Sunday, 20th & Monday 21st July PARIS!
Robyn writes: We were up around 7 this morning to make sure that we got ourselves organised in time to leave enough time for the train - our Eurostar to Paris was due to leave at 11.30 from St Pancras/Kings Cross, so we had to be there by 11. We figured that by leaving the house before 9.30, we'd be fine....we got to the station just in time to see the 9.30 train pulling away. No worries, there was another one due soon. Only then announcements kept coming over apologising profusely for the delays, and in the end it was nearly 10 o'clock before it came. I was getting quite anxious by this stage! However, the rail system came to the party very nicely and whisked us in to London Bridge very quickly, then we changed lines and made it to St Pancras by 10.30. Phew!
Once at the station, I then spent about quarter of an hour queuing for the ladies' toilet - they seriously need more! We checked in by zapping our barcodes on our printed tickets. St Pancras is big and busy. We had to do the whole security check thing, just like at the airport - have our bags scanned and have our passports checked. When they finally called our train to board at just after 11, it was a long walk up to carriage 16, where our seats were. It is a HUGE train! Luckily we were at the head of the pack, as we had no trouble getting a place for our bags on the port rack at the end of the carriage and overhead inside. Then we settled down to wait for departure.
Excited travelers on the Eurostar
I loved the serviettes!
Right on 11.30, we were off and whisking through the southern English countryside. Less than half an hour later, just as I was idly wondering where we were, we plunged into a tunnel - and it took us a while to realise that this was THE tunnel and we were under the English Channel. I tried not to think too hard about that though! In what seemed a very short time, we were out in the light again - and in France! We then had an hour or so of racing through lovely green French countryside and so many little villages, often so close together it seemed ridiculous! We both had Chicken Tikka for lunch and before we knew it, the driver was announcing that we would shortly arrive at the Gare du Nord in Paris, our destination.
The train on the left is the one we came in on
Lex at Gare du Nord
Views from our hotel window
Here we nearly had heart failure - when we went to check in, the girl told us that our booking had been cancelled in February, just after we'd made it. Apparently they tried to take the amount for the stay from our card and it was declined - and Expedia, who we'd booked through, were supposed to tell us this. Needless to say they hadn't. Am never using them again and I'll have to double check any Irish hotels I've booked through them, I guess. Luckily for us, the hotel had just had a cancellation so we do have a room, although the aircon isn't working :( However as it's on the fourth floor, we can have the windows open and so far it isn't too hot, anyway. We do have a fan as well. At least it's a roof over our heads, which in the height of the summer holidays might have been VERY difficult to find....It's a small room, though I'm sure Paris has smaller! At least it is very comfortable and has a great little bathroom. And with the metro at our doorstep, it's so very convenient for going places. Unfortunately the French obviously don't do kettles in rooms, so we can't make ourselves a cuppa.
Once we'd unpacked, we headed out to explore a bit. We put our rail passes to immediate use by heading to the Eiffel Tower. This can actually be seen from some windows from the Hotel du Lion, but sadly not ours. The line directly there is closed for maintenance at present so we had to go a roundabout way, but managed to get ourselves there without much trouble. The tower is so impressive, photos don't do it justice. It's an amazing piece of engineering and quite beautiful too. Unfortunately hundreds of others were also there admiring it and queuing up, so we decided against waiting to get in to go up it at that stage, and instead we walked around the district - to the Seine River and across to the other side. Paris is unlike other capital cities in that there don't seem to be the usual cluster of high-rise buildings - it's full of huge, grand, beautiful sandstone buildings and many, many bridges across the river. Once we'd crossed the river, there were heaps of African men (refugees, one surmises) selling Eiffel Towers - all sizes, all prices! Lex wouldn't let me get one. This is a city of itinerant sellers and beggars - wherever you go, you are being accosted by someone! We were very lucky with the weather - as you can see in the photos, it was heavily overcast but never actually rained and in fact started to clear as the evening went on.
Many views of the Eiffel Tower!
It seems to change colour in the sunlight
Crossing the Seine
Foodies' moment - my magnificent dessert crepe!
We had a lovely few hours walking around and seeing the sights, then realised it was after seven o'clock Paris time. France is an hour ahead of England so we'd lost an hour during the day. We headed back via the Metro again then began looking for somewhere to eat. Parisienne cafes tend to be expensive - 15 to 18 Euros is the standard in our area (that's about $22 to $27AUS) for a main meal, but we found a creperie just up the road which was inexpensive and delicious! I had a chicken crepe with salad and Lex had one with goat, walnuts, tomato, mint and Roquefort cheese. He reported that it was delicious. We had chardonnay and merlot to drink - both excellent, as one would expect in France! Then I had a lovely dessert crepe with apple, caramel sauce and almonds. Yum! It was a lovely meal for 40 Euros all up, so we were quite pleased with it. Finally, after 9.30 as it was just beginning to get dark, we waddled back to our hotel. It was a big day!Monday, 25th July PARIS
Robyn writes: We had really good intentions of getting out and about early this morning - all of which counted for nothing when we both slept in until about ten o'clock! Because of not having an airconditioner, we couldn't close our doors, so had one of them open all night - with the result that it sounded like all of the traffic in Paris was in our room all night. Including lots of sirens. We both kept being woken up and finally, around 5ish, I got up and closed both doors, decided it was cool enough and fell into a deep sleep. Finally! So that was why we both slept so late....
We got ourselves organized and went out looking for breakfast (petit dejeuner), and paid 7.50 Euros each for a French breakfast - a croissant, some Panini bread, orange juice and tea or coffee. Then we finally headed off for Notre Dame, our first destination of the day. Of course by the time we got there, it was after 11 and the queue was HUGE. We took some photos and walked around it a bit and then noticed that there was a Bach concert being held in the cathedral that night. We went up to the information desk and asked the girls there about tickets, and one of them said, "Oh, you have to get them from the desk inside - I'll show you where." And, just like that, she took us past the line and right into the church! Well, we were very impressed! We went to the desk, bought two tickets for the concert, then decided that as we were inside, we might as well look around...best queue jumping ever! The church as it is today dates back to the 1200s and is very, very impressive. It's also very, very dark and plain compared to the English cathedrals we've seen. We enjoyed our look around, then went out to explore a bit more of the islands that Notre Dame is located on in the middle of the Seine. It has to be said we walked rather smugly past the queue to get in, which was now stretching right around the square in front and then down the street behind...
Notre Dame
The stained glass was amazing, especially the famous "Rose" windows (above)
We were greatly amused by the famous "lock" bridge on the island - a tradition has grown up where couples write their names on a lock, lock it onto the bridge and throw the keys away. This means that you will stay together. The bridge is absolutely covered in them, so much so that parts of the railing are breaking away and the bridge is under serious structural threat! There are several entrepreneurial young men on the bridge selling locks, but we declined ( we figured after 32 years of marriage we are fairly well permanent anyway!). We enjoyed our walk around - it was cloudy but nice and warm and a lovely day to be walking. We found a late lunch in a little café across from the Seine then walked through the Jardins des Tuillieres and up to the Place de la Concorde. Lots of beautiful scenery and iconic landmarks along the way.
Lex bought a CD off this Paris busker
On the bridge with all of the locks - truly amazing!
Lex on the Pont Neuf (oldest bridge in Paris)
by the Seine looking towards the back of the Louvre
Egyptian obelisk in the Place de la Concorde
We headed home around 3.30 to have a bit of a break and get ourselves organized to go out again for the concert, which started at 8.30 but the doors opened at 8. After some checking out of restaurants on Trip Advisor, we decided on Au Bougnat, a little bar and restaurant around the corner from Notre Dame. We got dressed up then headed out again (5 day Metro pass coming very much in handy) and found it quite easily. As it was so early, we got a table easily. We had a wonderful meal - Lex was most impressed when they brought out complementary tapenades of olives and breadsticks. For our main meals, Lex had baked cod and I had a lovely roast fillet of veal with a vegetable flan. Then we shared the best crème brulee I've ever had! These were of course accompanied by some wonderful wines (this being Paris).
At Au Bougnat
Notre Dame in the evening light
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