Europe Trip 2011 Paris (Day 4 to Day 5)

      We were planning to get up earlier in case if we had problem with the custom. We booked the really early train so we could have discounts and maximize our time to spend in Paris. We prepacked our luggages on the previous night and got out of Belgrove Hotel by 5. The train we were going to take departed Kings Cross Station at 6AM, so we had more than half an hour to spare before we reached Kings Cross Station.

      I was checking out in the convenient store in the train station and saw some erotic magazines on the shelf. One things that I have noticed that in the UK (and in Europe) is that magazine covers are not censored. It is not like a sexually sanitized (hypocritical to some extent) countries like the USA and Hong Kong where the laws require the magazine publishers to censor the 18+ materials.

      It took us about 30 seconds to get through the custom, and the officer did not even bother to stamp the passport. I was excited to get onto the Eurostar, a high speed train that connects between London, Paris, Lille, and Brussels and reduce the cross channel travel by more than half of ferry transport. Unlike flying, the Eurostar also takes the travellers to the center city, and travellers do not have to travel to the airports which are usually far away from the city. Also, travelling by train is much more environmentally friend than flying

     The Eurostar was quite a wonderful experience as it was really quiet and fast. It went to the Channel Tunnel and passed through Calais. It made it to Gare du Nord in Paris in less than 3 hours.

     I found a budget hotel called Perfect Hotel Hostel at the 9th Arrondissement in Saint Georges District of Paris. It is surrounded by 8 Metropolitain stations (Paris has one of the highest densities in terms of metro). It took us about 15 minutes to walk from Gare du Nord to the hotel, which was not too bad.

The famous entrance pyramid designed by IM Pei.

     After we dropped our stuff and got everything ready, it was already near noon and we headed to the first stop - Louvre by taking the Metropolitain. The line was already there and we were expected to spend 45 minutes to get into the museum. As much as I would like to browse, we had to be selective because we wanted to get out by 5PM and both Jeffrey and Fred wanted to take nice sunset photographs. We walked from Louvre to Avenue des Champs-Elysees through Jardin de Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, Petit, and Grand Palais. We bought some ice cream, battling some souvenir mongers, took some nice pictures about the former Expo sites.

The beautiful interior of the Louvre

A random small arch near the Seine

The memorial of Concorde, where Guillotine was once stood

The Seine

     We ended up at finding our dinner at one of the many brasseries on Avenue des Champs Elysees. We tried very hard not to go to the restaurants that are catered mostly to non-French speaking tourists. My other problem is that the French are not known to be vegetarians and I might be facing problems finding vegetarians cuisines. Luckily, I found a slightly overpriced salad (it cost me 12 Euros) and we went back to Perfect Hotel after the dinner.

     I liked Perfect Hotel & Hostel better than Hotel Belgrove, because it was located on the sixth floor (instead at the basement level), and we have a typical Parisian window where we can enjoy the breeze. It was also roomier as well. It was starting to rain at 11 at night but I managed to fall asleep anyway.

The big arch that Napoleon built

     We got up and got out for breakfast at about 6:30. The French breakfast is very different from its English counterparts. First there were some croissants, coffee/tea, and orange juice. The croissants were baked next door. We took the metro to Charles de Gaulle Etoile (where Arch of Triomphe was at) and took some pictures at the Arch. We could see the new arch at Le Defense but we did not bother to go there because it was not a touristic site. There was a memorial for World War I, and after taking enough pictures and the fact that the tourists were pouring in.

France took Alsace and Lorraine from Germany/Prussia

     The next stop was the Eiffel Tower and I wanted to walk from Arc de Triomphe to there, while Jeffrey and Fred took the metro to Trocadero station have a second breakfast while I slowly enjoyed the morning walk. Instead of taking the most direct route through Avenue Kleber, I took Avenue D'Iena. It was more curve and I passed through the South Korean Embassy and Iranian Embassy. I also noticed Velib bicycle sharing programs were there as well.

South Korean Embassy on Avenue D'Iena

Tons of steel that formed the Eiffel

     About 40 minutes of a nice mid-morning walk, I have reached the feet of Eiffel Tower, and already saw a considerable amount of crowd. I later met up with Jeffrey and Fred and decided how we should go in to the tower. The line for staircase climbing was much more shorter than the elevator (also cheaper!). There were two levels that we could reach with our ticket. We could view the Seine, Montmartre Hill, and other parts of Paris. Unfortunately, the elevator that was supposed to take us to the top of the Tower was out of order, so we were not able to climb to the top of the Eiffel.

Inside Notre Dame

French Parliament Building

Philosopher's gesture in Jardin du Luxembourg?

     We walked across the Seine to Jardin de Trocadero, chilled out a little bit and bought some snack at the same time. Then we took the metro to Cite, the closest station to Notre Dame Cathedral. There were many tourist there. It was free to enter the cathedral but I lost enthusiasm, perhaps owing to the amount of crowd there. We took some pictures. Jeff wanted to go shopping at Avenue while Fred and I roamed around the less tourisy part of Paris.

The best shot of Notre Dame tourist don't get to take

     We crossed Pont Saint-Michel to the Left Bank of Seine, and walked along Boulevard Saint-Michel. There were some discount shops, local people, part of the campus of the University of Paris (which scatters all over the city), and finally we reached Jardin du Luxembourg and the Parliament Building of France. People were relaxing around the fountain, parents playing swing with their kids, old men playing chess with the timer. I almost thought this would never happen in Arizona before people keep themselves indoor and French are known to cherish the free time when they do not have to work. After, we walked toward Pont de la Tournelle to get back to Seine. We found the perfect spot to take the picture of Notre Dame from the back side. There were no tourists there and the view was completely different. After taking enough pictures and enjoying the beautiful cathedral and near sunset time, we walked through Pont Sully Bastille station, which was converted into a roundabout.

Once this place was the starting Point of the French Revolution

     Then we took the Metro again, met with Jeffrey, and we walked toward the Sacred Heart Church on the Montmartre Hill. It was considered sketchy there at night but I think we would be safe because we were not alone. The view was beautiful so it was worth the extra hour to get there. After that, we said bye to Paris because we had to take the Thalys high speed train to Brussels.

Perfectly lite up church on Montmartre Hill

The night of Paris from the Hill. It was a good way to end the Paris segment as it is the City of Light