PARIS - THE CITY OF ROMANCE ....

Whenever we can, we journey to Paris. Paris is a wonderful vibrant, exciting and cultural city. There is just so much to see and do that we keep returning to continue our explorations of this historic city.

PARIS VALENTINE'S FEBRUARY 1997
Photo's to follow shortly

My dad  who did find Paris all that exciting during our last trip there, fell in love with Paris this time round.

We arrived on Friday evening the 14th February 1997 at our hotel which was in the Paris 'suburb' of Montparnasse. Which is on the left bank of the river Seine. We decided to get an early night after the trip so we could start out early in the morning. (France is an hour behind England so going over we lost an hour going over.) So we ordered room service, unpacked, watched some French TV and got to bed.

On Saturday morning after breakfast we caught the Metro (Metropolitan or Paris underground) about two stations to the Luxembourg Gardens. These are beautiful with tons of statues, lawns and walkways. Many of the Parisians were out walking, playing volleyball or jogging. The Luxembourg Gardens are in the Latin quarter where the university is so many of the people are young students or older professors. The Latin quarter is quite vibrant with the young intellectuals. We walked up the Boulevard St. Michel past the Sorbonne. Do you remember the part in "Peter Sarstedt's - Where do you go to my Lovely" where he sings "... I've seen all your qualifications, you got from the Sorbonne, and the painting you stole from Picasso ..." well the Sorbonne is part of the Paris university. We Walked from The Luxembourg gardens past the Sorbonne across the Seine to Notre Dame. On our way we bought my dad some new "shoes" as he had forgotten his CAT's at home and only had his driving shoes that are not very warm with him. My mom chose some really continental looking boots that buckle on the side for him. Quite .... cool!

Anyway Notre Dame is so old and huge. Quite overwhelming. We walked though and saw a statue of "Joan de Ark" who can you believe it lived in the very early 1400's. She was only about 16 when she was burnt for heresy. 500 years ago, talk about living for ever, her name definitely does. Unfortunately we were unable to walk up the bell tower to the bell as they are busy doing restoration work. From Notre Dame we walked over the other part of the Seine onto the left bank and along the Seine to the Louvre. Notre Dame is built on a small island in the middle of the Seine. We had bought 3 day Metro passes but my mom was keen on walking around and really getting the feel of Paris. My dad and I were both winging about the long walks (me obviously more than my dad) and my mom would keep saying it's just ahead. ........ Actually we didn't whine THAT much.

The Louvre "Musee du Louvre & Palais du Louvre" is huge. They say if you took half a minute at each exhibit, 24 hours a day it would take you THREE MONTHS to go through the Louvre. We saw so much in the time we were there. All the Egyptian displays including cyrcofigus and papyrus and old paintings that have been 'pasted' together like jigsaws as bits have decayed with time and are missing. We saw the "Mona Lisa". Many people have said that it's a very small painting. I must admit it was about the size I had expected, not as small as small would describe. Unbelievable how her eyes follow you around the hall. We also saw the "Venus de Milo" and Greek and Roman works too. We tried to find Michaelangelo's "Two Slaves" but were unsuccessful. There is just soooooooo much to see. We had lunch at the "Louvre" and then walked up under the "Arc de Triomph du Carrousel" this is a smaller "Arc de Triomph" just outside the "Louvre" towards the Concorde and Champs Elysees. As you walk thought the "Arc de Triomph du Carrousel" you enter the "Jardin des Tuileries". These are gardens with ponds and fountains that stretches from the "Louvre" to the "Place de la Concorde". The ponds have chairs around them where people just sit in the sun and read or watch other people. Parents can hire little sail boats for their children, who put the boats on the pond and then walk around the side with a stick which they use to push the boats from the sides if they get stuck.

Further up at the "Place de la Concorde" where all the executions took place and where Marie Antoinette and Louise were guillotined, marking the spot there is a big obelisque, a gift from Mohammed Ali (not the boxer) of Egypt. It has hieroglyphics all the way up, down and around it. It's the oldest statue in Paris. At the "Place de la Concorde" there seemed to be another "statue" which suddenly moved. It was a street mime dressed in white stiff sheeting, painted like a statue. As someone walked past he would wink of flinch just slightly, enough to startle you. My mom took a photograph of me with him. He was as still as a statue and as I put some change into his basket he thanked me. I also got quite a fright!

From the "Place de la Concorde" we walked all the way up the "Avenue des Champs Elysees". We stopped at the "Disney Store Paris" and my parents bought me a Mickey Mouse bag for school. Further up we stopped at "Planet Hollywood Paris" for a early dinner. I must say - we've been to Planet Hollywood in London, Gatwick and now Paris. There food is always D-I-V-I-N-E. We ended up stuffing ourselves like a really piggy's. A little further up we stopped and my mom re-kited herself out with all her favourite CHANNEL products.

Our final stop for the day was the actual "Arc de Triomph". We went to the top which has a spectacular view of central Paris. There are twelve roads that start at the "Arc de Triomph" in different directions like the cog of a wheel.

Sunday morning started with breakfast a promise that I wouldn't make us walk quite as far as we did on Saturday. First stop was the "Trocodero" or "Jardin du Trocadero" and "Palais de Chaillot" which is situated just across the Seine from the "Tour Eiffel". This was an eye-opener to Parisian life.

People say that the British are very family orientated. Probably compared to some South Africans but let me tell you so are the Parisians. At the "Trocodero" there were families - fathers, mothers, children, grand-parents, playing roller- blade hockey and skating between cones (up-side-down plastic cups). Doing tricks or just trying. This included older people and little ones that could just about walk never mind blade. There were also mimes and people just singing and playing instruments (like little bands) along the walk way.

We then walked across the Seine to the "Tour Eiffel" (Eiffel Tower). This time we went right to the very top. They have all the different flags along the top with the distance to main cities in the countries. We videoed and photographed South Africa, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and of cause; home Great Britain.

Our next stop was for all of us the highlight of our weekend. We went north to Montmartre or sometimes known as the Artists quarter. We ended up having lunch at a MacDonalds. Not French at all I must admit.

We walked up the stairs of the "Basilique du Sacre-Coeur". This is a Romano-Byzantine church built from Chateau-Landon stone which whitens when in contact with carbonic gas and hardens with age. So even though it is rather old it stands out because it is so white. It give a beautifully senic view over Paris. With both the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomph in the distance. Also mimes and musicians to be seen. One had all the tourist that were sitting on the steps singing along with him as he sang and strummed away on his quitar. There was also a girl playing the accordion.

From the "Basilique du Sacre-Coeur" we walked down one of the many little streets to the old "Place du Tertre". This is the centre of Montmartre's village life. (Montmatre was a village outside Paris that has since become part of Paris.) "Place du Tertre" was where marriages were announced, militia men enlisted and criminals were hanged. Montmatre is where modern art was born. Von Gogh, Renior, Gauguin, Picasso, Braque and Juan Gris lived and painted in Montmatre. Von Gogh painted his famous La Guinguette at a Montmatre restaurant called 'A la Bonne Franquette'.

Today in the "Place du Tertre" there are still artists that paint while you wait. A full colour pastel can take around 10 to 15 minutes. We had cartoons done. You know how my dad has always wanted them. My mom would have gone for a nice family pastel. But anyway ...... what can I say, maybe next time. They also have wonderful oils of Paris life for around 800FF to 1,500FF. We were just concerned about transporting it along the metro and them home!

Montmatre also has the famous "Moulen Rouge" home of the Can-Can. From Montmatre we made our way back to the hotel on the Metro so we could get ready to go out to dinner. We decided on a really French evening. Except that restaurants are generally not open on a Sunday night so we settled for dinner at a French "Batissirie" (Bistro). With some French wine, bread & food.

Monday we decided to have breakfast and check-out. And then make our way to past some of the places we didn't have chance to see. We drove further up the road near our hotel to the Pasteur Institute (couldn't see it). Then to the "Statue de la Liberte". The small statue of Liberty which stands in the middle of the Seine down the road from the Eiffel Tower.

We then drove down along the Seine between the Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower. Past the "Palias de la Couverte" and "Petit Palais" both Palace's in Paris. Through past the Concorde and to the "Opera Garnier" or old opera house. This is where the famed "Phantom of the Opera" is set. A huge building built on a underground lake or should I say - high water table. From there we drove into our now favourite area "Montmatre" past the cemetery. This may sound strange but it's a cemetery one should see - "Seeing is believing"! Each person has their own "house" or crypt that looks like a little house.

And that was our weekend in Paris. We would like to go back again as there is much that we wanted to see and just didn't have the time. Things like the Catacombs, Centre Pompidou, Hotel de Ville, Pont-Neuf (New Bridge - actually the oldest bridge in Paris), a boat ride down the Seine.

We are planning to go back sometime, between wanting to go to Monarco for the Grand Prix; Disneyland Paris; Disneyland Florida; Italy to Rome, Venice, Verona; Austria to Vienna, Salzburg; Germany East & West; Scotland to Inverness to see if we can see the Loch Ness Monster. Etc, etc.........

Paris has so many interesting places to visit.

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