Trip for two to Paris

A quick get away weekend to Paris was needed, a chance to show Olga the capital of France and for me, a return to my old stomping ground with a trip on the new high speed rail link from London St Pancras on the Eurostar train to the heart of the French capital. Arriving late on Sunday afternoon at the end of August, walking across the concourse at St Pancras train station was refreshing, compared to a few years ago when it was boring, dull, and dark. The roof has been transformed to allow a lot more sun light to shine into the station, the floors look whiter and the station is now more spacious. A 25ft high bronze statue looks over the Eurostar platforms, known as the kissing couple, and a statue of Betjeman, a famous English poet looks up to the roof, with some of his poetry written into the floor all around him. The longest champagne bar in Europe runs alongside the platforms on the upper level.

London St Pancras as been transformed, and puts some pride back into the English railway industry.

Boarded the train, and then before I knew it, we were in the tunnels outside the station, straight up to 186mph, going through Stratford, pass the Queen Elizabeth 2 bridge at Dartford, and through Ebbsfleet into Kent, and the train has only taken twelve minutes to do this. Into the channel tunnel, then out into France, passing places like Calais, St Omer, Lille, the rolling fields of northern France thundering pass, and when we arrived in Paris, it was night time, and the train arrived ten minutes early. Thank you Eurostar for making the journey a good one, and a lot quicker by plane.

Walking out of the Gare de Nord station, the weather decided to give us the best of welcomes, it rained so hard. Luckily we only had a five minute walk to our hotel, Timhotel, and checked in no time and headed straight for bed.

  The next day it was time to take Olga around the sights of Paris. I wont go on about this, as I have written about blogs on Paris before, but here is some information which you might want to know if you ever plan a visit to Paris.

Eiffel Tower ??" also known as Tour Eiffel. Built in the late 1890s for the world expo, the Eiffel Tower is now the top landmark on the Paris skyline, standing smack centre in the city next to the river Seine. A great place to get views of Paris, and a photographers paradise. It has a cinema, mini-museum, restaurant, café, and souvenir shops. It is best to get here very early when it opens at 9am, or leave it until late evening, the cost for adults is around €4, to walk up to the first level, then if you want to lift it up to the second level, this will cost an additional €3, and then the final lift to the top will cost another €4.

(And you have to pay this at the cash desk on the second level). So it works out around €11 to go all the way up to the top. Waiting for the lifts can be a pain as they seem to take forever. The only bad point of the tower is that at the bottom there is so many African immigrants trying to sell cheap and rubbish toys, Eiffel Tower keying for a €1 and to be honest, they are rude! Stay clear of them, and I wish it is about time that the French government, police and army did something about these people.

Palais De Chaillot is opposite the Eiffel Tower, which is a five minute walk on the bridge over the River Seine. Nice water fountains, gold statues of a bull and three horse heads, a nice outdoor white shiny floor, and great views of the Eiffel Tower. Once again, African immigrants are here to put some disappointment into the trip.

Arc de Tromphie is Paris version of Londons Marble Arch. Also some idiot has put this in a middle of a roundabout for motor vehicles with twelve exits and no lane markings. This also means if you are driving and have a crash, you will not be insured. If you are riding a motorbike and pedalling a bike on this road, god help you if you dont get hit, and if you walk across this road, well, I wont be attending your funeral. It is one crazy road. There are a few crashes here a day, but when you dont get a crash, you hear a lot of hooting and wonder how the hell cars dont hit each other at high speeds. Otherwise, a nice little monument on the Avenue des Champs Elysees.

Avenue des Champs Elysees is a long straight road which goes through central Paris, which starts at the Place de Concorde, to Arc de Tromphie and finishes at La Defense.

Usually the road gets closed of for big events like the final stage of the Tour de France cycle race which is held on the last weekend of July every year. Place de Concorde, which is next to the Musee de Louvre, is a place full of water fountains, statues and a monument with something to do with Ancient Egypt. The American embassy can be found here too. </P>  <P>Musee de Louvre, Frances most famous museum. Not only because it is in the middle of some nice buildings, and has now glass pyramids as entrances to the museum down below ground level. The museum is most famous for keeping Leo da Vincis Moaning Lisa. Also the end scenes of the film Da Vinci Code  was filmed hear with Tom Hanks.

All around the Musee de Louvre is buildings like the Royal Palace, Hotel de Ville, and Pont Neuf Bridge (which has a few scenes from the film The Bourne Identity). A nice place to walk around and along the river Seine. Also nearby is a small island of Cite (City), meaning heart of Paris. One this island is the most famous cathedral called Notre Dame. Fantastic place with two towers, and its three grand arches for the doors to get in. Around €7 to get in. This place is also famous for Victor Hugos book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Nearby is the modern museum which opened in the 1970s, known as Centre Georgres Pompidou, which inside is very boring, and visitors will not quite know what they have come to see.

This place is famous for its weird design on outside pipes and staircases running on the outside of the building.

Another cathedral on the hill overlooking Montmartre area is the Sacre-Coeur. A nice grey looking cathedral right on top of the hill. Nice place to sit down and enjoy views of Paris on a nice summer day. A funicular runs up to the cathedral from the bottom. At the bottom are nice places to sit down and have a crepe, but once again, naughty African immigrants trying there best to annoy the tourists. Why they dont understand the words ??" "I dont want a piece of green string wrapped around my finger, so f@@@ off!", but they say it is rude to talk like that here in Paris. I am thinking, hang on bloke, I told you not to hold my hand and put a piece of green string around my finger. So go away before I make you go away!" Anyway…….

l

La Defense, modern buildings, a big thumb and of course, a big white photo frame as Olga calls it. This area on the outskirts of central Paris, is more like a business centre, but also has a shopping centre where the metro is and cinemas. Also at one end of the Avenue des Champs Elysees. This is great if you standing underneath the big square cube, so looking down the Avenue des Champs Elysees, you will see the Arc de Tromphie. Fantastic. Also an African Immigrant free zone.

Moulin Rouge. Who has seen the film with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor? Well, even through the film was filmed in studios in Australia; the real Moulin Rouge is still about with its red windmill on top of a theatre building. Ok for a photo snap.

Paris has a fantastic transport system when it comes to the Metro and RER services, and it is cheap.

If you plan to use to the tube, RER and bus services in zones 1-3 in central Paris, buy a Paris Viste from the metro station at €8.50 a person. Unlimited journeys for the day. Otherwise buy carant tickets, this will save you a lot of time. Also remember in the metro, the doors sometimes open before the train stops.   <P>Ok, so I think I covered the major points, if I did everything like where to buy Chanel perfume from and where is the Opera house, I be here forever and could release a guide book, so if you want to ask me anything else, e-mail me on daniktheexplorer@hotmail.co.uk </P>