PARIS (Part II)
Jun. 13th, 2002 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fluffymarkTa daaaaaa! The Sequel!
Val's birthday was heralded by the arrival of a thunderstorm. Personally I like thunderstorms, but this was one day I really didn't want to get soaked by rain, as we planned to be outdoors a lot. Oh no! I had visions of us being drowned rats by the end of the day, with makeup spread messily all over our faces. Despite the rain, we gothed up. Makeup and everything! The hostel must have wondered what had hit them *giggle*. And luck was on our side, the rain was thinning as we wandered out that morning and soon stopped. Huzzah! So we decided to go for another picnic! Yay! This time at the Sacre Coeur. Firstly, another bottle of cheap (under 1 euro) wine. Yay! Then began a long hunt for cake. This turned out to be a lot harder than first thought. We headed for central Paris (the islands in the Seine) in search of a Patisserie. And many patisseries we found but, none that sold Gateau. We headed north, but must have gone down the wrong street, as the street we found ourselves on was full of sex shops, peep shows, and prostitutes (yes, even at 11am in the morning!), and also (bizarrely) an english pub. I thought we'd slipped through some portal back to soho in london. We kept trekking north on our way to Montmartre. Suddenly another patisserie (yay!). And this one sold chocolate cake (huzzah!). And also another shop was selliong punnets of strawberries on the cheap, so we got all these yummy goodies. Finally we walked all the way to the steps of the Sacre-Coeur, where we found a nice seat (and by now it was sunny!) and ate Val's birthday picnic, consisting of wine, chocolate cake and strawberries. Delightful! Losing track of the time somewhat, we then headed (this time taking the RER) to south Paris to hunt for the catacombs, those scary underground tunnels where the parisians piled all the bones from the cemetaries when they got too full. To continue this gothic theme (remember we were gothed up!) we headed onwards to the Montparnasse Cemetary where we loitered around looking dead gothic and hunted down the graves of peoples such as Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Baudelaire. Otherwise the cemetary was far too much manhattenesque (laid out in a grid with and lots of tall grey rectangular slabs). Feeling the need to celebrate some more, *another* bottle of wine was bought, along with icecream and we found the nearby Jardin du Luxembourg (very pretty with many trees, and even some people playing boules!) to consume these delights in. When it got late we walked slowly back towards the river (after a long toilet diversion brought on by drinking too much wine) and saw many pretty churches on the way, and the Latin quarter is very lively. Found the Seine finally, and wandered along to Notre Dame (because it's gothic, ok?) and again, there was some people playing music. All very pretty and nice. Althought the hostel was within walking distance, we were so tired after so much walking today we got the metro back to the hostel. And that was Val's birthday done. I think she liked it very much. Yay! *smallsmile*
Tuesday morning saw us walking on a long walk south. Crossed the seine and took a stroll though the Jardin des Plantes (pretty, but nothing compared to somewhere like Kew in london). Wandered further, and even passed the Observatoire de Paris where I was scared I'd bump into someone i'd know (I *do* know about 4-5 people who work there!). Eeeeek. But we were safe. Bought a Baguette and some tomatoes, some Mozzarella, Salami slices, found a nearby Park (which turned out to be the Jardin du Luxembourg again) and had another delightful picnic (this time no wine, we'd drank far too much the day before!). Yay. The Mozzarella was particularly divine! Yummy. Trekked onwards to the Pantheon, which is big, impressive and has more famous people buried there (too many to name here....) and has a very very pretty interior. Unfortunately foucault's pendulum is being tempararily replaced by some bizarre inflatable spheres this summer, so we missed that. Next we walked to Invalides, where we went into the Eglise du Dome to see Napoleon's tomb (although we think his son's tomb far more impressive!). It looked a bit cheap and plasticky and fake really. Although the ceiling was very pretty. And the statues of him pretending to be caesar are amusing!
Very well worth seeing, despite all this. *impressed*. And so onto the Parc du champ de Mars, where of course the Eiffel tower is to be found. I've been up it before, and we decided not to go up at this time. The tower itself is impressive just to look at. We walked under it (gazing upwards as we went) and onwards to the Place du Trocadero. On the metro briefly to find ourselves in the Pigalle district. If the road with the sex shops we were on yesterday was bad, this was *worse*. This is the true red light district of paris, and I wouldn't want to be around at night on my own. Oh my! *blush*. We saw the Moulin Rouge, and then walked back to Montmartre again to sample the food at a cafe at the foot of the steps. I had a croque monsieur (which was delicious) and Val had crepes (along with wine, inevitably, but you'd have guess that by now!). Much yumminess! And then the rain returned, and it got a bit wet, so we headed hostelwards again to get warm.
Wednesday morning came far too soon. Last day in Paris. Waaah! Val was leaving by coach that morning ,and I was following in the evening. So I saw her off at the coach station. After waving byebye, I headed for the nearby shopping centre to buy things for home (presents and the like). Then I walked. Lots. First on my places to go was Pere-Lechaise Cemetary. Biggest in Paris, and much more impressive than the others. It felt a bit weird moping though such an elaborate and huge cemetary on my own, in the rain. Found the tombs of Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison, eventually, after getting most many times. This cemetary is far more labyrinthine and *not* gridlike. It also slopes in odd ways and has steps and curves and some very pretty tombs. There appeared to even be a funeral in progress, although I kept well away out of respect. When I eventually found a way out, I headed westwards again, and into the center of Paris, for shops and icecream and other food. Bought more presents and wandered along the river again. Not so prett in the rain. Escaped into a department store (La Samaritaine) which supposedly has good views from the top floor, but to be honest, there wasn't much worht seeing today. Walked around the side of the Louvre, across the Jardin de Tuilieries and into the Place de la Concorde. Then braved the long walk up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe (stopping off for a bit to eat on the way). And just to make sure my legs were finally dead, kept going out along the same road for another kilometre until I reached the other end of Paris. Yes, I walked *all* the way across Paris. Go me! I must be mad. Got on the metro and headed for Montmartre again. This time I actually went up to the Sacre-Coeur itself and had a look around. The views from the top of that hill are amazing. Paris just unflods before you. Its like the Eiffel tower, but somehow different. Breathtaking. After this last look at Paris, it was time to go home, so I hopped onto the coach, and headed back for England, a very exhausted, tired, but happy and excited little bunny! Yay! Paris is fab!
Val's birthday was heralded by the arrival of a thunderstorm. Personally I like thunderstorms, but this was one day I really didn't want to get soaked by rain, as we planned to be outdoors a lot. Oh no! I had visions of us being drowned rats by the end of the day, with makeup spread messily all over our faces. Despite the rain, we gothed up. Makeup and everything! The hostel must have wondered what had hit them *giggle*. And luck was on our side, the rain was thinning as we wandered out that morning and soon stopped. Huzzah! So we decided to go for another picnic! Yay! This time at the Sacre Coeur. Firstly, another bottle of cheap (under 1 euro) wine. Yay! Then began a long hunt for cake. This turned out to be a lot harder than first thought. We headed for central Paris (the islands in the Seine) in search of a Patisserie. And many patisseries we found but, none that sold Gateau. We headed north, but must have gone down the wrong street, as the street we found ourselves on was full of sex shops, peep shows, and prostitutes (yes, even at 11am in the morning!), and also (bizarrely) an english pub. I thought we'd slipped through some portal back to soho in london. We kept trekking north on our way to Montmartre. Suddenly another patisserie (yay!). And this one sold chocolate cake (huzzah!). And also another shop was selliong punnets of strawberries on the cheap, so we got all these yummy goodies. Finally we walked all the way to the steps of the Sacre-Coeur, where we found a nice seat (and by now it was sunny!) and ate Val's birthday picnic, consisting of wine, chocolate cake and strawberries. Delightful! Losing track of the time somewhat, we then headed (this time taking the RER) to south Paris to hunt for the catacombs, those scary underground tunnels where the parisians piled all the bones from the cemetaries when they got too full. To continue this gothic theme (remember we were gothed up!) we headed onwards to the Montparnasse Cemetary where we loitered around looking dead gothic and hunted down the graves of peoples such as Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Baudelaire. Otherwise the cemetary was far too much manhattenesque (laid out in a grid with and lots of tall grey rectangular slabs). Feeling the need to celebrate some more, *another* bottle of wine was bought, along with icecream and we found the nearby Jardin du Luxembourg (very pretty with many trees, and even some people playing boules!) to consume these delights in. When it got late we walked slowly back towards the river (after a long toilet diversion brought on by drinking too much wine) and saw many pretty churches on the way, and the Latin quarter is very lively. Found the Seine finally, and wandered along to Notre Dame (because it's gothic, ok?) and again, there was some people playing music. All very pretty and nice. Althought the hostel was within walking distance, we were so tired after so much walking today we got the metro back to the hostel. And that was Val's birthday done. I think she liked it very much. Yay! *smallsmile*
Tuesday morning saw us walking on a long walk south. Crossed the seine and took a stroll though the Jardin des Plantes (pretty, but nothing compared to somewhere like Kew in london). Wandered further, and even passed the Observatoire de Paris where I was scared I'd bump into someone i'd know (I *do* know about 4-5 people who work there!). Eeeeek. But we were safe. Bought a Baguette and some tomatoes, some Mozzarella, Salami slices, found a nearby Park (which turned out to be the Jardin du Luxembourg again) and had another delightful picnic (this time no wine, we'd drank far too much the day before!). Yay. The Mozzarella was particularly divine! Yummy. Trekked onwards to the Pantheon, which is big, impressive and has more famous people buried there (too many to name here....) and has a very very pretty interior. Unfortunately foucault's pendulum is being tempararily replaced by some bizarre inflatable spheres this summer, so we missed that. Next we walked to Invalides, where we went into the Eglise du Dome to see Napoleon's tomb (although we think his son's tomb far more impressive!). It looked a bit cheap and plasticky and fake really. Although the ceiling was very pretty. And the statues of him pretending to be caesar are amusing!
Very well worth seeing, despite all this. *impressed*. And so onto the Parc du champ de Mars, where of course the Eiffel tower is to be found. I've been up it before, and we decided not to go up at this time. The tower itself is impressive just to look at. We walked under it (gazing upwards as we went) and onwards to the Place du Trocadero. On the metro briefly to find ourselves in the Pigalle district. If the road with the sex shops we were on yesterday was bad, this was *worse*. This is the true red light district of paris, and I wouldn't want to be around at night on my own. Oh my! *blush*. We saw the Moulin Rouge, and then walked back to Montmartre again to sample the food at a cafe at the foot of the steps. I had a croque monsieur (which was delicious) and Val had crepes (along with wine, inevitably, but you'd have guess that by now!). Much yumminess! And then the rain returned, and it got a bit wet, so we headed hostelwards again to get warm.
Wednesday morning came far too soon. Last day in Paris. Waaah! Val was leaving by coach that morning ,and I was following in the evening. So I saw her off at the coach station. After waving byebye, I headed for the nearby shopping centre to buy things for home (presents and the like). Then I walked. Lots. First on my places to go was Pere-Lechaise Cemetary. Biggest in Paris, and much more impressive than the others. It felt a bit weird moping though such an elaborate and huge cemetary on my own, in the rain. Found the tombs of Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison, eventually, after getting most many times. This cemetary is far more labyrinthine and *not* gridlike. It also slopes in odd ways and has steps and curves and some very pretty tombs. There appeared to even be a funeral in progress, although I kept well away out of respect. When I eventually found a way out, I headed westwards again, and into the center of Paris, for shops and icecream and other food. Bought more presents and wandered along the river again. Not so prett in the rain. Escaped into a department store (La Samaritaine) which supposedly has good views from the top floor, but to be honest, there wasn't much worht seeing today. Walked around the side of the Louvre, across the Jardin de Tuilieries and into the Place de la Concorde. Then braved the long walk up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe (stopping off for a bit to eat on the way). And just to make sure my legs were finally dead, kept going out along the same road for another kilometre until I reached the other end of Paris. Yes, I walked *all* the way across Paris. Go me! I must be mad. Got on the metro and headed for Montmartre again. This time I actually went up to the Sacre-Coeur itself and had a look around. The views from the top of that hill are amazing. Paris just unflods before you. Its like the Eiffel tower, but somehow different. Breathtaking. After this last look at Paris, it was time to go home, so I hopped onto the coach, and headed back for England, a very exhausted, tired, but happy and excited little bunny! Yay! Paris is fab!
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Date: 2002-06-13 06:46 am (UTC)My favourite bit is 'Paris just unflods before you'. Please don't change it - I think it's a good word for what the city would seem to do from the top of a big hill when it's been raining.