Travel – Paris à pied

The best way to see a city is off season and on foot. This is a belief held and practiced by both my wife and myself, sometimes to our own discomfort, but usually more to our benefit. In the past few years we’ve sweat our asses off in Bangkok and New Orleans, frozen our asses off in New York, racked up some serious kilometers in Vancouver and most recently, strolled throughout Paris and, for a day or so, nearby Beaune in Burgundy. In short, the advantages of the off season are that it’s cheaper and less crowded, allowing us to see and do more with less money and time. The downside? The weather. It usually means very hot or very cold conditions, which is of course what keeps the tourists away. However, living in Venice Beach, the 2nd most visited place in California next to Disneyland, we’ve come to appreciate visiting places when most others wouldn’t. We also both grew up in the midwest and somewhat pride ourselves in being able to tolerate extreme temperature swings on both ends of the spectrum. Therefore, in late November, we found ourselves somewhat freezing as we put in roughly 6-12 miles a day walking throughout Paris.

We stayed in the Le Marais, a trendy neighborhood in the 3rd arrondissement and no more than 2-3 miles from pretty much all the major sites. From there we pretty much walked everywhere, hopping on the metro only a few times when time was an issue and once to get to Montmartre. We did all the touristy things – the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and even the Moulin Rouge where I happen to know one of the dancers who worked with me as a model several years ago in Las Vegas. But some of the best experiences, and photos, came from exploring in between and finding things we would have missed had we just hopped in a cab or descended to the subway to shuttle between points. We’d generally walk until we were hungry, freezing or both and would duck into random cafes or brasseries along the way to warm up over wine and warm soup or a pressed baguette. Along the way we found random markets and shops and were even outside for the first snow of the season one evening in Montmartre.

Besides Paris we took 36 hours and hopped on a train down to the small town of Beaune in Burgundy. Our timing wasn’t great – turns out a lot is closed on Sunday – but we managed to have some good times and consumed all the wine and cheese we could handle along the way. We didn’t have time to go to the countryside vineyards, but one highlight was the Père et Fils winery in town, which features 5 km of underground wine cellars storing 3 million bottles of wine, which concludes with a self-serve wine tasting. As it was off season, we had the whole place to ourselves. I also had my first experience with andouillette sausage, a regional specialty. If you’re unfamiliar, as I was, andouillette is not andouille. Sounds like it might be. But it’s not. Let’s just say it’s an acquired taste. One which I have not yet acquired. I did my best though, with a little help from my wife, who was apparently compelled to eat it because she could see the chef watching us from about 10 feet behind me. She’s a sport!

Anyway, I’ve gone on too long. My main point is that it’s conversely the case that getting lost in a place is often the best way to find out where you actually are. So next time you visit anywhere new I encourage you avoid the tour buses, cabs and subways whenever possible, wear some comfortable shoes and go explore. If you can manage to go during the off season that’s all the better. Just be sure to dress appropriately.

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