Ah Paris

Wednesday 29th – Thursday 30th June
 

We met mum and Wendy in Dubai in order to fly on to Paris together. We thought it would be sensible to arrange transport for mum between the gates, however they whisked mum and Wendy off to a special lounge for invalids and took their passports off them, saying they'd be taken to their gate at the appropriate time. Fortunately Wendy got their documents back and engineered an escape, so we managed a coffee after all, before we hopped on the flight to Paris.

There was a strike at Charles de Gaulle Airport – involving waiting in a huge queue to get to customs. But we were eventually just waived through following a cursory check of passports.  Getting a taxi for 4 people was a nightmare – lots of aggro in the taxi queue – not from us although there was an attempt to draw us in by one other traveler.

We decided to stay in the 16eme this time because it’s very close to our friends Penny and Alex, the Place Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower. The hotel Villa Nicolo was a small and charming hotel – with equally charming and helpful staff.

Had dinner at Café Trocadero. Afterwards, enjoyed the views of the Eiffel Tower from Place Trocadero. Place Trocadero not looking at its best at the moment due to various renovations.

Friday 1 July

We had a very busy day and ended up pushing mum to her limit. Usually we like to walk to as many places as possible, but we decided a metro strategy would be best to limit the amount of walking. However the general lack of escalators and the endless stairs as you change metro lines added to the fatigue.

But you do see pretty things along the way

We visited:
* the Arc de Triomphe,

* the Musee D’Orsay

We had a lovely lunch at Cafe Campana behind one of the clocks at Musee D'Orsay

Sacre Coeur as seen through the clock

So few paintings of semi naked men so here you go

 

* and the Eiffel Tower

Visiting the Eiffel Tower was very different to the last time we did so in 2009.  There is now a massive barrier around the base and there are two entrance gates at diagonally opposite corners.  It goes without saying that we had to go to the one that was the furthest away from where we had come.

The Eiffel Tower was incredibly busy.  We took the lift all the way to the top where the others enjoyed the views from the outdoor viewing platform.  I lasted a few minutes out there (as was the case the other couple of times that I have visited) before retreating to the lower enclosed level.

The weather was magnificent and we got great views of Paris.

 

We had pre-dinner drinks Chez Penny before heading out to dinner.  It was a great chance for mum and Wendy to see a traditional Parisienne apartment.  We saw young Max for the first time in over 3 years.  He is now nearly 4 and wasn’t even walking the last time we saw him.  He is a charming and engaging boy – just like his parents.

We went to dinner at Brasserie Victor Hugo, Place Victor Hugo.  The food was nice but the service average.  The staff were pretty rude to Penny when she had questions about the wine.  Penny is very knowledgeable about wine and they seemed to be intimidated when they couldn’t answer questions, so they just walked away.

 

Saturday 2 July

We had to fit in a shopping trip to The Marais. 

After a 3-year absence, we weren’t very inventive.  We just wanted to go back to our favourite places: Cire Trudon for candles and aftershave; Mariage Frere for tea; XOOS for shirts; Finsbury for shoes; and a picnic lunch in the Place des Vosges.

 

In the late afternoon we went up to Montmartre.  First stop was Sacre Coeur. We enjoyed the magnificent views of Paris and had a quick look inside Sacre Coeur before heading down towards the Moulin Rouge.  

 

On the way we stopped at Le Petit Moulin for an aperitif.  Mum particularly enjoyed her Pastis and we enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle from a side street.  It was most entertaining to watch cars, buses, pedestrians and scooters negotiate tight intersections all at once.

 

Moulin Rouge

We had never been to the Moulin Rouge and thoroughly enjoyed our evening.  Some parts of the show were breathtaking, and some parts of the show can only be described as craptacular.

 

We had booked the pre-dinner show as well, so had great seats in the terraces above the stalls.  The theatre is fabulously decorated in the Belle Epoque style.  The food and champagne were much better than we had allowed ourselves to expect.

 

An enormous amount of money seems to have been spent on the show.  The costuming budget must be equivalent to the GDP of a smaller country.  Some of the acts were worthy of Cirque du Soleil – particularly the roller-skating couple – who we understand have been a feature of the show for many years.  The woman swimming with pythons was just freaky. 

There must be a huge turnover in the cast because early in the show it was clear that a number of the dancers (notably half of the male cast) didn’t really know the choreography.  Later on, the really big numbers such as the Can Can itself, and the finale, were much better executed.  I can only imagine that the directive to new cast members is to learn the important numbers and then to wing it through the rest.

Sunday 3 July

David and Margot went off to visit Versailles, which was very busy.  The Hall of Mirrors was absolutely stunning and captivating even though I have now seen it 3 times.  The Grand Trianon was much less busy and therefore much more enjoyable to visit.

 

We had a lovely lunch at Restaurant Angelina and both had artisanal croque monsieurs.

Dale and Wendy went to see Fontainebleau.   It was much less crowded, and Dale’s recollection that the rooms were impressively decorated proved accurate.

Monday 4 July

Went on a lovely Seine River cruise.  It was a brilliant sunny morning and a great way to reorient oneself with the iconic Parisien sites.  I was most interested in getting a long-distance view of the restoration works at Notre Dame.  

Then it was onto the Orangerie to have another look at the Water Lilies on those wonderful curved walls.  We also enjoyed the Décor Impressionists exhibition.

 

After that it was shopping in the Grands Magasins, and along Blvd Haussmann.

We finished off our final evening in Paris with dinner back at Café Trocadero, and then took plenty of photos of the illuminated Eiffel Tower.

After 5 days of looking at the Eiffel Tower, this is my favourite shot

 

Tuesday 5 July

Big travel day down to Buis via Avignon.  We couldn’t get a taxi to take us to Gare De Lyon even though the hotel booked one the night before, so we had to get there via bus and the Metro.  Mum managed but was exhausted by the time we arrived.  There were a quite a lot of stairs to navigate and Dale, Wendy and I took turns lugging our bags and mum’s – so we all slept well on Tuesday night.