Our decision to make a day-trip to Paris was more of an afterthought than anything… Upon researching train routes {since I’d never been on a train I was determined to find at least one good excursion…} I discovered that Paris is only 4hrs. from London by rail. Ok, so perhaps I am a bit slow, but how come no one told me it was that easy to get from London to Paris?? Obviously at that point, there was absolutely no way we could miss the chance to go. Originally our plans included only a whirlwind day day-trip, and a night-train home, but then fortuitously, days before our departure, Jetsetter popped up with a delicious sale at the Hotel le Bellechasse {an incredible Saint Germain hotel designed head-to-toe by French fashion designer Christian Lacroix}- done, and done.
By the end of our adventure we took a moment to do the math {not our strong suit but luckily the numbers were far easier than the conversion rates we’d been calculating} and we realized of the 24 hours we’d had in Paris, we spent 13 walking/sightseeing, 4 sleeping, 3 arguing with an insolent French concierge, 3 eating/drinking/cabbing and one precious hour at the Louvre – at least 98% of this time was spent in a state of near-hypothermia, which actually makes it all the more memorable… the sights, sounds and smells of the City of Light are seared into our sense-memory like frost-bite.
Without further ado – notre voyage à Paris….
- Night before: attempting French with helpful iPhone ap: s’il vous plaît, merci!
- 7:30 train station breakfast: eggs + prosciutto, toast and fresh mint tea
- My first ever train ride… sunrise over French countryside= beyond compare.
- French graffiti-stained tunnel walls
- Gare du Nord
- cold. cold. cold. frickin’ cold
- EPIC staircase over 300′ straight up
- Sacré Coeur against a flawless French sky
- First glimpse of the “Tour Eiffel” and all the rest of Paris sprawled below
- Metallic mimes
- Lost in Montmartre
- Moulin de la Galette
- Accidentally stumbling upon the Amélie grocery: Au Marche de la Butte… Collignon!
- Moulin Rouge {very underwhelming}
- Amy’s sporadic French Tourette’s: la boulangerie!
- Vespas everywhere, but no riders
- Dog poo everywhere, but no dogs
- Open-air double-decker: sunshine and ice
- Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde
- George Washington near the Trocadero {represent!}
- Finally, la Tour Eiffel! Second-level: Awe, Appreciation, Photos, Frost-bite
- Sunset over the Siene
- Parting is such sweet sorrow: Twilight view of the tower from below
- //hats off// services at Notre Dame: Gorgeous, Gothic, Ghostly
- Statues, candles, deep choral sounds of French devotion echo in ten-stories
- Captivating chandeliers: unearthly light absorbed into ancient stone
- Kneeling on the cold stone for the shot… and feeling compelled to stay on my knees
- Find Peter, Find food
- Parisians smoking outside= Good choice for dinner
- Bistrot la Grange: A pint of Leffe, a dozen escargot, a bottle of 2003 Château Garreau Bordeaux, chilly crème brûlée and an English server who named our snails after the Beatles
- Belly full of mushroom risotto { Supreme Poultry}, burger + frites {and the best mayo in history} and un-pasteurized cow cheese with French bread.
- Friendly cabbie, nice surprise
- Hotel La Bellechasse: Splendid.
- Tiny but impeccable room, wall and ceiling murals by Christian Lacroix – like being in a diorama
- Chilled vodka shots with lemon {followed by mint gum, a fine choice!}
- Giant Chanel ad on the Musée d’Orsay. Only in Paris
- Discovering the disco-ball Eiffel Tower – every hour on the hour?
- Louvre at night. Silent. Cold. Breathtaking.
- Long exposure moon= midnight sun.
- Walk to the tower, no cab to the tower, no walk… man it’s cold out here… ok cab.
- 12:00zm Eiffel Tower two-minute sparkle show, then lights-out
- Champs-Élysées: Hole in the wall bar for drinking, hole in the floor bathroom for peeing
- 2am: back to the hotel, 2 comfy twin beds for three, concierge drunk on power, gendarmes useless for non-French speakers
- 4 precious hours of sleep, one extra because of the time difference
- Sunrise over the Siene
- One hour Louvre mission: Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo – go!
- Postcards from the train station… back to London.
* * *
