Vive la Difference!

I am interrupting my regularly scheduled blog to update you on half-term en Paris! (Note to you readers, it's a long one, so pour yourself an espresso or a glass of your favourite wine - with cheese - and enjoy).

Friday, February 12

It all began on the last day of school (Friday 12th). Okay, so this is a bit of a pre-story...but here goes... I had a tolerable Friday but it ended with a group of us (Jen, Laura, Gill and I) going to the Warren for a drink. We had the chance to vent away with the things that were happening in our department and have been since the new year began - starting to see a division in the ranks (I guess). After our little pow-pow, part way through adding another member - Big John - who hadn't noticed the divisions, I had to make my way back home to get my things together to catch the train into London and then onto Heathrow airport to meet John.

After a hour or so of waiting, John made it through security and into my land of residence. We made our way onto the tube one stop to get to the hotel (as we had planned on spending time in London on Saturday before we left for Paris on Sunday). [Oh, and John's first memory of London: hearing an Australian woman in line calling another person a "foreign git"]


Saturday, February 13

Saturday morning, we left our bags at the hotel as we tubed it into London and went around to the different sights. We began with the British Museum (lovely), spending a good chunk of time there. Next, we made our way on a double-decker bus to Oxford Street - on the search for football scarves...luckily finding them at Nike Town. Hopping back onto the tube, we made our way to Big Ben and then over the bridge to the London Eye. The queue was especially long, so we decided to walk around London instead, eventually making our way to Trafalgar Square. We tubed it back to the hotel to get our bags then back to St. Pancras to catch our train into Kettering and relax for the night.


Sunday, February 14

Next morning, we went for brunch at the Bistro I always go to on Sundays. After a quick meal, we made our way back to the house to get our bags then head to the train station and eventually to Luton airport. We arrived in plenty of time, but ended up spending about 45 minutes to go through security (next time, I'd consider paying the 3 pounds extra to have speedy security check...or something to that affect).

Our flight into Paris lasted about 1 hour (yes, it takes about the same time to get to Paris from Luton as it took me to get to downtown Toronto from my house in Scarborough...the difference being I don't have to prepare myself 2 hours before leaving to get there). We took a 60 Euro taxi ride to our hotel (Hotel de la Bourdonnais), passing many sites along the way (seeing our first glimpse of the Tour Eiffel, the Arc de Triomphe, and the stadium of Paris). After checking in, getting into a mini-elevator to our floor (top floor), placing our bags in our room (we had a terrace!), and a quick pee break, we made our way outside for a little walk around the neighbourhood. [Oh, did I mention our hotel was a 5 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower?] It was beautiful, and I enjoyed the light show on the tower ever hour as the lights flickered throughout the whole of the structure.

As our tummies began to grumble, we made our way to a restaurant along the avenue (Alfio!) for dinner (where I had steak and wine). With our tummies full, we walked along the park from the Eiffel Tower to the Military school, passing a peace memorial in the midst of being completed. We then returned to the hotel and turned in for the night.



Monday, February 15

We had a VERY busy day on Monday - to the point where I couldn't walk any more. We started by re-tracing our steps from the previous evening to see what things looked like in the day...beginning with the Eiffel Tower. [Note: it is much prettier at night] With a walk in the park, we made our way to the Military school, then on to the Hotel des Invalides (an old military hospital/church that has the tomb of Napoleon), grabbed a crepe with nutella and banana, walked through the gardens leading to the Louvre (where John was convinced to pose for a picture), and eventually make our way to Notre Dame. From there, we walked through the church (absolutely beautiful) then decided to go for lunch at a Japanese restaurant (best sushi EVER!!!).

Going back to Notre Dame, we both turned to our iPods for a podcast by Rick Steve focusing on Historical Paris - a walking tour. We followed most of the tour before we stopped and began our search for a bookstore called Shakespeare and Company (which we wouldn't find until the next day). We did, however, find a local shopping mall out of the tourist district (yay) where John purchased 3 more football scarves and I got to rest/eat at a McDonalds (sorry, I was hungry and couldn't walk much more). After our stop, we did make our way back to our hotel, aiming for the Eiffel Tower as we walked streets in the dark, making a brief stop at a local grocery store to get some snacks/water.


Tuesday, February 16

I woke up not feeling well that morning - my head a little hazy - but I think it was due to lack of water (or maybe the Big Mac). So, I had a slow start as we made our way in search of this infamous Shakespeare and Company bookstore. This required a lot of walking around streets, discovering the local areas through trial and error. We first made our way to the Alexander bridge, saw the Grande Palais and the Petite Palais. From here - back along the Rive Gauche (left bank), more discovery was made along the streets of Paris (with a brief stop at a cafe across from the Musee d'Orsay). From this, we found the district the bookstore was once housed in, walked through a student demonstration, found another mall, saw the University of Paris, and purchased more souvenirs.

We took a brief respite from this as we hopped on a double decker bus for a tour of Paris - including the Arc du Triomphe, the Champs de Elysees (gorgeous, but queue WAY too long), and the church "Le Madeleine". We ended back where we started, in front of Notre Dame, and hoped to get to take another tour leading to the Bastille, but after waiting 30 minutes (with a lovely family from Liverpool), we gave up and went in search of the bookstore. Surprise! It was a 5 minute walk from Notre Dame (no idea how we missed it before). It was a quaint store and was cover floor to ceiling with non-French books.

Done for the evening, we were starved! We went to a restaurant close by, enjoying a 3-course meal and the view (of Notre Dame). We then had to walk back to the hotel, carrying our wares. But, all was not complete. We made our way to the Eiffel Tower to get our view of the city from above in the glow of the night lights. It was FABULOUS! Alright, perfect ending to the evening, we made our way back to the hotel.


Wednesday, February 17

We woke up earlier than the previous day with one plan in mind - spending the day at the Louvre. It was a perfect day for it - kind of dreary outside - and we were pleased we were able to purchase advanced tickets from the hotel (so we could skip the line). Being the geek that I am, I listened to part of Rick Steve's podcast on the Louvre...at least for the Mona Lisa (she is much smaller than I thought, and it was much more impressive in person) and a few other paintings. From there, I couldn't be bothered to follow, but we just wondered around the maze that was the museum. One of our final stops was the Venus de Milo...beautiful.

After spending over 5 hours in the museum, we were pooped...and hungry (as we only had another crepe for breakfast). We made our way to a French restaurant where I enjoyed an amazing 3 course meal (including hot goat-cheese on toast, lasagna, a yummy bordeaux, and creme caramel with a coffee). We then attempted to find yet another bookstore for John (in search of Fantomas books). Finally finding what we were looking for, we searched for final souvenirs then made our way back to the hotel for an early evening (walking for 3 days straight took its toll).


Thursday, February 18

We woke up early that morning, making sure the final items were packed (as we packed Wednesday night). We had one goal in mind: un petit dejeuner at a local cafe - complete with coffee and baguette. From there, we still had time before we had to officially check out, so we went for another walk, towards Hotel des Invalides. As we had to waste a few hours, we walked around the museum, made our way back to the hotel to check out (storing our bags by the front desk) and made our way back to the museum to finish our tour. It was a beautiful building and a great treat for a day when I thought I'd spend much of my time from check-out in the hotel lobby waiting for a shuttle to the airport.

We did have to make our way back to the hotel, though, to get the shuttle. We were the first of three pick ups - one of which drove over the bridge by the Statue of Liberty (I was so excited to see it as I hadn't had the chance while I was there).

Our time at the airport was bearable, and much quicker through security than any we'd been through. Our flight was quick, a mere 50 minutes; although our train ride proved much longer. We finally made our way to Kettering around 9:00pm - finding it covered in SNOW!!!

At home, the first goal was to get laundry started...well, that and get unpacked (I'm a little OCD that way).

And that, ladies and gents, was my half-term in Paris! A la Prochaine!

P.S. - My favourite quote from the trip was the first day when I ate a crepe and John had a hot dog with ketchup and mustard. John took a bite and had an interesting look on his face and said, "French mustard is NOTHING like French's mustard" (as it's practically horseradish). :)

P.P.S. - I was lucky that John came with his camera as it was much better for taking pictures (especially at night) compared with my own. Grrr! I need a new camera!