We always tend to have the last week in August off, this is because our daughter goes back to school before September. Summer holidays have been great this year. We decided to rent an apartment in central Paris. We used Eurostar, we had used this before, so we already knew the benefits. However, this time we decided to upgrade our tickets/ seats and included dinner and drinks. This was well worth it, and the tickets were cheaper than the standard ticket price.
Our train arrived at Gare De Nord, and we used the Metro system to travel to our apartment. The travel instructions were provided and nice and easy. We arrived at the apartment building, GREAT! We were met by the apartment manager, he helped carry our bags to the loft apartment, four floors up! NO LIFT…….I needed to use my asthma inhaler to use the stairs. So where I thought I was doing really well on the health front, the stairs almost KILLED me. We live in a bungalow, so stairs now fill me with DREAD!
Small, but perfectly formed apartment. Modern interiors, based in the center of Paris.
We didn’t unpack on the first day, so I got my breath back and we decided to walk to the Louvre. In the heat!
The museum was fantastic, so I can totally recommend going on the Friday night. Their late night, so no queue to view the Mona Lisa. Image protected by very very thick glass.
After strolling around the upper levels we decided to try and find our way out. This involved more stairs….more dread. It had been a long time by now, and my legs were starting to feel very weak. We found the Metro and got on the train. It was only four stops on the train, however, when we got off the station, it appeared to be unsafe with some unsavory people just hanging around on the exit stairs. We lived in London all of our lives, so we were used to living in a major city. We didn’t experience any problems, thank God! However, every few hours we witnessed the Police arresting people.
The following morning we went to the Pac Man computer games exhibition, which my daughter loved. Me too, playing old computer games, graphics have come so far since PING PONG! And I still couldn’t WIN!
Travel Tip
Eat where the locals eat.
Steak & Frites were great, also three Coca-Cola’s cost £30, so I’m still recovering from the cost!
Next stop, the Christian Dior exhibition. The queue was very long, so I said: “lets give it 15 minutes”. While waiting in line, someone French walked past and shouted to the crowd” the wait is well worth it” I thought to myself, it couldn’t be that great, could it!…….They were right, a must see in Paris.
Next stop the light show, a history of France projected on to a historical building. Followed by a 1000 candle viewing of Napoleon’s tomb, one in France, health and safety nightmare in the dark. But great experience. It was a strange experience being so close to the remains a great person from history.
The Sunday market near Notre Dame was selling birds and fish. The birds were beautiful. I suppose because of most people living in apartments they can’t have large pets. So small birds and fish are ideal pets. The colours were amazing, especially the orange canaries.
Finally the Picasso Museum, outstanding images of his work and stories of the family. Also images of the great man himself painting in his underpants! I might start painting myself.
Our leaving lunch was in a street cafe in Paris’s main fine food street. Who knew that cheese salad could be so good!
Planning a rest next week.
Lupus Man Blog 