Tag Archives: Paris

Drinking tea at Le Stade de France

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When: 26/11/10

Where: Paris, France

Stayed: Bastille de Launay Hotel Paris

There was never any doubt that speaking the local language can make a huge difference to your experience in a new city. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Paris. This was our second trip to the city of romance and after feeling a bit ripped off by the lack of ‘love in the air’ on our last visit, we weren’t filled with high expectations. However we were very pleasantly surprised.

We travelled with four other Aussies, all with varying degrees of language proficiency. Fi had the food translations down pat while Greg became our resident translator on almost everything else. Stef and Sarah fumbled along in a similar vein to Justin and I, calling on high school french when absolutely necessary. Having a companion who was able to converse with the locals gave us access to those closely guarded local quarters – and completely changed our Parisian experience. An incredible meal on the Friday night at Chez Janou only possible after some hankering (in french) with the maitre d’ got us off to a cracking start. This was closely followed the next day by a table in a popular local haunt, Le Loir Dans La Theiere, with a line of 20 deep out the front – we were practically old cushions in the Parisian scene by this stage. This was the Paris that we’d heard so much about but simply didn’t find on our last visit. Unfortunately a most tourists won’t find the real Paris behind the quaint doors in the cobblestoned back streets – mainly because you need a little more than ‘bonjour’ up your sleeve to get by (which till now, we didn’t have).

Justin and I were pretty pleased with our relative acceptance into this exclusive culture thanks to Greg and Fi. However there was this undercurrent of fear that we may be extradicted to the tourist trail at any moment… Justin put his cover to the ultimate test when he asked ‘parlez-vous anglais?’ to a gentleman who had queried in english whether he would like assistance…classic. Fortunately he was a frenchman with a sense of humour.

Of course there’s a level of mandatory box ticking which must be completed on any trip to Paris and we were happy to oblige. This included:

  • photographing the Tour Eiffel from 200 different angles and remarking at the fact that it’s visible accross most of Paris.
  • taking more photos of the Tour Eiffel from the Champs Elysees and the Place de La Concorde simply because you can still see it
  • standing in front of the Notre Dame for a picture because the line’s too long to go in
  • sprinting towards the Mona Lisa in Le Louvre and then doubling back to get the heck out of there before you ‘accidentally’ take down a tourist
  • walking along the river Seine and breathing in the ‘frenchness’ of it all
  • climbing the gazzilion steps to La Sacre Coeur and having a crepe in Montmartre…then taking another picture of the Tour Eiffel because you can

The main item on the agenda for this trip was the Australia v France rugby match being held at Stade de France. With the temperature plummeting below zero that night we rugged up in our gawdy green and gold and boarded the metro en-route to the stadium.
A quick pit stop at the Christmas markets where we stood around like stunned mullets overwhelmed by the enormity of it all and we were on our way. Geared for a big night of patriotism fuelled by some serious beer drinking we were bitterly disappointed to discover the stadium had been declared a dry zone. It’s impossible to articulate the disappointment amongst the group so I won’t even try. We did what every other red blooded Aussie would do – figured they must be joking and went in search of the pub. Needless to say it was a fruitless search made all the more painful by the cup of tea required to help thaw out before the start of the match. Happy to report that the convincing Australian victory helped to ease some of the pain however.

The trip home was interesting. After missing the last metro and no cabs in sight we jumped on a bus – quite pleased with ourselves for being so resourceful. 30mins later and the scenery had taken an abrupt turn. The next two hours played out like an item on the news. “Five Australian’s survived a frightening encounter with the dark side of the Paris suburbs on Saturday night. A bus driver held the tourists captive on the 373 bus as he endevoured to set up a kidnapping around 2am. Several failed attempts to contact the police were reported. Fortunately the tourists got away by exiting the vehicle at a major intersection. Anyone who saw the panicking tourists decorated in bright yellow should come forward”. The actual chain of events and true level of danger will be forever debated amongst the group…

Top 10 for Paris:
1. Find out the emergency phone number in a new country before you’re required to use it
2. Take a french speaking friend with you to Paris – pay them if you have to
3. It’s possible to eat crepes with every meal and not feel sick
4. A dry stadium is very un-Australian
5. Parlez-vous anglais is not always appropriate
6. Macaroons taste better in Paris
7. Multiple suburbs in Paris carry the same name…check before you travel
8. A little 2 star gem of a hotel exists in the 4th arrondissement – Hotel Bastille
9. No matter how good you think your picture of the Tour Eiffel is – someone elses will be better
10. Always wash woollen hats and gloves before use

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