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We're back in Paris on the last leg of our holiday. We decided to head back there a bit earlier to rest up and catch up on those things we didn't get to see and do the first time around. On our list is Notre Dame - celebrating its 850th birthday, Monet's house and gardens in Giverny, Disneyland Paris, a little cruise on the Seine, The Versailles, Montmartre, a day trip to Amsterdam and a traditional meal of snails and frogs legs. Not a bad list for 8 days, considering we are keen to squeeze in some rest days as well.
Needless to say, we didn't get it all done, but gave it a good bash.
We kicked of with Notre Dame, a spectacular church situated on the Citie, which is a small island (2 actually) on the Seine right in the heart of Paris. This island is the place of the first real Parisians. Inside the church its quiet modest compared to its external appearance, but still quite impressive. We opted out of waiting 2 hours to climb the bell towers (massive queue) and decided instead to jump on a boat and cruise the Seine for an hour or so, which was pretty cool and got a little bit more history of Paris from the River perspective. Cruised on past Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Pont Alexandre III bearing the Paris coat of Arms (2 naked women), the square where King Louis and Marie-Antoinette lost their heads ( that must had suxed) and under the Pont des Arts or the Love Bridge where couples come to commit their love by attaching a padlock with their names on it to the bridge and cast the key into the river, forever locking them together.
This tradition is not unique to Paris, in fact it has spread over the world from France, to Italy, Serbia and even China. Legend has it that it first started in Serbia as early as the 2nd world war. There are in fact 2 lock bridges in Paris, the other is Pont de Archeveche, for lovers ( the other one - the one your not supposed to have) ironically, this bridge is packed with locks, while the real love lock bridge still has plenty of room on it :/
Next up was Disneyland Paris, a short train ride to the outer suburbs. Kids have never been to Disneyland, and they were really looking forward to it. Based on the same construct and theme as Disneyland LA, but is a little bigger and has most of the same rides. Hit Space Mountain Mission 2 with the kids - needed to get that done before any food was consumed! Along with several other hair raising, stomach churning rides. We got to meet Mickey Mouse and grab a quick pic. By the end of the day we were pretty tired and exited before the fireworks over the Snow White Castle. For the historians, the famous Disney Castle is modeled on King Ludwig's Castle in Bavaria.
After a well needed rest day we headed for Monet's House in Giverny, a small village less than an hour out of Paris. His house is modest and quite narrow (one room wide) but quite long in proportion. The real attraction is his gardens and in particular the lily pond where he painted one of his most famous paintings - "water lily pond". I can see why he liked it so much here, it was very peaceful and relaxing to be there.
The following day, Shirley &I headed off to do something completely different, a french cooking class to learn to make the traditional French baguette ( which we all love to eat). The experience was brilliant, a small class of 5 people and real hands on, working through the process from raw ingredients to kneading, shaping rolling and baking. Most importantly, we learned the special techniques required to make a good baguette which are somewhat unique. As part of the class we also made Brioche (French half bread half cake fusion) and the French version of focaccia. We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, especially the bit where we got to eat the fruits of our labour.
We opted to give Montmartre a miss, based on lots of reviews and blogs on the location. Montmartre is the location of the Sacre Couer church perched on a hill overlooking Paris. It is also renoun for its markets and street artists. However it has been beset by gypsies, beggars and pickpockets along with some nasty stories of street cons, some being a little more assertive than they should and operating in groups - so instead we thought we would see the Paris Catacombs.
Now the catacombs is just a little bit freaky. Back in the late 1700's to mid 1800's, Paris cemetaries where overflowing, so the government decided to exhume millions of graves and place the bodies into catacombs underneath Paris. There are over 400 Kms of tunnels up to 300 ft below the surface, holding 6-7 million bodies - well skeletons really. The tunnel networked has not been fully mapped as some have collapsed and it is considered to dangerous to undertake. However a small part has been opened to the public and we were all keen to see it - which unfortunately didn't happen. We got to the site to discover it was open, but the queue was ridiculously long and not moving, we grabbed a bit of lunch and took another look and confirmed this was a no go. So switch to plan B, we'll go to the Versailles instead. We got onto the subway metro heading to the regional train station (RER) to take us to Versailles, but then the trains on several lines all stopped, apparently a power issue, so that one was off the list as well. Being Sunday, and our last day in Paris, we figured we'd head back to Montorgueil and while the afternoon away in a cafe having a drink or 2... Or maybe a few more, I lost count :/
We've had a great week back in Paris, got to do most of what we wanted to see and do, with the day trip to Amsterdam the only regret ( from the kids) as we couldn't get on a train there and back on any reasonable time or cost basis. Regardless, it was just great to spend some more time here. But before we go, Henry and I were keen to sample a traditional French meal of snails ( trio of flavours - garlic & parsley, curry, Rochefort cheese) followed closely by a plate of Provence frogs legs, all duly dispatched - very tasty indeed!
And without fail and not having to,try too hard, I found another one of those special innovative french style car park - a little risky but very efficient!
We're off early tomorrow morning to Frankfurt Germany to start our journey home.
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