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Blogs from Paris, Île-de-France, France, Europe - page 344
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July 22nd 2005
It takes exactly one hour and thirty minutes to walk from Champs Elysée to Gare du Lyon, if you didn't know... That's one of the options you have if you miss the last transport home at night. Other options would include a combination of busses and taxi, taxi all the way, hitching a ride, or just waiting till the morning... none of which felt like a good option at the time. I wanted to see Paris by Night, there were lots of people everywhere, but in a blink almost all of them went away with the last train/bus. Oh well, the walk back along the Seine wasn't that bad. Today, I've been walking around in the Louvre - for three hours, and I still missed a lot of stuff. At the end I wasn't looking that ... read more
July 21st 2005
Walked around most all day, ended up in Montmartre and by the Sacré Coeur. Got to practice my french some more in shops and restaurants :) I've also confirmed they park just as bad as I had heard they do here. Saw one guy bounce both the car behind and the one in front of his several times trying to park between them untill he finally gave up and drove away...... read more
July 21st 2005
We took our favourite mode of transport, the Batobus, to the Le Tour Eiffel this morning. To avoid the hour-long line for the elevator we hiked up the 300+ stairs to the first level. John was cool as a cucumber but I must say I felt a tad nauseaus as we ascended the iron staircase! The view was spectacular as today is sunny with not a cloud in the sky. John convinced me to take the elevator to the next platform and I'm glad he did - it was gorgeous! We then came back down and asked someone to take the obligatory romantic photo of us in fornt of the Eiffel Tower. Being a girl, I've always dreamt of having such a photo with the one I love so John persevered through the sappiness. We took ... read more
July 21st 2005
Bonjour! Sorry about not writing, I have been super busy. I got to go to Paris (again...yay!) from the 21st to the 24th. I love that city, even though it wasn’t the most relaxing weekend ever. We had a huge group of people, which always makes things more difficult. We took another overnight train (which was really cool because I was reading Harry Potter and it made me feel like I was on my way to Hogwarts...yes I am a dork), and got there early Friday morning. We stayed at the FIAP, which is the location of the Paris European Council Program. The first thing we did was go to the catacombs down below Paris. I didn’t even know that those existed! They were really scary but really interesting too. There are over 2 million bones ... read more
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July 20th 2005
We woke up early and headed to the Louvre before opening to avoid the crowds. Amazingly, when we got there 15 minutes early there were already about 300 people waiting to go in. When we finally left a couple of hours later there were about 3 million inside! Well, maybe a slight exageration but word to the wise - go to the Louvre early in the morning! We saw the glass-encassed Mona Lisa. I'm not sure which was more of a sight, Da Vinci's lover or the masses of people lined up to get a picture of her! Amazing. We wandered and got lost numerous times thoughout the 12 mile museum and only did a quarter of it - missed the french paintings entirely! Saw the Venus de Milo though but will have to leave the ... read more
July 20th 2005
Bonjour! I arrived in Paris yesterday, lovely city :) Although I do know some french, it is evident that I know way less then I'd need to manage without english. I bought a miniature travel phrase book / dictionary which is very handy in freshing up my memory with the french I'm fairly certain I did know while I was still in school ;) The hostel I wanted to stay at (which is very central) is fully booked (surprise surprise), but I found a nice one close enough and with the excelent Metro and RER it's not really a hassle to get around. The english I thought had lots of cameras all over London and in most public places, this however is insane... when I entered the hostel I could count to no less then 10 ... read more
July 20th 2005
There's a full moon tonight which just adds to the magic of Paris at night. We wandered around the St. Germain area again, on the hunt for a recommended Italian restaurant, but after an hour of getting lost we gave up. Ironically, as often happens when you're not looking, we found it awhile later. Looking forward to having our last meal in Paris there tomorrow night. Getting lost was fun though. What a great area. So it seems in my earlier recitation of the day I forgot to mention a couple of things. First and foremost, I bought my first pair of shoes here. From hereonin they will always been known as my Paris shoes. C'est magnifique! I also forgot to tell you that we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral. What an architectural accomplishment dating ... read more
July 19th 2005
We took the Batobus (a bigger Aquabus type of thing) that took us along the Seine to the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank (essentially directly across the river from us - so close that we walked home within 20 mins). We found a sidewalk cafe amongst the quintessentially bustling side streets of St. Germain-de-Pres. It was such a romantic setting. John even had half a carafe of wine. He had white, I had red (one of the best I've had) so essentially we had our first bottle of wine together. John had steak et frites and I moules et frites. During dinner a man serenaded us with his clarinet across the narrow street from our sidewalk table. I told you Paris oozed romance! We'd take a picture but I forgot the memory card in the ... read more
