On the 19th we left London by way of rail (Eurostar) -- train tunnel under the English Channel and through to Paris. Very fast train, very quiet and very smooth --- the way train travel should be; a most pleasant trip for us. Arrived at Gare Nord and checked with the ticket agent regarding the upcoming general strike (covering all of France). This confirmed that the strike would definitely impact our plans for travel on the 23rd, and after some discussion and conferring, our tickets were changed to the 22nd for a few additional Euros. We cancelled our planned last night in Paris (was to be the 22nd) and have now picked up an additonal night in Vienna instead.
Paris has turned out to be fascinating -- much smaller (2.5 million people), very old and low rise buildings, narrow streets. Noisy to some degree -- they like to use their horns!!! Traffic is somewhat insane --- on the Sunday it seemed like mid-week traffic all day. Weather has been great and we've walked miles. Had a great meal at a very old restaurant (Boullion Rascine) -- wonderful roast duckling in a great sauce accompanied by a nice bottle of wine -- all of about 4 minutes from the hotel (Central St. Germain Hotel). Our trek on Monday (approx 17 kilometres of walking) took us to Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, along the Champs-Elysees, to the Arc de Triomphe, down to Trocadero for a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower, and back to the Latin Quarter where we are staying. Monday evening saw our trip to the Moulin Rouge -- our special treat to ourselves while in Paris, we were really looking forward to it and not disappointed. The food was very good, the show was great, the subway trip to and from was notable in that people readily gave up their seat for Susan (and also me) >> I guess we're looking older >> nevertheless, I in particular was somewhat surprised, but the last young man insisted that I be seated!!!
While traffic is crazy here, at least they travel on the right hand side of the road. Crazy is ok then (not both crazy and travelling on the left hand side of the road per the U.K.).
By the way, if you sit at an outdoor cafe here, all the seats will be facing the roadway/sidewalk. Two people sitting at a small table will be placed beside each other so that they both face the street -- looks a little strange to us, but I guess everyone at an outdoor patio can have good reason for distraction.
Tuesday is our last day and we plan to spend most of our time at the D'Orsay Museum, and just enjoying the area around the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment