July 7

Paris on One Euro Seventy a Day, Almost

We all know the old but famous book Europe on $5.00 a Day from our post college backpacking days. It was hard even when breakfast was a baguette, lunch another baguette, dinner some street food and a bed in a hostel that at this point in my life you couldn't pay ME $500.00 to spend the night in.  We have watched the dollars creep up over time to $10.00 and $25.00 and who knows what the title is today, probably $100. But as you can imagine, when we started planning this trip we needed to have SOME loosely defined budget. We knew some cities or whole countries (think PARIS and ALL OF FRANCE) would be expensive but we would offset that with a couple of weeks in Prague, with a house swap and probably not as many haute cuisine dinners out. We knew some days in Paris would break the budget bank and not many or any would be cheap. 

But today, Sunday, we managed to explore Paris on less than 50.00 Euros a day and have fun. And that is no small feat. So how you might ask.....

1. Buy a Velib  pass for 24 hours for 1.70 Euro. This entitles you to take any one of the 20,000 bikes (not a typo) from any of the Velib kiosks, use it for up to 30 minutes and return it to any Velib kiosk with an empty slot and pay nothing. And do this all day long for 24 hours. and the kiosks have English directions too! Total cost, 3.40 Euro

2.Get on that Velib and bike.  Go to any or all of the museums that are free the first Sunday of the month. Or do what we did, go to the Luxembourg Musee assuming it is free but it is not, so two tickets, 18 Euro for a fantastic Chagall exhibit, and 4 Euro for one audio you can share. Total cost 22 Euros

3. Walk around the 6th trying desperately to locate a patisserie or boulongerie or sandwich shop to buy lunch. Finally find a teeny, tiny shop with not much in it and an older gentleman standing at the ready to freshly prepare your melon and feta baguette and your salmon fume with creme fraiche and lemon slices. Take it to Luxembourg Gardens (** see the added special second blog published later today just about the gardens) and have a lovely picnic in those comfy loungers with what seems like half of Paris. Oh, did I mention how beautiful the weather has been lately...sunny blue skies every day. Total for two big and delicious sandwiches. 10 Euro, 10 cents

4. Get on that Velib and bike down small alleys and some big boulevards with lots of cars and no helmet to arrive at the next Musee, Les Invalides. I am sure Napolean's tomb is ornate but I don't really like Army stuff and it turns out....it is another one of those not free museums. So, we just explore the building, imagine the calvary lined up in their majestic uniforms with Napoleon in command. Looking at Les Invalides, free.

5.Get on a Velib...bike to L'Orangerie which is still on the must do but not yet done list. And it is free and it is not "exceptionally closed" today. But look at the line and then take one look at Steve's face and you know you won't be waiting in that line.

6. But look at the map, right across the gardens is another museum. We have no clue what it is but we'll try it, it's free, right? No actually by the time we walk down and around and up again there are the guards telling us the Musee is ferme, closed. We are a bit confused since we can clearly see people inside but at least our record is still good. Free museums in Paris today, 23; Free museums for us, 0. Total cost, 0

7. Get on a Velib and bike through the 8th, the 1st, the 2nd, 3rd and the 4th and along the way stop to watch roller blading acrobats and hydraulic stilt performers jumping high in the air and although you usually throw an Euro or two in the hat, bike on. Total cost, 0

8.Finally park your Velib and walk home desperately looking for any supermarket opened to buy some food and wine. It is Sunday, so everyone is closed except the Foie Gras shop, who lucky for us has a good chilled bottle of rose which we pick up while passing on the foie gras.  Total cost 6 Euro, 60 cents.

9. Go home sweaty and salty, drink some cold Paris tap water, take a very cold shower, put out the leftovers from last night's hors d'ouerves- some delicious cheeses with your favorite dijon mustard,  crisp thin rye crackers with compounded radish/salt butter, and white anchovies. Too bad none of the organic toasted fruit and nut bread with melted Camenbert and grilled figs with balsamic glace were left. Open up the rose, pour, call your kids and then relax and write your blog while Steve peruses David Levovitz's Paris blog only to find out David agrees with  

                                                                                    

The Dijon mustard you bought on day one that is so strong and you are addicted to and was the cheapest in the store, is his absolute favorite too. And that is quite a recommendation. Total cost for Amora mustard, 87 cents but that was spent long ago. Total cost for H D's, 0.

10. Later on, raid the fridge to make a simple omlette with a fresh tomato salad and finish the rose, after all there is a bare minimum of a bottle a day. And even though last night was a five bottle night (that was four people, two bottles of champagne as aperitifs and a bottle of rouge vin ordinaire at home. Wine with dinner, one red, me and Laurent, and one white, Steve and Seri), 

                                             

every day we must have a wine bottle to walk to  the recycle bin at the Metro. No, here they don't pick it up with your trash and if you want to see something humorous, just stand at the glass recycling bin on Sunday morning and see how many empties people show up with.

Today, for the first time in three weeks, we are finally under budget. Only 42.10 Euros or about $55.00. Guess we can splurge on a great dinner tomorrow.