Paris - a city of contrasts
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PARIS is the best of cities, the worst of cities. It is easy to get to as Air France has daily flights direct from Aberdeen, taking just two hours (see www.airfrance.com).
On arrival you’ll find the elegant Charles De Gaulle airport connected to the centre of the capital by various rail and road options.
I chose to take the regular bus to Opéra, which is close to the main tourist office. You pay on the bus or buy a ticket at a machine in the terminal. The journey takes about an hour, slower in the traffic-choked rush hours, of course.
My hotel was the HiMatic (www.hi-matic.net) in the Bastille district. From the Opéra it was a quick dash by metro, which is an excellent system and cheaper than London’s underground. The HiMatic hotel only opened in April and is a new concept in hotels. You can waken up in a hotel that is identical to many all over the world and wonder where you are, but with the HiMatic you certainly won’t have that feeling – it is unique, designed to be as environmentally neutral as possible.
For a start, you are given a key code with your booking for use on a pad to get in the front door. The reception area is unmanned; you self-check in at a computer terminal, which issues you with a room keycard. The entire hotel has plain walls in primary colours. The main floor area in my room was covered, wall to wall, in a 6in thick plastic foam mat, on which were two thin, rolled-up mattresses and two thick cushions, which in day mode forms the settee. At the far end was a washbasin, toilet cubicle and shower module. At night, you take down pillows and a duvet from a wooden trellis, unroll the mattress, and it’s bed time.
Breakfast was all bio products and continental, served in the basement. Certainly a unique experience and it could be the model for hotels of the future. One note of caution: with the floor-level bed and day bed, you need to be fit to get up and down, and with no covering over the window and the integral bathroom facilities, there is a certain lack of privacy.
The Bastille area is a little off the beaten track for tourists, and so the eating places used by locals are very good and relatively cheap; for example, the Créperie Bretonne just along the Rue de Charonne from the hotel. To venture into other parts of Paris I used one of the three open-top bus tour companies. L’Open Tour (www.parislopentour.com) has four different circuits, one ticket covers all of them, and for 29 Euros for one day, 32 Euros for two days, you can hop on and off at will. It is a great way to see all the sites, although be prepared for delays in the chronic traffic congestion, and the pollution fumes can be quite smelly. For only 41 Euros add a boat trip on the Seine.
The centre of Paris is a fabulous expression of elegant stylish architecture along grand boulevards. From Bastille, the bus passes majestic buildings, including the Tour St Jacques. This stand-alone tower in a small garden is where pilgrims set off to walk to Santiago in northern Spain to the tomb of St Jacques (St James). The bus turns here to cross the Seine to the big island that has Notre Dame Cathedral, a stunning building. So many tourists are there that there is a one-way system to walk round inside. It is a "must see" option!
Returning to the bus stop, the green route takes you along the Seine, passing more grand buildings, including the massive Musée D’Orsay, a one-time railway terminus, and the Assemblée Nationale parliament building, then it’s back over the river to the Place de la Concorde. This huge roundabout has an Egyptian obelisk in the centre and two fountains. To get to it you have to be suicidal. The chaotic Parisian traffic never stops and takes no prisoners. You will see more cars, buses and vans with dents in them than without; bits of wing mirrors and bumpers litter these places. From here the immense Champs Elysée takes you up to the Arc De Triomphe, again a constant whirl of traffic. Thankfully, there are tunnels to allow you to get to it.
Dodging the inevitable beggars, it is worth seeing the everlasting flame at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the sombre listing of all the battles over the centuries. You can go up to the top and see magnificent views, but as the queue was long and time pressing, I returned to the next bus and went on to the Trocadero, a semi-circle of huge buildings housing various museums and looking out down a staircase of fountains at the Eiffel Tower across the river. Whenever you stopped to take a photo, children were tugging your sleeve begging. There was a gang of them with adults in the background, so in a quick move across the river the Eiffel Tower beckoned.
The crowds there were huge. Each of the four pillars has lifts or stairs to take you up. It took 55 minutes to get a ticket and at the second floor, there was a further queue of 45 minutes to get to the top. Suddenly the ground below was empty, then it was full of soldiers with large guns, riot police with body armour, leg armour, large batons carried across their backs like Japanese Samurai swords, with 8 inches of handle sticking up over their shoulder so they can just reach up and swing the stick down in a trice. They also had guns, as did the ordinary police. All this weaponry made me uncomfortable. The alert turned out to be a suspect package.
Thousands of tourists rush forward to form queues again. All around were teams of young men, each with identical metal rings holding innumerable models of the tower, and scarves. They trap everyone who passes.
A large grass area is the Champ de Mars where Napoleon reviewed the troops, with the military school at the far end, and near to that is the Invalids, a massive, elegant set of buildings erected to house wounded soldiers, which today is occupied by memorabilia, weapons and museums. It is a sobering thought to reflect on the human carnage that mankind has suffered over the centuries, and continues to do so. I came across a gang of 14 young guys, all with their Eiffel Tower souvenirs, sitting under the shade of trees, leaving a picket of six to catch tourists going to the Invalids.
I took the bus back to the Place de la Concorde where I got off to walk up the Rue Royale – Paris elegance again. The posh shops do not put prices on the goods in the windows, and there is the famous Maxims café where all the rich and famous need to be seen. At the top of the street is the magnificently huge church of Sainte Marie Madeleine, like a Greek temple, rectangular with pillars all round. A man was asleep by the pedestrian crossing, what a contrast to the wealth and elegance all round him.
Onto the bus again, along more grand avenues to the Moulin Rouge, which is packed with strip clubs, peep shows and sex shops; very seedy and scruffy. The next Boulevard is full of wedding dresses and outfits. We pass the Gare Du Nord, cleaned up and looking impressive, from where trains depart to the UK. Thee Gare de L’Est is another massive edifice and temple to Victorian confidence in technical progress, and the Sacré Coeur church is an awe-inspiring, breathtaking Basilica that sits high on the hill at Montmartre. A little funicular takes you up, or you can climb the wide steps, but amid tourist tat shops there are more beggars.
On to the Place de la République, with another grand statue on a traffic choked island, then the Louvre, an incredible set of linked buildings that house the major museums of France. In the central courtyard is the famous huge glass pyramid that is the actual entrance to the complex. Personally, I don’t like it; I prefer the classic, open view of the great buildings, but it is certainly typical of French flair and design. Opposite is a mini Arc de Triomphe, the only monument not surrounded by constant traffic, and I encounter another picket of young trinket sellers.
It is difficult to sum up Paris in a single article. It is certainly worth going to see. Around 29 million people go there every year, making it probably the top tourist destination in the world. If you step off the beaten track, there are many places where real Parisians go; for example, the restaurant in the little market square, "Le Marche" in the Place du Marche St Catherine, and many interesting corners to explore. Or walk along the Quai D’Orsay (shades of Inspector Maigret) where the second-hand book sellers have their cantilevered stalls perched on the river wall.
Paris is noisy; drivers feel it necessary to beep their horns if the car in front should stop for any reason, like a red light. The constant pestering by beggars is tedious, and this, for me, was the contrast. The world-class architecture, the grand design of the streets, and the certain je ne sais pas that Paris has makes it such an attractive place to visit. So, a tale of two Parises – the best of any city, and the worst, side by side. But do not let me put you off; be aware and go anyway, you will not fail to be impressed with all that it has to offer.
