Following a change of plan on the work front, today has been a day of working
from the hotel but I am certainly not complaining as it gives a great chance to
get lots done and when I can put a full day in then I can go some way toward
clearing the decks. However, the down
side is that it is easy to sit in the hotel all day and not see any daylight,
therefore my colleagues and I agreed that at 6.00 p.m. we would down tools and
head back to the metropolis that is Paris.
When 6.00 p.m. came, the first thing that struck me as we left the hotel was the
heat it was really quite hot. We walked
the few hundred meters to the stad de france metro and RNR station and now that
we are experts knew exactly what ticket we wanted, the problem was the ticket
window was once again unoccupied as I think the guy who works there must have a break around that time and just closes up and stuff anyone that actually needs some help and trust me when I say there is no other worker around. This is evident as it seems a number of people choose not to bother with a ticket and simple jump the barriers, and as there is no staff there to see them it seems the normal thing to do, But not being locals we had to fumble our way around the
automated ticket machines. It was our
Nottingham colleague that worked out how to get the ticket and believe me it
was not that easy, even when the machine can be worked in English. But we each got a day ticket and we were off
into the bright lights.
The first stop was the Eiffel Tower and it seems bizarre but
true that when you come out of the metro station, we were only metres away from
a blooming great structure like that and yet from the metro station we couldn’t
see it. Some detective work and
following the signs that were all over the place, we rounded a corner and there stood a replica of the
Blackpool Tower. It does look impressive
when you are stood just below and of course took the chance to get some
photos, one of which is reproduced below for your visual delight.
After a brief walk under the tower and through the Champ de Mars gardens with
some lovely square trees, I kid you not, they have shaped the trees to be
square, we walked east and back toward the Seine. Stopping off when my Nottingham colleague
found a little cafe that was very reasonable and looked very Parisian, as he
had found the way for us to purchase the ticket to get us into the city in the first place it was only
fair to stop where he wanted. The meal
was very nice and the service excellent with a very friendly waiter who seemed genuinely
pleased to see us eating in his cafe.
With full stomachs we raised ourselves from the pavement
seats and walked over the Seine and onto the Palais de Chaillot which is a huge
building, very nicely built and when you look back over the river you have the
perfect sight of the tower. The night was
closing in by now so I got the chance to take some night shots of the tower. In
the warmth of the evening we spent a little while relaxing with all the other
tourists and locals and admired the view before setting out with a plan to walk
the few streets to the Champs Elysees as our Belgian colleague had not seen it
the previous night. Unfortunately we didn't
make it as it was getting close to 9.00 p.m. and as we wanted to go to the Sacre Coeur
we thought it better to get the metro from the Trocadero up to Anvers. The short walk from Anvers to the Sacre Coeur was interrupted by some very vociferous
sellers trying to lure the tourists into buying their wares. At one point I had to almost fight my way
past one guy who was hell bent on trying to get me to buy something or
other. Little did the guy know I was
from Yorkshire and therefore not likely to buy anything let alone something I didn’t
want. After my battle with the street
seller walked part way up the hill before we found a sort of cliffe car, similar to what they have in Scarborough
to help people get up the steep hills to the shops, but this one is to help people with the steep climb to the Sacre Coeur. I was preparing to walk up the stairs when it
was noticed that our day ticket would allow us to travel for free and we all
piled into the car and enjoyed the free ride to the top.
The Sacre Coeur is of course the church but at the front of
the church are many steps which are lined with people who I assume are tourists
and locals who sit in the cooling evening air to look at the view from the top
of the hill. When you stop to take it in
you can see why, it is quite amazing, a lovely site and I tried to capture it
on film. The final few stairs take you
to the Church and I was surprised to see it still open and so I went in. There was
a service of pray taking place which was run by the nuns. It was so nice to hear the prayers and
singing and for the 2nd night in a row I lit a candle. The church is magnificent and I would go so
far as to say nicer than the Notre Dame but I know some may not agree. There
are not the stone glass windows that the Notre Dame has, but to me it looked
nicer, or it may just because I was in a happier frame of mind than the night
before. I took the time to sit and
listen to the service for a few minutes but conscious time was moving on and my
two colleagues were outside I went out to rejoin them. We sat for some time outside the church and
took in the views before deciding it was time head off back to the hotel. The atmosphere outside the church was almost the same as inside, peace and tranquility despite being amongst literally hundreds of other people
We departed the Sacre Coeur and walked the short way to the Guard de Nord
station and having more success than last night, actually managed to catch a
train back to the stad de france station and walk the few hundred metres back
to the hotel. We arrived back at around
10:30 p.m. but having had another nice evening in the French capital.
We have an earlyish start tomorrow as we have to travel to
Esch sur Alzette in Luxembourg for a meeting and as the journey is some three
and a half hours long, we have to be off pretty prompt. I am not sure when we will get back to the hotel tomorrow
night what time there will be left to do anything but we shall see, maybe we
shall hang around the hotel and get another go in the Twizz.
Night All
A view from the champ de mars which is a little too close for a photo that is why the tower has its head cut off
A view from the trek up toward the palais de chaillot
It was getting quite dark but the camera seemed to get a lot of light from somewhere. Still the tower was lit up
A view from the Sacre Coeur, by now it was dark but you can just make our some of the lights of Paris in the distance and some of the people in the foreground
A picture of the Sacre Coeur as we walked toward it
Ermm not sure where this came from, of course I didnt go in.
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