Geoff and Anna's Travels: 6th to 8th October 2010

We were meeting Helen and Lyn today at their apartment in the Montmatre area of Paris. So off we set – one RER train and two different metro lines and we arrived. It was great to see Helen waiting when we came out of the biggest lift I have ever been in! Lyn wasn’t far away. By this time it was lunchtime so we called into the patisserie and got a few things and took them back to their apartment.

Up a few flights of stairs but this was preferable to us than the option Lyn took of a lift that was about two foot square – like a vertical coffin!! Lovely apartment and neat to look out on some of the Parisian streets.

After lunch we set off up to see the Sacre Cour and wander around the tourist shops. We had a crepe at a restaurant with a marvelous view close by their apartment. Then it was back to their apartment to get organized to meet Marcelle and go to the study.

A few metro lines later (we are so glad of our pass) and we met Marcelle. She is looking great! We had a nice dinner at a nearby Bistro and then headed off to the end of a metro line and then a walk to the study. It was really neat. There were more English people there than French!! So we were not translated however the French ones were for us so that was great. About 10 of us walked back to the metro and caught a few of the same lines. We got home about about 11.00pm and straight to bed!

7th October 2010
Slept in a bit and then I went to put a load of washing on while we had breakfast. After breakfast I went back but it was stuck on prewash or something so I sent Geoff up to Maisons Laffitte and I cleaned up the camper while I waited for the washing.

Met Geoff up at the village and off we went. We headed for Notre Dame – lucky that on Thursdays there is free admission so we went in and around it. Nothing like as impressive as St Pauls in London! We got ourselves some rolls for lunch and went and sat on a seat on a bridge over the river Seine with fabulous views. (We didn’t need to buy a coffee to enjoy the ambience!)

We headed then to Saint Chappelle and the Palais du Justice then headed on the Metro to Lafayettes (a huge complex with loads of different shops from designer to contemporary. I have been looking for a trench coat as everyone wears them over here and they look great. Of course I wanted a black one but it is never easy to get the right fit and size. At a shop called Manoukian we found some taupe and some grey ones. They had a large and I asked if they had an XL. In French she said it would fit and when I tried the L on it was way too big, so I then tried the M on and it was also too big! The small was a great fit so of course I had to buy it – a small in a French label! Wow! It is grey, I still wonder if I should have got black but haven’t found one since anyway.

Our feet were killing us by this stage so when we found a Starbucks I agreed to have a coffee. It was a great coffee and we had a good sit down.

It was such a nice evening we decided to take a river cruise but by the time we caught a few trains we missed the 7pm and the next at 8pm seemed too late. As we were next the awesome Eiffel Tower we decided to tick that off our list.

The queues looked horrendous to get in but actually only took about 20 mins. However once inside you queue for the lift to the second floor - the sun was just setting so got some awesome photos. Then you queue to get up the top. When you finally get to the top you can hardly move for people. Absolutely stunning views and as we got to the top the lights were switched on. Beautiful clear night so we really picked it well. If only our feet and my back actually were not hurting so much and we were also getting hungry.

It was about 10pm when we finally got down from the top because yes you guessed it there were queues to come down too! Well worth it though!

We sat at the bottom of the tower for a while. Paris is really beautiful at night. Every now and then twinkly lights would come on all up the tower. Finally we were recovered enough to plod to the metro. We seemed to cross the wrong bridge and get the wrong station which meant another train! After two metro lines we finally got to the final RER station to find we had over half an hour to wait for the next train. A snack bar for a kitkat and a drink of water and it is surprising how fast the body recovers. Nevertheless the 10 min walk home seemed a long way tonight and my feet are still aching! Being a professional tourist is a young person’s game!!!! It is 11.45pm and a piece of toast is our dinner tonight!

8th October 2010
An amazing day in Paris!! Went into Montmatre and got onto the internet to book a lot of things we needed to – like a hotel near the airport for tomorrow night as we are not going to be able to get from Maisons Laffittes to the airport in time in the morning. Also booked our tour to Tangiers for the day, printed rental car vouchers, accommodation in Dubai etc etc etc. Helen and Lyn met us down there and we wandered through Montmatre – went to see Moulin Rouge then headed on train into the Louvre.

Spent a few hours I guess at the Louvre ticking off the list – Venue de Milo, The Winged Victory of Samothrace and not to mention the Mona Lisa among loads of others! I think we picked a good day as there were not the crowds we were expecting.

We then headed into the Champs Elysees and wandered up this magnificent street looking at the shops. Amazingly enough I got a black trench coat on this avenue – good price and exactly what I wanted!! (please ask me where I got that coat when you see me in it!!) – thanks Helen for pulling it out of the rack!

A lovely dinner on the Champs Elysees – we could even see the Arc de Triomph! Afterwards we walked up there and then took the metro to the Eiffel Tower as it is just so magnificent at night. We went on a lovely Seine River cruise – Paris really is gorgeous at night!

Home very late again and a 1am bedtime!

The view from the Eiffel Tower by night - next three photos