Saturday
We woke early and headed down for breakfast. As expected in France there was lots of coffee and pastries on offer. But, as Im English to the core, I hit the sausage, bacon, mushrooms and eggs. Just a shame there were no hash brows or baked beans! As it was so close, we decided to take a stroll down the banks of the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower.
DW Ruth
We didnt actually reach it as I dont like heights and I certainly didnt want to go up, besides I wanted to visit the Arc De Triomphe and walk down the Champs Elysees.
We bought a couple of 3 day passes for the bus, metro and rail systems (only 18 euros each) and headed off to the Arc. We didnt know this at the time but there is a subway to the Arc which is in the centre of a huge traffic island so braved running across which was a very stupid thing to do! Its even more dangerous than trying to cross I-Drive on foot! The Arc De Triomphe is a wonder in itself; a fantastic piece of architecture that commemorates French battles. We couldve gone up it but as I said about the Eiffel Tower - I dont like heights. Roller coasters yes heights no.
Ruth at the Arc
After getting some photos of the Arc we walked off down the Champs Elysees past all the shops, Loius Vitton, Chanel (more on her later), Cartier, and yes, Disney. There are loads of cafes on here, many of them have tables and chairs in the street, which, to my surprise, are really nice to use. After the shops and cafes the Champs Elysees goes past the Grand Palais which looks great during the day but utterly stunning at night when the glass roof is illuminated.
Further down we came to The Place De La Concorde, a massive square with an Egyptian Obelisk which (strangely) doesnt look out of place. The square is surrounded by beautiful buildings and for the first time it really struck me at how beautiful Paris is. I know London, York and other English cities have historic buildings but Paris, to me, seems to beat them easily. Its not just the number and size, its their beauty as well. Leading on from here we entered the Jardin De Tuileries, some wonderful gardens and ponds that lead up to the front of The Louvre Museum. The queues for this were immense! If wed had more time I might have liked to visit the museum but, as a friend of mine is fond of telling me, a lot of the more famous works are fakes with the real ones in a vault for sake-keeping.
The Louvre
Feeling peckish, we headed away from the Louvre and back towards the Opera district where I know there are some big stores and cafes. We ended up in small café and ordered toasted butties, pastries and water which went down a treat. Now down to the serious business of gift shopping. We had to get something for the children and my Mum for looking after them and its better to do it on the first day to get it out of the way. We hit the Lafayette stores (there are three of them!) and sorted presents out for everyone. We had another stroll around the shops before deciding to head back to the hotel for a battery recharge.
After a well earned rest (and the typically English mug of tea, never leave the country without it!), we headed back out and walked to the Eiffel Tower. By now the queues had died down but I still didnt want to go up
So we headed off into the side streets around the tower to find food. Unfortunately, our restaurant search was curtailed by rain but we found a nice little restaurant where Ruth had roast duck and I had Norwegian Eggs with strips of salmon. Melt-In-Your-Mouth goodness! Luckily the rain had died down when we left the restaurant and we made our way through the city and crossed one of the many bridges over the Seine to end up back near the Grand Palais. Ruth decided she wanted to make the most of the evening and to see the inside out building, otherwise known as the Pompidou Centre. Having arrived there on the Metro I was surprised how busy the area was this is obviously a hip area on a weekend night.
The centre looked good but I wish Id had a chance to see it in daylight. Moving on from here we walked through some of the side streets past cafes and bars then IO made a wrong turn and we ended up on a street with sex clubs / shops and bars. Whoops. The only nice thing about walking down that street was the way that Ruth held onto my arm and stayed very close. I guess having a 6ft 1 monster on your arm is useful at time for scaring people off! The experience of being in such a dodgy street put us off after this so we headed back to the safety of our hotel, yet another mug of tea and to crash out for the night.
We woke early and headed down for breakfast. As expected in France there was lots of coffee and pastries on offer. But, as Im English to the core, I hit the sausage, bacon, mushrooms and eggs. Just a shame there were no hash brows or baked beans! As it was so close, we decided to take a stroll down the banks of the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower.
DW Ruth
We didnt actually reach it as I dont like heights and I certainly didnt want to go up, besides I wanted to visit the Arc De Triomphe and walk down the Champs Elysees.
We bought a couple of 3 day passes for the bus, metro and rail systems (only 18 euros each) and headed off to the Arc. We didnt know this at the time but there is a subway to the Arc which is in the centre of a huge traffic island so braved running across which was a very stupid thing to do! Its even more dangerous than trying to cross I-Drive on foot! The Arc De Triomphe is a wonder in itself; a fantastic piece of architecture that commemorates French battles. We couldve gone up it but as I said about the Eiffel Tower - I dont like heights. Roller coasters yes heights no.
Ruth at the Arc
After getting some photos of the Arc we walked off down the Champs Elysees past all the shops, Loius Vitton, Chanel (more on her later), Cartier, and yes, Disney. There are loads of cafes on here, many of them have tables and chairs in the street, which, to my surprise, are really nice to use. After the shops and cafes the Champs Elysees goes past the Grand Palais which looks great during the day but utterly stunning at night when the glass roof is illuminated.
Further down we came to The Place De La Concorde, a massive square with an Egyptian Obelisk which (strangely) doesnt look out of place. The square is surrounded by beautiful buildings and for the first time it really struck me at how beautiful Paris is. I know London, York and other English cities have historic buildings but Paris, to me, seems to beat them easily. Its not just the number and size, its their beauty as well. Leading on from here we entered the Jardin De Tuileries, some wonderful gardens and ponds that lead up to the front of The Louvre Museum. The queues for this were immense! If wed had more time I might have liked to visit the museum but, as a friend of mine is fond of telling me, a lot of the more famous works are fakes with the real ones in a vault for sake-keeping.
The Louvre
Feeling peckish, we headed away from the Louvre and back towards the Opera district where I know there are some big stores and cafes. We ended up in small café and ordered toasted butties, pastries and water which went down a treat. Now down to the serious business of gift shopping. We had to get something for the children and my Mum for looking after them and its better to do it on the first day to get it out of the way. We hit the Lafayette stores (there are three of them!) and sorted presents out for everyone. We had another stroll around the shops before deciding to head back to the hotel for a battery recharge.
After a well earned rest (and the typically English mug of tea, never leave the country without it!), we headed back out and walked to the Eiffel Tower. By now the queues had died down but I still didnt want to go up
So we headed off into the side streets around the tower to find food. Unfortunately, our restaurant search was curtailed by rain but we found a nice little restaurant where Ruth had roast duck and I had Norwegian Eggs with strips of salmon. Melt-In-Your-Mouth goodness! Luckily the rain had died down when we left the restaurant and we made our way through the city and crossed one of the many bridges over the Seine to end up back near the Grand Palais. Ruth decided she wanted to make the most of the evening and to see the inside out building, otherwise known as the Pompidou Centre. Having arrived there on the Metro I was surprised how busy the area was this is obviously a hip area on a weekend night.
The centre looked good but I wish Id had a chance to see it in daylight. Moving on from here we walked through some of the side streets past cafes and bars then IO made a wrong turn and we ended up on a street with sex clubs / shops and bars. Whoops. The only nice thing about walking down that street was the way that Ruth held onto my arm and stayed very close. I guess having a 6ft 1 monster on your arm is useful at time for scaring people off! The experience of being in such a dodgy street put us off after this so we headed back to the safety of our hotel, yet another mug of tea and to crash out for the night.
