Since many of you kindly offered suggestions on what I should do while in Paris, I thought I’d post a note about my trip. I include some reflections on random things I took note of (e.g. garbage disposals, toilet fees, price checks in stores).
Cool. Fête de la Musique. If you have a choice about when you visit Paris, I highly recommend including June 21st in your travel plans. It is an all-night program of free concerts all across town. It was a blast. Just imagine, walking around Paris with various free concerts scattered all across town. Awesome. And as you can imagine, the fact that France beat Switzerland in soccer that evening only added to the celebratory mood.
Cool. Government support of the arts. Related to the above is the fact that unlike in the U.S., government support for the arts is quite common in Europe. I doubt many people took particular note of the large sign behind a stage with the words “Ministère des Affaires &Eegu;trangères” on it, but for me it stood out as it’s not something one would often see in the States (maybe local government is better about this around here?).
Not cool. Closed off garbage bins in the Paris subway. Apparently, right after the bombings in Madrid, all of the garbage bins in Paris were closed off. The “solution” has been to put a flat cardboard paper container on the ground right next to them. The result: disgusting piles of trash of various sizes around the bins. Even if people aim at the paper trays, by the time the light waste makes it to the ground it scatters all over. A better solution would seem to be transparent bins or something along those lines. I did see some of these on the streets. Maybe they are getting around to introducing them in the subway. (Of course, people from some cities may respond that at least they have garbage disposals of some sort!)
Cool. Metro 6. This is one of those things that a tourist would rarely pick up on, but many may enjoy it if they knew about it. The #6 metro goes above ground for a good chunk of the way. It passes very close to the Eiffel Tower and I think offers a wonderful view of the area. I remembered this from the time when I spent a month in Paris many years ago and took this line to class every day. Taking it from the Trocadero stop going West will offer this nice view.
Cool. Photo exhibit on fence of Jardin de Luxembourg. The northern side of the Jardin features a row of large World War II photographs with captions (in both French and English). It seemed to be in honor of the 60th anniversary of D Day. I don’t know if they use this space for photo exhibits at other times, it is certainly a neat idea.
Huh? Cost of using the toilet at Notre Dame: 41c. It made no sense to me to ask for that particular sum for use of the toilets at Notre Dame. The machines only seem to take exact change. How many tourists have that kind of exact change? I would have preferred to just pay 50c then have to bother finding the exact coins. A staff member seems to have it as her full time job to make change for people lining up. This made no sense to me.
Cool. Electronic price tags in stores. It seemed to me that the price tags on the shelves of a supermarket near where I was staying (thanks, Maria!:) were electronically managed. This seems to make a lot of sense. Of course, systems can go down, which would be unfortunate in such a case, but as long as the system is up, it seems a great way to change prices centrally instead of someone having to run around the store changing the little stickers all the time.
Not cool. $5 soft drinks. I found the price of non-alcoholic drinks at sit-down places ridiculous. Wine was often cheaper. I am sure this comes as pleasant news for many, but since I’m not much of a wine fan, I didn’t like it. And paying $5 for a silly drink seemed extreme. (And thus my supermarket experience, where I bought cute little cans of drinks just perfect to quench one’s thirst instead of the regular ones that I can never finish anyway.)
Overall, the trip was great despite some of the not cool moments.;) Numerous friends happened to be in town at the same time and I enjoyed seeing them. It was also a great pleasure to meet Maria in person finally! I also spent a good chunk of my time just walking around in town, sitting on bridges or in parks and pondering things. It was quite a treat.
I’ll post about my London experience another time.
{ 22 comments }
nick 07.01.04 at 8:31 pm
Apparently, right after the bombings in Madrid, all of the garbage bins in Paris were closed off.
That would be London for at least the past 15 years. Pockets and bags are useful. (As are Tube trains as mobile rubbish bins, alas.)
And yes, the No. 6 is lovely, especially where it passes the Statuette of Liberty.
abb1 07.01.04 at 9:08 pm
Fête de la Musique in Geneva is very good too, it goes for 3 days here and ends the day before it starts in Paris. This year the rain spoiled it, but last year it was great.
eszter 07.01.04 at 9:35 pm
Oh, Geneva, I can’t wait to go back there sometime soon! I spent a year there in college and loved it. I must’ve just missed la fête there. There was some rain in Paris as well, but the whole event was too much fun for that to spoil things.
Jonathan Edelstein 07.01.04 at 10:30 pm
I picked up on the Metro 6 completely by accident. The Metro was one of my favorite things about Paris; the sheer seediness of it (smell of cigarettes, wandering musicians etc.) reminded me of NYC in the 80s.
q 07.01.04 at 10:41 pm
“cool” – uh I hate this word … though I can’t quite work out why – maybe fashion or elitist/exclusionist tendencies …
eszter 07.01.04 at 10:47 pm
Q – feel free to hate that word.;) Do you have any alternatives that would work here? “Neat”? That doesn’t quite do it for me. “Liked”? “Good”? What else could work here? I’m just curious.:)
Ryan Walters 07.01.04 at 10:57 pm
The Metro trash bins have been closed off before, as well — they were closed in 1997 after bombings in the subways, but then reopened, but with clear plastic bags that hung from a ring, so that you could SEE if a bomb were placed inside. I’m surprised they’ve abandoned this idea.
What everyone should really do is take a tour by Segway. I did this last summer through Mike’s Bike Tours after reading about it in Slate. It was awesome!
http://www.parissegwaytours.com/
q 07.01.04 at 11:49 pm
Non-elitist?
cool … agreable / peachy / intoxicating
not cool … disagreable / unsavoury / jarring
Kevin Donoghue 07.02.04 at 12:04 am
I think photo exhibits are a regular feature of the Lux gardens. The electronic tags reminds me of something that surprised me about France: the French are very partial to novelties of that sort. I second Jonathan’s comment about the resemblance to NYC in the 80s – but then I haven’t been to NYC since the 80s.
schwa 07.02.04 at 1:26 am
The mysterious 0,41€ (and I assume you did mean euro cents, not dollar cents) sounds to me like the sort of thing that would’ve been caused by taking the moaning about price-hikes during the changeover from francs to euro a little too seriously.
KCinDC 07.02.04 at 3:51 am
0.41 EUR would be 2.69 FRF, so euro conversion doesn’t explain the odd number.
The removal of trashcans from the Metro in Washington, DC, so far hasn’t led to piles of trash. One thing that helps is that people aren’t allowed to eat, drink, or smoke in the Metro system.
eszter 07.02.04 at 6:13 am
I did mean Euro cents. And it occured to me that it may have been some conversion issue, but seriously, I think everyone would happily pay the extra 9c especially if it meant getting to the toilets quicker.
As for the trash, it certainly doesn’t help that instead of using reusable tokens the system is based on little paper tickets.
Matthew2 07.02.04 at 11:28 am
Oh yes, never order soft drinks from Parisian cafes if you can help it. Have a “cafe” (still expensive but heavenly) or a wine/beer. Otherwise just get a can!
And yes I can also recommend La Fete de La Musique, perfect.
amusedfrog 07.02.04 at 7:46 pm
“Photo exhibit on fence of Jardin de Luxembourg… I don’t know if they use this space for photo exhibits at other times, it is certainly a neat idea.”
Yes they do. I think it started some years ago with a hugely popular exhibit of photos taken from the air by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
John Quiggin 07.03.04 at 11:40 am
Having just checked out Eszter’s Ligne 6 tip, I have to supply a warning. Just between Eszter’s departure and my arrival, the Metro closed the section running from Place d’Italie to Raspail, which includes at least some of the above-ground section. It will reopen at the end of August.
I’ll also add my recommendation for the exhibition at the Jardin de Luxemburg.
Finally, I can’t think of a better word than “cool” for sitting on a sunny June day in a tabac in La Place de la Sorbonne offering cafe+WiFi for 2.15 euros, which is what I’m doing right now. “Neat” just doesn’t cut it.
Jim Miller 07.04.04 at 3:08 pm
“. . . unlike in the U.S., government support for the arts is quite common in Europe”
Was that intended as a joke? The US has many governments, and most of them support art in various ways. For instance, in my town, the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, there is public art all over, some donated, some paid for by the city.
There was even, last year, a set of public sulptures from Europe in our parks (pretty terrible stuff, by the way).
And, of course, for decades, the tax system has provided massive subsidies for the arts.
CTD 07.04.04 at 7:02 pm
Jim’s comments about government funding of the arts in the United States miss the point. When you consider the size of the federal budget and the economic power of the United States, our arts sponsorship is decidedly anemic. For a full appraisal and how we might create a cabinet level Department of Culture, see the Ionarts proposal. I also have lots of recent posts on Paris-related topics at Ionarts. I’ll be taking up where you left off, Eszter, since I arrive in Paris Tuesday morning, to do some research and see some art exhibits.
Laszlo 07.06.04 at 10:08 pm
Re: support for culture.
If I may use an analogy (for the federalists in Europe): it is the national governments and not the Brussels one that are the main supporters of the arts in Europe. An apt comparison in the US are the states and local governments.
Second, there is a tradition (and current reality) of statism in France that, in part, has prevented the emergence of private philantropy at grand scale, at least compared to what exists in the US. Also this means the centralised bureacratic elite decides the priorities for the arts funding.
Third, the US does have the NEA. Funny to have ignored it in this forum.
Laszlo 07.06.04 at 10:09 pm
Re: support for culture.
If I may use an analogy (for the federalists in Europe): it is the national governments and not the Brussels one that are the main supporters of the arts in Europe. An apt comparison in the US are the states and local governments.
Second, there is a tradition (and current reality) of statism in France that, in part, has prevented the emergence of private philantropy at grand scale, at least compared to what exists in the US. Also this means the centralised bureacratic elite decides the priorities for the arts funding.
Third, the US does have the NEA. Funny to have ignored it in this forum.
David Brake 07.06.04 at 11:29 pm
If it helps think of the $5 soft drinks as $4 seat rental and $1 for the drink. But I do remember marvelling that a glass of coke costs more than a glass of wine at most Paris cafes.
eszter 07.07.04 at 2:39 am
What CTD said.
John, sorry to hear that the 6 line closed in the meantime.. hopefully you got to experience some of it though.
Another cool thing is sitting on one of the pedestrian bridges (e.g. next to Musee d’Orsay) and just looking into the distance at Notre Dame, watching rollerbladers go by and pondering life’s little questions.;)
orsi farkas 07.08.04 at 12:51 pm
Trash bins–again.
Eszter, someone in the Paris city government must have been listening to you. A few days ago all the covers were removed from the trash bins in the metro.
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