Parisian Tour Guide - Week 2

You might wonder why I am spending my last Sunday in Paris holed up in my apartment writing my blog, but a trip yesterday in search of vacuum bags (of all things) nearly put me over the edge with the crowded streets of Paris. I also wanted to capture more of the things I have done over the last two weeks with my parents (see previous post) and then with two of my best friends - Cate with whom I am sharing my flat here in Paris, and Wendy who came to visit last week.

Part of the visit with Wendy was a bit of a repeat of the trip with my parents. There are certain things you must do on your first visit to Paris, like walk along the Seine, visit Montmartre at night, visit the Eiffel Tower etc etc. But we also visited the Jardin des Plantes, a lovely garden with a fantastic Alpine garden (once we found the underground tunnel access to it from an adjacent garden).

We also visited Pere Lachaise cemetary and found the graves of Jim Morrison and Chopin. Oscar Wilde was too far on the other side of the cemetary to visit after we had had to search around for the first hour without the benefit of a map as the tourist office was closed for lunch. Besides, I had visited Mr. Wilde on my previous visit to Paris.

One of the highlights of the week was a trip an hour southwest of Paris by train on Friday to the small village of Chartres. We were a bit worried our plans to visit Chartres might be hampered by the transit strike the day before, but that was over before our train left (and really did not impact Paris much anyway). The strike did hamper our trip to the Rodin museum the previous day though, as many burly gendarme in riot gear were blocking the way along all the streets leading up to the museum, which has the misfortune of being located next to the Prime Minister's office. Which was apparently a target for angry dock workers from Marseilles who object to having their port privatized. There very likely will be a general strike in early June, so it is just as well I am leaving here on May 30.

But back to Chartres. Notre Dame Cathedral of Chartres is one of the best preserved gothic cathedrals in Europe, and also has one of the largest numbers of intact medieval stained glass windows. During the world wars, the stained glass had been removed and hidden to protect it, and the cathedral itself narrowly missed being bombed by the Allies seeking to destroy a nearby German airfield in the time leading up to D-Day.

I had been here on my previous visit to Paris, and was delighted to discover that the Chartres expert, Malcolm Miller is still providing tours of the cathedral. Mr. Miller has been studying the cathedreal for something like 50 years, and says he is still learning new things. Needless to say, he gives a fascinating tour combining history of Christianity with architecture, and an excellent introduction to the symbolism and story-telling contained in the stained glass and statuary around the cathedral.

The town of Chartres is also very charming with a picturesque river, medieval wood houses and little shops. If it wasn't already charming enough, just as we stopped to take a photo of the river, a swan got up off the riverbank to go in for a swim.

We had a lovely day in Chartres, hopped the 5:12 train and were back in Paris by 6pm. Since it was Wendy's last day in Paris, after a bit of relaxation, we got dressed up and headed out on the town that night. We went to Buddha Bar which is famous for its trancendental / dance club music mixes. It is something of a place to be seen, although with drink prices starting at 15 euros we hadn't planned to be seen there for very long. I had an Elderflower martini - very tasty. After some friends of Cate's joined us, we split a slightly more reasonably priced bottle of wine and a good time was had by all. Not much conversation though, since the music got louder and louder as the evening progressed. This was a bit of a mystery to us, since Buddha Bar has no dance floor. So why does the music need to be so loud? At least it was very good music.

Having Wendy here was the start of my slow realization that my time here is coming to an end, and soon I will be returning back to Burnaby and work. Today Cate and I had brunch with my co-worker Vlad and his family who have been in Paris for the last week as well. It has been great to have visitors here to rekindle my inner tourist, particularly as I prepare my list of things I must see over the next five days before I leave. I am also looking forward to going home (although perhaps not as excited about going back to work).