My favourite street scene – also a realistic view of the parking and traffic
Early in May, Rom and I booked a vacation that included a visit to his parents, two days in Paris and three in London. We booked flights and hotels and Eurostar train tickets, and I marked some major tourist spots on my Ulmon Paris app. That is as far as our planning went, because we ended up travelling early, and had no Internet access for a while. Will I tell you that we had a whirlwind wonderful trip with zero prior knowledge? Read on 🙂
Does anyone know what this “flipped up” roof style is called?(Photo: montrealgazette.com)
We stayed overnight in London before departing on the Eurostar from Kings Cross/St. Pancras international train station. It was quite a haul across town on the Underground with our luggage, but would I pack light? Nooo! I had a full-size suitcase (24″) with space for gift and souvenir purchases, and a heavy backpack. I was loaded down with the 8 books I’d bought and read in Sussex, which I couldn’t bear to leave behind. It was my first Eurostar trip and first Chunnel crossing. Since you go through several tunnels before the channel crossing, you don’t know the difference when you are under the water, except it seems a little longer. On the ground, there are big berms along the trackside to reduce noise, so visibility is limited from the train windows. The terrain from Calais to Paris is all grain-growing plains, and Rom noted the number of wind farms. I saw homes and farms with roofs in the French style, unsurprisingly, like in Quebec.
In the meager tourist info we’d read, travellers were heavily warned about the Gare du Nord train station area. It gave me the impression that the surrounding blocks would be crammed with dangerous vagrants! How silly; it is just like any other train or bus terminal, crammed with tourists. The surrounding block is not tourist-driven, though, except for the small neighbourhood hotels, including ours. There is a non-upscale array of convenience stores, bakeries, produce markets, McDonalds and the like. The only thing that alarmed me was that I had never encountered a very persistent panhandler with a young child before. Obviously I am not very well-travelled. We walked 5 minutes to our lovely little hotel.
Home sweet home in Paris with fluffy bathrobes
We are old enough and “rich” enough that we don’t stay at hostels or anywhere with shared bathrooms. Even so, this was a splurge for us. When we are in London we stay in an outlying area and take the Tube in to the city daily. Here, we were essentially paying the normal rates to stay closer to the action. Given that we were only in town 48 hours, we made the right decision for us. The hotel provided a full hot/cold breakfast buffet daily and I tried to follow the news feed on the TV monitor in French.
Exiting the Louvre Metro station
Tuileries Gardens and classical sculpture
First glimpse of the Tour Eiffel, visible from everywhere
Oops, almost forgot to include a photo of myself so you know I was there 🙂
On Day 1, we took the Metro down to the Louvre station and departed on a grand trek. I was taken aback to find out the bottom of the Louvre pyramid is in the metro station/shopping concourse! I had guessed it would be in the museum itself, in a café/gift shop area. We emerged from underground at the Tuileries Gardens. Until that time, we had not experienced any warm summer days, and suddenly we were in Paris and it was 25 C! A bit of a shock. Expecting Parisian/British cool and damp weather, I found that the landscape was parched. The wide paths of the gardens were made of dusty sand, and the plantings were drought-resistant. I regretted that I knew nothing of the history of the area. Clearly it was significant, but I didn’t get to read about it until my return. I missed out on a lot because I didn’t know what to look for. I did see it through fresh and unbiased eyes, but that is not a plus. I really liked the addition of modern sculptures throughout the gardens, along with the classical ones.
My favourite ad along the Champs-Elysees (for Fathers Day!)
Arc de Triomphe. The throng of (us) tourists was actually not too bad.
We proceeded along the Place de la Concorde to the Champs-Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe. I was delighted to find that the avenues of beautiful trees were horse chestnuts. They are present, but uncommon, where I live, and I have happy memories of drilling the conkers with a little hand auger to make necklaces when I was a kid! The Champs-Élysées was a tourist madhouse, as you would expect, but on a summery day, that was not unwelcome. You probably know that the avenue is lined with international chain stores such as Sephora, Disney, and Benetton, as well as designer houses like Chanel, Dior, Gauthier and Cartier. I enjoyed strolling past but was not really tempted to shop. In fact, we only travelled down one side and didn’t return to see the other.
Tour Eiffel and Pont d’Iena
Yes I am going to foist off one of these awed tourist photos on you 🙂
The Eiffel Tower was looking very close so we crossed over the Seine on one of its many (37, apparently) bridges. I didn’t realize the Seine was so narrow, green, and easily traversed. There were signs posted warning tourists not to buy souvenirs from illegal street vendors, who displayed their wares on the ground on blankets, all the better to easily scoop them up and run off when police approached. One of us is not so good with heights so a voyage to the viewing platform was not undertaken. We also declined dining at the Jules Verne – the “Experience Menu” at €190 each doesn’t have a vegetarian option…so we wandered off to a local crêperie. The proprietor humoured me by allowing me to order in French. I think she felt she was playing a role in my little tourist drama. We ate ratatouille galettes and I discovered my new favourite drink, the Kir Breton: hard cider with crème de cassis. Mwa!
Approaching Pont Alexandre III from the west
From there we walked along the Left Bank, along the boardwalk known as Les Berges de Seine, to the Pont Alexandre III. This is definitely the picnic and party spot for trust fund babies, who are even provided with sand lounging chairs at the outside terraces in which to drink and loaf. For the rest, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and several hundred “thous” are always appropriate.
Philosophes et Ecrivains – I wish I would be remembered that way 🙂
Existential Heaven
We ended the day by walking as far as St. Germain for one of my must-sees, the side-by-side Café de Flore and Café Les Deux Magots, home-away-from-home for all my favourite existentialists, who so wooed me when I was 20 or so. It was a quick metro ride back to the hotel after our 7 hour promenade!
Thanks to everyone who commented on my earlier in-Paris photo (June 11) and I apologize for my lack of replies.
To be continued tomorrow night
An Exacting Life 
Mansard roofs! Very Parisian.
Glad that you had such a good experience. Now you know that you should go back for a while (at least a week). We went once in January for a week because the airfare was so cheap, and had a great time – it was reasonably temperate, and not especially rainy, and less full of tourists.
Hi Jamie, Mansard, thanks! I always like to pretend I’m not one of “those” tourists. As if the rest of the world should not travel just so I can take photos with no crowds in them! Now that I have the lay of the land, I’ll be better informed next time.
Ahh! Reading about it just makes me want to go back again and again! You really did trek, that’s a huge area and so many things to cover in one day. I’m amazed the Eiffel Tower restaurant doesn’t have vegetarian options. I would never have thought to visit Deux Magots, but now that you have listed it, I would have loved to have gone there. It will have to be on the list for next time. I love your photos – the light is beautiful with the sunny weather. It was wet and overcast when we were there (though nothing could dampen my enthusiasm!)
Well, Jules Verne did have one veg and one dessert as part of their 6 course dinner! I didn’t have a meal at the Cafe Flore or Deux Magots either, for the same reason, but I loved seeing them and knowing where they were. Food was more challenging than I expected in the areas of Paris that we visited. More research next time!
Yes, I may be two months behind (where did those two months go?) but your photos make me want to return to Paris too. (OK, I was there nearly 25 years ago.)
I wish I’d had the experience of going to Paris when I was younger, too, but I am happy to make up for lost time.
The gardens look beautiful, glad you had nice (albeit warm!) weather to explore them. I was going to comment that your room looked quite spacious – makes sense that it was a splurge! What a bummer that Jules Verne didn’t offer a vegetarian option, though at least you found that out beforehand, especially at that price. I’ve been disappointed by restaurants offering a $20 “special vegetarian platter” that turns out to be a minuscule portion of roasted vegetables with bread and butter.
We were not “really” planning to spend so much on a meal but it was easier to walk away knowing it wouldn’t have been our style anyway! That makes me think, would I have been tempted if they had the same deal – 190 euros per person – if it had been all vegan? I expect not!
Oh even Gare du Nord turns me a little cold on the inside. It’s just full of transient people, like any central station actually! I tended to use Gare du Montparnass more commonly to get out to Brittany for uni.
I’m surprised you found it hard to be vego, but then again, I’m not one, so perhaps less aware of how ‘into’ they are with meats. At least not being vegan would be ok, as then they could use their famed butter and cheese. That being said, with the international mix, finding certain Indian food would be possible and vego (and not at all spicy, French hate spice, which is great for me). I haven’t read part two yet, but did you try Moroccan?
I love Paris in the summer, though it almost doesn’t know itself in heat and sunshine. They called a few days of 30C a heatwave which was amusing for Aussies and NZers! That being said, they aren’t equipped to air condition the way Australia and parts of tropical Asia are. They can heat well though 🙂 My first visit to Paris (8 years old) was in March, so cool, but more recent trips have twice been in Summer and once in November, which was pleasingly cool, just right for me.
The Eurostar train to/from London operates out of Gare du Nord. It is not a “posh” station with large waiting areas and lots of amenities, like on the London side at St. Pancras.
I have thought about the food situation and decided that to stay veggie, I would have needed to research ahead of time. Naturally, most people visiting France want to eat French food and that is what they cater to. We spent 100% of our time in high-traffic tourist areas and had decided to wing it and just find places to eat as we went along. That just didn’t work. I would have loved to find a Moroccan or Vietnamese place which I know exist, but we just didn’t see them. I think part of the problem was price. The cafes ran about 35 euros per person for a “nice” lunch. 70 euros is 99 dollars for us. So we didn’t want to go to a cafe where they typically had only one vegetarian item and we both would have had to order the same thing.
On my early trips to London I used to look up the Time Out guide to vegetarian eating in London, and work my way through their list; they are excellent. So when I go back, I will mark up a map with where to eat!
Damn that’s a shame. Often any Vietnamese is disguised as ‘Asiatique’ as if they can’t differentiate! It’s also sold by weight, which is an interesting proposition.
So did you end up eating meat? Or just more snacky meals?
We were there for such a short time – 2 breakfasts at the hotel, 2 lunches and 2 evening meals. We did 2 creperies, 1 cafe and the Hard Rock. Next time, will use the Time Out Paris Vegetarian guide. Research pays!
Hope you mention in next posts your fav London vego restaurant?
St Pancras is a flash station, isn’t it? Mr S was impressed with the size. Made me want to hop on a train to the continent.
I thought St. Pancras/Kings X was really cool! My favourite London veg place was Food for Thought which just closed 😦 but there are still Tibits, Mildred’s, and for a splurge, Vanilla Black.
You jetsetter you, Sarah! Such a local!