Wow! Paris already!?! Last year at the beginning of our travels, we made plans with our daughter and her boyfriend (at the time, now fiancé) Zac. (Those that have been playing along will recall Zacs attempts to contact us in Thailand around Christmas to fill us in on his proposal plans). My parents were also planning to meet us in Paris for our last week or 2 in Paris.
First up were my folks John and Sandra... Dy and I had to make a tight connection by bus from Karlsruhe over night to Paris to get to Orly airport to meet them, then we'd head to our rental flat right away. We thought we'd give the weary travelers a few hours of rest before we'd subject them to a taste of our whirlwind nomadic lifestyle. I know... aren't we nice...!?
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| Bienvenue a Paris! |
We had an amazing few days wandering the streets of Paris. We hit all of the best places... of course Notre Dame, Pont Neuf (and every inch of the banks of the Seine!), The Louvre, Sacré Coeur and Montmartre, La Mouffetard and that really tall antenna tower thingy build by Gustav Eiffel... a few times. I have to say looking back on it all now I am very proud of how much we covered on foot including the trudge up to our 4th floor flat with no lift!.
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| Notre Dame |
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| Seine and one of the many bridges |
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| Sacre Coeur |
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| One view from Sacred Coeur |
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| I'm not sure what this thing is! |
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| Pretty creative! |
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| Mom and Dad in the courtyard of the Louvre |
Speedo Police
Since retirement my father has taken to swimming... errrr...like a fish to water... (Thank you...). Anyway, as luck would have it there is a public swimming pool almost directly across from our flat in the 19th arrondissement. Not wanting to miss too much swimming, my Dad decided to get up nice and early one morning and head over to the pool for an hour or so of laps... I decided to stay back and drink some coffee. :) Well, it wasn't more than 10 minutes that went by before my Dad returned!?! "Not open?" I asked... "Oh they're open" he said. He made it down to the pool, paid and held up his swimming trunks while asking where to change. That's where things got.... weird... He got a finger wagging like he was 8 years old from one of the attendant. He pointed to the sign that basically said "no Bermuda style swimming shorts" and only "speedo" style were allowed!!!.... Lol! Yes, Seriously! The attendant then pointed him to a vending machine that sold all sorts unflattering swimwear... That sealed the deal... stair climbing and walking would be his exercising for the remainder of our time in Paris...!
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| Dad at the Louvre |
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| I think this painting has potential. One day you will hear of it and the artist. His name is Leonard. He's going to go places! |
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| Winged Victory. This is seriously my favorite piece in the Louvre. The detail is stunning! |
My parents are on a plane back home to Canada right now and I am certain they are exhausted and their legs and feet are letting them know the fact 10 fold, but I also know that we all have incredible memories to last forever and not a single second was wasted. (Trust me Mom... when the sore legs subside you'll agree....you won't miss that spiral staircase though!)
Chelsea Leah and Zac
A few days into our visit with my parents, CL and Zac arrived. We would all be together for a number of days before my parents would go home. Dy and I made the trip to Orly airport waaay in the South of Paris from our apartment waaay in the North of Paris.
...I'd like to stop here for a second and do the internet and all other budget travelers a favor and explain, once and for all how to get to or from Orly airport from ANYWHERE in Paris without it costing at least 50 Euros!!!! Dy and I read a number of ways which all involved at least one taxi or a shuttle busses and then the metro and seemingly a donky with clanging pots on the side (OK maybe not the donkey) but you get the idea... Here goes...
HOW TO GET TO ORLY AIRPORT THE CHEAP AND EASY WAY
Take any metro to Villejuif - Louis Aragon station on line 7. This will cost you 1.70 Euro (or 1.30 if you buy tickets in 10). Get off the metro train, take the escalator to the right up and out of the station. Cross the street car tracks directly in front of you and get on the street car T7... Take this street car to Orly. There is only 1 street car going in one direction, so you really can't screw this up. The street car will cost you 1.70 euro as well... There 3.49 euro at most! Piece of cake...!
Back to our story...
Armed with enough baguettes to feed a small army (or to fight them) and Zacs (ahem...) 'expert' command of the French language, we headed out to assault the city a few more times. Merci...
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The gang on one of our many metro trips. We know the system incredibly well now!
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| The "kids" at Le Tour... |
Pont des Arts
Pont des Arts bridge crosses the Seine between Pont Neuf and the Pont du Carrousel bridge near the Louvre. Pont Neuf means new bridge and is ironically the oldest bridge across the Seine connecting the right and left banks. Pont des Arts bridge is a pedestrian only bridge and is well known for another tradition. Couples new and old have been coming to this bridge for years to place a padlock on the bridge, then throw the key into the Seine River to signify their everlasting love, as the key can never be retrieved. For CL and Zac this was a must do. We went down to the bridge, CL found her perfect lock (in pink of course), grabbed the lock sellers 'sharpie' and wrote their ever lasting message (awwwwwwe...). They picked the perfect spot to place the lock...snap snap snap... We grabbed some pics of them...then proceeded to the middle of the bridge to send the keys to their eternal resting place... That's where the ...ummmm....'traditional' process changed... We caught the 'special' moment on video.... A MUST SEE....
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| My Dad and I had to head to Pere Lachaise cemetery and visit the grave of Jim Morrison as well as Frederick Chopin. |
We could not have ended our Paris adventure better! On our last evening we decided to head out late so we could finally see Paris and the Eiffel Tower at night. We had planned to do so much earlier, and a number of times but we would consistently exhaust ourselves before sunset.
We hopped the Metro at 8PM and headed straight for Le Champ de Mars, the park at the base of the tower. It was perfect, as we headed out of the metro station and into the park, the Eiffel Tower gave us a warm welcome by displaying its hourly light show. My Dad, CL, Zac and I then headed up up up the tower for a spectacular 360 view of Paris form 324 meters... The very top! Amazing views!
We've now headed back out on the road, only this time we have a couple tag alongs with us
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| Our welcoming light show |
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| A view from the top |
