Paris (Day One)

Firstly a quick ‘Welcome to London’ Lise, as she’s arrived here from Melbourne for the next two years. Good to see a familiar face and spend Wednesday evening in both Gordon’s Wine Bar and dinner on Leicester Square.

Train tickets: £59 return on the Eurostar
Accommodation: €45
3 Days in Paris: Priceless

Okay, so tacky credit card ads aside, on Thursday morning it was time to hit the continent again. A 6.30am Eurostar train out of London and I was in Paris before 10am - with less than 20mins to check-in and far less crowds it does make the airlines a worse option for such a trip.
Coming out of the Channel Tunnel into sunshine and the French countryside was pretty nice. First up it wasn’t that much different to other European countries, but still has its own uniqueness. This got stronger and stronger, the further into France we went. Granted, I didn’t see all of it as I dozed a few times as well.
Leaving Gare du Nord station, and after having to adjust to the bright sunshine, I headed left (or east) along the Rue La Fayette. Nothing particularly spectacular about this road/street (as you can see), but it took me to the top of the Canal St-Martin.
I had to make my way to where I was staying down by Gare de Lyon, and what better way to get there than walk. Sure, I could have taken the Metro, but I’d have been underground and seen nothing but French train passengers...

Canal St-Martin was somewhere that was recommended to me by Peter n Jude, and it didn’t disappoint. Perfect for a late morning stroll in the sunshine, through the parks and locks, with the French cafés and shops along the other side of the roads. Down one of the roads crossing over the canal, I spied a rather large square and statue, which upon further investigation was the Place de la Republique. This was my first real experience with French traffic as it was basically a large round about with obligatory statute in the middle. I soon made my way back to the canal.

As I got closer to where the canal goes under what’s left of the Bastille, it became a large street market, and one that had quite a large range of things on offer. There didn’t seem to be any order to the stalls either with one of the fishmongers being next to the handbag seller.
The market opened up into the Place de La Bastille which is where the Bastille used to be, and is now just a massive traffic round-about with the Colonne de Juillet (a statue of Liberty atop a large bronze column). On the opposite side of this place of traffic chaos, the canal then turns into a marina before opening up into the River Seine. Naturally, I continued my way along here to the Seine.

Again, another left turn and a stroll along the Seine past the hobo ‘villages’ under the next bridge and I was back streetside, past the Gare de Lyon and checked in. It seems that homelessness in Paris is very common, and this was something that I saw more and more of over the next three days.
Right, so with the backpack locked in the 3 bed dorm that was home for the next two nights, it was off to explore the regions I’d planned for the afternoon and evening. Not that the word ‘plan’ is quite what it was, as it only consisted of being two places I wanted to visit with the rest being the general direction to get there. Everything in between would just be ‘que sera sera’...
On my way back to the south side of the Seine, I stopped in small Patisserie for lunch. The first test of being able to communicate with what little French I knew and had sussed out from the language section of my Rough Guide. Success and a few laughs later with the friendly ladies behind the counter (one, at least, knew some English), and I had my first pieces of typical French fare - baguette and tart. My timing was spot on too because while I was in there eating, I avoided the sudden shower that came down.

With the rain having passed it wasn’t long before I was off again and making my way along the southern bank of the Seine, where I came across a master and student of what looked to be mix of tai chi and variation of kung fu. I stopped to watch for a while and admire the form of the instructor.
Back on my way and it was through the trees and artworks that line the paths along the bank here. Avoiding the few cyclists that came through here, I was soon strolling along opposite the first of the two islands in the middle of the Seine. Up to street level and past the street sellers as the back of Notre Dame and the second of the two islands came into view - see the pic at the very top of the page.
Crossing the Seine I came upon a gate with a sign pointing to a small garden at the very end of this island called the Mémorial de la Déportation. It’s a monument to the 160,000 French killed in the concentration camps of World War II. It is rather an interesting spot for what is effectively a below ground triangular courtyard of empty concrete. It has one small gap in the wall that leads you under the park above and into the memorial itself. Inside is a small corridor to look down (that you can see on the left), and along each wall is row upon row of white pebbles - one for each person killed. In the little room in front of the corridor were inscriptions on the walls, and this is where the ability to read French would have helped, as the only thing written in English is “Silence”. It was still an interesting experience in that atmosphere with several others moving about in total silence.
After heading back through the park and across the road, I was in grounds of Notré Dame. Here at the back of the cathedral, is another park that is somewhat larger than the one I’d just been through. Moving along the river side of the cathedral provided both views of the activities along the river and views of the cathedral’s amazing architecture and sculptures.
Around the front of the cathedral and I was in a square full of tourists and pigeons. Don't consider eating here or you will be mobbed by the pigeons as one poor woman discovered the hard way! For some reason, as a lone tourist it seems that one of your duties is to take other people’s pictures for them. I don’t know if this is being mistaken for a local who’s passing by when you’re by yourself, but this was the second time today.
Anyway, Cathédrale de Notre-Dame - impressive in its size and architecture. Did I go in? Nope, I can do that another time when the queues are somewhat shorter and I’m prepared to spend the time to go through it. Besides, it wasn’t my intended target for the afternoon, and that venue would need a sizeable amount of time once I got there! Instead I chose to venture down the stairs at the back of the square to discover something a little different - the origins of Paris. This is the Crypte Archéologique, and is the ruins that are the earliest found in Paris - pre-dating Roman times by a serious amount of time. Although you can't quite see it in the pic on the left, they actually cover a fair amount of ground as they stretch under the square above, and the humidity in there does make it a bit oppressive - could be why there was a defibrillator on the wall as you go in...

Right, so back over the River Seine goes I, and down along Rue St-Jacqués, but not for long. Upon sighting the first laneway leading off this street, I decided to investigate. One of the best parts about just walking everywhere is exactly this - finding interesting little spots like the Rue de la Huchette (right). Crammed with all sorts of little shops and cafés and restaurants, it was far nicer to wander through here than down a main street.
Several turns and several of these sorts of laneways later, I emerged on to the Boulevard St-Germain, which is where I was basically heading as it lead pretty much to where I wanted to go. Again, however, I was sidetracked into another laneway and was passing by Paris’ oldest coffee house, Le Procope. I didn’t stop to go in as I thought I’d come back later when I felt more like a coffee. Funnily enough, that urge arose about two blocks later and I ended up spending some time just enjoying a streetside coffee watching the bustle of Parisians in the street as well as those in the other cafés around me. With the sun shining, well... you can imagine how nice it was at “Café de Paris” (left).
Taking the Rue de Seine back towards the River Seine was a good eye-opener too as there were dozens of little art galleries along this narrow street. Some fascinating works in the windows too! What was I saying about just finding interesting stuff?
Back at the Seine it was time to make my way along the riverbanks to where I was headed, and from what I could see (and you can too here), the sooner the better. I could admire the Ste Chapelle and western end of the Ile de Citie later! I got to my destination none too soon as the heavens opened up just as I reached the main entrance.

Thursday evenings are the one evening that the Musée d’Orsay is open late, which is what gave me an extended afternoon of exploration and would let me have more than enough time to go through this gallery. The Musée d’Orsay itself is pretty impressive, as it is a refurbished train station of a similar time to the works of art within - quite fitting really. Basically, the artwork in the Louvre finishes at around 1850, which is where the Impressionists kick off (followed by all the other interesting artistic movements of the next seventy years). Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Seurat and the others of this era are all here. These are the fellows I studied, so now was the chance to see some of their original works (although I suspect that those on the other side of the thin cable ‘fence’ aren’t the actual originals). One thing that I noticed pretty quickly was the distinct lack of security with regard to taking photos, and that’s with or without a flash. Something that at most other galleries I’ve been to are very strict about, which added to my above suspicion. They did however have the lighting at such a level as to give you a good view, but still make it difficult to take a good photo. Nice to see Whistler’s Mum there too! (no that's not her on the right - that's a Renoir)

After spending a fair amount of time here while the rain pelted down outside, and getting a good look at the likes of Seurat’s ‘Cirque’, Van Gogh’s self portrait and others, it was time to head towards the second of the day’s targets. The rain outside had passed and with the skies clearing, I headed through the Esplanade des Invalides, past the Hôtel de Invalides, through some interesting back streets to the Parc du Champs de Mars to that funny looking blue structure you can see on the left.
I’d been told (and read) that the best time to visit and climb the Tower Eiffel is at night. I was also warned to bring a book for the queue and I’m happy to say that it wasn’t needed at all! I effectively had to wait behind about three people at the ticket counter. It didn’t take long though before the lift to the first level was packed, and up we went. Can’t say I’ve been in a lift that goes up on an angle before - most disorientating as you try to balance in those first few moments.
Soon we were deposited on the second level to see the views as well as change over to the second lift that goes straight up the middle to the top. I let the hoards head straight for the lift while I checked out the views from this level. If I thought that Paris looked pretty spectacular by night from here, well... little did I know what was to come.
Up the lift went with myself and the driver being it. Through the windows you can see the inside of the structure as well as the views as you go up - interesting experience when there’s vertigo involved! Once at the top the view from the observation decks were pretty awesome despite the cold and the wind. A little thing that they do to the tower for the first ten minutes of every hour on the hour is turn it into a Christmas tree. Okay, not quite, but thousands of strobe lights go off and make the entire structure sparkle. This began just before I headed back down (and after taking several people’s pictures for them). Firstly the view down the side of the tower while it’s sparkling is one thing. To then be going down through the centre of it during the same occurrence was kind of bizarre but still very cool - where was the dance music in the lift?? The view looking up you can see here too if you play the video...

Back on terra firma and having run the gauntlet of dogey souvenir guys trying to sell you their Tower Eiffel trinkets, it was time for a leisurely stroll along the River Seine at night with everything around it lit up for the night.

Eventually, I made my way back to St-Germain and the laneways full of restaurants and cafés - time for dinner. Having perused a few of the menus by the doors I ended up choosing a small place called Le Petit Zinc. I couldn’t find it in the guide book (until the next day) so thought I’d give it a try. A somewhat awkward decision, as it was a little more up market than I thought - will make sure I have a collar on next time I come here!! It did feel like I had just whisked back about 50 years by the Art Nouveau décor of the place. Too bad, it was time to try typical French cuisine, which was probably the most touristy order going - Gros Escargot (snails) for entree and the Grand Mariner Soufflé for desert. As for the main, well, that was a rather ordinary choice based more on what it would do for me nutritionally with all the trekking I’d done and would still be doing. Still, Poulet sounds chic, but was really just a chicken risotto. Not only were the garlic snails quite tasty, the soufflé was superb. A bit of an opulent meal in the end, but stuff it, this was Paris and not something that I was going to deny myself (but I’m still not saying just how much the bill was!). Regardless of that price tag, I’d still like to head back and try the seafood platter that was brought to the next table, which I discovered later was this restaurant’s speciality!!

A quiet coffee in another café afterwards before realising that it was now around midnight and that I’d been up since just before 5am. Time to head back to the hostel for bed. One last thing to finish the day off, and that was to assist some Parisians with directions!! (I’d just passed the bar they were looking for, but they were impressed that I knew where it was.) Back down the remainder of Boulevard St-Germain to the Seine and a stroll back to the hostel feeling pretty contented about my first day in this amazing city...