Treviso, which is only a mere 30 minutes train ride to the Venice train terminal for only 3,40 Euros. I decided to get a hotel in Treviso, “The City of Art and Water,” that Saturday and explore the town, which has interesting history and culture. The next day, I strolled around town before heading to Venice. Of course, I had researched, and where necessary, scheduled all the connecting ground transportation for the whole trip. That was not necessary for the train from Treviso to Venice. In Italy, (and some other European countries), after you purchase your ticket, you must validate it in one of the machines on the wall or you risk getting a large fine when they train staff check your ticket.

 

As private water taxis are very expensive in Venice, as are taxies in Paris, I scheduled them on Alilaguna, a group water taxi for about 14 Euros one way and 25 Euros roundtrip, and Blacklane for a roundtrip private transfer from Paris Orly airport to our hotel in the Plaza Vendôme area for about 50 Euros each way.

 

One unexpected issue we had on the flight from Venice to Paris on Transavia was just as we got to the staff to present our boarding passes we were told we could only have one carry-on, and that we would have to put any other items including my purse in my carry-on suitcase, which was already stuffed full. I had to throw out a few items in order for my purse to fit. All three flights were about two hours. It was the first time I had taken low cost airlines, and found them organized, and comfortable enough.

 

We enjoyed stops in historic churches, art museums, live music venues, and public gardens. Included in this article are some of the interesting sites we saw on this trip.

 

For me, one of the many considerations, albeit not the most major, in making a decision to move to Spain was the ease and cost of travelling to relatively nearby European and African countries.

 

 

 

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Terrorism and Travel

22 Mar

Gothic Sainte-Chapelle stained glass

A shooting involving a terrorist at Paris’ Orly Airport, while I was going through the security check there, was an anticlimactic end to my 60th birthday celebration in Venice and Paris with my middle son, Michael. Orly is France’s second largest airport. Just before I was scheduled to board my flight home to Alicante, Spain, I noticed the departure gate had changed to the downstairs departure area. As I tried to go to the new departure gate, the airport security officers told me there would be no more flights that day from Orly. Without explanation, they corralled us into the far half of the boarding area, not allowing anyone to leave. The televisions were switched off, and the departure screens frozen, which continued for several hours. We never received any notification from airport staff as to what was occurring, but I googled “Orly news” where I learned that a terrorist had tried to wrestle a gun from an airport police officer, and that he was shot. I did not learn the details until after returning home. Even though I had been told around 845 a.m. that there would be no further flights from Orly that day, around mid-day, without any speaker announcement, the boarding boards were turned back on, although without accurate, updated information on departure times. We finally boarded and departed around 330 p.m. As I write this on March 22, 2017, there has been a terrorist attack in London near the Parliament, and possibly inside.

 

There is no place in the world in which one is free from the possibility to violence, terrorism or even natural

Sacré Couer

disasters. In 1998, not long after the terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, my oldest son and I went to Nairobi and then on safari the Tsavo Park area. Of course, at the time, we didn’t know that the attack was part of an organized terrorist organization. Not long after an American Airlines flight crashed in Queens, a borough in New York, in November 2001, only two months after New York’s September 2001 attacks, we flew to Europe. It was initially speculated the crash could have been a terrorist attack, but it was later determined to be caused by human error. During a tour of eight African countries, while in Bamako, Mali, the nation’s capital, we stayed at a hotel, where several years later, in spite of security, Islamist extremists took 170 people hostage, shooting 20.

 

Enjoying live classical and Brazilian music at Venice’s Caffè Florian, reported to be the oldest café in the world, dating back to 1720

That said, as a psychologist, particularly a forensic psychologist where we rely heavily on statistics, I make informed decisions based on statistics rather than irrational fears. By far, I have a significantly greater chance of being killed by violence, particularly in the U.S., or by disease, or accidents. I choose to live my life with joie de vivre, focusing on relationships, food, culture, adventure, and curiosity. And if I should meet my end in a travelling accident, for me, that is far better than being holed up in my home or a bunker, or living my life in fear. To that end, I will be providing future blog posts on my Venice and Paris trip, and am providing a sampling of those photos here.

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WATCHING BALLET FROM A BATHTUB IN PARIS’ OPERA HOUSE

29 Jul

Paris Opera House: Palais Garnier

Paris Opera House:
Palais Garnier

Always excited at the prospect of watching world-class ballet performed in a historic, opulent opera house, I quickly became perplexed and frustrated when the translated Paris’ Palais Garnier website offered seating in the “bathtub.” My French is limited to the most important things-ordering food and wine. The Parisian Opera House did not allow any outside assistance, such a ticketing agency or concierge assistance, so I was left to my own designs  to figure out the seating on my own, (which was further hampered by my wanting technological skills.)

I finally found a feature that, when clicked on, showed the view of the stage from those chosen seats, or at least that is what I hoped. Left with no other choice, I clicked the “purchase” button and nervously hoped for the best.

Le Grand Foyer

Le Grand Foyer

When we eventually arrived at the grand venue of the Opera House a few months later, we sipped the obligatory champagne, admired the elegant beaux-arts design, and then proceeded up the stairs to see what awaited us. We entered a private door into a vestibule where we left our wraps, and then proceeded to the red velvet splendor of our private seating area.

As I eventually learned, the bagnoire translates into English, not only to bathtub, but also to the lowest seats in a small box seating area at an opera house.  Relieved, we had a good laugh, another glass of champagne, and settled into our “bathtub”  to enjoy the ethereal, mesmerizing ballet.

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