Today, we headed off to the little town of Orsay, about 10km away from Paris. We had our last breakfast at Café du Marche on Rue Cler, then wandered around the neighborhood a bit before sucking it up and dragging our luggage down into the Metro.
The Paris Metro is quite the subway system. It will take you virtually anywhere in the city. There are at least 14 different lines and many, many connections. In most subway systems in the US, a connection between two lines is basically in the same place, geographically. However, in Paris, a connection between two lines may be a tunnel that leads you a block or two to the other station. There are also not so many escalators. To get to Orsay, we needed to take two different subway lines, then connect to the RER (the commuter rail). Now, I thought I had packed pretty light for a 16 day journey. I even had to do laundry in Boston so I would have enough clothes for Paris. And Jerry even commented on how John and I travel light. However, after about the 3rd set of stairs I had to lug my suitcase over, I was really wishing I had only packed one pair of shoes. Sure I would’ve looked a little strange at the wedding with my silk dress and sneakers, but it would have saved me a lot of backache in Paris.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it to the platform for the RER line B. The train ride to Orsay only took about 30-40 minutes and we only got a little confused and got off one stop too late, and had to go back, but that was okay. The truly horrific part was that Orsay is in a valley. We had to haul our suitcases up a huge hill to get to the hotel. I don’t know if those of you who have lived near mountains would call it a huge hill, but I’m from Iowa, and I say it was monstrous!
The Hotel d’Orsay (Relais) looks much more like an American hotel. Picture a Best Western that has several floors, but doesn’t have a very big footprint, and you’ll have a good idea of what it looks like. Our room is much larger than the one at Hotel Royal-Phare, but we don’t have a proper shower—just a tub with a detachable showerhead (no shower curtain). And a bidet. We have these huge windows that open up to a terrace-like area, but I think we aren’t supposed to go out there because there are no railings.
After all of that heavy lifting, I needed a nap. John went exploring and found the University where he would be giving his talk and the tourist office. We were hungry by then, so we decided to go to the hotel restaurant, but it was closed because it was Sunday. So was every other restaurant in town. We ended up going to the corner store and buying pre-packaged sandwiches, chips, and water. We could’ve been very fancy and bought proscuitto, brie, and wine, but we were too tired. We only ran into a slight difficulty in trying to figure out how to ask for a plastic spoon for my yogurt. Fortunately, the clerk knew English! We went back to the room, opened the window and spread our food out on the terrace while we sat on the window sill (the terrace is covered with rocks, so it wasn’t pleasant to sit on—yet another indicator that we probably aren’t supposed to be out there).
After that, we decided to go to bed. We had to fix up the chair and a bag to block the streetlight that was shining in our eyes (had to keep the window open because it was humid and there’s no air-conditioning, so we couldn’t close the curtains). Light shining in your room is okay when it’s from the Eiffel Tower, otherwise, we don’t tolerate it.
So, we have relocated to Orsay, John has practiced his talk several times, and I’m thinking about what I might want to do in Paris all by my lonesome. Should be an interesting few days!
No comments:
Post a Comment