A short trip to Paris

Posted on March 31, 2013 Updated on March 31, 2013

So in January after chatting about a potential trip to a city that wasn’t too far away, that would be pretty easy to get to, we noticed that Eurostar had an offer on for cheap tickets to Paris. Now Paris had been mentioned a few times already, and it was a place I’d wanted to go back to as I hadn’t been since 2004.

Unfortunately at the time of booking there were all sorts of working conundrums which had to be worked around, so we ended up booking the tickets on the Eurostar for the Sunday (24th March) and a hotel through Expedia. We decided to book a mystery hotel with the only specifics being our budget and the star rating, anyway the way we saw it as usual was as long as the beds are comfy nothing else really matters.

So the day came to leave Huddersfield and head to London, We’d booked a hotel in London for the Saturday night and because of the weather (heavy snow) we decided to leave early which looking back was a good thing. Due to the snow being so bad there were limited numbers of taxi’s running, and according to the metro no public transport. We walked down through Longwood after failing to get a taxi from our house and luckily a taxi who had passed us already came back and offered us a ride to Lindley. Just as we arrived in Lindley one of the buses which was operating appeared.

Once in Huddersfield the snow wasn’t too bad, however our first train and all like it were cancelled due to signalling problems, which wasn’t a huge deal, it just meant we had to make our way to Leeds on the delayed Manchester to Scarborough train and join our London train earlier.

The journey to London was uneventful, and once there we made our way out through the “under renovation” Kings Cross station, the new section of the station is pretty impressive especially lit up in the evening.

We made our way to the Farringdon Travelodge, very basic and not as nice as some Ive stayed in but the pizza there was pretty good. Anyway as we’d said earlier more often than not these places are somewhere to get some sleep, that’s all. The one thing that puzzles me though it how these hotels find such small pillows? Really, is there a special shop that sells extra, extra, extra thin pillows.

The next morning we both woke pretty excited, as much for the trip on the Eurostar as the trip to Paris, we made our way back to Kings Cross and this time to St. Pancras to collect our tickets and grab something to eat before heading through to the departure lounge. I’m not sure what we expected but European rail travel just became my new favourite mode of transport. I genuinely think that the British government is selling the HS2 all wrong, it will create a British link to the European counterparts!! Fine people within the UK still won’t want to be part of Europe but still our infrastructure in terms of rail will link up.

Anyway we made our way through to the departure lounge and it wasn’t long before we were called through to board the train, which must have had about 25 carriages. Now before anyone gets any ideas I’m not a train spotter by any stretch. The train made it’s way underground and soon picked up speed and before we knew it we stopped in Ebbsfleet for the last collection of passengers. We went through a few tunnels and then found ourselves on the other side of the channel, which seemed ridiculous, We both checked or phones which of course were now roaming. I was impressed at the speed of the crossing, which seemed to be done in the blink of an eye. (186mph)

Our train pulled into Gare du Nord (Paris North) where there was no messing with passports, we took our bag from the train and headed out the station and headed for our hotel which we had check and was about half a mile away, so decided to walk. We had been booked into the Best Western in Montmartre which was a little further north from our hotel. The area you have to walk through to get to the hotel was slightly sketchy and definitely not for anyone, I’m not so sure if I had young children I’d be booking it. For anyone who has been to Morocco (Agadir or Casablanca), Jamaica (Ocho Rios), then you’ll catch my drift hopefully.

My last sentence may put a lot of people off, please don’t let it as the are I refer to you would usually have to walk through once on the way to your hotel, and once on the way back to the station or you could just jump in a taxi.

So after the short walk to the hotel we checked in, dropped our bags in our room and then decided to head out and explore some of the local area. The weather was pleasant enough, overcast, but pleasant enough.
The closest point of interest to our hotel was the Basilica Sacre Coere, which was only about 5 minutes from the hotel. A little climb up some steps as the funicular was further away but the views were amazing enough across most of the city. We decided because the weather wasn’t that clear, not to climb the steps to the tower or the dome and if we had time to come back and do it later.

After spending some time up near the Basilica (It was rammed with tourists) we made our way further around the cobbled street at the top and could for the first time see the Eiffel Tower and the Arch de Triomphe. After consulting the map and given that it was still early afternoon we decided to head for the tower. As usual with us on any of these rambles we never take the most direct route instead choosing to go via the map and check out some of the earmarked buildings along the way.

A little note, of course Paris has an exceptional public transport system, but to truly see as much as you can, on foot and on street level is the best way. This is how we did it for 3 of the 4 days.

We made our way past numerous buildings, churches, the academy of music, the national assembly, we took our first glance of the Louvre and a few other galleries. It’s incredible how much it’s possible to cram into such a relatively small city. After a light lunch which looked lighter from the description on the menu, we pushed on towards the Eiffel Tower and started to see if over the rooftops and took a more direct route as we got closer and the day got later.

I can’t actually remember what time it was when we arrived at the foot of Gustav’s creation, I do remember needing to pee though, a lot!!

As it had taken so long to get there and because there had been some trouble on the Champs Elysee (some protests that had got out of hand), we decided to go up the tower. In terms of value for money It’s pretty good, I think it was about 28 euros for the two of us to get to the very top. Now bearing in mind it’s March, and pretty late in the afternoon some advice I’d give is wrap up warm. It was cold and even out of season if there can be such a thing in Paris, the lines were long and with the growing number of Russians in tourist mode – people jump the queue all the damn time.

So the line for the ticket office was quite quick, the line for the elevator to the first stop wasn’t too bad either, however the line from the 1st stop to the top, and the two journeys back down are what take the time. The views from the 1st floor were great, and we were pretty fortunate though as our timing in the ascent meant that the lights came on all over Paris, including on the tower, so as we glanced up we saw the hundreds, maybe thousands of amber lights come on. The journey up to the top is definitely not for the faint hearted, I hate heights and it was definitely heart in mouth time in the lift.

The views from the top in what was now a fully illuminated Paris were amazing, the business district, the champs-elysee, the arc de triomphe, the whole city was in lights. It’s strange though since coming back it appears on my last visit in 2004 I went up the Montparnasse Tower, something I don’t remember doing. It’s the only vantage point that would have allowed me the reverse views though.

We made our way down the tower and across the bridge and along the Seine, stopping every now and then to take pictures of the illuminated Tower, which on one occasion was further illuminated with hundreds of strobe lights which fire every hour on the hour. We opted again to walk back to our hotel, only this time taking a much more direct route back, stopping only for some much needed food (It was already 1030 at night).

Our second day we pretty much had a couple of points we wanted to take in, It was also pretty much expected that we needed to find some fresh croissants, We decided to walk along the canal basin, and follow it down into the heart of Paris, the Seine. We walked south east from our hotel, and across to Gare L’Est. We picked up some Croissants (and a Pan Au Chocolat for Laura) and continued east to the canal basin, It was a beautiful sunny day and definitely a great day for walking around the streets. We explored some small squares, a few of the small shops but as this was Monday the majority on this route were closed.

We continued our walk past as the canal dropped below ground, past the many squares on this route. Something Paris makes the most of is it’s open spaces, I can’t help but feel that if it were an English city, the spaces would be filled with office blocks or apartments. We ventured past the monument at Place de la Bastille and soon the Canal re-appeared above ground so to speak, a small piece of advice if you walk the canal, stay on the left side of the monument, the walk is through the gardens on that side.

The route eventually brings you to the Seine, and if you take a right you’ll soon start to see the Notre Dame, We decided to walk across the bridge and to drop down onto the banks of the Seine as we could get some better shots of the Cathedral from there. It’s also a great spot for lunch if you’re prepared enough and have lunch with you :-).

It was weird as all morning we had been away from tourists really, it was a great feeling too, almost like your lost in Paris. However as soon as you get to a point of interest, or maybe you’d say a major point of interest the flocks of tourist sheep re-appear. I may sound bitter, perhaps, but as much as a tourist I love to be I hate the fact a lot of the time people ignore some of the lesser known sights, or some of the smaller shops.

We soon crossed back over the river and made our way around the Notre Dame, stopping to look at the Gargoyles, and the stained glass windows. It was pretty impressive, and I was pleased to get to see it, as it was one of the sights I’d missed out on during my first visit. Due to the time of day we decided not to go inside the cathedral and grab a quick bit to eat and move on to the Louvre which we had anticipated big lines. I have to be honest I thought it would take us longer to get into, I think maybe because of the experiences the day before at the Eiffel Tower.

I think maybe we waited for about 20 minutes and that was only to the security desk, once we got inside there was no line at the cash desk anyways so we picked up tickets and again we were free to roam the museum. Perhaps it was ignorance or poor research, but I didn’t actually know until Laura told me that this was where the Mona Lisa was. It was with this in mind that we decided to go right to it, probably the same as everybody else. Utter chaos is probably the phrase I’d choose to use, and pretty poorly organised. In one of the biggest rooms in the museum, with one of the smallest paintings, It was impossible to actually appreciate the painting due the 200 person scrum within the room. It really could be better managed and it’s such a shame.

We left behind the Mona Lisa and continued our way around the Spanish and Italian painters on the same floor before moving onto the Egyptian artifacts and art. The latter is something I’m interested in only really after visiting the Pyramids in Giza and the national museum in Cairo.

After spending some time in the Museum we decided we needed a break and headed outside to the Jardin de Tuilleries for a snack and to re-energise. It was actually really nice to just sit in the sun with a crepe, and just listen to the passers-by rushing onto the next stop. I think tourists often find themselves guilty of not truly appreciating their current surroundings and kinda thinking right that’s done whats next. I’d happily hold my hand up and say a lot of the time in the past I fall into that category.

We started to make our way back towards the north of Paris, stopping for a beer in one bar, and then for something to eat in another place.

Thats all for now……Part two coming soon…..