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Published: September 7th 2009
Again we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the Hilton Lyon before checking out. We wanted to go back to the Halles food market before leaving Lyon and decided since it was in walking distance to the train station that we would drive to the Gare De La Part-Dieu and park the rental car in the return lot and walk to the market, pick up some pain, charcuterie and fromage for lunch and board the train to Paris. We were worried that we might get lost again navigating back to the Gare, which of course we did, after getting gas for E1.23/litre. It cost E36.70 to fill this small tank (we used about 3/4 of a tank to get to Beune). We had enough time to get lost, park the car and then walk through the streets to Les Halles (of course we got lost trying to find this too) where we bought some St. Emilion cheese, bagettes and 10 slices of salami. We walked back to the car, got our luggage and returned the keys.
We are getting very good at understanding how the trains work and we had no trouble boarding the TGV train back to Paris. I even understood
where to stand to board the right car so we could easily find our assigned seats and load the baggage close to the entry doors. It rained on the way to Paris but we enjoyed the ride. Michael made sandwiches and we ate the Petit fours from Paul Bocuse for dessert!
We arrived at the Gare Lyon in Paris and it took a little time for us to orient ourselves to this new city. The metro is in the train station, so we just had to figure out which of the 14 lines would get us close to our hotel. My plan was to get close and then take a taxi. I figured out we needed the "red" line - A - to CDG - Etoile station after finding the street for the hotel on the map. We are staying at the Renaissance Paris Arc De Trimphe on Avenue De Wagram. It's physically difficult to take the metro when you have a lot of luggage, especially when it's heavy as you have to go up and down flights of stairs as you go through the subway system. We were lucky that we only had to take one metro to "Etoile"
but once there you have to go up 2 flights of steps, then follow the tunnels around to your street exit and then go back up some more steps. By the time we found Ave. Wagram and climbed the steps with 3 suitcases and a carry on in the rain we were exhausted. I hailed the first taxi and told him where to take us. As soon as he pulled away from the curb the taxi driver realized that we really should have walked to our hotel as it was just 2 blocks from the Metro on a one way street, which we were on, going one way in the wrong direction. He was cursing and waiving his arms at us...of course, we had no idea what he was saying or where we were, not realizing how close we were or we would have walked, rain and all. So, now the driver has to go around three city blocks to drop us off just behind where we exited the Metro. Hindsight....20/20 yet again!
This hotel was in a great location and we could see the Arc De Triomphe and we were in walking distance to Avenue Des Champs Elysees. The
inside of the hotel was in stark contrast to the architecture outside. This hotel was just renovated and was officially opened on May 5, 2009 as a contemporary modern hotel. It was sleek with contemporary colors, greys, fuscia and white with a mirror of the Tour Eiffel in a corner that made it look 3 D. The bathroom was concrete and slate with modern porcelain and fixtures. Again, we were upgraded and had a beautiful panoramic view of Ave. Wagram and the Arc De Triomphe, they used glass and mirrors for our view to give the illusion of a panaroma. (If and when I can figure out how to upload my photos, hopefully you will understand what I mean when you see the pictures!).
After settling into the room, we went back to the Metro and bought one day passes and headed first to see the Arc de Triomphe which lies at the intersection of about 12 major streets. By now thankfully the rain had stopped! The only way to get to the Arc was back through the Metro, underground and then by exiting up on the right street. From here we took the Metro to the Trocadero to see
the Tour Eiffel from the Palias de Chaillot. This is the most picturesque spot to view the Tour. We walked through the Jardins du Trocadero on our way across the Seine to the Tour Eiffel. I consulted the guide book which recommended walking up the first level of the tour to escape the long lines for the lift, so we found our was to the East tower and the stairs. Little did we know that you had to walk up two levels, not one before being able to buy tickets for the 2nd lift to the top level. Up, up, up we walked, 630 steps in all! We had no idea it would be that many and boy were we feeling it! We stoppped frequently at the landings to see the view (really to catch our breath and give our legs a break!) on the way up and by the time we made it to the 2nd level we couldn't wait to sit down and admire the view. We still had to climb a little more to get to the lift but we succeeded and took the elevator to the highest level to see all of the landmarks of Paris.
This view is too hard to describe in words but they have maps as you walk around the top and each map highlights the points of interests. We took the lift back down and made our way this time to the Bir-Hakeim Metro station (line 6) and after changing to Metro line 2 found our wayto the Basilique Du Sacre-Coeur and Montmarte. There were so many steps on the way to Sacre-Coeur that we shuddered having just climbed the Tour Eiffel. However, here there is a funicular and our metro day passes allowed us access without additional charge and we avoided the steps up the steep hill. We did still have to climb the steps to the cathedral but we were very fortunate that a service was starting so we rested inside and listened to the beautiful hymns. This is a beautiful church, the second highest point in Paris with panaromic views of Paris. Ther golden mosaic inside is breathtaking.
From here we wandered off to nearby Abbesses to find a place for dinner. Le Relais Gascon was the busiest place we saw so that's where we picked to rest our weary bodies! I had Soupe a l'Oigon (French onion
soup) and Demi-poulet aux herbes (1/2 chicken with herbs) with these amazing frites (sliced fried potatoes- these were even on the salads!) and Michael had Cassoulet with duck, sausage and ham. We shared 50 cl of Vin de pays de l'Herault. We walked through the streets of Montmarte after dinner enjoying the artists painting portraits, looking at some local artwork, watching people at the cafes as we headed back to Sacre-Coeur to see the view of Paris at night. We saw the light show of the Tour Eiffel as well as the lit skyline of the city.
We took the funicular back down to the Metro station at Anvers back to CDG Etoile and walked back to our hotel to collapse in bed! A great first day in Paris.
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