Blogs from Île-de-France, France, Europe - page 502

So, I am at work, sitting in the breakroom, thinking about my next trip. It is June 1995 and we have recently began a codeshare with Continental Airlines, that would give us many more destination choices. I am wanting to visit Paris to see the grave of Jim Morrison, and of course all the other usual sites in Paris too! I looked in the computer system and saw that the flights to Europe were mostly full, except for this one day when they were wide open. It was on! I reserved a room at the Ibis Hotel at Orly Airport. On the morning of June 18, 1995 I flew from Las Vegas to Phoenix on America West Airlines 1229. It was a 737-200 aircraft for the hour flight to Arizona. My next trip was from Phoenix ... read more

Dec 19, 1993 *City official name :Paris *Founded date : *Location :Lie de France Province *Elavation :? ft (? m) *Area :Approximately ? square miles (? km²). *Facts :Paris is the capital city of France and a French département (75). Situated on the banks of the river Seine in north-central France, it is also the capital of the Île-de-France région (also known as "Paris Region"), which encompasses Paris and its suburbs. Paris had an estimated mid-2004 population of 2,144,700. The Paris urban area, extending well beyond the city boundaries, has today an estimated population of 9.93 million. The Paris metropolitan area (including satellite towns) stood at 11.5 million in 1999 and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe. The Pari... read more

A competitive soccer game between two nations can be a friendly and exciting experience, but also a very tense and even hostile occurrence. This one lands about inbetween. The opening scene is a sign of an impressive experience; the cute French girl in the entrance line to Parc de Princes gives me the smile of a decade. Regardless of the outcome, I have my Paris face. The stadium is not among the largest of Europe, but it certainly must be one of the loudest. The acoustics are magnificent. A stadium "bowl" in its most literate sense, as opposed to its American counterparts with that name. The Swedish crowd amounts to some 2,000 fans. The rest, some 40,000, are French supporters. The noise when Martin Dahlin gives the Swedish side the lead is loud. Standing in the ... read more

I'm sure that no matter how many times you visit Paris, there is still lots left to see. This, coupled with the fact that it is the natural first destination when you cross the Channel into mainland Europe, means that any British Inter-railer inevitably spend some time there. I travelled overnight, but this was before the tunnel had opened, so after a train, a midnight ferry and another train, I arrived in Paris early in the morning, having not had much sleep. It brought back all those horrific memories of my previous Inter-railing experiences (see ). Why am I putting myself through this again exactly? My last Inter-rail adventure was to mainly Southern Europe, so this was my last chance to see some of Northern Europe before I was too old and no longer qualified for ... read more

Had a comfortable night’s sleep. It got a bit cold and since I no longer had a sleeping bag, I ended up requisitioning an SNCF blanket from the first class carriages. No where near as good as my sleeping bag, but it did the trick. When we arrived in Paris, the Australian guy then off to meet some friends, leaving the English guy and I to check out some more of Paris. First stop was the Louvre. The queue was huge, but we eventually got it. I was to be very disappointed. Like the galleries in Florence it was just full of religious art. Baby Jesus, dying Jesus, dead Jesus, the Mona Lisa, Baby Jesus, etc. De Vinci’s masterpiece did look a little out of place. The Louvre is so huge that you could walk round ... read more