The Moulin Rouge.
Today we are meeting a tour guide to do a walking “beginner’s tour” of Paris. Virginia, a pocket-sized bundle of energy, meets us outside St. Sulpice church. St. Sulpice is literally across the street from where we are staying. For any Dan Brown fans, it is the church featured in The Da Vinci Code, for the Rose line and one of the murders. Read more →
A carving on the façade of the Notre Dame
We wake early this morning, jet lag is still lingering a little bit. We have nothing formal planned for the day, except to have a wander around and get to know our neighbourhood a little bit. We have read that most places open at 9 in Paris, so we set off to explore. It’s still raining solidly, and it’s also a bank holiday, so the streets are quite deserted.
A fraction of what is in the window at Gerard Mulot patiiserie
Our first stop is at Gerard Mulot patisserie, which is literally around the corner from our apartment and has been recommended to us. The array of cakes and pastries is dazzling – we pick some pain au chocolat and a croissant for breakfast and vow to return in the afternoon after our wandering to choose some more treats. The pastries are warm and buttery and perfect. Read more →
The Iron Lady – Eiffel Tower in the rain!
We bid a fond farewell to London as we board the Eurostar to Paris. It’s a super-fast train, it takes only 2 ½ hours and a meal that makes plane food look like a gourmet feast. In Paris it is grey and quite cold, but we are buoyed by excitement.
We have arranged for a transfer through the apartment we have booked, and our driver William tells us about the area we are staying in, St. Germain. As he points out patisseries, bistros and markets we are looking forward more and more to getting out among it.
A small glitch at the apartment leaves us waiting for half an hour for the meet-and-greet guy to let us in, but we eventually have access to the apartment that will be our home for the next nine nights. It is tiny and quirky and gorgeous. The window looks across rooftops pricking with chimneypots, everything is clean and comfortable and the kitchen is teeny but has everything we need. The elevator which gives access to the 6thfloor is so tiny only one of us can fit in at a time. My claustrophobia is slightly less powerful than my fear of climbing six flights of stairs at this stage, but stay tuned. Read more →
St. Paul’s Cathedral
This morning we jump back on the underground, and with a little instruction along the way we are able to navigate our way to Leicester Square station where we will join the hop-on, hop-off bus. These buses tour all the major sights in London, and passengers can disembark and re-board as many times as they like in a 24 hour period. With only one day left in London, we want to see as much as we can. Read more →
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