PARIS!

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! :)