Tuesday,
Had planned to leave home at 6:10 am to walk to the train station to catch the train to Rotterdam and then the train to Paris. I had left my phone on silent so we slept through and woke up at 6:10! Don’t know how we did it, but we managed to get out of the house at 6:15 and made the train OK. Had some time in Rotterdam to by a coffee and pastry, recover from the shock and wake up a little. We were traveling light with just a small day pack each and a bag of food. The train stopped at Antwerp and Brussels before Paris but it only took three hours and they went by quickly enough. The train was full, all the announcements are in four languages (Dutch, German, English and French) and the last sector went very quick as the train went flat out at over 150 Kms.
Arrived at Gare de Noord on time and walked up to the hotel which at first seemed a bit dodgy but there were renovations underway ad it really was a reasonable place. We couldn’t check in till 2:00 pm so we dropped off our bags and headed out to see some sights. First up through Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. It was overcast and drizzling a bit but still very special to see the old church up on the hill. Found a nice cafe for a crepe and coffee and meandered our way back down past a cemetery that had a road/bridge built over it and then and walked along the Boulevard de Clichy with the Moulin Rouge on it. Found a tourist office and learnt all about the museums and metro. This was close to our hotel so it was back to check in but they only had a booking for one room for three (the boys)! We did have twop vouchers though, so they but found another for us and all was OK. We all had a relax for a moment in our room on the six floor, while the boys were a floor down. Ash and Reubs had been to the supermarket on the way back so we had a lunch of baguette and cheese with some juice to recharge.
Headed out for the afternoon and spent nearly $350 on 2 Day Muesum and Metro tickets, it sure adds up when you’ve got five people to cater for. Caught the Metro to place do Concorde and walked up the Champs Eleysee (lots of preparations underway for Bastille Day). Had to stop under shop awnings to shelter from the rain showers every now and then and ended up at the Arc de Triomphe.
Then wandered over to the Tour Eiffel and found out that the advice about having to wait in queues to get up was true. It’s amazing how this has changed since we were here last. Decided that the boys would climb up the stairs to the second level as it would be a bit quicker while Wendy and I looked around on the ground. Kept getting asked by gypsy women if we could speak English (we said we couldn’t) and then they show you a letter and hopefully get some Euros from you. There was also a presence of police and soldiers making their presence felt. Then it was a walk along the Siene for a bit and back home around 10:30 for a supper of bread, cheese and ham.
Had planned to leave home at 6:10 am to walk to the train station to catch the train to Rotterdam and then the train to Paris. I had left my phone on silent so we slept through and woke up at 6:10! Don’t know how we did it, but we managed to get out of the house at 6:15 and made the train OK. Had some time in Rotterdam to by a coffee and pastry, recover from the shock and wake up a little. We were traveling light with just a small day pack each and a bag of food. The train stopped at Antwerp and Brussels before Paris but it only took three hours and they went by quickly enough. The train was full, all the announcements are in four languages (Dutch, German, English and French) and the last sector went very quick as the train went flat out at over 150 Kms.
Arrived at Gare de Noord on time and walked up to the hotel which at first seemed a bit dodgy but there were renovations underway ad it really was a reasonable place. We couldn’t check in till 2:00 pm so we dropped off our bags and headed out to see some sights. First up through Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. It was overcast and drizzling a bit but still very special to see the old church up on the hill. Found a nice cafe for a crepe and coffee and meandered our way back down past a cemetery that had a road/bridge built over it and then and walked along the Boulevard de Clichy with the Moulin Rouge on it. Found a tourist office and learnt all about the museums and metro. This was close to our hotel so it was back to check in but they only had a booking for one room for three (the boys)! We did have twop vouchers though, so they but found another for us and all was OK. We all had a relax for a moment in our room on the six floor, while the boys were a floor down. Ash and Reubs had been to the supermarket on the way back so we had a lunch of baguette and cheese with some juice to recharge.
Headed out for the afternoon and spent nearly $350 on 2 Day Muesum and Metro tickets, it sure adds up when you’ve got five people to cater for. Caught the Metro to place do Concorde and walked up the Champs Eleysee (lots of preparations underway for Bastille Day). Had to stop under shop awnings to shelter from the rain showers every now and then and ended up at the Arc de Triomphe.
Then wandered over to the Tour Eiffel and found out that the advice about having to wait in queues to get up was true. It’s amazing how this has changed since we were here last. Decided that the boys would climb up the stairs to the second level as it would be a bit quicker while Wendy and I looked around on the ground. Kept getting asked by gypsy women if we could speak English (we said we couldn’t) and then they show you a letter and hopefully get some Euros from you. There was also a presence of police and soldiers making their presence felt. Then it was a walk along the Siene for a bit and back home around 10:30 for a supper of bread, cheese and ham.
1 comment:
Hi Colin and Wendy,
Great pic of the Eiffel Tower Colin. Look forward to seeing you back on Monday!!
Heather
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