Paris, France

Our one--and only--major destination outside Italy during this four-month sojourn is Paris. Why Paris? Two reasons. First, there are two "Francophiles" in the family: Keely and Clare. Second, Paul's old college friend Tom, who teaches literature at a French university and lives in Paris with his wife and 11 year-old daughter, offered us the use of a studio apartment he owns.

Keely and the kids actually left Rome on Wednesday afternoon (3/24). Paul followed the next afternoon, as he teaches on Thursday mornings. Travel was not without incident.

There are a number of discount airlines flying across Europe these days, and we took one of the bigger ones: RyanAir (based in Ireland). Those of you who remember "People's Express" from the early 1980s will understand how these airlines manage to keep the cost of their flights so low: basically "customer service" is minimal to non-existent, and passengers are pretty much on their own to check-in, find seats, etc. But the savings is considerable. A round-trip ticket from Rome to Paris was about $50. (A round trip 2d class train ticket is about $160.)

RyanAir flies to an airport in a small town, Beauvais, about 40km outside of Paris. A shuttle takes you from the airport to a major transportation hub on the periphery of Paris itself. From there you can catch a Metro (subway) that will put you almost anywhere you wish within the city. (The Paris Metro is vastly larger than Rome's. It has 14 major lines. Rome has 2. And the Paris Metro covers the city like a net; you really don't need a car if you lived here, as almost every sector of the city is easily accessed by the Metro.)

Because Keely and the kids arrived in the evening (8PM), and because they would have been walking on dark and unfamiliar streets in Paris looking for Tom's studio apartment, they decided to stay that first night in Beauvais, and then take the shuttle the next morning. Great in theory, except the flight was slightly delayed, and by the time she arrived at the hotel, the concierge had left for the night. In the end--but not without some stress--she managed to secure another room and then made it to Paris the next day.

Tom's studio is in the "Arts et Metier" neighborhood, just a short ten-minute walk north of Notre Dame Cathedral: a fantastic location.

We saw many of the major sites (see pictures), and it would be hard to say which was the most impressive. For Paul and Keely the experience of Palm Sunday Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral was a great joy. The kids enjoyed it too, though perhaps our outing to Versailles Palace--where they were more at liberty to run around--was a bit more fun.

Tom, Anne and daughter Chloe invited us for lunch on Sunday after Mass. Paul had not seen Tom in at least 18 or so years, so it was good to reconnect! Our repast was a traditional French meal called "Raclette," which resembles the Swiss "Cheese Fondue," only the cheese is melted on an element in the center of the table and then poured over a variety of fresh cooked vegetables (potatoes, beets, broccoli) and cold meats/patés.

Every morning Keely would visit the bakery just down the street from the studio and bring back fresh croissants, quiches, and other treats for breakfast. We usually had one restaurant meal per day, otherwise we relied on the local grocery store for some home-cooked meals: another great benefit of the studio apartment!

The picture above is from the Eifel Tower, of course. We'll post other pictures in a separate post.