We'll always have (DLR)Paris!

[thelittlemermaid83]

Did you have a look down Kings Road or did you just go to Harrods?

 

[dwheatl]

Did you have a look down Kings Road or did you just go to Harrods?

Pretty much just Harrods. That was an exhausting day, so it was pretty much "hit this, see that, check it off the list."

Heather - No modeling. However, I had made that visit to VS before the trip, if you recall (where the young, male store clerk complimented my taste in underthings.

T - Don't you often feel the need to do when you get back from a trip?

K - Thanks.

Mel - My scanner is not working, and the "redneck scanner" (aka digital camera) is not doing my wedding photos justice. I'll see what I can do.

 

[dwheatl]

Wednesday was our day to leave for Paris, and I woke up early, hours before we needed to catch the Eurostar. I begged DH for a return trip to the British Museum, because I wanted to see the Lindow Man, a 2000 year old murder victim that I had read about when I was a librarian. Here’s a link on him: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/l/lindow_man.aspx.

DH agreed that we could go to the museum, so we packed up our things and left them at the front desk. When we got to the museum, I asked where Lindow Man was, only to find out he had gone on vacation. Seriously, they had sent him to Manchester for the opening of a museum there. Since we had already made the trip to the museum, we wandered around the mummies for a bit. I guess they’re pretty interesting, but we have a really good Egyptian museum in San Jose, so we didn’t get too excited about them. I felt silly for dragging DH out there, but what else were we going to do with our time? (Heather, don’t answer that). Here’s a blurry picture of me at the Gloucester Road Tube Station. I’m a hippie at heart, so I think this pretty well describes me :

We went back to the hotel, got our things, took a taxi, and boarded the Eurostar for Paris. This was part of the package we had booked, so our trip was first class. Woo hoo! That meant eats, and French eats at that! I had chicken that was something like chicken parmesan, and DH had mushroom risotto. Both were really delicious, and the raspberry tart may have been the best non-chocolate dessert I’ve ever had.

The train goes up to 186 miles per hour, and goes through a tunnel under the English Channel, which freaked me out a little bit beforehand, but between the food and the speed, I hardly noticed the “Chunnel.”

BTW, my fears are not totally unreasonable. I used to take BART, the San Francisco Bay Area underground railway, regularly when I was in college, and once when we were going under S.F. Bay, THE POWER WENT OUT! That’s right, the train stopped moving, and the lights went out. I thought I was going to pass out. They put on some emergency lights, then we had to evacuate to the other side of the tunnel, and catch another train back to Berkeley. So I think I’m pretty brave to still get on trains that go through underwater tunnels. Heck, the only way I can stand to ride the submarines at DL is to tell myself that if I stand up, my head will be above the water level. But enough of my neuroses (at least for now).

The first thing I wanted to do in Paris was visit the Eiffel Tower. That is exactly what we did. We didn’t go all the way to the top, but we rode the elevator to the second level, then walked back down. It was trés romantique, but if there hadn’t been an American high school tour group up there, with a teacher pointing out all the sights, I would have been clueless as to what we were seeing. Here are some pictures.

The base of the Tower.

Duh!

Us on the Tower. It was breezy up there; hence, the sweater.

Looking down on the Ecole Militaire, the military school that trained Napoleon, among others. That black tower in the distance is the Montparnasse Tower. Our hotel was right across the street from it.

Looking out over Paris. The building on the right with the gold dome is called Les Invalides. Louis XIV had it built as a hospital and home for injured or sick soldiers starting in 1670. It is still functioning. It is also the burial place of Napoleon. I’ll have some pictures of the inside a little further on in the story.

In the foreground is the Seine. On the hill in the distance is Sacre Coeur Church. It will also figure later in the story.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh, I so totally understand the fear on the underwater tunnel. I am no a fan of them myself. I went on BART and through the tunnel for the first time last year. It scared me to death.

 

[3Leafs]

Dwheatl you act like you spent a day with my kids or something Beautiful pictures.. The one of you and DH is still one of my favs..

I would have freaked if I was on a train and had the power go out. Shoot I freaked when the bus broke down and DW and I had to switch.

Once again another great post!

 

[Piglets Mommy]

Heather - No modeling. However, I had made that visit to VS before the trip, if you recall (where the young, male store clerk complimented my taste in underthings.

T - Don't you often feel the need to do when you get back from a trip?


Mel - My scanner is not working, and the "redneck scanner" (aka digital camera) is not doing my wedding photos justice. I'll see what I can do.

Somehow I missed that

T often feels the need to do just about any time. So do I for that matter!

Redneck scanner

Tuesday was our day to leave for Paris, and I woke up early, hours before we needed to catch the Eurostar. I begged DH for a return trip to the British Museum, because I wanted to see the Lindow Man, a 2000 year old murder victim that I had read about when I was a librarian. Here’s a link on him: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/l/lindow_man.aspx.

DH agreed that we could go to the museum, so we packed up our things and left them at the front desk. When we got to the museum, I asked where Lindow Man was, only to find out he had gone on vacation. Seriously, they had sent him to Manchester for the opening of a museum there. Since we had already made the trip to the museum, we wandered around the mummies for a bit. I guess they’re pretty interesting, but we have a really good Egyptian museum in San Jose, so we didn’t get too excited about them. I felt silly for dragging DH out there, but what else were we going to do with our time? (Heather, don’t answer that).WHY not, I know exactly what you could have done! Here’s a blurry picture of me at the Gloucester Road Tube Station. I’m a hippie at heart, so I think this pretty well describes me :

We went back to the hotel, got our things, took a taxi, and boarded the Eurostar for Paris. This was part of the package we had booked, so our trip was first class. Woo hoo! That meant eats, and French eats at that! I had chicken that was something like chicken parmesan, and DH had mushroom risotto. Both were really delicious, and the raspberry tart may have been the best non-chocolate dessert I’ve ever had.

The train goes up to 186 miles per hour, and goes through a tunnel under the English Channel, which freaked me out a little bit beforehand, but between the food and the speed, I hardly noticed the “Chunnel.”

BTW, my fears are not totally unreasonable. I used to take BART, the San Francisco Bay Area underground railway, regularly when I was in college, and once when we were going under S.F. Bay, THE POWER WENT OUT! That’s right, the train stopped moving, and the lights went out. I thought I was going to pass out. They put on some emergency lights, then we had to evacuate to the other side of the tunnel, and catch another train back to Berkeley. So I think I’m pretty brave to still get on trains that go through underwater tunnels. Heck, the only way I can stand to ride the submarines at DL is to tell myself that if I stand up, my head will be above the water level. But enough of my neuroses (at least for now).

The first thing I wanted to do in Paris was visit the Eiffel Tower. That is exactly what we did. We didn’t go all the way to the top, but we rode the elevator to the second level, then walked back down. It was trés romantique, but if there hadn’t been an American high school tour group up there, with a teacher pointing out all the sights, I would have been clueless as to what we were seeing. Here are some pictures.

The base of the Tower.

Duh!

Us on the Tower. It was breezy up there; hence, the sweater.

Looking down on the Ecole Militaire, the military school that trained Napoleon, among others. That black tower in the distance is the Montparnasse Tower. Our hotel was right across the street from it.

Looking out over Paris. The building on the right with the gold dome is called Les Invalides. Louis XIV had it built as a hospital and home for injured or sick soldiers starting in 1670. It is still functioning. It is also the burial place of Napoleon. I’ll have some pictures of the inside a little further on in the story.

In the foreground is the Seine. On the hill in the distance is Sacre Coeur Church. It will also figure later in the story.

Sounds like a great day!

Dwheatl you act like you spent a day with my kids or something Beautiful pictures.. The one of you and DH is still one of my favs..

I would have freaked if I was on a train and had the power go out. Shoot I freaked when the bus broke down and DW and I had to switch. Once again another great post!

Only you

 

[gemmybear83]

Brilliant trip report! I love the London photos, I've never been to Bath I'm been nagging DF to go!

Can't wait till you get to DLRP and we get foodporn!

 

[scrappinmom]

I LOVE reading your trippie!!! What an awesome vacation! We are going to Southern France next April for my daughters skate team World Competition...and will have 2 days in London, 3 days in Paris, and 2 days at DLRP. So I'm reading your report with great interest to figure out what we absolutely have to see.

thanks so much!

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

After seeing the food on the Eurostar i think i may need to go first class, it looks so yummy.

 

[tennisfan]

A fab few days, love the photos of London & Paris

 

[dwheatl]

If you can believe this, we're at the "real DL" this weekend., and it was DH's suggestion.

I was able to write a little on Thursday night but not post it, and I haven't been able to put the pictures in yet. I'll get back to writing to everyone when we get home. I'll try to pick up the pace. Glad to see so many friendly "faces" on here.

BTW, we saw the Aladdin show at California Adventure today. It was so funny! Love that Genie!

 

[3Leafs]

Hope your having fun!

 

[spongemommie05]

I am on board as well I am so excited to read all about your awesome trip and to see all your pictures
It was so awesome to meet you it was a fun day you are very sweet,and a fun lady,,, i will have to post the jumping on the bed pictures and thanks for the spongie plush and keychain love it !!!
sorry our time was so short Poor Norah was tired and threw up on the way home so i am glad we left when we did ...Dinner plus jumping on a bed Not such a good idea
But it was FUNNNNNNN

 

[Ljay]

I havent posted in this thread yet, but i have read everything you have put and i LOVE it so i thought i better post something

Everything you have posted and said has been so interesting, i keep checking for new posts all the time i even googled about Oliver cromwell (wasn't nice at all what they did to his body).

Your thread should be a stickly, its one of the first things i log on to see at the mo

 

[travelmel]

Danielle,
I was about to comment "how could a san jose girl be afraid of a little chunnel" and then I read your harrowing BART experience! Yea.. that's not cool!

We have a transit system here called "MAX" and I always refer to it as BART... can't help myself. I went to high school in Campbell, CA!

Great update

 

[dwheatl]

I am on board as well I am so excited to read all about your awesome trip and to see all your pictures
It was so awesome to meet you it was a fun day you are very sweet,and a fun lady,,, i will have to post the jumping on the bed pictures and thanks for the spongie plush and keychain love it !!!
sorry our time was so short Poor Norah was tired and threw up on the way home so i am glad we left when we did ...Dinner plus jumping on a bed Not such a good idea
But it was FUNNNNNNN

Oh no! Poor Norah. We did have oodles of fun though, didn't we? I loved meeting you.

Hi to all the new readers. Sorry I got behind, but here is the promised update. I hope you all enjoy it.
On Thursday, our plan was to visit Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle, then take a cruise on the Seine that evening that was included in our package. Of course, everything is related to Disney in my mind, so I expected the statues on the front of Notre Dame to start whispering, but it didn’t happen. They were amazing, though, and the inside is awe-inspiring. I can’t even think of how it must have appeared to the medieval people of Paris. There are beautiful windows, tableaus, and side chapels.

The Rose window.

From the outside. The things sticking out next to the window are the famed "flying buttresses." They are what keep the roof from collapsing.

We had wanted to climb the towers of Notre Dame and see Paris Quasimodo-style, but the line to buy the passes was very long, so we decided to postpone that. We decided to see Saint Chapelle next, but it was closed at mid-day because they needed time for the security lines to die down. The entrance to St. Chapelle is also the entrance to Paris’s Hall of Justice, so just like our courts here, they have to search everyone and send them through the metal detector before they can enter.

Since the church was closed, we decided to buy our museum passes, which get you into museums all over Paris, at the entrance to the Conciergerie. We had not planned on visiting here, but I’m so glad we did. This is where the prisoners of the French Revolution were held until they were sent to the guillotine. We were able to see Marie Antoinette’s cell, where she was under constant watch by two male guards and had little privacy. Of course, that was the least of her worries. There was also a huge list of victims of the guillotine, which included their occupations. There were a lot of booksellers, we noticed, and Marie Antoinette’s occupation was listed simply as “widow.”

View of the Seine. The building just beyond the bridge is the Conciergerie.

After this, we went to Saint Chapelle, one of the many royal chapels we saw around Paris that has one area for the common people, and a separate area for the king and his family (Les Invalides and Versailles also have chapels like this). Maybe our president should consider having one of these built. Remember the problem of churches being inundated with the press when Barack Obama was looking for a church? The royal area at Saint Chapelle has beautiful stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible, but the decision of what stories to tell and how they are presented definitely qualifies as propaganda for the divine right of kings.

When we finished here, it was about 4 in the afternoon, and we were both very tired, We decided to find the place where we’re supposed to begin our cruise at 7, then head back to our hotel for a nap before going out for the evening. We had an address, but since it was a boat tour, we decided that we would just stroll along the Seine until we found the dock. Bad idea!

DH and me posing by the Seine, before we start our "walkabout."

We trooped up and down the banks of the Seine for 3 hours. We asked at a couple of places if they knew where the Cityrama boats started, but nobody knew. Finally, we met a man who lived in a houseboat who was very helpful. He called over a friend who spoke a little English, and his wife chimed in as well, and with much fractured French and English thrown together, we found out that the office for the tour was actually a few blocks behind the Louvre, not on the Seine at all.

We were already exhausted, but we were determined to take the cruise, so we jog-trotted (my mom’s phrase) over to the Cityrama office, arriving just before 7:00. Thank God! We were told that a bus would be picking us up to take us to the river to catch the boat. WTH? And, the bus wasn’t leaving until 7:45. Good thing we ran

At least that gave us a chance to grab a snack and a drink before we got on the bus. The cruise was beautiful, and we decided to kiss under every bridge we passed (and there were a lot of bridges). One of the highlights was that we passed a bride and groom along the banks of the river, and when we cheered for them, he grabbed her and kissed her, and we cheered even louder. It was very sweet.

I love the song “La Vie en Rose,” sung by Edith Piaf, and we even studied the meaning of the lyrics before we left for our trip. When they played the song on the cruise, I got goosebumps. However, after playing Edith Piaf’s version, they played it in several other styles, including boogie-woogie. By the time we got off the boat, I was praying never to hear it again. (I’m over that now, though. Sing on, Little Sparrow, sing on).

After the cruise, the bus picked us up again, and we saw many of the sites (Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triomphe) illuminated. The bus stopped to let some people off on the Champs Elysée, so we got off there too, walked about a bit, then stopped for dinner and to watch the people go by. That was our most over-priced, least impressive dinner in Paris, but at least it was fun to sit and people-watch.

This is a fruit pressée, basically a glass of pineapple juice. It cost 14 Euros on the Champs Elysée. That's about $21. It tasted good, like a pineapple Julius, if you've ever had one. But really, $21? I guess location is everything.

 

[Dianetigger]

Fantastic report! Love your pictures, whilst we were in Disney recently we had a day out in Paris and loved every minute of it!

 

[tennisfan]

Love the photos, you managed to fit loads in your day. We didn't see much when we went to Paris

 

[travelmel]

What is a Conceirge? Was it a museum? It sounds interesting!

 

[3Leafs]

the kissing under the bridge!