Paris by Dots

Too lazy to reform this, so have some dot points about our week in Paris. It's taken us a while to get this up, oh well. We'll add some more photos at some point too.


Tues 7
- Train from Toulouse very early in the morning. Comfortable, for a TGV. Nice muffin. Raspberry and White chocolate!
- Got to Paris. Surprised by how easy and quick metro is. Stops very close together. Got to apartment in little over half an hour.
- Beat parents to the apartment. Very cute apartment with exposed beams, hard wood floors, exposed stone walls and purple curtains. Would be wonderful for just us. Very small for 2 couples. Won't be here much during our Paris week, though.
- Parents arrived. Went for a walk for a drink, sitting at cute little round table on the sidewalk at a cafe. Ended up walking around for ages. Wandered across a bridge and found Notre Dame... so in we went. Incredibly impressive and massive building. Vaulted arches with different brick-like shape in between. Different from anywhere else. More impressive if it didn't have tacky coin makers all around inside.
- Dinner. Steak. Cooked blue-rare when I ordered rare. But I liked it cooked this way. Although, bloodier (juicier) would have been good. The steak itself was fatty, though. Would have preferred a proper sirloin.

Wed 8
- Louvre. Fantastic. Building amazing! Don't know why people say it's crap. Would go again. Very impressed by the remains of the castle that first stood there. Unexpected. Mona Lisa... can't see why this is considered any more impressive most of the other paintings.
- Arc de Triomph. Closed. Fucking strikes. Annoying. Raining, so not able to walk the Champs Elysees.
- Went to Musee D'Orsay. Too late - not letting anyone else in. Ah well.
-Dinner - Chinese place. Yummy. Great salt and pepper frogs legs.


Thurs 9
- Versaille. Wow. Huge. Every part of every room seems to be decorated. Interesting audio guide, but second part through the Dauphine stuff not as exciting. Outside pretty, but really wished the fountains were on. How can they just not turn them on? Some people come just to see them. Got buggy to ride around the gardens. This was fun. Ducked in and out of Petite and Grand Trianon, as buggy was parked and timed. Made it back just on the hour.
- Arc de Triomph. Worth it for the view (especially as it was included in our museum pass), but 9 euro is a bit much. Museum is not really a museum. Not much there.
- Dinner - Cafe Hugo. Yummy, rare Duck, Lamb Shanks (but not really shanks), Chicken.
- Moulin Rouge. Amazing! Even acts in between, while dancers changed. Juggler. Dog puppet, so real! And this part very funny. We were all cracking up!

Fri 10
- Disneyland day. Whole day. Didn't have time to go over to Walt Disney Studio park, but didn't really matter. Would have been good to see stunt show, though. First ride fantastic. Fast and through darkness. Awesome. Not too much of a drop. Pirate's of the carribbean fantastic too. Long ride. Little drops. Lit up beautifully. Small world ride not annoying as previously suspected. Line estimates wrong - 35 minutes = 55 and 25 = 8.
- Dinner - Le Preau. Scallop casserole! Best dinner on the whole trip.

Sat
- Sacre couer. Montmarte. Not much around.
- Concorde. Tulleries garden. Obelisk. Walk down Champs Elysee. Past Petite Palais and Grand Palais and over impressive bridge (Pont Alexandre III) over to Hotel de Invalides. Armee museum. Weird, flamboyant armour. Napolean's tomb. Sore feet.
- Drinking at Australian place. Again. Good cocktails though
- Dinner - Amazonial. Prawn risotto, Pork in mustard sauce.
- Trocadero station. Best way to come out and see the Eiffel Tower. Walked up to get photos and suddenly the sparkling lights came on. Down past the fountains. Over bridge to the Eiffel tower, but crazy, long lines. Could have waited for 2 hours and not gotten in.
- Cruise. Left from just below tower. Beautiful night for it. Cruise before us was absolutely packed. Couldn't move. Luckily ours was less than half full. Easier to see and to take photos, although most didn't come out well cause it was night.
- Caught Metro back. Safely retrieved Trevor's wallet from little gypsy girl. Never seen him move so fast.

Sun 12
- Brunch on Rue St Louis en I'lle. Island really close to us. Creperie. Yummy crepes with chocolat and banane. Traditionally served with Brittany cider... in a bowl. Odd, but delicious.
- Over bridge. Awesome Buskers. Then had to go back to Creperie to get the map... which turned out to be in Andy's back pocket. Over to other side to explore the Latin quarter. Found the Pantheon and all the impressive buildings around it. Over to Place de la Sorbonne. Uni and fountains. Jardin du Luxembourg and Palais. Supposed to be the nicest gardens in Paris. Very pretty. Weird masculine woman statue. Weighed ourselves on the way out. Seems walking lots helps you loose weight. In St Germain got some cakes and then Starbucks, then St Michel.
- Apartment for cheese and biscuits and drinks.
- Eiffel tower. Took less then 40 minutes waiting in line. Up to 2nd floor and got some amazing views of sunset/night over the city. Perfect timing. Walked down to 1st level. Very far, Wouldn't wanna walk up. Let alone run up (said record for running up whole tower was just over 3 mins. How is that possible?!) Not much on 1st level. Were a bit disappointed at this.
- Dinner - Chez Clement. Late. Weren't sure if they'd still be open, as Sunday night. Another couple came in after us, though.