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Published: September 10th 2007
After our fun in the sun in Bermuda, the next stop on our journey is Paris. A 3 hour flight from Bermuda to Toronto followed by a 4 hour stop-over before a 9 hour flight to Paris that stopped in Montreal to fill up the plane. 9 hours on Air Transat no less...but we made it! The last few days have been very busy.
Day 1
We arrived in Paris at about noon on Wednesday and lugged our bags onto the train where we travelled into town. From there we transferred to the Metro which dropped us off within a 5 minute walk of our hotel. After checking into our hotel and taking in the the Paris atmosphere, can anyone guess our first stop? McDonalds for a Big Mac! LOL. We were hungry and it was convenient. Anything that keeps us fed is a good thing. We spent the rest of the afternoon working our way to the Opera, Place Concorde and the Champs Elysee with the eventual goal of the Eiffel Tower. The jet lag caught up to us and we ran out of steam shortly after Place Concorde. Back to the hotel for a nap. We awoke refreshed at
about 9:30pm and figured it would be the perfect opportunity to go grab some night photos of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. It was tonight that we would find out what time the Metro shuts down. We made it all the way to the Arc de Triumph and found that there were no more trains to transfer to. We were stuck making the hour-long walk back to our hotel and made it back by about 2am.
Day 2
Needless to say, we slept in for a bit after the night before. We finally got our day started with breakfast about 1pm. That'll be the only time that I'll ever be able to claim that Kathie actually slept in! We then made our way towards L'Isle de la Cite and wandered through and around the Notre Dame cathedral. Rather than spending our money on climbing the tower, we decided that it would be better spent on ice cream/sorbet that we enjoyed while sitting on a bench at the rear of the cathedral. From there we walked through the Latin Quarter, and back across Pont Neuf. We enjoyed eating a baguette at a bench along the Seine river with a view
of Pont Neuf. We decided to take an earlier night and we grabbed a bottle of wine before heading back to the hotel room to sort through our pictures we've taken so far and make sure everything was backed up.
Day 3
Friday was a very eventful day to say the least. We got up bright and early and took the Metro to La Defense with the morning rush hour crowd. It was an incredible contrast to the old city of Paris. Built in 1989, the modern structures were a refreshing change. We then stopped for a coffee and pain au chocolate at what has to be the nicest looking McDonalds we've ever been inside (actually had to take a picture). From La Defense, we then took the Metro across town the the Pere Lachaise cemetery to see the grave of Jim Morrison. It was an interesting cemetary, but overall pretty anticlimatic. We moved on to the Sacre Coeur and were received by aggressive vendors trying to push us to buy their trinkets. Something I suppose we'll have to get used to when we go through Africa. The view from the top was panoramic over the entire city of Paris.
Next we wandered from Pigalle to Blanche - the Red Light district of Paris and the location of the Moulin Rouge. Very interesting place, and little did we know that we'd be back there to see it lit up at night. That night after enjoying a picnic and a bottle of wine under the Eiffel Tower, Jordan managed to give himself quite an ankle sprain when he stepped off a ramp awkwardly. Luckily we were right near a medical tent that was set up for a World Cup of Rugby party (opening night, France is the host country). We got first hand experience of the best health care system in the world. Free ambulance ride and we were in and out of the hospital (including x-rays) in about 2 hours. Of course the Metro was closed at this time again and we were no where near our hotel. Instead we took the circle route bus around the city and ended up back at Pigalle where we/Jordan limped back to the hotel. All in all, a very interesting night.
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Dustin
non-member comment
Looks like a great time...
C'est Bon!! Glad to hear you guys survived the shoebox in the sky!! (Air Transit) So is it true - is it Le Big Mac or a Royale with Cheese? (Pulp Fiction) Great photos guys, my co-workers are SO JEALOUS of my screen backgrounds :) Keep em coming. Take care and take it easy on that ankle.... P.S. How's the beard coming??