Table of Contents for this Episode
Category: Paris
[00:00:00]
Annie Sargent: This is Join Us in France, episode 605, six cent cinq.
Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent, and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.
Today on the podcast: 5 weeks solo in Paris
Annie Sargent: Today, I bring you a conversation with Larry Rosenblum, who spent five weeks in Paris solo, 20 museums, a swim in the Seine, a play at the Comédie-Française with AR glasses, mm-hmm, for English translation, a rare look inside the French Senate during European Heritage Days, and a virtual reality tour of the Louvre for the history of the Louvre.
And I’m saying it that way because I can’t say [00:01:00] Louvre’s history. Louvre’s history? How do you say that? Louvre’s, Louvre’s hist- Nuh-uh.
Support and Boutique
Annie Sargent: Before we start, this show runs on listener support. If you want to work directly with me, I do itinerary consults, so you can have fun in Paris with my eight VoiceMap tours that will lead you around the best of the city, and I do custom day trips around the southwest of France. Everything is at joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
And if you shop on Amazon anyway, starting at joinusinfrance.com/amazon costs you nothing, but it helps the show.
Magazine segment
Annie Sargent: For the magazine part of the podcast, after my chat with Larry today, I discuss La France Moche, ugly France, because we might have a problem.
[00:02:00]
Meet Larry Paris Stats
Annie Sargent: Bonjour Larry Rosenblum and welcome to Join Us in France.
Larry Rosenblum: Thank you very much Annie. Thank you for having me.
Annie Sargent: Oh, it’s wonderful to have you. You spent some very busy five weeks in Paris. You were a busy bee. You saw a lot of stuff, and we want to talk about your discoveries, what you loved, what you recommend. You were just telling me how many monuments did you see? How many museums did you see?
Larry Rosenblum: Okay, so I totaled it up. I went to twenty museums, four monuments. I did nine things that I classify as events, and eight other things that really don’t fall into any of those categories.
Annie Sargent: Yes.
Apart Hotel Stay
Annie Sargent: Were you staying in a hotel or did you have an apartment?
Larry Rosenblum: Uh, I stayed at what is called an aparthotel.
Annie Sargent: Okay.
Larry Rosenblum: Which is something that I’ve seen in many places in Europe, but not in the US, at least not called that. So it’s like having a [00:03:00] studio apartment inside a hotel. So it was really one room, with a little kitchenette to one side, which had a microwave and a refrigerator and a cooktop. It also had a washer and dryer.
Annie Sargent: Nice.
Larry Rosenblum: So, it was pretty self-contained.
It was called Le Jardin du Verre, The glass garden, because of some of its interior decorations. And it’s a chain, the parent company is called Locke, they have a number of places in Great Britain and then several throughout western Europe.
Paris is, was actually fairly new and is the only one in France at the moment.
Annie Sargent: And would you recommend them? Were they, was it a good experience?
Larry Rosenblum: It was a good experience. To be honest, I didn’t think the kitchenette would have been good for actually cooking a meal, because there wasn’t enough working [00:04:00] space, but I never intended to do that. But what I did do in some evenings, I buy a baguette, I’d have some cheese, some fruit and vegetables.
I’d buy one of those little quiches to warm up or something. And I made my own little dinner there. And for that, the kitchen was fine for those kind of things.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah. Okay, wonderful.
Getting Around Metro Tips
Annie Sargent: How did you get around in Paris? Did you take the metro? Did you walk? Did you take buses?
Larry Rosenblum: I did a lot of walking. I always do. To get longer distances, I primarily used the metro. I took a bus a few times, but when the bus was downtown, it is awfully slow. And the traffic…
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Larry Rosenblum: in fact, at one point I just missed a bus, and so I walked along the same route and 20 minutes later I caught up to the bus because there was so much traffic and I got on there.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Paris can be even, with the bus lanes and [00:05:00] everything, and not every street has a bus lane, and so it’s like, oh… yeah…
If you’re in a hurry, take the metro.
Larry Rosenblum: Right. So primarily it was the metro. I did have three occasions when the metro kind of stalled out for significant periods, including one when I got to the station near my hotel, and the train was just there with the doors open and I thought, great. I just made it. And I hopped on it didn’t go anywhere.
The doors didn’t close. So… something’s going on. So then there’s announcement, which I could interpret as, somebody left something on the train, a bag or a package, and they were waiting to clear the train out.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Larry Rosenblum: So, first of all, I had had a guided tour, so I had a time to be somewhere, so I left and I wound up taking an Uber for that.
But also the whole thing kind of seemed strange to me because if the train was [00:06:00] stopped and they thought the bag might be harmful, that is perhaps a bomb, then why wouldn’t you evacuate the train?
Annie Sargent: Well, it’s possible that there was at another station. Very often they would stop…
Larry Rosenblum: Oh, that could be!
Annie Sargent: …everyone on that line.
Larry Rosenblum: Oh, of course. And I must have missed that. All right.
That makes more sense.
Annie Sargent: Those announcements are not easy to understand even for a native, so I can’t blame you!
Larry Rosenblum: It’s not clear.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And sometimes that’s when it’s good to have an app, because an app will give you a written notice, perhaps of what’s happening.
Such stoppages are very common on the Paris Metro, unfortunately, they had very stringent rules about bringing in people to take care of unattended packages. They’ve tried to loosen the rules a little bit, but, you know…
Larry Rosenblum: I know, I mean there have been incidents of terrorism in Paris, so I understand why they’re being careful. I guess the point is, [00:07:00] if you have a defined time to be somewhere, be sure to allow enough time.
Don’t say the Metro is a half an hour and so I’m going to get on the Metro a half an hour before.
You got to allow yourself some more time.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, I agree. I agree. And Uber, you didn’t have any difficulty using Uber?
Larry Rosenblum: No. But again, with the traffic and stuff, it really wasn’t too much faster than almost walking, which I might have done. But I just used Uber twice and I didn’t have a problem.
Annie Sargent: Right.
Solo Travel Pros Cons
Annie Sargent: Were you traveling alone?
Larry Rosenblum: Yes.
Annie Sargent: Okay. And you do that, you’re used to that?
Larry Rosenblum: Yes.
Annie Sargent: Do you prefer it that way?
Larry Rosenblum: Well, that’s sort of my situation at the moment, so I’ve adapted to it, but I would say sometimes I think about the advantages and disadvantages. I mean the advantages. I can do what I want when I want. If I decide, oh, I don’t want to go to this museum today, I want to go for a [00:08:00] stroll along the Seine or something, I can just do it.
On the other hand, there isn’t anybody to really share things with. And eating meals by yourself is not too… you know, I would listen to a podcast or music or something with earbuds when I eat, basically. But it’s nice to have, especially when you’re someplace else and you can say, oh, this is really great or something.
So it’s kind of a trade off.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah. There’s good and bad I suppose.
Swimming In The Seine
Annie Sargent: Alright, so you got to experience some things that are really interesting. You swam in the Seine, which is a new thing. How did that go?
Larry Rosenblum: That went well. I learned about it last summer, before I left, and I figured, okay, I need to do this just for the bragging rights, more than actual swimming experience.
So, there were three places on the Seine where they were allowing swimming plus one [00:09:00] on the canal St. Martin.
And they had a website where every morning they would indicate whether the sites were open for that day or not. For two reasons, one was the weather, and the other is they would test for bacteria and whatever else.
You just had to sort of be prepared and then check at about 9:00 AM in the morning.
So the site I went to was at Bercy.
Which is on the east side of Paris, and on the right bank. And there, unlike the other two places, they actually built almost like a pool. So they walled in the swimming area, although I suspect there was no bottom to it because this was the Seine water. But for some reason they felt like they needed a hard barricade around the swimmers.
In the other two places, there was just like a floating line, to demarcate where you’re allowed to [00:10:00] swim.
Annie Sargent: So you looked at all three, but you decided to go to Bercy.
Larry Rosenblum: Bercy was the closest walking distance from my hotel. I saw one of the others from a distance. I didn’t see the third one, but I read about it.
They had changing rooms at two of the three. They had shower rooms at all of them. They had lockers at all of them.
Annie Sargent: Good.
Larry Rosenblum: So they were pretty prepared.
And what was interesting is the surface structures were shipping containers.
And so, after swimming ended in the middle of September, those were removed and it was like nothing was there. That pool structure at Bercy is obviously permanent, but the other stuff they built especially so that it could be removed and leave no trace.
So anyway, one requirement was you had to wear a floater. So this was a large yellow pillow shaped floating device that you attached to [00:11:00] your waist with a belt. And you had about two feet of belt. So it wasn’t, you wouldn’t hit it with your arms and stuff. And I guess that was just to make sure that nobody sank under the water and disappeared.
Annie Sargent: They didn’t want to lose anyone.
Larry Rosenblum: Right, so I was in the water for about 10 minutes. It’s too cold for me. The water was 71 degrees. So I swam a few laps and hung around in the water a little bit.
Annie Sargent: And bragging rights. That’s awesome. I love it. I love it.
And hopefully they will do this again going forward. Who knows? Right now as we record, we’re recording this in February, late February, 2026, and the Seine is actually flooding and I’m sure, I know that there’s no boat traffic right now, so, no.
You know, swimming is limited in time.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes. It was only, it was originally only July and August, which would’ve meant I [00:12:00] missed it. But then I read that they had extended it into the first half of September, and actually Bercy was open for European Heritage Week, and the third weekend of September. But that was it. And then it was all closed.
Annie Sargent: Right.
(Mid-roll ad spot)
Comedie Francaise AR
Annie Sargent: I want to talk to you also about the Comedy Francaise. You went the Comedy Francaise a place I really, I only went once, but I loved it and would love to go again. I know that they now, they do showings in theaters, in select theaters, and so I’m probably going to go to one of those place anyway.
But they have AR glasses that you can use. So tell me about the experience.
Larry Rosenblum: Okay, so AR is augmented reality, which means they have glasses, they were actually small that you, we would call them more spectacles than glasses.
They would fit on your nose. So there’s glass, and [00:13:00] then it’s a little bit grade, and that’s a screen on which the English language translation of the play is shown on that little screen while you’re watching the play through those glasses. That was the only reason I would go because I don’t know enough French to understand it.
I also read the play in English before I got there. So I would… I would know pretty much the story. But the glasses were really neat.
I would say they worked about 98% of the time. There were a few times when they seemed to lose track or whatever, but very small, just a couple of times.
Annie Sargent: Oh, that’s good to know.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah, and I asked, apparently they’ve been doing that for over two years.
Annie Sargent: Hmm. And which play did you see?
Larry Rosenblum: I saw Les Fourberies de Scapin.
Annie Sargent: Yes.
Larry Rosenblum: The English translation is Scapin the Schemer.
So this is a very [00:14:00] Shakespearean play about two young men who’ve fallen in love each with a woman, but their respective fathers would not approve of this. So Scapin who’s like one of the household servants, one of them comes up with all these schemes to try to fool the fathers and some of them backfire and whatever.
So it’s kind of typical story, but the acting was very good and I enjoyed it. And certainly having the English language translation was very helpful.
Annie Sargent: And the palace is beautiful. The room is lovely.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes.
Annie Sargent: So it’s worth going just for that. But I just love all these classic plays and all that so that, you know, to me it’s like candy. I love it. I love it.
Heritage Days Senate
Annie Sargent: So you also attended the European Heritage Days. So the Journées du Patrimoine, so this is only at specific times of the year.
This was usually, [00:15:00] it’s middle of September.
Larry Rosenblum: It’s the third weekend of September, Saturday and Sunday of September.
Annie Sargent: Right, right.
Larry Rosenblum: And on those days, many institutions that are not open to the public are open for tours. Other institutions that are open have extended tours. You get to go some places that are not, you know, within the building or whatever, that are not generally open to the public.
So it’s a chance to see things that you don’t ordinarily get to see. Many require advanced tickets. They’re free, but since space is limited, and so there’s a website with information about what the time is and what the ticketing is and when tickets are available, and so on and so forth.
So, I pretty much decided I would do things that didn’t require a ticket less hassle. The one thing I was interested in was a tour of City [00:16:00] Hall L’Hôtel de Ville. But by the time I tried to get a ticket, it was already sold out.
So the two that I did that I really enjoyed was one is the Senate.
Annie Sargent: Mm-hmm.
Larry Rosenblum: Which is in the Palais du Luxembourg, in the northern part of Jardin du Luxembourg. This is a building that is not at all open to the public, other than this weekend. There was a big line when I got there. Kind of first thing in the morning. And then there is, there’s like a guided path.
So there’s all these people streaming through, following the signs and you get a little brochure in English explaining things and so on and so forth. So, what really impressed me is, it’s called the conference hall, and it’s a very long hall, it’s the same length as the Apollo Hall at the Louvre.
It’s really the anti chamber to the actual Senate itself. [00:17:00] So from that hall, you walk into the Senate. So the idea, I guess, is senators and visitors and whatever can come out of the Senate to that hall where they can talk. And it is, is just one of those magnificent, opulent, gilded areas with statues and paintings and all that.
And obviously people get used to it, but to me, I was like, how do you conduct business in the face of all this beautiful stuff? And then we got to walk into the actual Senate chamber, which is a semicircle seating for the Senate, and sort of downhill and then a desk area in the front and a big monitor so, you know, people can see what’s going on and things like that.
And so that was fascinating.
Annie Sargent: That sounds really cool.
Larry Rosenblum: The other thing I went to was the France National Library Richelieu [00:18:00] location.
Annie Sargent: Yes.
Larry Rosenblum: Which is downtown, not far from the Louvre. So this is, much of it is open to the public normally, but we got to see some parts that weren’t.
So there are two libraries there of note. One is called the Oval Room.
This is an oval library. It is open, it’s gorgeous, it is open to the public, it’s free. So it was not anything special to be there, in this particular case.
Annie Sargent: You can walk around and you can observe. But to get a seat, to get a table, you have to have a project or you have to…
Larry Rosenblum: Not in that library. I think that library is just open.
Annie Sargent: Is that right?
Larry Rosenblum: Yes. Many of the books on the shelves are, for example, casual reading. Like I saw a lot of art books, architecture books, graphic novels. Things for, more for public than [00:19:00] serious, steady…
Annie Sargent: Okay.
Larry Rosenblum: And even if you don’t speak, or you don’t read French, you could grab a book on the art of say, Renoir or something and look at the paintings or whatever.
So there was a lot there. I really wanted to go back, but I never had the chance.
The other library was a more traditional libraries called the Labrouste Room. It’s actually the library of the National Institute of Art History, which is located across the street, but the library is in Richelieu. So that is an older, you know, more traditional library, a square room, desks, whatever. They put out some exhibits of old books and prints under glass for European heritage days. But again, that’s one where the public doesn’t go in. You have to be a student or a scholar or something, and apply for.
Annie Sargent: Very nice.
Postal Museum Stamps
Annie Sargent: You went to the Musee de la Poste.[00:20:00]
Larry Rosenblum: Yes. That’s the postal museum. So I’ve been a stamp collector philatelist for all my life. And for me that’s more than just putting stamps in an album, it’s using stamps as really a gateway to study history and culture and geography and so on and so forth.
And for the last 10 years, I’ve been concentrating on French stamps and I actually write articles about them for a national publication of stamp collectors. So I do a lot of research in order to write my articles. My articles are more about history and culture and not about the technical how stamps or printed or, you know, minor differences in various stamps and so on and so forth, which is a valid thing to study and collect, but just not my interest.
So the Paris Postal [00:21:00] Museum was founded in the middle of the 20th century, and it’s located in downtown Paris. But it was totally revamped and remodeled in the 2010.
So, it’s pretty new. There are a lot of exhibited bath stamps, but one thing that’s interesting is they do a lot about art, postally related art, which can mean, you know, like envelopes that are decorated or a mailbox that has been all done up, or things made out of like letters or art made out of pieces of stamps or, you know, whatever.
In fact, they hire an artist every year, or not hire, but they um, commission, thank you, an artist every year to create some displays of related art in that. So it makes it a little more interesting to people who may not be interested in stamps themselves.
And then there’s a lot of history, which is important if you [00:22:00] think about the fact that writing by letters was really the primary means of distance communication for about 400 years. From the middle of the 1500s to the middle of the 1900s or so.
Annie Sargent: Oh yeah, it was a huge deal.
Larry Rosenblum: Right. So you learn a lot about how letters were transmitted and you know, the technology which grew from basically riders on horseback to airplanes, right?
Via, you know, coaches and then trains and whatever.
So there’s a lot there for non collectors.
I think it’s worth, you know, a few hours of visit.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, this is not one I have been to, so I’m putting it on my list because I do enjoy, I think stamps do bring out a lot of history, like there’s a lot of really notable stamps that you should pay attention to because are meaningful.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes, they do have a display, a [00:23:00] chronological display of every stamp issued by France up until the end of last year. So one can see just about everything, and that’s an a really nicely done display.
Annie Sargent: Wonderful. That’s great. Did you also go into the, one of the covered passages? I can’t remember which one has a ton of stamp collectors sort of stores?
Larry Rosenblum: There are, and it was on my list, but I didn’t get there.
Annie Sargent: Okay.
Larry Rosenblum: It was not my purpose to make this trip related to my stamps hobby, with the exception of the postal museum.
Annie Sargent: Right, right, right. This particular, I can’t remember the name right (Passage des Panoramas) now. I’ve been to it a few times, but it’s funny, it’s just like one stamp collecting shop after another.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah, it’s near a street Rue Drouot that also has historically had a lot of stamp dealers. It still does, again, I didn’t get there on this trip. But the economics of the hobby is such [00:24:00] that having a physical location is not as good. I mean, so much, now is done by mail and internet and so on and so forth.
But in a big city like Paris, there are still kind of traditional stamp stores, just nowhere near as many as there were, say, a hundred years ago.
Annie Sargent: Right, right.
VR Louvre History Tour
Annie Sargent: Another unusual thing that you did is you did a virtual reality tour of the history of the Louvre. I’d love to hear about that.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes. So that’s a small company, a husband and wife company called Viality Tour. So that’s an, that’s just another thing. I had never done any virtual reality, period. So I thought this is a good thing. I signed up, they do do some tours in English as well as French. So we met in the big courtyard of the Louvre, the one with the big pyramid. There were, I believe, four of us. So the tour [00:25:00] guide gave us, you know, handed out these glasses, which, you know, are these big, heavy glasses because they’re wrapped around your eyes and, the only things you see are the little screens. So first we just got a chance to put them on and get used to them and so on and so forth. And then she started the tour, which in this case put us in the same location, but in the year, I believe, 1180.
Annie Sargent: Wow.
Larry Rosenblum: The first fort was built, that eventually became the palace and now the Louvre Museum.
So by the virtual reality, you are as if you are there and you can watch what’s going on.
You know, other people moving around so forth. And if you turn your head, it’s just like you were there live, the scenery moves the same way it would move as if you were [00:26:00] really there and your eyes are seeing different things. And there was no video in that. The guide did the description while we were looking, but of course she knew exactly what we were looking at.
When we were looking at it so she could narrate it. It was very realistic. I mean, you know, it was obviously a projection, but you know, like a cat might walk up and come close right onto your feet or something like that. So, that would be about, maybe about 10 minutes or so at that point, then you take off the goggles because, you know, to wear them for a long time is uncomfortable. And we would move to another location around the Louvre, and then we put the goggles on and it would be, you know, 200 years later. So we were always, wherever we moved, the virtual reality was in that spot, just back [00:27:00] in time.
Annie Sargent: How interesting.
Larry Rosenblum: So we saw the whole development of the Louvre until the present.
They do another tour about the history of the Eiffel Tower, which I wanted to do, but the schedule for English tours just didn’t work out.
Annie Sargent: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That’s interesting because you have to have a person there to give you the VR sets and to troubleshoot, you know…
Larry Rosenblum: Yes. And I mean, clearly there’s a lot of development that goes into that. I mean, that whole thing has to be developed with software and, as she told me, you know, obviously they have to research the history and decide what they want to do and what they can picture and so on and so forth.
Annie Sargent: That’s really cool. I like that. I think I would enjoy doing that, as a matter of fact. The company was called what again?
Larry Rosenblum: V-I-A-L-I-T-Y.
Annie Sargent: Alright. Something to look up. That’s wonderful. Let’s see.
Segway Ride Surprise
Annie Sargent: You did a Segway ride. [00:28:00] I didn’t know those were still going on. I haven’t seen them in Paris.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes. So I think there’s only one company. You are right. They used to be more popular 10 to 20 years ago than they are today. And this company also does e-bike rides, which I think are more popular today. But I don’t ride a bike.
Segway Night Tour
Larry Rosenblum: But I have ridden a Segway in many different cities, including San Francisco, which is near where I live.
Once you’ve done the hills of San Francisco, you know, everything else it’s pretty simple. So I have no problem with the Segway. I find it very easy to ride.
I chose a night tour figuring that was, you know, something different. And I didn’t get out in Paris after dark very often. So, so this was a treat.
Their office was located not far from the Eiffel Tower, just a block from the Champ de Mars.
Literally, [00:29:00] the tour was supposed to start at seven o’clock, so that was dusk. The tour guide was a little late from her other tour, but it turned out I was the only person who had signed up that evening.
So I had a personal tour.
Annie Sargent: That’s wonderful.
Larry Rosenblum: Which was really great. So we set out from there, and we stopped at kind of the usual places. I mean, I did this more to have the tour than you know, actually to see things. I mean, we stopped at outside Les Invalides and the Place de la Concorde and you know, many of other places, all of which I had been to.
But it was the whole idea of riding the Segway at night in Paris.
Riding Paris Bike Lanes
Larry Rosenblum: And so the Segways are treated as if they are bicycles.
Annie Sargent: Mm-hmm.
Larry Rosenblum: So we ride in the bike lane, which puts me between the cars on my right, the parked cars on my right and the traffic on the left. And there were also bikes in the bike lane who were going faster than I [00:30:00] was.
So they passed me on the left, so, you know, it was a little tense, I would say. And intersections, especially intersections where we had to make a turn were a little tricky, but I really had no problems. Everything went well. The only thing I regretted was not wearing something light, or better yet, a physical light, like on my arm, I would’ve felt better if I had been more visible, but I hadn’t really thought of that in advance.
Annie Sargent: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Riding these sorts of vehicles in Paris, you’re not going to be the only one that’s for sure. There’s going to be a lot of people.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah, there are a lot of bicycles out there.
Seine After Dark
Larry Rosenblum: But the best part for me, so as I said, we wound up the farthest east at the courtyard of the Louvre. So that was the last stop. So then to get back, we crossed over the Seine and we rode down to the lower level of the left bank of the Seine.
So this was now after dark. [00:31:00] So the bridges are all lit up. There are all sorts of floating restaurants and something, you know, boats on this side, which are all lit up. There are a lot of people because it’s people and bicycles only, you know, out on a nice evening and so I was just, you know, speeding along, running along the side of the Seine in the beautiful lit up city of Paris with all these people.
It was just absolutely delightful. That was the best part.
Annie Sargent: That’s great. That’s fantastic.
VoiceMap Tour Picks
Annie Sargent: So you mentioned my VoiceMap tours, so feel free to tell me that they’re lousy…
Larry Rosenblum: No, no, no, no.
Annie Sargent: But I would love to hear your experience with those VoiceMap tours.
Larry Rosenblum: Okay. So I have done VoiceMap tours in other cities, so I knew about the app and their tours, but your tours, as I fully expected were great.
Annie Sargent: Which ones did you take?
Larry Rosenblum: I took Le Marais, I looked [00:32:00] Saint Germain de Pres, and the Latin Quarter. I did Paris’s Iron Lady, which is, you know, around and about the Eiffel Tower, which I did on a morning before I visited the Eiffel Tower.
And I did Paris’s Gothic jewels, because I went into Notre Dame, and Sainte Chappelle and Conciergerie, which are the three places. And I also did Ile de la Cite.
Annie Sargent: So did you have any favorite spots?
Larry Rosenblum: I did have a couple of kind of interesting things that I recall. One was the city wall in the Latin Quarter, which dates back to the early 1200s and I had never seen that, and there are a couple of places and there’s one area where the wall, a school is like built into the wall and there are these kids kind of playing, you know, and I just think it is [00:33:00] terrific that they’re playing against up to this wall, which is literally 800 years old.
Annie Sargent: Yes, yes, yes, yes. This is in the Marais, it’s a really interesting place. I mean, and this wall pops up in a few places in Paris.
If you do my Latin Quarter tour, you’ll also see a piece of the wall at one point.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes. Right.
Annie Sargent: And there’s even, actually, the wall is in people’s private residences. So there are houses that are built up against the ancient wall, and you can only see that if you’re invited in, obviously.
But, yeah, it’s just part of the architecture in Paris.
Larry Rosenblum: Right. So another area was the Cour du Commerce, St. Andre.
Annie Sargent: Yes.
Larry Rosenblum: Which is this couple of really narrow streets that date back to the French Revolution. And I remember you told the story that the guillotine was tested there, [00:34:00] using baby goats.
Annie Sargent: Yep. It’s pretty gruesome.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah, pretty gruesome. So I thought that was an interesting historical area.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. Those VoiceMap tours, they just, you know, I mean, I just make sure I take you to all the coolest places. Obviously you have to choose what you include, what you don’t include and all of that. But Paris is so full of wonderful stories and wonderful places. They’re just fun to do.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes, some of the tours I split over several days because, you know, I didn’t have time to do the whole thing. So I do one section and then I try to remember oh stopped here and then, then the next afternoon when I had some time, you know, I would just go to that place and continue on.
Annie Sargent: And I think those are really ideal for people who travel alone as well, because then you have someone else with you. I mean, I’m with you in a way, you know I’m telling you about Paris. Which is, yeah, it’s good.
AR at Conciergerie
Larry Rosenblum: [00:35:00] Yeah, I think it’s worth mentioning, I was surprised at the Conciergerie, which I went into and then, you know, I showed them my ticket and then they hand me this tablet, probably an iPad with AR sort of things.
And I was just stunned that first of all, they did that and second of all, they didn’t charge me six euros and require me to put in my passport for it.
They just handed that out. So that was really neat, that you kind of, you know, hold it up and you see what it looked like in the past. And that then combined with your tour where it made it a really great visit.
Annie Sargent: Wonderful.
(Mid-roll ad spot)
Planning Five Weeks
Annie Sargent: All right, so since you spent five weeks in Paris, do you have tips for people who are possibly going to be visiting? How do you go about preparing for such a wonderful trip?
Larry Rosenblum: Okay, so I did a lot of research. So [00:36:00] this was September and part of October of last year. I started out literally in the beginning of the year when I made my hotel reservation in January or February, and booked my flight. And then I spent a lot of time, especially over the summer reading, there are roughly 10 million sites about Paris on the web.
So, there’s a lot to see. I had a couple of books. That’s when I discovered your podcast. And some of the things you discussed on some of the episodes were things I learned about. And I did. I had a spreadsheet because that’s the way I organize things. I make a calendar on the spreadsheet, and then I have a list of all the things I want to possibly visit and what their days and hours are, you know, because things are closed on Monday or not closed on Mondays.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Larry Rosenblum: And whether I should buy an advance ticket for them or not.
And all this stuff. So all that went into my [00:37:00] planning.
We talked about the metro. So since I started at the beginning of September. I bought a monthly pass, which is a real bargain because it’s basically, it costs you 90 euros. So that’s about one ride a day, and you easily use that. That amount. So that was very good. For the first half till October, it didn’t work out for a pass, even a weekly pass. So I just got what they called the Navigo Easy card.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Larry Rosenblum: Which in its physical form is just literally a paper card with a, obviously a flexible chip embedded in it.
And you load it up with some money and you use it at the gate into the metro. You don’t get a discount with it, but you avoid the lines. You know, I see people waiting in line, in a long line to buy a ticket there and they go, you know, most of these people are probably there [00:38:00] for at least a few days, if not a week or something.
Why don’t they have a pass? Anyway.
Annie Sargent: Well, nowadays you can buy those tickets with your phone app with the Ile de France mobilite app, or Bonjour RATP app.
Larry Rosenblum: You cannot, however, buy a metro ticket in advance from the United States.
Annie Sargent: Is that right?
Larry Rosenblum: That is right. It requires a French phone number for them to send a verification to.
So, in the past, in prior years, I have bought the metro ticket in advance, but you can’t do that now. I tried.
Annie Sargent: I think it’s a shame that you can’t just use tap your credit card or your Apple Pay.
Larry Rosenblum: London is like that.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. It would be so much easier, but we’ll get there eventually. You know, this is France. We take our own sweet time.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes, and wonderful at it.
Packing and Safety Tips
Larry Rosenblum: So the other thing is, in terms of getting around, so I wore layers. So I generally had a sweater [00:39:00] and then light waterproof jacket over that. I carry a shoulder bag, which is my masculine term for a purse essentially.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Larry Rosenblum: But a man purse. So my over jacket folds up small enough to go into that, the sweater I wrap around my waist. And so in a building I’m just in normal clothes like that. In the bag, I also carry a bottle of water. On rainy days, I carry an umbrella, one of those collapsible umbrellas with a plastic bag. If I have a wet umbrella, I put it in the plastic bag.
Annie Sargent: Well thought out.
Larry Rosenblum: I carry a charger for my phone.
I have an older phone, so it doesn’t last a full day if I’m either using VoiceMap or Google Maps or taking a lot of pictures or whatever, my battery will die after lunch. So I have a charger that charges pretty fast and I use that. So the little bag is very, [00:40:00] very handy for carrying, you know, all sorts of things.
Small souvenirs, you know, little booklet that you get or something, all of that can go in the bag.
Annie Sargent: Mm-hmm. And you mentioned somewhere that you were never concerned with safety.
Larry Rosenblum: That is correct. You know, I kind of took, what I think of normal precautions and stuff, but I never felt unsafe. I was in the metro many times in very crowded cars, but I think actually crowded car is a little more safe because nobody can grab something and run in a crowded car unless you’re right near the door.
I think you’ve talked about that. So, no, I never felt unsafe at all in any of the areas that I was at.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. And you mentioned also that you, you know, you didn’t have your actual passport on you, you left that at the hotel. You had a photocopy just in case.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes, yes. So that was fine for those cases, like, you know, somehow for audio guides in a museum, they [00:41:00] often like an ID like a passport, but everybody took the paper copy without any hesitation. So leaving the passport in the hotel is safer. I mean, you might lose your money, you can probably deal with that, but losing your passport is a big hassle.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah, and if you have the time, ask for a passport card or use your driver’s license as ID because replacing a driver’s license is not as difficult as replacing a passport, should something bad. And just have a plan.
You know, have a, what happens if I get, if my phone gets stolen, what happens if my credit card gets stolen?
That sort of thing. It’s always good to have a plan, but I’m sure you did. I’m sure you were.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes. Yeah, I tried to plan ahead as much as I can.
Annie Sargent: Yes. Yes. You share some interesting anecdotes in this writeup that you sent me, the man and his [00:42:00] wife at the hotel desk.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah, that was really odd. So one morning I needed something at the hotel desk, and I went down there and there was only one person at the desk. This was, I mean, I didn’t have to do it often, but the desk was not always very well staffed, so sometimes you had to wait to ask for whatever I needed. So I stood around and there was a, there was a man and his wife there. They were not American, but they were not native French speakers, but he had fairly good English. This was about 10 o’clock in the morning, and so he asked the person at the desk to get him tickets for the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower for that day.
Annie Sargent: Hmm.
Larry Rosenblum: And we we’re over near Jardin de Plantes, so we’re not very close to either one of those places. And she kept asking him, well, which one do you want to do? Figuring that really they can only do one for that [00:43:00] day. And he either didn’t understand it, didn’t want it so. He kept saying both.
So eventually she picked up the phone to talk to somebody at the Eiffel Tower and I left because I didn’t need whatever I needed very badly and I was not going to hang around while she made more phone calls.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, people… it’s interesting.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah, there’s another story I think I didn’t mention, when I went on the Segway ride. And the first stop was outside Les Invalides, which is, you know, a big building with a dome on the top. She said she gets some clients and they get there and they go, is that the Eiffel Tower? Which not only indicates, you know, they haven’t done any research, but since their office is close to the Eiffel Tower, I don’t even know how you get there without being in sight of the Eiffel Tower before you arrive.
You know, and you would notice it. So…
Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I’m very lucky because people who [00:44:00] listen to the podcast are kind of self-selecting. They are people who want to learn about France and they seek out information about France. I think most tour guides probably get some weird questions like that.
What to Skip and Return
Annie Sargent: Is there anything you would do differently?
Anything that didn’t work out that you didn’t enjoy that you’re like, eh, I would do this again?
Larry Rosenblum: You know, not really. I think the only place I visited that didn’t do a lot for me, which is not a comment on the place itself, was the Picasso Museum. I used to be more interested in Picasso’s art than I am now. It has nothing to do with the man or what we think of him, you know, as a person. It’s just for whatever reason, I’ve kind of, you know, changed my things.
So, I didn’t find it as interesting as I thought I would have.
My main regret is I never got to Montmartre area. [00:45:00] I really wanted to do your tour of Montmartre because I’m sure I would’ve pointed me to a lot of things that I had not seen before. But somehow, I was always doing other stuff and I never got to that area at all.
Annie Sargent: That’s the thing with Paris so much to do and see. You think five weeks is a long time, but really it goes very fast, doesn’t it?
Larry Rosenblum: You know, to be honest, I told myself as well as other people, this it was going to be my final grand tour of Paris. I don’t think so. I have the itch to go back.
Annie Sargent: That’s good, I’m so glad!
Larry Rosenblum: I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do it this year or not, but I’m already making my list of things that I want to do. Montmartre is at kind of the top of the list. I’ll do that early if I go back.
Annie Sargent: Right, right. See, that’s the thing. You have to load up the stuff you missed on last time.
Larry Rosenblum: Yes, my spreadsheet did have priority column, priority one, priority two.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah. You got to get back to the [00:46:00] spreadsheet and fix that. And so much, I mean, like you saw so many museums. Did you have a favorite?
Larry Rosenblum: The one that I first learned about from your podcast is Musée des Arts Forains, Fairground Arts.
Annie Sargent: Yes. That’s fun.
Larry Rosenblum: That was a lot of fun. For people who hadn’t heard that, that’s a museum in old disused wine warehouses on the east side of Paris in Bercy, which are filled with relics from fairs.
You know, like, we call a county fair here or amusement fairs or whatever. There are rides, there are the games, there are the sort of animated statues of people and animals that sing, all these other decorations.
Annie Sargent: It’s classic stuff. It’s old, it’s everything is old things, so it’s not a ride from like, you know, a super fast ride that you would do today. [00:47:00] It’s the old rides.
Larry Rosenblum: There is one fast ride though.
Annie Sargent: The bicycle?
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah. The bicycles, we got to ride on three, three carousels. So two of them are the traditional ones you get on the animal and you go round. But the third one, which I had never seen before, is a carousel made up of a circle of bicycles and it’s all people powered.
There’s no external power. You get on this bicycle, which is on a track, and you just pedal.
Annie Sargent: And if you’re towards the center of the circle you can get all puky, because I’ve done it twice.
Larry Rosenblum: There was only one circle, one distance. There’s only one kind of circle of bicycles.
Annie Sargent: Huh? Okay. Maybe I’m misremembering.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah. Or maybe they changed it to be different than it was. I don’t know. Anyway, but, yeah, boy that was fast.
So that was a lot of fun.
Annie Sargent: Paris is full of surprises and I’m [00:48:00] glad you enjoyed it so much. That’s wonderful.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah, that’s another thing that you have to buy tickets in advance for, the number of English tours are limited. Tours are limited to 20 persons each, so I just kept the watch on the site. And then, you know, when tickets went on sale for September, I bought a ticket.
Annie Sargent: Now Larry, I have to admonish you. Paris is wonderful, but there’s more to France than Paris.
Larry Rosenblum: I know, I know, I know. I have been to some other parts of France. I spent a month in Provence some years ago, which is absolutely beautiful, but I have to make choices.
Annie Sargent: That’s right.
Larry Rosenblum: Unfortunately, I can’t go back and live many years of my life over again. So, my choice was to spend my time in Paris. Probably my next trip will be in Paris.
If there’s another trip after that, that may be somewhere else.
Plenty of places to go.
Annie Sargent: You never run out of things to do in Paris [00:49:00] ever. Like you can be there as long as you’d like.
Larry Rosenblum: Yeah, I mean, I feel I know my way around, right? I know how to around on the metro. I can walk in the streets fairly good. You know, having Google Maps or the equivalent is wonderful in any place. But, you know, and being there for some period of time, at least within some radius of my hotel, I could walk, you know, without a map, get back to it.
Yes.
Annie Sargent: That’s wonderful.
Goodbyes and Article
Annie Sargent: Thank you so much for talking to me, Larry. We need to say goodbye now, but wonderful. I’m glad you had a good time.
Larry Rosenblum: Thank you very much for the opportunity, and thank you for all the informative podcasts that you’ve done and continue to do.
Annie Sargent: Thank you very much, Larry. Au revoir!
Larry Rosenblum: Au revoir.
Annie Sargent:
Patreon Thanks
Annie Sargent: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. [00:50:00] Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing that. You can see them at patreon.com/joinus.
And a special shout-out this week to my new Join Us in France champions, Tracy Gillespie, who renewed her patronage again. She is one of my oldest patrons, and I truly appreciate her support, and Laura Pearlman, who is a brand-new patron, and it’s wonderful to have her on board.
I sent a note to Tracy thanking her for her continued support, and here’s some of what she wrote back. “I remember when I first started listening to you in 2017 after undergoing breast cancer surgery, I would listen to your podcast every morning as I power walked around my neighborhood, trying to build back my strength while dreaming of visiting France through your podcast.
You and Elyse gave me so much to look forward to, and I will be forever grateful.”
That message choked me up because when I record an episode, I don’t know who will be listening. I know lots of people listen, I can see the stats, [00:51:00] but I don’t know what you are going through or what stage of your life you are in, so when I find out, it matters so much to me.
So this is more than a donation, it’s a connection, and it is extremely precious.
Will you join Tracy and Laura too? You can do it for as little as $3 a month, but if you can afford it, I would love to have you pledge more so you can have access to more of the rewards.
Go to patreon.com/joinus, and to support Elyse, go to patreon.com/elysart.
La France Moche Explained
Annie Sargent: You know that moment when you arrive at the edge of a French town by car, and instead of charm, you get a roundabout, a big box store, and a forest of advertising signs? That’s what some people call La France Moche, ugly France. And it turns out it’s not just your imagination. There’s actually an association [00:52:00] called Paysages de France that has been tracking this for over 30 years.
They even publish a kind of worst off list, pointing out the most visually cluttered entrances to towns, often around big cities like Lyon, Marseille, or Toulouse, or Paris, but also in smaller towns where advertising has spread faster than trees.
What’s surprising is that France already has strict laws about this.
The rules come from the environmental code. In theory, billboards are limited in size, regulated in height, sometimes banned outside of towns, and completely prohibited in sensitive areas like historic centers or near monuments. Local governments can even adopt stricter rules. So why does it still look like this? Almost every town. Well, mostly because enforcement is weak. Many signs are old and are never removed, others bend the rules, temporary signs that stay up for years, [00:53:00] or digital screens that replace multiple billboards at once. That’s where Paysages de France comes in. They document violations, pressure local officials, and sometimes take legal action.
Over the years, they’ve helped removed thousands of illegal signs. Their goal is simple, less visual clutter, more landscape, fewer ads, more trees. And in the end, it raises an interesting question, should the entrance of a town try to sell you a thing, piece of clothing, I don’t know, something, or make you want to visit the town?
Well, you know which side I’m going to fall on, on that one, right?
Now, right now, the answer is often, “Eh, it’s not really pretty. They don’t care. You know, I mean, they just want the ads,” okay? But it could be.
And by the way, one place where this has worked really well is that there are no ads along French freeways.[00:54:00]
No, no, no, no, not we love our freeways and no crass advertising is allowed along the freeways. We have priorities, my dears.
Wrap Up and Next Week
Annie Sargent: If you want a short recap of what dominated the news in France this week, hear about the new episode, see what’s happening in my life, you can sign up for my free weekly newsletter at joinusinfrance.com/newsletter.
And as always, my thanks to podcast editors Anne and Christian Cotovan, who produced the transcripts.
Next week on the podcasts
Annie Sargent: Next week on the podcast, an episode with Elyse about Eugène Delacroix. You’ve got to hear her take on him. She weaves a fantastic biographical tale, doesn’t she?
Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together.
Au revoir.
Copyright
Annie Sargent: The join us in France Travel Podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent and copyright 2026 by Addicted to France. [00:55:00] It is released under a Creative Comments, attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.[00:56:00]
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Episode PageCategory: Paris