For our last full day in Paris, I only had one goal for the day, and that was to see as much of Paris as I could at once in the same shot. Also, we were getting even more tired by the day, so it couldn’t really be asked for us to do a lot of running around, even as much as we did the day before. We got up at our usual time, and started the day out right with a breakfast stop at a café around noon. It was the same café that has some merengues in every flavor you can imagine the size of your head. Diana was very entranced by them, thinking they would collapse in an instant with some stuff.

The café experence was still pretty stressful - but less so, because we are finally getting used to it. A café is a little easier on the manners because most of the time you can sit down and just order what you want, and they don’t mind if you just have some coffee with your meal. At a restaurant or bar they look at you weird when you ask to have a coffee before the last thing in the meal, even after dessert. I had a café crema which is similar to a cappuccino at least and a ham and cheese sandwich that was pretty good but not too filling. I am a little worried about how badly I will end up off track for the diet plan when I get back. I only have a couple of days until my next report, so you all will know soon.

Our next stop was Montparnasse Tower, which is a building in the south part of Paris which is otherwise pretty nondescript except that it is very tall. Of course, because it is tall and in Paris then they can make a decent amount of money just carting tourists up to the top to take pictures off. It was 11,50 € a piece to get up there, which I didn’t really mind but still seems like a lot. I really like high places and vantage points that are above the cities, so I was not balking too much, but if the cost had been a little more, I might have thought differently.

The view from the top is spectacular, and really if you had a great camera it would be the best place to take a lot of pictures on your trip. They have two levels, one which is completely enclosed by the building, but you can also go onto the roof of the building which is surrounded by glass but open to the top! It was pretty amazing to go onto the top of the tower and look around the city. Diana commented that we should have done it on the first day of the trip, because it really gave her a sense of how large the city was. For me it just solidified my thought that Paris is really a urban city - for every direction that you can see, there are buildings which are at least four stories tall, and it is only broken by the large gardens which are spread throughout the city itself. It was actually a great day outside, possibly the best day to be outside on top of the building, because it wasn’t really chilly up there. I took at least 100 pictures with my cell phone, it worked out great.

When we were done on the top of the tower, we went down and looked at some of the shops which were in a shopping center that they call Galleries Layfayette. It was mostly just like a normal mall, but there were dotted within it some French like shops like a chain patisserie and such. The brands were different but otherwise it could have been a mall in the US. It was the first time that we saw something similar on our Paris trip, so I don’t think that they are all that common. We sat and had a drink for a little while and talked a bit.

We wanted to see if we could see the Catacombs of Paris because it was in the same general area of the tower. We walked past the cemeterie which is a real working cemetery, and down the street looking at the shops. When we got to the catacombs (at least the part open to the public), they had some people at the end of the line which were telling people that it was iffy if they queued up now whether they would get in. The last entry was at 4pm, and it was almost 3:30 at that point. We decided that it wasn’t that important to see. We walked down the street for a while and saw some more shops, and stopped and bought some things that we couldn’t get in the states. That area of town was a lot less touristy than the areas that we had been in so far - we actually met a shopkeeper who didn’t speak any English! It was the first time, but Diana still got what she needed.

We took the metro back to the hotel and hung out in the room a while, having a siesta of sorts. I was still set on going to a real French restaurant and getting le menu. I had picked out Le Petit Pontoise, but I was at this point not caring too much about it, and didn’t call for reservations or anything, I figured that we would just see if it was possible and if it was then great, and if not, then we would go to a fondue place that we had spotted on the way home. I did the blogging for the day and took a nap, and checked into our flight which was just the next day by then. We also pre-packed as much as we could so that we could have a smooth getaway in the morning.

On our way out of the hotel to go to dinner, we got stopped by the conciergé and he mentioned another restaurant which he recommended, and was very insistent. He gave us a card and called ahead for us. I said that we would check it out, he was quite insistent. So we walked up to the Quai next to the seine and checked it out, but it was 45 € for le menu and that was a bit more than I had planned on spending. Also we got a bad feeling because there was basically no one there and the other restaurants on the Quai were pretty full at that point. We decided to head to Le Petit Pontoise after all.

That was possibly the best decision of the night, because the restaurant and the meal were absolutely wonderful. It was possibly the best meal of the trip, and definitely the most French of the trip that we had in the whole thing. It was 37 € per, but completely worth it - we had appetizers and main course, and dessert with it. Diana finally tried Fois Gras, which I had a little bit of and is insane, insanely rich. I couldn’t have even a little bit more of it. I started with some honey ravioli and then had some shellfish risotto. We ordered a bottle of wine which was fantastic, and the waitress was really great. The decor in the restaurant was really cute as well, with a lot of boat pictures on the wall. It was a small room and there was another large party, we had a great time there and talked about our trip. I had my first creme brulee for dessert, which is super sweet and almost too sweet for me.

We were tired afterwards, and it was late - we started dinner at about 8:30pm, which is typical, and we ended up leaving around midnight. I only wish that we had had as great a restaurant experience every night that we were there. It was expensive though, so possibly not. ;) We went back to the hotel, apologized to the pushy concierge saying that it was a bit too expensive, and back up to the room. Our last full day went well, I think.

We’re taking a short siesta here on our last full day in Paris, so I will post the day before the last day now, and then write up the last day later this evening. I’ll probably have some time to write a retrospective of the whole trip on the plane. It was a day mostly filled with seeing the sights as they are more traditionally done in Paris.

Each day that we’re here we take in more of the city and we get just a little more tired, so the day’s plans get less and less full as the vacation goes along. It’s probably better that way anyway. Our goal this day was to see the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe, and possibly go up some of them, then I had my sights set on making the Museum pass worth the money by visiting the l’Orangerie and seeing what we could of the rest of the Louvre. Now that I think about it, it was a pretty full trip.

We started the day around 10h again, which has been completely fine by me because I am staying reading up until late in the night lately. Our first stop was Breakfast in America, which is a restaurant which is set up like an American cafe and serves breakfast all day long. I don’t know if it was some weird version of homesickness, but it was actually pretty nice to sit down to an American-style breakfast for a while. The menu was even laminated just like a cafe in the states, and the waitresses and staff talked in English most of the time. I guess it works. We went to the one on Rive Gauche because it was just a short walk from the hotel. I had a cheddar and ham omelet that I swear was more delicious. I think that all the food here in Paris has just been great for some reason.

We walked toward the metro and tried to stop at a magic shop on the way, but it was closed, only open for about three or four hours each day. I wasn’t surprised but still it would have been nice to poke around inside and see some things. There are a lot of comic and sci-fi shops right in the district of the hotel, and we walk by at least three bookstores on the way to the metro station every day.

The ride on the metro to the Champ du Mars station wasn’t that bad, and we took a short walk along the seine towards the Eiffel Tower at a leisurely pace. The tower is bigger than you picture it because it’s usually taken from very far away. It really is as tall as a skyscraper. The queue for going up to the higher levels of the tower was too long, so we just walked underneath it and took some photos, and then stopped on the Champ du Mars for a little while and people-watched some tourists. Afterwards we walked underneath the tower again and up the Jardins du Trocadero, which was a nice uphill climb but we got to see the fountains go off, which was a nice sight to see right in front of the Eiffel Tower. It is also a pretty good picture shot.

I wanted to see the Arc du Triomphe, so we got on the metro at Trocadero station and off at Etoilé station. It is definitely an arc, and it’s in the middle of a huge roundabout. We didn’t fancy going up a lot of stairs to the top, so we basically just went in a little loop around it and then back to the metro to visit the Musee du Parfum, which was mostly a lot of things used in perfume making - it was all true stuff but it was all attached to a perfume maker’s shop so it wasn’t as well kept as perhaps a real museum. I’m not complaining any though because it was free and the things there were actually pretty neat to see all of the methods that are used in order to get the fragrance out of the flowers and other parts of things. There was no pictures, but that didn’t make that much sense, there wasn’t much there that was really picture-worthy anyway.

Afterwards we were getting hungry again, so I wanted to seek out a shop on the way. We both were getting tired of the whole rigamarole around eating at a Café, so we stopped at a fast food boulangerie and had a sandwich and some stuff. I was happy because I got to order a formulé which was actually a lot cheaper than the ingredients separately. Leave it to me to be happy about ordering a happy meal. I got a suissage sandwich and strawberries with a drink. It was actually really great, filling enough but it only took about half an hour to eat and was less than 10 €! If we come back to Paris I think that we will eat from these small shops during the day more, because it is much cheaper.

Afterwards we walked through the Opéra district and scoffed at some of the fancy shops there that had super overpriced things that are all available in the US, and are just expensive because you’re buying them in the shop in Paris of course. The same brands that you would find at a high-end shopping mall in the US. We reached our goal for resting in the afternoon around 2PM which was the Jardin des Tuileries. There are a lot of flowers and a bunch of places to rest, which we did. It was a nice day outside and the sun was shining. I decided to give up on l’Orangerie for the day because it was going to just be not enough time to do both of the museums, and we went to visit the Louvre again. This time we saw all of the antiquities from the middle east and just a few of the pictures from some French and Dutch painters, and a lot more of the sculptures which were on the other side of the building.

We decided that the street lunch was so successful that we should try it for dinner as well, which we did by getting some sandwiches and panini from a street vendor which was on the way home after another ride on the metro. The sandwiches were not as good as the ones we had at lunch but they were still pretty good and they didn’t come with having to deal with a waiter and French table manners again (major plus). We also got some snacks and drinks from 8 à Huit to go with it.

I conked out again and we just ended up staying in the hotel room for the rest of the night because I woke up at around 11pm, and thought it would be a little late to go get anything for dinner or even a market because the markets seem to close early-ish. There isn’t a 24h/24 market anywhere around here from what I can tell. It turned out to be pretty nice to see some of the sights and visit the Louvre again to see a little more, and I was actually pleasantly surprised to walk through a couple of the Jardins here in Paris which are very nice. Again I was able to do some fun summer reading of The Magician which is all set in Paris. It is interesting timing at least, and makes the book a little more interesting.

I realize that these blog posts are getting later in the day every single day that I’m here. The city is starting to get a little more reasonable to navigate every time and we are seeing a lot of things every day. I like to see a lot of stuff while we can, and we had a four-day pass which will be expiring at the end of what will be Day 5 here.

In hopes of using our museum pass to it’s fullest and also to see a bunch while I was here, the plan for the day was to visit the Musee d’Orsay and then get a Paris lunch, and walk along the seine to the Archaeological Crypt of Notre-Dame. We woke up fairly late by our standards again, crawling out of bed at about 10am - but if you can’t sleep in on vacation, when?

It was Sunday, so the patisserie which was just down the street was closed when we walked by, but there was one which is closer to the Saint-Michel Notre Dame station which was open, and we again got some croissants and some other sweets for breakfast. Diana isn’t happy with the breakfasts that we’ve been getting here. We had planned to go to Breakfast in America on Sunday, but it was a bit late to get started. We sat down in a park and had the breakfast foods instead of eating on the Metro platform like the day before. There were some pigeons which came around and obviously are being sustained through the fact that croissants are super crumbly. I have to admit that I will be spoiled for croissants from anywhere else after having them in Paris - they are super crumbly and delicious. Just bread has no right being that delicious.

After the small breakfast we headed to the Orsay, which I wanted to see mostly because it has some more recent paintings and a great collection of impressionists from the beginning of the last century. Unfortunately there are no pictures inside the Orsay, which I have to say doesn’t please me to see in a museum but the whole place would be infinitely worse if there were people taking pictures of every painting in the place. It is an old train station which has been re-purposed into a museum and it is beautiful inside, but there are many side rooms that are small and while they hold plenty of people in them, the addition of cameras always seems to make a room that much fuller because of people avoiding the camera’s line of sight.

The paintings inside were all pretty great and I was very pleased to see many of the impressionists paintings where the paint actually takes on more of a 3D quality and you can see the strokes of the artist more. They also appeal to me because they seem somewhat similar to some other styles of art where you are trying to get a lot across in a very small information, like pixel art. There was also some pointillism there which has even more similarities. I also was interested in the Van Gogh part of the collection that they had there, which was great. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that they had a good collection of Rodin sculptures which were displayed outside of the paintings rooms. We spent a couple of hours there and then decided to head out to find a lunch.

I made a big mistake planning to find a meal “on the way” to Pont Neuf from the Orsay museum, doubly so on Sunday. We walked through a part of the city which was mostly made up of art boutiques and galleries, but they were all closed. We also spotted a number of restaurants and brasseries that we would have stopped at on a normal day but they were also closed. After a long walk and stopping at a convenience store for something to keep Diana going (she was getting very hungry, understandably), we found Les Bistrot Mazarin which looked like a good place to stop.

I have to admit that I was quite hungry and stressed out at that point. I was hoping to find a place for lunch with a menu that we could order directly, because I was hoping for an experience which was a little cheaper than our normal la carte dining so far. The meals here have been pretty expensive, with each lunch and dinner coming to about 50 € each time. It’s okay because we have the money, but if we can get a menu at 20 € per person, it would be better for us in the long run. There wasn’t any of that here but I was tired of walking to find a place. The menu that we got was in French, and I could have asked for one in English but I was actually trying to understand the one in French because it is somewhat important to me that we try to actually speak the language. It didn’t work out that great, because somehow I ended up ordering a cornish hen (or similarly sized duck) and while delicious, I find whole or halves of poultry incredibly difficult to eat with a fork and knife. I am ordering some buffalo wings this coming Sunday for the football game in defiance.

The meal was wonderful though, and the dessert that we had afterwards was great. I finally got the dessert du jour which was a cream cheese fruit tart thing which was actually delicious. Diana got the first creme brûlée of her trip, which was equally great.
In true Parisian style we had coffee after the dessert. Despite the negative reviews, I was really happy with the bistrot. At the end of the meal, I was fed and much happier, and the waiter was actually willing to put up with our broken French.

After the meal, we walked up to Pont Neuf and onto the Île de la Cité. We’ve thought about taking a seine sightseeing tour, but haven’t been able to have one yet. There is one which takes off from Pont Neuf, it would be the closest. We walked through the island and past the Palais de Justice de Paris which is decked out in gold. We headed along a pedestrian street across from it and then headed to the Archaeological Crypt.

The crypt was very interesting because all of the rocks that were there are mostly in the same place, or at least that is the illusion that they are trying to keep up in the museum. It was very dark but it had a lot of information on the sides about the history of Paris, which I was glad to read in English and pick out the words that I knew in French as well. The exhibits were more interesting because in most places, there is a dual exhibit, of when the island was used by different settlers in different ages. They had different parts that you could light up to see the changing ruins and point out the areas which were different. There were also a lot of little models to show what you were looking at in a little less crumbled style. It wasn’t a long tour which was also appreciated.

When we were finished with the crypt, we headed topside to see Notre Dame in full light (and with all the tourists of a normal day). There were plenty of people on the square getting their pictures taken. We decided to walk through. They were just starting the night Sunday service, but we were just walking along the outside to see all of the large stained glass windows and such. We had a pass to see the towers, but it was just after the last entry to them, and I don’t think Diana would have been game for a long stair climb anyway.

Even though it was only about 6pm, we were really tired from all the walking. We went back to the hotel room for a little break before dinner, which is also held late in Paris - we headed out at about 9pm. It was starting to rain and quite cold when we went down the street. We stopped at Cluny Bar which was on Saint-Germain and seemed reasonable. They also didn’t have le menu but I mostly didn’t care because it was cold. I had rum steak with pepper sauce and fried potato slices, and watched France get beat by Spain in a FIBA basketball game on the TV. I also had a white beer which I have rediscovered here and really enjoy.

The waiter in the restaurant brought us English menus right away which was actually unwelcome. We know that we’re American of course and don’t expect to not be noticed as American, but the waiter was being it seemed very patronizing to us and a lot over the top. I think it might just be a little more than normal though, because I observed him being somewhat silly with a couple that he very clearly knew well (they did the French kiss-greeting).

When we were done with dinner, it was straight back to the hotel, rushed on a little by the fact that it had started to rain in earnest by that point. I read until I was falling asleep and then turned out the light. Another full day in Paris.

Internet has been a little bit flaky in the last couple of days, so I’m posting this in the afternoon of the fourth day. Yesterday we ended up waking up earlier than we planned, even though we were up late. I was a little worried about getting to Versailles early so that we didn’t have to queue for everything while there. We had enough time to stop at the patisserie Parisien and grab a couple of Croissant and some macarons for later. We went right across the street and into the station which was only a little bit away, and got the tickets allez-retour to Versailles. I keep trying to practice my French, but it doesn’t work out that well - I tried to ask for the ticket en français, but she was confused. I think that I need to speak slower, I keep trying to say things fast and probably mispronounce it.

After we got to the station, we ate our croissant and got some advice from a nice lady at the platform about which train to take, which wasn’t the next one at the station, but the one after. I wondered whether we should really be eating on the platform, because I didn’t see anyone else eating there. Maybe it’s more common to have a croissant and coffee at a Cafe in the morning.

The train trip to Versailles was nice, it was almost empty which I thought was good because there wouldn’t be so many people. The trains are very quiet when they run, because they have been running for a very long time I guess and the tracks are all worn down. There is almost no noise like there is on the trains in Minneapolis when there is a curve. I can see how some people would fall asleep. It only lasted about half an hour and I passed the time looking at the sights on the way. We passed Microsoft’s Paris Offices, which had a big advertisement for Windows 7 on it.

After we showed up at Versailles Rive-Gauche station, it was a short walk to get to the palace and get inside. The tour starts right away and there wasn’t really a shop that was open early in the morning. I should have taken some time to stop and get something while we were in Versailles (the town) because we hadn’t had enough for breakfast. I gather that breakfast isn’t very popular here. Diana wasn’t happy about walking through the whole palace without any coffee or anything to eat. There was a small snack shop at the end of the walk through the main palace and we stopped to get some drinks and coffee. Everything inside Versailles was pretty expensive by American standards (probably by French standards too). Coffee was about 2 € and the drink was about 3,5€.

The main palace was quite resplendent and the hall of mirrors was nice and large. There were so many rooms and they all had different colors of wall coverings. In some ways it was a bit too much, so much gold. The ceilings were quite interesting as well and the advice to keep looking up from Diana was well taken. She got most of the pictures inside the palace itself, but I was taken by the Museum of French History’s Galerie des Battailles with it’s paintings along both walls chronologizing the great French battles going through the ages. They were all floor-to-ceiling renditions and covered from way in the past up to pretty recently.

After seeing the palace, we went outside to the part that I was excited about - the gardens behind (in front? Which is the back?) of the palace. After finding out that they were going on, I scheduled the trip on a Saturday so that we could witness the Grandes Eaux Musicales when the fountains run and there is music set around them. The fountains themselves are pretty spectacular, and there are about 30 of them to see. They weren’t all running because of drought conditions, but the main ones ran from when we got there at about 11h30 until they all shut off at 12h00. The gardens themselves are also quite amazing even without the fountains, They have tall trees that are groomed to have really tall (20m?) walls and foliage around the areas with sculptures. Each area was fairly unique.

There are many restaurants on the garden grounds and it was about lunchtime, so we stopped at one and had some lunch to pass the time. I was convinced that with what amounted to a normal length lunch at a Brasserie there we could eventually wait out the break in the fountains, because they were starting again at 15h30. The lunch was very nice, I had some sausage with fries and Diana had the duck confit, something which the waiter said was “traditional French”. The meal was good and there were about four or five different cats who obviously lived off of table scraps.

We walked through a couple more gardens and saw the Mirror Fountain display, which runs all day long every 10 minutes and is choreographed to music. It was pretty great, and then we walked to a small boutique and considered going to see the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon. The walk was just a bit too much for me and definitely so for Diana though, and I didn’t want to pay for the little train 3,30 € to go there for only half an hour or so. We were le tired from all the walking. Again another French sight seeing monument that has defeated us by it’s massive size! We only got to the start of the Grand Canal. Right before we started on our journey back to the palace, the fountains started flowing again.

I charted a course through the other side of the gardens that we hadn’t seen before, and tried to keep it short-ish but still see the unique gardens. I’m glad because there were three very interesting ones in the trek back. There was the Encelade Grove with a Titan being punished in the center, and then the Grove of Appolo’s Baths which is in a very different style than all the others, with curving paths which winded through the garden instead of geometrical ones. Finally the grove of the three fountains which had no sculptures at all and was very long with multiple levels.

After all of that we walked back through everything and past some of the flower gardens on the way back to the main gate and then the station. Diana wanted to stop at the Starbucks in Versailles and see if they had Pumpkin Spice Lattes, which they didn’t have, and the barista was very interested. “They’re spicy lattes?” she asked. I think she thought they were spicy hot. Di just got a coffee and relaxed for a little while before we headed back to the train. I was getting quite tired as well on the way back and almost fell asleep a couple of times.

After getting off at the station, we stopped at a grocery store and got some snacky cheese and water for nourishment, and then noticed that the Fromager was open that we wanted to try out. We stopped and bought some cheese that we will have later - they were vacuuming some so that they would be possible to take on the plane home, but we didn’t get ours because we will have it here. Super tired from the trip, I ended up sleeping until about 23h, at which point we didn’t feel like going out for the rest of the night and stayed up reading and fighting with the unreliable internet wifi at the hotel for a while. I ended up reading The Magician, which just happens to be set in Paris. I wonder if I will spot any of the monuments.

The second day of Paris was just as interesting as the first, with a lot of interesting things seen. We woke up and started the day late, still recovering from the jet lag of +7 hours. We walked around the 5th Arrondissement, going for a little walk in the direction which we had gone before, but when it was darker we couldn’t see a lot of things, and of course many of the shops are not open in the night when we were walking. It is an interesting place to walk and we stopped by the famous store Shakespeare and Company before having a lunch at Creposuk. I had the Gargantua which was ham and cheese and an egg in the middle. Diana had a dessert crepe which had some honey on it. Both were very good.

After that, we walked down in the other direction from the hotel toward the University in Paris, and stopped at a couple of shops to buy some things and look around. Diana found a store which sells a lot of perfume oils and supplies, pretty much exactly tuned to her likings because of the small business of custom perfumes and she bought a few of them. We kept walking, saw a lot of the area around the university and made a small stop at a Cafe and had some Cafe au Lait for an afternoon small treat. A man who teaches business English chatted with us and helped a little with the order although I already knew about the things there. Sitting at the bar looking at some French people and students walk by was interesting.

We walked back to the Hotel for another nap, passing by the other side of the Saint-Nicholas du Chardonnet while we went. I noticed that while we were by the university there were a lot of gaming shops and comic shops, which I guess could be expected. There were some stores showing off their Warhammer minis and how they were painted. It was interesting to see such a familiar sight in the middle of this fairly foreign country. We had a short hour nap or so before heading off to the Louvre.

After walking across the Ile Saint-Louis, which had a lot of interesting looking shops and restaurants (note to self: try out some of these restaurants!) and a great view of the other side of Notre-Dame (see above), we took the metro for the first time since the trip from CDG airport, and I was happy to find that it is much easier once you know a little bit about how the system works. We got to the Louvre pretty easily since the station was only a couple of stops down the line.

The Louvre is humongous. I am glad that we set aside two days to see it more on a second day, and that we got the Museum pass so that we don’t have to worry so much about getting tickets each time. Just starting from the outside it is situated on truly spectacular grounds where the trademark pyramid sits and there are a ton of statues on the whole structure. I took a bunch of pictures outside and there was interesting people watching as people just kind of sat on the area there.

We got there at around 6pm and then started our self-guided tour, which is nice because we can take it at our own pace. The “big things” were all marked out on a map but there were specific areas which we wanted to see first and make sure. Diana was interested in the ancient things from Greece, Rome and such and we went right there, after we saw some of the moat that used to be part of the castle that the Louvre is built on in the basement. The collection that they have of the ancient sculpture is super, with a lot which are in pristine condition. It took us nearly the whole time we were there. I wanted to see some of the large-format paintings which were on the top floor of the same wing, and they definitely live up to their namesake. Most were taller than I was and while I don’t know much about the paintings themselves, they were all well preserved and good. We walked past the Mona Lisa, opting instead to gaze at The Wedding Feast at Carna which is another massive display.

Honestly it was a lot to take in, and both of Diana’s batteries went out during the trip there. We marked on the map where we saw so that when we go back we can see some of the other things. At about 8:30pm we were quite hungry having only had the crepes and some cafe au lait from earlier in the day to eat. We walked down the Rue de Saint Honore and stopped at Cafe Saint Honore about a block away. The waiter there was nice and the food was really great. I ended up having half of a chicken which had herbs on it with french fries. It was filling but hard to eat with a fork and knife, so I think I want to avoid having something so complicated to eat in the future. I was kind of hoping to find a restaurant with le menu available for this evening but we have another 4 days here so I think it will not be a problem. We had dessert as well which was more Crepes for me, this time with chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Fantastic!

At this point it was about 11pm so we headed toward the hotel, taking the Metro almost the entire way this time with a change in the middle to get on the one that goes right by our temporary place here in Paris. There was a small restaurant / cafe on our way and we decided to stop for some wine and maybe fromage. We got seated right away but didn’t tell our waitress that we were just having drinks and she got somewhat mad at me when I tried to order off of the wine menu and didn’t get anything else. I wasn’t very good at ordering, and it put me off a little, I didn’t know that I was supposed to say something on the way into the restaurant that we just wanted drinks. The wine was pretty good though, and she treated Diana okay when it was more clear that we don’t know French that much. It was the first real screwup in Paris, although I don’t really know what I could be doing differently. :( Maybe when we get in, we should say deux pour dessert, which might give them the right idea? I couldn’t seem to find anything in to say “just drinks”. Maybe we should just go to the Cafe when we just want drinks.

At any rate, we got back at the hotel pretty late, and now I need to get some winks in because tomorrow is our trip out of town to Versailles. I’m a little worried about getting the correct (return) tickets on our way out, because we don’t need any tickets to the palace itself, and I hope that the station ticket offices are open.

We landed in Paris about 24 hours ago. Getting off of the plane I was starting to get ready for the trip ahead to the RER and then the Metro and then our hotel, and to see Paris for the first time. The airport is quite nice at CDG, and we didn’t have to go through any additional screening or a passport check when we landed. I thought for sure we would need to get our passports checked again. Oh, by the way, we ended up going through security in Iceland for the EU, which was similar to going through it in the US. Similar enough that I almost ended up dropping my pants for the inspector because I had to take off my belt and my shorts don’t exactly fit snugly anymore.

After getting to the Notre Dame station, I realized that I was entirely confused by the Paris metro signage. I had known on the map that I looked at before we left that we needed to go to the Cluny-La Sorbonne station and then from there on to the next station down to minimize our walking to the hotel, but I couldn’t see the words Cluny-La Sorbonne anywhere and there didn’t seem to be any indication of the correct color-coded on the signage as well. I also was a bit nervous because at that point we were walking down the street with everything that we had brought to paris including our museum passes and all of our clothing. I was feeling a bit exposed. We ended up finding both the way to the wrong metro track (the one that goes by the Eiffel, I found out later) and the other RER track before I finally figured out by the stations marked. I should have paid more attention to the fact that the lines are marked with their terminal destinations rather than their colors most of the time. I also could have figured out the numbers that I was supposed to run, because it was pretty clear once I figured I was supposed to be on line 10 headed toward Gare d’Austerlitz.

So after minor trouble, we finally arrived at our hotel - Hotel Abbatial Saint-Germain, completely jet lagged and tired. Our room is quite small, but the hotel is about a block from the seine and Notre Dame, so I think it is a good location. It is also clean and everything seems to work, which was a problem the last time that I decided to book a hotel in a metro area in Europe. It will be a good base of operations. We unpacked and put the importants into the safe, and promptly took a 3-5 hour nap.

After we were a little more rested, we changed for going out to our first Paris meal. I was a bit worried that I would get everyting wrong, picking up the wrong forks, sitting down at the wrong spot, ordering incoherently, and such. I steeled myself for being horrible at Paris. We walked down the street to the Cafe du Metro which is fairly nice and open to foreigners with an english language menu even available outside. I ordered the beef steak with fries and Diana got ham sandwich with cheese on top. I’m not exactly sure that she was supposed to have cheese on top as well, but it was definitely delicious from her review. She also got some fromage on a plate which was very delicious (she kindly shared).

After dinner, we decided to walk around the neighborhood a little. I wanted to see our first monument as Notre Dame was definitey within walking distance. As we walked toward the Seine, some people were behind us and seemed to be in a hurry. Diana asked “sorry, are we in your way?” Immediately the response came back - “I don’t know, what is your way?” from a quite happy it seemed Frenchman. He explained quickly that he was headed to a jazz club to see his friend in a jam session, and would we like to come to see his friend? Normally I am quite wary of people being this friendly so quickly, so I was wary, but I figured that I still had my wits about me. So we walked along the Seine and around the neighborhood looking for the bar that his friend was going to play at, and got to know his friend Lisa, who was really happy to be meeting someone from Chicago originally.

We ended up in the La Guillotine Pub, or more specifically, downstairs in Le Caveau des Oubliettes. True to the man’s word, there was a bunch of Jazz being played in the basement, which was a 19th century cellar at least, and it had a lot of stuff on the walls. We each had a beer and listened to the band play out the rest of it’s set. Somehow, we had accidently stumbled on one of my goals of visiting a jazz bar while we in Paris. Still a bit tired so we did not stay long, also the drinks were quite expensive (€ 7 for a small beer).

Afterwards, we walked and saw Notre Dame up close at night. I took some pictures with my phone. It was a successful first day in Paris, I think I’m already going to like it here.

Everything is amazing, and I am thrilled. I’m writing this blog post in the first day which I’ve been out of the country since 2007. We just passed the last land that I’ll see for about 2 hours as I share a trip over 30,000 feet in the air with about 100 others on my way to Paris. I am happy that I am taking this trip, that it’s even possible for me to travel so far in so little time, and that I am able to experience this all with my partner.

The first day of travel is always the one that I freak out on the most. I get worried that I’m going to forget something crucial at home, that the flight is somehow going to go horribly wrong, that something big will happen that could prevent me from going on the trip. From the moment I woke up this morning, I could feel the weight on my chest of all the things that could go wrong in the day, holding me back, keeping me from taking that first step out of the covers.

It’s important that I make that conscious decision to start the day, and to get all of the obstacles that are in my way out of the way before I can enjoy myself wherever I am going. Usually I start the day on autopilot like most days, and then I make two lists. The first list is the one in my head of the things that could go wrong and cancel the trip. The second list is on paper, or on the whiteboard, which is a kind of anti-list for the other one. If I accomplish everything on the second list, I will have done all the reasonable things that I could have done to counter the first one.

The longer and more foreign the trip, the longer both lists get. Part of this is just because of the added complexity. There are more moving gears, so it’s easier for someone to throw a wrench in the works and screw something up. Add an extra set of identification that I need to keep track of, and the complexities of foreign currency, and other languages into the mix and we’ve graduated from simple machines into the renaissance.

I’ve felt that weight on my head every time that I take a trip, and I have noticed it consciously in the last couple of long trips where the cogs start to pile up. This time has been the most trying yet, with the triple whammy of travelling with my partner, out of the country, and to a foreign country.

So far, everything has gone according to plan in this trip, starting from the time when the decision was made, many months ago, through foreign language classes to get some basic French, financial planning to make this all possible, and this morning and early afternoon’s work all falling into place. As the machinery works, the lists get smaller, and the weight gets lighter. As big chunks of what could go wrong fall off of the first list, the second list fades to nothing.

Usually by the time I am in the hotel, I am ready to explore a new place, making memories that I treasure. It’s a wonderful time, and it’s only more exciting every time I get to go. I am so grateful that things are even better with Diana. It’s a joy to see new places with her every single time, whether it is around the corner or around the globe. She helps me set up the machine - she was the one who thought up the language lessons - and provides torque to help get me in gear.

In 6 hours, I’m going to be stepping on the ground in a city half the way across the world, where I can see great works of art, sample fine cuisine, and explore a city which has so much to see. The weight will be lifted, the machine run it’s course.

I’ll do it again as soon as I’m able, because I live in an age where it’s possible, and the reward at the end is great. And with experience, putting together the machine gets easier.

If you’ve been following my twitter stream lately, you might have noticed that I am posting about once a day with an update on my thesis work. I’ve been working for a while at a particular piece of the puzzle, making slow but steady progress. The key has been partly due to the fact that I’m forcing myself to do it every day, and not slack off. It’s a big productivity booster, and I think it has been helping me get more done for a while now. There are a bunch of reasons why I think it has helped me eek a bit more than an hour out of that work every day.

The first is that I am making myself culpable after the fact about what I have done in that day. While there is some evidence that telling people what you’re going to do before you do it is detrimental to finishing, it’s a little hard to keep something like a Thesis a secret. I’ve compromised by switching the rules around a little bit, and posting what I’ve done after I do it. It helps me stay on task by reminding myself that I will have to fess up to not doing anything if there is nothing that I accomplished in the day. It also helps me look back on my progress for the day and gives me a little review - reminding myself where I was if I lose track as well.

Another facet that I’ve been gaining from is that when I’m in downtime, I’m never really not thinking about my thesis work. Everything that I end up doing at work and especially the pieces of my work which are related are keeping my mind on task and making me think about what I need to do at the end of the day. I also make a point of trying to split my work in half for the day, and take a walk while I’m still thinking about stuff. Lately I’ve been listening to some podcasts on my daily exercise, but I am convinced that there is still some part of my brain working on it, especially because I know that I’m only halfway done with the day - I am thinking about what I want to accomplish in that second half-hour of work.

Related to the half-hour nature of my time management, I also use the Pomodoro technique in order to time the intervals. I’m specifically using Pomodroido, which works quite well for Android. The advantage of using the pomo as a timer is that I don’t think about looking about how much time is left, I know that I will get at least a 5 minute break between sessions, and it also has a nifty progress bar and levelling-up system which gives me a great sense of accomplishment. By looking at how many pomos I’ve done in a week, I can confirm that I did my work for every day. I’ve used the pomodoro in the past for general tasks, but I have a harder time when I’m not able to focus on a single task. Using it for something as focused as “thesis work” works out well for me.

Lastly, I think that the timing of my work is a big factor. I do my work at the end of my work day, which means that my mind is still in the productive mode from being at work all day long, but I also do it in a different environment, so I am training myself to think about other things. There is also somewhat of a “thinking about it outside the timebox” which happens because of completing the work nearer to the end of the day. I haven’t actually experimented, but I am fairly convinced that if I did it at the beginning of the day, I would get less done.

Working every day on my thesis has been a big boon to making progress on it in the last few months. I am making real progress which is shown by the fact that I’m almost ready to run my first experiment. Using the timebox in the way that I do, by using a specific timer, splitting it in half and doing something else in the middle, and putting the work at the end of the day, has been a big help to getting a lot more out of an hour of work every day than I would expect. I’m hoping that I can take these tools and apply them to other projects as well - I’m wondering about how well they would apply to something like my consulting when I have a project that needs to get done. I’m also wondering if I can add another hour to the work in the day to “ramp it up” for the last parts of the thesis when I’m in crunch time.

From lizards last week to the big lizards this week. These are the peacable kind, well, as peacable as you can expect from a gigantic lizard.

I spent a little bit of time looking but I couldn’t turn up the source image on any of the normal sites (or any of the new ones that I found to sift through either). It’s probably not original though, it looks like a drawing of some kind or a painting. It might be one from a museum like the one at Dinosaur National Monument where they have found some other bones as well.

This particular type of giant lizard is called an Apatosaurus now, although I learned it as Brontosaurus when I was growing up. They lived in the Late Jurassic period, making the ~7000BC way off the mark of course by about 140 million years. Lots of these are in big museums, or replicas, with their heads craning upwards kind of like a giraffe, but recently people have been saying that they would never be in that position, because it would be impossible for the circulatory system to pump the blood to the head when it was up - they would put it at the max horizontal from the center.

I remember seeing a lot of these on the side of the road in the past, next to Sinclair stations where you could get gas. I always thought that it was a cruel tip to the ultimate source of the oil that you were buying. They are legitimate roadside attractions and I’m pretty sure that I’ve had my picture taken to them some time before.