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Air France
After many trips to France, air travel seems to have degraded
(hours spent holding on the phone to resolve cancellations)
Of course these are special times and change is guaranteed
Domestic (U.S) airlines are increasingly disappointing
(even my former favorite, Chicago based United Airlines)
American Airlines has cancelled flights at-the-last-minute (less than 24-hours prior to departure)
(it is a fallacy to expect that the “perfect flight” that you selected months in advance will not be cancelled the night before the flight. Which happened multiple times when returning from Paris)
My current preferred airline is Air France
(of course I could be disappointed during my next trip)
The French Bucket
Paris Water
Hammam Paris Mosque
Picasso Museum
Rodin Museum
Let’s Run Paris
Run Gardens of Versailles
Run into Paris from Bercy
Running Paris
The logistics of our trip are planned around the days of the week, which mueseum are open, which restaurant are open, what performances are available . . .
But a critical factor (especially when we are training for a marathon) is what runs are available
Bercy presents a wonderful run (or bike ride) along the Seine into Paris. You can run around Notre Dame. For a longer run, you could run to the Eiffel Tower
Montparnasse (14e) provides a wonderful run up Boulevard Raspall into Paris to the Eiffel Tower, Le Louvre, Notre Dame, you could run up to the Opera Garnier
Porte de Bagnolet is an area which one concierge warned me about. I got lost during my first run, headed in the opposite direction, which seemed impossible. I got lost (which is what you want to do in Paris) Next time, it will be a good run into Paris around the Eifel Tower
Versailles
A run through the Gardens of Versailles alone in the dark is thrilling
This year, I cancelled
The Transit Strikes reduced available trains, espcially Christmas Day
So I left Versailles early, and cancelled the run
La Defense through a Park and around a Pond
La Defense to Louvre
La Defense offers various running alternatives, but recently I head back into Paris, perhaps down the Champs Ellise to La Louvre
The Tuilleries Gardens were closed, the gates locked, so we proceeded down the Rue Voltaire on the North Side of the Seine
Finding a gate open, we entered the Tuilleres, ran in the dark towards La Louvre, but that Gate was closed. We were trapped in the Tuillies, like being in a cage, exited where we came in (almost a mile of running)
Proceeded East to Louvre which was also fenced off
And we turned around, back to La Defense
There is construction West of Le Arc and inadvisedly we ran on the narrow margin of very busy major street, lots of horn honking, it becomes obvious when you do something really stupid
Let Run Paris
During the Transportation Strikes, the Saturday morning MeetUp runs were cancelled. A disappointment
Last Day in Paris Run
(see Roundabout Post)
Fractional France
The Louvre has three Wings, each with at least three floors
But we always start with the Denon Wing: 2nd Floor (“1er Etage” [story or stage])
And only 10% of the “Collection” in on view, any given day
The Centre Pompidou is a massive multi storied structure
But we always go up to one of the top floors with the permanent collection
To our detriment, we avoid the special shows
Musee D’Orsay, this former train station has five stories of rooms on each side of a central sculpture courtyard
However, we always start be climbing up to the permanent collection of Impressionist Art
L’Orangerie, is a relatively small venue which we love, because we can see EVERYTHING in a short period of time
And every painting is worth a look, the most concentrated and efficient museum visit
We discovered the Grande Palais and the Pettit Palais, two great venues for permanent collections and art shows
Cluny Museum
Rodin Museum
Picasso
Delacroix Museum
ETC
ETC
ETC
Paris for the Holidays 