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Published: April 15th 2014
9th April 2014 At last we are on our way after a lot of planning and discussion. On this trip we have been joined by Mark and Helena for the first 5 days in Paris, followed by 4 weeks based in Plovan in Brittany. From here we make our way to Prague, in the Czech Republic where we will meet up with two of the "BikeBoyz", Kevin and Jan, to ride bikes along the Greenways Trail to Vienna.
We were welcomed at Perth Airport with the news that our plane was leaving 45 minutes later than advertised originally. When we finally left Perth we were now running about 90 minutes late but all passengers were reassured that no connections would be in danger. This was shown to be correct as when we checked at Kuala Lumpur Terminal we found the plane had been further delayed for several hours!
We flew in the upper deck of a Airbus A380, what a magnificent plane. Quiet, easy access on the top deck, and a little more legroom than normal. Even so, by the time we reached Paris we had been flying for 18 hours
On turning
on Rags' phone we received a late message from Mark asking for our flight number etc. An sms told us they were at the flat already. A young lady from New Orleans, someone who knew Paris well, took us under her wing to get to the flat, but after reaching the train station we planned a quicker way via the bus service so we said farewell.
When we finally found the apartment we found that Mark & Elna hadn't been able to enter, instead they had their gear on the footpath in front of the door and had been killing time wandering around the area. A happy reunion and we entered the apartment. What a great place! Large rooms, a good kitchen and bathroom, with a spacious living/dining area for living in. All this and right in the centre of it all!
We spent the rest of the day walking around the district, including the Place de la Concorde, Tuileries Gardens, and a walk along the river, generally enjoying the nearby sights , the beautiful sunshine and getting our bearings.
After this we returned to the apartment for a short rest
Our first meal in Paris!
Oh, dear, the first place we found to eat was a pizza place!break. Here we collected a bottle of wine and glasses before heading back to the river and finding a table and benches where we could toast our trip with a glass of wine. We had a few looks from passerbys but nobody said anything.
Dinner was a tasty pasta dish preceded by an Irish whisky and accompanied by a couple bottles of Bordeaux and finished with coffee and the duty free Bailey's we had bought at Perth airport..After this, tiredness saw Rags go off to bed fairly early, followed by the others soon after.
Friday 11th April 2014 By about 8.30 we were all up, breakfasted and ready to go. Today was to be a day of exploration with the Eiffel Tower being the ultimate goal. We walked down to the river Seine and found a bike rack with hire bikes. We were told by an American chap yesterday that these were free for the first 30 minutes and from then on the hire was very reasonable. Without looking into it very deeply we took out 4 bikes.
These were great riding alongside the river towards
the Eiffel Tower, no traffic and a good way to see the sights. On reaching the Tower we couldn't see anywhere to park them so crossed the bridge there and wound our way up the slope amongst the tourists to the top of the other bank. Great view of the Tower from here.
We then continued following the river until we came across a cafe where we stopped for lunch. Judy and Rags scored the last one of a great salad dish on the menu consisting of a good salad(called Compagne?) topped with chicken, ham, pate and bacon pieces. A generous serve, one dish being sufficient for both of them.
We crossed a bridge on our return, passing by the Tower heading towards where we obtained the bikes originally. Just beyond here, Mark spotted a return bike rack so we checked the bikes in. Imagine our surprise when we realised that the charge system for the bikes incrseased exponentially the longer you took them out. The best way to use them was to check them in every 30 mins and get new ones. A lesson learned!
Queueing at the base of
the Eiffel Tower wasn't as horrendous as we had been led to believe. About 30 mins later we were in the lift to the second level. We intended to go to the top, but looking at the line for this, and after seeing the wonderful views at this level, we stayed where we were, enjoying taking photos of the vista before us.
Four very tired people finally reached the apartment after the long walk back and here we put our feet up and had a home-brewed coffee.
Rags realised that he had booked the hire car a day early, so making use of the free phone calls in the apartment, rang London, then the local dealer to alter this. He realised he got a good deal via the Net when they tried to charge more for a shorter hire than the original quote. Now we will just pick up the car 20 hours later!
As we hadn't done any shopping, Elna & Rags went off to get supplies for the evening meal, leaving Mark and Judy to rest their weary legs. They came back with more pasta, a tomato-based sauce and
chicken thighs. Plus a bottle of Bordeaux wine of course!
Pre-dinner drinks of Irish whisky followed, with Rags boning out the chicken for the evening pasta dish. This was voted to be very tasty, as was the wine, and coffee with Baileys to finish.
Shortly after cleaning up, Mark & Elna went off into town, Judy pulled the pin, whilst Rags spent some time getting the blog up to date.
Saturday 12th April 2014 Judy was up before 0600, she having her normal sleeping problems and needing to do her online work. Rags couldn't get back to sleep so he was up soon after.
We were out and about well before 0800 leaving you behind as you were going to meet Mark's cousin who had taken a weekend packeage from London so she could see them. They met Stephanie and explored the Pompidou Centre, wandered the Marais area.
We caught the Metro to Invalides where we changed trains to go to our destination for the day, the Chateau de Versailles. (Palace of Versailles).
On arrival, we just
The Louvre in the background
Wow, we are getting a bit warm! followed the crowd to the palace, all headed there early to avoid the bigger crowds to follow. As we had booked online and Judy had the tickets on her iPhone, we joined the entry line which only stretched about 100m ahead of us. By the time the gate opened at 0900 the line behind us was already about 200m long!
The palace is a World heritage site, and a well deserved one at that. As it states in the information brochure “A major World Heritage site welcoming nearly 15 million visitors esach year. The Palace of Versailles is a Royal residence, history museum and national historic building where the French parliament meets in congress. Set on 787 hectares of land the palace has over 200 rooms with 100 showing the pomp of the early royals, the other 100 displaying collections of paintings and sculpture. Apartments such as the King's State apartment, built in the 1670s , the Hall of Mirrors, the King's Chambers, the Council Study, the Queen's Apartment were all displayed, furnished with period furniture replacing the original furniture which was destryed during the French Revolution.
We then explored part of the huge
gardens there, with their hedges, square-trimmed trees, lakes, fountains etc before continuing on to the Palaces of Trianon and Marie-Antoinette's Estate. After viewing all this opulence that the royalty bestowed on itself, it wasn't hard to imagine why the common people, poor and often starving, revolted against the upper classes.
After 4 hours of walking around the estate both of us felt we had seen enough but can understand how locals return many times to take it all in. We did see many jogging, walking and riding bikes around the estate, this being one large area where the noise and bustle of the city can be escaped from.
On our return to the township near the railway station we made a repeat mistake of going to Starbucks for a coffee. Again we received a mediocre, overpriced coffee for our trouble. Never again! The only reason we went this time was that many local cafes were either closed or too full with the lunchtime crowd.
We had an interesting trip back. We knew which train to catch, where to change trains etc, but because of poor signage we missed getting off at
Invalides station. After realising we had missed it, we got off at the next station (along with 4 others for the same reason) and got onto the train directly opposite us to go back one station. Unfortunately, this train took off in another direction, necessitating us to get off when we could, get another train back so we could get the right one, off that one after 2 stations, onto another for the final 2 stations.
The rest of the afternoon was a relaxing one, we put our feet up and did very little physically. By early evening we went out looking for somewhere to eat, but apart from a few bars nothing was open. The area we are in is mainly with businesses, so cafes cater for this and don't do much over weekends. Instead, we looked at a couple of supermarkets before settling on some prepared food such as chicken legs, chicken cordon bleu and potato slices to which we added a lettuce salad.
With a glass or two of local wine we dined well!
Mark and Elna arrived back late after eating dinner out and cycling back in the dark,
so we had a quiet evening in, just the two of us, and were in bed before they returned..
Sunday 13th April 2014 After a bit of a sleep in we were off just before 1000 to catch the Metro to Ledru-Rollin where they hold a Sunday market. We were to meet Mark's cousin Stephanie there.
This market took both of us back to our first visit to France where we tasted the local produce for the first time.
Cheese such as Brie and another soft cheese sold for ridiculously cheap prices and the seller must have liked our accent or it was near closing as he charged a low price and gave us more than we asked for. We walked away from his stall with a huge piece of delicious Brie plus 3 other cheeses for the princely sum of 3.5 Euros (less than A$5).
We continued along and ended up with a large pack of spicy sausages, mushrooms, a huge tomato, a type known as the heart of the ox, and 3kgs of the tastiest strawberries we have had since the last time
Mark and Elna try out the swing ball
Urban spaces in France are designed to encourage community participation - - well these two didn't need encouragement! we were here.
To complete the shopping session we sat at a local bar and had a coffee plus Rags tried the local spirits which he saw other patrons drinking. Not bad, the girls also getting a shot in their coffees compliments of the house.
Stephanie, who used to visit this area as a student and later as an architect, took us on a tour of the nearby area, and a walk along an old viaduct topped with a lush park containing many varieties of plants, and a walking path which was on the way to our destination, some food street markets. We continued on, the destination being an International food fair being held on the Seine, but this was disappointing due to the crowds and the lateness of our visit.
Instead, we had one of the bananas we had previously bought before finding coffee and pastries at a bakery, Judy then buying some nice bread at a nearby spot before we found the huge Pantheon (under renovation of course). We then trained back to the apartment. Here we indulged in cheese and strawberries, plus wine of course, before we cooked
up the sausages, mushrooms, and potato, added lettuce and tomato and had a feast! Finishing off with coffee and a fig/walnut slice Elna had bought had us all replete.
Mark & Elna walked Stephanie back to the Metro as she was on her way home to London while Rags and Judy started cleaning up and making use of the washing machine so that they could leave Paris with clean gear.
The rest of the evening was spent either working online, reading or writing. A pleasant way to finish the weekend.
Monday 14th April Rags and Judy popped out early to organise a wifi sim for their trip. We located the SFR Espace store and after a wait in the queue the woman told us we needed a passport so back to the apartment we went! Mark and Elna came back with us and we got the woman to put the sim in our device but although it tried to connect it couldn't and kept disconnecting so we ended up not buying it. How disappointing!
A trip on the metro took us to a stop near
Interesting Urban Artworks
mmm, perhaps we could raid the council pickups and do one of these in Ascot? the famous Sacre Coeur Church. Once again we enjoyed the wonderful sunshine as we strolled past cafes and street artists before arriving at the church. After the obligatory circuit inside this imposing catherdral that overlooks Paris, we found a spot on the steps below where a street musician played the harp. While we listened we at the yummy ham and double cheees rolls that Elna had made.
From here we walked along the street towards the famous Mouline Rouge building. This area is quite seedy with cheap clothes, sex shops and other theatres.
The Metro from here took us to the canal for a walk. We spent some time watching a boat go through a lock and looking in a few interesting stores. Halfway to the Bastille tower the canal goes underground and a spacious urban space is created where old men play bocce, people enjoy table tennis and children run in playgrounds.
By the time we arrived at the Bastille Square it was after 5 and we were all footsore and weary so we boarded another metro to return home. On our way home from the Mtro Elna nad Judy
looked in a few shops and sent the boys for the wine!
We had discovered a CarreFour neear Sacre Coeur and made a few purchases so dinner was rice with spicy sausages and vegies and oyster sauce.
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Thelly
non-member comment
Paris
Glad to read your first Blog from Paris. Sounds and looks like you are having a wonderful holiday visiting all the places I have only read about.I wonder how many miles you have walked !! My regards to Elna and Mark. Will be waiting to hear all about the next leg of your journey and the food you are eating. Love Mum