Returning to France

A while back  I reported a bit about my adopted hometown, Saint Germain-en-Laye. Now I’m filing my trip report on our first trip back to France since we moved back to the States.   Our trip to Saint Germain-en-Laye was actually a very last minute decision. I was homesick for France and with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching I thought I’d check the Internet to see just how expensive it was to go for a little visit. As it turned out, going to France at the last minute turned out to be not so bad on the pocketbook. From San Francisco to Paris, I got a direct flight for both my seven year old daughter and I for approximately $960. After a little research on the Internet, I found a 700 square foot apartment in the middle of Saint Germain-en-Laye with one bedroom, shower, and kitchen with dishwasher, washer and dryer for $69.00 per night. As it turned out, this was the deal of the trip, as the accommodations proved to be well decorated and clean, centrally located, and reasonably quiet during the appropriate hours. In addition, the place was stocked with cable TV and a VCR! Color me happy, it was going to be a great stay! Since I was staying smack in the middle of Saint Germain-en-Laye (roughly 3 minutes by foot to the RER which takes me to anywhere downtown Paris in around 35 minutes), I ditched my plans to rent a car, making my ten-day trip approximately $1,800. With taxi, food (I planned on eating in, since we had a kitchen) and other what nots, I figured I’d spend another $200 – $300. At $2,100 total base, for both my daughter and I, I figured it was a good time for a visit! Of course, no flight is complete without a delay. Ours was not so bad, just an hour wait; after finally taking off, it was smooth sailing into Charles DeGaulle Airport at Roissy, France. Upon arriving at the airport, there was an eerie calm; as in, “Where is everybody?” Usually, when you arrive at Terminal 1 (that is, all the airlines that aren’t Air France), the first thing you do is hurry up and wait while the National Police line up all citizens from foreign nations and process passports. When we got there, we seemed to be the only flight in the line, and I’ve never seen that happen. As it turned out, we found out the air traffic controllers were on strike; our flight got in, a flight from Athens, Greece, a flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and then whack, they closed the airport doors and didn’t open them until who knows when. On the way to Saint Germain-en-Laye, the taxi driver noted the metro was also striking in sympathy with the air traffic controllers. There’s nothing like a strike reminding us we must be in France again! Before I forget, here is handy tourist hint #1. Upon exiting the plane, and finding your way to the baggage claim, you will notice little desks where you can exchange your money. At these desks, you can purchase a long distance telephone card. They work on portable phones, regular phones, and at phone booths. The real deal is, a 15€ card costs only 7.50€! I bought the card and was able to talk to my husband in the States everyday (for 10 days) from my cell phone and have 2€ left at the end! What a deal! Our trip, in a nutshell, was wonderful! There were surprises everywhere! November in France is not so bad! It was extremely chilly in the morning, but warmed up pretty good (in the 50’s) almost every day! It rained several days, but for two days we managed to bring some “California” weather to the town! Not only that, but the tourists weren’t stampeding, so we basically had the town all to ourselves! Consider a Paris vacation in late November; it’s a very good time to visit! What does one do when one returns to their adopted country? Well, we had a great time! Upon arriving at our apartment, we went to our favorite boulangerie and proceeded to eat a whole baguette in one sitting chased down with ½ a liter of ‘demi-crème’ milk. We reunited with cherished friends, both American and French. My daughter had the good fortune of returning to her French public school for two days, have a cultural exchange of sorts and catch up with her “old” friends. The teacher even said she was welcome back should we ever come back for a visit! Tourist activities included going up the Arc de Triomphe (all 284 steps straight up!), something we never managed to do during our three year stay. We were also fortunate enough to see the Christmas windows in the grand magasins, a very entertaining pastime. Since I had a seven year old in tow, our activities took on a juvenile bent… we took the obligatory trip to the Eiffel Tower & Disneyland Paris. I have to say that, even if Disneyland is not the first thing on everyone’s “Things to Do While in Paris” list, during the holidays with the winter weather, holiday decorations, and an animated, totally ‘happy just to be there’ daughter, it’s pretty entertaining. Its not the high season, so the wait for attractions was really short, (less than twenty minutes) but we also found some major attractions closed for seasonal maintenance (which major-league bummed out the kid, as one or two were her favorites). I got some practice speaking French since the workers refused to speak in English with me when I inquired in a relatively good accent if they “Parlez-vous Anglais?” And this brings me to my tourist hint #2. When at Disneyland, here’s how to get out of the park without spending a huge amount of money at those gift kiosks in the park. First, tell the little one that it is okay to look at those kiosks, but refuse to buy anything until leaving the park and going to Disney Village (outside of the park). Explain to Junior, all the things in the park can be found at Disney Village. Also, make dinner reservations so you have at least one hour between leaving the park, and going to dinner so you have time to shop….