Monday 28/12/09
The train trip to
Paris got quite packed along the way but everyone had seats thank god. The
train was fast, it went about 140mph (225 kph) and it still took 5 hours to get
to Paris. On arrival to Paris we couldn’t see much (I had hoped we might spot
the Effiel tower on the way in) and quickly sussed out the metro and made for
our hotel. We got to the hotel easily. The hotel room was small but really ice
inside and comfortable. We hit the pavement again in search of some dinner and
came across a restaurant where I had a nice steak and Julie had some soup, we
were all dairy(ed) out from Switzerland.
Tuesday 29/12/09
We got up early and
made our way to Bastille markets, Julie had read about them in the lonely
planet. We got to Bastille and had a look around but we couldn’t find them. We
gave up and headed underground again toward Notre Dame. On our walk to Notre
Dame we came across our first patisserie of many. Julie impressed me with her
french and ordered us some croissants , pain au chocolat, and hot chocolates.
We walked to Notre Dame from here and on the way caught our first glance of the
Seine river (pretty filthy actually, just like the Thames). Inside and outside
Notre Dame was like all European cathedrals, amazing detail and size (was a little
disappointed I didn’t get to see Quasimodo). We then got lost in the rain trying
to find the Pantheon. The Pantheon was a huge and fantastic looking building
which coincidently has the tomb of Marie Curie among some other dudes that I
had never heard of. We then headed toward a metro line and just happened to
catch our first glimpse of the Effiel tower, waaahhooo! We took the metro
toward the Louvre. When we got there we could believe the size of it, it is
truly massive and again the detail is amazing on such a large building. The
Louvre was closed this day so we walked through the area outside and looked at
the famous glass pyramids, the iconic symbol of the Louvre (that has the holy
grail buried beneath according to Dan Brown!). We continued our walk down the
Jardin Des Tuileries toward the Champs Elysees and got our first sighting of
the Arc De Triumph in the distance. This area was truly stunning, lots of
history and people enjoying the park like atmosphere. We caught the metro again
as we decided it was time to get up close and personal with the Effiel Tower. I
thought it would be a pile of scrape metal, but for me it was a highlight of
the trip –the Effiel tower is fantastic. Along with the Effiel tower came
queues of people trying to get in so we didn’t bother going up that day. We went back to an area we spotted
around Notre Dame for dinner and had a 3-course meal. This is where we tried
snails (escargot) for the first time. I had the first one and told Julie they
were really nice. After she ate it I was just about ready to vomit, so I polished
the last 4 of in one foul swoop, they taste like crap. After dinner we went in search of the
Moulin Rogue. We took a wrong turn, which worked out well for us as we found a
shop selling those tasty little macaroons. Soon we found the Moulin Rogue- its
just like the pictures. We talked to the doorman about tickets but they were
all sold out until the 8th of January. So we headed home exhausted
and discussed how we would return to Paris in the near future to see the Moulin
Rogue and go to Euro Disney.
Wednesday 30/12/09
We got up early to get
to the Effiel tower before the queues started, but it was too late- we had to
queue with the hundreds of other people for about one and a half hours. It was
worth the wait though. The view from the top was awesome -Paris as far as the
eye could see, and you could see all the famous land marks. We caught a lift
from the top down to the second level and took the stairs down to the first
level. We managed to lose each other here, which was frustrating for both of
us. Although I managed to spot the statue of liberty given to the French by the
US (the tight arse Americans gave them a 9m high replica compared with the 46m
high real thing). We took the stairs again from the 1st level down
to the ground and made our way to another patisserie for lunch, yum! We then
headed to a place called the catacombs and had to wait in line again for one
and a half hours! The Catacombes were a bit spooky. The catacombs are an under
ground ossuary (1.6 km long) that house the bones of thousands of Parsians.
Paris cemeteries became overcrowded in the 12th century and poorer
people were laid to rest here. The
bones are all neatly stacked on both sides, in a decorative fashion. After the catacombs we went north to
the Sacre Coeur. It was evening by now but we still got the chance to walk
through. The Sacre Coeur is the most amazing cathedral we have been to thus
far. And the view over Paris at night from here was stunning. While we were
here we took the time to have quick look around Montmarte and Julie managed to
find a canvas painting of Paris to buy. By now the rain had set in and we were
soaked so we brought some snacks and headed home for the night.
Thursday 31/09/09
Another early start to
try and beat the crowds to the Louvre. We had to queue for an hour but it was
worth it. By the time we got into the Louvre I reckon the line would have been
about 3 hours long. We headed straight for the Mona Lisa as did everyone else.
I thought the room was packed, to get a look an A3 size painting. An hour later
we walked past the same room and you couldn’t even get in there because of
hundreds of people trying to get in. We cruised around this huge and a truly
stunning building. We saw the main stuff like the Venus De Milo, the Nike of
Samothrace, Michelangelo’s dying slave etc…. After 5 hours we were all Louvre(ed) out. We decided to walk
down the Champs Elysees to see the Arc De Triumph. It was very busy with people
and cars. When we got to the Arc De Triumph it was enormous. We stood there and
watch the crazy traffic flow around the Arc for about 40mins. The French
drivers are insane, the round about had about 4 lanes of traffic with about 7
entry points into the round about, it was a free for all! We set off again to Trocadero
which sits under the Effiel tower. This is where everyone heads for New Year.
There wasn’t a crowd there yet but it was cool because it was dark and Effiel
tower was doing its light show. We decided to head into town again for tea. We
had another 3 course meal minus the Garden Meat (escargot) and went back to the
hotel to get rugged up because it was absolutely freezing out. At 9pm we went
back to the Arc De Triumph to have a look at night and noticed that the Champ
Elysees was absolutely packed with people enjoying their champagne for new
years. Again we walked back to Trochadero for New Years and my god was there a
mob of thousands of people you couldn’t move. We welcomed the New Year in with
all the frenchies who just love the Effiel tower. After this, trying to clear
out the thousands of people was impossible! We couldn’t get on the metro and
cars were gridlocked at a stand still. We were smart- we walked up to second
stop on the line and managed to get on metro at about 1am. It was like sardines in a can. Any stop
after this there were hoards of people waiting to get on the train but no room.
The 30min trip took us about one and a half hours. We finally got home at about
0230 am.
Friday 01/01/10
We had a sleep in and
didn’t get out of the hotel until 1130 am. We headed straight for a patisserie
for brunch., it was very tasty. We then headed to a 3D movie titled “The story
of Paris” and it was pretty average really. We didn’t feel like we had learnt
anything new about the city’s history. Then we wandered the streets, it was
snowing slightly, and did some shopping. It was early evening and we were
getting one last look at the Louvre and noticed the sunset over Paris towards
the Effiel tower, it was really cool. We did some more walking in search of
another patisserie and brought a crepe along the way. It was filthy it was like
eating a whole 1kg block of cheese. We scored some goodies from a patisserie
and headed back to the hotel for a feast.
Saturday 02/01/10
We had to be at Gare
du Nord at 900am for our first trip on the Eurostar which was exciting for us.
As we were coming into customs we had to be evacuated due to a suspicious
package. 45 minutes later we were allowed back in. I got a hundred questions
from the custom officer who didn’t think the photo looked like me on the
passport (maybe because I had grown a sweet holiday beard). We got some snacks
for the Eurostar trip, including one big fat macaroon. The Eurostar was quite
cool- it was so fast, 300 km/ph. It snowed on the way through northern France.
Once we hit the eurotunnel it took 10 minutes before we were back in the UK. So
now we are back in stinky old London where it seems to be snowing all the time
now.
