I almost forgot. On the 5th, we had lunch at the
Creperie Montoise. I think this was my first foray into crepes. Evidently
crepes are made from a variety of batters, and I think ours was wheat or maybe
buckwheat. It was different, so took a little adjustment of the palette. Mine
was filled with beef and tomato sauce with a topping of salad. You can check
out the pics in part 2 of today’s blog.
July 6th was essentially a transition day, since
we were heading to Le Vesinet (about 10 miles west of Paris) and our next
B&B. My sister was leaving in a day or so, and wanted to do some shopping.
The decision was made to go to La Defense. This was the beginning of some
stressful time. Driving in Paris and its environs is not easy. We had our GPS,
but sometimes roads went off at weird angles, or they didn’t look like roads,
so we’d pass them, the GPS would have to reconfigure and we’d inevitably be on
the wrong side of the road for the next turn, or something similar. We did eventually
find a parking garage in the area and made our way to the surface.
La Defense is a business district that grew out of the end
of WWI, stretching the “axis” of Paris beyond the Louvre-Arc de Triomphe
farther west. This area is where a majority of the high-rises are in Paris. The
most notable landmark here is the Grande Arche de la Defense, which was
supposed to represent a sort of 20th century Arc de Triomphe. I
think it looks like a square doughnut standing on one end. It houses office
spaces. Not exactly classy!
We ended up in a central square and figured it was time to
eat. The first place either didn’t have many options for our delicate palates,
or maybe it was the prices, maybe the atmosphere. It doesn’t matter really,
since we walked out and found another establishment that served hoagie style
sandwiches. I think we were all gaining our wits from the drive in at this
point. After eating, we decided this area was not going to fulfill my sister’s
shopping request, so we decided to head downtown. If we had known what we were
about to encounter, I think we would have changed up our plan.
Driving in downtown Paris is a battle of wits and guts. To
make it worse, we ended up down there at one of the peak times. Cars were
everywhere, going this way and that. We also weren’t sure exactly where we were
going. We did end up on the Avenue de Champs-Elysees, so I can say “been there,
done that” but at the expense of my sanity. I can’t remember what we plugged
into the GPS as our destination, but after a good bit of time wasted (and
tempers lost) we found a garage to park. It was adjacent to a shopping mall;
this may not have been the ideal spot for “Paris shopping” but it was as good
as it was going to get this day.
Mom and sis went shopping in the mall, while Dad and I went
upstairs and outside. It was considerably less stuffy there, and we just walked
around the immediate area. While walking around, we came across a couple of,
for lack of a better term, squares. One had a memorial to a St. Jacques, with a
real nice stone structure (pic in part 2), with a nice green space around it
for people to just lounge, read, picnic, what have you. The other housed a nice
fountain and also space for people to hang out and eat their lunch or whatever.
I came to notice that Paris is full of places like these.
My family had mentioned to me previously that sometimes you
have to pay to use the restrooms in France, or at least Paris. Well, in the
underground mall, there was just such a place. I think it was 1 Euro per
person. That is like $1.40! How bizarre! Also, and my father mentioned this to
me, the cleaning ladies had no qualms about entering the men’s restrooms at any
time to do their job. I think that would qualify as sexual harassment or
perhaps stalking in the U.S., but it was the norm in Paris.
Well, after our inbound misadventures, we gathered our wits
once again to brave another drive to leave the city; another trip down the
Champs, which included rain and hail, then around the Arc de Triomphe
round-about. Let me tell you, this round-about is pure mayhem. If I never had
to go around that again, it would be too soon. There are so many vehicles,
especially during peak times. There are cars going every way except in a
counterclockwise direction, huge busses cutting straight across, and
motorcycles zipping in and out, and coming out of nowhere. We finally cleared
the chaos and made it to the highway toward La Vesinet.
I don’t believe we were as relieved during our whole trip as
when we made it to the B&B, named La Riante. It is a very nice place, and
our hostess Kristie was wonderful. We had a single room this time, which was
divided into two areas, one the actual “bedroom,” the other a sitting area with
a couch that had a pull-out bed. We “checked” into our room, and dropped off
our bags. As it was early evening, it was time for dinner. Kristie recommended
an Italian restaurant just around the corner and up a block, a nice short walk.
We took her up on it. The place is called “Soprano.” I am not sure where the
inspiration came from. J
I believe I had a pizza, although I don’t remember what type. My notes are in
my room. It’s probably not that important anyway. It was good food, and we had
a nice time after the stressful day.
We were also treated to a show during dinner. There was some
lady across the street (we could see out the front door from our table) who was
arguing with someone in her car (which was a church parking lot); we’re not
sure what instigated the debate, but when the lady noticed people were
watching, and she could be heard from a fair distance, she was startled, and I’ll
bet a little embarrassed. That didn’t stop her from carrying on, but it was
toned down a little. Somebody stopped in for a “visit” and talked to her. Don’t
know what impact, if any, she had. Anyway, we finished dinner and left. I
wonder what it was all about. Who knows?
The church I mentioned was the center of a little square,
and we walked around for a few minutes to walk off dinner. More on Le Vesinet
itself will come later.
Until next time…
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