13^th October, 2013... and we’re home!

No, there’s no entry for the 12^th. We left Paris on the evening of the 11^th and now it’s the 13^th... and everything in between is a bit of a blur!

From Paris, it’s a 6-ish hour flight to Dubai, then a 4-hour wait for our connecting flight. Not too bad but not long enough to go anywhere, so we had a look around the shops at the terminals and tried to deal with the fact that our body clocks thought it was the middle of the night while it was clearly blazing daylight outside! Dubai airport is big and brash, and could be fun to explore if you weren’t half asleep and just wanting to go home!

The final flight for this trip was 14 hours... that’s a long time, so we tried to get as much sleep as possible. There were several toddlers on the flight who were not happy at all and wanted to make sure that everyone knew about it. Their parents weren’t happy either and were doing their best to keep the kids quiet but it wasn’t the most comfortable flight for anyone. Did see some dramatic desert views out the window after leaving Dubai.

We arrived back in Sydney early in the morning. So bright, and so warm! We planned to catch the airport link train to Central, but there’s trackwork today so trains are being replaced with buses. Fine with us, saved us the ridiculous airport station fee! No charge for the bus. At Central we had quite a wait for our train so we stopped for a milkshake. Then we just had to stay awake enough to get off at our station, and here we are at home! It’s been an absolutely amazing holiday.

11^th October, 2013 – 2 Paris icons and the start of the long trip home.

After our last hotel breakfast for the trip, we checked out of the hotel but had our luggage put into the store room while we went out for the day. By now we have the transport system pretty well sorted out, but the Metro stations in Paris often have multiple entrances with few or no connections in between – we went into one we hadn’t used before and found that they didn’t have a ticket window or machines to buy tickets! Up to ground level again, couldn’t see another entrance, went into a shop and asked the shop assistant where to buy tickets. We could make ourselves understood but couldn’t make head or tail of her response! Another shopper took pity on us and explained in (mostly) fluent English where to find another Metro entrance, where we could buy tickets. She didn’t know the word for traffic lights - told us we had to walk to the thing that is red and green, which baffled us briefly!

We found ourselves at a different entrance to the same station, but the stations are often so close together that it could just as easily have been a different station, on a different line, and we would have had to re-plan our route. Overall though, the train system is very clearly marked and easy to use. We never really had to change trains more than once to get where we needed to go, and we never had to wait more than 3 minutes for a Metro train and they generally go pretty fast. In fact, probably the most time-consuming part seems to be when you do have to change trains, having to walk quite long distances (usually underground, not always) between platforms.

Anyway, we found ourselves in a bit of a rush after that, but still made it in time. We had a big plan for this morning – we were doing the Eiffel Tower!

We booked our tickets months ago over the internet. With a bit of planning, we were on line at the exact time that bookings opened for today’s tickets, and managed to get the highly coveted tickets to go right to the top level! Although it still would have been worth booking on line even if we’d missed out on tickets to the top, because the queues at the Eiffel Tower ticket windows were huge, and we just went straight through a separate entry for pre-booked tickets with no queue at all. By the way, we had tickets for 9:30, which is the earliest available time, and a lot of people must be late (trying to work out where to get their train tickets perhaps) because there were not many people going up to the top level at all at that time. It was getting much more crowded by the time we left.

To get to the top, you take a lift that goes diagonally, rather than straight up, to begin. Quite similar to the funicular we went on yesterday, really. This goes about half way and then you change to a regular lift to get to the very top. It was a bit scary going all that way up but it was worth it! At the top, there is a room with windows all around the way around and the lift in the middle. There is then a short flight of stairs to a top deck which has wire mesh rather than windows, so it is open to the weather. It’s a bit scary but well protected – you can’t lean out over the edge or anything – and the views are just incredible.

Just the views of the tower itself from the different levels and from the lifts are worth a look.

The weather was grey but not actually raining while we were up there – it would be even more spectacular on a clear day.

(Yes, those are people walking up the stairs. Not to the top level, you can only go about half way by foot).

Back down to earth and under, to the railway station – the same one we arrived at for the Eiffel Tower, but a completely different part. It’s strange to walk so far underground from one part of the station to another, and quite baffling since the stations are so close together. There are 4 stations within a short walk of our hotel, so how can it possibly be so far to walk around the 1 station?

This time we were catching a RER train, not the Metro – these go overland, outside the immediate city area. After only 25 minutes or so, we were in Versailles, home to the palace which housed the French monarchy from the 17^th Century until the French Revolution. Amazing place, it really sets a new standard for over-the-top luxury. You can see why the revolution happened; building yourself a place like this is really no way to behave!

It was sunny but with rain on the way when we arrived, and the gold on the buildings was lit up in the sunlight with black clouds behind... spectacular.

When you enter, you see long, empty rooms with columns and statues. (It was much, much busier and more crowded than these photos make it look – some of these rooms were roped off).

We moved through to the royal apartments – this is where it gets really lavish.

The Hall of Mirrors – well, it’s a hall, and there are mirrors. Also chandeliers. It’s all quite magnificent.

Going through room after room of gilded splendour becomes overwhelming after a while, and we felt ready to go out to explore the gardens. It had been raining heavily while we were inside and there was still a bit of drizzle as we strolled around. The gardens are huge, and it was already well after lunch time so we didn’t plan to stay long. We ambled along paths and lawns, through avenues of trees and past lakes and fountains.

Just as the rain started back up in earnest, we noticed a small restaurant tucked away in a shady grove. There was outdoor seating with rain covers, and the food was reasonably priced, so we stopped for lunch. And wow, what a lunch! If you are ever at Versailles, find the Brasserie de la Girandole, and see if the duck confit is on the daily specials blackboard.

By the time we’d finished, so had the rain. That worked well! So, back through the gardens, out of the palace and we were soon on the train back to Paris. Then, sadly, it was time to collect our bags and head to the airport. Now there is nothing to do but hang around airports and planes for the next day and a half!

10^th October, 2013 – a beautiful day in Paris.

We enjoyed the French breakfast included in our hotel rate – we filled up on coffee or hot chocolate, pastries, and chewy sourdough-style bread with soft cheese. Then on our way to the Metro underground railway station near the hotel (stopping to look at some fabulous shops along the way) and in to the middle of Paris.

So much to do and so little time! Where to start? 

We got off the train at the Tuileries Gardens, a lovely spot for a morning stroll.

We decided to go to the Louvre fairly early, as we’d heard a lot about how busy it gets and we wanted to allow time to queue. We got there about 15 minutes after opening time and were able to buy a ticket and walk straight in, under that pyramid at into those amazing galleries.

We saw some ancient Babylonian pieces including a large stone carving from around 1770BC, containing lists of laws and punishments, written in cuneiform script carved into the rock. This is considered an especially important item because it is one of the oldest known original pieces of writing of a significant length that can be understood today.

We made sure we got to the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa – these are clearly the biggest draws at the Louvre, and even in the time we spent looking at each, the crowds were starting to gather more heavily. It’s a big thrill seeing such familiar sights “in real life” – especially the Venus de Milo, where you can walk all around and see different details and angles.

While we were at the Louvre, we went to look at some French works from the 16^th and 17^th Centuries, because – well, why not? Even just looking at the galleries and the ceilings is worthwhile.

After a few hours, we headed back out – under an inverted glass pyramid that turns everything into rainbows.

Another trip on the Metro to near Des Invalides where we walked to a market to buy some lunch food. This market is in a fantastic location, with views along the parade to the Eiffel Tower. There were stacks of interesting looking foods including a huge range of mushrooms.

Here are some of our picnic purchases.

We found a picnic spot near the Eiffel Tower, then visited a playground nearby.

After lunch, we popped up to Ile de la Cite – an island in the Seine containing Notre Dame cathedral.

We walked all the way around the island, past several bridges including some completely covered in “love locks”.

There is a lovely flower market on the island.

There is also the very imposing Palais de Justice court building.

When we had walked all the way around the island, we took the Metro around to the Avenue des Champs Elysees, the famous tree-lined street of luxury shopping. The Swarovski store has a crystal-filled glass staircase.

At an intersection of this street and about 4 other streets is the Arc de Triomphe.

It was getting towards evening by this point. We made our way back to Montmartre and had a couple of rides on the funicular – a fairly pointless but fun cross between a train and a lift near the top of the hill.

After that, we were ready to head back to the hotel for an early night, since we won’t be getting much sleep for the next few days!