Day 22 – Paris

Thinking that we should really accomplish something today we got our shit together and headed into the centre of Paris.

First stop, Notre Dame.

Notre dame was the first thing that we had gone to see that had free entry. Inside was very beautiful and the stained glass windows were very brightly coloured. We could even take photos. Sweet! We paid another 4 euro and checked out the treasury to find heaps of relics and pretty gold things.

But of course there was a catch. Entry to the church itself was free, but if you wanted to climb to the top of the towers it would cost you another 9.50 euro. So still feeling tired and a little cheap, we decided against the climb and went for a coffee and crepe instead. It was then that we remembered how much we loved crepes and vowed to eat as many as possible before leaving Paris.

We found a shopping centre and went in for a look. I was wanting to buy some perfume whilst in Paris, and purchase I did. :)

We then jumped back on the train and headed to the Arch de Triomph. (arch of triumph) It was massive. The carvings were so intricate and very pretty and the eternal flame burns on the place where the body of an unknown soldier lies.

The traffic going around the Arch in a huge round about was great to watch. There were cars as busses and bikes going everywhere, but everyone had patience and manners so there was no confusion as to who was entering or leaving and no horns beeping or anything. It was like organised chaos.

From there we walked to the Effel Tower. We thought that this was something that was really massive and that you could see from anywhere in Paris. But you can't. We used our map and walked down several different streets waiting for a glimpse to let us know we were heading in the right direction. It wasn't until we were nearly there that we got our first look.

 

We joined the masses of people and headed over the river to see her. She is very beautiful. I would say the most beautiful thing in Paris. We joined the que and headed up.

We had decided to walk, so this gave us access to the first 2 levels. We climbed the first 400 odd steps to the first level and had to have a bit of a rest, so stopped for a drink and a snack. We then headed up the next 460 steps to the second level. The view was beautiful, the kids would have loved it, but I wasn't too keen on getting too close to the edge. The structure feels very solid considering it was built in 1889, and is currently undergoing renovations (like everything in europe atm) that will take about 2 years to complete.

After spending about 3 hours in up and around the Tower we decided to check out a restraunt that was recommended to us by the frenchmen on our first night, L'Ogre. On their recommendation, we ordered the rump steak for two. This is what turned up.....

Holy crap, this was the best meal we have eaten in a very very long time!!! The meat was beautiful and tender, the little potatoes were cooked perfectly and even the salad was perfectly dressed. Absolutely amazing!

We caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night, and as we were looking she started to sparkle. So pretty, Mekhaela would have loved it, steak and the pretty tower, her perfect night out I think.

 

We caught cab home, just in case of stabby stabby on the train, and saw some of the pretty buildings in Paris all lit up. Very pretty.

Day 21 – Paris

On day 21 we slept in and by that I mean didn't get out of bed till lunch time.

Thinking that we'd better do something, we decided to go for a wander. We found the waters edge and sat in some deck chairs to have a cool drink. We then went and checked out the local shops. Found some lunch. Then went grocery shopping for dinner and breaky stuff.

We went back to the hotel and watched a really good adam sandler movie. We cooked dinner in the mini kitchenette and just had a very relaxing day. It was awesome!!

Day 20 - Le Mont Saint Michel to Paris

Waking up this morning to the sound of church bells, we headed for breaky before we were off exploring again.

This morning we had a pass into 3 museums and wanted to go to the abbey as well.  We got to the first museum just on opening and went in to sit and watch a movie.  The only trouble was that we couldn't understand any of it, it was all in French.  So we ditched this one and headed for another. 

The second one was better, it had explanations in both French and English so we checked most things out in this one.  We were then ushered into a room to watch a presentation but again that was in French, so we skipped out and finished the remainder of the museum on our own.

We then climbed the steps up to the abbey.  It is right on top of the mountain with stunning views and is completely made from stone bought to the island from nearby quarries.

We then realised the time and had to rush to check out and go back to the car. 

In the car again and we were headed for Paris.  We dropped the car back to a very lovely lady before catching a bus, then a train into the heart of Paris. 

First impressions of Paris was that it was dirty. Everything smelt like cat pee, well I really hope it was cat pee...... There was rubbish everywhere and so many homeless people.

Our hotel was nice, but seemed to be a long way from the city itself. But we checked in then headed out for a little explore and dinner.

We found a table at a bar/restaurant and started with a drink. We were joined by 3 young Frenchmen. We had the best time just sitting eating and trying to improve their English and our French. They were all about to move to the French countryside because they thought Paris was 'the top of the shit' or 'bullshit'. (Imagine that with a very strong french accent, then try not to laugh).
After the long travelling day we were off to bed.

Day 19 - London o Le Mont Saint Michel

It was a very early rise this morning. We were the first down at breakfast and got through it really quick so we could start our long day of travel.

First we checked out of our hotel and caught a famous London cab to Victoria station.

Then we boarded a long haul train out to Dover.

We then hailed a cab to take us to the ferry terminal.

Checking it we learn that we need to catch a bus out to the ferry terminal itself. So on the bus we hopped.

Then onto the ferry. This ferry was awesome compared to the last one. We upgraded our tickets, so we were sailing the seas in luxury. We even had complimentary Champagne, tea and coffee. The Ferry was running late to leave, but we were also held up trying to dock due to another ferry being in our way. We didn't mind too much as we were in the comfy seats.

After disembarkation, (yes that is a real word, and yes we only just learnt it) we hopped another bus to take us to the Calais terminal. From there it was another bus into Calais itself.

We then hailed another taxi to take s to the hire car company. After arranging the hire car we then headed out to Le Mont Saint Michel. The drive took us about 5 hours and cost us 24.80 euro in tolls. The country side was pretty. No random castles like Ireland, but definitely some very old buildings.

We arrived in the little township just on the mainland before the entry to Le Mont Saint Michel. After trying to get directions on how to get the car onto the island, we were advised that cars can't go onto the island. The language barrier is huge. Not many french people speak english and we sure don't speak any French. So gestures and speaking very slowly seems to be the way to get your info across.

So we parked the car and caught another bus to the island itself. The bus ride over the forge was exciting and much longer than we thought it would be. There was no entrance for cars at all and once on the streets we realised why cars can't go on there, the streets are only big enough to walk along.

Clay dragged the suitcases through the cobbed street. We knew we were headed in the right direction, but we confirmed this by asking a very cheeky waiter. He told us it was another kilometer up the hill. We were already stuffed. Then he giggled and said it was really only 100m away.

We checked in and dragged our stuff up more stairs to our room. We went for a little explore then found a little place for dinner... at the cheeky waiters restaurant. We had a three course dinner. Ham and salad for entree, Clay had steak for main whilst I had salmon, then for desert Clay had chocolate cake and I had crème Broulee. My desert was nothing like the Creme Broulee you find at wollies in the cold section, this was awesome. The top was all crunchy and super sweet, and underneith the crème stuff was only just sweet so the mix was absolutely awesome!

We finished the night with another wander around before hitting the sack, exhausted!

Day 18 - London

Day 18 – London

On day 18 we were quite slack. We got out of bed late. Went for a late breaky at a local Cafe, then headed back to the Hotel to gather our washing. We sat at the laundromat till the clothes were washed and dried then folded them up and went back to the hotel.

We thought we'd better do something, so we got ready and headed out for dinner. We bought some cashew nuts and fed the squirrels in Hyde Park, then hired push bikes and went for a ride to find a place for dinner.

We found a lovely little deli and had a very nice pizza and beers dinner before going back to the unit where we packed up and did our under bed check before bed.

Day 17 - London

We caught the hop on hop off bus and did a tour of London City.

We got to see heaps of things from the top of the double decker open top bus, and the tour lady was really good. We learnt what the song ring a ring a rosie ment and where celebrities live and have worked.

We jumped off at Hamley's toy shop. This must be the happiest place on earth. There are people employed just to play with the toys all day. There are 5 floors of awesome toys and out of all of this only 1 small section has computer games. So awesome!

Jumping back on the bus we headed to St Paul's Cathedral. This is where Charles and Diana were married. We were again not able to take photos. The domed roof was so beautifully painted and we climbed right to the top of the domed roof. I must admit, I was extreemly scared and didn't spend much time out on the top platform, but the view was awesome.

We went down to the crypt and checked out all the memorial stones and tombs situated on the floors and walls of the cathedral. This was strange for us to see that people were buried within the church floor as we both had always believed that it was disrespectful to walk on the graves of others.

After St Pauls we were off to Harrods. WOW! It must be the biggest and most luxurious shop in the whole wide world. There were floors upon floors of things to buy. Everything from evening and wedding dresses through to food and the largest prawns I have ever seen. They even have their own souvenir shop too.

After being kicked out of Harrods at closing time, we wondered home via a pub of course. I had chicken and veg for dinner and Clay had a steak. The steak had a really strange taste to it, almost as if it was off. But on sending it back we were told that this is normal, and when they sent out a replacement it tasted the same. I really don;t know how so many Aussies live in London without the ability to have a great tasting steak.

Day 16 - London

Thursday August 30^th, Clay and Cody's Birthdays.

We woke early and Clay was given his present. A reds Jersey with his name on it. Then we went down for probably the worst breaky we have had so far. Then Clay pumped the tyre and we headed off to return the car. Then we were on foot.

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 We caught a train into Tower Hill station and went to see the Tower of London. It was much bigger than I thought it would be. We checked out every room available and got to see the crown jewels. They were amazing! Again we weren't able to take pictures, but some of the diamonds in the crowns were absolutely HUGE

We harassed the guys in the funny hats and checked out the resident ravens.

Then we caught a ferry along the river Themes and checked out the sights on our way to the London Eye.

I really thought that I'd be really scared or worried about going on the eye but surprisingly I wasn't. You only do one lap of the eye but it moves so slowly that it takes 40 mins to get all the way round. It moved so slowly that before you even realised that you were nearly at the top. The view was spectacular! Big Ben was beautiful. I never knew that it was gold round the top. Just beautiful.

After the eye, we went and checked out Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. Both of these were beautiful and so big.

Then we walked through Hyde Park and were amazed by the Squirrels. They were so little and very game.

We went and had a very yummy chicken dinner at a local pub. Clay had beers and I got tanked on Pimms and Lemonade.