Advertisement
Published: April 8th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Well this blog is a little late as we got a bit distracted in the excitement of heading home! Paris is the final stop on our European adventure and one that we've been really looking forward to, especially Karen who has had a love affair with all things French and Parisian since primary school.
We arrived on day one and found our hostel which had the strange name of 'Peace & Love'. The first night was pretty quiet having some beers in the cool bar downstairs and preparing our next 5 days in Paris. We found the metro system is very comprehensive so that you never have to walk more than 500m which is pretty cool.
First on our sightseeing list was the Louvre. We couldn't believe how big it was and after a few hours roaming the place we were a bit burned out. We got to see some the good stuff like the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo by lunch time and we were getting hungry so we took a break and after grabbing some lunch, wandered up Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. On the way back we stopped to have some coffee
and cake at a café while we watched the world go by. We walked down to the river near the tunnel where Princess Diana died and got a great view over to the Eiffel tower. The second half of the Louvre was a bit of a whirlwind but we managed to get through most of the sections. It is definitely not recommended to try and see it all in a day! After our mammoth Louvre tour we headed out to the Moulin Rouge where we booked some tickets for the next nights show at the hefty price of 89 Euros!
Day 2 again involved a lot of walking with the main sights being Opera House, Pont Neuf (oldest bridge), Palais de Justice, Conciergerie (Marie Antoinette was held here before her beheading), Notre Dame Cathedral, Pantheon, Ile St Louis, and the Bastille. After all those things we were very exhausted so went back to our hostel where Mick watched 3 six nation games straight and pretty much didn't move. That night we went to the Moulin Rouge where we were both actually quite impressed with the show so were glad we went. It was pretty full-on with heaps of singing
Champs-Élysées
Way in the background you can just see the Arc de Triomphe and dancing, half-naked chicks and at one point the lead dived into a huge pool in the stage and pretended to wrestle with some huge pythons in the water!
Our next day was pretty much taken up with the Eiffel tower. It was amazing to actually see it and watch it get larger and larger the closer we came. Going up was less fun with a 45 minute wait to get up then a line up to the next level where we got some great views before lining up again to get back down. We recovered with lunch in the park next to tower and just soaked up the atmosphere. There were guys everywhere selling cheap souvenirs and it was a mission to avoid them. That night we had dinner with Olivia and Cristin which was really nice. After 5 weeks on the road it was nice to see some friendly faces and we chatted for hours at a little cafe.
We split up for the morning the next day as Mick trekked out to the home of tennis in France at Roland Garros while Karen explored the world of Parisian shopping. To her disappointment she didn't find
Inside the Louvre
The building itself is pretty impressive...oh and there's all the art too. anything she wanted to buy (that she could afford). We met up again and then did a walking tour of the arty Montmartre district where we strolled past the cafe where Amelie worked in the film and the Basilica du Sacre Coeur with it's great view over the city. That night we had a set menu dinner in a little cafe where we tried snails (actually quite nice although a bit tricky to eat). From there we went out to the Eiffel tower to see it lit up at night. It was a beautiful night and at the hour the whole Tower sparkles for about 10 minutes which was spectacular.
On our last day in Paris we headed out in the drizzling rain to the famous Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, where all the major French families have their tombs. We also saw the graves of Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison despite getting totally lost in the cemetery. From the cemetery we headed in to catch the Eurostar to London. The trip was very fast and comfortable and we were excited to be back in London for a visit.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.178s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 53; dbt: 0.058s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb