Paris: the saga of the disappearing Metro ticket

The Paris metro system is wonderful…except for the stairs. The RER Train system has escalators and elevators, but the metro system does not. We took the RER train to versailles and Giverny. The tickets for the transit system work for everything – buses, trains, metro.

HOWEVER…THE TICKET WAS A PROBLEM

The magnetic strip on the back was a continuous problem for me. Maybe it’s my magnetic personality😝

It stopped working 3 times. Maybe it’s me. Although the various theories were – too close to a credit card, too close to my cell phone, too close to metal jewelry. this must happen a lot and they were able to issue me a new ticket each time, but Pat got stuck on the other side of the gate waiting for me to be FREED by the system . 😭😭😭😭

May 8, 2024 0

Paris: always lost

We have Wi-Fi in the flat, sporadic in restaurants and venues.
Methods to navigate

* metro maps

* Google maps on & offline – still tells us where we are but have to do screenshots for lost wifi

* Rick Steve’s guide book with confusing maps and terrible instructions for metro.

* printed tourist map

* plus anyone who will take pity on us when we are lost … which is often. The Parisians will go out of their way to help …as long as you start with – Bon Jour .

We may have been lost but we always found the toilettes…. Except at the Musee D’Orsay, which is another very long story on another post.

May 1, 2024 0

Paris: memories of Ile de La Jatte

The location of some of the most famous of the Impressionist paintings, Ile de La Jatte , grass lawn area overlooking the river has been eroded quite a bit by the river. Retaining walls were necessary to prop up the banks from the rain.

So the famous painting by George Seurat is a memory of a by gone era. The path that was there is now closed.

I attempted to get the feel of the place as it is now, sitting on a bench in front of a dog park.

tombow pens and waterbrush on watercolor sketch pad

May 1, 2024 0

Paris: Disneyland

You may ask why 2 California girls would go all the way to Paris to see Disneyland. The answer ..because we could and my BFF Pat is addicted and had to go. I managed to re-injure my knee from the Versailles trudge and moving luggage up 2 flights of stairs. So I rented a wheel chair, which got us to the front of every line.

Best of all is drinking champagne on Main St watching the parade

April 30, 2024 1

Paris: Versailles

After a short metro ride…and more stairs, we boarded the train to Versailles. We had a short walk up this beautiful tree lined boulevard to the golden main gates, and a horde of people grouped to go in with timed tickets.
The guide said they have 45,000 people on the weekends and 25,000 during the week. Of course we went on a Saturday.

Versailles is truly a marvel with all the gold adorning intricate decorations inside and out. In fact after being squeezed like sardines into room after room of golden opulence I final said

“ENOUGH GOLD ALREADY!”

THE SAGA OF THE TICKETS – WI-FI – THE WEAK LINK

We got tickets to most of our events though an online service which for this most part was fine…except for Versailles. We were supposed to get the final bar coded tickets the night before. What we got was a voucher that said – this is not the final ticket. Not receiving the ticket we go anyway hoping the ticket will come through. WI-FI – We have it in our flat, on the train and supposedly at Versailles. We get there…no WI-FI, and no tickets. So a lovely lady in the ticket office proceeds to try to help us. She takes us to get WI-FI at a restaurant in the complex so we can figure out how to download our tickets. An hour later we final find them by clicking a link – “ meeting location and tour guide’….suddenly there were the tickets.

SQUEEZING THROUGH VERSAILLES LIKE SARDINES
While it is incredible to see Versailles, on a Saturday is probably not the best choice. We squeezed through room after room of famous portraits of French Kings and Queens that I had seen in classes but to see so many clustered together on walls of every room was a bit overwhelming. But with the push of the throng taking photos at every turn, I was a little sad that I could not look at them more closely.

Here are some of the highlights. I may try to do some paintings and add later.

HALL OF MIRRORS

Rain was on the forecast and we were starving so we left without going to the gardens and headed for a lovely cafe nearby…Chez Chapeau.
The best French Onion Soup I have ever had.

April 30, 2024 0

Paris: adventures in getting there

After a delay of 1 day due to an air traffic controller strike…which was called off..we flew out on Thursday April 25 at 2:40 pm. My friend Pat and I flew together out of San Francisco airport. The day started out great with lunch at the SFO AIRPORT.

After some drama over London, the flight arrived mostly on time at 10:15 am. After a 10 hour flight with 3 small meals of strangely spicy food we started our descent toward Paris. Suddenly about 45 minutes out a lady toward the back of the plane started screaming that her husband, who was a relatively you man, stopped breathing. So 4 flight attendants and 2 or 3 doctors and nurses that were on board rushed back to assist. The good news is that he was revived and with help of the ENTs was able to walk off the plane when we got to Paris.

At the Paris airport, we rode a strange and very long moving side walk that actually went up a few small hills remaining as a ramp to arrive at the customs area.

Finally getting through customs we headed the find out about trains into Paris and metro to our Airbnb studio apartment .

To make a long story short, taking the metro in Paris with bags is a very bad idea. The larger stations have escalators and elevators but the smaller ones don’t. So our final stop at Republique, we lugged our two bags each up the stairs with the help of many very kind Parisians.

After arriving in Paris at the airport at 10:30 am, we and just made it to meet our Airbnb host at 2pm. And of course more stairs. After 2 flights up a curved stairway in an old 4 story French building and I was glad I brought my ice packs

April 26, 2024 0

Paris: painting while I wait.

Decided to paint in the beautiful backyard of my BFF and travel buddy in Concord, CA. Flight delayed a day. Tombow pens and waterbrush on small watercolor sketch pad. Warming up for Paris sketching.

April 24, 2024 0

Paris: maybe…

So our flight got postponed a day because of air traffic controllers strike in Paris…that’s just the way Europe is, although strikes usually only last one day.
2 hours on the phone to Expedia and United to try to find a better flight, nonstop, today…no luck and twice the price. Flying out tomorrow, a day late. So this was my morning.

April 24, 2024 0

Paris: pre trip prep

I need a new raincoat. So I made one. Super lightweight waterproof with thin plaid lining. It’s supposed to be cold there…Paris in the spring! Heading to Paris on Wednesday night…arrive the next morning. 8 nights.
I plan to sketch every day. So stay tuned for more posts.