PARIS!!! Part 3

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Our mooring at the Port de Plaisance was not free, as the one by Adrien and Benedicte had been, but it was beautifully still. We spent the first afternoon getting the boat tidy and homely looking again - there’d been little point when she was constantly thrown around on the Champs Elysee. Again we made the most of the bikes and explored off the map and every point we were interested in on it. We had a particularly memorable day going back the way had came and visiting the Eiffel Tower, Les I nvalides, Trocadero, Champs de Mars, Palais Challois, Pantheon, Jardins Du Luxembourg and Medici Fountain and cycling past Musee D’Orsay, Saint Severin and various other landmarks. The day started with an amazing lunch at ‘The Lounge’ on La Place De La Bastille. We both had a fish mixed grill which was the best I have ever tasted, accompanied with creamy risotto and crunchy julienne carrots and courgettes. Delicious! Our epic bike ride then took us a few miles up the seine passing by the monuments mentioned, through gorgeous Champs de Mars and to the Eiffel Tower. I wanted to truly conquer my inner lemming and go up it, as it was here, 6 years ago, that I had first experienced the shaking knees and rapid heart beat and had been unable to climb higher than the first observation desk. However, this was not to be done. The queues to enter the tower were massive - at least an hour for the lifts and 45 minutes to go up the stairs. And, you had to pay now for any of the options - we’d not had to pay to climb 6 years ago. We decided to give the climbing part a miss and cycled over to the Trocadero and Pallais Challois instead. Here there were stunning views of the Eiffel Tower from behind the fountains and we chilled on the grass with slushies in the sun. I soon realised that from where we were, we could have some fun ewith the Eiffel Tower. The perspective meant that if we got the camera really close to our mouths, we could make it look like we were eating the tower. We did, amongst much childish giggling, then I suggested Mike put his knees either side of the Tower. The photo looked hilarious and more childish giggling ensued. We heard more giggling coming from the French couple next to us and realised that they had seen what we were doing and were now doing the same. Ridiculously immature but the pictures are funny! Whilst chilling I looked through our Paris guide book the Capitaniere at the Port de Plaisance had given us and saw and advert for Disneyland. I really wanted to go!! Mike pulled out the map of France we’d bought a week or so earlier and we saw that the Disneyland resort was close to the River Marne. Mike agreed that when we left Paris he’d take me there - I have never been more excited - I was going to see Mickey Mouse!
The other highlight of our massive sightseeing bike ride that day was the Jardins du Luxembourg. They are really beautiful and the palace is stunning. The most tranquil and pretty part for me though was the Medici Fountain with its Koi, sculptures and trickling water.
In the remainder of our time in Paris we completed more massive bike rides (I really do think this has to be one of the best ways to discover Paris - there are bike lanes everywhere and, while they are often used by people to park their cars in, the motorists of Paris do seem to give cyclists room on the roads), visiting the Bois de Vincennes on the opposite side to the Bois De Boulogne (smaller, pretty, no prostitutes as far as we could tell) and trying to visit its Zoo there which I was gutted to learn was shut until 2011. We also visited the Parc Des Fleurs where we spent a few hours wandering amongst gorgeous flowers and trees in the sunshine whilst France’s answer to the Tweenies played on a stage in the centre. On our final night in Paris we decided to have a ‘proper’ night out. We’d been for dinner and a few beers, or had wine on the boat, a lot but hadn’t had a big, Brit style, glad rags and shots night!
We started it off with wine on the boat as we got ready and left at half 8 to have a small dinner in Bastille. Afterwards we went on a pub crawl. We paid a lot for weak cocktails in 2 places before finding a cool little bar where we had huge JD’s for a couple Euro’s a pop. To top it off, they were screening ‘RocknRolla’ so I could admire Tom Hardy, Gerard Butler and Idris Elba as we drank and chatted. We had a brilliant night and laughed a lot as we cracked jokes, downed JD and took silly photo’s. We headed next a couple other bars before ending up in a pub accompanied by a Dutch recovering drug addict who had attached himself to a Scouser, Canadian and German who were there on a business conference. We drank and chatted with them and they bought a few rounds of tequila, which Mike adn the Scouser did ‘stuntman style while me and the others shook our heads - the Canadian said ‘Why do it that way? I don’t get putting salt and lemon in your eye’ I didn’t either and me and him polished off more shots while Mike and the Scouser laughed, made noises of pain and wiped their eyes with napkins. We walked home at around 3 am and collected the bikes from the bike park on the way - managing to get them down the stairs and secured to the roof whilst drunk and in the dark. A ‘proper’ night out had been had.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Looks like your having such a fab time guys. Wish I was there with you!! Lot's of love xx