Paris Continues, France. 2011 🇫🇷

Another beautiful autumn day in Paris. We decide on a river cruise this morning.  There is a wharf adjacent Ile Saint-Louis.  So we walk across the Bastille to the Seine, then along its banks.  The boat is almost empty so we sit where we like and just enjoy the ride.  The commentary is very interesting as we pass under the many ponts that cross the Seine.

The Louvre is closed on Monday, so we are up early preparing our baguette with jambon and camembert.  The bus drops us outside the Louvre 30 minutes before opening and the queue is 20 metres long.  We chat with others in the queue and the time passes quickly.

We spend all day in the Louvre it’s a fascinating day, so many wonderful exhibits and then there’s the artwork.  By 3 pm we are done in, with sore feet we depart after having seen only about half of the galleries.  We find a bus and head back to the Beaumarchais for a shower and nap.

In the early evening we walk to Place des Vosges a most parisian park, only a short stroll from our apartment.  It’s a warm evening and the locals are out in force, we share a park bench for a while just taking in the vibe.  This was the home of Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables.  He home is now a museum and we do our second museum of the day.  Anyway a beer and wine call and we find a little bar and discuss our day.

We decide on a visit to Montmartre to take in the steamer part of town.  We catch a bus again, but just for something different, from the other side of the street.  We walk the shops, catch sight of Moulin Rouge and a hundred souvenir stalls all selling the same tat.  We follow the signs to the Sacre-Coeur.  The walk is not hard, but we catch the funicular to the top of the hill, just for fun.  The Sacre-Coeur is stunningly situated on the hill over looking the Montmartre and much of northern Paris.

A little cloudy today as we walk to the Metro.  We will need to change trains and lines a few times today as we head to Versailles.  The trip takes almost an hour, we coffee on arrival before walking up to the Palace.  We queue to get tickets and queue again to get in.  Like everyone who visits we are in awe at its splendor.  The Hall of Mirrors, the artwork, the grounds, gardens and the Grande Canal.  After lunch we walk the canal to the home of Marie Antoinette before the long walk to the station and back to the Beaumarchais.

We thought a day out of Paris would be something different so we have booked a TGV to Reims. The TGV is an experience in itself, we speed across France at 280 kph.  We can track our speed and position on the iPad in real time.

Reims is a little piece of Paris it seems, without the crowds.  We leave the station and catch a tram up town.  We visit the Notre Dame, walk the shops, lunch and coffee. It’s town square has a carousel and fountain, the sun is shining it just doesn’t get much better.  We take our time and walk back to the station and the TGV.

Our time in Paris is drawing to a close, the next morning we are on the Eurostar back to London for a day or two before the long flight home.