First full day in Paris

Today was our first full day in Paris, and it was also 14 July - Bastille Day. We had a sleep-in and then went down for the breakfast that was included in the price of our room. It was a lovely continental breakfast with fresh fruit salad, juice, pureed fruit, cold meats and two varieties of cheese. Coffee was supplied with hot milk for you to add.

I knew there was a big parade due to leave from the Arc de Triomphe, and thought it started at 9 am. At that time we saw people moving as if it was about to start, so David and I dashed out, leaving Jan and Steve to finish, and we headed as far as we could towards the Champs Élysée. There were army tanks and vehicles parked on our street and around the Arc. A bit further on we came across several groups of horse guardsmen, but we could get no further, and the start looked imminent. So we waited, and waited... and waited... along with the crowd. In the end David gave up and headed back to the hotel. I saw the flyover about 2 hours later (see my MobileMe Gallery), and the tanks start out down the Champs Élysée from below the Arc de Triomphe. After that I headed back to the hotel, and found David enjoying a perfect view of the whole event on TV!

Jan and Steve said that they had headed out and managed to get a little further down the Champs than me but in a terrible crush of people that they said was scary. It seems that David had the best view of us all!

The day was very mild, partly cloudy, but warm when the sun came out. Next we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower, and catch a #69 bus across to the Notre-Dame, following a tour in our Rick Steve guide book.

We walked... and walked... and walked! By about 3pm we were feeling the heat, and still hadn't quite found the street where the bus left from, so it was time for a late lunch and lots of liquid refreshment. Omelettes or sandwiches, and lemonade. Then off we went again. We headed for the Champs de Mars by the Eiffel Tower, only to find the bus stop with a sign saying it was not operating today because of the holiday!

So, we traipsed to the nearest RER rail station and made our way to the Isle de la Cite, an island in the Seine. We took one look at the Notre Dame queue and decided to head to Sainte Chapelle first. This was amazing.

We thought it was interesting on the lower floor, but then headed up the stairs to the main floor and saw the amazing stained glass windows. To think this was built between 1242 and 1248 to house what they thought was Christ's Crown of Thorns!

Then back to Notre-Dame where the queue had shortened a little and was moving rapidly. This was a more 'dark' place, but very imposing in its own way. It was very big! We had a look through and then went out for some photos of the gargoyles and other decorations.

By then I was desperate to get off my feet, and have something to drink. Well, talk about charging like a wounded bull, you can see the docket and work it out for yourselves!


After that break we went over to see Point Zero, in front of Notre-Dame. This is a spot which represents the middle of France, and from where all distances are measured. After waiting.... and waiting... and waiting... for a group of tourists to move off... They were initially oblivious to the spot that they were standing on, then we had to wait while they each decided to take photos of it! After waiting politely while a couple of them mucked around, Steve and I decided to push in and get our own photos! Sheesh!

Next we headed to the Metro and caught the train all the way back up the Champs Elysee. We got off at the Arc de Triomphe and had a bit of a walk around that (we'll go up it later in the week) then headed back to our hotel by about 8 pm. We were intending to step out and watch the fireworks being let off on the Eiffel Tower, but we were all too knackered - we couldn't even contemplate having something for dinner. So, now I write this post, listening to the booming of the fireworks that started at 11 pm.