Day 3 in Paris, and the weather is kinder. Still cold, but not wet at least. Today my plan is to take the Metro to my language school, to make sure that 1. I can find it, and 2. I know how long it's likely to take to get there. My course starts on Monday, and as always, I like to be prepared (yes, I hear you laughing.........again..............)!!
I've Googled "how to use the Metro in Paris" so I know that I'm best to purchase "1 carnet de 10 tickets T+ Metro, Bus, Tram" and that I should be able to do so with my Travel Money card at a ticket machine. I'm ready to give it a go and quite prepared to get it wrong, but it turns out to be incredibly easy - greatly helped by the fact that the extremely accommodating ticket machine allows me to choose "English" instructions!! As much as I'm keen to learn French, it's a relief not to have to struggle with this task. I achieve my goal and retrieve my 10 tickets and my receipt, and follow the signs to the correct Metro line for my destination. The train is quite full (it's about 9.10am) and I have to stand, but I don't mind. A man gets on at the next station, and begins addressing the carriage loudly (and in French). I wonder if he's some sort of official, most likely a ticket inspector, so I get mine ready to display. I watch the commuters faces for some clue. Everyone is averting their eyes and ignoring him. He finishes his monologue and moves down the carriage. Some commuters get off at the next stop and I sit next to a lady and ask her if she speaks English. She replies "a little" so I ask her what the man was saying. She says "oh, he wants your money". Ah, well, he wasn't very successful with that particular strategy :-/
Suddenly some quite loud music begins and I look around to see a young man standing near the carriage door playing a trumpet to a backing track. Again, he is largely ignored by the crowd. Clearly what is a novelty to me is a mundane every-day occurrence to everyone else. I quite enjoy the entertainment, although I'm sure the musician didn't intend me to do so for free!I get off at my stop and locate the correct exit - this is getting easier! Once out on the street I'm not sure which direction to walk, but it doesn't take long for me to find a landmark and from there it's simple. I locate my school and it's taken me about 30 minutes from the time I left my apartment. That should be no problem at all, I'm very happy to say!!!
The school isn't far from the Galeries Lafayette, familiar to me from my first visit to Paris in 2005.
This is a beautiful shopping complex with a delightful ornate glass and steel dome and a terrace on the 8th level that provides a lovely view over Paris. The terrace is almost deserted when I get up there - it must be something to do with the icy wind..............!!!!!!
I stay out there just long enough to snap a couple of photos of La Tour Eiffel (in the distance) and the Opera Garnier (right next door), then head back inside the warm shop. As lovely as this building is, and it does have lots of high class designer items, it's really not much different to any large department store back home, so I decide to keep wandering.
A street away I notice a "hop on hop off" bus and on the spur of the moment decide to get on board. The driver says I have two options - an "all day" ticket that allows me to get on and off as many times as I like until 6pm (it's only 10.30am) or a 2 hour ticket that gets me one loop around Paris and 40 of its main landmarks. I choose the latter option as a good way to get reoriented to the city, and it turns out to be just what I need. Two hours later, after a whirlwind viewing of the Pyramide du Louvre, Pont Neuf, Notre Dame, Place de la Concorde, Champs Elysees, Arc-de-Triomphe and La Madeleine (to name but a few), and some very interesting commentary along the way, I feel as though I have my bearings again and much more confidence to navigate my way around independently from now on.
Fortuitously, as we pass along Boulevard des Capucines heading back towards the Palais Garnier and the end of our tour, I spot the Fragonard Perfumery. I did a tour of the perfumery last time I was in Paris, and bought some lovely perfume samples. I'd remembered that it was in this vicinity but without the exact address (I'd forgotten to Google it before I left the apartment) I knew I'd be lucky to find it again just by chance. Well lucky chance it is, and I now have it marked on my map for future reference.
From the Fragonard shop I feel confident to walk, so I head off in the direction of the Seine, knowing that with the river on my right I can simply keep going and will eventually find my way home. I head along the Rue de Rivoli, enjoying the visual delights in shop windows - the many boulangeries and patisseries - and stopping to read the menus in several restaurants. My goal on the way is to find, and buy, a typical Parisian macaron, having never had one before. Just a little further along I come to a window displaying a veritable rainbow of macarons - they're so pretty!!
I manage to ask in French for "un macaron pistache s'il vous plait" and am rewarded with a smile and a gorgeous green macaron. It's delicious :-)
Before too long I see my helpful landmark, the Place de la Bastille, ahead of me in the distance, and then I'm back at my apartment feeling very pleased with my navigational efforts. All in all a great day!
Time to Skype my wonderful husband :-)
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