Where: PARIS
When: November 4th - 6th, 2011
With: Dave
I've been batting around how best to show this trip - it was only a weekend, but as you can imagine, there were a lot of things to see, and shockingly, I took many pictures. Additionally, this blog site will very randomly erase an entire night's worth of wit and hard work on an unpublished page if there is too much stuff on an entry. So I'm going to try breaking the weekend out by activity - I apologize if there are too many links! Hopefully it works!
For our first journey out of England, it seemed only appropriate to do the closest trip available. First of all, taking a train to Paris is AMAZING. I'm used to a 2 hour train ride getting me to like Philadelphia, not a different country. Second, you don't really need to plan ahead, so it was pretty fun to be able to plan the entire trip 2 days earlier.
Dave and I met up in London's St. Pancras station on Friday night, and within 2 hours, we were in Paris Gare du Nord station. First stop was dinner. Dave has a French classmate who very kindly provided us an extensive list of restaurants and bars for us to try. So we picked one, hopped in a cab, attempted to say the name of the place several times before having to show the cab driver the name of the restaurant written down for him to understand us, and we were off!
Paris was a lot smaller than I imagined. As we drove in the cab from the train, I was fascinated by how tiny the buildings were. I know it's Europe and stuff, but I think I pictured more tall buildings.
We arrived at a very tiny corner bistro, and did our best to ask for a table on a busy Friday night without speaking French and without reservations. While the local recommendation is great to have, it also means the waiters aren't expecting to cater to a couple of tourists with barely any ability to speak French. However, they obliged and gave us a table, and we had an amazing meal.
Dave had foie gras, which as indicated by the title of this entry, is, well...not the most appetizing when translated and written out on an English menu. I was not a fan. However, I had an incredible lamb entree, we had a great bottle of wine, and a wonderful dessert. It was the perfect starting meal for our trip.
We left the restaurant, hopped in a cab, and headed to the hotel. This is where I got really excited. After crossing the Seine, we drove past some of the staple sites, including Notre Dame and the Louvre. In the distance, I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Then I realized how long its been since I've been somewhere new that has such iconic figures. I forgot how exciting it is when you see something in person for the first time after you've seen it millions of times in photos. I was so giddy that I think the cab driver was laughing at me.
After arriving in the hotel, we decided to head off into the night, even though it was almost midnight. We were staying at the Hotel Garden Elysee, which I would definitely recommend for a central location at a totally reasonable price.
First site: Arc de Triomphe (click for photos)
When: November 4th - 6th, 2011
With: Dave
I've been batting around how best to show this trip - it was only a weekend, but as you can imagine, there were a lot of things to see, and shockingly, I took many pictures. Additionally, this blog site will very randomly erase an entire night's worth of wit and hard work on an unpublished page if there is too much stuff on an entry. So I'm going to try breaking the weekend out by activity - I apologize if there are too many links! Hopefully it works!
For our first journey out of England, it seemed only appropriate to do the closest trip available. First of all, taking a train to Paris is AMAZING. I'm used to a 2 hour train ride getting me to like Philadelphia, not a different country. Second, you don't really need to plan ahead, so it was pretty fun to be able to plan the entire trip 2 days earlier.
Dave and I met up in London's St. Pancras station on Friday night, and within 2 hours, we were in Paris Gare du Nord station. First stop was dinner. Dave has a French classmate who very kindly provided us an extensive list of restaurants and bars for us to try. So we picked one, hopped in a cab, attempted to say the name of the place several times before having to show the cab driver the name of the restaurant written down for him to understand us, and we were off!
Paris was a lot smaller than I imagined. As we drove in the cab from the train, I was fascinated by how tiny the buildings were. I know it's Europe and stuff, but I think I pictured more tall buildings.
We arrived at a very tiny corner bistro, and did our best to ask for a table on a busy Friday night without speaking French and without reservations. While the local recommendation is great to have, it also means the waiters aren't expecting to cater to a couple of tourists with barely any ability to speak French. However, they obliged and gave us a table, and we had an amazing meal.
Dave had foie gras, which as indicated by the title of this entry, is, well...not the most appetizing when translated and written out on an English menu. I was not a fan. However, I had an incredible lamb entree, we had a great bottle of wine, and a wonderful dessert. It was the perfect starting meal for our trip.
We left the restaurant, hopped in a cab, and headed to the hotel. This is where I got really excited. After crossing the Seine, we drove past some of the staple sites, including Notre Dame and the Louvre. In the distance, I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Then I realized how long its been since I've been somewhere new that has such iconic figures. I forgot how exciting it is when you see something in person for the first time after you've seen it millions of times in photos. I was so giddy that I think the cab driver was laughing at me.
After arriving in the hotel, we decided to head off into the night, even though it was almost midnight. We were staying at the Hotel Garden Elysee, which I would definitely recommend for a central location at a totally reasonable price.
First site: Arc de Triomphe (click for photos)
After taking a few (hundred) photos of the Arc, we thought it only best to commemorate our arrival in France by having a glass of champagne.
However, Paris night life around our area seemed quiet and we had a big day ahead of us, so we called it and decided to head home for some sleep.
The next morning, we set out for our first real walk around Paris. This photo never got old.
The next morning, we set out for our first real walk around Paris. This photo never got old.
We set out walking east along the Seine.
We very quickly became distracted by a cafe serving breakfast and very willingly exchanged our jampacked day of walking to sit for a long and leisurely breakfast while enjoying Parisian life. This is my omelet, which I thought looked like a work of art.
After our breakfast, we got back on track, heading down the Seine again. We were on a quest for the Pont Neuf, a bridge that would take us to Notre Dame. Dave read that it was one of the "grandest of all the bridges in Paris". And therefore, we assumed it must be this bridge. It had gold all over it and led to this really elaborate building!
However, around this point, I realized that (a) we had not walked nearly far enough to be mildly close to Notre Dame and (b) there were plaques everywhere labeling this as Pont Alexandre. Dave would not believe me...even after seeing a plaque...because he contested, this HAS to be the grandest bridge. So we checked back to our little walking tour guide...oh, not the "grandest", but the "oldest"...and so we crossed this bridge anyway and continued along down the Seine toward the correct bridge...Dave was very quiet.
We reached another bridge on our walk that we overheard someone call the "lover's bridge". It was covered in these "love padlocks" with names and dates all over them.
Finally, we found the fabled Pont Neuf. This bridge leads to a small island in the Seine called Île de Cité. On the bridge, there is a monument to Henri IV (while we have left England, the Henry's still abound). He has his own park on the edge of the island.
After that continuing our way around the island, we found a quiet, little square called Pt. Dauphine that was so peaceful. We could have sat there all day. Loved it.
After leaving this square, our destination was ahead of us: Notre Dame (click for pictures)!
The next stop on this jampacked little Île de Cité was Ste-Chapelle (click for pictures).
After Ste-Chapelle, we continued our journey by leaving the Île de Cité, across the Seine to the south bank for some dinner in the Latin quarter. We ate just by the Place Saint-Michel. There is a square in the middle with a fountain depicting Saint Michael the Archangel.
We stopped to eat at a place called Lemenhir. It seemed a bit touristy, but had the greatest French onion soup I have ever had in my life, so who cares. We also had some escargot (snails!!), mussels, and crepes. Not to mention, wine. It also had lovely outdoor seating.
After dinner, we turned back and started heading west down the Seine.
We ended up wandering into the Louvre at night, which was so pretty. It used to be the royal palace and was so big and beautiful when it was all lit up.
The entrance was still open to the Louvre, so we decided to enter and see why.
Apparently, the Louvre is just attached to a giant shopping mall with an additional entrance through the pyramid. However, I think we found the thing that they talk about in The Da Vinci Code - where the Holy Grail was supposed to be buried? So very exciting...though the fact it was in between a Guess and an Apple store took a little of the wonder away from it.
After our night time journey to the Louvre, we headed west towards the Place de la Concorde. This is a public square that was designed in 1755 and was at that time a commemoration to royal life. A few years later though, things got ugly and this became the site of the guillotine during the French revolution - King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were both executed here.
On the western side of the square is the Champs-Élysées, considered the "most beautiful avenue in the world". The Arc de Triomphe is at the other end of it.
We continued north in the square towards the Hotel de Crillon (click for pictures).
After our drinks, we walked up the Champs-Élysées to make our way towards the Eiffel Tower. Paris at night is so beautiful, so there was plenty to see along the way. This was the Petit Palais.
Winston Churchill statue:
And for the main event: the Tour Eiffel (click for pictures)
After the Eiffel Tower, we found ourselves a little cafe in the Trocadéro that had a view of the tower to cap our night off with a final glass of champagne.
The next day, we woke up to head straight for The Louvre (click for pictures).
Afterwards, we were feeling very lazy and just wanted to enjoy a meal. So we crossed the river away from the Louvre to find a cafe for lunch.
After the meal, we took a leisurely stroll.
We decided to do on more thing before the day was over (click for pictures): L'Hôtel Nationale des Invalides.
Afterwards, we found a cozy bar near our hotel where we drank a lot of wine and ate a lot of cheese until it was time to head back to the train station and back to London. It was a fantastic weekend, and I absolutely adored Paris. It was so beautiful, the food was great, and there was so much to see. With only a two hour train ride between us, I am sure I will be back to visit.
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