Week 9: Paris

Bonjour! We've just spent 10 days in a shoebox apartment in Pairs, 15 minutes walk from la tour Eiffel. Our cozy apartment was in a typical Parisian building, 7 stories with cute balconies and above a fromagerie and brasserie, with a patisserie across the street. On arrival we immediately walked down to see The Eiffel Tower - a beautiful blue sky and warm sunshine welcomed us. We stood with mouths open, not quite able to believe what we were seeing. 

The front of our apartment building

The old fashioned lift, big enough for 2 bags and 1 person to squeeze.

Parisian life!

On our first day we experienced a little culture shock, as expected. At the airport we adjusted to hearing french in all directions; at the train station we stopped short when we saw the military in groups of three carrying machine guns (see the military below stopping for a photo outside the Eiffel tower); little pups (petit chien!) on trains and in cafes; hoards of tourists everywhere who were happy to stand in lines for an hour and more; and the sudden difficulty in asking for anything - a coffee to the toilet. (Unfortunately?) Even in Paris you need to eat. Our first attempt at lunch we ran out of the sandwich bar when the shop lady started a long stream of french at us... On attempt 2 with a bit of pointing and a bit of mumbled french we left with two baguettes. Over the next week we gradually improved and after a few days didn't blush as we left our favourite local patisserie with all that we wanted. (Although our range of french words is 90% food related).  

But oh, the food! Australia has no equivalent to french pastry. Oh my. Each day (except Sunday and Monday because most of the shops are closed) we started with croissants from a patisserie that crunched in your fingers, melted in your mouth and made you appreciate the wonders of Paris. Most nights our dinner consisted of a fresh baguette, crunchy on the outside and soft and light inside, a tin of soup or ratatouille (from a can!!), with a glass (or two) of red wine at €2 a bottle. Fancy gateuxs, eclairs and macarons could be found everywhere and quite within the food budget when breakfast and dinner had cost us about €6! But there *is* more to Paris than the food. 

Grateful for our time in Paris, we set into a lazy routine of sleeping late, wandering around different areas of the city, then reading late into the night. Below are some of the highlights: Arc de Triomphe & Champs-Elysees (yep, it was a busy street); Notre Dame, Ile de la Cite & the lock bridge; a day in Versailles and much, much more.

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Notre Dame

Notre Dame front door

A model of Notre Dame, in Notre Dame

The gargoyles were pretty weird; winged animals impressive on the top but stranger by the door - angels standing on squished men, all different with their own quirks - like this headless angel!

Australia represents!

On our second day in Paris we caught the train to Versailles. The weather was temperamental, one moment sun shining over the beautiful Jardin Versailles Chateux, the next hailing hard enough to sting. The gardens were beautiful, although muddy and many parts being worked on during the 'quiet' (still insanely busy) winter season. I would love to return here to see the gardens in full summer bloom. Unfortunately all of the fountains were turned off and the majority of the statures were covered for the winter; we would thoroughly recommending visiting Versailles in the summer, it would be truly magnificent.

Hail everywhere!

Not so friendly cloud

And then it was Ally's 22nd birthday! As the clock ticked over to the 26th in Australia, Matt surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of red tulips to brighten our shoebox. They were so beautiful and great to watch gradually open more and more each day, with the petals finally falling off on the day we left the city - perfect! I awoke on my Paris birthday to a delicious L'Opera Gateaux - something I had on my list of must-tries in Paris - as well as a birthday card sent from Great UM & AH (they'd snuck it into my backpack in Chester with strict instructions not to be opened before the 26th). After a skype to home to say happy birthday to my Aunty Sarah (who was celebrating her first solo-birthday in 22 years!) and see the family, we drooled into our croissants and wandered leisurely through St Germain and St Michel and enjoyed the boutiques and fancy stores. Lunch was traditional french fancy, although we did cheat a little and ate in a bilingual restaurant. Our 5 course meal was as follows: cocktails (on the house, used to spruke us in) & bread basket, 

escargot (deliciously garlic-ey and fun to use the implements) and french onion soup (huge hunks of bread, covered in melted cheese and the most divine soup), 

boeuf borgonjon (on my must-try list!) and cheese & mushroom fondue with bread, sliced meats and potatoes (a world of oozey deliciousness),

creme brulee and creme caramel,

espresso to finish.

After our looooong lunch accompanied by a bottle of bordeaux red, we walked through the high end shopping areas and collapsed back at home for more red, gateaux and reading. A perfect birthday in a perfect place with the perfect person :D

Enough cheese to last a year consumed in under an hour

On Friday night we hit The Lourve. Tip for the under 26s - The Lourve is free on Wednesdays and Fridays after 6:30pm. Everyone says so but I'll say it again, THE LOURVE IS HUGE! We had about 2.5 hours of free entry by the time we got there so scouted out a loop to see the greats (and still managed to get lost more than once).

Venus de Milo

Big-dog sphinx

Ramesses II

The above three photos don't do this room justice: it was a long hall with gold EVERYWHERE. On the roof as well as paintings and gold trim, were statues built into the ceiling surrounding each of the zodiac signs. The walls had portraits of a number of French royalty (we think) and the whole space oozed with greatness.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Mona Lisa!

The Wedding Feast at Cana (this is what Mona Lisa gets to look at all day *sigh*)

The original selfie!

Oh baby, look at my fabulous

Following out late night Lourve looking we enjoyed the city lights.

Ally touched to Eiffel Tower!

A highlight of Paris was visiting Montmartre. We saw people painting, beautiful Paris landscapes and buildings, musicians and cute boutiques and cafes. Montmartre gave an impressive view of Paris below, the sea of 7-story buildings with orange ceramic chimneys perched on top.

At the bottom of Montmartre sits the red light district; the famous Moulin Rouge and sex shops galore.

We visited the Catacombs - an old underground quarry filled with thousands of Parisian skeletons. After walking through Montparnasse cemetery (where Camile Saint Saens and Samuel Beckett are buried, among many others) and lining up for over an hour, the catacombs were super eerie, vast and impressive. See for yourself:

An old underground well

Floor to ceiling skulls and other bones at every turn..

On our final day in Paris we wandered the streets. We came across beautiful patisseries (as usual ;) ), the square containing the monument covered in tributes for Charlie Hebdo, many pretty balconies and ended up in Luxembourg gardens for some springtime sun and baguettes.

Pidgeon playground

Je suis Charlie

A final note - coffee in Paris? Espresso. Don't bother with anything else ;)

We loved our time in Paris. 10 days to relax, explore and indulge in all things Parisian.