Paris’ ‘greatest hits’

A travel companion (TC) and I visited Paris, Jan. 14-18, ’05. We were lucky with the weather. Temperatures were in the upper 30s or low 40s every day, with no rain except on the last morning of our trip. According to the weather forecast info at www.worldexecutive.com, Paris has less rainfall in winter than it does in spring and summer. If that’s true, then our weather experience for January was the norm.

We took a taxi from Paris’ CDG Airport to our hotel in the sixth arrondissement. We hit some morning rush hour traffic, and the ride cost about €45 (near $55) before tip. On our return trip, we left Paris for the airport at about 3 p.m. and the taxi price was almost exactly the same.

Online, from www.museums-of-paris.com, I’d ordered 3-day museum passes and, as promised, they were hand-delivered to our hotel.

I was with a Paris first-timer. As a result, we saw primarily several of the Greatest Hits in our five days. A couple of them were either new to me or I hadn’t done them in many years, so it was time well spent.

On our first day, from Saint Michel Métro stop we took the RER line C to the Tour Eiffel stop. You emerge from the stop, walk about 1_ blocks and there it is, the symbol of Paris. The observatory at the top of the tower was closed, so we went to the second-floor observatory. I blush to say this was my first time inside the Tour Eiffel. I’m not one for aerial views, they usually don’t do much for me, but this was pretty cool.

There was no line for ticket buying and just a little line to come down in the elevator when we were through. The observatory area is small, though, and I can imagine the storied crowds and lines in high season.

We walked the Champs-Èlysées, detouring onto avenue Montaigne and avenue George V so TC could see the famous designer boutiques of Chanel, Dior, etc. We also walked up the Champs so she could see the Arc de Triomphe. Taking our lives in our hands, we managed to take pictures of each other in the traffic divider in the center of the Champs with the Arc in the background.

We had lunch at Ladurée at 16 rue Royale (we could have gone to the Ladurée on the Champs, but we had other errands to run near the other). Ladurée was mobbed, as usual, and I’m not sure that its lunch is actually worth the price, but I like it there. None of the famous macarons were consumed, but we did have a pastry.

Though it was getting late in the day, we Métro’d to Cité so TC could see Notre Dame. We didn’t stay long. We didn’t get to Ste-Chapelle and it was the first time I had been in Paris and hadn’t gone there. We also tried to go to the Deportation Memorial behind Notre-Dame, but it closed at 5 p.m.

Instead, we walked to Pont-Neuf and took a boat ride with Vedettes du Pont-Neuf. Right behind the equestrian statue of Henri IV, you walk down a flight of stairs, buy a ticket and get on the boat.

I hadn’t taken a Seine boat ride for a long time. The Vedettes boats are smaller than the bateaux mouches, and they tout that they have live commentary rather than a tape. However, the disadvantage is that you must count on the narrator’s speaking clear English, and ours was only so-so.

We did get to see the Tour Eiffel’s 6 p.m. flashing light display just as it started. It goes on in the evenings for about 10 minutes, starting on the hour.

The next day, Sunday, we got a late start for Versailles, 10 miles southwest of the city. We took the RER line C from Saint Michel (the train didn’t say “Versailles RG” as it used to; its label was “Vero” or “Vick”). We got off at the stop called Versailles Rive Gauche, emerged from the train station and saw that a shuttle bus to the château was waiting, so we took it (less than €2).

I hadn’t been to Versailles for many years, and I’m not sure we made the best choices about tours. Two guided tours in English were being offered that day: Louis XVI’s private apartments plus the Opera, and Marie Antoinette’s private apartments plus the Opera. We opted to see Marie’s.

There really wasn’t much to see, mostly empty rooms with a few very beautiful furnishings but not a lot of “stuff.” Seeing the Versailles Opera (a private opera house built for Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI’s wedding and then used for private performances) was worth the tour.

I think we then should have taken an accoustiguide tour. Instead, we opted to just do a quick walk-through of the official royal apartments. They were just as gorgeous as I remembered, but I know I’d seen other rooms last time. The “bull’s-eye” room, for one thing, I missed out on this time.

We took the RER back to Paris and got off at the Orsay museum. I love the place and wanted TC to at least see the building. We had only an hour there, but she wanted to see La Mère de Whistler and I wanted to at least see van Gogh’s “Church at Auvers-sur-Oise,” so in that sense we each were satisfied. Barely.

On a Monday we were at the Louvre by 10:30 a.m., as we wanted to take the 11 a.m. English tour of the highlights. The 90 minutes of our highlights tour flew by. It required a lot of walking and stair climbing but included the big three (Mona, Winged and Venus) plus Leonardo’s “Madonna of the Rocks,” Michelangelo’s “Slaves,” a stop in the Italian-Early Renaissance room and also a tour of some of the underground remains of the original Louvre structure.

This was obviously a brief overview but a good introduction. Our tour guide spoke English well, and she presented interesting facts about the works we saw. As many times as I’ve seen the “Winged Victory,” I never knew that its original position was on top of a hill in Greece and that’s why the Louvre curators decided to place it on top of a staircase and not with the rest of the ancient Greek works.

We had our museum passes, but even if we hadn’t, I’m still a big fan of entering the Louvre via the Carrousel shops from the Louvre-Palais Royal Métro station. You skip the Pyramid line and walk directly into the underground information and ticket-selling hub of the Louvre.

We had lunch at Café Marly, which overlooks the Pyramid. It’s overpriced (lunch for two, without wine, was about €50, or $60) and not as interesting in winter when there is no chance of sitting out on the terrace, but I like it there. The food was pretty good. When we were ready to leave, the maître d’ was having trouble identifying our coats and two different times offered us other people’s fur coats. Boy, would they have been miffed!

After lunch we headed to Montmartre, as TC wanted to see the Moulin Rouge. I was unenthusiastic but agreed. TC was shocked to see how sleazy the area was — like Times Square, or worse, before it was cleaned up. I suggested that we walk toward Sacré Coeur, but after a few blocks of sex shops TC lost interest and we got back on the Métro.

On our last day we tried to visit the Opera Garnier, which opens at 10 a.m., but a sign said in English that there was an “Exceptional Closing” and they thanked us for our “Comprehension.”

We walked a few blocks to rue de la Paix in order to go to a perfume shop, but it was closed. We came upon the parfumérie Freddy, on rue Scribe, which was recommended in a book I have. The salesperson was very good at selling but also good at her business, and with the various discounts and the VAT refund I believe we did very well on prices.

This is one store that provides customers the VAT refund in “advance.” Rather than fill out forms to have the refund sent to you, all you have to do is get the VAT refund form from the store stamped at the airport, mail it at the airport and, once the merchant gets the paperwork from the government, she puts through the charge on your credit card at the lower, tax-free amount. This is legit, not a scam (at least in reliable stores), and you’re not waiting for a refund; you’ve already gotten the refund.

After lingering at a nearby café, we were done for the day.

ELAINE LAVINE
New York, NY