So, last time you heard
from me we were about 200km outside Paris. That was Friday morning and when
Kristian finally woke we headed for the city of love! Our first stop was
Chateau de Versaille. I heard about Versaille in History class way back in high school. I remember wishing,
way back then, that one day I would get to visit it. That wish came true on
Friday. (Dad you would LOVE this place!)
After having our fill of
Versaille we headed into the heart of Paris to our hotel – and what a hotel! It
was a 4 star hotel that Kristian had gotten at a really great price, (under
half the normal price) It really was rather posh (by our standards) but it was lovely and they
couldn´t do enough for us.
Friday evening we headed
out to explore Paris. We must have walked miles that evening. We discovered all
sorts of things – a street filled with designer shops like Dior, Channel, Ralph
Lauren, Gucci etc. Place de la Concorde where
we stood watching the crazy French men drive. That was good entertainment!
We ate dinner in a lovely restaurant. The food was delicious and the weather was great, we were able to sit outside and enjoy our meal.
Then there was off course The
Eiffel Tower! What a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. We decided that we just
had to go up, at least to the 2nd floor. The queue was so long for the elevator
so we decided to take the stairs….about 660 steps we
climbed and my legs and lungs could feel it! It was well worth it to see
the view over Paris. It was about 10pm in the evening, it was dark and Paris was alive with lights. Just absolutely wonderful!
It was then over to find
the Metro back to the hotel. We were finally in bed by 1am!! Tired but happy!
Saturday:
Talk about exhausted. I
honestly didn´t think I would be able to get out of bed on Saturday morning!! My legs were killing
me! We had planned to be up early Saturday morning and out exploring but we
just could not wake up! It was 9.30am by the time we got up. By 11.00am we were
out exploring. We bought breakfast at a local bakery and ate as we walked. Our
destination was Notre Dame. We found the metro and before long we were
exploring Notre Dame. What a magnificant building. We also wanted to go up the
towers, but after standing in the queue for 40 minutes and moving only 5 metres
in that time, we gave up. We were burning daylight and there was still so much
to see.
We used the rest of the
day to explore the area around Notre Dame which we found rather beautiful.
Wonderful wee stalls with prints and paintings of Paris. Kristian bought me a
painting from one of the local painters.
After walking around non
stop for 5 hours my legs could not take anymore. We headed back to the hotel
for a wee sleep before heading out again. We had booked a dinner on one of the boats that
sailed on the Sienne. We were so excited about this. Seeing Paris from the
river while enjoying dinner was going to be something special and it was! The food was delicious, the service was excellent and it was all rather romantic!
Our boat trip ended at
midnight and we had a lovely walk home by The Seinne with the Eiffel Tower to
keep us company part of the way.
Sunday:
Today we were up early
and we were ready to leave by 9.30am. 13 hours later we are home! It has been a
totally brilliant trip. In some ways we feel like we have been away for a week or so and in other ways it all went by too fast. Thanks Kristian
for this birthday gift. I loved it.
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