Travel To Paris, August 25 2007

Today we left London to go to Paris. We arrived at the Waterloo Train Station to take the Eurostar. The terminal was very crowded with weekend travelers. We collected our tickets at the automatic ticket booth and cleared custom quickly. We were all very looking forward to better lodging at Paris after spending 3 crummy nights in London. Our train departed on time. It was very sleek looking, and inside the chairs were comfortable. It took merely two hours to get to gare du Nord,Paris. About 20 min was underground, inside the tunnel underneath the English channel. I marveled at the technology of modern travel. The train was quiet, smooth and fast. And as soon as we disembark, we were in trouble. We need to get metro tickets. The lady at the ticket counter didn't speak English. So with my very broken French and hand gestures, we managed to get our carnay tkx. Then we encountered another problem. Paris metro don't have attendants to wave people in as in London. So with our luggage, we had a very difficult time going thru the turnstile. Mine was stuck between the gate because it stared to close as soon as I passed. Lee and I tried and struggled to open the gate in vain. Finally a nice gentleman used his metro pass to open the gate for us. Things were starting to look a bit better. We caught the #4 metro to go to montparnasses. It was another big train station with lots of travelers. There was no escalators, so we hauled the three luggage upwards on the stairs. We encountered another surprise. A very nice guy offered to carry my luggage. I thought since he was so nice to offer his help, I might as well ask him direction to the street I want to go. We started talking, he spoke tolerable English, enough for us to communicate. He came from Corsica to Paris to work as a policeman. He doesn't like Paris because it's dirty and people are rude. So he doesn't know why people keep coming here to visit. After a few minutes of chit chat, we found our street and hotel. What a relief! Thank to these timely help, we finally made it to the hotel. Who said the French were rude?
We were very happy with our lodging. We were on the 19th floor, our window looked directly north to Notre Dame, the Louvre, Pompidou and sacre coeur. It was a magnificent view. the sky was clear and blue, and sun light everywhere. And if we crank our head, we have a side view of the Eiffel Tower.




After a short rest, we decided to explore the area. We headed toward Luxembourg Garden. We got some gelato on the way. It was rather warm after our walk. We found a park bench and enjoyed our gelato. Lots of people were in the park, just hanging around. Families in the playground, people out walking their dogs. Megan started to count the number of dogs she saw. I think she really missed Moch. As we arrived at the pond, we founds many people just sitting, hanging around, and sun bathing. Simply enjoying the warm afternoon. It was a very relaxing place. We sat by the pond and enjoyed our first afternoon in Pairs. And when the kids reminded us that they were hungry, we started our walk again. Now we headed toward the left bank. Going north on Blvd st. Michel. It was very busy, cars everywhere, all kinds of stores and lots of people. We decided to go all the way to the bridge, and find Notre Dame within our sights. It was a near sunset, the sunlight reflecting off the river and stone makes the whole structure almost glaring. When we got our bearing, we decided to go the rue st. André de arts area. This was the place where the literary people used to hang out.

Taking advice on one of the guidebooks, we stepped into Cafe le Proscope. Supposed to be one of the oldest continuing operating restaurant in the world. Voltaire, Ben Franklin, Napoleon, Marat all dinned here before. From historic point of view, it was remarkable. Many portraits and painting adorned the walls. Food was mediocre at best. It attracted tourists like me! With a full stomach, we walked home, wanting to explore the neighborhood more. It took a good 30 min to get back to the hotel, taking many narrow back streets. At night, our view from the room was even better, with lights from all the monuments and houses and streets, truly the city of light.