{"id":397,"date":"2023-04-12T23:41:36","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T18:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oldladytraveler.com\/?p=397"},"modified":"2023-06-24T01:26:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T20:26:39","slug":"paris-aug-2019-pont-neuf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldladytraveler.com\/?p=397","title":{"rendered":"Paris (Aug 4 2019) Pont Neuf"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As planned, we had half a day available for sightseeing. After showering and changing and setting up all our electronic devices for recharging, especially my hearing aids, we were off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the items on my check list was Pont Neuf. It was not far and would make for an easy first jaunt in the city. Doing me proud, Daughter exhibited her expertise with the Metro system. We took the Metro two stops and got off at the Pont Neuf station. On this first trip, we bought our Navigo passes for the week. This credit-card sized pass provides unlimited access to public transportation in Paris for a period of time – in our case, one week. Probably the best \u20ac40 we spent. The pass is good on the Metro, the RER system, and the Roissybus. We used all of those extensively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Paris Metro compared well with other mass transit systems I know: New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago. Before leaving, I had imagined needing to get taxis every now and then. But it was never necessary. We were never more than a five minute walk from the nearest Metro station, and the Metro system went everywhere. On top of that, the buses, which also take Navigo passes, blanket the city.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I told Betsy the story of Pont Neuf (literally \u201cNew Bridge\u201d) as I remembered it. When completed under King Henri IV, this bridge spanning the Seine was \u201cthe\u201d place to be. People strolling around could mingle with folks from other social classes, which was not a common experience and made it all the more exciting to visit. The bridge is wide, with enough room for vendors to set up along the bridge selling their wares. Troops of actors would present plays on makeshift stages, and solo performers did what sounds suspiciously like stand-up comedy for the masses. Looking down the Seine at the city vista was a novel, awe inspiring experience for 17th<\/sup> century Parisians. Pont Neuf also became notorious as a mecca for coat thieves. (Hard to picture until you realized that in the 17th<\/sup> century, a \u201ccoat\u201d was a cape, a thick, warm wrap against the weather, not something with sleeves and buttons.)<\/p>\n\n\n

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Alcoves allowed people to stand and enjoy the view down the river.  These alcoves are still active hang-out locations, as evidenced by the empty beer and soda cans littering the ground under the benches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hungry After enjoying the view from Pont Neuf, we strolled down the quai to a random outdoor caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My daughter and millennial companion describes the day\u2019s activities from there:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few blocks along the river, I saw one of my \u201cMust Do\u201d items \u2013 a small caf\u00e9 with a multi-course meal, a \u201cFormule,\u201d advertised on an outside chalkboard. There were two options, the \u201cFormule Compl\u00e8te\u201d an appetizer (entr\u00e9e), main course (plat) and dessert, or \u201cFormule Simple,\u201d either an entr\u00e9e and plat or a plat and dessert. At this particular caf\u00e9, a \u201cFormule Compl\u00e8te\u201d was \u20ac16, a \u201cFormule Simple\u201d was \u20ac13. There were three options for each course listed and none of them translated! Of all the things to see and do in Paris, I had been most looking forward to the food. Whatever else I had experienced in France in my twenties, I remembered that almost every meal I had was delicious, and I had been looking forward to the \u201cFormule\u201d or \u201cmenu\u201d method of dining, an authentic French experience. (Not that one can\u2019t simply order an appetizer, main course and dessert, in that order, at an American restaurant, but it is not as common in casual meals and not as cheap.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We walked into the caf\u00e9, passing a couple of men sitting outside \u2013 one at a table facing away from the caf\u00e9, towards the street, and one on a stool by the door. I looked around for a waiter or a host, but the caf\u00e9 was empty. The waiter soon appeared behind us, having followed us inside \u2013 he had been the man sitting on the stool. This would happen a few more times in the trip before I finally learned to look for the waiter sitting outside the restaurant instead of inside at a podium, as in an American restaurant.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I put my French to work (\u201cHow many?\u201d \u201cTwo.\u201d \u201cTo eat or to drink?\u201d \u201cTo eat please.\u201d) and we took a seat at one of the tables outside. The man at the other table was smoking, drinking an espresso, and reading a faded yellow paperback book. (Can one fully appreciate Kierkegaard on an e-reader?)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom ordered a glass of wine and we dithered in French over which main courses to order \u2013 the quiche or the Croque Monsieur, which I told Mom was \u201ca French grilled cheese.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have the Croque Monsieur,\u201d Mom said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was going to have the Croque Monsieur. I\u2019ll have the quiche instead.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can both get the Croque Monsieur.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, we can\u2019t get the same thing,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019ll have the quiche.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOk,\u201d the waiter said. \u201cUne croque. Une quiche.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quiche turned out to be excellent, but I had forgotten that the Croque Monsieur has ham in it. Mom is a vegetarian. We switched plates. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mother\u2019s note: Before I left on my trip, every single one of my friends who had been to Paris waxed poetic, drooling slightly, at how everything they ate there was delicious, delicious, delicious. This was my first experience with Parisian food. What can I say? Everyone was right. With one bite, I could tell this was indeed going to be an absolutely scrumptious meal. And I could tell why: Butter and cream seemed to permeate everything. The fries tasted as though they had been infused with butter before the final plunge into the deep fryer. The dressing on the salad was creamy and tasty. I had ordered a glass of Chardonnay, and although I don\u2019t particularly like much of the Chardonnay I get at home, this stuff was, like everything else, delicious.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After we paid the check, we could have headed back to the hotel and called it a relaxing end to a tiring day \u2013 but the remains of the Notre Dame fire were just a few blocks away, and it was only 3PM.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we crossed Pont au Change and made a left down a pedestrian path on Rue de Lut\u00e8ce. Along the way, we saw cages of colorful birds in an open-air market. I later learned that this street becomes an open-air bird market every Sunday, and a flower market on Saturdays.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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By the time we made a right onto Rue de la Cit\u00e9, getting close to Notre Dame, there were more people on the street. As Notre Dame came into view, we were wading through crowds of tourists, family groups and couples and big tour groups following tour guides who were holding little flags above their heads. Progress slowed. Having seen as much as we could, we turned back to the Metro and headed to the hotel for the night.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember with perfect clarity a terrible experience from my first time in France \u2013 waking up, jet lagged, at 4AM, starving. At that time, I wandered out of the student dormitory into the neighborhood, looking for somewhere to buy some food, and absolutely nothing was open. This time, I was prepared. After our trip to Pont Neuf, I stopped in a Monoprix, a French version of Target or CVS, and bought some snacks for the hotel room.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure enough, our first morning in France, I woke up at 4AM (10AM East Coast Time), hungry. Mom\u2019s stomach was also looking for breakfast. We ate some snacks, and then ate again when the hotel started serving a continental breakfast in the hotel\u2019s stylish dining area.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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