Day 11, 4 May 2013 - Paris; What's Left to Say?

The Saturday 4:45 a.m. alarm went off entirely too early. That is, until I remembered what the day held in store.

Paris. As in, France.

I had stored my second large suitcase with the receptionist the night before since I'd be coming back to the Euro Hotel on Monday. That left only one suitcase to wrangle for the weekend. After dressing quickly, I opened the door of my basement room to find Amanda had come to see if she could help me. Together we klunked my bag up the stairs, met up with Judith, and at 5:20 a.m., the three of us walked the several blocks in the dark to St. Pancras train station. I couldn't believe how busy it was! Taking the 6:15 a.m. Eurostar to Paris on a Saturday was obviously very popular. It didn't seem to take long before we passed through security and were able to board the train.

The entire ride London to Paris? Only a few minutes over two hours. Judith let me know when we entered the Chunnel. I was surprised that portion of the trip lasted a mere 15-20 minutes. Don't know what I had been expecting. When we emerged, the French countryside didn't look much different than the English countryside we had just left behind, but knowing that I was in France for the first time in my life . . . priceless. We arrived at Nord station in Paris and followed the crowd inside the main station. Of course I had to take a pic of the train responsible for my journey.

 

And while I was snapping away, my two friends were sizing up the situation and deciding the best direction to leave the station and grab a taxi to our hotel. They're the ones in deep thought in the middle of the photo. You quickly learn that "Sortie" (on the sign in the upper right) means "exit" in French, and the Metro is the equivalent of London's tube.

 

 

A quick less-than-10-minute taxi ride brought us to our hotel, the Concorde Opera Paris.

 

We didn't trust just anybody on the street to take one of our cameras to get a photo of the three of us, so this is the photo I took of my two traveling buddies. Judith (on the left) and Amanda, just outside our hotel. They both look so Parisian stylish, don't they?

 

And here's the lobby when we stepped inside. Yes, we all stood there gaping while gawking and simultaneously making our way over to the check-in desk. Wouldn't you?

 

Amanda's room was ready, but Judith's and mine weren't, so we stowed our bags in Amanda's room and headed directly out onto the Parisian streets. First destination: the Sacre Coeur. For those of you who aren't familiar with this Paris landmark, let me clue you in if you ever visit and want to climb--yes, C L I M B--to the Sacre Coeur. It is a climb. Here's a typical city street as we made our way up. There are so many scooters/small motorcycles in Paris.

 

When Judith and Amanda informed me that we would have to climb these stairs at the end of the street, I asked them if a taxi could take us up. Or was there an alternate, less steep way? That's when Judith told me about the funiculaire. It's kind of like a tram on rails for going up. I only wish I had taken a photo of it. As we stood here, though, I told the two of them I thought I could make this climb, but I'd need to stop and rest quite a bit. They both said, no, we're going to find the funiculaire. And we did.

 

After arriving at the top, there were a few stairs left to climb, but they were a piece of cake. This is what awaited us after all our efforts.

 

We went inside but according to signs posted everywhere, they don't allow picture taking. That didn't stop some people from blatantly disregarding the signs. I didn't want to be disrespectful, though, so this is the only view you'll get. Unless you go there yourself.

 

This "statue" is actually alive. He was so cool!

 

 

When you turn around from gazing up at the Sacre Coeur and look at the view over the rooftops of Paris . . . wow. Just wow.

And this, my dear friends, was my very first sighting of the Eiffel Tower. There were no words.

 

We hung around for awhile, until our stomachs started demanding that they be fed. The walk to our café was scenic, through art stalls. Pfffft. Most of it was way too touristy and commercial/cheap looking. This photo was taken from inside our café looking out--kicked myself later for not taking one of the café itself as it was very charming. Le Consulat.

 

We walked through Montmartre, which was a much easier walk as it was all downhill. Again, I could kick myself for not getting any photos of the cemetery--the bridge we crossed went right over it. The place was huge!! These are some pretty cool places we saw on our walk, though. How do you like that car driving right up on the sidewalk?

So glad that Judith was in the know about this, as we came upon the street where Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo lived at one time. And we even managed to find the apartment building.

 

After that, it was on to the Moulin Rouge. Both Judith and Amanda said it was much more impressive at night with all the lights on. I'll take their word for it.

 



 

We finally made our way to Concorde Place (a very important part of French Revolution history), which was the beginning of the Tuilleries, an extremely large park with avenue-wide sidewalks and two outdoor cafes. This is the monument commemorating Concorde Place.

 

Then either Judith or Amanda pointed out the Arc d'Triomphe, so I had to zoom in on that!

 

As we walked through the Tuilleries, I guess I was too busy gawking and enjoying myself to take photos of any of it. We did stop at one of the outdoor cafes and ate crepes. Mine was laced with dark chocolate sauce and fresh sliced banana over it. I could have eaten at least three more, it was that good. But we had more of the city to see.

 

The Tuilleries end at the Louvre Museum. I think most people don't realize how large the Louvre is. I certainly didn't. All of the building that you see in the photo below is the Louvre. And that's just a part of it. 

 

The glass pyramid is the entrance to the Louvre. Once I realized how large the place was, and how little time we had in Paris, I made it a goal to get back to Paris in the future and devote no less than two full days just to the Louvre.

 

More of the Louvre.

 

 It was then time to walk back to our hotel, or at least catch a metro train, so we strolled over to the Seine, which runs alongside a large part of the Louvre. The river was extremely high and fast flowing, so we opted not to go stroll alongside it but stayed streetside instead.

 

 

We ended up taking the metro back to our hotel, where we rested up (and updated Facebook and TwiMoms posts, of course!!) before deciding to head across the street from our hotel to dine at the Café Marco Polo for dinner.

 

We all then called it an early night. Tomorrow on the agenda: the Eiffel Tower and Musee D'Orsay.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 10 -- 3 May 2013, Friday - Travel Day

Just so you know, there are no photos from this day. Why? Because I had no opportunities to snap anything noteworthy. I will insert some photos of flowers I took at Sudeley Castle, just to break up the monotony of my monologue.

After a delicious breakfast of pain au chocolat and muesli and smoked salmon with creamy scrambled eggs, it was time to pack up and check out of the Bibury Court. I honestly did not want to leave. The only thing that pushed me on was the knowledge I would be meeting up with (and meeting, period!) my friends Amanda and Judith back in London, and tomorrow morning we would be on our way to Paris. The trip back to Milton Keynes in the Corsa was uneventful. I did realize, though, that I had purchased enough stuff while I was with HM and when shopping in the Cotswolds that it was time to ship some things home. Before I turned the car in, I found a box and ship place in Milton Keynes and took advantage of lightening my load. It was not cheap but necessary. The next time, I'll simply bring an empty suitcase to carry back purchased goodies.

Turned the car in to Hertz, then a nice young man drove me to the train station. We had a great conversation on the way over. Turns out he was from Latvia. He, his girlfriend, and another friend had come to England to find a better way of life. Evidently, there weren't many opportunities for young adults in that part of the world. At the Bibury Court, I had spoken with the young man who carried my suitcase to my car--he was from Romania. He had a degree in electrical engineering but couldn't use it in England. They required him to work in the hospitality industry for two years before he could apply to do anything else. Then he had to take additional schooling in England before they would let him work as an electrical engineer. His fiancée was still back in Romania working as a dental assistant until he was able to send for her. He told me when I had the opportunity, I should visit his country as it was very beautiful and the dollar would go far there.

These stories really touched my heart about how it is so difficult in certain parts of the world that young people will leave everything behind in the country they love to go elsewhere in search of a better life for themselves and loved ones. They all asked me about the United States, and said they would love to come visit one day. These conversations with various people were some of the best highlights of my trip.

The train ride from Milton Keynes to London was uneventful. I claimed my excess baggage and hailed a taxi to take me to the B&B (Euro Hotel) where Judith, Amanda, and I would spend the night. Amanda had texted me that they would arrive around 8:30 to 9:00 that evening. I enjoyed an early dinner just around the corner and down the block from the Euro. The name of the place was Yo! Sushi. The food was decent enough, but the portions were small for the money paid. Yep. I was back in London. Don't get me wrong! London is wonderful. London is also very expensive. After I finished my overpriced sushi, I returned to the Euro and sat on the front steps to wait the arrival of my friends.

A few minutes after 9:00, here came two wonderful ladies down the street, both pulling medium suitcases behind them. I recognized them from their photos I had seen on various postings online. What a special, special moment!! We had been looking forward to this trip for months, and now the time was suddenly upon us. I had the key for their room; we went up so they could get settled. They were starving, and I was tired from my long day. I explained where some fairly close restaurants were. Then they headed off to eat. I went back to my little room to sleep. A 4:45 am alarm was going to ring all too soon for me. We had a 6:15 am EuroStar train to Paris to catch.

Day 9 -- 2 May 2013 -- Arlington Row and Bourton-on-the-Water

From the amazing dinner I had enjoyed the night before, I just knew that breakfast would be excellent. I wasn't disappointed. In addition to the full English breakfast (eggs cooked to order, English bacon, sausage, sautéed fresh mushrooms, grilled tomato halves, beans--I always passed on those--and wheat or white toast, and sometimes potatoes), Bibury Court also offered muesli, fresh fruit and pastries. Enter pain au chocolat. It's the most flaky French croissant with injections of chocolate hidden inside. With all my traipsing across the countryside and here and there, I made sure to fill up each morning with a hearty breakfast. Especially since it was included at most all the places I was staying. In addition to the pain au chocolat, and instead of the traditional English breakfast, you could choose smoked salmon and scrambled eggs at Bibury Court. Which I did the second morning of my stay. But the point is that I ate well first thing in the morning and never passed on pain au chocolat if it was available.

The first day I showed up at Bibury Court, the nicest young man (cutie, too!) carried my bag up to my room. I learned later that his name is Dan. Anyway, my second day there, I asked Dan if he knew where Arlington Row was. Well, of course he did. Only a short walk away, he said. His definition of short and my definition were totally different. When I arrived, I realized then that it was the very place I had stopped the previous day. This is the bridge over the River Coln that you have to cross to reach it.

And this is the official Arlington Row itself. The creek feeds into the river.

 

These are the world-famous Bibury cottages that are photographed by thousands of people.

 

It took a whole lot of patience on my part to get these photos without scads of tourists in them. At least two tourist buses had let off about 30 people each, fifteen minutes apart. Fortunately for me, the driver must have had them on a strict time schedule because they didn't waste any time getting their shots and heading back to the bus.

 

When I walked back to the bridge, I noticed some ducks paddling along and occasionally dipping their heads under water to feed. So funny how they paddled their feet like crazy to maintain that position when they went under.

 

Isn't it cool that animals don't care what they look like when they're doing what they have to do?

 

My plan for the day (in addition to seeing Arlington Row) was to drive over to Bourton-on-the-Water, then take the scenic walk from there to Lower Slaughter and Upper Slaughter. The guide book said that it's an incredibly beautiful walk, and one easy to do. BotW was about a 35 minute drive from Bibury and I arrived there in no time. Again, through the country. I believe that it's also the River Coln running through BotW. This place is so much larger than Bibury and was somewhat crowded that sunny, warm day.

BotW's charm is that it has all these low bridges spanning over the shallow river.

How would you like to wake up to this beautiful view every morning?

A mother duck and several of her ducklings were feeding around this bridge by the house. I managed to capture her (in a photo only) with one of the young 'uns.

 

My plans to walk to the Slaughters changed when I'd gone about a mile and a half and my hip really started to bother me. As in limping pain. And I didn't feel too great, either. So I turned around and headed back to my car and returned to my room at Bibury Court. As the afternoon went on, I was feeling worse--kinda feverish, sore & tight throat developing. I sent my husband a quick email, asking him to pray for me. I said a few of my own, too. About 6 pm, I figured I had better eat at least some soup, so I made my way down to the pub on the first floor, where they were supposed to have lighter fare. Dan saw me and asked if he could get me anything (he had been my waiter the night before, too). I explained I wasn't feeling well, and just wanted some soup, and maybe some cooked vegetables. Did they have anything like that on the menu? He told me what soups they had; I gave him my request. He also said that he would have the chef prepare something else, too, and he'd bring it up to my room in about a half hour. Thirty minutes later, he showed up at my door with a large tray that contained a large bowl of soup, some fresh roasted vegetables, and crackers. He left it with a kind order to "get to feeling better, and let us know if you need anything at all."

 

Would you believe he added no additional charge for "room service" and only charged me seven pounds for all the food? The next day I told his superior what a fine employee he was, and how he had gone above and beyond for this guest.

 

And by the next morning, prayers were answered and no smidgen of illness remained. My room at the Bibury Court was not cheap, but I would not hesitate to return again for several more days given the opportunity.