Brandon and I started a point system for London and Paris. When we got off the train we decided it w

We woke up to Rhonda s voice talking with Garry on the phone. He had sent her an email and she thought it sounded a bit urgent… he had said to call him when she got it. When she called, he had said Wow, that was quick, I just sent that 5 minutes ago Apparently, he thought because we were so far away, it might take us longer to receive it. Haha, let me remind you, this was at 3 AM. Hilarious! We left Barkhamstead at 3:50 AM, in the car, headed for London Luton airport. We parked in mid term parking and caught a shuttle to the airport. discounted golf travel bags It was SO windy and cold. When we got inside, we went to WHSmith to get magazines and then stopped for a bagel and coffee before heading towards the gate. Our flight left at 6 AM and arrived in Paris at 8:20 AM. We had to figure discounted golf travel bags out where to buy billets for the RER into Paris. We took the RER (B line) from Charles De Gaulle Airport to the Saint Michel-Notre Dame exit.
Brandon and I started a point system for London and Paris. When we got off the train we decided it was London 1, Paris 0. The trains were old, dirty, and had a funny smell. Whereas London s trains are newer and cleaner. We walked out of the station, turned the corner, walked across the bridge over the Seine River, and looked up at the Notre Dame Cathedral, beaming beautifully in front of us. We took pictures out front, then headed inside for the tour. We walked around the first floor, taking pictures and soaking in the amazing gothic architecture. Once we finished inside, we headed back out and around the side to get into the line for the Notre Dame Tower.
At this point, everyone was well aware of the actual number of steps involved in climbing to the top… and we all verbally consented to it. No pain, no gain. While we waited, we snapped some photos and popped across the street to a souvenir shop. Karen pointed out that the same guy on a motorcycle kept driving around the block and passing us every 5 minutes. This kept on for about 30 minutes. Strange. Finally, it was our turn. We went up about 20 steps and bought our tickets. We were off… I m not sure how many steps were in the first set.. but I would guess somewhere around 200. Whew… that was rough. The view from there was amazing. You could also climb (more steps) to see the Bell Tower. I m pretty sure I saw Quasimodo, but no one else did. That was it… wasn t it? We were trapped in this massive line which we thought was the line to get down. When we got to the front, discounted golf travel bags we realized that it was a line to climb more stairs to the very top of the tower. HAHA… so, I would estimate another 200 steps (let me explain, the stairways are a very tight spiral staircase that only allows for 1 person to fit at a time.) OMG… finally, we made it to the top. And this view was even more impressive than the lower one. We took lots of pics of Paris and then asked some lady to take a picture of all of us. Perfect. And down we went. Roughly 400 steps to the bottom. It probably wouldn t be so bad, but we had already spent 9 full days of walking and standing. After Notre Dame, we stopped at Point Zero. It is the center point of France.
Next, we were off to Hotel du Levant to check in and drop off our bags. The hotel was in the Latin Quarter which was full of places to eat and shop. A really cute, welcoming hotel. We got the room keys and headed up the steps (lift only held 1 person at a time) to the 3rd and 4th floor. As soon as we checked out our rooms, we headed out to grab some food. We really couldn t decide on where to eat… so we ended up at a place that had chicken gyros. Maybe not the best place for a group… they had only chicken and you could have it in a pita, on french bread, or alone. haha… not much of a variety. It was our first real interaction with French people… I wouldn t say it went real well. Rhonda had a hard time understanding him (speaking English) because of his thick accent. He seemed really annoyed because we didn t know exactly what we wanted, and made some rude comment about us being Americans… Classic. We ate and headed out to explore.
We headed towards the Left Bank, stopping at the Saint Michel Fountain. Beautiful. There were some gold street performers hanging out there. The Left Bank is known for selling books, magazines, and paintings. We walked under Pont Neuf, which is the oldest bridge in Paris. To be fair, it smelled so badly of urine under there. Next, we walked across Pont de Arts, it was a sort of chain link fence that had loads of locks on it with names and dates. There were all sorts of people on the bridge, painting and sketching. On the opposite side of the bridge was the Louvre. We walked through the building towards the glass pyramids at the entrance of the Louvre. discounted golf travel bags We hung out there took some pictures and then headed back to the hotel. On the way we saw two police officers on rollerblades. Different. We walked back on the right bank. We crossed a bridge to the left Bank and stopped to buy an oil painting as our Paris souvenir.
Then we stopped at a souvenir shop and Andy used his French discounted golf travel bags skills. He asked the lady Ou se trouve la supermarché? Where is the supermarket? haha… and she answered in French. Brilliant. We crossed the street at the Saint Michel Fountain where there were now 2 guys playing a piano. Pretty cool. We stopped at the supermarket to get some drinks, wine, and snacks for the room. Back to the hotel for a little rest. We got up from our naps, freshened up, and headed out to the Eiffel Tower. We had prebooked our tickets for 2200. On the way to catch the train, we were in front of the Shakespeare Globe ad there was this bit of grass, and from that, out runs a rat. A RAT in the city!! Paris lost all of it s points at that moment. The best part was an Asian lady who was oohing and ahhing over this disgusting rodent as if it was an eight week old puppy. Too funny. My brother says that s common in bug cities but I m sorry, there are no rats in London. GROSS. Anyways, we arrived a bit early so we got a cup of hot chocolate (it was pretty chilly) and sat there waiting for our turn. Right on schedule, we got onto the lift and made our way up to the second level. Unfortunately, we were unable to get tickets to the very top But I read (from Rick Steve s) that you get a better view from the second floor anyways It was beautiful. Since we had already seen the view of Paris from Notre Dame during the day, it was absolutely perfect to see it at night from the Eiffel Tower.
discounted golf travel bags We walked around, took loads of pictures, and of course stopped discounted golf travel bags in the gift shop. On our way out, we caught one last twinkle discounted golf travel bags of the tower. At the top of the hour between dusk and about 2am the Eiffel Tower twinkles beautifully for five minutes. discounted golf travel bags It makes such an iconic monument even more amazing. Back to the train station we went. It was close to midnight and a bit sketchy We had to figure out which train we needed and just to keep everyone on their toes, we had to run to get the train back. But we made it to Latin Quarter and stopped into Carte Bancaire Italian restaurant for a midnight dinner. Then, back to the hotel. Andy and I had some wine to unwind and then got ready for bed. What a long day Whew.