European Discovery

Hello all,

I will come back to my how to ride the Paris metro when I find the photos I was looking for.  In the meantime, I just had a request from a previous tour member for my favorite hotels and restaurants.  As you might realize, there are ALOT of wonderful places but I thought I would list my two favorites near the two hotels that I like.  If someone wants to add to the list, I would love it.

Near my hotel in the 3rd Arr.
Le Pamphlet, 38 rue Debelleyme
I adore this wonderful restaurant.  If you are looking for French haute cuisine without the price and without the stuffiness and rude waiters, this is it.  The first time I went there it was decorated in traditional reds, very old French looking.  They had a fire and completely redecorated the place and now very modern and the food is still to die for but for a fixed menu for 35 euro you are in for a treat.  Be willing to try something different and you will not be disappointed.  I have taken many folks here and they have all walked away in awe.

Near my hotel in the Latin Quarter
Le Pre Verre, 8, rue Thenard
Again, a focus on absolutely unique cuisine at fantastic prices.  This one is really young hip and plan to stand in line if you are going at the normal dinner hour(8pm or later).  I try to go when the first open and take whatever the special menu is.  The wine menu is superb and not the traditional offerings.  The chef incorportates Asian types of spices like cinnamon into French cooking so that they are not overwhelming but really unique and bring out the flavors of the fresh fish,veggies especially.   Everything with fresh local flavors with a unique combination of sweet and savory and all with wine for 35 euro.  A must go.

Happy eating in Paris and I will bring photos next time.

The Eiffel tower at night - easy to get to on the metro.

Paris is a beautiful city and one of my favorites, but it is a big city and you need to be able to get around to see its wonders.  Taking a bus tour is really only good for an intro.  To see it and experience it, you need to walk and take the local transportation; metro and bus. After talking with Don and Judy from my last tour (who were going on to Paris on their own), I thought it was time to write down some tips for getting around on  the Paris metro like a local.  The metro in Paris is easy, fast and pretty safe(only just a few pickpockets to be wise to).

First is buying the ticket.  There are several options but I think only 2 are a good value for the average tourist; a carnet(”car-nay”) of 10 single rides and a Mobilis(”mo-bil-ee”) day pass.   The Paris office pushes the Paris Visite pass but I do not think it is a good deal or very useful.  Here are the prices as of now:
single ticket: €1.60
carnet of 10 single tickets: €11.40
Mobilis for zone 1-2: €5.40
If you plan on using the metro or a bus more than 3 times in one day, buy a Mobilis, otherwise buy a carnet.  You can buy them in any Metro station.  For the most part, the attendants do not speak English but the French is so easy you will have no problem.  For the carnet  “un carnet, s’il vous plait.”. (”oon car-nay seel vou play”) which means “one carnet please”. You give them €11.40 and they will give you a stack of 10 individual tickets.  For the Mobilis, “un Mobilis pour Paris, s’il vous plait” (”oon mo-bil-ee pewr Par-ee seel vou play”) which means “one Mobilis for Paris please”.  You give them €5.40 and they will give you 1 orange/white ticket that you can use all day.  I specify the “pour Paris” part because the day passes are based on zones of Paris.  You will most likely need only zone 1-2 which covers most all of the biggy sites of Paris and a lot of lovely wandering.

Next post - I will save the riding it for the next post as I have some great instructional photos and I think even a video.

O.K. I admit, I am writing this conclusion to our tour after I have returned to the US, but I wanted to finish it and add a few last photos for the group.

Our four lovely ladies at the first rest break heading to Positano

Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast have to be one of the most beautiful places in all of Italy and that is saying something.  When we arrived it was gray and windy but we woke up to a beautiful blue sky.  Our drivers picked us up at the hotel at 9:30 for our private drive around the Amalfi coast.  Carmello Monetti(one of the drivers and a non-stop talker and adorable “little old” man) had told us that he prayed to the goddess and she promised him beautiful weather for us.   The road is very, very curvy and very narrow.  I would never recommend for any non-native to drive this road.  There is no where to park and if you drive, it is so white knuckle that no one can really enjoy the scenery.  We made lots of stops to get out and get air and appreciate the spectacular scenery along the way.  I was in the Jaguar(small car) but got to hear already about Carmello and his flip-book(which I did see last year) where he talks all about who has driven and who has been to Amalfi and lots of interesting facts along the way.  Sherri and Joe wanted him to keep his hands on the wheels and watch the road while they watched the scenery but he continued joyfully talking about his beautiful Amalfi with hands a fly’n.

Looking down on Positano

We stopped in Positano for a break and some shopping.  This is a fantastic little town filled with everything lemon.  It is built into the hill so everything goes either down or up; no level.  Everybody slowly wandered down to the beach and back shopping, snacking, viewing; fantastic.  I spent most of my time on my cell phone trying to fix a money problem caused by my Euro ATM card being eaten by a bank in Rome and the bank not giving it back to me.  My morning was saved however, by Susan S. showing me that she had found some beautiful olive oil and balsamic vinegar containers(I told her I wanted some) and indeed, they were perfect and I bought them.

The beach at Amalfi

We then went on to our lunch location in Ravello.

Amalfi Viagra Naturale

This small village is a bit higher up on the hill right after you go through Amalfi.  We had lunch in a little mom and pop place right on top of the hill that Carmello chose for us.  The view was incredible and the food lovely.  We then wandered around Ravello for a bit.  After Rovello headed back down for Amalfi.  The road is so tight and narrow here that the big buses have to make 3 point turns to get around some of the corners so it is a bit slow going.  We stopped in Amalfi for some more shopping and GELATO!!  The girls had been saving up not having any gelato that day(usually they had it 2 times a day) so they were due.  Our driver showed us the best spot and indeed it was fantastic. I had a dark chocolate that was so rich it tasted like my favorite dark bar stirred up and frozen.   We also had some time to do some more wandering through a beautiful church and little alleyways and of course, more shops.  Sherri found an interesting display for the Amalfi version of Viagra which I posted here.

As we finished up in Amalfi and our drivers had somehow found out from the other drivers in Amalfi that the road between Positano and Sorrento had been closed due to a rock fall so that we had to drive around.  So….we drove the even curvier road up and over the mountain to where we felt like we were on top of the world.  Even our little Jaguar was feeling a little queasy but we made it just fine.

Sorrentos Marina Grande at night where we had dinner

The entire next day of the tour was a free day where they could do anything that they wanted to do.  A couple of folks went out to Capri on the ferry to do some walking, looking around, enjoy the water.  Susan and Joe were going to stick around Sorrento but they decided with no

Our last dinner at Delphinos on the water

help at all just to go out to Capri and have a little adventure.  I was so proud of them doing this on their own.  The Blue Grotto was closed though because of rough water so that was a bummer.  Don and Judy did laundry and relaxed by the pool as they were continuing to Paris after the tour.  In the evening we all got together for our good-bye dinner down at the Marina Grande at one of my favorite little no nonsense seafood restaurants; Delphino’s.  We stuffed ourselves with wonderful grilled veggies, specialty Risotto, fresh swordfish/seabream and of course wine to wash it all down.  It was a stiff hike up the hill to get back into town but it was good for digestion.  I said good-bye to everyone that evening(even though I saw some in the morning) and it was rather sad as they were a FANTASTIC group of people.  I hope they all come back to Italy some day.

Before I complete our last few days I have to add our celebrity sighting that I completely forgot about.  It was the night that we ate dinner at Maccheroni near the Pantheon(yes the one with the pirate waiter).  We were sitting outside and all of a sudden Judy(who loves movies) said “Hello, that’s ” and started waving to someone with a big smile on her face like her best friend was walking through the door.  I looked over my right shoulder and it was James Cromwell(actor in LA Confidential and Babe to just name a few movies).  He smiled an nodded at us(and especially Judy still waving and still smiling) and went into the restaurant.  We did not see him again so they must have taken him to a more private room.  The others figured if “that actor” eats here then the food must be good.  I could have told them the food was going to be good

This kind of reminded me of last year when I saw Italy’s Prime Minister; Silvio Berlusconi in just about the same spot but he was coming out of the fancy seafood place across the street.  The Italian ladies from the next table that I had been talking with all evening and I decided to get up and follow/stalk him to get a picture but that is another story…..

Michelangelo's incedible sistine chapel

On day 10 the group had the morning off and then we met and took the public bus to the Vatican Museum.  We took the public bus to the entrance and met my wonderful Rome guide Marilena from walksinsiderome.  I did not go into the museum with them so off they went to see the exhibits, and Michelangelo’s masterpiece Sistine chapel.  The first time that I saw this chapel I had to sit down and just stare at it for quite a long time.  I met the group after they exited the chapel and St. Peters after a couple of hours and they just looked beat!  They said that they enjoyed it but I think they were also very tired because the crowds can be bad inside the museum with the big groups even if we have a private tour.  I think next time we might want to try early in the morning  before the heaving masses arrive.

The next day we caught a train to Naples from Rome.  We were running a bit late which was a bit stressful as the taxi’s went an odd way and we had to find each other in the train station.  We missed the hassle of the “helpers” in the train station which I was ready for this time.  A Canadian woman that we

Our wonderful group with Gaotano in Pompeii with Vesuvius

sat next to had her money stolen from her purse and she things it was them.  There are these people that pose as rather official helpers that help get bags on the train but they are not official at all.  If anyone is thinking of riding the train, really be careful and do not let ANYONE that you do not know help you with your bags on or off the train.  They tried to help us when we arrived in Naples and I really pissed him off because I told him no several times and told my entire group not to let him help.  After about 6 tries he gave up and swore at me.  Our Monetti private drivers met us on the tracks and took us to Pompeii.  In Pompeii we met Gaotano Manfredi who was our fabulous guide through this incredibly preserved Roman city which was frozen in time in 79AD.  We were joined by a family from Canada because they were late(and I had messed up a bit on the date) so he put us together.  it has just poured down rain before they got there but it stopped when we arrived.   We got a fabulous tour and an extra by visiting the bath and brothel outside the walls that I have not seen before.  In the brothel, there are very explicit paintings of various rooms in the establishment and the services performed in each.  I think my group was leaning towards a preference for room #4.  After the tour we continued on to Sorrento.  There was a mess up with my hotel and instead we were put in the Grand Vesuvio but it was just lovely;  all rooms had stunning views of the Bay of Naples.  Sherri voted that if I would have brought her here first she might have mutinied from the tour and just stayed there.