Big day ahead today. Kim's birthday too.
We got up early and took the metro to meet our tour bus. We had a bus tour through Paris, a boat tour of the Seine and then lunch up the Eiffel Tower.
The bus tour was ok, but the commentary kept dropping out. We checked out the Louvre amongst other things. Again Paris is stunning and one of those places you just have to see to do it justice.
The boat trip was something a little different and very enjoyable. You see a different side to a city from the water. Got spectacular views of Notre Dam and other notible buildings that I can't remember.
The highlight of the tour was lunch at the Eiffel Tower. Word of advice. If you are coming to Paris and want to go up the Tower, pre book. The queues were massive. We managed to jump to the front. We had a couple of hours to explore before lunch so we took the chance to get some snaps and look around. The one surprising thing about the Tower is that it is Brown. For some reason I thought it would be grey.
Lunch was good, although we had to share our table with a couple of rude Americans. They were the first Americans I have ever met who DIDN'T want to talk. Bonus was they didn't want to drink so Kim and I got to share a bottle of nice French Red.
We also got to see a massive lightening storm from up the Eiffel Tower. Very cool.
After lunch we walked from the ET to the Louvre. We were running a bit behind time so went straight to see the Mona Lisa. It's a little smaller than I thought, but tres cool, except the massive crowd of Americans taking photos. I wanted to see the Egyptian artifacts so we didn't get a chance to look at all the paintings before it closed. We planned to go back and do that on Tuesday - more on that later. Again, a word of advice : it would take a day or two to get around the Louvre so you have to pick and choose what you want to see. I would recommend setting side a whole day and get there early. We unfortunately didn't see much so will have to go back.
Tickets are cheap at 6 Euro per pavillion, of which there are 3 or 4.
Very tired after our big day, so back to the Hotel for a rest and tea.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Paris day 1
We took the Eurostar from Waterloo to Paris. For those who don't know, the Eurostar is a TGV (High Speed Train) that goes through the chunnel. It reaches speeds upto 180mph through the chunnel.
After a 3 hour journey we arrived in Paris. First hurdle was ordering Metro tickets to get to our hotel. Luckily the ticket agents spoke English. 3 day unlimited pass on the Metro cost about 30Euro which was a bargain.
The Metro makes getting around Paris really easy, and even with the language barrier, we found it easier to navigate than the underground. Public transport when it works this well is brilliant.
We stayed at Hotel de Academe in the Latin district of Paris. The day porter was chatty and spoke away to us in English. The rumours about the French are not true it seems. The British GP was on so I caught a few minutes of that, which was weird watching in French...
After checking in and resting a bit we went across town to pick up our tickets for the tour we were doing, and the Museum and Monuments pass which allowed us to go to any Museum or Monument. Again we took the Metro, which we were getting the hang off by now.
We hadn't seen much of Paris until now. It is simply stunning. The architecture and grandeur is impossible to explain in words. Everywhere you look there is another famous building or icon. Amazing. We went for a walk down the Champs elyse to the Arch de Triomph. It's really cool seeing the things in person you have only ever seen on screen or in pictures before.
Took some cool shots and will post the Shutterfly address when I find it out.
After our walk we went to a restaurant to find a bite. I almost ordered raw steak! Food was ok and managed to get what we wanted with a mixture of English and our limited French. Dining out in Paris is very expensive. We only had mains and desert and it came in at almost 100 Euro!
After a 3 hour journey we arrived in Paris. First hurdle was ordering Metro tickets to get to our hotel. Luckily the ticket agents spoke English. 3 day unlimited pass on the Metro cost about 30Euro which was a bargain.
The Metro makes getting around Paris really easy, and even with the language barrier, we found it easier to navigate than the underground. Public transport when it works this well is brilliant.
We stayed at Hotel de Academe in the Latin district of Paris. The day porter was chatty and spoke away to us in English. The rumours about the French are not true it seems. The British GP was on so I caught a few minutes of that, which was weird watching in French...
After checking in and resting a bit we went across town to pick up our tickets for the tour we were doing, and the Museum and Monuments pass which allowed us to go to any Museum or Monument. Again we took the Metro, which we were getting the hang off by now.
We hadn't seen much of Paris until now. It is simply stunning. The architecture and grandeur is impossible to explain in words. Everywhere you look there is another famous building or icon. Amazing. We went for a walk down the Champs elyse to the Arch de Triomph. It's really cool seeing the things in person you have only ever seen on screen or in pictures before.
Took some cool shots and will post the Shutterfly address when I find it out.
After our walk we went to a restaurant to find a bite. I almost ordered raw steak! Food was ok and managed to get what we wanted with a mixture of English and our limited French. Dining out in Paris is very expensive. We only had mains and desert and it came in at almost 100 Euro!
Tour de France Prologue
Took the train to London to watch the Prologue for the Tour de France.
This year it was starting from London, with the route taking in Trafalgar square, Buck Palace, Hyde Park and finishing up the Mall.
The race itself started about 3pm, and we arrived at about 1pm. We got a posy on the 50m to go banner on the Mall, unfortunatley could only get about 6 rows back. A cyclist would go past and you would get a flash of color and that was about it.
The atmosphere more than made up for it though, it was incredible. Over 1 million people can create quite a buzz! We stood and watched for about an hour and went for a walk along the route and managed to see a little bit more. When we were leaving you go past the warm up and warm down area, so we got to see a few cyclists up close and the team cars with the bikes on the roof, so that was cool.
Something we will have to go back to next year and maybe catch an alpine stage.
This year it was starting from London, with the route taking in Trafalgar square, Buck Palace, Hyde Park and finishing up the Mall.
The race itself started about 3pm, and we arrived at about 1pm. We got a posy on the 50m to go banner on the Mall, unfortunatley could only get about 6 rows back. A cyclist would go past and you would get a flash of color and that was about it.
The atmosphere more than made up for it though, it was incredible. Over 1 million people can create quite a buzz! We stood and watched for about an hour and went for a walk along the route and managed to see a little bit more. When we were leaving you go past the warm up and warm down area, so we got to see a few cyclists up close and the team cars with the bikes on the roof, so that was cool.
Something we will have to go back to next year and maybe catch an alpine stage.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
English Summer
We've been fairly quiet over the last few weeks. It's been hard to go out and do stuff because it's pretty much rained all of June. It's been quite warm, but warm is no good if it rains all the fricken time. Two wet Summers in a row wasn't what we had in mind when we decided to come over for Summer.
We are off to the starting of the Tour de France this weekend. The Prologue is taking place around Buckingham palace and Hype park. Just hope it doesn't rain. The we are going to France for Kim's birthday which will be cool. Forecast isn't great, but it will be awesome either way. We are taking the Eurostar through the chunnel.
More to follow.
We are off to the starting of the Tour de France this weekend. The Prologue is taking place around Buckingham palace and Hype park. Just hope it doesn't rain. The we are going to France for Kim's birthday which will be cool. Forecast isn't great, but it will be awesome either way. We are taking the Eurostar through the chunnel.
More to follow.
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