Paris - Fish with Wings

19 Jul Paris

Posted at 19:08h in Blog, Personal by Mallory 1 Comment

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The Long Way Down

I spent the night at the Lisbon airport to catch an early morning flight to Paris Beauvais. Unfortunately, I had purchased this flight before I knew that Paris Beauvais was not actually in Paris. I discovered that there was only one option to get into the city – a bus for 17 euro. This is not that expensive, but I have a stubborn streak and I don’t like it when I am cornered into a purchase. So, in typical Mallory fashion, I made my trip much more complicated and only slightly cheaper. I was heading to St Germaine En Laye, where I was to stay with my cousin Beth and her family. I started by walking to Beauvais, where I picked up a ride through Blabla Car.

The guy dropped me and the other passenger in St Denis near the metro station. Unfortunately, it was not the metro station I though he was dropping us off at and therefore I was completely and utterly lost, not to mention confused. I stared and stared at the spaghetti noodle Paris metro map (as my friend, Naomi, describes it). I knew where I had to go, I just couldn’t figure out how to purchase the right ticket to get there. The first time with each new metro system is always the worst. I finally got help from a local commuter and got on the train. I exited at the station where I needed to find my connection to another line and was instantly lost again. There were a million different lines available for connection, all with signs pointing the way, but no sign for the one I needed! I stopped and took a deep breath. Getting upset solves nothing. Chill. I looked at the map for the hundredth time and decided to take an extra connecting train that did have a sign for the special RER train that would take me where I needed to go. It worked, and pretty soon I was settled in for the last 30 minutes of my journey.

Family Reunion

I emerged in hot sunlight from the train station in St Germaine to the sight of a castle, park, and several cafes. Nice! I arrived at Beth’s building and asked for directions to their home. I rang the bell, but no answer, so I removed my bag and sat on the curb to rest. Not two minutes later she pulls in, with my two little second cousins waving excitedly from the back seat. They burst from the car and rushed over to tackle me.

My family is by no means estranged, but we are rather spread apart. We grew up in rural Illinois, and I have aunts, uncles, cousins, and nephews from both sides of the family spread from Washington state all the way to Sweden. None at all live within a couple hundred miles of where I grew up. You can imagine it would be a bit difficult for us to gather for family reunions, but it happened on occasion. I have only met my cousin Beth, her husband Miel, and their two girls on one occasion. They vacationed in Boulder, Colorado a few years ago, and since I was living there at the time we decided to go out to breakfast. We enjoyed meeting, but it was a casual acquaintance, and I had no idea what to expect on this occasion.

She immediately brought me inside and started chatting about how the girls, 7 and 9 years old, had been talking of little else since I announced my arrival. She asked probing questions about my travels while the girls rushed to get their homework done, then danced around my feet asking if we could play. It felt like home to me, and that felt good.

Honestly, I waited too long to write about my time in Paris and the order of things is a bit hazy. I spent the first few days just hanging around St Germaine en Laye. The girls and I played football (soccer) and tennis, made forts, learned how to moonwalk, rode bikes in the park, helped with meals, and wandered around town. I started experimenting with making kefir (I’ll discuss that another time), and went to the morning markets for treats like lait cru, crème caramel, and fresh fruits. I loved that we went to a butcher for meats, a fromagerie for cheese, and a baker for bread. Most things were fresh and local, and everything was delicious. On Thursday I got to see my little cousin, Sid, perform in her very first play! It was awesome, and the kids were great.

Bee Hive

I took the bike one morning to the home of Alexander Dumas, who happens to be a favorite author of mine. It was only a few kilometers south of St Germaine En Laye. There is a garden and two buildings there. One was Dumas’ personal home, which he called the Chateau d’If, and is inaccessible. The other is the building where he entertained, which became known as Le Chateau de Monte Cristo. The gardens were okay, though there were these pretty stone passageways to pass through. The joy was mostly in seeing a bit of the life of someone I admire, so if you’re a fan it is a pretty cool and cheap thing to do for a morning.

Chateau d’If

Ahhh, Paris…

The Paris area has a metro pass that my cousin helped me purchase. The week pass is good from Sunday to Sunday, and goes pretty much everywhere for 23 euro. I finally went into the city on Monday to do some sightseeing. I thought, what could be better to start my day than going to the Louvre? I went once when I was young, and I loved it, and was looking forward to seeing the museum through new eyes. However, apparently my research was incomplete, because apparently Mondays are one of the busiest days of the week. I waited in the long line without dismay, as I had expected some kind of wait, but I was not prepared for the throngs of people within. The Louvre was still beautiful. I saw the Winged Victory, which still takes my breath away, and sort of saw the Mona Lisa over 50 other people’s heads, and a million other things. My feet ached and I had worked through about 20 panic attacks, when I decided I’d had enough and left the museum.

My favorite: The Winged Victory

Picture of a picture of a painting

I walked through the park above the Louvre and through the streets, contemplating getting a hot chocolate at the famous Angelina’s. I’ve tried legendary hot chocolates in Vietnam and in Spain, but I couldn’t convince myself to spend 8 fricken euros on a hot chocolate in Paris. I did stop at the opera house where, like the nerd I am, I hummed Phantom of the Opera under my breath and ogled at the architecture. Then I hit the metro and headed to the 19th arrondissement to meet my friend, Louise, who I met in the states when she was dating a roommate of mine.

There’s a really cool little park and the lake Butte-Chaumont in the 19th that I hung out at until she was free. I was relieved to be out of downtown Paris. The crowds were driving me crazy and the price of absolutely everything was outrageous! Here it was more normal, restoring my faith in humanity. We caught up while waiting for her other friend to show up, then went out for dinner at a little Chinese restaurant. Ravioli Chinois Nord-Est is a hole in the wall with cheap, delicious food and known for (obviously) their ravioli! It was awesome. On the way back we stopped at a bar and tried Picon biere, or beer with a shot of picon liquor, then talked late into the night.

I stayed the night there and in the morning we went to the 4th district hoping find some thrift shops. I’m so tired of wearing the same thing, and all of my clothes have holes in them, but I’m also cheap as hell. Food has more importance to me than clothes, and I’ll gladly spend three times as much on some local specialty snack than a new shirt. Anyways, Louise gave me a few clothes she was getting rid of and we just wanted to wander around. We got some pastries, looked at local architecture, and even picked up a few things – she got a sweet retro jacket and I got a new flannel shirt from this place that sells clothes by the kilogram. We also stopped at this restaurant in the Jewish district called Miznon and had the most incredible sandwiches. Ratatouille in a pita wrap? Heaven. And yes, the sandwich cost more than my shirt. Then coffee on a boat on the river.

Louise had a class that evening, so we parted ways and I met my friend Kevin at MurMur, a Paris climbing gym. I got lucky and found a free trial ticket online. I met Kevin while climbing in Thailand, and it was so cool to see another friend from my travels! We bouldered for a few hours, then shot the shit with his brother and friend for a while. They helped me figure out how to get back to St Germaine en Laye, and we planned to meet back up over the weekend.

I did some more sightseeing in Paris, visiting the Eiffel Tower and Luxembourg Gardens, and so on. Kevin met me by the river Seine with a six pack and we soaked in the lowering sun while we waited for his other friend visiting from Lyon. Then we all went to an area of the river that was recently closed to traffic. Many people now bring blankets and drinks and picnic there. We had some drinks, then Kevin’s friend, Nathan, decided he wanted to go dancing, so we went to a club. I haven’t been to a club in a long while, but despite feeling slightly awkward and very unstylish, I had a blast. We were all drunk and I spent most of the night trying to speak French with the bouncer (I don’t know French, by the way). We crashed at Kevin’s apartment and woke up with killer hangovers and a missing hat. That event necessitated ordering pizza delivery, and we ate while watching the French play in the World Cup.

I spent a few more days in SGEL (so tired of typing that out 😩) relaxing and spending time with my family. I took one afternoon to go to Versailles, where I intended on seeing the castle, but changed my mind after seeing the line. Instead I walked around the gardens and the town. It was lovely, but I had seen more than enough manicured gardens lately and wasn’t so enthusiastic about it.

And so, my time in Paris made me fall in love with France all over again, just like when I was a kid. I love the fresh, local food, the importance of cheese, the wine, the landscape, and the language. It helps that I have family in the country, but I have always been enameled with France.

I waited to leave until the girls were out of school so we could say goodbye. They were heartbroken, which broke my heart too. Even after the hugs and kisses and I’ll-be-backs, Huck crawled out of the window and ran after me for one more hug. I can’t wait to see them again, but the mountains were calling. My parents were waiting for me in Italy.