Getting the most out of travelling in France

Here's my tips on making the most from all that France has to offer...

1. Learn to speak some French and not just hello and goodbye. Whilst the French have a reputation for being somewhat arrogant and rude if you don't use their language, we found them very tolerant of our attempts to speak French for the most part. I do think that if you travel anywhere it is a sign of respect to be able to speak a few basic words and to ask basic questions politely. When I was learning Indonesian in Bali the teacher told us we should speak "gado-gado" Indonesian. As many of you know gado-gado is an Indonesian dish which s a mixture of vegetables, eggs, peanuts etc. Her point was that it is better to use any words you know in the foreign language interspersed with English than to wait until you are fluent ( when you never will be!) At least you start to use the local language!

2. Check the opening times for Musees etc as many of them close on one day every week

3. Check the public holidays. they don't do Good Friday in France but EVERYTHING closes on Easter Monday, for example.

4. Consider the time of year . We chose spring which meant the weather was cool for most of it, and variable. However the flowers are stunning in spring and the tourist numbers comparatively low. It does mean that some Musees are closed as they prepare for the summer rush. It seems that many of them open new exhibitions in June.

5. Get your bike-riding skills going. I am a complete convert to the joys of pedalling around French cities. Many of them are on rivers which means they are flat (Yay!). France is very environmentally conscious so there are very impressive bike paths in most cities. It is far more preferable than using the Metro etc where you see nothing but dull faces . If you have time to pedal then do so! Enjoy the sights and sounds of the cities around you, and observe the people who live there while you pedal slowly along.

6. We used Airbnb for every accommodation except three nights when we used 'aparthotels'. We stayed in some really fabulous apartments and met some lovely local people. Make sure you use the filters available on the Airbnb site so that you don't waste hours looking at places that won't suit you at all or are out of your price range. We filtered out places that weren't an entire apartment, and didn't have WiFi, for example.
Now you can do Quick book it is no slower to book an Airbnb than a hotel room.
We did have one experience of a host expecting us to do thorough cleaning before leaving which is not the usual expectation so make sure you are aware of the expectations before you leave. Most places charge a cleaning fee so it is clear.

 Staying in apartments was great when you are travelling for some time as you can cook something simple when you are tired of going out...and it saves some money. In France they have Traiteurs that are often combined with Boucheries (butchers). They have cooked meals ready for you to heat and eat. From Coq au Vin to lasagna to dauphinoise potatoes to just about anything - we had some great meals from them. It' s also easy to scoff at supermarket food but they also have cooked meals that are fresh and tasty: we enjoyed pork-stuffed tomatoes and rice, Mediterranean chicken and cous cous etc

7, Lease a car and stick to the back roads. Enjoy the little villages and getting a sense of how the locals really live.

8. Buy a French simcard so you can contact spouses and fellow travellers cheaply. And get data so you can use Google maps offline to find out where you are and how to get to where you want to be. It gives you great confidence in wandering around when you know you can't get lost!

9. Buy some sensible walking shoes as you will do many miles of walking. Shoes with some sort of gel or rubber to cushion your feet are highly desirable so you can cope unscathed with cobblestones and uneven paths.

10. Buy a thief proof handbag/bag and use the safety catches etc. Beware of any 'staged' incidents that occur often on public transport, as often they are planned to divert your attention whilst someone steals your wallet etc. And make sure you don't carry all of your credit cards and cash with you.Hide some in your room or bag or elsewhere.

11. Get fit before you go! You will undoubtedly do more walking than you normally do so try and get your fitness levels up so your enjoyment isn't spoiled by aching muscles. Do remember to do some stretches after a long day of walking. Your muscles will love you for it! Give yourself some days off from hectic sightseeing, otherwise you will fall in a heap at some point.

France is a beautiful country with such diversity and endless history to enjoy. Take your sense of adventure and be tolerant when all does not go well. Don't just follow the tourist sights and trails as there is so much more to see.

Bonne chance and happy travelling

Dianne

Paris....so much to do!

Saturday 27th May to Monday 29th May

So, in the space of three days what have we accomplished?

- Visited the Louvre: Dianne for 2 hours, Ewan for 4 hours. I couldn't take the crowds any longer ánd saw the best of it in two hours so I headed off for some other activities * see below.

 The Louvre has some beautiful galleries. I particularly enjoyed the Petit Gallery, which has temporary exhibitions, and at the moment it is about movement and art.

Rodin

T

Ancient mosaic church floor

The other section we both enjoyed was the Islamic Art  Gallery which was beautiful:  tiles and mosaics and some very old cloth and metalware.

5th century 

Fabric carefully displayed in the dark to preserve it

- * I treated myself to a Hot (African) chocolate at the gorgeous old-fashioned Angelina's in Rue Rivoli

A jug of liquid hot chocolate and a plate of cream: bliss!

I resisted the cakes!!

- a peruse of Galeries Lafayette just to check out the clothes and accessories. There were busloads of Chinese tourists queuing to get into the Gucci and Prada sections of the shop intent on spending up big. Overwhelming! Good thing it is a big place and they didn't have time to do the whole store!

 I also had a s salad on the Terrace cafe to admire the view, Very nice.

And the ceiling is just as beautiful as I remembered it!

Day 4: I dragged Ewan in to have a look at the ceiling and we climbed up to the Terrasse to get a great view of Paris. Well worth doing.
























- a visit to the Musee Marmottin Monet to see the Camille Pissarro exhibition, a Berthe Morisot exhibition and some other impressionists, and yet more paintings by Monet of his garden. No photos allowed but we really enjoyed all of it. Both the Marmottin family and Monet's son had bequeathed the artworks to this Musee for the enjoyment of all: very magnanimous.

- explored the Bois de Bologne on Velib hire bikes. Past the lakes, through the wild forests with lush undergrowth and huge trees, and around and about we went, pedaling furiously on very wide and smooth bike paths for most of the way. Had to avoid the horse paths as they were sandy and dangerous for novice bike riders like me!

Me actually cycling

- visited the amazing Foundation Louis Vuitton building designed by Frank Gehry to see the Afrique Art exhibition.

There was a focus on African Art with 10 African artists work displayed, and an exhibition of South African art and also African pieces from the Foundation's permanent collection.

Recycling for artistic purposes!

Love this photo

Very striking sculpture from South Africa

Tribal sculpture

The diversity and richness of the work was fantastic. From vibrant coloured paintings to space cities, to photography to ceramics to sculpture it was all fascinating.. You download an app on your phone for a really high quality commentary, which was very helpful in understanding the intent of the artists. And all exhibited  in a well-designed  light-filled white and silver contoured building, and beautifully curated. We'll be back!

- had a spritz and a beer to revive ourselves sitting at the bar on our corner.

Actually we have done this the past three nights when we return from sightseeing. It's very exhausting being a tourist and we are getting old!
Ewan searching for a seat with a view and as far away as possible from the smokers!

Ordered a Normandy salad for dinner one night at our favourite bar and it turned up with a fried camembert in the middle. Tasted great, but not very healthy!

- gave ourselves some time off from Musees and galleries as most are closed on Mondays. Did some shopping at our local BHV department store in the Marais which stocks Galeries Lafayette scarves which I have bought for presents. So much easier and just as cheap as they gave me 10% discount because I am a foreigner. At Galeries L. you have to show your passport to get a discount card. At BHV they just asked where I was from and when I told them, with my Australian accent, they just gave me the discount on the spot. Only once did they ask to see my passport. If I had spent 175 euros in one day I could have collected back the tax I paid too, which is worth knowing if you are planning on spending up big.
- packed a picnic lunch and headed to Luxembourg Gardens to sit with the Parisians having lunch in the shade of the huge trees.
Ewan wandered around whilst I put my feet up and read my book. Totally decadent!

- rented Velib bikes to pedal along back streets to get to Gare du Lyon. Or that's what Ewan told me anyway. Somehow we ended up on major roads filled with traffic, but all was not lost as they have many versions of bike lanes, but in this part of town the bike lanes are shared with buses! And taxis! And any cars that haven't worked out they are in the wrong lane! Terrifying for me but we managed.

I'm not sure who had the bright idea to put the smallest vehicles - pushbikes- in the same lane as the largest vehicles - huge buses - it was terrifying when a bus suddenly whizzes past your left ear. I perfected hugging the very right hand side of the lane so they could just squeeze past! No bike helmets provided either!

After this first experience we actually rented the bikes many times over the next few days. Once you get your head around how to register to take the bikes to and from any Velib station it's very easy. Every time we stopped at a station there seemed to be some poor tourist there trying to get to the bottom of the system to get a bike, so Ewan would have to tutor them in how to do it. It  does take some bravery to ride off into the streets but there are lots of bike paths and , if all else fails, and the traffic was too heavy, we rode down the wide footpaths with no problems. It is easy to travel by Metro but you see nothing, and have no idea where you are when you emerge into the daylight.

- had coffee and macarons at the Le Train Bleu at the Gare du Lyon.

It's an institution in Parisian dining and very expensive for meals, but we enjoyed a coffee and had a bowl of tiny macarons whilst sitting there drenched in sweat from riding the bikes in the heat, and surrounded by the well-to do French waiting for a train.






- rode along the banks of the Seine and then walked around the islands in the middle of the Seine to the Pylones shop (one of my favourites).We had a quick look at the good old Notre Dame as we walked by and headed back to our favourite bar next to the apartment and collapsed in the heat wishing we were 40 years younger and that the promised cool change would arrive!

- ate meals at an array of cafes along or near Rue Rambuteau: Italian, Middle eastern, Japanese, Thai ...and French of course!

- visited the Musee d'Arte Moderne and saw some challenging and interesting exhibitions.

Raoul Dufy's amazing painting of French history which filled an entire curved room

The first was called 'Medusa and was about modern jewellery, its social impact as well as it's beauty. Some weird pieces but also some superb ones.

I'm sure I had a ballerina brooch like this when I was small!

The second one was an exhibiiton by Karel Appel, a well-known Dutch painter who lived in Paris for many years before his death in 2006. He was an innovator in his time, and we were very taken by the bright colours and huge amount of paint he used to layer his paintings to give them depth. There were a number of groups of kindergarten children learning about the art which was delightful.
Unfortunately the neighbouring Palais de Tokyo was completely closed so I missed out on seeing it again!

- Ewan visited the Musee D'Armee (the Army Museum of course) in the impressive structure that is the Hotel Invalides. He also visited the Musee d'Orangerie where the Monet waterlily paintings are beautifully displayed, and really enjoyed an exhibition of modern impressionist masters from the Tokyo Museum sponsored by the guy who set up Bridgestone tyres.

- we cycled to the Rodin Museum which involved negotiating our way around a huge roundabout  neat Hotel D'Ínvalides. The challenge was to avoid the tourists taking photos of everything and not looking where they were going!

Rodin's most famous piece 'The  Thinker': note the bird perched happily on its head!

The Rodin Musee has beautiful rose gardens, woodlands and a pond to display many of his plein-air sculptures. A delightful old mansion contains many of his other pieces. The audio guide was long and a bit repetitive but very useful all the same. There were only a few of his small sculptures of Nijinsky and the dancers of the Ballet Russes which I particularly like, so that was a bit disappointing, although some of them I had seen in the Louvre special exhibition about movement and art.

One of the figures from the 'Burgers of Calais' sculpture

- On our very last morning we decided to go to the Picasso Museum which was a mere 5 minutes walk from home. There seems to be a Picasso Museum in every major city and most Musees have some of his paintings drawings or ceramics.

The Parisian Musee features the paintings that he kept and treasured: both his own work and those of others, which was very interesting. We were intrigued by an exhibition called 'Olga': which featured paintings, drawings and even an old film, She was a Ballet Russes ballerina until he married her.

They had one son and there were some lovely affectionate paintings of him too. Picasso had a long term affair with a very young woman, but the exhibition only mentioned her briefly and the impact on the marriage wasn't clear.There's always something new to see in every Picasso Museum I find.the interesting thing for me is how talented and skilled an artist he was: his portraits and still-lifes from his early years are superb. Yet, like Dali, he is best known for his abstract art.

So in five days in Paris we have walked and cycled and 'oohed' and 'aahed', and ate and drank and shopped and observed ...and had a busy and fascinating time. There is so much to see here that it's tempting to just go so fast that you miss the chance to appreciate the beautiful buildings, and the cafes where you can sit and watch the world go by. I love Paris. And I'm glad we spent a few days here whilst we are fit and healthy enough to enjoy it.

We had an uneventful trip home although the jet lag has been hell! We had to catch the Eurostar to London then the train to Heathrow and then the plane home via Kuala Lumpur. It was fascinating to see the beautiful French sunshine disappear as we neared the coast of England and grey clouds descended.

We were made very aware of the dangers of travel when the terrorist attack occurred in Borough Market in London. At the beginning of our trip we had stayed in an apartment that overlooked Borough Market so we were relieved that we hadn't been there as we would have been in the middle of this tragic event.The threat of terrorism won't stop us travelling but it is a very sobering experience to know that other Australians were killed.

I'm sorry this last blog post took so long but I struggled with the WiFi in Paris , and life has been busy since I returned home. I will reflect on the experience and o one last blog at some point soon.

Your well-travelled, contented, but jet lagged correspondent

Dianne

Paris: the last hurrah!

Kupka at the Pompidou Centre

Friday 26th May: Chartres to Paris

We spent the morning speeding down the A1 freeways, which we had avoided the entire trip, so we could get to the Airport which was where the car lease place was based.

If I do say so myself, I did a magnificent job of navigating through tangles of freeways and weird Google maps directions. We didn't get lost once, but I was exhausted by the time we reached our destination. The chaotic roads confirmed that it was a good decision to return the car outside Paris and not contend wiht the traffic, the one way roads, the lack of parking etc etc that defines paris streets.

It was almost sad to farewell the car as it had done very well: It was a C3 Citroen Picasso, for future reference. Not available in Australia.Perfect for two and spacious enough for three people and all of their gear, but small enough to park easily and with enough power to speed along the highways at 130 kms per hour, when we weren't doing 30 kms through a tiny village! We leased the car...it wasn't rented. If you want the details of why and how speak to Ewan.

Our apartment is the second set of large windows
from the top

We managed to get ourselves on to the SFR train and then the Metro to the Marais where the apartment I had booked was located ( AirBnB: A sunny apartment....). Flaminia, a young Masters student who lives there, rents it out when she goes away and it was perfect for us. The location was fabulous. For those of you who know the area it was almost on Rue Rambuteau about 5 minutes walk from the Pompidou and close to the Louvre, Opera, the Seine etc. The only downside was that it is on the third floor of course: not the quite the attic but close! And the steps are old wood and not very straight..but we've seen worse  and can manage any steps now.

The view from the bedroom window

So many steps!

Some of the furniture he designed was available for purchase at the Pompidou shop: just a bit too big for the suitcase though!

After we had settled in we headed for the Pompidou which is a couple of minutes walk away. On the way we checking out all of the shops in 'our' street, Rue Rambuteau, which was teeming with cafes, bars and people.

And it was hot! The weather forecast was predicting temperatures as high as the mid-30's for the next few days so it was time to drag out the summer clothes from the bottoms of our bags and use the sunscreen ( essential for queuing in the sun to get into the more popular galleries).Some very enterprising young guys sell 1 Euro bottles of water to those waiting for entry.

I love the Pompidou but it is looking a bit tired, we both agreed. It was hot and so the external walkways to move between floors were really hot and stuffy as they are made of glass/perspex, and to be honest, they needed a good clean.

Compacts he designed for a Japanese cosmetic firm

A set of stairs

But the highlight was a fabulous exhibition by an English guy called Ross Lovegrove who is a designer who plays with shapes and creates some beautiful , and often practical pieces. A staircase, chairs, compacts for makeup, a pseudo car, weird shoes and some pieces simply for the beauty of the shape.

Check out the shoes

Modigliani

There was also a 3D printing exhibition which neither of us really liked much: Ewan spent all of two minutes there - and then we headed off in different directions to view the permanent collections.  Ewan and I don't wander around galleries together because we wander at different paces, and like different art, so we set a time to rendezvous for coffee at the cafe and off we went. Unfortunately the  Contemporary exhibition space was closed as they were setting it up for the summer crowds....and that applied to lots of the galleries and Musees we visited .

But the modern gallery was fantastic and had a wide range of pieces to see: here's some random photos of pieces that caught my eye.

Picasso

Paul Klee

The view from the top of the Pompidou: abstract sculpture
 and the Eiffel Tower in the distance

It was a great start to a few days in Paris and we were glad to stagger home, find something to eat in óur' street and throw ourselves into bed

your acclimatising to the heat, and the joys of Paris, correspondent

Dianne