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Published: April 30th 2007
The Eurostar
300km/h of powerBonjour from beautiful Paris!
We ducked over to Paris for a 3 day weekend to enjoy the sites, the food, and of course, the vino!
Day 1. We took the Eurostar from London to Paris. This beast of a machine does 300km/hr, meaning that 2.5 hours later we were in the middle of Paris! Great deals can be found on the Eurostar website, and luckily for us there was a special deal on a beautiful hotel called the Claridge Bellman, located right next to Avenue Champs-Elysees. We checked in and were escorted to the top floor to our loft room overlooking the streets of Paris.
After a bit of local exploring we were off to a wine tasting evening. We were first there, so we had first pick of the seats - but soon into it, and getting a little hungry, we realised we had sat on a table without the cheeses and breads! DAMN! So I was up and down, up and down, fetching chunks of cheese and bread to keep our hunger at bay!
We tasted 1 x champagne, 3 x whites and 4 x reds. By far the best was the Lelarge-Ducrocq Champagne (Chardonnay - Pinot Nior).
Day 2. After being ripped off 16 Euro for 2 x orange juices with breakfast it was off to a day tour of Paris. The morning included a drive through the oldest parts of Paris (the Marais District), the Latin Quarter, the Luxembourg Gardens, the Saint-Germain-des-Pres District, Place de la Concorde, Avenue Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe. Just before lunch we boarded a small boat to cruise down the Seine to Notre-Dame. This place is amazing, and is still used today by the Catholic Church. We happened to be there on a Sunday and were lucky enough to see a church service, and hear the giant pipe organ in full song. In the afternoon we were herd like cattle onto a massive barge with seats and told to hold silver 'paddles' to our ears to hear the commentary. Erin found it amusing to keep changing the language on my 'paddle', so I was often hearing the tour in Spanish, French and Japanese - not that this mattered because this cruise was soooooooo boring and uncomfortable (see the photo of the 'paddles' and other enthused tourists). I think they provided the paddle so you could smack yourself over the
Wine tasting
Now..what table would you sit at (hint: the one with the cheese you idiot!) head to put you out of your misery! Note to self (and others): dont take cruises 'on mass' down the Seine unless you feel you need to punish yourself.
Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower. The pleasant, sunny day however, quickly turned evil when a huge thunder storm came whipping through (which Erin was very excited about). We opted to take the stairs up to avoid the queues, but got very wet climbing the 1000+ stairs. Even in the rain it was a gorgeous view across Paris with the lightning and thunder. To warm ourselves up afterwards we indulged in a couple of chocolate and banana crepes.
That night we found a great little French restaurant across the road from our hotel. The food and wine were great. The waitress took some time out to teach us a few French essentials when ordering a meal, and the waiter also helped us choose a good red wine.
Day 3. We devoted this day to stroll from Arc de Triomphe down Avenue Champs Elysees through the gardens and across to the Louvre. We unfortunately only gave ourselves 3 hours to wander the galleries of the Louvre, but we did
Marie Antoinette was imprisoned here
was the Queen consort of France, as the wife of Louis XVI. she was executed by guillotine at the height of the French Revolution in 1793, for the crime of treason.
see the world renowned Mona Lisa and the statue of Aphrodite. Then it was back to London on the Eurostar to get back into our daiy routine of work, work, work, so we can take another trip very soon!
So our weekend was done - and it went so quickly. Paris is an absolutely gorgeous city that we will most definitely visit again.
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David & Lyn
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Congratulations
Congrats on getting your first BLOG going. The pictures are great. We look forwad to many more entries as you have new experiences.