A la Paris

We have both travelled to Paris previously and Lou thought that the world's most romantic city (think candles, chocolate, champagne and roses) would be a beautiful destination for us to travel to together. Rob's idea of romance - Le Musée des Égouts de Paris (aka Paris Sewer Museum)...

Day 1

We caught the Eurostar very early Saturday morning which deposited us at Gare du Nord in central Paris. Wasting no time we headed straight for Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle which contains some of the most intricate and encompassing stained glass windows in the world. More importantly though, Rob was introduced to the Nutella Crepe - yummy! - which became his only dietry requirement over the two days.



Knowing that drinking and boats go together like peas and carrots we made our way down to the Seine and invested in a beer and river cruise. Amazingly the Seine has some 34 bridges that cross it and looking up or down the river you can usually see no less then 4 bridges in either direction. We were fortunate to make the end of Fall and the river, the buildings and the changing colours of the trees were beautiful.



The rest of the day was spent walking. We headed for the Louvre and explored the grounds around it which were amazing. It is a staggeringly big building, which is hard to appreciate until you actually walk around outside - it just keeps on going. From there it was down past the Obelisk, Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower.

Having worn out our shoes and with the bottomless pit that is Rob's tummy grumbling, we headed to our hotel to check in before grabbing dinner and a show. Embracing the French enthusiasm for good food we signed up for a big plate of snails. Because let's face it, there's nothing tastier then a good ol' snail. Seriously though, despite being quite difficult to remove from their shell, the snails were quite tasty, cooked in melted butter and garlic.




The last stop on the itinery for the day was the Moulin Rouge. We were only able to get tickets to the 11pm show, which didn't start until almost midnight and despite the disorganization, the show was incredible, and the complimentary bottle of champagne wasn't too shabby either. Lots of boobies!

Day 2

Breakfast was croissants and hot chocolate at the foot of the Basilica of Sacre Coeur. We had a look around inside and climbed to the top of the dome for spectacular panoramas of the city.

After that our minds were in the gutter... literally, at the Paris sewer museum. Little did we realise that the entire museum would be based inside a real working sewer. It managed to be both frightening and interesting at the same time though we didn't linger too long. Actually, by the time we left we both felt (and smelled) like we needed to shower - oh well.

From there we headed downtown to the financial district, La Defense, to checkout the La Grande Arche; the modern day version of the Arc de Triomphe. Then back to the original Arc where we climbed to the top to check out the entertaining antics of the drivers on the giant roundabout below. Another quick walk back to the Eiffel tower where Lou forced Rob under duress to climb the bloody stairs as it was €0.7 cheaper then the lift. (ED - the line was a lot shorter and I thought it would be more of an enlightening experience for us both; besides after about 10 nutella crepes Rob needed to do some walking). We made it up there in time for a spectacular red sunset and then wandered (a nice way of saying we walked) to Les Invalides before heading home 1st class on the Eurostar.



C'est bon!