Ooh la la, je t'áime Paris! Cést tres, tres, tres magnifique!
We arrived in Paris on Monday in the early evening after managing to hit the metro - bags and all - in peak traffic. It's just like you see on TV, with people squeezing in beyond the point that you think it is possible to sqeeze any more in. Instead of changing lines (which we were supposed to do twice to get to our hotel), we decided to get a taxi. It was very cool, driving through the little streets. It seems so far that I have enough French knowledge to get by, I understand a lot more than I speak of course, but my accent must be pretty good because when I respond to people or ask questions they seem to think I parle Francais.
Our hotel room is on the sixth (top) floor in a little side street in Montmartre and feels a little like a garret room - although very comfortable - so it does feel really French. The first evening we just wandered the streets from our hotel and had dinner at a local French cafe. The side streets look very much as you imagine they do and there are ancient churches and sculptures as surprises when you turn corners. We have posted a photo of a typical street.
Yesterday we overslept - Paris is an hour ahead of England so that didn't help. Eventually we got out and away at about 11am, so on discovery that the Louvre and another couple of big attractions were closed on Tuesdays we decided to make it our shopping day. We hopped on the metro - which really is as easy as they say, once you get the hang of figuring out which side of the station you need to be on - and went out to La Vallee, which is an outlet village for designer labels. Shopping heaven! Although the really big names are still really expensive - e.g Christian Lacroix marked down to EUR1700.00, nothing in Armani under EUR500.00 etc - we got some bargains. Brett got a kick-ass Kenzo suit for EUR300.00 so he is a happy man already. He also got a casual suit jacket on a deal where you buy one and get another for EUR1.00 - so we got one for you Dan :-) I got a gorgeous Anne Fontaine jacket and was amused to watch the saleswoman wrap it a la Rowan Atkinson in Love Actually (flower, perfume and petals).
We then hot footed (well, hot trained) it back to the hotel to drop everything off and metro over to the Fat Tyre Bike Company by the Eiffel Tower for a night bicycle tour through Paris. A perfect summer evening, cycling through the streets and around some of its incredible landmarks such as Notre Dame and the Louvre. Paris has an interesting concept called the bus taxi and bicycle lane - the most vulnerable of vehicles sharing a lane with the most dangerous (i.e. 'take your life into your own hands' lane). The tour culminated in a boat cruise down the Seine, drinking wine, a perfect end to our first day in Paris. Home on the metro about 1am and set the alarm to ensure that we don't sleep any more of our Paris time away.
Today we are going to do the Hop On Hop Off sightseeing stuff and visit some of the places we saw last night. Au revoir for now.
We arrived in Paris on Monday in the early evening after managing to hit the metro - bags and all - in peak traffic. It's just like you see on TV, with people squeezing in beyond the point that you think it is possible to sqeeze any more in. Instead of changing lines (which we were supposed to do twice to get to our hotel), we decided to get a taxi. It was very cool, driving through the little streets. It seems so far that I have enough French knowledge to get by, I understand a lot more than I speak of course, but my accent must be pretty good because when I respond to people or ask questions they seem to think I parle Francais.
Our hotel room is on the sixth (top) floor in a little side street in Montmartre and feels a little like a garret room - although very comfortable - so it does feel really French. The first evening we just wandered the streets from our hotel and had dinner at a local French cafe. The side streets look very much as you imagine they do and there are ancient churches and sculptures as surprises when you turn corners. We have posted a photo of a typical street.
Yesterday we overslept - Paris is an hour ahead of England so that didn't help. Eventually we got out and away at about 11am, so on discovery that the Louvre and another couple of big attractions were closed on Tuesdays we decided to make it our shopping day. We hopped on the metro - which really is as easy as they say, once you get the hang of figuring out which side of the station you need to be on - and went out to La Vallee, which is an outlet village for designer labels. Shopping heaven! Although the really big names are still really expensive - e.g Christian Lacroix marked down to EUR1700.00, nothing in Armani under EUR500.00 etc - we got some bargains. Brett got a kick-ass Kenzo suit for EUR300.00 so he is a happy man already. He also got a casual suit jacket on a deal where you buy one and get another for EUR1.00 - so we got one for you Dan :-) I got a gorgeous Anne Fontaine jacket and was amused to watch the saleswoman wrap it a la Rowan Atkinson in Love Actually (flower, perfume and petals).
We then hot footed (well, hot trained) it back to the hotel to drop everything off and metro over to the Fat Tyre Bike Company by the Eiffel Tower for a night bicycle tour through Paris. A perfect summer evening, cycling through the streets and around some of its incredible landmarks such as Notre Dame and the Louvre. Paris has an interesting concept called the bus taxi and bicycle lane - the most vulnerable of vehicles sharing a lane with the most dangerous (i.e. 'take your life into your own hands' lane). The tour culminated in a boat cruise down the Seine, drinking wine, a perfect end to our first day in Paris. Home on the metro about 1am and set the alarm to ensure that we don't sleep any more of our Paris time away.
Today we are going to do the Hop On Hop Off sightseeing stuff and visit some of the places we saw last night. Au revoir for now.
2 comments:
Hi guys. It sounds absolutely wonderful. I'm green with envy. We really look forward to your updates and photos.
Lots of love, Lyn.
Je suis heureux que vous ayez un temps grand. Je suis sûr que vous aimerez le Louvre - c'est incroyable!
Félicitations à vous tous les deux -
Liz
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