The RER train stopped suddenly and after an announcement in French, which we didn’t understand, all the passengers unloaded, leaving us, a family of four, to sit there and wonder what happened. We hadn’t reached our destination yet. Our two nights in Paris were waiting.
But we got off the train and a man spoke to us again in French. We must’ve had the deer in the headlights look, and we asked if he spoke English. His English was much better than our French and he explained that the train would not be continuing on to its original destination due to an accident further down the track.
So, we had to find another way to downtown Paris. Thankfully, my husband had the Paris Metro System app and, after some confusion and quite a bit of walking, we found the correct metro line and continued on our journey.
The metro system is very clean, economical and efficient, a very good way to travel around Paris.
Family of Four
My husband, Tom and I, had been to Paris, the City of Light, years before and we wanted to take our two teenagers there to experience its beauty and excitement. Our family of four finally made it to our destination after 20 hours of planes, trains, the metro, automobiles and walking the last 100 yards to our adorable Hotel des Grandes Ecoles, located in Paris’ Latin Quarter.
This cozy 18th-century building is located in close proximity to the Pantheon and walking distance to the metro system. The only sign that we had reached our hotel was its name hung beside a large green door off the main road.
When we opened the door and stepped through, we found ourselves standing in a lovely courtyard full of colorful blooming flowers in terracotta pots, well trimmed bushes, trees and a cobblestone walkway.
The windows of many guest rooms overlooked the courtyard.
We checked in and the staff was very friendly and helpful. One thing to note when traveling to parts of Europe is to pack light because on the train, on the metro and at the hotel (we stayed on the 3rd floor) there are no elevators or escalators.
Try telling that to your teenage daughter that MUST pack everything in her closet because she “just might need it”. Well, then that dear daughter will just have to lug her belongings up all the stairwells, and there are many. And my daughter did just that!
The positive is you are building muscle and getting a great workout.
The hotel room itself was comfortable and had all we needed for a family of four. Private bathroom, windows that open to allow fresh air indoors.
About two seconds after we entered, we all literally fell exhausted into the beds for a quick rest before rallying to explore the city and then finally turn in for the evening.
Parisians
For some reason, we hear people say that the French can be rude and not very friendly, but we never experienced that on either trip. In fact, they were very welcoming and accommodating.
We also noted the Parisians seem to be very active. We saw people of all ages bicycling up steep roads, walking everywhere with a baguette in their hands.
And we also noticed they take their downtime seriously, enjoying a leisurely coffee at a quaint cafe. This was inspiring to see and we knew we wanted to implement more activity in our day to day routine when we returned to the States.
And commit to more leisure time!
Only Two Nights
We only had two nights in Paris, but we took full advantage of all we could in that short time.
And our timing was perfect.
We had arrived during a 3 week window when Covid 19 numbers had fallen and the city had just reopened. There were barely any tourists, minimal crowds, no wait to find a seat in a restaurant and more than once, local Parisians commented they were happy to see Americans visiting their city again.
We walked, we metroed, we ate, we drank.
I had to try escargot and they were delicious at Le Latin St. Jacques, located in the Latin Quarter. One of the employees, I believe it was the manager, demonstrated with good humor and patience, how to eat it properly using a very thin, fork-like, metal tool.
While exploring the following day, however, we randomly found a snail crawling along the sidewalk. I felt a little guilty that I had eaten its relatives the day before.
Once we set the little guy down, we walked to Notre Dame which was still under reconstruction after the fire years before.
We went inside the beautiful St. Etienne Du Mont Church, from the 15th century, which houses one of the largest organs in Europe.
Once again, our timing was perfect, as someone was playing a hauntingly beautiful hymn on it as we entered the church.
We visited the Louvre grounds, opting not to visit the art exhibits during this trip, but snapped a few pictures outside the famous pyramid, designed by the Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei.
We walked to the Eiffel Tower and took several pictures from Trocodero Gardens where there is a great view of it off the Seine River. Up close, the Eiffel Tower looked rusty in places and in need of some repair. But, it was still quite impressive.
Baking Class
One of our highlights was participating in a baking class to learn how to make eclairs from a professional pastry chef, Madame Loren.
Amazing how much our forearms were screaming after stirring the dough for several minutes and then having to squeeze the dough through the pastry bag onto baking trays.
Madame Loren’s forearms looked a bit like Popeye’s – super toned! (a bit exaggerated, but you get my point).
Interesting fact, in France the eggs are not washed like they are in the U.S., so the shells still have the cuticle layer intact. Therefore they do not need to be refrigerated like they do in the U.S.
We worked hard, but were very motivated by the thought of deliciousness.
We made the dough, baked them, made the filling, filled the dough, drizzled on a chocolate topping and then sank our teeth into the finished eclairs.
They were a slice of heaven.
We made 3 each, so we took the leftovers with us to enjoy later.
We continued to eat our way through Paris and were in search of the best macarons.
We tried them at Pierre Herme, a bakery named after the well known French pastry chef. I’d say they were the best I’ve tried and offered many delectable flavor options such as Pistachio; Milk Chocolate & Passion Fruit; Rose, Litchi and Raspberry; Hazelnut Praline and more.
The Climb
Next on our adventure was the climb of what felt like a thousand steps to The Sacre-Coeur Basilica. We made it to the top without passing out and once we caught our breath, we were impressed by the fantastic view of the city from the top of its stairs.
This is a must see and is worth the climb.
There is also plenty of souvenir shopping available nearby. That afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious ice cream cone creatively shaped into a rose made with 3 different flavors.
The Catacombs
Our final stop was a visit to the Catacombs. This is an underground graveyard, so deep that it’s located beneath their metro system.
We walked down a spiral staircase of 131 steps, or 5 stories deep, for what seemed forever, trying not to become dizzy from the circling of the stairs.
Once deep underground, we listened to an audio tour on a portable device which described the history and interesting facts about this underground labyrinth.
The bones of over 6 million Parisians were transferred here from the above ground cemeteries due to public health issues linked to them back in the 17th and 18th centuries.
There were rows and rows and stacks of skulls and thigh bones organized into patterned walls in over 1 mile of passageways leading in different areas of this underground burial site. Apparently the entire catacombs covers over 6 miles.
The history was quite interesting, and it wasn’t as creepy as one might think. However, if you’re tall, there are areas where the ceiling is very low. My 6 foot tall son had to tilt his head sideways to walk through parts of it. So, feelings of claustrophobia could happen.
The tour takes approximately 45 minutes, which is just the right amount of time and advance reservations are recommended.
And with that last stop, our two days in Paris were over.
Au Revoir
As we said Au Revoir to Paris, a city we all agreed we loved, we lugged our belongings down the 3 flights of stairs to check out of our lovely hotel. Just in time to get caught in a rainstorm.
We ran to the metro station, soaking wet and hopped on the metro to catch the train to our next destination where more adventures awaited in Strasbourg.
Cheers!
Kathleen
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