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Published: November 16th 2007
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Yes, yes, I know...it's been two weeks since I was there. There's no excuse, but hey! At least I'm updating now, right?
Because our flight left at the ungodly hour of 6:45am, and trains don't run that early, we had to get to the airport the night before and basically sleep there. Not so much fun, but since we staked out the most comfortable chairs in the place it wasn't bad. So I was feeling a big cranky when we left, a feeling exacerbated by my first ever experience of flying through another plane's wake. For those of you who haven't, it's a split-second where you feel like you're free-falling. Literally everyone on the plane gasped at the same moment, because we all thought, you know, we were going to die. But the captain came on and explained to us, so everything was okay after that.
Arrived at Beauvais airport, about an hour and fifteen minutes south of Paris. It was cloudy and overcast and pretty darn cold, so I tried to sleep on the bus into town instead of looking at the scenery. Unfortunately, since we had the world's DUMBEST bus driver, that didn't work out for me.
He drove by several exits clearly marked "PARIS" about three times each...he'd pass it, then turn around, then pass it again, then turn around and pass it AGAIN! Unbelieivable. The funniest part was once we got back to it, everybody on the bus shouting "A la DROIT" for "Stay Right!"
We did eventually make it, though. To Paris!! The downtown area, which wasn't very exciting, but still. Paris!! So we bugged the ticket guy on the Metro to figure out which pass we needed to buy (after walking about half a mile to find a metro station that wasn't closed for construction, that is), stopping briefly at l'Arc de Triomph on the way. Checked into our hotel (tangerine and chartreuse decor was offputting, but it was clean), then hopped back on the metro to catch the RER train down to...Versailles!!
Versailles was beautiful, huge, and insanely crowded with people. I wouldn't recommend going on a Saturday, as we had to wait in line for a good hour to get tickets and then to get inside, and so we only got to see a small chunk of the place before they closed for the evening. The palace is truly
amazing, though. Huge vaulted ceilings with grand paintings, correspondingly huge furniture, visible secret passages in the King's and Queen's chambers...just like the Man in the Iron Mask, incidentally 😉
So after they closed we headed back into Paris and went to check out...La Tour Eiffel! At night! Oh, it was so gorgeous. Again, had to wait in line forever, but it was worth it even though we were freezing by the time we actually got to go in. The view from the top was spectacular (I'm running out of adjectives again!)...you can see the entire city, and it was all lit up. Wonderful. Not so wonderful walking down the stairs from the second level, though, but at least it was *down* not *up*! After that we stopped at a nice little cafe for dinner before catching the metro back to the hotel.
The next morning we slept in a bit to rest up from the previous day. Got breakfast at the little bakery around the corner (fresh croissants=amazing) and ate en route the Musee du Louvre! Once we got there I was in Da Vinci Code heaven...everywhere you look, something they mention! Had to stand in line for
a long time again, but it was definitely worth it. SOO crowded, though! I'd love to go back on a week day in January or something, when there'd be fewer people (the first Sunday of the month is free, so I assume that's why it was absolutely packed...or at least part of why.). Anyway, got to see the pyramid, the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, a bunch of Da Vincis and a bunch of other great stuff. I wandered through Greco-Roman and Etruscan antiquities, the medieval Louvre historical section, and bits with ancient Egyptian works. Very interesting, but I was sooo tired by the time we'd been there for two hours! So we left, had lunch, and hopped back on the Metro.
We got out and walked up to the Cathedral du Sacre-Coeur, which was amazing, but we couldn't go inside because it was Sunday and there were a ton of people. Got some nice photos, though. Then we walked up to the neighborhood where they shot the film "Amelie" and saw the two Windmills! On the way back to our hotel we walked along the Seine, which was a lovely walk at night, and got some
more pics of the Eiffel Tower.
The next morning we got up super early and walked down to Notre Dame! I honestly think this was one of my favorite parts. It was a beautiful morning and the cathedral is gorgeous. Too bad we weren't supposed to take photos inside...I snuck one without the flas, but they were having a Mass and I didn't want to get thrown out, so I stopped there. Took plenty of the outside, though! Then stopped at a few cheap souvenir shops nearby before heading back downtown to catch the bus for the airport.
This time the bus driver knew what he was doing. Made it to Beauvais with no problems, and as much as I think that airport was awful, we made it back to Glasgow with no problems. 😊 And that was Paris!
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