Day 7: Welcome to Paris, how many crepes would you like?

Today was train day. Since taking trains here is much more like flying domestic, Dylan told me no, we couldn't just turn up 15 minutes before it was due to leave. Well, how was I supposed to know? Our train was due to leave at 9.22am, and we were advised by the Eurostar ticket to arrive at least 45-60 minutes before. Being habitually punctual, we ubered to the station and were there at pretty much exactly 8.22am.

Kings Cross AKA St Pancras International station is a very large area. It did feel a lot like an airport departure lounge. Lots of expensive coffee and whinging children. We were hustled through customs for some very thorough bag scans and passport control. All-in-all it took around 20-30 minutes to pass through. So that's why you have to arrive so early! There were only a couple of cafe options inside the terminal, so we defaulted to the trusty old Pret-a-Manger. I ordered us some coffee and croissants - a (low bar) taste of what was to come!

Boarding happened promptly. We dropped our bags on the carriage and sat down across from another couple with a table between us. Very nice and comfy. It reminded me of Japan - train travel trumps air travel in my books every time. Paris and the rest of the places we're going are in the same time zone, one hour ahead of London. We were due in to Gare du Nord at 12.47pm local time. Another way in which train beats air? Everything was perfectly on time. Love it. Australia needs to catch up.

Our car was so far down

Gare Du Nord

Once off the train, we followed the crowds around to the metro station and joined the queue for a ticket. The machine was a bit confusing, but we managed to purchase two metro tickets. 1.90 euro each, very much more affordable than the London tube (at 4.90 Pounds per person!) . There doesn't appear to be a zone system here, all metro tickets are the same price no matter how far you go. A puzzle for another time.

We jumped on the M4 line towards Chatalet. It was a bit bumpy and certainly dingier than London, but overall an excellent service. Once we got off the train however, we ran into a bit of a problem trying to find the exit...

The French word for exitre is 'Sortie', which was liberally spread across many different signs pointing in different directions. But no matter how often we followed the sign, we seemed to end up on a different platform. Hauling my bag up flight after flight of stairs did not make me happy, but we eventually made our way up to the surface. We found ourselves on a busy shopping street and were introduced to the madness of French traffic. Basically, there don't seem to be 'lanes' or 'rules' of any sort. Bit harrowing. After a few wrong turns down different rues we found our way to the Hotel Grand Dechampaigne. It's actually in a very nice location. Off the main street in an alley way with a big red sign out the front. We checked in and made our way up to the first floor in the world's smallest elevator. This was probably the biggest room we've had so far, with a modern bathroom and some interesting printed wallpaper.

Not pleased about the tiny elevator - there was only room for us and our bags.

Hold on while I memorise a map of Paris. 

After a short sit, we set out of the hotel to take a wander around Paris. It was my first time, and Dylan's second. To me, everything was so beautiful, and old, and classicly French to my mind, that it almost seemed fake. We got a wonderful day for it - the sun was out and not too much cloud overhead. It was forecast to rain for the rest of the week, so we thought we'd best get the main sights out of the way. To be real, I wasn't remotely interested in any Parisian landmarks until I got my hands on some food. Only one croissant for breakfast? After a week of huge English breakfasts? Please.

So, to stop my grumbling, our first stop along the Seine was a small cafe. The sign outside said crepes and the charismatic man, who spoke English, coaxed us inside with the promise of nutella. We tried to be good, so we ordered cheese and tomato baguette as well as some crepes... Our new French friend asked us if we wanted cream (duh), and boy did he deliver.

Dylan went for Chocolate+Banana (foreground), I went for the classic Nutella

Hangriness defeated, we continued on our walk along the river. 

 

Can you spot the Eiffel Tower popping up in the distance? No prizes. 

It was a bit of a walk, but quite a lovely one. We travelling mostly along the north bank, going past the Louvre and it's gardens on our travels.

A guy was making bubbles which the kids loved

Eventually we were close to the Eiffel Tower, and walked across the Pont Alexandre III which had some awesome statues. The tower itself was extremely busy. The line to get in was reminiscent of the London Eye. To be quite honest, I found it a bit disappointing. The tower itself is amazing, but at the moment it is surrounded by dirt patches, industrial tin walls and boundaries. They're in the process of erecting a glass fence around the base so you have to go through security before you can even get underneath it. You're not allowed to walk on the lawn in front of it at the moment, either. Dylan's hopes for a lawn picnic were squashed. Still, good time for a selfie, right?

Pont Alexandre III

That iconic part done, we decided to also hit up the Luxembourg gardens while the light held. We made our way to a metro station and caught it across town. We wandered around the gardens for a while before heading back in the direction of the hotel.

On the way back we stopped for a cocktail at a restaurant along the Seine. The light was fading, and it was happy hour! Dylan had a pina colada, I had a mojito. Back at our hotel, we had a short break and decided that we both wanted pizza for dinner.

We decided to head north in search of food, and found that past the shopping street we'd found earlier was a lovely little food district. While trying to pick a place for dinner, we came across a sign that we could not ignore - 'Australian Bar'. Yes. Japan 2015 here we come. We went in for a drink. The big sign behind the counter suggested a Fosters. The bloke behind the counter was Canadian. We ordered some over-priced Little Creatures to start. Because one of the exciting parts of being on holiday is ordering the beer you can have at home for a much higher price! While we were enjoying those, we found the other side of the menu had Australian-themed cocktails. Amazing. Again, since it was happy hour, we decided to have one more drink before finding something for dinner. I couldn't pass up the Australian Frosé (I had to explain to our Canadian friend, who was new, what the hell that was and why it was amazing), and Dylan had a New Zealand Steinlager.

With that hilarity done with, we headed further up the street and picked an Italian restaurant for our first French dinner. #pizzalyfe. I ordered a vegetarian one so that my body might take in some nutrients, and Dylan ordered a Palermo, which featured churizo and some vegetables. Mine came out rather quickly. We also ambitiously ordered a bottle of red. The only words I recognised on the wine list were Bordeaux and Merlot. We just picked what the waiter suggested. Turned out well, it was delicious. Considering the language barrier at this place was a little higher, I became concerned that Dylan wasn't going to get his pizza after around 10 minutes of passed with just me eating. I attempted to ask the waiter about the second pizza, and he looked confused. Eventually he came out with another of my pizza and tried to put it down next to the one I was already eating. Uh, no. We took it away, and it later turned out to be for the table next to us. After another couple of minutes, Dylan got his pizza and all was well. It was excellent.

Bonjour!
A+D