When in Paris....

Eat cheese, drink wine, and live the good life!

DAY ONE
         Getting to Paris was quite the adventure! George and I promptly left the house to walk to the bus stop. Luckily the bus was waiting for us, so we hopped right on and were waiting to set off! If all had gone according to plan we would have had a nice relaxing 5 min bus ride, then a 20 min train, and then straight to the eurostar.
This, however, did NOT happen.
       The bus took about 5-10 min at EVERY stop waiting for people. We missed our first train and the second one did not even stop at the station. We then had to go on the 45 minute train and transfer to the Tube/ Underground-- (British for Metro or Subway)-- to get to Kings Cross (Yes the same station where Harry Potter is filmed :) ). Anxiously waiting to get on the Long train, it was delayed roughly 5-10minutes pulling into Finsbury Park, and did not arrive until 8:30-- our train to france was at 9:20.    
        We Rushed off the train-- as you do during "rush hour," and made our way to the Tube. Of course my Oyster Card-- (Again more British for a Smartrip or basically a plastic card to preload bus/tube credit on for London area) -- was out of credit.
Luckily there were no barriers so we just hopped on the tube anyway and decided to deal with it when we got to Kings Cross. We got there at about 8:40 and george had to fight his way through the barriers, courtesy of a Tube employee who looked too swamped with people to really care. from there we RAN-- Literally-- through KingsCross to St Pancras (Pronounced Saint- Pan-cree-uss-- the patron saint of hormones.) Get to the Ticket Barriers around 8:55 try to get through, but it won't let us through. The nice Eurostar employee said it was because I needed to prove I had a passport, which I did and he let us through. Then went through about 2 seconds of security and Border Control-- both English and French before hopping on the train.

The train to France is approximately 2 hours and a bit and it is a very nice ride. Eurostar is way too easy to NOT use and it was nice to finally be relaxed after two hours of stressing if we were going to miss it.

       Our hotel was located approximately 2 french blocks from the north station... Gare de/du? Nord. Which was Perfect!! We checked-in easily unwound for a few seconds, got ready and then headed out to see Notre Dam and the Eiffel Tower.
We took the Metro-- (French for Tube) -- to an island called St Michel. That might not actually be the name but it was the metro stop/area. We walked around there for a while looking for the Cathedral... It isn't too hard to miss though. The Cathedral is absolutely stunning. Really worth going to. We meandered around there for a while, marvelling at the architecture and stained glass.
      Then we crossed the river to St Michel area and looked at all the adorable french cafes and stores and really just wandered the streets. Found a place to get a bite to eat since all we had eaten was a bagel with peanut butter-- (I only had half). Found a Crepery and George got a Nutella Crepe and I got a Lemon and Sugar one. Absolutely DELICIOUS!!
    After a while we decided it was time to move on and we found the nearest metro and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. We circled the station looking for it but we couldn't spot it... I definitely thought that you would be able to see it from anywhere... but you have to go to a street where there are no builings... who-da-thunk? Well we ended up finding it !! And decided right away to walk up it. (Remember I had no water and barely any food in me that day and had been awake since 6:30am) We climbed I would say about 700 stairs, before I was about to pass out of dehydration. Got a 1.5L bottle of water at the top and instantly felt better. On the First stage there was an Icerink put in for the winter, and an Ice BAR. It was so warm out though that the ice was seriously melting on the rink and there was about an inch of water.
    George and I then decided not to wait for the elevator down, and ran down the 700 stairs to get to the bottom. As it was starting to get dark the tower lit up and it was very very pretty.
The view from the top Is much like looking over Washington DC (Mainly because DC was designed by a Frenchman and to look like Paris) The main difference is that Paris has a lets call it ... unique... type of grid system. Looking over Paris you will notice all the blocks form TRIANGLES!!! Paris is just a grid of triangles, almost EVERY road is a diagonal. And to a DC Native, this is a VERY scary idea.
Oh yes there is another difference, Paris has one Skyscraper. DC is not allowed to  have any buildings taller than the Capitol. Hence why everything is so short.

Anyway, after the Eiffel Tower, we decided to head back to our hotel, drop off our bag and walk around trying to find some local cuisine. After walking around Gare Du Nord for a while we got approached by a nice french restaurant owner holding menus, we said we were going to walk about for a while and then come back. We could not find anything better-- so that's what we did.

We had the Set menu. George got the Appetizer of sliced dry sausage and bread and leafy stuff. And a Hash Steak for main. I got the Mussels Marina (or whatever) for a main and Camembert Cheese for dessert. George and I shared the starter and dessert :) And we got a small cref of wine. A very good meal, perfect end to a fabulous day!

Come back for more Paris entries and hopefully I will get photographs up.
I leave for Southampton tomorrow, so might not be able to get a post in then.

Love you, Miss you!
Sara