We've just returned from a long weekend in Paris. We had an absolute blast. Contrary to what we had heard from most people, the place wasn't that dirty, the people weren't rude, and it was amazingly picturesque and pretty. You can't help but feel a bit overwhelmed by the history on occasion, that's for sure!

We caught the Eurostar (train) over there through the Channel Tunnel, and it was quite quick and good - we unfortunately didn't get to see the countryside though as we travelled at night. It was a bit frightening at first when we got there as this was the first time that we've been to a country that speaks predominantly another language (well by ourselves anyway - when we were in Kenya we had Pascal's amazing family to help us....), so negotiating our way through the Paris Metro system was to prove to be an interesting experience....

We were standing in Paris Gare du Nord train station, trying to work out how to buy tickets for the metro, when a helpful man came over to us and starting speaking to us in English and it was quite a relief as he tried to help us with the ticket machine - he then goes on to insist that we owe him €61 (euro) for the tickets that he just bought for us (trying to claim that they would do us for our 3 day stay.... Damo said "No way mate - we haven't got anything like that sort of money on us" and it was then that we worked out that he was trying to scam us..... The very first thing in Paris - Nice!!!!

Anyway, we didn't get taken, we did end up working out how to buy our tickets and travel to Madeleine, and we also managed to find our hotel with minimal difficulty, so everything worked out fantastically.



The hotel was nice, and it was a mere couple of blocks from the Champs-Elysees and also from Place de la Concorde. It was also right near a huge church called Madeleine (Church of Mary Magdalene). Brilliant location.


Madeleine


Place de la Concorde


Champs-Elysees....


.....and again with Nik

We spent much of the first day trying to work out where we could buy breakfast (Petit Lejeuner) on the Champs-Elysees and wandering up and down trying to work out the best place to convert some of our money. We also went into a few shops (Damo says "thankfully not too many!!!") and generally had a pretty good day. We made our way up to the Arc de Triomphe (sp?), took about a bazillion photos, and then purchased our tickets to climb it - apparently it's 50 metres high, and 284 steps to climb it.


...Arc de Triomphe at night

After we'd finished with this we went and found a little cafe and had some lunch. We wandered back down the Champs-Elysees and bought a crepe with nutella off a street vendor and sat in a beautiful park while we ate it and relaxed near a fountain.


The fountain.....


Damo and the crepe.....

We were pretty shattered after a late night the night before, so we decided to go back to the hotel for a nanna-nap in the afternoon, and then we got up later on and decided to go out for dinner. We ended up in a little place called L'imperial on Rue de Rivoli (which is not far from The Louvre), and the food was amazing - Nikki got Onion Soup (otherwise known as French Onion soup when you're not in France ;-) ) for entree while Damo got Foie Gras (Pate), and Nikki got a steak with bearnaise sauce and Damo got a steak with mushroom sauce and frittes (fries). It was soooo good - we had a couple of glasses of Champagne, and also a nice red with dinner (I think it was a Bordeaux). The atmosphere of the place was lovely, and the waiter was amazing - we've definitely never seen anyone as efficient anywhere else in the world - which I guess means that they live up to their reputation.

The next day we got up and decided that we would go and check out the markets out near Bastille - this was a great move, as they were pretty much food markets, and it was far enough out of the touristy area that we more or less almost had to converse in french - which was heaps of fun - they spoke enough english, and we spoke enough french to get by. This really felt like what you would do if you were Parisienne, and we really enjoyed this heaps - a bit of a break from the usual touristy stuff.


The markets....

After this, we went and had a coffee in a little cafe and spoke to the family for a little bit. Then we jumped on the Metro and headed down to Montparnasse which had some art markets down there, and, after getting lost for a little while, we went and had a look through - they were actually a little disappointing, and we later read in the lonely planet that they've sort of sold out - they used to be good, but not so much any more....

We had a look through them anyway, and then we went and had Lejeuner (lunch) in a small creperie on a side street off Montparnasse. It was amazing - it was an entire street filled with creperies - anyway, after looking at a few of the menus and being able to discerne little, we ended up deciding on one, went in, sat down, and then realised that there were better sounding crepes in a different restaurant - so not wanting to cause a scene, we waited for the waitress to vanish, and then we did - just up the street. This would have been fine, except that Nikki had left a book behind on the table, so we walked into the restaurant that we wanted, and then a moment later, the waitress comes into this restaurant to hand us the book..... not at all embarrassing....!!!!!

Here is a piccie of the one where we ended up having lunch.



The food once again was sensational, but it was smothered in butter - we could both feel our arteries hardening just looking at it.....

We went from here, to the Louvre and we were going to go in, but decided that it was a bit late in the day, and that it might be a good idea to go to the Eiffel Tower for sunset. We were at Place de la Concorde, but decided that a stroll down the banks of the Seine on the way would be nice. And it was.






This bridge is the famous one off the Nescafe ad on TV - I think it might have been black and white and used to have some french music in the background....

We walked to the Eiffel Tower, and it was amazing - the Eiffel Tower (Tour d' Eiffel) really is an amazingly impressive structure.

Our first pictures.....


and then


The view from the top (the white thing in the sky is the light that goes around on top of the Eiffel Tower - a bit like the Stefan Skyneedle in Bris.... except a bit more powerful I think.)


I hung my camera off the side to take this one....


We were at the Eiffel Tower for ages - it was about 23:00 by the time that we ended up leaving the general area, and we decided to walk home - we ended up strolling down the Champs-Elysees past the Arc de Triomphe on the way home, and we were starving - we ended up finding a place that was open, and we got some dinner - it was about midnight by the time that we got there, and the food was lovely. We watched all the people walking by, and ended up strolling home.

Woke up the next day, and it was pissing down! We were pretty shattered by this point in time,
so we slept in a bit. Got up and packed, went to check out, and the chick at the counter tried to rip us off by about €30. Damo was having none of it though, and ended up having a bit of an argument with her, and she relented and accepted the initial quoted price. (Damo says "I would've gone off my rocker if she hadn't - it was expensive anyway.....")

We put our stuff in a cupboard/small room and then headed off for the day - went to the Madeleine Church first off. This was a very impressive church, and due to the gloomy weather, made it feel quite eerie.

We lit a candle and put it in front of Joan of Arc.


This was a photo of the church in general - it was huge!


We then decided to head to the Louvre - we walked there, and then by the time that we got there we realised that we'd left the laptop in a fairly unsecure location, so we ended up walking back to the hotel to get it again.

On the way back to the Louvre (again), we were walking to the Place de la Concorde, and as we walked past the Hotel de Crillon, noticed that there was a crowd gathered, and barriers in place. We stopped to find out what was going on, and apparently Madonna was about to come out of the hotel (or so we were told.....). Anyway, an hour and a half later, she did. Nikki has got a video of it, and I've got a photo of her car speeding away with a police escort.


Madonna is in this car - ohhh I can all hear you say...... ;-)

After this we headed to the Louvre. The Louvre can't even be described, because it would be longer than the rest of this post (which is already huge......). Needless to say that we saw a few of the key items - Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo etc. etc.

You were not meant to take photos of Mona Lisa - we got one anyway! :-)


We also got plenty of photos of Venus


It was all pretty amazing - it's quite strange being there though - you know that you are very much in the presence of greatness in many ways, and even the Louvre itself is a work of art, but it's like your senses get overwhelmed - sort of like you can't see the forest for the trees. There is so much amazing stuff that it all sort of blends in to one.

We were there for about 3 or 4 hours, and I think we managed to skim through about a quarter of it, and this was certainly not paying much attention to much at all. We definitely will go back though.

The Louvre




This pretty much saw the end of our France trip. The Eurostar home was a lot slower than it was meant to be and it was delayed by about a half hour, so we didn't end up getting into London until about 11:30 and then we had to catch the tube home - we walked in the door at about 12pm, so needless to say that it was an absolutely exhausting weekend. We certainly walked a lot though!

Paris Gare du Nord


All that can be said of Paris is that, if it is at all possible in your lifetime, you must go there! We both thought that it was an amazing place, and the history of it is such that it is almost scary - buildings built in the 1300's etc. Very full on! We had an absolute blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!