This time last week we were in Paris (oh what a shame we're not still there) and were being uber touristy, as is acceptable in such places as Paris.
After arriving into Paris very late on Friday 22nd Aug, we got to our hotel and crashed out at about 1am... The bed was the most comfortable I've ever known (due to the fact that there was a feather duvet underneath the sheets as well as on top of us) so sleep was pretty much instantaneous...
When we woke up and left to begin our adventure properly we found that, rather conveniently, our hotel was situated a two minute walk from La Defense metro station which we needed to see pretty much everything we'd planned to see and more. These included (cue photos...)
...The Louvre, inevitably...
As you can see, the Venus de Milo was surrounded by people snapping at her feverishly. But we did get a photo up close, with some weirdo in the foreground;
We had a Chocolat Chaud each, which took rather a long time to arrive at our table. I blame Kieran, who spoke to the waiter in English... one of those waiters who like to have a bit of fun if he doesn't like certain customers perhaps!...
25 minutes later...
Anyway, we made our way out of the Louvre and towards the Champs Elysees, where we bought the grand total of two chocolate eclairs and a fruit juice as everything else was way out of our price range. We did stop by this old thing though...
And there's Kieran too...
After returning to La Defense for a nap, as we were shattered (Here's Kieran in a kind of lollypop land, not in his dreams but actually La Defense),
Then we went out for dinner at 8pm at which I managed to order raw beef... which was pretty nice actually... although obviously a stark contrast to the veggie option K had (Pasta).
Then we took a stroll around Les Jardins Tuileries where there was a funfair...
After another night's sleep in the most comfortable bed in the world, and hot chocolate and pain au raisins, we went to a landmark that needs no introduction...
...to my embarrassment while buying the tickets I tripped up in my French pronunciation, and instead of saying deux personnes moins vingt-cinque ans sil vous plais [sp] I said deux poissons moins vingt-cinque ans sil vous plais Thankfully I was understood just the same, given the circumstances... marvelous...
And then we climbed the many many many steps... gloating at the people still queuing as we did so...
Then after a lunch of sandwiches and because I love the film of Amelie, we climbed some more steps to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur... and looked out over the garden used in the film, realising of course the way that it had been dressed up in the name of artistic license.
Looking up the hill...
And down the hill...
We went inside too, but we are respectful tourists and therefore did not take photos. I lit a candle too, which was rather nice... The nuns' singing mass was beautiful and the atmosphere was certainly a blessed one... even the most talkative tourists were hushed into peaceful silence!
As we were apparently in the mood to marvel at cathedrals we made our way to Notre Dame, and got in very quickly. However, we left there steaming with rage (Kieran more than me) at the way in which hundreds of people were chatting, squeaking their shoes on the floor, videoing the worship, and generally gawking at the people in funny costumes as if it had all been put on like a circus show. We decided the best thing to do was to get some supper...
Where my Date became very animated in conversation.
And its a shame this picture came out blurry...
...but the waiter was really moody, so we didn't think we'd ask him to do a re-take. Please also notice the ketchup bottle on the table... maybe he thought that we English/American people couldn't eat a meal without it!
We had the best weather on the last day and even found a place less likely to be found by tourists passing through... and I was quite pleased to be able to direct a little old french lady, in french, to the boulangerie, as seen here...
Yummy!
Anyway, I am aware that this blog post is insanely long, and Kieran wouldn't have written half so much, or put in so many pictures... you lucky things!
So I bid you adieu. More anon.
4 comments:
Ah j'adore Paree - it's my favourite, favourite place. Carl and I were there at exactly the same time as you last year and it peed it down unrelentingly which a) I'm glad it didn't for you and b) goes some way to showing how much I love it considering I saw it all looking very damp, grey and murky.
Glad you had fun!
xxxx
heh, it did rain while we were coming down from the Eiffel tower actually, but thanks to my cunning umbrella we were mostly fine. It didn't set in, so all was good.
We managed to order raw beef in Paris on our honeymoon. Rather embarrasingly we showed ourselves to be english morons by asking for it to be cooked so it came back with chips!
Glad you had a good time.
I will send you an invite so you can blog in your own name.
Looks like you had a great time. I too love Paris to visit. I am SO impressed by a) the number of photos you loaded and b) the fact that they are actually beside the relevant text. My photos and text tend to the random rather than precise location wise.
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