Too Many Photos Already

When we arrived at the Paris train station, Gare du Nord, we followed the directions we'd been given to get to the apartment. The signage in the Paris subway is not nearly as fool-proof as in the London Underground. After taking a couple of wrong turns in the tunnels when we had to change trains, we found our way and ended up in the correct general neighborhood, Montmartre. 

We started walking, the wrong direction, but figured that out after a few blocks and turned around. Finally we found the building and as we tried to figure out how to get in, a doorman let us in. There was nothing in the lobby, nobody, no desk. While we stood there with question marks floating over our heads, the landlord, Pascal, happened to walk through the lobby. Our eyes meet... the music crescendos and he figures we must be the Americans who are looking for his apartment.

The apartment is on the 7th floor and faces north. We're already on the north side of the city, so our view doesn't  include anything spectacular, since the main part of the city is in the other direction. But we're close to lots of stuff that we wanted to be close to. 

View from our apartment.

The balcony. It's freezing cold outside, and the glass door is very drafty. And the bed, a fold-up couch, is in this room. Now that I think of it, this is the only room, besides the bathroom. It contains the world's smallest kitchen.

Walked by Au Lapin Agile (The Agile Rabbit) on the to Place du Tertre ("tert," for all practical purposes) where artists hangout, paint portraits, and badger tourists to buy portraits. The Lapin Agile is also one of the best known night spots in Paris. Place du Tertre is also the highest elevation in Paris.

There's lots of these steps in Montmartre. This is one of the shorter ones.

After spending the afternoon in Montmarte, and then down the hill to the Pigalle area (the main area for prostitutes and sex shops). Forgot to mention, I'm a student of Parisian culture. At least now I am. So it's OK. We didn't start the walk back to the apartment until after dark. That's Robin under a street lamp in Montmartre, not Pigalle, so it's OK.

For you phone app fans, I downloaded a great app, Paris2Go, to my iPhone that's worth every cent of the 99¢ price. It's a map of Paris, downloaded to the phone (so you don't need Wi-Fi or a mobile phone connection) and it uses the phone's GPS to show where you are and what direction you're heading. It made very easy for us to go where ever and find our way back.

Today we had an afternoon meal at La Maison Rose (the two previous blog articles). The lone employee saw me with my iPhone, came over and said "Do you want wee fee?" I look at Robin. She looked at me, looked at him, back at me, then a light bulb appeared over her head as she laughed and said "Yes, we'd like Wi-Fi." He gave us a card with the Wi-Fi password on it.

La Maison Rose is a tiny place. As soon as we paid the tab, the guy ran outside, grabbed the signboards, brought them inside and started closing up.

A Toast To Oliver and Roland

College pals. Continued speedy recoveries to you, from Montmartre.

Chez La Maison Rose

Having a late afternoon snack in Montmartre.

Tuesday Night In Uxbridge

I haven't left the flat for two days, trying to recover from a nasty cold in time for the Paris trip on Thursday. Feeling much better, Robin, Maria, and I walked to Uxbridge town centre and met Wally (coming back from spending the day at the Brunel campus) at the Metropolitan for dinner. A special 2-for-1 deal, £6.45.

A visitor popped in for a tuna fish snack just before we left.

Wally and Marie walk hand in hand down as side street... or has she been abducted by an ET alien?! 

Trains arriving and departing Uxbridge Station, through guard rails at street level.

Uxbridge Station from a sidewalk/street overpass. 

Wally and Robin dash across the street. Still haven't gotten used to traffic coming from the opposite direction. No problem for Robin though, with those snazzy high-top tennis shoes.

Paris Countdown

In preparation for our side trip to Paris, I've been researching various sights and museums that we want to see. In addition to the Crazy Horse show and dinner, and the Cézanne exhibit at the Musée du Luxombourg, I've penciled in a tour of the Paris catacombs, the Paris sewer (sure to be a gut-wrenching experience), the Musée d'orsay (formerly a train station), Musée du Montmartre, Musée Rodin, Cafe Procope (former clientele: Victor Hugo, Napolean, Benjamin Franklin), the Apple Store next to the Louvre, and if time permits, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and who knows what else.

I really doubt this trip can compete with the trip to Murphys in Killarney, Ireland next month, but I'll be open minded about it.

Speaking of catacombs, the catacombs under Paris are part of an extensive system of tunnels that had been used as stone quarries for centuries. In the late 1700s, cemeteries became so crowded and unsanitary that the government condemned many of the inner city graveyards, dug up the graves and moved the bones to a section of the quarries, now known as the catacombs. The remains of about 6 million people are there.

Beyond the catacombs, the underground tunnels cover vast areas. Only certain parts are open to visitors, although some people, called cataphiles, explore the underground world on their own, illegally. More on that later.

A wall of human bones in the catacombs. 

A Short Side Trip

From London, Paris is a 2.5 hour train ride. Reason enough to hop on over there next Thursday, returning Monday. I've never been under the English channel before. Sounds fun.

I've made reservations for the Cézanne exhibit at the Musee du Luxombourg, and a dinner/show combination at the Crazy Horse cabaret. From what I understand, Crazy Horse is a wholesome place with lots of good entertainers. Naked maybe, but good. 

Our Paris apartment is in Montmarte, the area where lots of famous artists lived and partied and painted. There's a plaza in this part of town, Place du Tertre, that's so overrun with artists you have to beat them off you to keep from buying an unwanted portrait of yourself. Really fun stuff. Naked entertainers and rabid packs of artists. What a great city.

When booking reservations for the Cézanne exhibit, the Musee du Luxombourg web site was in French. I could have had Google translate it for me, but decided this was a good time to test the translation app on my iPhone, Word Lens. I held the phone up to the laptop and the app, although not perfect, translated well enough that I was able to navigate through several pages of ticket ordering chaos.

Word Lens at work.

Tomorrow morning we take a 8:00 train to St. Pancras/Kings Cross stations (Harry Potter's magic train left from platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross). Robin says there's a luggage trolley embedded half in the wall there. So Harry Potter. Now it has been moved to the front of the station, so maybe we'll grab a shot of some young wizards going off to school.

Miscellaneous Photos

A pint and a half pint of cider, after a few sips. I'm not a drinker, just an appreciator of pub tradition.

It's hard to walk past the Uxbridge station without grabbing one more photo.

The lighting fixture design in our flat is what I'd call "Post Modern Alcatraz." I mean that in a good way.

Flatmate Maria works on genealogy projects.