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Jul. 31st, 2004 12:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aleathielSince I was interrupted during my previous post by the arrival of friends (which prob saved those of you with dial-up), here is the remainder of the spam about my trip.
Tuesday
After two and a half hours sleep or something equally stupid, we got up and drove to Ashford to catch the Eurostar to Paris. The ride was actually very simple, surprisingly short and amazingly on time. Yay for European trains rather than British ones.
We went to through Tuileries gardens and past all the expensive jewellery shops and the Ritz hotel, went to La Madeleine church and the Opera before finding our hotel and dropping our stuff. Considering we'd picked a hotel by typing "cheap Paris accomodation" into Google and running through the entries, it was surprisingly nice and very conveiniently located just of the Place de Republique. In the afternoon we went to the gardens of the Luxembourg Palace where we saw the following statue and found it amusing enough to photograph:
What you can see is actually the other end of the robe, but we didn't take a picture from the front because we didn't want to spoil the illusion. Then we went to the Sorbonne, across the courtyard from which my Cambridge-philosophy-student friend found a bookshope dedicated entirely to philosphy.
Then we wandered around with our map until we found the church of Sant Sulpice because we'd both read The Da Vinci Code. For those of you who also have, below is the obelisk with the brass linewe did tap some of the floor tiles - we couldn't resist!
After that we had lunch in a little creperie in the latin quarter and then crossed the river to go to Notre Dame.
There was a little old woman there with her family who was decidedly hunchbacked. Personally, I would have skipped Notre Dame if I were here. We didn't take the tour of the towers because the queue was so long it would have prevented our doing much else.
We went back to the hotel to freshen up - it was very hot! - and with the plan to change for the evening, but decided against it in the end because we would have killed ourselves in heels on the metro and the cobbles.
We ate in a restaurant just up from the Eiffel tower and Laura ordered snails (she lived in Paris for a while last year and actually quite likes them), insisting that I try one. I'm not converted.
Then we took a boat trip up the Seine as the sun went down and saw all the sights from the river including all the fiddlers and the dancers on the banks. When we got back it was 11.30pm and the last metro was at midnight. However we decided to blow money on a taxi and go up the Eiffel Tower at midnight. I did take pictures but none of them came out because it was too dark.
The taxi ride home was quite an experience. I hereby promise never to attempt to drive in Paris.
Wednesday
We got up early in order to be at the Louvre at nine when it opened.
This was actually a really good idea because it meant that we only had to wait about ten minutes to get in and it wasn't very busy. We saw the big three: The Mona Lisa, The Winged Victory and Venus de Milo and then spent two hours exploring less famous parts of the museum. There were tourists taking it in turn to photograph each other in front of Venus de Milo and I managed to resist the temptation to photograph them photographing each other.
Laura and I were actually quite disappointed by the Mona Lisa, apart from the fact that I don't actually particularly like it as a painting, we were disappointed as Da Vinci Code readers because it wasn't in a room only accessible by a long room of paintings, nor was it in the same room as The Virgin on the Rocks, nor were there men's toilets at the end of the room. However we found a small plaque by the door explaining that the Salle d'Etats was being renovated and redecorated and that the paintings were not in their correct places. It's absurd how much happier that made us.
And before leaving the Louvre, as a true Da Vinci Code reader, I had to take the following photo:
I won't explain for fear of spoiling it for anyone else. But those who've read it will, I'm sure, understand.
After leaving the Louvre we went to the Champes Elysee and bought croissants for breakfast and ate them within sight of the Arc de Triomphe. Then we took the metro up to Montmart and walked past all the sex shops to the Moulin Rouge.
From here it was just up the hill and out of the most touristy part of town to find the cafe where Amelie was filmed.
We paid an ridiculous amount for two glasses of orange juice then continued up the hill to Sacre Coeur.
It was incredibly hot by this point in the day and we made the decision to climb right to the top anyway which was a good idea because not only did it take us out of the main stream of tourists because of the number of flights of stairs we climbed, but also because there was a lovely breeze at the top - not to mention a fabulous view of Paris.
After that we had to head back to the Gare de Nord to catch the Eurostar. Back in Canterbury we ate Chinese takeaway and watched films with pretty men until falling asleep.
Thursday
Got up. Packed. I took the train to London, the tube and then the train home. Highly exciting. Now I'm back.
I'm afraid, dear flist, that I now have a confession to make. I'm flying to Boston on Monday and will be gone until the 18th of August. However, I'm planning to leave you some fic to read this time I disappear.
(Sorry if this appears more than once. LJ is arsing up again)
Tuesday
After two and a half hours sleep or something equally stupid, we got up and drove to Ashford to catch the Eurostar to Paris. The ride was actually very simple, surprisingly short and amazingly on time. Yay for European trains rather than British ones.
We went to through Tuileries gardens and past all the expensive jewellery shops and the Ritz hotel, went to La Madeleine church and the Opera before finding our hotel and dropping our stuff. Considering we'd picked a hotel by typing "cheap Paris accomodation" into Google and running through the entries, it was surprisingly nice and very conveiniently located just of the Place de Republique. In the afternoon we went to the gardens of the Luxembourg Palace where we saw the following statue and found it amusing enough to photograph:
Then we wandered around with our map until we found the church of Sant Sulpice because we'd both read The Da Vinci Code. For those of you who also have, below is the obelisk with the brass line
After that we had lunch in a little creperie in the latin quarter and then crossed the river to go to Notre Dame.
There was a little old woman there with her family who was decidedly hunchbacked. Personally, I would have skipped Notre Dame if I were here. We didn't take the tour of the towers because the queue was so long it would have prevented our doing much else.
We went back to the hotel to freshen up - it was very hot! - and with the plan to change for the evening, but decided against it in the end because we would have killed ourselves in heels on the metro and the cobbles.
We ate in a restaurant just up from the Eiffel tower and Laura ordered snails (she lived in Paris for a while last year and actually quite likes them), insisting that I try one. I'm not converted.
Then we took a boat trip up the Seine as the sun went down and saw all the sights from the river including all the fiddlers and the dancers on the banks. When we got back it was 11.30pm and the last metro was at midnight. However we decided to blow money on a taxi and go up the Eiffel Tower at midnight. I did take pictures but none of them came out because it was too dark.
The taxi ride home was quite an experience. I hereby promise never to attempt to drive in Paris.
Wednesday
We got up early in order to be at the Louvre at nine when it opened.
This was actually a really good idea because it meant that we only had to wait about ten minutes to get in and it wasn't very busy. We saw the big three: The Mona Lisa, The Winged Victory and Venus de Milo and then spent two hours exploring less famous parts of the museum. There were tourists taking it in turn to photograph each other in front of Venus de Milo and I managed to resist the temptation to photograph them photographing each other.
Laura and I were actually quite disappointed by the Mona Lisa, apart from the fact that I don't actually particularly like it as a painting, we were disappointed as Da Vinci Code readers because it wasn't in a room only accessible by a long room of paintings, nor was it in the same room as The Virgin on the Rocks, nor were there men's toilets at the end of the room. However we found a small plaque by the door explaining that the Salle d'Etats was being renovated and redecorated and that the paintings were not in their correct places. It's absurd how much happier that made us.
And before leaving the Louvre, as a true Da Vinci Code reader, I had to take the following photo:
I won't explain for fear of spoiling it for anyone else. But those who've read it will, I'm sure, understand.
After leaving the Louvre we went to the Champes Elysee and bought croissants for breakfast and ate them within sight of the Arc de Triomphe. Then we took the metro up to Montmart and walked past all the sex shops to the Moulin Rouge.
From here it was just up the hill and out of the most touristy part of town to find the cafe where Amelie was filmed.
We paid an ridiculous amount for two glasses of orange juice then continued up the hill to Sacre Coeur.
It was incredibly hot by this point in the day and we made the decision to climb right to the top anyway which was a good idea because not only did it take us out of the main stream of tourists because of the number of flights of stairs we climbed, but also because there was a lovely breeze at the top - not to mention a fabulous view of Paris.
After that we had to head back to the Gare de Nord to catch the Eurostar. Back in Canterbury we ate Chinese takeaway and watched films with pretty men until falling asleep.
Thursday
Got up. Packed. I took the train to London, the tube and then the train home. Highly exciting. Now I'm back.
I'm afraid, dear flist, that I now have a confession to make. I'm flying to Boston on Monday and will be gone until the 18th of August. However, I'm planning to leave you some fic to read this time I disappear.
(Sorry if this appears more than once. LJ is arsing up again)
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Date: 2004-07-31 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2004-07-31 02:48 am (UTC)