Europe Trip Part 3: Paris, France

Day 6 - Travel to Paris

We sadly said a quick goodbye to Lancaster, England and took a train back to London. From there we decided to walk to the London St. Pancras station to take the Eurostar Chunnel to Paris. We got a bit lost on the walk to St. Pancras and with our heavy backpacks we could not have gotten there fast enough. The train ride to Paris was great with beautiful countryside views. We had some very loud and obnoxious guys sitting next to us for the ride and decided the seats with tables aren't the best because you don't have leg room. Bentley was basically straddling a guy the whole way, very uncomfortable! All that said, I was very happy we took the train because we didn't have the airport hassles. It only took about two hours to make the journey from London, under the English Channel, and into Paris. As the train pulled out of the station we heard rumblings about a strike that would was to begin in Paris that evening.

Once we arrived at the Paris Gare du Nord station we figured out the metro system and made our way to La Mansion B&B. We were greeted by the B&B owner, Fred, upon our arrival. Fred showed us to our adorable little room and then invited us to have coffee and tea with him in the kitchen. I do not think we could have picked a better place to stay because Fred was so helpful with information and planning each day. He gave us more information about the strike and exactly how it would affect us.

Our first evening in Paris we took a relaxing walk around the beautiful city, saw the Eiffel Tower, walked to Tocadero Square for another view of the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and walked down the shopping paradise of Champs Elysee's. We walked by the Louvre that first night and got to see it lit up in all its beauty. Before our trip we watched the da Vinci Code and had a great time looking at the same landmarks from the movie.

Eiffel Tower as it is starting to get dark

Arc de Triomphe

The Louvre at night - so beautiful

It started raining on us at the Louvre and we were tired from our long day of travel so we went back to our neighborhood and (with Fred's suggestion) got some take-away pizza from a great little place. There was a bit of a language barrier but that almost made ordering more fun because we weren't exactly sure what we would be getting. We took our mystery pizza back to our B&B and had a picnic on the floor while listening to music in our room. When we got there we met the other couple staying at the B&B who were Australian.

Day 7 - Tour Paris

We woke up just in time for breakfast at 9:00am. The days travelling were starting to take a toll on us and we needed some extra sleep. For breakfast, Fred made us fresh croissants and some packaged madelines with café and “hot chocolate.” This was simply cold chocolate milk that was warmed in the microwave. We learned not to ask for that anymore.

With our impeccable timing, we managed to be in Paris the day the national strike started and we were told is was fairly wide spread affecting a majority of the government owned entities, which is basically everything in France. Fred was very helpful in suggesting activities and museums that would be open. We were able to alter our schedule so that the strike would not ultimately have a major effect on our trip. The only thing we had to completely remove from our agenda was Versailles.

After 6 days of travelling, it was time do the most dreaded activity of all…LAUNDRY!! Now, we don't even like doing laundry at home, much less on vacation. Needless to say, it had to be done. We had two options, 1) was coin operated do-it-yourself laundromat and 2) we could drop off our laundry and come back later when it was done. The second option sounded better but we could not understand how much it was going to be and when it would be ready so by default we went with option 1. This was a much more difficult task than either of us could have imagined. We first had to find a store to buy the detergent which was very difficult as everything was in French. I am still not sure that we didn’t get dish washing detergent instead of what we needed. At the Laundromat, it took us several minutes to figure out how to wash our clothes. We had to put our money in the machine on the wall, punch in the correct number of our washing machine and select how long we wanted to clothes to wash. Sounds simple in English but in French there is an added layer of complexity. Once we figured out the process, the clothes didn’t take too long to wash and dry. The whole process took about 2 hours to complete. This two hour pit stop was well worth the alternative of bringing an additional week’s worth of clothes. We were such professionals by the time we were done that we were teaching others how to do it.





With this task complete, we were ready to start our first full day in Paris. By the time we got into the tourist areas, we were starving so we decided to grab a bite to eat. Our first destination was the Eiffel tower, so we decided that we would find something quick to eat around that area. We found a small stand that made sandwiches and crepes to-go. We got two different sandwiches, ham and chicken, and got a nutella crepe with extra sugar for dessert (Bentley's recipe -and they looked at us strange when we ordered it). We found a small picnic area just off the side of the Tower and had lunch. While we were eating, we listened to Rick Steve's describe some of the history and architecture of the Tower. It was great listening to him talk about specific attributes and be able to see exactly what he was talking about.

With plenty of energy from the extra sugar, we were ready to climb the 50 stories of steps to get us to the first level of the tower. We climbed to the first level and took a break by walking around the perimeter of the whole level to get a complete panoramic view of the city. Then climbed to the second level and got an even better view. It started off pretty easy but several flights in we were high up and it was a little scary to look down. There was an elevator that took people up to the third level, but we decided to pass as the line was too long.

Taking a break - this is hard work (although I think he might be "Hudsonizing" a little)

We can't be far up because I don't look tired yet!

We decided to climb back down the stairs which was obviously much easier than going the other direction. Back on the ground, we were greeted by literally hundreds of street vendors all selling the exact same thing, crappy plastic Eiffel Towers and Paris flags. We would deny one vendor, only to be asked seconds later by another vendor. Can they not see that their buddy just got rejected? Come on guys! Bentley was baffled at this business strategy - if there even was one!

After the Tower, we took the metro to Notre Dame. The inside was beautiful with the intricate stained glass and high vaulted ceilings. We were not able to climb to the bell tower today because of the strike. After Notre Dame we went to St. Chapelle. This was a chapel made almost entirely of stained glass which tells the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelations. It was quite relaxing to sit and follow the story.

Notre Dame Cathedral

We then decided to go on a “Fat Tire” bike tour through the city of Paris at night. It was a four hour excursion that took you through the streets of Paris stopping at the most popular landmarks such as Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Pantheon, the famous pedestrian bridge, and the Louvre. One of the most remarkable moments was riding through the plaza of the Louvre with the entire façade in lights. We also stopped to get gelato at one of the most famous places in Paris, Berthillon Ice Cream. The end of the bike tour included a cruise down the Seine River that was timed perfectly with the lighting of the Eiffel Tower that occurs every hour on the hour at night.

On our bikes in front of The Louvre

Eiffel Tower at night - absolutely amazing!

The tour was great, but getting back to our hotel was another story. The tour ended around 11:00pm and because of the strike, our normal metro line was not running. Before we left, Fred instructed us to take another metro to a stop about 5 miles away and get on bus 182 which would stop right outside of his house. However, we could not find the bus stop that we needed. It was raining and late so there were very few people to ask for help. We thought we knew the general direction we needed to go so we just started walking. Luckily, about 1 minute into our walk, an empty taxi drove by and we hailed it down. The driver did not speak any English, and we of course did not speak any French, so giving him correct directions proved to be highly difficult. We told him which metro we typically get out at as this is right by Fred’s house. However, there was still some confusion. The driver got very frustrated at the “stupid Americans” and tried to kick us out of the cab after we have been driving for about 15 minutes. We were stubborn and refused to get out and he eventually agreed to take us where we needed to go but we still aren't sure how we ended up there!

We finally got back to Fred’s at 1:30am after nearly 3 hours of pure confusion. Needless to say, our bed was very comfortable that night. We had some leftover cold pizza from the night before and slept great. Wonderful but tiring day!!


Day 8 - Tour Paris

After our fun-filled but exhausting day before, we slept in (a little). Again, we started our day with breakfast at the B&B and enjoyed fresh chocolate croissants. Fred always sent us with snacks for the day in case we got hungry. We could tell it was going to be a very rainy day so we took our little umbrellas with us.

We bought the Museum Pass the previous day so almost everything we wanted to do was covered for one very reasonable fee. Our first stop for the day was Notre Dame and our goal was to climb to the top (400 tight, winding, very very small steps). Once at the top we had some amazing views of the city and the gargoyles.

The most famous gargoyle at Notre Dame

As we left it started to rain so we went to the crypt of Paris which was basically ruins of the city and browsed quickly. At this point is was raining so heavily so we quickly spotted a place for lunch that was indoors. We ate at the restaurant next to ice cream place that we had stopped on our bike tour. Finally we enjoyed some traditional French food. Lisette had beef burgeon and Bentley had duck breast and we both loved our choices. We could not turn down the amazing ice cream next door (the same we had during the fat tire bike tour) so we got one more for the road.

Since it was raining so heavily we went to the Pantheon. It was a good choice because there was not a line and it is inside. Thanks to our handy Rick Steve's guide book we found out the earths rotation was first demonstrated here in 1851. There is a very cool model set up inside of how this actually happened. This pendulum device supposedly proves the Earth's rotation.

Upon leaving we just happened to pass an adorable little French bakery and of course we had to stop. Everything looked so good but we decided to split an eclair (Sheryl we thought of you) and a chocolate twist. Yum! At this point it was still raining so we needed something else that was indoors. We decided to go on the Sewer Tour because it was covered by the museum pass. We were thinking it was a museum about the sewer but that was not completely the case - it was still a sewer. It is still an actual functioning sewer where water still flowed below the city (which is where the tour was). Fact - Paris did have the first sewer. Fact - I don't think we would do the tour again.

We had read a lot about the best times to visit the Louvre and when to absolutely avoid it. We had also read not to go through the main entrance because of the long lines. Armed with this information, we walked right in through a back entrance at what seemed like a great time. Finally the highlight of the Paris sightseeing adventures... The Louvre. We followed the Rick Steve's audio guide for the museum because there is so much to see you have to be selective about where you spend your time. You could visit the museum everyday for a week and not see everything. We saw Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Ramses, many da Vinci paintings and tons of other amazing pieces. The Rick Steve's audio guide was extremely helpful giving background info on some pieces and information about the time period. We tried to find a few items not on the guide but we got so lost and only found a few. We spent at least 3 hours in the museum and at that point were on information overload and decided to call it a day.

What visit to Paris would be complete with seeing Mona Lisa?

Tired and hungry (although we had eaten enough so I am not sure how we were hungry) we left the Louvre after not finding the last few items we were looking for and headed for the Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre. The guys from the Fat Tire bike tour suggested a fondue restaurant near the area called Refuge Des Fondus (definitely not The Melting Pot in Addison but it had it's own charm). It was so much fun! The place was so tiny that you literally have to stand on a chair then step over the table to sit on the other side. One side of the table is a long bench and you are sitting right next to people you don't know. Basically all you order is either cheese or meat fondue. Thankfully we ordered the meat because the cheese is only bread and cheese although Bentley wood have loved it. Once seated they quickly bring you a plate with meats, cheese, pickles and olives. For the fondue portion, you get meat and potatoes which cooks in oil. The atmosphere is great and there is writing all over the walls and ceiling. Thanks Fat Tire for the wonderful recommendation!

Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmartre

The restaurant is literally just as wide as the red store front

We left the restaurant full and happy but could not turn down one last crepe. I mean we are in France and when do we have the opportunity to eat all of this amazing food and then walk a ton of miles to work it off - so we took full advantage! Back at the B&B we packed, listened to music and got ready for the next leg of our European adventure - Italy!!