Paris and Montpellier with the Folks
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2008
1
9
Trip End
May 21, 2009
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Monday, March 16, 2009
How cool it is when daydreams and travel plans actually materialize and one day you find yourself at Montpellier St. Roch (Montpellier's humble little train station) at 9 o'clock on a Sunday night and your mom and dad come stepping off the train carrying an impressively light load (awful proud of you both for that one), your best friend is at your side sharing in your excitement and you have time to think to yourself as you walk them out of the station... "Wow. They're here. Mom and Dad, and Bonnie, they're all here, in Montpellier...with me." I am not exaggerating when I say that this was truly a dream come true for me.
We had three nights planned in Montpellier before heading north to finish our trip in Paris. Upon their arrival we headed to their hotel, a place I procured 15 minutes from my house, to drop off the luggage and then to my home to introduce mom and dad to my French family. Darine also had her boyfriend, Yann, visiting from Paris so we had quite the house-full with Bonnie, Yann, mom and dad, and the three of us. Mom and dad sat down to a fine meal that Darine had prepared earlier that night and a welcome glass of French Red. Bien sur.
Day two was reserved for walking around the city of Montpellier. We woke up to beautiful weather and after breakfast took a walk into town. The interesting part of Montpellier is its historic, pedestrian center. Montpellier is one of the few cities in southern France without a Roman heritage. It is host to the oldest medical school in Europe, founded in the 12th century. The city has purposely been designed so as to discourage automobile use which in my opinion is one of its greatest features. A very handy tram system (basically an above-ground metro line) runs Montpellier's length and when it is raining or I'm just too tired it is also my means of transportation as there is a stop three minutes from my house. My goal was to ease mom and dad into some sort of steady walking routine as I knew that the week ahead held plenty of exercise for my ill accustomed parentals (though I hear they are doing quite well now in Dubai!). Montpellier was very handy for this training as it is relatively small (at least the city center) and also quite picturesque with beautiful boutiques, créperies, cafés, pubs, and restaurants. There are plenty of cobblestone streets and fountains and I discover new little nooks and tiny alleyways all the time, even after almost nine months here.
Tuesday we took a drive to the medievil city of Carcassonne. I had been wanting to visit Carcassonne for some time and even turned down several invites from friends going there so as to reserve it for mom and dad's visit. Our day trip to the small city also marked the beginning--and I'm happy to report, my continued--driving of Mounir's car here in France. I had taken the car out a couple of times before with Bonnie as my passenger for moral support and taking mom and dad to Carcassonne would be a true test as to my skills and ability, or lack thereof, to navigate my way around here. French driving is notoriously aggressive and the Montpellier's streets are equally confusing... in my humble opinion. But I did just fine... in my humble opinion.
The interesting part of Carcassonne is its old city, La Cité, which is an old walled city that sits atop a hill and from afar looks like a giant medievil castle. It is one of Europe's largest city fortifications with 52 stone towers. Once inside the city you find it is pretty much a huge tourist trap, but a charming one nonetheless. We spent a couple of hours walking the maze-like alleyways, the girls making frequent shop stops and dad taking advantage of this to rest his weary knees. We managed to buy a fair bit of pastries which were intended for our coffee break back home that evening but I believe only a few morsels actually made it that far into the day. That night we were treated to another wonderful, home-made meal by Mounir. Candied duck, green beans, wine and bread. With Yann, Darine, and Bonnie there were 7 of us in all and it was a wonderful night. The only mishap--our house cat Dawa, took a 6 story fall from our terrace balcony that night, a fact we discovered late into the evening when we finally noticed his absence (this cat is a very PRESENT creature otherwise, it is much more canine-like than felineish, always bothering, hovering, playing, darting, scratching, vocalizing, annoying, and irritating). We would find out days later (when mom, dad, Bonnie and I were in Paris) that Dawa had indeed fallen from the balcony. He is normally a very sharp cat and like all cats very skilled at climbing and tight-rope walking (a necessary talent to negotiate parts of our balcony) but on that particular day Dawa had had his manhood chopped off and was still suffering the stupefying effects of anesthesia, which of course, must have been the reason he tumbled off the side of our 6th floor apartment into the jungle gardens down below. Yann and Darine apparently spent the next couple of days searching for the lost cat, eventually finding him in a trash bin with two broken legs and one dislocated foot. At the risk of sounding callous (because I'm sure I haven't thus far) I was really glad to be missing the cat drama here in Montpellier. Suffice it to say that Dawa is a very important being in Darine's life and I can only imagine the hullabaloo around his condition in the days and weeks that ensued. Thankfullyyyyyyy, we found him like new upon our return to France just a few days ago...
We left Montpellier Wednesday morning on a train bound for Paris. Arriving around 2 o'clock in the afternoon with a fair load of crap (Bonnie and I packed for Turkey and mom and dad with their suitcases), we proceeded to make our way to our apartment. I had found an apartment in the 18th arrondissement, specifically in the beautiful and very hilly district of Montmartre. We had our very own apartment for five days in one of the most beautiful areas of Paris with Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge just around the corner. We eased into our first night in Paris with a short walk to Sacre Coeur (Cathedral of Sacred Heart) which is perched atop the Butte of Montmartre (Montmartre Hill). The basilica dates back to 1873 and from it you have one of the most beautiful and expansive views of Paris (save of course, the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower). Montmartre also happens to be very touristy and some say charmless due to this fact but I think the four of us would beg to differ. Its windy, steep cobblestone streets and ivy-covered houses, chocolate shops, cheese shops, bakeries, restaurants, pubs, art galleries and overall pretty buildings make it quite the neighborhood to base yourself out of if exploring Paris. Compared to other arrondissements in Paris (districts, or sections of which Paris is divided into 20) it is not easy on the legs or knees as you cannot get from any one place to another without enduring steep, long stair climbs (a feat mom and dad unsuccessfully tried to conquer by taking one street instead of another when headed to our Metro stop).
Our second day in Paris was probably our biggest day. We got an early start, took the Metro into the heart of the city and began our self-guided walking tour at Jardin des Plantes, a huge botanical garden that was founded in 1626, created as a medicinal herb garden for King Louis XIII. Our plan was to rent city bikes at a station there and continue our tour of the city by bike. There are hundreds of bike stations throughout the city and dad had found an article in an airline magazine about how extensive, impressive and user-friendly Paris' bike system is so we were excited to try it out for ourselves. It might well be impressive and extensive but we certainly did not find it to be user friendly. We must have stopped at 4 such stations, pushed buttons, inserted credit cards, cussed at and pounded the machine, wiggled the bicycles in an attempt to lodge them loose from their locks, and bothered busy Parisians, before finally giving up and walking.
Most of our walk was along the river Seine which divides Paris into Rive Droite (Right Bank) and Rive Gauche (Left Bank). Most of the highlights (or tourist attractions) can be found within a relatively small area in central Paris not far from the river. I'm not sure mom and dad would agree, but we covered a lot of ground that day and after the Jardin des Plantes we made our way to the Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris, the most visited site in Paris. The Cathedral is said to have been the most important Catholic center in Paris for seven centuries. Its construction was begun in 1163 and it was completed in the mid 14th century. It is truly an exceptional cathedral. Bonnie and were hoping to climb the 387 spiraling steps to its dome but it was closed on the day of our visit. After the cathedral, and another bike attempt, we had lunch and then headed toward the Louvre which we found especially difficult to find for some reason. Finally broke down and bought an overpriced city map and walked right to it. I think we were winding down by this point, especially when mom literally whizzed across the 400 foot plaza that contains the world-recognized glass pyramid on her mad dash quest to find a bathroom without so much as glancing at the blinding structure. She was all business and I'm not sure she even really saw the pyramid though she could have tripped on it on her way to the toilette. (We skipped visiting the interior of the museum, my second skip as it said to require hours to even begin to appreciate its contents. Me not being a museum buff, I don't know that I'll ever actually enter the Louvre).
From the Louvre we made our way to the Eiffel Tower and arrived in the late afternoon to the usual 2 hour long queue. After standing in the line for a good 20 minutes mom announced that she had no intention of actually going up the tower which was followed by dad's announcement that he no longer planned to if she didn't. So mom and dad headed over to a café for some coffee and Bonnie and I stayed in the line. An hour and a half later, now almost at the ticket office and through the security point I noticed a sign saying that the 3rd and highest level of the tower was closed for repair. Begrudgingly I bought two tickets for the lousy 2nd level only to turn around 3 seconds later and see a sign saying the 3rd level would reopen in two days (and we still had a few days left in Paris) so Bonnie and I decided to get our money back, which we were lucky to accomplish, and proceeded to make our way out of the insanely long line, and finally to the café where mom and dad were quite cozily drinking wine and eating pastries. We never went back.
Exhausted we headed home to our apartment and had sandwiches for dinner which we ended up doing often and finding almost more enjoyable than eating out at Paris' fine restaurants. Bread and cheese and fresh produce are so ridiculously good in France that a homemade sandwich is a damn delight.
Day three we left the apartment after a fresh fruit breakfast and headed out for Versailles. Versailles is not actually in Paris but about 20km outside the city. So we took a train and arrived around noon, apparently a bad time to arrive though I'm not sure there would ever be a day this place didn't have 2 million people buzzing about it. Again another long line and some confusion as to which way to head in the swarms of people. Finally found an entrance and began a 2 hour walk through the splendid halls, rooms, dining rooms, and chapel of this fantastically exuberant castle. It is the grandest castle in France, an easy-to-see fact once you lay eyes on it for yourself. It was built in the mid 17th century and served as the center of French political power for over a century. It was from the Chateau de Versailles that Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were dragged to their deaths by beheading. It took 30,000 workers to complete and nearly bankrupted the kingdom's treasury.
I could go on and on, but frankly, I was just over it. I think we all were. Being a tourist is exhausting and by the 3rd day, arriving at jam-packed Versailles was too much to bear. We forced ourselves to do the cursory tour of the most important parts and then got back on a train to Paris. That night Bonnie and I treated mom and dad to a dinner of Tapas right outside our front door and then walked them over to their Friday night surprise... a fabulous Parisian cabaret show at the Moulin Rouge. This is, once again, a very touristy thing to do. From what I understand the French don't go but everyone else sure does! I fully expected to be a little let down but the show was great and full of surprises. It included the expected topless ladies and scantily clad male dancers but also had awesome intermission acts including a contortionist couple that made you think you were dreaming, a really funny ventriloquist, and the most shocking if slightly disturbing, mermaid woman who is carried out on stage supine by two or three beefy men and then dropped into an enormous aquarium that rises up out of the floor where the stage had been just seconds before. Only the aquarium that this mermaid woman is tossed into didn't end up being filled with aquatic animals like one would expect but snakes. HUGE LONG SNAKES. Dozens of them. The mermaid (topless, of course) woman begins an underwater love dance with these serpents, grabbing one enormous serpent, rolling herself around so as to have it coil around her, quickly spinning out of its grasp and then reaching for the next one. She only paused occasionally to come up for air and the whole crowd was just stunned into silence. That was definitely an unexpected surprise at the Moulin Rouge. We had a great night and the four of us were duly impressed.
Saturday was our day of "rest"... from each other that was. For the sake of giving mom and dad a break from so much walking and Bonnie and I a break from so much waiting we decided to go our separate ways that day. Bonnie and I went to visit the Catacombes. I don't think too many people know about the Catacombes in Paris. I had heard about them from Ryan and read a little in my guide book about them and it sounded interesting so off we went. The entrance to this underground ossuary is inconspicuous and unspectacular to say the least. You're greeted by a small plaque that warns people with heart problems, claustrophobia, or those of a "nervous disposition" to beware. Curiosity peaked, we payed our 7 euros and headed in/down. From street level you descend 130 steps and find yourself in a damp, dimly lit underground ocean of bones. In 1785, the city decided to solve its then horrid hygiene problem by exhuming the bones of the city's cemeteries and transferring them to its then not-in-use quarries. The result--The Catacombes. Several kilometers of corridors and chambers walled with the bones of MILLIONS of Parisians, all neatly stacked. During WWII this place also served as headquarters for the French Resistance. Creepy it certainly was but also really interesting. There were many inscriptions on plates and each section marked the cemetery that the bones had come from and the year they were transferred. I believe we saw some dating as far back as 1787. We read that priests use to push the carts of bones through the city streets at night on their way to the quarry, chanting prayers all the way. I highly recommend visiting this little known historical sight. Having said that, I think mom and dad were better off at the Champs-Élysées where they ended up which they accomplished entirely on their own, navigating Paris' complex Metro system like pros. It must be said that mom also surprised and impressed me with her French! For not having spoken the language since her teenage years at the Alliance Francaise in Costa Rica she does amazingly well and was told so by a few French folks as well.
Our final day together was spent in the small village of Chartres 80 miles outside of Paris. If it hadn't been for mom I'd never heard of, much less visited, this tiny town. But mom had always dreamed of visiting a beautiful cathedral there she had learned about in school and heard about from her aunts growing up. It is not surprising that she would have learned about his place in school. This cathedral is magnificent, in my opinion perhaps more impressive than Notre Dame. It was built in the 13th century and is uniquely crowned by two very different spires, one in the Gothic style and the other Roman. Mom and dad got a treat when they realized they'd be able to attend mass inside that afternoon and Bonnie and I got a treat when we were FINALLY able to climb the spiral steps to the top of a cathedral, something we tried to do in each one leading up to Chartres and were never able to do. The long, skinny stairway takes you up 340 feet to the Clocher Neuf (New Bell Tower) and offers a vertigo-inducing, splendid view of the city of Chartres. It was awesome! You could walk the circumference of the tower the whole 360 degrees along the rim with nothing but a 3 and half foot, 200-year-old wall separating you from the abyss. We had a nice lunch and walk around the beautifully preserved center of the city before heading back to Paris on another train.
Our wonderful week together ended sadly with the inevitable goodbye as we saw mom and dad off at the airport Monday morning. They, of course, continued on their course toward their new home in the U.A.E and Bonnie and were were beginning our adventure in Turkey that same day. We parted ways at Terminal 2 and I sobbed like a baby. So did Bonnie. Even after many international moves and long separations I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of this goodbye. This truly marked the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of the Stanley Four. We have lived together (minus dad's absences for work in Louisiana and abroad, my trips, and Wes' recent jobs on the west coast) for the last 13 years since leaving Costa Rica. Mom and dad begin a life of unknowns in the Middle East, Wes a life of his own pursuing his interests in Anthropology on the west coast, and I, after France is over HAVE NO IDEA...
Despite the tough farewell, we had a wonderful time. Mom and dad's visit exceeded my expectations. It was wonderful to have Bonnie along. Wes was sorely missed, of course. But he is holding down the fort in KC until I arrive.
So Paris behind us, Bonnie and I marched (or flew) eastward toward Istanbul...
Comments
Young Again!
Chela, now that you have given us a small taste of your adventurous escapades, I feel I should comment on this leg of your escapade. Don't worry it's all good, I probably won't even embarrass you except for my spelling and grammar perhaps. As you probably know I wasn't all that enthused about making a 9 day trip to France but you being there and Mom longing for such a trip definately trumped any of my thoughts of getting out of it. I can honestly say that I'm so pleased to have made the trip, I would never have known what I had missed. Obviously being there with you and Mom (and yes, you too Bonnie) was truly special, but it is touching France, or letting France touch me that makes it more special than I could have imgained. I thank you for putting that back into me, I had forgotten, and here I am one who has seen many parts of the world. Now there is the key, and the crux to my comment here, 'to see', though special, is so very little. You re-taught me how to 'experience' a place, a happening, a person. Your travel blog is pretty cool as are so many that I see on this site, but those little dots I hope mean so much more than a barrel race around the world. I'm sure they do as the true traveler knows more of what I am speaking than I will ever know. I just want to say thanks for giving me the 'flavor' of travel again. I hope Mom & I can continue to taste comparable experiences in other spots now that you have rekindled that in each of us. However, we might do those at a bit more of 'our' pacce. You and Bonnie are a bit NUTS!