The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Paris

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June 14th 2013

Published: June 14th 2013

Today was a little bittersweet. We didn't get a good night's rest due to being stuck in a room where the carpets were drenched and they couldn't give us another room (but they gave us free breakfast instead) until today. And then it all started... We made our way to the Eiffel Tower to get there for opening, and along the way was approached by a Muslim dressed lady asking me to sign a petition to get help for deaf/mute children. I was happy to sign the petition, but she didn't say anything about a donation. I reluctantly handed over 5 Euro, but then told me that it was a minimum of 10 Euro donation. I always give to the kids, but I was annoyed about the way she did it. Rather peeved that I was scammed. We then stood in line for the Eiffel Tower, and were lucky to be up and out within about 1.5 hours. After being wary of being scammed, I became even more wary when there were signs about active pick-pocketers around the Tower. All of a sudden, I really wasn't feeling very safe in the city of love. We went to the Summit, which captures the spectacular views of Paris. But then the rain set in...

We found a cafe to grab a hot chocolate, and were charged 14.70 Euro for 3 hot chocolates (and 50c for use of the toilets). Another scam! The weather schedule said the rain wouldn't start until 2pm, but it started at about 10am, and we weren't quite prepared. We walked along the Seine in the light rain, and was approached by a lady with her son, similar age to my boys. She picked up a man's gold wedding band off the ground. She looked at it, and said it had real gold markings on it, but because of her 'Jewish' religion, she couldn't have it and told me it was 'good luck' for me. I accepted it, and walked away, only for her to call me to say, I give you good luck, the only right thing for me to do, is give her enough money to buy food and Coca Cola for her son who is hungry. I gave her a couple of Euros, and she insisted I give her 5 Euros, for 'food' and 'Coca Cola.' My weak heart gave in to her because I always think of bad karma if I do something wrong, so I gave her the 5 Euros and walked away. However I did walk away with a chunky gold ring, possibly worth a couple of hundred dollars (I will try to sell it when I'm in Melbourne). We found the Arc de Triomphe, and walked up the Champs de Elysees, and the rain was really coming down. Luckily, we found a Gap store and bought some hoodies, just to get us through the wet. I was silly enough to wear thongs (flip-flops), and was slipping on all the wet polished marble pavements through the exclusive street. We then had an expensive toilet-stop, masked by having lunch at Le Notre, a beautiful restaurant and tea-house where the gardens meet the Champs de Elysees. The front menu said they had toasted sandwiches with fries and salad for 13 Euro, but inside, that menu wasn't anywhere to be seen. They did have a kid's menu for 15.50 Euro which was a lovely chicken breast with pasta, a pastry and a drink, which, if you saw the quality, it was definitely worth it. And I had a 2-course meal plus coffee (or hot chocolate) for 35 Euro. As I said, expensive lunch, but the plus side was, it gave the boys a chance to 'behave' themselves in a high end restaurant and learn the art of fine dining. Luckily, both boys actually enjoyed their meals, and mine was divine. Couldn't fault the food or service.

We made our way to the closest station to find that it wasn't a standard Metro station, but a RER station. The RER train lines were striking for some reason, so all trains running were for free. So that was a good thing! It took us to the Metro line we needed and we made it back, to a new room on the 4th floor with a lovely corner view! After going way over my limit with the budget, at last we had some luck on our side! (Sorry, haven't had a chance to download pics from main camera... just wanted to show you how wet it was!!)

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Paris

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