Paris....

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PARIS

Paris was never really high on my ‘must see’ list in Europe, more on the ‘should see’ list. I haven’t ever been one of the girls who have dreamt of going to Paris with a loved one to be proposed to and do all those typical lovey dovey things, more so to go for the history, buildings and art of the place. So, thankfully I’m here on my own, not in love, and as a result it turned out I liked it more than I expected.

Another early start and 4 different trains (the efficient Swiss rail service and the superfast but not on time French train) took me on a comfy and scenic but long journey (and brief stop for lunch in Basel) into Paris. And as luck would have it upon arrival in Paris the rain decided to make an appearance. A quick navigation of the local Paris subway/Metro system (ignoring the weird guys trying to sell me a ticket for a cheaper price if I ‘walked this way’), I checked into a very modern hostel and thought about how to spend my first night in Paris.

Due to the now pouring rain, I decided it may not be very comfortable to participate in a walking or bike tour, so I found out The Louvre museum was open late on a Wednesday night and joined 3 young Canadian girls in checking out this amazing place at twilight. Night time was definitely the time to see The Louvre and it’s famous Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo attractions as I got straight in, it was cheaper, and there were no crowds etc which meant you could breeze through the exhibits you didn’t care so much for and concentrate on the ones you did (I liked the Egyptian one myself).

I didn’t realise how big this museum was, and watched with jealousy at the many sketch artists who sat in front of sculptures and drew fantastic, realistic sketches - I was very impressed (compared to my stick figure crime scene drawings which are often laughed at in court - art was not a talent of mine). After a quick bite to eat, and since the rain had now stopped, the young Canadian girls and I decided to check out the famous Notre Dame Cathedral since we were in the area, walking past many a local attraction along the way before finding our way back to the hostel to listen to the Reggae music concert with the best collection of afro hair do’s I’ve seen.

HUGE day Thursday - consisting of a lot of stairs and making things up along the way! Up in time for the free breakfast at good old St Christopher’s Hostel (coffee and nutella on French bread stick - healthy I know), and although it was again RAINING I prepared for a big day out and about on my own. First stop was a train to the Eiffel Tower through the gardens around Trocadero. Not bad, pretty much what I was expecting (although didn’t realise how brown it was painted) and with the rain there was practically no lines, except for fighting my way past the one hundred African French men jiggling the worst souvenir key rings I’ve seen (don’t get me started on the men trying to put the string on your finger - I’ve heard the stories of idiots and wasn’t going to stick around to see it).

Given the rain and low cloud situation, the view was not spectacular at first when I went up to the very top, but I still liked being up high and the weather soon behaved itself enough to see most things (or at least make out where things should be). I spent a bit of time up the tower and the main viewing deck just taking in the views, then battled my way down to the grounds and parks below and up towards the Champ de Mars and Left Bank area.

I figured I’d be doing a fair bit of walking today but with the rain and the distance to cover what I wanted to see, I’d invested in a bunch of metro tickets and soon felt like a local on the subway system (took 7 trains this day alone). After the Eiffel Tower I made my way up to the worlds largest traffic round-about - the Arc de Triomph’ where I climbed the 284 stairs to what I think was the best view of Paris. Possibly the best thing about this view was the 100 or so Fireman who were having a ceremony there.

After a spot of lunch and stroll down the Champ Elysees, I made my way over to the Catacombes for what was an interesting walk down in the dungeons beneath Paris. Down 20 metres (or 130 steps), I was soon winding my way along the 1.6km trenches full of millions of human bones stacked so orderly it could only have been done by someone with a touch of OCD. Now, I’ve seen my fair share of bodies and even I found this one a little spooky. Anywho....

Next I made my way up to Montmartre area and up the stairs to the Sacre Coeur church where I was kindly asked out by a Frenchman to have dinner at the restaurant he worked at so I help him with his English, and he would teach me some useful French....flattering, but no thanks - I had stuff to do. So, I followed my nose and was soon eating a sweet crepe with nutella and banana - yummo. But to walk that off I went on a Fred type of walk that doesn’t involve using a map and ended up in the PIgalle Red light district and where the Moulin Rouge is (why do all my random walks always end up in the sus areas?).

But back to Eiffel tower I went (past the Australian embassy and flag) to start a night bike tour (again, mostly Americans - I was the token Auzzie). I’d heard good things about this night ‘Fat Tire’ bike tour and given my new passion for riding beach cruisers I was not disappointed over the next 5 hours. Starting under the Paris’ most famous icon, we rode through the Left Bank streets down St-Germain, to Notre Dame for gelato, along the River Seine to the Ste-Chapelle and Palais de Justice areas, through the trendy Latin Quarter, the Louvre, the Concorde obelisk, and down to the canal where we went for a one hour river canal tour with a few glasses of red wine thrown in where we had the pleasure of seeing the Eiffel tower going off with 2 of its light shows. After the cruise we rode the bikes back under the Tower and got back just in time to make one of the last trains back for the night. A late night but a highly recommend way of seeing Paris.

I have really been enjoying using and getting to know all the local public transport systems during my travels, even when I got on the train next to a black African transsexual woman with massive muscles (either that or Serena Williams was still in town after the recent French Open).

If you know Paris you’ll see that I didn’t do things in the most logical way, but as usual I did it my way and had a great time just exploring how I wanted to. I found the French to be nice people (with no predicted rudeness experienced), Paris an easy city to get around and I could spend many a day here.

But, onwards I travel.

Next stop - BELGIUM

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Photos

The Louvre Pyramids
Great view at dusk

Me up the Eiffel Tower
Not a bad view .... if you can see it

Arc di Triumphe top view
Best view in Paris

The Eiffel Tower
With big screen below in readiness for the soccer world cup

Notre Dame
Absolutely massive

Me at the Arc
Yep, climbed up the stairs to the top

The Mona Lisa
Up close and personal

Venus Di Milo
I wonder what it would look like with arms.....

Weird
But careful, he's armed with a light saber.

Rugby in Paris
The Tah's were with me in spirit

Eiffel Tower
Going off on its lights display

And that's how big she is?
So small.....blink and you miss it

Egyptian exhibition
Pretty in Gold