We arrived in Paris an hour ahead of schedule riding the Eurostar train from London St. Pancras to Paris’ Gare Du Nord. A large beautiful confusing station that really challenges the “less is more” moniker. We searched for our connecting train to our place of residence for 30 minutes even though we were pointed towards it by several very helpful locals. It was not until we had been walking towards it for 10 minutes that we began to see signs posted around. We hopped on the M2 towards Pagille and got off at Blanche. After winding through the underground we walked up some steps to a vision of the Moulin Rouge. That’s right, our house is 2 blocks from there.delightful.
Our neighborhood, South Pagille, is North East of the city center and is full of nice bakeries, groceries, restaurants and sex shops. Thanks Moulin Rouge…
When we first arrived, we slept. Not getting much sleep before than traveling carrying our thirty plus pound bags took it out of us. We decided we would do very little today, so we could do more the following two days.
But… we’re in freaking Paris so we couldn’t do nothing!
We hopped back on the Metro headed towards the Arche De Triomph. You’ve seen it a thousand times in movies. It’s that crazy large monument in the middle of a ridiculously large roundabout. We popped in and out for a photo opportunity and headed on our way to the big daddy, the one, the only The Eiffel Tower (Accordions play Parisian National Anthem).
I knew the Tower was big, but there is nothing like seeing it up close and personal. From several blocks away as it appeared from our metro window it looked massive. From the sidewalk looking up I think I strained my neck. We took some time sitting in the park relaxing while hundreds gathered to watch a tennis match on the lawn in front of The Tower, because sometimes you just gotta watch tennis. I suppose there is no better backdrop then the Eiffel Tower.
We decided it was time to go home. We hadn’t seen much but we didn’t want to be to tired for the next two days so we headed back to South Pagille. It was there that we stumbled upon Au Rendez Vous Des Artistes a nice restaurant with a menu mostly in French but somewhat in English. The food was great. I got Rump Steak with a delectable cheese sauce and Bethany got a sandwich in a baguette which paired well with a nice Bourdeux. A little less good was the large bottle of sparkling water we ordered on accident, whoops! But hey, now Bethany has a vase! All in all a delicious meal from a restaurant we chose on a whim. Some times less planning works out for the better!
We then picked up some meats, cheeses and wine for our Eiffel Tower picnic at Carrefour market and headed home. By now you may be wondering, what are you guys doing about dirty clothes? Up until now I would have said, “wearing them.” However, today we took our first jump into what I’ll call “road laundry” and older people would just call “laundry.” We cleaned our clothes the old fashioned way, in a tub, with detergent, hand washed and hang dried. Quite the European experience!
Cheers,
B&B
