Remembering France

In a nutshell:

Five Best Experiences in France

1. Walking along the Seine



One of the most surprising discoveries I made in Paris: Life seems to move as slowly as the sinuous Seine. After coming from London which is hectic to put it very mildly, I expected Parisians to live life equally fast and furious.


The city-scape is clearly one that befits a modern metropolis, yet the pace of life (as I experienced it) was pleasantly mellow. Walking along the banks of the river Seine captures this perfectly: the boulevards are wide, breezy and lined with trees; elderly couples stroll casually in front of you, arms linked like bashful school children; artists peddle their wares by the river-side unobtrusively; and Parisiens sip coffee from the shaded recesses of roadside cafes simply watching the world go by.


We had just 3 days in Paris which is clearly not enough to clearly see everything. Before coming I had steeled myself for a rushed whistle-stop tour of the city's main sights - but Paris has the effect of enveloping you with its charm, causing you to slow down and literally, smell the roses. And that we did. Quite a lot, with red wine and cheese in hand. Is this the famed French joie de vivre kicking in? Paris ended up one of the most relaxing and enjoyable trips ever.

2. Visiting the Eiffel Tower at Night

The Eiffel Tower is not over-rated in my book - though it is undeniably a converging point for trigger-happy tourists and shady looking salespeople jingling Eiffel Tower keychains in your face. We didn't manage to go up the tower, but no matter - it is simply gorgeous to behold from any angle at night when it's lit up. Watch out for the hourly light show when the tower literally sparkles for five minutes. The best part about it is the split second you experience when everyone's too stunned to take any pictures. Then you hear a collective sigh of delight rising from the snaking queue waiting to take the elevator up the tower. It's really quite amazing.

Then a second later all the cameras are raised again, in a frenzy of flashes. But hey, the Tower's still the brightest star of them all.

3. Parcs et jardins

Parks and gardens are sacred grounds of pilgrimage for weary travellers. Spring is an excellent time to visit any of them as the flowers are in full bloom, and the weather is generally perfect for afternoon picnics on the grass. My favourite gardens are the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, and the Cimiez Monastery Park in Nice. The latter in particular (pictured above), not only has beautifully tended rose-beds, but it also commands sweeping views of Nice - one of the best I dare say.

4. Overnight train ride to Nice

After hearing nightmarish stories of sleeper berths in trains having nothing more than 'mattressed planks,' I was understandably apprehensive about sleeping in a couchette during our 10 hour train journey from Paris to Nice. However, the couchettes proved extremely comfortable and were thoughtfully supplied with individual blankets, eyemasks, ear plugs, mineral water and breath-mints.

Apart from the comfortable bed however, the best part of the journey was waking up early (around 6.30am) and watching the sun rise over the French provencal landscape, and glittering over the Rivera coastline. You share this experience with other bleary-eyed and hushed travellers, lined up in the narrow corridor of the train. Quite remarkable.

5. Nice

Nice is beautiful! It is blessed with more charisma than it's stately counterpart, Paris, and is also (surprisingly) far less touristy. Don't get me wrong - there are tons of tourists milling about the beaches, but evidence of locals pandering to the tourist dollar are generally minimal. Nice is also much more affordable than Paris, and that might explain why the locals also seem friendlier. However like Paris (or perhaps, even more so), the pace of life is exceedingly slow and relaxed. An excellent place for serious relaxation.

Nice is understandably famous for its beach and coastline - it is the capital of the Rivera after all. I won't dispute that too much - the Baie des Angeles is a must-see. Don't be put off by the high noon-time sun; that's the absolute best time in my opinion, to stroll down the famed Promenades des Anglais to see the beach in full swing and in full colour. Morning and evening strolls by the beach work fine too, but you won't get the full flavour of the place - the rollerbladers have retired their skates, the chattering local boys who cheekily flirt with you in broken Mandarin have disappeared, the bronzed sun-bathers have rolled up their beach mats, and the circus-like buzz along the promenade which swirls merrily around you has faded along with the evening sun.

But apart from the Promenade, Vieux Nice is also another must-see. The old quarter of the city, it is filled with little, narrow streets and brightly painted buildings which are festooned with laundry strung on sagging clothes lines. Unlike the Baie des Angeles, I'd recommend the opposite for Vieux Nice: of course, you must go for the colourful flower market on Cours Saleya, and sample Nicois cuisine in the more bustling Rue Saint Francois de Paul; however, I think the most charming parts of Vieux Nice lie in the quiet backroads which are mainly residential areas free of shops peddling bikinis. These are great places to get lost in.

Check out some of the churches in Vieux Nice as well. The church at the end of Rue de Jesus has a stunning baroque interior which will enthrall you for quite a while. And this is coming from someone who is close to exhausting her appetite for churches in Europe.

Worst Experiences in France

Nothing's perfect though my holiday in France came pretty darn close. Here are some little things which prevented me from coining this an absolute 5-star holiday.

1. Parisiens

It's not entirely true that the French refuse to speak English - most will know some basic words/phrases which helps communication quite a bit. But then most stereotypes have some basis in fact. The Parisiens I encountered were not the warmest of people, especially the service staff. They can come across as rather aloof and stand-offish. Bad and unclear French can be met with impatient eye-rolls. Service with a smile is not exactly a popular philosophy here.

On the bright side, I notice that the standards of English in Nice were much better. But more importantly, the locals were also far friendlier down in the South. A nice elderly gentleman struck up a conversation with me in Nice and was patient enough to listen as I tried to form sentences in my extremely poor French!

2. Crowd management at the Lourve

Poor. Over an hour's waiting time which encompassed the queue for entry into the Lourve lobby and another separate queue for admission tickets within the lobby itself manned by a grand total of one frazzled looking lady. I should add that I don't mind waiting for popular attractions, but I have seen much more efficient crowd management where you actually feel like you're moving at a regular and consistent speed even though there are thousands of people in front of you.

Signage and information brochures were ambiguous, leading us to think that admission prices would be free for under-26s on certain evenings, when this actually only applied to EU citizens.

Flash photography is rampant even though this is technically prohibited and should be since it is destructive for the paintings. Understandably, the size of the Lourve makes this hard to police but I have to say that in the Vatican museum which is positively sprawling, even the part-time guides will tell you off if they see you snapping away with your flash on though it's not really their business. The Sistine chapel itself has security guards who literally shout at you from their podium to keep quiet and stop taking pictures.

Not so with the Mona Lisa. Everyone takes photos with their flash on. There wasn't even a custodian in the room to manage or discipline the crowd. What is up with that?

3. Notre-Dame

Nice cathedral - nicer on the outside. The inside is a literal market-place. I hated it. While I am guilty of taking (non-flash) pictures inside cathedrals sometimes, I think basic decorum should be observed when a service or mass is in progress - which it was when we entered Notre-Dame. That means, give your camera a break or at the very least turn off the flash so it won't be so distracting. That sadly didn't happen inside the Church which is clearly, massively popular with trigger-happy tourists. If I remember correctly, even the gift shop's merchandise encroached quite a far bit into the worship space, which is seriously tacky.

There needs to be more stern policing done. Sacre-Coeur was a much better experience - large signs and guards at the entrance remind you to not take photos, and to observe silence when walking around the church. A dress code is also enforced at Sacre-Coeur which is fair.

4. Versailles

25 Euros for a day passport into the Gardens, Chateau and Marie Antoinette's apartments. But our friends showed their student IDs and got in for free even though they weren't EU citizens. The unfairness of it all!

But in any case, I think I might have reached my saturation point as far as castles and palaces are concerned. Or perhaps I just wasn't very impressed by Versailles itself. The so-called Fountain Musical performance in the Versailles gardens was over-rated. I don't think you should label something a 'performance' or a 'show' unless it has some discernable entertainment value. Turning on the water simultaneously in all the fountains is not exactly entertaining after the first 2 minutes. I expected at the very least, jets of water, leaping in sync with the Baroque music for the 8 euro admission fee into the gardens itself. No such luck.