Episode 22

It rained during all of our drive across France towards Paris. David had decided he would like to spend a day there as he'd not been there before and again L had not been there for a damn long time.

We found a park and ride near a suburban train station where we could leave the car and take the train into the city on a somewhat chilly, breezy, but fine Sunday morning. We had definitely picked the wrong Sunday morning to visit Paris, it was the last day of a long weekend and everyone in France as well as numerous other countries had chosen this time to visit. God alone knows what it must be like in the summer.

Phew! Did I have a great day in Paris! After a bit of discussion it was decided to take one of those open top double decker bus tours of the city. Although it was a reasonable day, bright sunshine and only a little cloud there was a chilly wind and on the exposed top deck of the bus it was even more chilly, however, we grit out teeth and made the most of it. It turned out to be the absolute worst such tour my humans have even taken. For reasons totally unexplained the driver spent most of the time parked at one or other of the tours many stops. Ten minutes was the least, and 20 to 30mins often. When we really wanted to get around and see as much as possible it was very annoying. The company we chose offered four different routes but we only got time to do two. We also found the commentary quite limited, the rest of the time French songs were played, pleasant enough but a bit more information would have been good.

There are so many wonderful building in Paris that no way my humans can remember which was which. The Madeleine church is built like a Greek temple with columns on all sides. It wasn’t originally planned to be a church however, when funds ran out and one of the Kings offered to fund it’s finishing it was only granted on the basis of the building being consecrated and thus becoming a church. We did come to the Louvre with the glass pyramid now standing in the courtyard. This glass pyramid was very controversial when it was built in the 1980’s, and now the entrance to the Louvre is under it. We were going to get off and have a quick look in the Louvre but there was a great long queue, the place being free to visit on the first Sunday of the month as it was. So we stayed on the bus which drove through one of the arches, a nice touch of precision driving on the part of the driver as he had barely an inch or two on either side of the mirrors. All passengers, including me, took a deep breath, not that it would have done much good I expect .

Next we drove past Pont Neuf, this is in the oldest area of the city, where there was once a fishing village that goes back at least to 300BC. Some great views of the Seine along this stretch of the river: Then we came to Notre Dame. Somehow or other it just doesn’t seem as big as it did the first time L saw it, nor as austere. Perhaps that was because of the fact that it was crowded for Sunday mass with local Parisians who occupied the central nave whilst hoards of camera toting tourists shuffled there way around the flanking naves. Photos were allowed but no flashes, though that request was ignored by many.

Continuing on our way on the next bus that came along we drove along the opposite bank of the Seine past many more impressive buildings then crossed one of the many bridges and came directly into the Place de la Concorde, a huge open square dominated by an obelisk (Cleopatra Needle) that came originally from Luxor temple in Egypt. It stands 23m high

From Place de la Concorde the best know boulevard the Champs Elysees leads to the Arc de Triumph: L would like to have taken a stroll along here however time was marching on and we all wanted to get to the Eiffel tower so we stayed on boards and rode up the Champs Elysees. At least it was nice and sunny, not sleeting as it was when L last did that stroll.

The crowd here at the Eiffel tower rivalled that at the Louvre and we had to wait an hour to get to the ticket box, after which, considerably lighter in funds (just as well they didn’t have to pay for me too) we took a very packed lift up to the 2nd level. A quick look about here and we had to join another queue; more than half an hour later we finally made it to the lift to the top. What a wonderful view of Paris! Though it was bitterly cold at this height 324m we spent quite a while here because it had taken such an effort to get here. There were many people who had run out of time and rushed around taking a few quick shots before queuing to descend.

The Eiffel tower was erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889’s worlds fair. The French were obviously making a point: I met another travelling stuffed toy here, but I’m much more widely travelled than he, though he is on his second trip too, not been to Mongolia like me! It was more than three hours later when we emerged at ground level and headed back for the tour bus.

Now late in the afternoon we also had a build up of traffic to slow our progress somewhat, despite the fact it was a Sunday. Eventually we made it to a stop where we could catch a bus for another route and we chose the Bastille route. Bit unfortunate here as the bus lingered a great length of time at each stop, we later decided that this may have been due to the same problem that later stopped the bus altogether and we had to change to another bus, another delay: We also got held up in a traffic jam on a bridge, the driver couldn’t get into the bus lane because the cars didn’t let him and everything came to a stop to let thousands of roller skaters pass. It fell dark during this time.

We did see the Bastille column, all that remains of this famous fortress/prison, the storming of which in 1789 on the 14th July heralded the beginning of the French Revolution and is still celebrated each year on that date with a public holiday in France.

With the city now a blaze of lights from not only the buildings and street lights but also the cars that were still bumper to bumper it became almost impossible to get any photos. The top deck of the bus was far too cold and everyone deserted it for the warmer lower deck so that made viewing far more difficult with the reflection in the widows. It was almost 8pm and the tour due to stop at that time, we ducked down the nearest metro station and took a train back to Paris Nord station and from there our suburban train back to the car. We were all exhausted, and we had no sooner hopped in the car than it started raining, now how’s that for timing.

The rain continued all the next day and we passed through places in the region of the Somme that were flooded. The plan had been to take an early ferry the following morning from Dunkerque to Dover but by the time L got the internet in the Auchan shopping centre in Dunkerque it was too late to get a discounted fare so we had an extra day in France while the rain continued to tip down. D had checked out a couple of options for something to do that day but it was far too wet.

We arrived back in England, still raining and made our way to Heathers.

Next day L organized and booked a trip to Abisko in Sweden to see the northern lights. We shall be gone for a week from the 13th to 20th Nov inclusive, arriving back at Gatwick airport late on the 20th. Now how am I going to survive the sub zero temperature of the Arctic as all I have is my birthday suit and a warm hat many sizes too large: What a way to treat a stuffed toy:

© Lynette Regan 12th November 2013