The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier by Thaddeus Carhart
This wonderful memoir was written by an American living in Paris and reveals much about Paris, French culture, piano history and craftsmanship. A good read, and invaluable lesson about those who take pride in their art.
The legendary Notre Dame Cathedral sits on the right bank of the Seine River where even 2000 years ago it was a religious site. Construction began in 1163, and it was finally completed in 1345. It was badly defaced during and after the French Revolution when it was used as a warehouse.
A major restoration on the Cathedral was begun in 1841 after the publication of Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. Today the cathedral is undergoing a face lift, with centuries of grime being removed from the exterior, revealing a light beige stonework.
The immense gothic Cathedral can hold 6,500 worshippers, under the roof, which is 115ft (35 meters) high. The dark, enormous interior space is overwhelming.
The huge flying buttresses on the exterior were added in the 13th century to allow for bigger windows to let more light in. Some of the beautiful stained glass windows date back to that time. Evil looking gargoyles adorn the water spouts around the building.
Despite the huge numbers of tourists who visit the Cathedral, it makes for an interesting experience. You can get excellent views of Notre Dame from across the Seine river, and from the north tower (387 steps!) you can see up and down the river and over much of Paris.
Hours: Cathedral 8am-7pm Towers 9:30am-7:30pm
(Oct.-Mar. 10am-5pm).
Cost: Cathedral free entrance, Tower & Crypt €5.35
Phone: 01 42 34 56 10
Metro: Cité
Bus: 21,24,27,38,47,85,96
The sleek, high speed Thalys trains offer a quick way to reach other European cities from Paris. It’s only 1½ hours to Brussels and 4 hours to Amsterdam, which make it competitive with a plane trip, since you must also spend more time going through airport security and travel from the outlying airports to the city center.
A round trip to/from Amsterdam is about €107 in second class. Other cities served include Rotterdam, Antwerp, Köln, Aachen and Geneva. The service is so fast and reliable that you’ll get a partial to full refund if your train arrives at least 31 minutes late.
There’s no meal service with Comfort 2 (second class), but there is a bar car with overpriced and barely edible food. Comfort 1, (first class) offers snacks and a light meal on longer journeys depending upon the time of day. First class is more comfortable, and probably worth the extra money on a long haul.
For more info check out the Thalys website.
For rail journeys to other parts of France like Lyon and Marseille check out the TGV network. You can travel from Paris to Marseille in just 3 hours!
The first Paris Metro ran on July 19, 1900. Since then the system has expanded to 380 stations on 16 different lines, servicing the entire city. You’ll find a Metro station within 500 meters, no matter where you are in the city.
The famous Paris Metro is a very convenient, cheap and efficient way to get around. There are frequent trains during the day, and the last metros leave around 12:30am. A one-way fare is €1.30 Euros. You can also buy a book of ten tickets for 9.30 or a Paris Visite 1,2,3 or 5 day pass which is also valid on city buses, and gets you into first class on the SNCF trains which serve the suburbs. Price for the Paris Visite varies according to the number of zones and days.
This is a serious warning to all visitors to Paris that during your visit you will no doubt be scanned by pickpockets, whose deft hands will reach into your bag or pockets, determine if you have anything worth stealing, and make their getaway without you having a clue that you’ve been robbed.
It happens everyday, usually, but not always in crowded places like the metro, or in tourist attractions like museums, where you might think you’re safe. The pickpockets range from gypsy kids to well-dressed middle aged, professional men and women.
The best way to pay for public transport in the Netherlands is to purchase a strippenkaart, available in most tobacco shops, post offices or any railway ticket office. These multiuse tickets allow travel on any city bus, tram or metro in Holland.
You must have these strips stamped when you board, either by using a yellow machine, or by the conductor in front or back of a tram or a bus conductor. To use the machine you fold over the kaart to the line you want stamped, and insert it into the horizontal slot until you hear the “ding.” The penalty for not having a valid ticket with stamp is around 30 Euros. And they do check when you least expect it!
The most difficult part of the strippenkaart is figuring out the proper way to stamp it. As you can see in the sample at left, there are 15 spaces for stamps (A 45 space kaart is also available). If you are staying in the same zone, you need to have it stamped two lines down from the last stamp. Note the first row is in red, indicating that would not be valid stamp. Two lines is the minimum.
Now if your trip takes you out of your zone into the next one, you must stamp it 3 lines down. Likewise a trip involving 3 zones would require a stamp four lines down.
If you’re not sure how many zones you’re going, you can either look on a map which usually has the zones outlined. Or if you’re getting on a tram or bus you can tell the conductor your destination, and they’ll put the proper stamp. If you know how many zones your trip is, tell the conductor (one zone please) and they’ll make the appropriate stamp.
If you’re staying in Amsterdam’s Centrum, within the outer canal ring, it’s all one zone, so you just need to stamp it two lines down.
The stamp is good for one hour for one to three zones, longer if your trip takes you thru more zones. This info is on the back of the strippenkaart. So you could conceivably take a trip somewhere, do what you need to do, and return all with just one stamp! In addition the stamp includes any transfers even if you’re getting on another form of transport like bus to metro or tram.
So why bother with this? Well you’ll save money and hassle because the strippenkaarts (6.20 Euros for 7 short trips) work out to less than 1 Euro per trip, as opposed to about $1.30 or 1.40 Euros if you pay for each trip separately. You can also pay for your companion(s) using the strippenkaart, just stamp it more times for each person.
If you get to the end of your strippenkaart, and there’s just one space left, you can still use that (as every Dutch person would), by stamping that one, plus one line on another strippenkaart. That would equal the required two lines for a one zone trip, so you wouldn’t waste it!
If you’re a student or senior or get in on some discount plan, you can purchase monthly or yearly discounts, and you’ll get a photo ID so you don’t need to pay everytime, just flash your card. Discounted strippenkaarts available for those over 65 (with valid ID), students and children aged 4-11. These strippenkaarts have a red color.
If you’re still confused by all this (who isn’t?), you can go to this website and read ALL about it…
How do you get online in Amsterdam? Thankfully, there’s so many Internet Cafes it’s hard to keep track of them. The largest by far is EasyInternetCafe, just renamed from EasyEverything. They have two locations, each with hundreds of computers see our review. The one on the Damrak is convenient to Centraal Station with several stories of computers and a coffeebar. Their second location is near the Rembrandtplein.
You can also find several smaller Internet Cafes in the area including the CyberCafe on the Nieuwendyke and The Internet Cafe on Martelaarsgracht 11. Many more computers with Internet access can be found in Coffeeshops scattered around the Centrum. Some charge for access, some don’t.
If you’re going to be living in Amsterdam for some time, you’ll want to check out establishing an Internet account with one of the local service providers (ISPs). You’ll have quite a choice with KPN, the Dutch phone company, offering ISDN and DSL options. Wanadoo, a French company offers FREE dialup access, as well as a paid DSL service in Amsterdam.
But the biggest high speed provider is UPC, which offers high speed cable Internet along with cable and digital TV and phone service, all over one cable via the Chello service out of England. UPC has been the source of much scorn and has earned the ire of everyone who has used their service at one time or another. But today their service is much improved and the speed of their network (when it’s running right) is unsurpassed by any.
If you factor in the TV service (lots of English channels including CNN, BBC1+2, TCM, MTV, Discovery, and more), the nearly free phone lines (you get two automatically!), and the fastest Internet access, at a GREAT Price, it’s hard to beat. Residential service for all the above runs about 60 Euros a month! But be warned, their Internet service can go down for days at a time (TV & phone are unaffected)! Although this is becoming more rare.
The Dutch have been on the cutting edge of the Internet, and Dutch websites tend to be very well done, with plenty of style, and lots of good information. You can now find many official websites with English versions, including the City of Amsterdam and other national information sites with official documents translated into English.
If your visit to Holland won’t go beyond the city of Amsterdam, then you don’t need a car. In fact it’s inadvisable because parking is very difficult to find, and very expensive. The city is not designed for autos and few people bother to bring them into the city, when there are so many superior forms of transport available.
However if you wish to explore other parts of Holland or plan to travel to neighboring countries then you’ll need to rent a car. Fortunately there are several excellent deals available. The best deal by far, especially if you only want to rent for a few days, is EasyCar, located right across from Amstel Station (behind the Renault dealer). They rent Mercedes A class cars that can seat up to five and has more storage than a normal sedan. The further in advance you reserve, the better deal you’ll get, as the prices vary with demand. You MUST reserve online for EasyCar (formerly known as Easy Rent-A-Car). Note: They don’t allow walk-ins! Also they keep changing their pricing policies, and now charge a 16 Euro cleaning fee! So beware, this isn’t such a good deal anymore, unless you’re renting for more than a couple of days. I also had an incident where I was charged 240 Euros for a small crack in the windshield, their standard fee, no matter how much damage was done to it!
If you need a car for a longer period then Budget-Rent-A-Car is ideal with special deals on weekly rentals, and lots of very reasonably priced models from which to choose. There are several rental offices in Amsterdam, and you’ll save money if you don’t rent it at Schipol airport, although if you’re just arriving that would be most convenient and worth the extra charge. You can make a reservation or check prices online with Budget.
Other major rental companies include Avis, Hertz and Europcar, but none of these offer the same kind of deal as those we’ve mentioned.
Please note that Budget allows you to drop off your car at another location, whereas, with Easy Rent-A-Car you must return it back to the same place.
Rental company policies vary. Often there are only certain countries you can drive to. Usually Eastern Europe is out of the question and some don’t allow travel to Italy (lots of car theft there). If you are taking the rental car out of Holland, be sure to check if your itinerary is allowed.
While escaping one of Amsterdam’s sudden downpours I ducked into the City Hall building entrance by the Waterlooplein and discovered a dioramic wonder.
The main lobby is rather stark, except for a diorama stretching along one wall that details the water levels in Amsterdam and the city’s underpinnings.
You can see in the diorama the columns sunk into the soft sand under the city’s buildings, the Metro tubes with subways running, and the various levels of water in the city’s canals.
The famous Dutch guilder, is now an historic relic. As of January 28th, 2002, the guilder is no longer legal tender in the Netherlands, having been replaced by the Euro.
Anyone having guilders can still change them into Euros for a fee at banks in Holland (2.50 Euros). After Dec. 31st, 2002, coins will only be accepted at the Dutch National Bank, whereas other banks will still take notes.
Holland was the fastest European country to adopt the Euro and within just a few days 90% of transactions were taking place with the new Euro. I found many shopkeepers relucant or even refusing to take guilders after the first week.
The Euro is now the legal currency throughout Western Europe, including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Belgium, Portugal. Notably holding out on joining in the Euro fun are Britain, Denmark and Sweden.
The European Union is hoping the strength of the Euro will put Europe on a par with America economically, and that the Euro will stabilize at parity with the US dollar. Currently it’s going in the US $0.86-$0.91 range.
Tourists appreciate the Euro as they don’t have to convert currencies each time they visit another country. Although many people are finding the coins confusing at first.