The romantic city
Trip Start
Jun 24, 2010
1
6
40
Trip End
Oct 25, 2010
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Our bus drove us through the town and past the Moulin Rouge and pointed out lots of sights we should see before taking us to our hostel. We had dinner then crashed and burned big time. The whole Pamplona week and San Sebastian partying caused us all to get the flu in varying degrees. Chesty phlegm coughs and the most insane amount of mucous in the sinuses, so we all slept like babies. Babies choking on their own snot, that is!!
Our first day out in Paris we did a bike tour with Fat Tyre Bike Company which was really cool. I was a bit shaky on the beach cruiser bike at first, but riding a bike is just like riding a bike, as Bern says. Thanks mate. Our tour guide was Seth and he basically prepped us for the ride by using analogies to keep us together. We were told to act like a pack of wolves and we would ride together like riding rapids at different category levels. Category one was mild street and footpath domination, then something like a cat 5 was intense roundabout traffic domination where we take over whole lanes at a time. It's lucky the Parisians are forgiving drivers. Seth also told us that if anyone beeps at us, they're just saying hello welcome to Paris. If they beep again, they're saying hey nice bike, and if we get the finger they're just telling us we're number one. Loved that.
We rode through the Louvre, The Eiffel Tower, The Invalides (Napoleon's Tomb), some really pretty parks, more museums, the big needle that the French stole from Egypt and everything in between. Paris is so gorgeous, bike tours are a great way to see everything.
Turns out also that Seth and his girlfriend wanted to come to Australia and work in WA for a year doing mining work or oil and gas, so I hooked him up with lots of names and stuff so may be able to help. It's not what you know... as the saying goes.
We only stayed in this hostel one night before we had to transfer to another hostel on the other side of town so we went and packed up our stuff and headed off. The metro in Paris sucks. Always hot, always packed. It's efficient, but when you have backpacks on and rude French people surrounding you it is not fun at all.
Our next hostel/hotel was great on the first night as they split us into 2 in one room and one in a double room. I'd been a bit cranky all afternoon from being sick and tired and missing Mick, so the girls kindly gave the double to me and Oh Em Geee it was so nice to sleep in a big bed on my own with no noises or distractions. I slept so well that night! I really missed having Mick with me in Paris. It sounds so cliché but Paris really is one of the most romantic, beautiful places. You can just feel it when you're there.
Day 2 in Paris was a visit to the Notre Dame. Wow that building is amazing. There were SO many people around on the day we went we didn't think we'd make it inside but we were lucky a queue was moving really fast so we jumped in and got inside within 15 mins. I bought an audio guide but reckon I wasted my 5 euros. I know it was a church, but all it talked about was God and all the stuff from the bible which I really don't like, so I listened to everything I needed to and took in the gorgeous architecture instead. It's hard to comprehend how old the city is when Australia is only a few hundred years old. The Notre Dame was built in the 1200's. Amazing stuff. I am always fascinated by how ornate and detailed buildings were back in that time. You look at architecture these days and everything is so streamline and clean cut. I guess it was fashionable to have huge amounts of detail and sculptures everywhere. Now that's considered clutter!
Anyway we bumped into our friend from Pamplona, Claire and her friend Matt so we all went down to the Eiffel Tower Park with beers and snacks and watched the sun set for a few hours. I know I already said it, but it is just SO gorgeous. I am in love with it. It is everything I expected. No angle of photograph or point of view is bad. Ever.
Day 3 in Paris I got up and went out on my own to see the Louvre. It just so happened that we were in Paris for Bastille Day, their French Revolution day. So the Louvre was free for anyone who visited. It was really nice being on my own for the day. I was able to stop and get myself a coffee and some breakfast which we weren't ever able to do coz we were in groups or had somewhere to be. I went to go and eat it in the Louvre somewhere but it started pissing down so I took cover back in the bakery and ate there. By the time I finished and ventured outside all the French air force planes and the fighter jets were flying overhead in formation. It was so cool. The rain started again, so out came my poncho (so attractive) and I made my way to the secret entrance of the Louvre which our tour guide Seth told us about and got in straight away. It worked out perfectly coz I walked straight past a Virgin mega store and walked right in and bought myself this little laptop to keep on top of things. It was costing quite a bit of money just jumping on the net to check emails etc. All the free wi-fi places will come in handy for the rest of the trip.
I went into the Louvre to get myself an audio guide so I could understand some of the artwork but they were totally sold out. For an hour they were sold out. I had already stuffed around for ages with the laptop and getting there in the rain that I just ended up giving up. I had to meet the girls and get ready for our night out on Bastille Day so I called it quits and went home. It was still pissing down. I got to speak to Mick though which was nice =)
Another hot tip from our tour guide Seth was to go to the one and only skyrise in Paris to watch the fireworks. When the Montparnasse building was constructed, like everything else erected in Paris, the Parisians hated it so much they enforced laws to ban all further skyrises. Not one more was ever built and this one has an observation deck and roof top access. We firstly went to the rooftop and got a good position for the fireworks facing the Eiffel Tower front on, but it was SO windy our crackers and cheese was blowing away so we went to the observation deck and basically took the same spot again. We had the best spread. Baguettes, chicken, avocado, tomato and herbed cheese. It was perfect. The sun didn't go down until about 10pm so we watched it slowly set from the best seat in Paris with good company and good food. Doesn't get much better than that!
The fireworks started at 11pm and it was beautiful. Not quite as big and exciting as how we do it back home, but it was a rare sight to see fireworks cracking behind the Eiffel Tower. Awesome night.
Day 4 in Paris was spent on an adventure to the Musee de Armee. The museum has stuff in it that went back to the 1200's still intact. Incredible. We ate snails for a lunch snack which were surprisingly tasty in a garlic herb sauce. I went first trying them coz I'm not really scared of trying food and we filmed it. We were all pleasantly surprised.
Evening of our last day was spent doing the night bike tour. They take a different route than the day tour so we set off first to Notre Dame and got icecream at this little place near Johnny Depp's house that make it all in Paris with no additives or preservatives etc. It was really tasty. We moved on to the Louvre again but it was pretty to see it with the yellow sun setting around us. We rode across the lovers lock bridge near the university where couples put a pad lock on the bridge with their names on it and declare their love locked and throw away the key. Aww. So sweet. I wanted to do that too, if only I carried a spare padlock. That bridge is actually from the last episode of Sex and the City where Big meets Carrie in Paris!!
As we were riding towards the river to catch our boat cruise, this American mum with her two daughters and one of the daughter's boyfriends came off the bike and did her ACL. It was pretty bad apparently, they had to get an ambulance and ghostie the bikes back without all 4 of them. I think she was okay, but it put a dampener on our tour. Damn Americans. Always have to be centre of attention. Haha. So the night ended with a beautiful river cruise down the Siene with nice people, free red wine and an amazing view of the city and the Eiffel Tower again. It was even timed perfectly so that when we cruised past, she lit up and twinkled on cue.... *sigh*.
The next morning I woke up feeling really crook. The flu had gotten the better of me and I couldn't even eat breakfast. I only had 2 small cups of red wine the night before so it wasn't even a hangover. I think aside from a hideous headache come migraine I had brewing, I'd just swallowed too much mucous in my sleep or something. As we were boarding the bus, I had to excuse myself while I went and dry retched into the garden whilst everyone watched. Yet again, so attractive...
I got on the bus and the driver gave me a double bagged plastic bin bag and sat me up the front to feel better. I just fell asleep and ended up feeling heaps better by midday en route to Bern in Switzerland.
Thanks Paris for the snails, the sights, living up to the rudeness everyone talks about, and the pretty fireworks!
Comments
Oh Nik, you swept me straight back there. Your descriptions of Paris & the sights, amazing that you visited all the places I went so I can be with you in my minds eye, so wonderful. when you mentioned The Eifel Tower lighting up on cue it had me sitting on the green in front at sunset with a bottle of wine, a large baguette & various cheeses., thank you Darling, tears well in my eyes. So glad you are doing it, words could never describe Paris but you do it justice. xxx
Great Pic's Nikki, looks like your having an amazing time. Enjoy the rest of your holiday xo
great pics nik