Our European Adventure

Arrived in Paris on Monday exhausted and suddenly realising, "we are in a foreign country!" Struggled our way through the airport to the train station and somehow ended up on the right train. It took about 4 hours just to get from the airport to the apartment thanks to our awesome navigational skills. (Probably should have taken an hour).

While strolling through the streets with our suitcases, Saphira's first impressions were, "Paris is just like Melbourne! It's cold, grey and raining and everyone SMOKES! I never knew the grass was so green!"

Mel's first impressions... "All I thought was, holy crap, I should have learnt French before coming here! I was totally overwhelmed. Very beautiful city though. I didn't think it was as cold as I expected either. I also didn't realise how huge the city was."

My first impressions... Everyone in Paris moves very fast... they don't walk anywhere, they run! And if you get in their way they don't hesitate to barge you. Nobody seems to mind being barged, either. I also noticed that there are stairs EVERYWHERE. No lifts. The other thing I noticed was EVERYONE SPEAKS FRENCH. Okay, I should have expected it, but it still surprised me to hear it everywhere.

We all noticed that there are police all over the streets, just wandering around. We have seen lots of army people around all the tourist spots and they are just casually holding MACHINE GUNS. All we could do when we saw them was freeze and stare at those guns. Bit weird.

Our apartment, on Rue St Marie Stuart, is awesome. We are surrounded by cool streets with great boucheries, patisseries, fromageries, etc. Coffees are coming hard and fast. The first couple of nights were difficult for Saffi, being in a new place she decided she needed to share our bed. Urgh!! None of us slept at all! How fortunate that she had a birthday and we could play the line, "now that you're six, you should be brave enough to sleep in your own room!"

Second day we headed out to see Notre Dame. Walked a whole block around some random building thinking it must be the back of Notre Dame before realising we were in completely the wrong place.

Embarrassing! When we finally got there we couldn't understand how we could mistake anyth

ing for the amazing building that is the REAL Notre Dame. Just standing outside it we were all dumbstruck. We started off by going in to the "free" bit... the chapel. As soon as we set foot in the door Saphira said, "oh mum, I'm so glad we came to Paris so we could see THIS".

The feeling in there was a combination of peaceful and kind of creepy. Very spiritual. All the stained glass windows looked amazing. We spent about an hour inside the chapel just slowly

walking through and looking at each of the windows, the paintings, chandeliers, statues, tombs, etc. The altar was huge and

gorgeous and we sat in a pew while saffi sketched it. Lots of candles everywhere and we were surprised to see actual confessionals going on! They still have church services there for special occasions. We didn't realise. Mel made me do the Skeletor voice when we saw a statue of the Grim Reaper. Don't think all the other visitors enjoyed me yelling, "Heeee-MAAANN!!" while they were all reverent and serious. Oh well!

Next we lined up in the rain wearing our tourist ponchos to ascend the towers. Yikes! Four hundred stairs later we all had brown rust-stained hands and sore calves but the view at the top was phenomenal! We all loved peering at the ugly gargoyles. Saffi especially was excited to see her first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. We got to see the giant bell and enjoyed a good view of Paris from above.

Later in the afternoon we walked around the whole building, loved the beautiful gardens: flowers, topiaries, and grass that isn't brown. It was a bit wet to stop and play and the pidgeon poo stank real bad but we enjoyed it anyway.

We spent so long there that by the time we had finished we were all exhausted and ready for dinner and bed. Grabbed some delicious baguettes for dinner and exquisite

desserts... raspberry panacotta tart, fresh fig tart and a raspberry pistachio macaroon cheesecake. Yum! The berries here are all so fresh, sweet and delicious. Raspberries are everywhere for only 2euro a punnet. The fromage here is so delicious... even in a dodgy pre-made baguette, the cheese is absolutely divine. Okay, all the food here tastes fresh, delicious, and better than anything.

Day Three:

We somehow figured out how to get on an open-top bus tour of Paris. The distorted commenta

ry and bad classical music didn't put us off, and we enjoyed getting to know our way around. Saw the Musee D'Orsay, Opera, Champs-elysees Etoile, Arc de Triomphe, Grand Palas, Trocadero and got off at Tour Eiffel. Had lunch at the Trocadero overlooking the Eiffel tower (Saphira got a hot dog and we got sandwiches but the food was still better than anything in Brisvegas). We all got very good at yelling "Non!" every time a guy with a fist full of Eiffel Tower merchandise came our way. Not only that, but some of them had handbags, scarves, whatever, all laid out on a crusty blanket on the ground for our perusal. Laughed so hard when one guy came up with a hideous light-up plastic Eiffel Tower and showed Mel, saying, "This is pretty, don't you think?" and in the best Aussie accent she replied, "NUH!!" He hurried off.

This was Saffi's favourite, stepping off the bus and seeing the Eiffel Tower. The closer we got, the more excited she was. (The excitement only slightly waned during the two hour line up to get to the top). A LOT of made up games were played in the line to entertain Saphira. And our well-practiced phrase, "Non!" continued to be required. Finally, we were in the lift and soaring up the Eiffel Tower. Unbelievable how many selfish people were pushing and shoving everyone else out of the way, including mums with babies and prams! This is the norm in Paris I guess.

Got out halfway and didn't even stop to look at the view, we were headed right for the top! I have to admit, the view was stunning. Plenty more pushing and shoving as we worked our way around, taking photos and trying to work out what was where. The rooftops and the layout of the city are amazing to look at. Saphira liked looking down on the tiny ants (people) playing basketball and the bridges over the Seine. Mel and I liked seeing the Arc de Triomphe and the bridges too. Really interesting to compare the old buildings and streets of Paris with the modern skyscrapers. We all agree that Paris is a stunning, beautiful, unique and spectacular city.

The forecourt and gardens around the Eiffel Tower are so beautiful... we grabbed some crepes (sucree: chocolat a banane) and water and sat down to eat and sketch the Eiffel Tower. I tried to take photos of one of the guys selling merchandise but it ended up looking like I was stalking him and photographing his BUTT! Ew. Decided while we were sitting there that the city would look good by boat (weather was perfect that day) so we walked down and spontaneously hopped on a river cruise. Once again, the commentary was tacky and the music revolting, but if you tuned that out it was pretty nice. Sun was setting, lovers were making out along the edge of the river... it was all very sweet and beautiful. (coffee sucked though). We all loved the bridges with their statues and Mel particularly enjoyed the view of Notre Dame from a new angle.

At the end of the cruise we stopped to take photos of the lights (it was dusk by then) and surprise surprise, the Eiffel Tower completely lit up with twinkling lights. Took lots of photos to the soundtrack of everyone on the cruise oohing and aahing. Lovely... a bit tacky... but who cares. We stumbled home in a daze of tiredness, the drizzle set in (just in time!) and we were STARVING. Bought pizza, baguettes, fruit and vegies and barely managed to choke it all down before falling into bed, exhausted.

Next stop: Disneyland. Will update soon.

P.S. It is a pain to load photos up on this blog so look out for our photos on facebook.