BRACK: Trip to Paris enthralls, inspires and enchants

This dog, rolling around to get smelly in the grass at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, seemed to be having the time of his life last week in Paris.

By Andy Brack | For all of last week, my wife and I walked and walked along the streets of Paris, thrilling one day to an especially wonderful museum and basking on another in the colored light of centuries-old stained glass in a church older than our country.

This surprise anniversary trip recharged our batteries and gave us a chance to enjoy each other’s company over fine meals, casual lunches and a country bike ride to explore Monet’s gardens.  Yes, we missed children, dogs and Charleston, but it was refreshing to be away too.

We’ll let the pictures below highlight some of our journey.  But we also offer some insights to help those who may travel to France … and perhaps inspire others to take a trip to a place where the language and different culture offer pleasant but daily surprises.

On the language

This woman performed opera on the streets of the Marais district — quite a different kind of busker.

French is a daunting language.  French speakers talk fast, making it difficult to comprehend.  But there’s a trick that the guidebooks outline — and that most people just don’t believe:  If you learn a few rudimentary French phrases and try to speak French just a little, you’ll find that most French people will quickly turn to English to help you.  Their English may not be great, but it is a heck of a lot better than your French.

Throughout our week in Paris, we had no problems with the language difference.  When entering a store or restaurant, say, “Bon jour” assuredly.   When trying to get a table for two, say, “Un table pour deux, s’il vous plait.”  In general, if you put a “s’il vous plait” and a “bonjour” anywhere, you’ll get along just fine.  When you don’t understand what folks are saying to you, just tell them you don’t speak French and ask if they can help you in English:  “Je ne parle pas Francais.  Parles-vous Anglais?”  And then you’ll be off and running.  (An added tip — you can learn a lot of basic French for free at www.DuoLingo.com.)

On waiters

The Sacre Coeur in Montmartre is filled with beauty.

One often hears about rude Parisian waiters, but we generally had good experiences when we dined in cafes and restaurants.  Again, if you try to speak the language a little, French waiters, professionals who are paid salaries, will try to help you.  But if you barge into a dining establishment and speak gruff, loud English — the French cliche of the ugly American tourist — you’ll likely get the cold shoulder you’ve heard about.

On things to do

In Paris, prepare for a lot of walking.  The city has an outstanding Metro system that’s fairly easy to learn.  If you use it, you’ll save your feet a lot of aggravation.  Still, you’ll walk a lot, which will help shed the pounds you gained from the great food you ate.

We found that trying to do too much in a day will make you so tired that you won’t want to do much the next day.  In general, we ate a light breakfast in our apartment and set off around 10 a.m. to do something, like visit a famous church or museum.  We’d find lunch somewhere, such as the memorable mussels and fries at a neighborhood joint near the Sacre Coeur.  Then we would do some other small tourist thing in the afternoon, before heading back to the apartment and resting.  For dinner, we’d go to a place along the Left Bank near where we stayed.

Hint:  One big museum a day is enough.  On the day that we went to the Musee d’Orsay, a grand train station renovated into a museum housing the world’s best collection of Impressionist art, we also went the Musee Rodin to see Auguste Rodin’s sculptures.  While the latter was a smaller museum, we probably didn’t give it enough attention because we were getting tired.

Another museum hint:  You won’t be able to do all of the museums because there are too many and because you’ll eventually suffer from image overload.  Pick the few that you really want to see and concentrate on those.  (I, for example, didn’t go to the Louvre, while my wife went for a couple of hours to see a few paintings she wanted to view live.)

On people-watching

This park offered a place for students, workers and tourists to relax at midday.

The next time I visit Paris, I will bring the good camera — the one with the long lens that can take good close-up shots.  Why?  Because I want to spend a day or two walking around and shooting faces of hundreds of people.

France gets the most visitors of any country in the world.  Add to that an inclusive society that is all shades of black, brown and white.  The result is a place that is outstanding for people-watching — from haute couture women with expensive shoes to caricatures of American tourists wearing white tennis shoes.  Looking at the variety of noses, eyes, cheeks, chins and mouths is even better than going to the dozens of art museums (although those aren’t bad either.)

On the food

Lovers fasten locks to a pedestrian bridge over the River Seine. The practice has gotten to be a weighty nuisance for local authorities.

Despite weeks researching good restaurants and deciding on which to visit, most of our plans got thrown out of the window pretty quickly.  Simply put, it is hard to get a bad meal in Paris.  We had lots of French food (imagine going to Charleston’s Rue de Jean every day and having a great meal).  But we had picnics of cheese, sausage and wonderful bread.  One of the most memorable meals we had — and it didn’t cost much — was Tibetan food, a cross between Chinese and Indian.

If there’s one dining tip to share it is to try to order something different than you’re used to.  On one night in a Norman village, Courtenay ordered something we had never had — sting ray.  It was different, but good.  We could not, however, get the courage to eat snails.

One place we would suggest to anyone to eat is the restaurant (not the cafe) inside the Musee d’Orsay.  The restaurant is in a grand ballroom where frescoed ceilings soar with pictures of angels.  It is a place truly fit for a king.

On smoking

A favorite place is the Luxembourg Gardens on the Left Bank.

A lot more people in France seem to smoke these days than Americans.  While smoking is banned indoors, cafe dwellers freely smoke while sitting around cramped outdoor tables.  It often seems hard to get away from cigarette smoke so be prepared to deal with it.

On clothes

These days, neither Courtenay nor I are particularly fashionable beyond a classic or preppy wardrobe.  But we packed things to try not to look too American.  We didn’t wear T-shirts, jeans or white tennis shoes — all signs to the French that one might be an American.   Our attempts must have worked, because on several occasions one of us was asked whether we were Finnish, Swiss or English.  And several times, people started talking with us, mistaking us for French.  The big giveaway, of course, was when we opened our mouths and blurted bad French with Southern accents.  Boy, the looks on those people’s eyes!

On traveling

St. Augustine suggested that traveling is a way to broaden your life when he wrote, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

Travel is good for the soul. It’s refreshing. Americans can learn a lot from what Europeans have been doing for years. Now with the euro at the lowest point it has been in a long time, go as soon as you can, absorb the culture and enjoy.