Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Paris

Hubby and I took the train from Amsterdam to Paris last Monday.

The trip takes about 4 hours, traveling through lovely countryside views in Holland, Belgium and France.

Our apartment here in Paris is in the 7th arr., very close to the Eiffel Tower. Literally-- we walk out of our building; turn right; turn right again and we are at the banks of the Seine, looking up at a view of the tower.

The tower is several blocks away, but we see it and can get there very easily. Monday evening, we spent a lot of time at the park near the tower taking pictures and people watching. We had a nice meal at an outdoor cafe and then returned to our apartment to do a little laundry before going to bed.

Today, we went on a very long walk, starting at our apartment, over to the Trocaodero, then to the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs-Elysees, through the Jardin des Tulieries, to the Louvre, over bridges to Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, the Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation, THEN over to the Latin Quarter, where we found some wonderful pedestrian and neighborhood steets to wander.

We did a lot of window shopping and store hopping -- ate pain de chocolate TWICE-- multiple coffees, split a truely delicious hot dog/french bread baguette sandwich and some popcorn.

We avoided the gypsys at Notre Dame, who apparently won't beg to just anyone. You have to speak English in order for them to thrust the tiny note from their hand to your face, which asks you for money.

When we were here two years ago, the gypsies were staked out at the Effiel Tower. This year, we didn't see any at the tower, but plenty at Notre Dame. When we were approached today, and they aksed if we spoke English, we'd say "no", and off they'd go, looking for the next English-speaking person.

We took the RER (subway) back to our neighborhood and ate dinner at one of the cafes. We sat next to people from Spain (on our left), Germans (on our right) and a bunch of Brits close by, who were glued to the soccer game being shown on the T.V.

Photos will have to wait -- but we have some good ones!

3 comments:

IronWaddler said...

Glad you are having a great trip.

Dori said...

OMG, I'm going to be in Paris on Tuesday! So sorry I'll miss you. Are you running while you're there? I hope you continue to have a wonderful time on your vacation.

Michelle said...

Sounds like you're having a blast! Good job with the gypsies :) Looking forward to pictures.