Sunday, July 5, 2015 fast day: 17th Tamuz Observed, flying to Paris; Le MaraisSunday was a fast day, but it didn’t start particularly early in Gibralter: 5:42a! I went to shul (1.5 hour eidut hamizrach fast day) and packed up and left. The drive out at 10:15 on a Sunday morning was a lot better in terms of traffic both in Gibraltar itself and at the border. Since we had time until our 2:20pm flight from Malaga, we decided to take the toll-free A-7 as opposed to the AP-7 toll road. It was a great drive, passing though small coastal towns and skipping the bigger ones. We arrived at the airport at 12:30ish which was just perfect. Hertz is located in the terminal parking garage, so returning the car was super easy and just a quick walk to the terminal.
Our flight on Vueling was uneventful. We landed in Paris Orly at 4:45 and proceeded to hire another Uber to get to our hotel. Trains from Orly take a long time, and though we didn’t have a busy schedule the rest of the day, we didn’t want to exert ourselves as we were fasting. There was a bit of traffic on the way to our hotel, the
Park Hyatt Paris, but we made it there for €36 after selecting UberPool instead of UberX. If you do this you’re guaranteed a 10% savings. The unfortunate thing about Uber in Paris is the disappearance of UberPop, the cheapest option by far. As of July 3, 2015 (just 2 days before we arrived), UberPop was banned due to a taxi driver riot on June 26, 2015.
We arrived at the hotel at about 6:00pm and were given a standard room. I tried to upgrade with my Platinum status, but it was fashion week in Paris and the hotel was fully booked. While the room was on the small side with a courtyard view, it had a great shower (with a sink and mirror in the shower!) and a Japanese style toilet.
Our Room (221) at the PHPAfter getting settled we decided to take the Metro to Le Marais. We bought 2 books of tickets (which we used up without needing more) and got the charge refunded with Arrival+ points. In Le Marais we stopped at Korcarz bakery to buy breakfast food for the next day. We bought a couple of cheese and spinach bourekas, a mushroom and leek quiche, a chocolate croissant, some olive bread and some rye bread (they were out of baguettes since it was so late in the day). We also stopped at Damyel’s for some macarons and chocolate. However the main reason we went was to pick up food for after the fast. We waited in a huge line to get a falafel from L’As du Fallafel, but it was well worth the wait. Next I tried to find a minyan for mincha (it was a fast day and all), and I ended up finding one a bit late (they’d finished leining already) at the large shul next to Pitzman. After mincha/maariv (they daven maariv after plag), we stopped by Pitzman to pick up a mini pizza for break fast as well. With all our food in hand, we headed back to the hotel to wait for the fast to end at 11:01.
Bakery and Restaurants
Shul for mincha
Pizza from Pizmans and macarons from DamyelIt was really weird how easy the fast was for us. While we were both hungry, we were both going well, considering the hour. It was also unusual getting ready for bed while still fasting. Once we were all ready for bed, it was finally time to break the fast. Much to out delight the falafels were still warm, though the pizza was cold. That being said, that was one amazing pizza. I believe it all had to do with the dough/crust. It was slightly sweet and had char marks from the oven making it was simply amazing. We also really enjoyed the falafels. I got mine with picante (charif) and DW got it plain, but both were also one of the best (if not the best) falafels we’ve ever tasted. The 15-minute wait to order one was well worth it (especially since we weren’t doing anything). As soon as we were done eating, we just rolled right into bed, tired but full.
Monday, July 6, 2015 the Tuileries gardens, Louvre, Luxembourg gardens and a Segway tourI davened Shachris at Beth-El, a kind of minyan factory about 18 minutes away from the hotel. Actually, I didn’t daven in Beth-El, but rather a shul across the street. I showed up for the 8:00am shachris which their website says was happening, but they didn’t seem to be having one and recommended I go across the street for the 8:00am shachris there. The walk both ways was simple and pretty.
After breakfast in our hotel room we headed out to the Tuileries gardens. We spent some time walking around and looking at the various statues and fountains before waiting in line at the Louvre to go in. I would have bought tickets in advance to skip the lines, but decided against it as they were more expensive than the student rates we got in the museum itself. However looking back at the 1-hour line we waited in I probably would have just bought the tickets online to skip all that.
Tuileries Gardens
The LouvreIn the museum itself we used the Rick Steves (free) audio guide via the app. The tour lasts 45 minutes, but took us closer to 1¼ hours to complete. We enjoyed the tour a lot and did not feel the need to stay longer. We’d had enough art for the day. Next it was off to Thaï One for lunch.
We walked to Thaï One which was only about a 20-minute walk from the Louvre. It has a very tiny dining area, and we got seats at a table in between 2 other (unrelated) customers. The restaurant is under Rav Rottenberg so the meat is not a problem here. Since we have 2 Thai restaurants in LA, we had a good base to compare to, and this place didn’t disappoint. The flavors were spot on, the portion sizes were generous, and the service was quick and efficient.
Food from Thaï OneNext it was time to head to the Luxembourg garden via City Island and the Notre Dame Cathedral. I figured that if we’re walking to the gardens we might as well stop to see the outside of the cathedral, which was very nice. We didn't spend too long there (since we couldn’t go in), so we continued to the Luxembourg gardens, a 15-minute walk away.
Notre DameBy now I’ve come to realize that what most cities call parks Paris calls gardens. Both the Tuileries and Luxembourg gardens were really just free parks you can walk around. The Luxembourg gardens were very pretty indeed, with a large a capella performance happening near where we sat down. I wouldn’t put it on a must see list, but they were nice if you have time.
Luxembourg Gardens Before heading to our Segway tour near the Eiffel tower, we decided to walk around a bit in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood. It was very nice, but I found it hard to differentiate it from many of the other neighborhoods we saw in Paris.
From there we took a metro to our evening Segway tour. The tour lasted 2.5 hours and was really fun. While not as comprehensive as a city hop-on/hop-off bus tour, it was definitely a lot more entertaining riding a Segway than sitting on a bus in traffic.
For dinner we went to L’Inte Caffe. We got there quite late, around 9:45pm, when they officially close at 10:15pm, and the place was packed. We got a seat, but service was really slow. We ordered a mushroom cream sauce pasta and a pasta with tomato sauce and eggplant, both great, and an excellent pana cotta for dessert. Dinner took about 1 hour (not too bad, but it did involve a lot of waiting), and when we finally walked back to the hotel it was quite late.
Food from L'Inte CaffeTuesday, July 7, 2015 the Arc du Triomphe and the Eiffel TowerOnce again I davened at the 8:00am shachris at the shul across from Beth-El. After returning to the hotel, we had breakfast (that we’d picked up 2 days before) and headed out to walk down the Champs Élysée to the famed Arc. On the way we stopped off at the Élysée Palace (home of the President) and the historic George V (Four Seasons) hotel. While the Palace was kind of blocked due to July 14 celebration exercises, the George V hotel was magnificent. We were only there for a shot time, but it was really grand and worth seeing.
Lobby at George VOnce we arrived at the Arc we waited a few minutes to buy tickets, and were headed up the stairs in no time. There really are amazing panorama views of all of Paris from there. From the Eiffel Tower to Montmartre, it really is a great thing to do.
Champs Élysée as seen from the Arc
Other views from the ArcSince we were in the area anyway, we headed to Charles Traiteur (a bakery) to buy breakfast food for the next day. We bough a baguette, a chocolate éclair, and a croissant, all three were amazing. Just down the block is Il Conte, where we went for lunch.
Il Conte was also really crowded, but we got a table here too. We ordered a pizza and a salad niçoise with a chocolate and banana filled crepe for dessert. The interesting thing about the pizza was that they served it whole with a knife for you to cut it yourself, and they weren’t the only place in Paris to do that. The pizza had a super thin crust and was really good, just not as good as Pitzman.
Food from Il ConteAfter refueling at Il Conte, we walked a short 15 minutes to the Eiffel tower. People had mentioned that the line to walk up is shorter than the line for the elevator, which was probably the case when we were there. However, what people didn’t say was that the line for the stairs could be really long, too, like 1 hour long! After waiting what seemed like a lot longer than 1 hour we climbed the tower to the first floor.
The cool thing about this climb as opposed to the Arc is that the stairs are outside which I rather enjoyed. It’s a lot cooler and breezier when you’re not surrounded by stone walls. We spent some time at the first floor looking around and taking pictures before climbing the rest of the way to the second floor.
The views from the second floor are better than the ones on the first floor, and supposedly nicer than the views from the hop floor. We didn’t go to the top, but after exploring the 2nd floor for a bit we just climbed down.
View of Champs de Mar as seen from the Eiffel Tower
Views from the Eiffel TowerThe plan was to spend some time in the Champs de Mars, but due to some rain showers, those plans got changed, and we ended up spending time near a bench under a shelter there waiting for the rain to stop. After it did stop, we headed back (via subway) to the PHP to get ready for dinner.
Il Palazzo was next on the itinerary for dinner. We got there on the early side (6:45ish) and only found 2 other tables of people, though many more filled up by the time we left. We got a pasta and an eggplant gratin here. Both good, but our least favorite of the places we tried. We ordered a tiramisu for dessert that as really disappointing. It was 90% cream and only 10% cookies.
Food from Il PalazzoAfter dinner we walked around the block to see the (outside of the) Great Synagogue of Paris. It was grand and old, and probably looked really great inside. We walked back to our hotel for an early evening in preparation for our early morning the next day.
Wednesday, July 7, 2015 Versailles, Palais Garnier, Montmartre and the 19thThis was our last full day in Paris. We started it early with an 8:00am half-day tour to Versailles with City Vision (booked via Musement for 50% off). There was an unusual amount of traffic leaving Paris (also due to July 14) that by the time we got to Versailles we only had 1:20 minutes before we needed to be back on the bus. While 90% of those who came to Versailles with us decided to come back on their own via the train, we had a tour booked at 2:30pm that I didn’t want to miss, so 1:20 it was for us. We were given audio guides as part of the tour, but we didn’t really use them. We rushed through the rooms, reading what we could, and listening to the audio guides here and there. We really wanted to get outside to the gardens.
While I was under the impression that the gardens were not included in our tour and cost extra, we were pleasantly surprised to find them just open and free. We spent a good 40 minutes in the gardens walking mainly down the middle until the main + shaped water feature in the middle. At the end of the day, despite it being a bit rushed, we enjoyed our time at Versailles and didn’t feel like we missed out on that much. True, it would have been nicer to go slow and listen to the whole guide, but c’est la vie.
Bush-trimming stencilsVersaillesSince the traffic on the way back was also pretty bad once we got to the Arc de Triomphe, we asked the bus driver to just let us off there. We took the metro to Izaaki, a Japanese restaurant 2 blocks away from Il Palazzo. We chose this place for its location and the fact that it wasn’t an Italian place. While not Glatt, we didn’t order meat anyway so we were fine.
We ordered two of the lunch specials (careful, no English menu here, but there is one with lots of pictures). While they are an okay deal at ~€21 each, the portions are on the small side, making us want to order more food. The food itself was very tasty though.
Food from IzaakiNext we were off to Palais Garnier for a theater tour. This theater is the one that Phantom of the Opera took place in and as such was something we wanted to see. We’ve visited theaters in Buenos Aires and Rio, so we kind of have a thing going. This tour didn’t disappoint. It was really informative, and we were even lucky enough to get to sit inside the actual theater, something not everyone gets to do since they have rehearsals during the day.
The Phantom's box
Palais GarnierWhen the tour was over, we went took the train to Montrartre. We found the funicular, and DW took it up while I walked (I prefer to walk). The views from the top are just amazing, although there is no Eiffel Tower view from there. We spent some time there before walking though the town on our way via metro to the 19th arrondissement for more kosher food shopping.
View from MontmartreOnce we arrived we did our shopping: Charles Traiteur (Italian bread for breakfast and premade sandwiches for lunch the next day), Ardleys (milk chocolate as a gift), Damyels (pareve chocolate for gifts), and Hypercacher (cheese and biscuits for us to take home as well as cheese and a yogurt-like thing for breakfast). After our shopping was complete we went to Tib’s for dinner.
While I’ve heard mixed reviews about Tib’s we both found the food we ordered great. We ordered another Pizza and a mushroom and onion crepe in a cheese sauce. It might not sound that good, but boy was it delicious. We skipped dessert here as well, and headed back to the PHP. One the way to the Metro I made sure to pass by the Music Center (the concert hall) which as a really unique shape and outside. Too bad tours of the inside are only starting in September! We made it back to the PHP for our last night in Paris.
Food from Tib's for Dinner
Paris Philharmonic
