Paris - Oh La La!
After taking a few days to recover from the chaos in Pamplona, my friend Pearl emailed to say she was in Paris and asked if I wanted to go see her there. Seeing as I had no work commitments, why not!
I went to AUT with Pearl back in 2000 when she first arrived in NZ from France to study there. We’d always said she can take me to Paris sometime, so it finally happened! I took the Eurostar on Saturday across the channel which meant a nice cruisy 2 and a half hours on a high speed train. Much easier than flying, just took the tube from my place to Waterloo Station, checked in and went through customs in about 15mins, waited 10mins for the gates to open and we could board, easy as, I highly recommend it!
Pearl met me at the station and took me to this cute little hotel she had found for us. We were in the Saint-Michel area which was quite touristy but I love playing tourist! We even had a little balcony which had a view of the Eiffel Tower to the left and a view of Notre Dame to the right, I still couldn’t believe I was actually in Paris! So we dropped my bag off and went to explore Paris. We walked to where the pyramids of the Louvre are and admired all the old buildings (I laugh when I think of how much history NZ doesn’t have) that have been there for centuries. Pearl wanted to go somewhere fancy for dinner so after some recommendations, we ended up at this very nice restaurant a short metro ride away, sitting under a little archway on the footpaths of Paris listening to all the various languages around me. It was great having Pearl with me to translate everything! Altho I did study French at school so I’m able to read most items on a menu and have a very basic conversation with the French (which was a lot more advanced after a few drinks!). I had a very yummy piece of salmon that was so fresh, it just melted your mouth, just what I felt like!
We decided to have a French breakfast the next day and go to Chateau du Versailles, highly recommended if you’re over that way. I woke up at what I thought was 9am but when we were ready to leave, I realised it must’ve been 8am we woke up, pretty early on a Sunday! We went to Notre Dame where there was only about 50 other people wandering around, so it was nice to have a bit of quiet in Paris. Went to a nice little café and had croissants, a coffee, orange juice and cake type thing and then found a train to go out to Versailles which is about 40mins out of Paris. Of course being a Sunday, the rest of Paris had decided to go there as well! But because I love being a tourist, I didn’t mind although Pearl wasn’t like the queues at all! And it was about 35C as well so staying in the shade was the key! Chateau du Versailles is the castle where King lived with his family, the castle is huge! We did a walking tour through it for about 2 hours and I know I missed some rooms. And then we went down the gardens which were absolutely amazing. Definitely scenes from old-time movies where people would have lavish parties surrounded by these massive gardens and amazing waterfalls. There are about 20 different water falls and back in the day when the King would walk around, the servants would have to turn on each one as the King walked to it. Nice work! The pictures don’t do it justice. They were also playing music so we felt like we were actually in a movie! We finished the day watching a massive water works display, sort of impressive, but apparently the show at night is better with the fireworks as well.
We headed back to Paris and went for dinner at the touristy place, full of restaurants with all the waiters trying to say they were the best around etc etc. They have what they call menu’s over there where you can get an entrée, main meal and dessert for varying prices. Of course, you get what you paid for so it wasn’t always a good idea! That nite we met a Canadian who was in Europe on business. Our tables were next to each other and we started talking about our travels and it turned out he’d been to Versailles that day as well. Being Canadian, he spoke French as well, and I managed to understand about every fifth word so was sort of able to keep up with the conversation.
Pearl was going to visit her parents in Togo when we left Paris so she spent Monday morning at the embassy trying to sort that out. I played tourist again and walked around taking more photos and going to the tourist shops to see if I wanted anything. We finally met again sometime after lunch and went to the Louvre – which is massive! We only saw a portion of it but spent a good few hours there, will have to see the rest on my next trip there (late Sept with Mum, yippee!).
We found out about another area of Paris where we were recommended we go for dinner and went to a rest called Chez Papa which was one of the highlights of Paris, great food! And funny staff which made the nite fun.
We had spent 3 days walking everywhere around Paris and were both quite exhausted from the heat, up to 40 degrees one day. I’m sure I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow every nite.
Tuesday we woke up to yet another brilliant day and met Pearls’ friends Andrew and Emma at Sacre Coeur. They’re both also kiwi’s and Andrew’s band (Batucada Sound Machine, highly recommended if you get the chance to see them live!) are touring around some of the music festivals in the UK so decided to spend a week in Paris too. We went on a boat cruise along the Seine, which was lovely to see Paris by the water, and went to the Eiffel Tower, which is amazing to actually see for real. After nearly dying in the heat again, we went to Luxemburg park and lay down on the grass for awhile enjoy gelato ice creams… hmmm….. and I kind’ve had a nap as well.
Pearl has some friends living in Paris so we were able to stay with them our last nite there. And because we loved the restaurant so much from the nite before, the 6 of us went there again.
My train was leaving at 4pm so we still had Wednesday morning to go out so we went to Musee D’Orsay with Andrew and Emma to look at yet more art. I’ve discovered I like paintings with water in them, whether it be a picture of a lake or river or waterfall. I’m sure I was a fish in my last life.
After lunch out with Pearls friends, I took the Eurostar back to London, my home for nearly 4 months.
Reality was going to hit me after spending the last 4 weekends in 3 different European countries. But that’s why I’ve come over here, to see as much of Europe as I can!
I went to AUT with Pearl back in 2000 when she first arrived in NZ from France to study there. We’d always said she can take me to Paris sometime, so it finally happened! I took the Eurostar on Saturday across the channel which meant a nice cruisy 2 and a half hours on a high speed train. Much easier than flying, just took the tube from my place to Waterloo Station, checked in and went through customs in about 15mins, waited 10mins for the gates to open and we could board, easy as, I highly recommend it!
Pearl met me at the station and took me to this cute little hotel she had found for us. We were in the Saint-Michel area which was quite touristy but I love playing tourist! We even had a little balcony which had a view of the Eiffel Tower to the left and a view of Notre Dame to the right, I still couldn’t believe I was actually in Paris! So we dropped my bag off and went to explore Paris. We walked to where the pyramids of the Louvre are and admired all the old buildings (I laugh when I think of how much history NZ doesn’t have) that have been there for centuries. Pearl wanted to go somewhere fancy for dinner so after some recommendations, we ended up at this very nice restaurant a short metro ride away, sitting under a little archway on the footpaths of Paris listening to all the various languages around me. It was great having Pearl with me to translate everything! Altho I did study French at school so I’m able to read most items on a menu and have a very basic conversation with the French (which was a lot more advanced after a few drinks!). I had a very yummy piece of salmon that was so fresh, it just melted your mouth, just what I felt like!
We decided to have a French breakfast the next day and go to Chateau du Versailles, highly recommended if you’re over that way. I woke up at what I thought was 9am but when we were ready to leave, I realised it must’ve been 8am we woke up, pretty early on a Sunday! We went to Notre Dame where there was only about 50 other people wandering around, so it was nice to have a bit of quiet in Paris. Went to a nice little café and had croissants, a coffee, orange juice and cake type thing and then found a train to go out to Versailles which is about 40mins out of Paris. Of course being a Sunday, the rest of Paris had decided to go there as well! But because I love being a tourist, I didn’t mind although Pearl wasn’t like the queues at all! And it was about 35C as well so staying in the shade was the key! Chateau du Versailles is the castle where King lived with his family, the castle is huge! We did a walking tour through it for about 2 hours and I know I missed some rooms. And then we went down the gardens which were absolutely amazing. Definitely scenes from old-time movies where people would have lavish parties surrounded by these massive gardens and amazing waterfalls. There are about 20 different water falls and back in the day when the King would walk around, the servants would have to turn on each one as the King walked to it. Nice work! The pictures don’t do it justice. They were also playing music so we felt like we were actually in a movie! We finished the day watching a massive water works display, sort of impressive, but apparently the show at night is better with the fireworks as well.
We headed back to Paris and went for dinner at the touristy place, full of restaurants with all the waiters trying to say they were the best around etc etc. They have what they call menu’s over there where you can get an entrée, main meal and dessert for varying prices. Of course, you get what you paid for so it wasn’t always a good idea! That nite we met a Canadian who was in Europe on business. Our tables were next to each other and we started talking about our travels and it turned out he’d been to Versailles that day as well. Being Canadian, he spoke French as well, and I managed to understand about every fifth word so was sort of able to keep up with the conversation.
Pearl was going to visit her parents in Togo when we left Paris so she spent Monday morning at the embassy trying to sort that out. I played tourist again and walked around taking more photos and going to the tourist shops to see if I wanted anything. We finally met again sometime after lunch and went to the Louvre – which is massive! We only saw a portion of it but spent a good few hours there, will have to see the rest on my next trip there (late Sept with Mum, yippee!).
We found out about another area of Paris where we were recommended we go for dinner and went to a rest called Chez Papa which was one of the highlights of Paris, great food! And funny staff which made the nite fun.
We had spent 3 days walking everywhere around Paris and were both quite exhausted from the heat, up to 40 degrees one day. I’m sure I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow every nite.
Tuesday we woke up to yet another brilliant day and met Pearls’ friends Andrew and Emma at Sacre Coeur. They’re both also kiwi’s and Andrew’s band (Batucada Sound Machine, highly recommended if you get the chance to see them live!) are touring around some of the music festivals in the UK so decided to spend a week in Paris too. We went on a boat cruise along the Seine, which was lovely to see Paris by the water, and went to the Eiffel Tower, which is amazing to actually see for real. After nearly dying in the heat again, we went to Luxemburg park and lay down on the grass for awhile enjoy gelato ice creams… hmmm….. and I kind’ve had a nap as well.
Pearl has some friends living in Paris so we were able to stay with them our last nite there. And because we loved the restaurant so much from the nite before, the 6 of us went there again.
My train was leaving at 4pm so we still had Wednesday morning to go out so we went to Musee D’Orsay with Andrew and Emma to look at yet more art. I’ve discovered I like paintings with water in them, whether it be a picture of a lake or river or waterfall. I’m sure I was a fish in my last life.
After lunch out with Pearls friends, I took the Eurostar back to London, my home for nearly 4 months.
Reality was going to hit me after spending the last 4 weekends in 3 different European countries. But that’s why I’ve come over here, to see as much of Europe as I can!
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