Too Much To Do in France

It's been a while since I last posted, but I've been so busy with France that I wasn't actually awake enough during my free time to post. I'll summarize the last few days here for your reading pleasure.

Friday morning, we spent our last hours in Berlin, seeing Gendarmenmarkt, Unter den Linden and Alexanderplatz again before entering a train to Schonefeld airport. By 5PM, we were on a plane to Paris-Orly, and we arrived at around 7PM. Orly Airport is much close to downtown Paris than Charles de Gaulle, but actually farther from our destination, L'Isle Adam. While we waited for our ride at the airport, the parking situation was absolutely crazy. Cars were parked in the middle of the road, and even in the marked police lane. In America, your car would be towed if it was just sitting on the road in front of arrivals for more than a minute. Anyways, our ride was one of our friends from L'Isle Adam, an hour away, and where we stayed for three days, and are going to for another two. L'Isle Adam is a small town north of Paris on the L'Oise river. It is a classic example of a French town, with a market, cathedral, large town hall, and a river full of restaurants. There are also historical parks and attractions, since the town's history dates back to the Dark Ages.

The next day was our first full day in France, and we spent it in Verdun. Verdun is another small riverside town, but with a much larger historical significance. It was the site of the most tactical French victory in the First World War. We were going to go to a "Reenactment" of that battle scheduled for 10:30PM, so we decided to spend the day there. We arrived by 4PM, and visited a museum about World War I, where I learned a lot about the war. Before, I only knew much about World War II and the Cold "War". Next we visited the Ossuary/Cemetery, where the bodies were buried. Then, we traversed through some of the terrain the soldiers dealt with, realizing that it wouldn't be very comfortable to spend entire weeks there in combat. Lastly, we visited one of the actual fortresses used during the year long battle.

Before watching the show, we wanted a good dinner, so we spent a while searching for a restaurant. We drove for over an hour searching the area and found nothing not completely occupied. We eventually settled in central Verdun where after 30 minutes of walking, we just told a local restaurant we'd take the next table. By the time we were seated, it was 9PM, less than 90 minutes before the start of the show. We were cutting it close. I had really good Margarita Pizza and French apple pie (Tarte aux pommes) for dessert. We were on the road by 10:10 and we eventually did get on time. Because we arrived "late", we didn't have to wait long for the show to starts like many of the visitors who came early to claim their reserved seats.

The show itself was pretty good. It gave me a good idea about how the average citizen felt about the war, and how everyone wanted peace throughout the entire thing. The actual battle scenes weren't as thrilling as they were symbolic, giving the performance more of a story feel than a light show. At midnight when it ended, I could tell that World War I is the war in France that is remembered more than any other, because of its huge impact. France wasn't as involved in WWII as they were in WWI. The only complaint I had about the show was the live translation system via headphones. It was hard to use since I heard French and English at the same time, and it was similar to trying to hear someone over someone else talking, but I was still easily able to get the premise of the story. By 3AM we were back in L'Isle Adam and sleeping before the next, not-as-busy day.

The next day, Sunday, was filled with surprises and pure luck. After a large breakfast, we drove to Paris, and found one of the closest parking spots to the Eiffel Tower I've ever seen. After waiting about 2 hours in lines, we saw the magnificent few of Paris from the top, and could even see our car since it was so close. Next, we wanted to take a stroll down Champs-Elysees, the famous street that leads from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place du Concorde. We picked the wrong day for this. We had no idea whatsoever that that day just happened to be the last day of the Tour de France, in which thousands of people would be lined up to see the bikers pass by for a matter seconds up and down Champs-Elysees. After finding a very close parking spot in extreme traffic jam conditions, we walked down towards the street, and were just in time to see the rush of bikers and the support vehicles that followed them. Whereas most people plan to visit Paris to see the Tour de France months in advance, and wait by the street early in the morning, we, out of pure luck, stumbled upon it at the perfect time, and saw this famed bike race as a complete, but very pleasant surprise.

Because the streets were so crowded from all of the people leaving, strolling down the street was impractical, and we decided to return to L'Isle Adam early. In L'Isle Adam, after a short rest, we went to eat at the L'Affiche restaurant, where I had the best sautéed pork in my life, mainly because of the unique coconut milk tomato sweet and sour curry sauce.

The next day, today, we went to Paris again, but this time just to walk around. Within 5 hours, we walked down Champs-Elysees, the Seine River, the Louvre, had a nice lunch in a very authentic French quarter, saw the Notre Dame, Pompidou Centre, Place Concorde, and countless other sights. It was comparable to the Berlin walking tour, but without the guide. It had a much better feel than riding the double-decker tourist buses that would only let you see the sights from afar for seconds at a time, and not being able to traverse in the picturesque mini streets (This is what we did in Barcelona last year). By 6PM, we were picked up and returned to L'Isle Adam by around 7PM.

For dinner, just hours ago, we ate at a Cuban place, owned by the same owners of the L'Affiche restaurant we ate at yesterday. I had some pretty good Fajitas, and tried my first Creme Brulée. The Creme Brulée would've been better had I not been so stuffed. We returned "home" at 10PM, where I'm getting ready for one more day in Paris, before leaving Wednesday. I probably won't post again until back in America, but until then, Au Revoir!