We arrived into Paris Orly on the 26th June 2008 from Fez Morocco. Upon arrival we decided to make a few phone calls, one being to let our transfer know we had arrived. Not long after being on the call we were approached by a security officer looking ever so serious and speaking very quickly in French. "Sorry, sorry we don't speak French" we said as we interuppted him. "Sorry he said but you need to get out of here right now, we have a suspected bomb". The word bomb is an understood word in any language so we took off in the direction he asked.
Our hotel was a 2 star hotel called Hotel Montpensier but it had the location that would make any 5 star jealous. We were right across the road from the Louvre Museum and well within walking distance to all the main attractions. Our first eveing though was one spent doing the necessities of life, washing our clothes. It had been 10 days since the last wash in Marrakech and we were out of clean clothes so it had to be done.
The next moring we had a little bit of a sleep in as we tried to shake the last of Morocco from us. I had stomach pains and Moroc Jock the day before. Maroc jock was diahorrea, a name we came up with at the start of the trip as a joke but I caught it on the last day.
The next day was a new day, a new country and we were both feeling great. We started our Paris experience we a wander up Champs Elysses and then on to Arc De Triompe. This would be the first of many stairs that I would climb in Europe. Once we got to the top the view was amazing. The thing I liked about Paris was the fact that most of the city was low level. Most of the buildings didn't go much higher than 5 levels. Which ment the view were endless and the old towns looked really old with no new modern skyscrapers next to them.
That afternoon we went down the road to Notre Dame (which means Our Lady). This was my first European church visit and I was more than impressed. The roof was so high, the building so old, the stained glass so colourful, what a sight! We took the audio guide through which was a bit all over the place but sptill worth the small rice of 5 euros. In the treasury off the side of the church they claim to have a piece of the crown of thorns, along with part of the cross that Jesus was crucified on. But it does make you ask why is this not on show? Is it really there? If they have it then surely Jesus must be real? So many question. I'm not sure if you can claim something so big and not put it out there for people to see.
The next day was spent at the Louvre which was one of the highlights for me. I've never seen Renaissance paintings in real life and I must say I found them captivating to look at. I was also surprised at the fact that you could photograph the Mona Lisa. Most people say it was a lot smaller than they thought it would of been. But for me it was actually bigger because I've heard a lot of people say that so I didn't expect much. Some of the paintings in there though are far bigger than life and for some reason they don't have the attraction that the Mona Lisa does. The other highlight was the Venus De Milo, which there not even sure if it actuall is Venus. The arms are missing and there not sure where it came from so they can't say for sure if it is, or isn't. After spending 4 hours in here we still hadn't seen it all but we decided to call it a day as everything was starting to look the same. The Louvre did get me really excited for Italy though and what must lie ahead.
I found the history of France really interesing which I had never really read about. Just to be walking through Napoleon's tomb or strolling through Place De La Concord where King Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette where beheaded during the French Revelouotion. Also finding out that there was a French Revoloution. I also found out that Marie Antoinette was a little freak who use to dress up in sheapardess dress and play with a flock of groomed, perfuned sheep. Crazy!
Othe places we visited were Sacre Coure and the Mont Marte area. Which I think may be one of the most beautiful churches in Paris. We also went to the Pantheon which was build to resemble St Peters in London before heading down to the Eiffel Tower. You can see this all over Paris but of course its the highlight on any Paris trip. Especially at night time when the whole thing lights up like Christmas.
Every corner you turn around in Paris has some historic refernce or is more amazing than the last corner. One thing that really surprised me though was the price of everything. I was expecting it to be expensive but it seemed even more expensive than London which was a worse exchange rate. Every menu we seemed to look at was around the 9 to 20 Euros which is about 16 to 38 Aussie dollars. The menu even seemed a little like home, but maybe we just went to the wrong restaurants. Trying the snails did cross my mind for a second but then I realized I don't need to do that.
I will be back to Paris one day, maybe on a Frace tour extravaganza.
Caen
The whole reason for visiting Caen was to stay in a small French town close enough for a day trip to both Mont St Michel and the D-Day beaches. We took the train from Paris to Caen which took just over 2 hours. We managed to find a really good deal at the Hotel Ibis so this stay was going to be a bit of an upgrade from the hostels we were use to. Just walking into town, we both new this was not a normal tourist stop. Not many people got off the train, we couldn't see any other tourists and the town didn't make it into any of our guide books. But we couldn't understand why. The winding streets were coblestoned and looked amazing. There were pedestrian only streets which made for sight seeing and the town was home to some really nice churches and a castle. It even had a marina which was a surprise as the coast was quite a distance from town.
The next day we did our number day trip. Mont St Michel. Mont St Michel is a 1000 year old castle/church/prison sitting on a small island about 100 metres off the coast. We got up at 6.00am and caught the early morning train. Mont St Michel get's about 3000 visitors a day but for some reason this is the only train departure. Access to the Mont is by the small town of Pontorson where we planned to walk around for a bit, but upon arrival we found out that there is only one main street and nothing else to see. Better yet the only train back to Caen didn't leave until 5.50pm so we had 9 hours to explore the Mont. The shops around the base of the island use to be a small medina in medival times, but they're now home to tacky tourist shops where you can by everything from a $7 Mont St Michel pencil right up to a full dinnner set complete with Mont St Michel place mats.
The next day we were planning to go out to the D-Day beaches but after doing some research and finding out that the beaches are really only used today by locals to swim we decided not to go. I guess I had visions of memorials, guard towers, barraks and other things along the beach which would make an interesting visit. The only thing we found out was that there was one memorial but it cost 18 euros to get in, then just told a bit of the history. But we had already read all the history, watched the movies and looked at the pictures on our visit to the Hotel Invalides a few days earlier in Paris. Instead we took this day to just look around the town of Caen. After checking out a few of the churches and the marina we sat in a park where I tried to sketch the hardest church in Caen. Lucky for me it started to rain and I could get out of that one.
The next day we left Caen at 7.53am and headed for Cologne Germany.
The next day we did our number day trip. Mont St Michel. Mont St Michel is a 1000 year old castle/church/prison sitting on a small island about 100 metres off the coast. We got up at 6.00am and caught the early morning train. Mont St Michel get's about 3000 visitors a day but for some reason this is the only train departure. Access to the Mont is by the small town of Pontorson where we planned to walk around for a bit, but upon arrival we found out that there is only one main street and nothing else to see. Better yet the only train back to Caen didn't leave until 5.50pm so we had 9 hours to explore the Mont. The shops around the base of the island use to be a small medina in medival times, but they're now home to tacky tourist shops where you can by everything from a $7 Mont St Michel pencil right up to a full dinnner set complete with Mont St Michel place mats.
The next day we were planning to go out to the D-Day beaches but after doing some research and finding out that the beaches are really only used today by locals to swim we decided not to go. I guess I had visions of memorials, guard towers, barraks and other things along the beach which would make an interesting visit. The only thing we found out was that there was one memorial but it cost 18 euros to get in, then just told a bit of the history. But we had already read all the history, watched the movies and looked at the pictures on our visit to the Hotel Invalides a few days earlier in Paris. Instead we took this day to just look around the town of Caen. After checking out a few of the churches and the marina we sat in a park where I tried to sketch the hardest church in Caen. Lucky for me it started to rain and I could get out of that one.
The next day we left Caen at 7.53am and headed for Cologne Germany.
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