It was
time to say au revoir to
Connaux. In a span of over two weeks, two professional climbers welcomed us
into their home and let us peek into what their life is like. They opened our
eyes to the vastness of rock climbing in their part of the world, and now it
was time to let all the sensations sink in and be processed.
We
inevitably reached this point: The moment to go back to our port of entry into
France, which is Paris. This time, though, we will be spending two nights in
the capital to get our fair share of “touristy” things, and ideally, also a
fair amount of cultural schooling.
I let my optimism take over me and looked forward to seeing
what is nicknamed the City of Light (or to others, the City of Love). Paris,
once a Roman city, has been in existence since the 3rd Century BC! With the city’s
age comes its rich history, and I excited myself over the fact that I’d get to see
all this beauty, art and complex personality in the flesh.
I terribly needed to divert my attention to all these
wonderful facts about Paris, otherwise, I’d probably end up bawling as we exchanged
hugs with Caroline in the train station. It’s so tough to keep a straight face when
you feel like there’s so much you received undeservedly.
Luckily, Miel and I had extra distraction to control our swelling
emotions: Carrying 30 kilos (each) on our backs and another 7-10 kilos in front, for
an almost three-hour journey from Avignon to our Airbnb in Gare du Nord, Paris.
So after a sullen, quiet train ride, we had to snap back to exploration mode
and let those leg, back and core muscles back to work.
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| Train station of Avignon. Ah, I can get used to this lighting! *heart heart heart* |
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| Picture-picture while waiting for the train |
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| One minute to train arrival. Bawal ma-late. |
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| Sitting at the RNR stairs. Hindi na kaya lumayo sa pinto! |
From the SNCF train that took us from outside Paris into the
city, we had to transfer to an RNR train (a network that serves both inner Paris
with and outer regions), and then to the Metro, which is the main train network
inside Paris. Our Metro stop in Gare du Nord is located underground, and after struggling
our way up the stairs with our expanded duffels, we finally saw Paris up close,
and knew we were in for a different kind of adventure.
The first adventure, of course, is always finding the hotel,
or in our case, the rented apartment which is supposed to just be a block down
from the Metro station. I recall one similar incident of Miel and myself
struggling to pinpoint the place we booked, and that was in English-speaking-deficient
Yangshuo, China. Same as this scenario, we had heavy bags with us which seemed
to eat up Miel’s patience (faster than usual, haha!) It took us only one turn to
realize we weren’t walking towards the right street, but oddly enough, couldn’t
get our bearings straight.
So same as that last time (and not without having to provoke
each other a little with “bakit ba ang
iksi ng pasensya mo?” and “bakit ba
gusto mong mag-aksaya ng oras at lakas?”), we settled with putting down all
our luggage at the spot where we started arguing. Miel would stay to watch our
luggage while I would search for the apartment and return once I have the correct
location and directions. Yes, things always have a way of straightening out ;-) Best part of it is that we weren’t far off at all, and were able
to settle in quickly and reset ourselves for our first afternoon in Paris.
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| At the door of #2 Rue Sibour. We found the apartment! |
As
we had a dinner appointment somewhere along the Seine, we chose to spend the
the earlier hours seeing the sights along the river, which, after checking out
the map, already had many of the tourist attractions around it. And after a
very quick ride on the Metro, we found ourselves standing in front of a
glorious St. Michael statue, and behind us, a green river skirted by
sepia-toned buildings and stone walls. This is what autumn must look like, I thought,
with trees painted with greens and auburns, and warm sunlight gently resting on
the various facades.
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| Map of Paris attractions |
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| Tourists getting their photos with St. Michael (Fontaine Saint-Michel) |
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| The River Seine. Plus clean, crisp, fresh breeze! |
We
saw the Notre Dame church and strolled along the river. We would occasionally
stop to watch street performers, musicians, other tourists, or inspect the
various knickknacks and souvenir shops that lined the river side. I was curious
about all the book vendors that alternated with sellers of postcards and
keychains, and wondered how these tiny bookstores played a part in Paris’
story.
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| Typical "bookseller" stall: So much books and prints for sale! |
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| Statue of Charlemagne in front of the Notre Dame |
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| The grand Notre Dame Cathedral |
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| Stained glass marvels |
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| Locks, locks, locks |
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| Graffiti artists finding other ways to make these locks more interesting :P |
It
turns out, our dinner was booked at a restaurant called Les
Bouquinistes (which translates to “the booksellers”). The place
was chosen by the French husband of a very good friend, Isla, who I used to
climb and travel with many years ago, and the dinner turned out to be a reunion
of sorts as we haven’t seen each other since she got married and had a baby,
and now, happily settled in another country. In addition, we were joined by
another French climber, Daniel, who Miel and Isla met in a climbing World Cup
competition in China.
It was a wonderful
time bonding over previous chapters of our lives, and refreshing each other
about our current preoccupations. Isla and I had been wanting to meet up for so
long, even when she was still in Manila and Hong Kong, and it’s ridiculous how
we end up seeing each other 10,000 kilometers away from home. Meanwhile, Daniel
and Miel last saw each over ten years ago! And did I say the food at the fancy
restaurant was amazing?!
After dinner, Daniel generously shared his time and
led us on a walking tour of the city, taking us to see the Bridge of Locks, various
monuments, the Louvre, and again the Notre Dame, this time beautifully lit up
for the night. He pointed out cafes that he personally liked to visit, and
recited facts about this and that statue (so sorry Daniel, it’s impossible to
remember!) He made us pass through a park in the middle of the city, a triangle
of land caught between a split section of the Seine River, where locals
hang-out at night to play petanque, picnic, and drink beer.
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| Outside an empty Louvre. No lines at night! Haha |
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| That's the triangular park where young professionals hang-out |
We headed home with tired legs (and I don’t
think it was just because Daniel walks fast!) As small as our apartment was –
all 20 square meters of it – we looked forward to resting in our humble refuge
in the cosmopolitan city. After a warm shower, and closing the metal accordion
windows, we collapsed unto bed. A full day in Paris awaited us.
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