Paris!

For our latest of Continental adventures we decided to go to Paris! With a little help from our friends at Lastminute.com and Eurostar we got a fairly good deal to give us a couple of nights at a hotel in central Paris and tickets on a fast train from downtown London to downtown Paris. Unlike our trip to Belgium, getting to the Eurostar at Waterloo Station was fairly uneventful. The train left at 6:35am which allowed us to take the first Tube from kingsbury at 5:30am which allowed us to avoid the night buses and the psychotic mix of "The Amazing Race" and "Planes Trains and Automobiles" that we are used to.

We arrived in Paris at 10:30am local time and began trying to find our Hotel. It was a 5 minute walk from the Gare d'Nord where we came into, which would have been great if we had taken a direct route. Instead, rather unintentionally, we chose a more "adventurous" route and after about an hour, and feeling somewhat defeated, we bought a map. Our hotel was pretty nice, but oddly enough the concierge at the front desk showed us to our room. Turns out this was because we had to get there by a round-about kind of route up some very small twisty stairs. The room was the smallest room I've ever seen.

We were able to walk around the bed, and thats about it. Besides being small though, it was quite nice, the bathroom was comfortable and there was a plasma TV which was neat. It was probably in there because nothing else would fit!

The first thing we did was go get some lunch. I inadvertently ordered a €3.50 coke

but the lunch was really good. Immediately we could tell that eating was more of a pastime in France, and less of a necessity as it is in England.

The Metro in Paris is very extensive. Certainly larger than London's. Not only is it larger, it's more diverse. London has a few different types of trains, but Paris has totally different transport system in it's underground. Most of the tracks are steel-rail, just like most subways, but some of the trains run on rubber tires! Interesting stuff. Also, there is little ventilation in the trains, so it was the hottest subway I've ever been into. Some of the trains were normal size and others were enormous double decker trains.

We stood in line for a long time for the privilege of paying €4.00 to climb the stairs of the Eiffel Tower. I was a little annoyed at first, but it turned out to be worth it.

Then we went to the Arc de triumph I couldn't get over how enormous this structure was. Also the roundabout that went around it seems to create the most chaotic driving conditions I have ever seen. There are no lines painted, but if they did it would be about 9 lanes wide. Everyone drives as fast as they can until they have to slam on the brakes to avoid someone who zips in front of them going in a completely different direction. We sat back want watched for about 20 minutes, mesmerized by the brinkmanship all of the drivers seem to display. These guys stop for just about nothing.

After that wandered down the Champs d'Elysees. There are some seriously expensive shops along here, including a Peugeot and Citroen showrooms with lots of weird cars. We heard Madonna singing, and there were all sorts of people pushing to see someone at the entrance of a store, so I pushed my way in and took a picture, but saw nothing. I doubt it was Madonna, but people seemed really excited!

We were surprised to see some people playing street hockey on roller blades in front of a palace, as well as an Olive Oil store!

Eventually we bought some juice, baguettes, Gouda cheese and some chocolate pudding and headed to the park in front of the Eiffel Tower for a little picnic.

There were lots and lots of little cafes and restaurants. We walked around for an hour along busy streets with every type of restaurant you can imagine. All of them with patrons sitting out at tables on the street. Too bad we were full of bread and Gouda.

Then we climbed up to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur, an enormous church at the top of the hill that overlooks the city.

Then it was off to the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame. Another serious church.

By this point we were a little chuched out and bought ourselves a crepe with sugar and butter on it. Parisians know their Crepes and it was darn-well yummy.

We also checked out the Louvre. The palace that now houses the Louvre is probably the largest building I have ever seen. It is hard to describe, it's sort of like an "H" with the top of the "H" being closed in to create a court-yard. The bottom of the "H" has the glass pyramid in it. There is a large entrance lobby area under the pyramid. For those of you who read the Davinci Code, apparently they are doing Davinci Code tours of Paris now. Funny stuff. Oh, checkout the policeman on roller skates.

We also saw more Palaces and the Pantheon and a wedding!

We had a great french dinner at a nice restaurant the last night and ate lots of very rich French food. The secret with getting good food on the cheap in Paris is to not order drinks. Drinks are oddly expensive in Paris, but the food is reasonably priced. We got a big appetizer, entree and dessert for €15.

Our trip back was easy and uneventful, and we're getting excited about our next trip! We just booked tickets to Iceland and a hotel in Reykjavik for Aug 26th-30th. Should be fun.

Checkout all of the pictures here.