Another quick trip to Paris – Part 1

Yes, I did.

It was Wednesday evening, and I was frustrated with the weekend weather and having no real hiking plans. Those would have been south of the Alps where it was raining. I suddenly thought “what stops me from going to Paris on Friday?”. The answer was – nothing really. I went online and found a very reasonably priced hotel in the Marais district. It’s the area I really loved the feel of last time. Many cafés. A neighborhood feel. Train tickets were a bit more expensive than last time, but I wanted very specific times. So, I really can’t complain. It was all booked with hardly any time to spare before I was on Zoom with my friends.

I had given very little thought to what I was gonna do when I got to Paris. There were a few things I missed last time, but other than that …

Also, when was I going to pack for the trip? I had a full day at work and then class until 7 PM. It would be 8.30 by the time I got home on Thursday.

Fast forward to Basel and Friday morning 10.34. I almost missed the train. And it would have been entirely my fault. I’m not going to share what happened. I might have told just one person and that’s how it’s gonna stay.

I had a grumpy woman sitting opposite me. She seemed offended that somebody had the audacity of sitting across from her. No problem, I just moved over to a compartment of four to write for a bit. It was way more comfortable that way. I went back to my original seat when we stopped in Mulhouse and again in Dijon. Nobody got on in Mulhouse, but after Dijon the train was full. Grumpy woman was even grumpier now. I guess she was a bit like me in that she didn’t seem to like people too much. I can totally relate.

Anyway, I wasn’t going to have a conversation with her. It seemed safer that way.

I arrived in Paris on time and kind of remembered how to get to the number one metro train. This time my ticket machine worked. I just needed a tiny bit of assistance in getting a rechargeable card. I’m not very good at following instructions or maybe they weren’t clear. The machine wanted to sell me 9 cards with 9 rides each on them. I abandoned that mission and a nice French woman pointed out to me that I needed to choose the number of cards first. Well, duh! The card I got lost time was made of paper. Still worked well, but this one won’t bend when you have it in your back pocket and sit on it.

I found my hotel right away too. It was super easy. You just have to take the right exit from the metro and it’s right there. Of course, that was not dumb luck or anything. I was in my hotel room a mere 40 minutes after arriving at Gare de Lyon. That includes trying to navigate around people who were trying to find their way. The signage is not that easy to read if it’s your first time at Gare de Lyon. Second time around I was finding my way like a total pro.

Because of undisclosed events earlier that day, I needed a bit of time to get organized and figure out what to do. I decided to go to the Musée des Arts et Métiers which was really close by. I couldn’t get there for the 3 PM timeslot but made the 3.30 one. There was no designated line for specific times – it was just ticket/no ticket. Not sure if that’s different in summer.

Had I done a bit more research I’d have seen that the museum is open late on Fridays (until 9 PM), but I don’t think it would have made much of a difference. I was always going to go there first. And it was not crowded at 3.30 – not at all.

This museum is a treasure trove of things. It hosts the oldest industrial and technological collection in the world. There are seven different areas they cover: scientific instruments; materials; construction; communication; energy; mechanics and transport. I felt like a kid in a candy store. I just loved it so much. They had the first of everything. You name it – they have it. Also, there was a temporary exhibit called Explorer l’infiniment - exploring the infinite. As the name suggests it was all about exploring and explorers. There were many names I recognized, and a Swiss family made the cut too – the Piccards. It was in the context of deep-sea diving.

I don’t remember seeing much English in terms of explanations, but since I can read and understand French just fine, I wasn’t really paying attention. I have to say that particle physics in French was a bit of a stretch – even for me. It might be worth getting an audio guide for the main exhibits if you ever go there.

At the end of your visit, you are led into a church where there is a Foucault pendulum. Yes, you read that right. Another one of those. So, here’s the deal - the original sphere Foucault used is on display at the Musée des Arts et Métiers. It's not the one that's in use though as that one was damaged when it fell to the ground in an accident in 2010. The Panthéon connection is that Foucault first did a public demonstration of the pendulum there. I’m reliably informed that many places around the world have their own Foucault pendulums. If there is one in your area, they are a cool thing to go check out.

They had little pins put up and as the pendulum swung back and forth it inched closer and closer to knocking over the next pin. I don’t know who was more excited about it, me or the little kid standing next to me. I think you know … how freaking cool was this? A pendulum that swings back and forth in a sort of elliptical movement and knocks over pins along the way.

I don’t think I have to tell you that I had a big old grin on my face walking out of there. What an unexpectedly amazing experience. And I don’t mean I didn’t think it was going to be a good museum. I just mean that it far exceeded my expectations. I might even have found my next podcast topic – if I decide to go back to those.

A stunning museum - Musée des Arts et Métiers

Couple of other things I missed last time. The Place de la République and the Place de la Bastille. Not sure why, but I just didn’t go there. I think it was my feet’s fault. They were probably tired. It was a nice one mile walk from where I was. The city was just waking up to a Friday night out. That was not my plan at all though. Oh and awful light for pictures with a thunderstorm moving in and it getting dark.

I walked past this really nice bakery with a long line of customers. I went in and got completely overwhelmed by their selection. Too many things to choose from. Everybody was really nice about me needing some time to decide and I ended up going for a brioche with red things on it. I thought it said something about red pralines but can’t be sure. It was absolutely divine.

I took a bus back to my hotel. And that was it for Friday. I had booked the earliest timeslot for the Musée d’Orsay the next morning (9.30) and had gotten a ticket for the Musée Rodin as well. The rest I was just going to improvise. Maybe I should have spent a bit more time planning … You’ll see why in part 2.