We began our trip with a very early start, a 4am taxi ride to Waterloo through the deserted streets, passing all the big London landmarks which were deserted and all lit up- it was brilliant!The Eurostar is so fast, we arrived in just 3 hours, leaving us the whole day to explore. Our hotel was right in the centre of the city, just near the Louvre along Rue de Rivoli so we could walk just about everywhere we wanted to go.
After dumping our bags we headed over to the Place dela Concorde, the site of the guillotine during the French Revolution. We wandered around the Champs Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe. We decided to climb it up this tiny little spiral staircase which just seemed to go on and on but the view was spectacular.
We had the most amazing dinner at Cafe Ruc- the best steak bearnaise I have ever tasted followed by the richest gateau chocolat. Our rusty pigeon French got us through ok, except when Dan asked the waiter to bring us our plate instead of our bill! Caused some minor confusion on both sides!
Sunday was a bit wet but the city was all the more pretty for it. We had crepes for breakfast before heading over the river to St Germain where we figured out how to use the Metro and headed towards the Eiffel Tower. The Metro is much more pleasant than the tube, mainly because it's perfumed so it doesn't stink! We found a little market full of fresh food (all the food stores had massive lines of little old Parisians waiting to buy their fish and vegetables) and a little stall selling old silver and copper candle sticks and hooks. We dug around for treasures and the lovely lady running the stall complemented our French! The only person to ever do so!After visiting the park where we got engaged we headed up to Montmartre where it poured rain! Fortunately we were under cover drinking coffee for both downpours. Dan had told me when we arrived in Paris that he wanted to find me a ring to wear with my wedding band as I can't wear my engagement ring and my wedding band together. While walking through the windy little cobbled streets of Montmarte we found a strange little shop selling beautiful jewelery which was displayed on deer antlers and stuffed birds! We bought a pretty little ring which actually fit my finger without being re sized which is a first! It looks like a little crown and is very sweet.
That night we ate at Le Cafe Marly in the Louvre building over looking the glass pyramid. We had a three course meal (more amazing steak bearnaise!) before waddling back to our hotel.
Our last day in Paris and it was wet again. We had decided to visit the Musee d'Osrsay on Monday- bad idea as it is the only day it is closed! Very disappointed but this just means we have more of an excuse for a return trip! We had the most amazing breakfast at Angelina's. A beautiful old 19th century building with rows of beautiful cakes, tarts and chocolates. We had croissants, pau au chocolat, fresh crusty bread and French butter with coffee, fresh juice and the thickest hot chocolate I have ever seen, we had to keep stirring it so that it didn't set- yum!
We headed to the shops for souvenirs and macaroons from the beautiful Laduree shop on the Champs Elysees before heading to the station for our train home. We had a minor disaster just before leaving for the train upon discovering that there was a security disk still in something we had bought and Dan had to make a mad dash on the Metro to the shop to get it taken out so that we just made it on time to the station! On the way we caught a two story metro - very strange.Thanks so much Gregg and Natasha- brilliant wedding gift- we had a fabulous time!
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