Paris, Part the First

So, we arrived in Paris mid afternoon at the Gare de Lyon. After finding maps, metro tickets, etc we made our way to the main Auberge Jeunesse (Youth Hostel), where we were able to book a room for one night only. Being fairly tired we went with this and had an early night, fortified by a hostel dinner. The next morning we were told we could stay one more night, but would have to move rooms. We did this, but decided to see if we could find another hostel.

Catching the metro into town we emerged by the Seine, and I had my first view of the Eiffel Tower (Bob has jaunted round Paris before, albeit briefly). We had decided a boat trip would be a good way to orient ourselves and see some of the sights, so we boarded a sightseeing boat to take us along the river. It was a largish boat, with fairly uncomfortable seats, and an audio commentary in four languages that went on the fritz whenever we went under a bridge (and Paris has many). Still, we learnt a bit, and saw what was where. After we alighted we walked up the gardens toward the Louvre and staved off the pangs with a crepe from a cunning little cart. The gardens are lovely, and are well used. They are plentifully supplied with benches and seats and fountains and lots of grass and hedges to sit behind. The Parisians know a thing or two about public greenery. We thought it would be helpful to find the Information Centre, so went into town and hunted, getting slightly distracted on the way by various chocolate shops. We did make it there eventually and invested in museum passes.

On Tuesday morning we packed our bags and moved to Hostel Blue Planet, a somewhat more central hostel (right opposite the train station, in fact) with lots of stairs and a bizarre key system. The dormitory room one was staying in had only one key. Hence, the first person to get back to the hostel in the evening would let herself in, and then open the door for all the other people sharing the room as they appeared throughout the night. The excitement was also heightened by the fact of there being a bathroom in the room, separated from everything else by a pair of cupboard doors with a one inch gap between them. So lovely.

A trip to past the Sorbonne was called for, particularly as we had heard rumours of certain English language second hand bookshops being located in the vicinity. Find them we did, then carried on toward the Eiffel Tower. The tower is huge. There is a massive open area below it, with queues for people with different priorities under the different supporting pillars. We decided to do it properly, and obtained tickets to allow us to climb the steps to the second floor. It was a long way up, but they have very kindly put little information boards at strategic points up the stairways, allowing you to stop and read and catch your breath in a subtle manner. At the first floor there was a walkway around the perimeter and various displays on the history and build of the tower, as well as a post office. We stopped for a few minutes, then mounted to the second floor. Here were displays of Mr Gustave Eiffel's offices and an interesting feature on references to the tower in popular culture, the media, etc. The second floor is as high as you can go by foot, so we purchased further tickets to take us to level three in the elevator. It was quite a scary ride, as you watched the struts of the structure getting narrower and narrower, and rising higher and higher. It didn't feel like it should stay up! It was fine up there, though, the views were gorgeous and we could find which direction it was to various points around the world, and how far away they were. We wrote a couple of postcards before coming down again, descending right to the bottom by lift, as the staircases had been closed.

That evening, back at the hostel, I discovered that I had, yet again, reset my combination padlock. After an hour or so of trying to come across the new combination, I went down to ask for some wire cutters at the hostel reception. Unfortunately the wire cutter man was not going to be in again until the morning. No problem. I had purchased, in Switzerland, a wee gadget known as a Swiss Military Tool, and I discovered that I could saw through the shackle! Time consuming, but satisfying.

Our trip to Notre Dame was great. We started off inside the main part of the cathedral, where we admired the windows, statues and architecture. A balsa scale model of the building on display was very cool - it even had little balsa gargoyles! We then went up the towers, climbing steep stone spiral staircases. We saw the staircase that led to Esmeralda's cell, and the bells that made Quasimodo deaf. We were able to walk around the towers at a half way point and at the top. It's amazing to see the cathedral from a bird's eye view. You can even see, marked out down below, where the foundations of the ancient church that preceded the cathedral lay. After a lunch from our favourite crêperie, eaten in the gardens at the back of the Île de la Cité, we decided to have a look at the crypts. Under the courtyard and buildings of Notre Dame, these display excavated remains of the ancient city of Paris. It was an interesting exhibition, with buttons to press to light up different features of the ruins. Feeling we needed a little worldly relief, we then proceeded to the Champs-Élysées, where we spent up in the Häagen-Dazs shop and tiptoed round Louis Vuitton. Our noses were aimed for the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the street, and we arrived there to continue in our step climbing experience. We both particularly admired the display of dried ferns (those which, in years gone by, had adorned the tomb of the unknown soldier underneath the arch). A contingent of young French soldiers was visiting the monument at the same time as us, and we greatly admired their yellow tasselled epaulettes. After visiting the top of the building, and seeing yet another view of Paris, we descended to discover that the soldiers had not just been enjoying a field trip. As we reached the bottom of the stairs we were herded behind some barriers (that had not been there when we went up). Curious as to what was going to happen, we hung around for the next hour and a half, watching a French memorial celebration, of what we had no idea. There were veterans and wreaths and a military marching band, roadblocks and gendarmes galore. What infuriated us, though, was the fact that there were twenty-one cunning little soldiers with twenty-one guns at the ready, and did they do a twenty-one gun salute? No, they did not. We were not happy campers. I mean, really, what is the point? They were right there, and everything.*

Having been somewhat delayed by this fascinating ritual, we hot-footed it down to the Louvre. It is open late on Wednesday and Friday nights, so we thought we may as well make the most of a free evening of culture. As we weren't sure how long we'd have altogether we made a beeline for Mona, noting with approval on the way the many squishy benches and chairs dotted about the galleries in a pleasing regularity. We found Leonardo's lady in a room not nearly as dim and dungeon-like as we had been lead to believe. She was very nice, and all that; we admired her greatly before descending back to the well-stocked bookshop under the pyramid, where we spent a happy 20 minutes or so before being 'asked to leave' by the door guards - they shut up shop very promptly! We resolved to return to see other parts of the museum and more of the bookshop. . .

*NB - the military display was actually a D-Day celebration. We spent the whole time trying to puzzle out what it was, thinking of D-Day, but rejecting it as we assumed that would have been a national holiday. It's not. It was odd, too, as the tomb of the unknown soldier was dated 1914-1918, and D-Day was WWII. The French are weird sometimes.