84Tue, 2 Aug 2005 15:12:18 +0100
Paris!
For our latest of Continental adventures we decided to go to
Paris! With a little help from our friends at Lastminute.com
and Eurostar we got a fairly good deal to give us a couple of nights at
a hotel in central Paris and tickets on a fast train from downtown
London to downtown Paris. Unlike our trip to Belgium,
getting to the Eurostar at Waterloo Station was fairly
uneventful. The train left at 6:35am which allowed us to
take the first Tube from kingsbury at 5:30am which allowed us to avoid
the night buses and the psychotic mix of "The Amazing Race" and "Planes
Trains and Automobiles" that we are used to.
We arrived in Paris at 10:30am local time and began trying to find our
Hotel. It was a 5 minute walk from the Gare d'Nord where we
came into, which would have been great if we had taken a direct
route. Instead, rather unintentionally, we chose a more
"adventurous" route and after about an hour, and feeling somewhat
defeated, we bought a map. Our hotel was pretty nice, but
oddly enough the concierge at the front desk showed us to our
room. Turns out this was because we had to get there by a
round-about kind of route up some very small twisty
stairs. The room was the smallest room I've ever
seen.
We were able to walk around the
bed, and thats about it. Besides being small though, it was
quite nice, the bathroom was comfortable and there was a plasma TV
which was neat. It was probably in there because nothing
else would fit!
The first thing we did was go get some lunch. I inadvertently ordered a €3.50 coke
but
the lunch was really good. Immediately we could tell that
eating was more of a pastime in France, and less of a necessity as it
is in England.
The Metro in Paris is very
extensive. Certainly larger than
London's. Not only is it larger, it's more
diverse. London has a few different types of trains, but
Paris has totally different transport system in it's
underground. Most of the tracks are steel-rail, just like
most subways, but some of the trains run on rubber
tires! Interesting stuff. Also, there is little
ventilation in the trains, so it was the hottest subway I've ever been
into. Some of the trains were normal size and others were
enormous double decker trains.
We stood in line for a long time for the privilege of paying €4.00 to climb the stairs of the Eiffel Tower.
I was a little annoyed at first, but it turned out to be worth it.
Then we went to the Arc de triumph
I couldn't get over how enormous this structure was. Also the
roundabout that went around it seems to create the most chaotic driving
conditions I have ever seen. There are no lines painted, but
if they did it would be about 9 lanes wide. Everyone drives
as fast as they can until they have to slam on the brakes to avoid
someone who zips in front of them going in a completely different
direction. We sat back want watched for about 20 minutes,
mesmerized by the brinkmanship all of the drivers seem to
display. These guys stop for just about nothing.
After that wandered down the Champs d'Elysees. There are some
seriously expensive shops along here, including a Peugeot and Citroen
showrooms with lots of weird cars. We heard Madonna singing, and
there were all sorts of people pushing to see someone at the entrance
of a store, so I pushed my way in and took a picture, but saw
nothing. I doubt it was Madonna, but people seemed really excited!
We were surprised to see some people playing street hockey on roller blades in front of a palace, as well as an Olive Oil store!
Eventually we bought some juice, baguettes, Gouda cheese and some
chocolate pudding and headed to the park in front of the Eiffel Tower
for a little picnic.
There were lots and lots of little cafes and restaurants. We
walked around for an hour along busy streets with every type of
restaurant you can imagine. All of them with patrons sitting out
at tables on the street. Too bad we were full of bread and Gouda.
Then we climbed up to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur, an enormous church at the top of the hill that overlooks the city.
Then it was off to the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame. Another serious church.
By this point we were a little chuched out and bought ourselves a crepe
with sugar and butter on it. Parisians know their Crepes and it
was darn-well yummy.
We also checked out the Louvre. The palace that now houses the
Louvre is probably the largest building I have ever seen. It is
hard to describe, it's sort of like an "H" with the top of the "H" being
closed in to create a court-yard. The bottom of the "H" has the
glass pyramid in it. There is a large entrance lobby area under
the pyramid. For those of you who read the Davinci Code,
apparently they are doing Davinci Code tours of Paris now. Funny
stuff. Oh, checkout the policeman on roller skates.
We also saw more Palaces and the Pantheon and a wedding!
We had a great french dinner at a nice restaurant the last night and
ate lots of very rich French food. The secret with getting good
food on the cheap in Paris is to not order drinks. Drinks are
oddly expensive in Paris, but the food is reasonably priced. We
got a big appetizer, entree and dessert for €15.
Our trip back was easy and uneventful, and we're getting excited about
our next trip! We just booked tickets to Iceland and a hotel in
Reykjavik for Aug 26th-30th. Should be fun.
Checkout all of the pictures here.
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