A Tale Of Two Cities .... Paris

---

I arrived in Paris late in the day and jumped into onto the metro down to the Eiffel Tower where the hostel I was staying in. I checked in, planned what I was going to do tomorrow.

27th Feb

I arrived early at Notre Dame and had to join the queue that had all ready started to form. When we got inside we climbed up the narrow stairwells up to the top of the cathedral. Eventually, breathless we reached the top with views of across Paris. I found on top my long lost cousins (one of the gargoyles) and had a picture with him before returning down to the ground. For most of the day just wondered around soaking up the atmosphere, not really going any where.

My next stop was the Arc Du Triomphe, I waited outside the metro station for my mates and they had already been here a couple of days and were staying a bit longer then me. They ended up being half an hour late and I wasn’t best pleased. I thought that the hardest thing was crossing the busy road full of French maniacs behind the wheel but I was mistaken when we went inside it; we were greeted by stairs, lots of them. They seemed to go on for ever and ever and ever. We eventually got the top and I just appreciated the view of the Champs - Elysees from up above; people seemed to be little ants going about there own business. We made our way back down the stairs which was a lot easier then going up!

We walked down the Champs - Elysees; stopping to sit and eat a sandwich from one of the many little café lining the Champs - Elysees. We passed a mixture of chic restaurant and little cafes; impressive shops and little touristy shops selling not only tourist tat but selling Rugby World Cup tat as well as the Rugby World Cup is being held here in Paris. We find a bar that is showing that days Rugby on the way down the Champs - Elysees so we stop to make this bar out home for the next couple of hours. We get talking to one of the bar staff about the rugby and he wants to know who we all follows; the lads say England, Wales, Ireland and I say Italy, the waiter tells me that Italy aint a real rugby team and then I ask is that the reason that they don’t sell Italy rugby tops in there and he agrees. Bastard! I hate the French, We watch the rugby and the beers flow till the sun is setting when we head off to find some more bars and places to drink. I show the lads where the district with all the bars are and they tell me that they can get us there and take the map off me; we spend most of the evening lost, looking for somewhere to have a few drinks. We eventually find a bar and consume a few pints. The night gets on and I retire to my hostel, arranging with the lads to meet up in the morning at the Eiffel Tower at 9am to try and beat the queues.

28th Feb

9am and the lads are nowhere to be seen. Eventually they roll up at 10.15 and the queues are massive. We wait and wait and wait. Eventually we start to climb the tower. Jumping in the lifts, we ascend the tower; getting off at the 2nd floor, looking out at Paris and then we walked round to another lift to get to the top level of the tower. Its was ok; another thing to tick off the list, another thing to say you have done, right? We made our way back to the bottom and this is where I left the lads, they were off to Roland Garros to do a stadium tour or something whilst I jumped back on the metro and made my way back to the Arc Du Triomphe and made my way to the bottom of the Champ - Elysees; walked though the Jardin des Tuileries to the Louvre. Queued for ages and when eventually I did get in had to fight my way to get a picture of the Mona Lisa which I didn’t like, to get away from the people and all the hussle and bustle over the Mona Lisa I went and had a look at the Egyptian Antiquities, when I finally found it I was amazed at all the little bits and pieces they had collected and even had a pink granite sphinx.

I made my way to the hostel, packed and left, heading for the airport. I brought my ticket and jumped onto the metro headed to go Gare Du Nord. I got to Gare Du Nord and was waiting on the platform for a train to go to Charles Du Galle airport but none of them seemed to be going that way. A homeless person who spoke broken English eventually informed me that the airport trains had today been moved to go from another platform; I wish that I had paid more attention in French class, I threw him my last couple of Euro's and changed platforms, got on the train and fell asleep. I reached the ticket barriers and tried to go threw them and they didn’t open, I tried again and no nothing. I had forgotten to validate my ticket on the metro system, I threw my bag over the barriers, took a running jump over the barriers and got spotted by a rather tubby ticket officer who gave chase to me but I managed to lose him in the airport, checked in and went though security leaving Paris behind.

---

Photos

My Cousin The Gargoyle
Do you think he is better looking the me?

Champ - Elysees
Top of The Arc Du Triomphe