3 days in Paris

Firstly, photos are here: www.amanda.com.au/uk/paris

Saturday 27 October 2007: Awake at 4.45am. Does this time actually exist? It’s pitch black. Drunk people stumble around outside. I could get the bus. I don’t want to walk through the dodgy park and sit waiting at the bus stop in the cold. Screw it – I order a taxi. Arrive at Waterloo Station. I have a coffee (I hate coffee) – but it wakes me up.

Our tour group meets and we get on the Eurostar train. I meet two other Aussies. This is normal – I think half the Australian population is over here. We zoom over to Paris. Turns out Paris is COLDER than London – how is this possible? Very glad I brought my new winter coat with me – which I’m sure was made from a sleeping bag – it actually has feathers inside it.

We get to the hotel – the Ibis hotel. Our rooms aren’t ready. Everybody is dead tired. We sit waiting forever in the foyer. There’s not enough chairs. I curl up on the floor next to the radiator like a cat, half slumped on my backpack and have a powernap. Later I venture outside to find food and manage to order a baguette from a local café. Wishing I knew more French. Finally, we’re allowed into our rooms (twin share). Beds are comfy. Decent bathroom. Yay. It’s now time to (re)discover Paris!

We catch the Metro – which is like the tube / underground, but the stations are a bit more spacious and bright. It smells like piss. Homeless people sleep in the Metro and because you have to pay to go to the toilet, a lot of public places reek of urine – not pleasant. The smoking ban also isn’t in place. A lot of places such as restaurants and bars also reek. Apart from these 2 things – Paris is the most gorgeous city – just stunning.

We head up to Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart) which is a big church on top of a hill. The view would’ve been stunning if it weren’t so cloudy. There’s loads of people, street performers etc. A man plays ball with his dog. Dogs are an accessory – people take them everywhere. We head over to the art markets at Montmartre where artists such as Salvador Dalí, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh apparently used to hang out and syphilis was the popular disease or “in thing” of the day.

There are many little streets and alleyways, shops, cafes, restaurants and markets, all oozing with activity, creativity, passion, colour and life. There were a crazy amount of artists offering to do portraits. I didn’t really want a proper portrait – so I got this funky / arty piece done of me which turned out great. I imagine if I had my own funky alternative cartoon – this is what I’d look like / what my character would be. Was very happy with the final result.

We then passed down through some local streets – again all the shops and cafes just made me want to stop there for hours and take it all in. I also spied this gorgeous purple bag in one of the shop windows, but because we were on the move – I couldn’t stop (annoying). We also stopped at the café where Amelie was filmed. And at the bottom of the hill was the Moulin Rouge. Onto the metro again, and we headed to the the Arc de Triumph to drool at the shops and then onto the Eiffel Tower.

I had my first crepe. It had a chocolatey nutella sauce. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I now LOVE crepes. We then went on a river cruise, which was nice, but I was completely knackered – and it was getting late. We headed back to the hotel. Some people went out for a late dinner – the crepe seemed to have sustained me. So I went back to my hotel room and crashed.

Sunday – breakfast in the hotel. Croissants galore. Yum. First we headed to the Louvre. It’s so massive. So many floors and wings – you could get lost in there for days. Took loads of photos. Saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Angel Statue thing, lots of Egyptian stuff (is there anything actually left in Egypt? It seems to be in all museums over here!). Afterwards, me and my enemy Coffee met again. Made another attempt to speak French which of course they reply to you in French and you stand there going ummmm and just end up speaking in English anyway. I then wandered around the shops outside the Louvre and then had lunch.

We then headed to the island of Le Cite where Paris was founded. I managed to miss the Notre Dame on my last trip, so made sure I took lots of photos of it. It’s huge, beautiful and very mysterious. Very dark inside and the ceilings are insanely high with colourful and intricate stained glass windows. I’m not religious at all, but I love sitting in cathedrals, taking in the beauty of the décor, architecture and artwork. Again, we were off to the Eiffel Tower, and seeing as the top floor was for some reason closed, I saw this as a good excuse to eat more crepes and aimlessly wander the riverside and streets of Paris until we all met up again later to go back to the hotel.

Monday: free time. Me and fellow Aussie Najah headed off to the La Fayette Galleries. It was raining, so shopping seemed like a good indoor activity. What an exquisite shopping centre. They had a giant Christmas Tree on display in the centre. The ceiling and surrounding balconies were jaw droppingly stunning. Again, you could spend hours walking around these places in awe.

Next we headed back to Montmartre to the Amelie café. And then in search of the mysterious and fabulous purple bag I had seen on our first day. A lot of the shops were closed and we couldn’t quite remember which direction we’d come from. We headed down a street with lots of shops – and there it was. I ran excitedly across the road and there was the purple bag sitting in the shop window. And it was open. And there was a 25% off sale. It was destiny. I bought the bag. I then wandered into another shop with an even more beautiful (and more expensive) purple leather bag, but couldn’t justify buying 2 bags, let alone 2 purple bags in one day. Oh well, I’ll just have to go back there again some time ;)

Anyway, after moseying through these cute streets and its shops, it was time to head back to the hotel, collect our bags and head to the Eurostar. We got back to London quite early – 6pm – always nice getting home early after a trip away, especially when you’ve got work the next day. I got a packed bus home from Waterloo and stood the entire way - welcome back to crazy London. I dragged my backpack back to our house – I also had a bit of a limp – I’d pulled or strained a leg muscle somewhere along the way in Paris. It was really good to get away – the worries of everyday life seem to wash away when you're on holidays. The relaxed Paris pace was just what I needed.

Next trips: Aberdeen (for work). Oxford and the Cotswolds. Bruges (Belgium). Then HOME to Brisbane for 3 weeks at Christmas!! See you all soon - Amanda :)