Bonsoir,
Sunday evening, drained and exhausted, I returned from my weekend in Paris and I had such a fantastic time!
I didn’t sleep very well Thursday evening and
so it was quite difficult to get up at 7am, get myself ready and ensure I had
everything packed for Paris. I left Arpej at 7.50am and it was freezing out,
stopping at the Boulangerie on my way to the train station. I caught the 8.25am
TGV to Paris Gare du Lyon and only moments after leaving Chambéry, all I could
see from the windows on either side of the train was snow. Indeed, soon after
my departure, Alex informed me of how the snow was bucketing down in Chambéry
and while I was sad not to be enjoying it, I was on my way to Paris! While
these trains can travel in excess of 200mph, it had to travel at a slower speed
due to the ice and snow as even more fell from the skies. This meant I was 20
minutes late into Paris but I wasn’t stuck to a strict deadline and so it was
no problem. Upon arrival, I got a little lost on the Metro but soon figured it
out and made it to Montmartre to check into my hotel. The first thing I saw
when I came up from the Metro was a Starbucks – I knew this would be a good
weekend!
After checking into my hotel room, I had 2
hours free before Cat arrived in Paris from Cardiff. Due to the little sleep
I’d had on Thursday night, an early start and knowing it would be a long
weekend; I took a quick nap to recharge my batteries, showered and changed
clothes and went to meet her at her station. We then came back to the hotel to
drop off her luggage and ventured off into Paris!
Our hotel was rather central and a few
minutes’ walk from Sacré Coeur in Montmartre. Although it had been raining when
I had arrived, the skies were clearing which was perfect luck as Naomi (who had
visited the previous weekend) recommended seeing the sunset from here, the
highest point in Paris (except from the Eiffel Tower summit.) The Christmas
lights through the cobbled streets were enchanting and there was a small
Christmas Market around the Church which
was flooded with tourists.
Cobbled Streets - Montmartre
Sunset, with the Eiffel Tower to the left
Sacré Coeur
From here, we walked
through Montmartre and caught the Metro to the Avenue des Champs-Élyseés, one
of the most famous and expensive streets in Paris. There was a HUGE Christmas
market with decorated wooden huts lining the boulevard, tons of lights and a
huge wheel at the Place de Concorde. It was SO cold and I had some Churros
(long, thin, doughnuts) and chocolate. We then walked along the Seine for a
look at the Eiffel Tower. By now we were both exhausted and so caught the Metro
back to Montmartre and had dinner in an Italian Restaurant before getting an
early night as it was going to be a long weekend!
Eiffel Tower
Wheel!
The next morning we had a
bright an early start in order to make the most of our full day in La
Ville-Lumière (the city of lights – a nickname for Paris.) We firstly went to
the nearby Starbucks as I spent many hours of my life in the UK in Starbucks,
Costa and other coffee establishments – I’ve missed them and so didn’t want to
pass up this opportunity! We then walked the 30 seconds from our Hotel to see
the Moulin Rouge where there were crowds and crowds of people who had come just
to have a photo outside – Cat and I were probably two of them too.
Moulin Rouge
We then walked back up to
the Sacré Coeur to see it in daylight and on one of the cobbled streets was an awesome
band playing, so much so that Cat decided to buy their CD as a memento of our
trip and I definitely have to get her to send me the songs! I bought some
postcards and we wandered around the surroundings of the church, took some more
photos and took in both the views and the atmosphere. We spent the rest of the
day being typical tourists, walking around and stumbling on places along with
purposely visiting sites.
We walked along the Seine
looking at some incredible buildings and eventually came across the Notre Dame
Cathedral which was surrounded by queues of people wanting to go in. We used
this Cathedral as a market point to find the Pont de l’Archevêche (The Bishop’s
Bridge,) which is one of three Bridges in Paris that have been turned (by
Tourists and lovers alike) into a lovelock bridge. This apparently goes back to
ancient traditions where two lovers would ‘lock their love’ onto a bridge
(using a lock,) and then throw the key to the lock into the river that the
bridge crossed. These days however, everybody adds a lock of love, whether it
be with friends or a partner. Naomi and her Boyfriend had visited the weekend
previously and had given me directions as to where I could find their lock – I counted
along to the seventh panel, saw the red ribbon and voilà – there it was J Cat and I had prepared a lock
and I attached it to the bridge and we threw the key into the River Seine.
Cat & I - Notre Dame
Our Lock
Pont de l’Archevêche
We stopped in a small café
where I had some pasta for lunch while Cat had a crêpe. I was then contacted by
Anya who was at the bridge adding her lock and so we popped back to see her and
AK, her boyfriend, and take a few more photos together and of our three locks
together! Cat and I then made our way along the Seine, stopping at the Eiffel
Tower for some photos and then decided to take the Metro back to the hotel for
some food and a rest before going back out that evening.
Happy to be in the warmth!
All Three Locks!
Eiffel Tower (By day, this time)
At one point there was an
entire orchestra playing in one of the corridors of the Metro while on several
of our journeys, random people would get on our train, play their instrument
for a while (whether it be guitar, saxophone or even trumpet.) OIF!
After a rest, that evening
we decided to return back to the HUGE Christmas Market at the Champs Élysées,
sufficiently wrapped up in protection from the freezing conditions (It was
around 0 degrees at 9pm in the evening.) The decorated and lit huts went on for
miles with everything you could imagine being sold from expensive jewellery to
cheap novelty items, wines, soaps, books, toys, decorations, everything! Every
so often there were a cluster of food huts – hotdogs, burgers, burritos, pizza
and there was a scent of mulled wine drifting through the freezing air. Walking
to the end of the market, we then continued along past some of the world’s most
famous shops before arriving at the Arc de Triomphe.
Christmas Huts
After checking out on
Sunday morning, we left our luggage at Gare du Nord, the train station where
Cat would catch the Eurostar back to London and then went to visit the Louvre museum,
perhaps equally as famous for the glass pyramid at its entrance as to the
artwork kept inside, including the Mona Lisa. We spent a few hours wandering
this incredible building and, of course, battling through the crowds of people
surrounding the Mona Lisa to get a glimpse.
Louvre complete with Pyramid
Mona Lisa
Later that afternoon, we
went for ANOTHER Starbucks and I bought myself a ‘Starbucks Paris’ mug – It’s
big and I think its’ size will come in hand with all the work I’ll have to do
in fourth year, and we then wandered around the area stumbling upon a great
brass band who where playing on the steps of the music academy.
We then
returned to the Gare du Nord and collected our luggage before stopping to have something
to eat, I said goodbye to Cat and then made my way to Gare de Lyon for my 7pm
train back to Chambéry.
I had a wonderful time in
Paris – Christmas was certainly in the air and it was beautiful to see
everything lit up. Another thing I liked was that Parisians must be very used
to hearing many different accents speaking French and so respond, naturally, in
French. Sometimes in Chambéry for example, people can reply to me in English
even though I’ve spoken French as they can hear that I am British.
Nevertheless, when I got to Valencia after Christmas, Beth will be leaving
Chambéry for an internship in Paris – I’ll definitely have to go and visit her,
plus I have Metro tickets that still need to be used! :)
