A Parisian Tale

A Very Long Tale
(aka. My Birthday in Paris)

As you know, my birthday was this week. For many moons (Well, two years anyway.), I've been wanting to take a trip to Paris as a "Happy Birthday To Me" present. Unfortunately, it just never seemed to work out. Until this year!

This year I made the decision I would go to Paris for my birthday come hell or highwater. Fortunately a friend wanted to come with me, so we were able to share costs, plus I'd have some one to travel with, which is always nice.

Saturday morning I was up at a ridiculously early hour and headed to St. Pancras station to catch the 06.53 Eurostar to Paris! I have to say, taking a train is very nice. Check-in was done in seconds by swiping a barcode. Security took all of two minutes. Within twenty minutes we were boarding the train which took off promptly. Two and a half hours later it dropped us in the centre of Paris!

We arrived at our ridiculously posh hotel (Hey, it pays to have connections.)and even though it was only eleven in the morning, they assured us our room would be ready in one hour. So we left our bags with the concierge and took a walk through the streets of Monmartre. We popped into an interesting little shop with really unique clothes in sort of the boho chic style. I snapped photos of random buildings and street scenes. We bought baguettes with ham and cheese at the local boulangerie, along with sweet crepes for dessert, then we headed back to the hotel with lunch in hand.

Let me tell you, that hotel room was POSH! We were upgraded (FREE!) to a Superior room which mean posh, posh, POSH! We spent a good ten minutes squealing in delight.


After relaxing a bit over our simple lunch, we headed out again. This time to the Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triomphe. What an amazing place! Really fantastic. I wasn't terribly impressed by the shops lining the Champs Elysee. Same sort of thing you see in the High Street in London, really. But still, the Arc was amazing.



We decided to do the Eiffel Tower next. After about an hour in the queue, we finally purchased our tickets. 13.10 euros to go to the top. That's around $20. Egads. But when in Paris!

We had to wait a little while longer and finally were able to take the lift to the second platform. We snapped a couple pictures before heading to the queue for the lift to the 3rd platform. We'd been waiting fifteen minutes or so, when suddenly the tower workers started roping off the lifts and shoeing everyone toward the stairs. Not up toward the final platform, but down toward the ground! 800 plus steps all the way to the bottom (At least it was down not up!). Only I would get kicked off the Eiffel Tower on my first visit to Paris!

We were assured by one worker that we would get our money back since there had been some sort of suicide threat and the police were making everyone leave the tower. When we got to the bottom there were no police in sight and while everyone had been made to leave the tower, no one had been made to leave the grounds under the tower. Every kiosk and desk was locked up tight and there wasn't a single person to answer our questions or give us a refund. We finally found another worker whose English was very poor. He told us there'd been a malfunction and to come back in two hours, but it was already 8pm!

We gave up the Eiffel Tower as a lost cause and headed back to Monmartre to get dinner. We didn't really know the best place to go, so we ended up in a cafe that catered to tourists. Big mistake. The food was HORRIBLE. Barely edible, in fact. Neither of us could finish our food. We headed back to our hotel feeling somewhat queasy and not entirely satisfied, so we consoled ourselves with chocolate.

We went to bed early and had a very comfy night. In the morning we slept in a bit before heading down to the "American Buffet Breakfast". I'm not entirely sure what was American about it. It was more English with French influence, but it was tasty! Eggs, sausages, mushrooms, toast, cereal, yogurts, croissants, pan au chocolat... and more! We were stuffed silly!

Waddling away from the breakfast table, we headed off to visit Notre Dame Cathedral. Being Sunday, we were able to catch a bit of mass. I wasn't interested in the "sermon" or whatever (it was in French anyway), but the singing was AMAZING as was the organist. The sound just echoed throughout the cathedral. I know God is all around us, but some places just seem so full of the wonder of Him, and that is one.



After some time in the Cathedral, we took a wander through the streets of Ile de la Cite, which is two small islands in the middle of the Seine. These islands are where Notre Dame is built. There are also lots of little shops, cafes, houses and markets. It's one of the poshest areas of the city. Very desirable. Hubert had told us of a fantastic ice cream place called Berthillon which is on the islands. It's supposed to be the best ice cream in Paris. Well, I can say, it most likely is! Unbelievable! I had white chocolate ice cream which was so gorgeously creamy it coated the mouth. They even served water with it, it's that rich! Fantastic!


One museum was on our agenda... the Musee de Moyen Age. The best Roman Baths in all of France are there and we wanted to see them. It was a twenty minute walk there, and the day was nice, so we walked. Unfortunately, the museum hadn't bothered to note on their website (or anywhere else) that the Baths were closed until 21 Feb!!! Good grief. Fortunately we didn't pay to enter the museum. Instead we decided to check out one of the famous Parisian flea markets. It was supposed to be the best and biggest in the city. Instead it was in a dodgy neighborhood and was comprised of equally dodgy people selling even more dodgy goods. Cheap clothes, knock off handbags, and quite possibly stolen mobile phones. That sort of thing. NOT a flea market at all! Oh, dear. Back to the Metro and Monmarte.

By then all markets, shops and most cafes were closed! It was five and I was starving! We wandered round and round and round until we finally found one cafe open near the hotel. Again catering to tourists. At least the food was edible this time! If entirely mediocre. Then it was back to the hotel and an early night before heading to London in the morning.

Let me tell you Paris is an AMAZING place! Gorgeous city and we barely touched the surface. It would be nice to go back in nicer weather and spend time in the parks and gardens and got to proper Parisian cafes and do a bit of shopping. Lesson is, next time be sure to find out where the good cafes are!

But still, it was a grand time.