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It took Elysia longer to get home from work on Thursday than it took us to travel from London to Paris Friday morning on the Eurostar. We left London's St Pancras International train station at 05:40 (bright and early!) and were in Paris just after nine. While we had a scenic view of the English country side and a neat experience to take the chunnel (you are actually only under the water for about 20 minutes), the best part of the day was definitely waiting for us in Paris!
Paris is, well, Paris. In other words, breathtaking. After taking the metro across La Seine, we found our way to the apartment we were staying in for the weekend. Our good friend from school, Hannah, had kindly invited us to stay with her and two other friends (Han and Salima) at her aunt and uncle's flat, which was only ten minutes from the Eiffel Tower. Talk about location!
After a brief visit at the apartment we decided to venture out, find a boulangerie, and storm the tower! Of course, we were excited to return to France and get our hands on a decent baguette. Our first visit to the Eiffel
Tower this weekend did not disappoint. After walking through the park at the foot of the tower, we climbed the stairs up to the second level, explored, and took the lift to the top. Ever wonder how many stairs to the second level? 677! Although taking the steps is a bit tougher, we saved waiting in the huge lineup, and only had to pay about half as much.
After taking in the views of Paris from La Tour Eiffel, we decided to walk through the city and see some of the famous sights. On our journey we certainly noticed one thing: Paris is full of carousels! After passing by l'Arc de Triomphe, we stopped for a quick bite to eat on Les Champs Élysées. Then, we started walking, and walking, and walking, and walking. We walked along the water through the parks until we reached Le Louvre museum, where we proceeded to walk some more! Salima and Hannah opted out of the museum itself, so we visited it with Han. It was really neat to see all of the famous paintings and sculptures, but since we are not that in to art, we just stayed for a quick visit.
After returning to the apartment to take a quick break, we headed out down the street for a nice dinner. Because we weren't paying for a hotel, we were able to splurge a bit on dinner, which was a nice touch since we were in a city known for its cuisine. We ended up eating on the street, at a cute little restaurant with a nice outdoor area, although it was quite cold. Mike had his first escargot, and it wasn't bad.
On Saturday, the weather was not nearly as nice as it had been on Friday. Friday had been really sunny and warm, and Mike thought Saturday would shape up the same way. It didn't. And, he looked pretty stupid wearing a t-shirt and shorts in such cold gloomy weather. Oh well, he toughed it out!
We started the day with a visit to Luxembourg Gardens and the Notre Dame Cathedral; obviously, it was very impressive! After that we had lunch at Rose Bakery, a cafe Hannah had been dying to try. While the girls did some shopping, we then walked through the streets of La Marais, which is a historic area in the
city know in fashion circles. By this time, it was starting to get a bit late, so we rented a couple of bicycles from the city cycle hire and rode along La Seine back to the apartment. It was a really nice ride for the most part - with beautiful scenery. But at one point we must have taken a wrong turn because we were on the pedestrian path along the bank of the river, instead of the bicycling path at the top of the bank. Normally it wouldn't matter, but the pedestrian path was made of cobblestones! What a bumpy ride! Eventually, we had to haul the bikes up about 20 steps to get them back on the bike path at the top of the bank.
That evening, we decided to try a different type of French cuisine for dinner. Crepes! After having what ended up being decent (but not spectacular) crepes, we walked back to the Eiffel Tower to snap some night photos. Just as we were taking a picture, the tower started to sparkle! We had no idea that it did that for ten minutes every hour on the hour. We thought it was special at
the time though! Makes for some nice pictures!
On Sunday morning, we decided to get up and head to Montmartre, where there is a massive basilica (Sacre Coeur) on top of the biggest hill in Paris. The basilica was packed because it was time for mass on Palm Sunday. Made for a lively visit, that's for sure! After walking around the basilica and through a few of the streets we wandered back down the hill through Paris towards a model Statue of Liberty that is on an island on La Seine. The statue we saw is the second Statue of Liberty in Paris. The other statue is in Luxembourg Gardens. It is actually the original statue, and was used to plan the one that was gifted to the US. As it turns out, the USA doesn't have the original statue!
After visiting lady liberty, we picked up a bottle of wine and some snacks from a boulangerie before finding a nice park on the bank of the river with the Eiffel Tower in the background to enjoy them in. The weather was much nicer today, so it was a great way to enjoy the afternoon, before
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