Best French Kiss Ever (Au Revoir) About This Page:

[DouglasE]

Best French Kiss Ever! Au Revoir

For those of you who have missed this trip report keep in mind the following:


A French kiss can be a transcendent experience. At least when it is done well I feel like I have been transported to another plane of existence. This trip surpassed the limits beyond my ordinary existence. What a wonderful gift travel can be! The year 2006 has been a year of personal growth for me. This journey marks a milestone in personal growth. The trip was a challenging one. I was traveling outside North America for the first time totally on my own. There was no one to take up the slack or make sure all the dots are connected. Also, I’d be journeying to a land where I only spoke a little bit of the language. I’d be experiencing a culture that does things differently and has a different perspective. My challenge was to live like a local.

If you have missed reading this trip report you can start from the begining. Here are the earlier chapters.

Part I: Loire River Valley Best French Kiss Ever! (Loire River Valley)

Part II: Bienvenue a Paris Best French Kiss Ever! (Bienvenue à Paris)

Part III: Historic Heart of Paris Best French Kiss Ever! (updated 01/19/07)

Part IV: Impressionists' Paris Best French Kiss Ever! (Impressionist's Paris)

Part V: Marais Mania Best French Kiss Ever! (Marais Mania)

Part VI: Well-heeled Paris Best French Kiss Ever! (Well-Heeled Paris)

Part VII: Royal Versailles Best French Kiss Ever (Royal Versailles)

"L'Homage a Stravinsky" Fountain outside of Centre Pompidou



This is my last day in Paris. I head down to the breakfast room of the hotel. I fully anticipated having a meal with my fellow tour members who were all so great. This was not to be. Everyone is busy with their various plans. Most are embarking on new destinations. As I sit having my breakfast a wave of melancholia sweeps over me. It is coming to an end all too quickly. As I savor my tea various acquaintances come and go off to pursue new adventures. No one seems to have any time to sit and chat <sigh>. Before heading out for the day, I ask the staff to store my bags while I explore the city for one last time. I will return to pick them up by 3 pm.

More fountain pictures

[DouglasE]

The exo-skeleton facade of the Centre Pompidou





The escalator leading up to the sixth floor and the incredible view



Entertainment at the Pompidou

[DouglasE]

For me, museums are great destinations for solo time. First on today’s agenda is a visit to the Pompidou. The Pompidou Center is world renown for its modern art collection. Prior to exploring its offerings, I take an escalator ride up to the top to enjoy one of the best views of the city. While there I was able to peek into Chez George. This restaurant is definitely too fancy schmancy for my wallet. I walked along the tube that ran the length of the building to take in the vista of Paris. While up there I ran into two girls who were from some other country. Through a series of gestures, I asked if I took their picture with their camera would they take a picture of me with mine. We had lots of laughs and giggles as we tried to clarify our intentions. After my photo shoot, it was time to explore the world of the moderns. My take on modern art is that I really need to be in the mood for it. Luckily, today I had a blast trying to interpret the various exhibits and installations. I took my time exploring and didn’t have an agenda at all. The exhibits are always changing so you probably wouldn’t see the same museum today as I did on that morning. I do remember a temporary exhibit that showcased humorous political cartoons.



Views from atop the Pompidou

[DouglasE]

I did have a plane to catch later in the day and wanted to see a few more things before I left. While earlier in the week my tour group had visited the Carnavalet museum. We had only explored the grounds and had not actually gone inside. I truly enjoy history. Musee Carnavalet is the French history museum. It is housed in two Marais mansions connected by a corridor. Most of the museum illustrates the history of France through paintings. Artists have captured key moments in history on canvas. It took me a while to figure that out. I was expecting more artifacts to be on display like at the Smithsonian in DC. But once I adjusted my expectations I began to enjoy the museum more. It’s a smaller museum and I felt the hour and a half that I spent there adequate to experience what it had to offer. If you enjoy history, it is worth the visit. Otherwise, you might want to pass. Rare in the 21st century is the cost of this museum: free!


80's political cartoon






Colorful installation





Musee Carnavalet







NEXT: Les Grands Magasins!

[jimmymac]

Great pix. Sacre Coeur looks sooo close

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures Douglas!

[PrincessSharon]

Great pictures, Douglas! I wanted to visit Centre Pompidou, but I didn't have the time, so I really appreciated your pictures. Musee Carnavalet looks interesting, too!

[lauriep]

Wonderful photos, Douglas! Welcome back from Peru!

[chezp]

Great updates Douglas! I personally love the Pompidou centre building - it's just so wonderful and wacky.

[Disneybine]

Love the pics! I gotta admit that I'm not a big fan of the Centre Pompidou - just not my cup of tea, I guess.

[DouglasE]

Les grands magasins are the ultra-chic super department stores of Paris. They offer one-stop shopping for everything from clothing to books to music. You could even get currency exchange, a ticket agent to see major shows, and museum passes. Who knew that the department store was invented here in Paris? I thought it was an American invention. Did they invent the food court too? I wouldn’t be surprised. I ventured off to visit two of the most chi-chi major department stores in the world: Galaries Lafayette and Printemps. It is the end of my trip and I have very little money to spend. Frankly, I generally don’t like visiting stores when I can’t spend money. However, I felt that I owed it to myself to at least check out these bastions to shopping. Paris is known the world over for its shopping. It would be like not eating here. I thought maybe if I saw some cool t-shirt, I might pick it up. I kept my eyes peeled. Both stores are humungous and took up several blocks each. They are beautiful shopping venues and really made me want to part with my money. Too bad there wasn’t much money left. I really didn’t see anything that I could afford AND appealed to me. Plus, I was experiencing some time pressure. It’s kind of hard to shop when you have the “tick, tick, tick” of the clock running in your head because you have a flight to catch.

After stolling through all of the expensive clothing departments I realize it is time to get to the airport. I hurry back to my hotel. I thought they would have stored my luggage in a closet or something. But no, my luggage was sitting right next to the reception desk. I waved good-bye to the staff and wheeled my way to the train station.

I hate Charles de Gaulle airport. It’s a big sprawling mess. I was going back and forth through various portals trying to get to my gate. I had to enter at one end of a terminal only to walk all the way through to reach my gate on the other side. The terminal was divided in half and I kept on flip flopping between the two halves depending upon which airport employee advice I received. Even the airport staff wasn’t clear on where I should go. Ugh! The saving grace of all of this is that I followed standard guidelines and arrived at the airport hours ahead of my departure.

I sat at my gate reading and writing a bit in my journal waiting for my little plane to take me to London. Since it’s a short hop, the plane was on the small side. The flight was uneventful and short.


Galleries Lafayette





Printemps






NEXT: Mishaps and missed opportunities in London. Plus, Passporters meet!

[chezp]

Aren't they great stores? Oh my goodness, what great memories you're going to bring back with your London installment!

[Colexis Mom]

Great update!

[DouglasE]

The rest of this trip report will sound oddly familiar to several of you. That is because these posts previously appeared in a trip report produced by Chezp in 2006. Why rewrite history?



When planning my trip to France, I had intended on letting a travel agent make my flight arrangements. But I needed to know how much money I would need to dole out. Therefore, I surfed the wonderful world wide web to have a ball park figure. I was visiting Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, and a few other sites occasionally over the course of four months. Over these four months air fares were VERY consistent. Then one day I was surfing and discovered an air fare that was $300 less than anything I had ever seen before. Not only that, but the timing of the flights worked really well. I wanted to arrive in Paris early in the morning and leave in the late afternoon. I wanted to have full days of vacation; and not just days dedicated only to traveling. But the flight arrangements involved a several leg journey. There are direct flights from Philadelphia (my home) to Paris, but this particular deal involved hopping around. It also meant taking an extra day off from work to extend the vacation one more day. What the heck! I went for it.

I paid very close attention to the journey from Philadelphia to Paris. I wanted to make sure that the layovers were long enough that if a flight got delayed I wouldn’t miss the next leg of the journey. Yet, not a layover that would be so long I would be brain dead by the time I finally got out of an airport. What I did not examine so scrupulously was the journey home. All I cared about was that eventually I would return to Philadelphia. This was back in the day when the airline industry was still transitioning between etickets and hard paper tickets. My tickets were the old fashioned kind. When the tickets finally arrived at my house, I discovered that I had inadvertently signed up for flight arrangements that included a 17 hour layover in London for my return trip! Immediately I thought of my Passporter buds, Chez and Mark. The next day I emailed them that if they didn’t have plans for Saturday night, 9 September, they do now! I told them about my vacation and that we should have dinner together in London. Chez thought it was a good excuse to visit London, especially since it coincided with Mark’s birthday. I figured we had enough time to do one “touristy” London sightseeing thing and have dinner. Our plan was to do the London Eye and have dinner.

Jump to September 2006. My flight from Paris to London is only a tiny bit late, not enough to cause that bad of a hiccough. The hiccough came in trying to get through security/customs. Gosh, was that a long line! I was flying into Heathrow and that airport just didn’t have enough security personnel to cope with the new routine in place for air travel. In August, they had discovered a terrorist plot. Now there are all sorts of new rules in place. So I was forever in that customs line. Once out of the terminal, I immediately found the Heathrow Express train. The Heathrow Express train is WONDERFUL. First of all, it is a quick direct trip from airport to the centre of London. You just can’t beat it for how fast you get into the city. Second, it is very clean and well designed for its function. While being picked up by a town car or limo sounds so pampered and perfect, these vehicles have to deal with traffic just like anything else. The Heathrow Express train – no traffic- YAY! Next time I fly into London, it will be Heathrow Express for sure.

I get off at Piccadilly station from the Heathrow Express and get on the Tube (subway) and head to Victoria Station. While I’m a little late, it’s still not that bad. While I’m on the circle line, the train ends up just sitting at a station for what seems like forever. It just sits and sits and sits. I am going nuts on the inside because I need to meet up with Chez and Mark and this verK@#%^ake train is not cooperating! Unfortunately for me, this puts the nail in the coffin. I am now way late for meeting Chez and Mark.

NEXT: How do I connect with Passporters when I don't have mobile phone that works in the UK, I'm running late, and I'm due for the very last trip around the London Eye of the night?

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Douglas! Don't leave us hanging too long!