It's me again (Mike), and I'm sitting back in our little townhouse in Beauvais, and it's snowing outside. Yep, it is a cliche, and yep, it is beautiful. We've been away in Paris for 2 weeks, and it's been so fantastic, fun and amazing... here's the story in 4 parts!
Part 1 - Family visit to Paris (Dec 19 - Dec 23)
We left Beauvais early (walking to the station in the dark!) on the 19th, and headed into Paris. Our hosts let us leave our bikes and some gear in the back shed, so we were free agents with just a back pack each. We headed straight to our hotel, just off the Champs Élysées, and headed straight to a classic "on the street" reunion with our awesome visiting family. Once the appropriate hugs and "how cool is this" 's had been finished we immediately headed off for some serious Paris action....first crepes and baguettes (which were awesome) and then a walk down the Champs to the Louvre. The fam headed into the Louvre, while Serena and I went and had a leisurely lunch (oh yeah and I bought a new bike!). After lunch we regrouped for a serious look around Galleries Lafayette (an amazing shop). Which included 1h30 on the JellyCat line, to get some exclusive JellyCats complete with individual chef time for both the grandkids!
After this it was back to the hotels, with some escargots for dinner on the way.
Day 2 of the family spectacular started with a trip to Versailles. Which Serena and I were very excited about having never been there in all our trips to Paris (shame, shame, shame). We did it in style playing 25c poker on the train on the way there (a Bailey staple that I had to learn in order to join the family). After the tour through the Palace, we all went for a walk around the gardens, with were pretty awesome (if a bit bare in winter), but this made the squirrels even easier to spot (a big deal for us Aussies).
After this we took the train back into town, but realising that the train went straight to Notre Dame, we took advantage and after what turned out to be a pretty quick line, we found ourselves inside the Cathedral. It was so great to see it open again, and the interior is fantastic, so much lighter and brighter than I recall, just spectacular! After Notre Dame we went to a walk through 2 new Christmas markets, where we got some hot Raclette Jambon Sandwiches (Melted cheese, ham on a baguette), and they were Awesome!! Then we headed home to rest. After our little rest Serena and I then headed out for a stroll up the Champs Élysées to look at the Christmas lights - so pretty!!
Day 3 was a day of more rest for the older members of the crew, as the new arrivals headed off to Disneyland. We had a leisurely breaky and Serena did a bit of exploring the local area - but mostly it was chill central!
Day 4 we all headed down to the Christmas markets in the Tuilleries, where the young ones took to the outdoor iceskating rink, and tried a few of the rides, and we ate the Tartiflette, (or as the grandkids called it - Cheese Soup), yummmm. After this we went back to chill while the young ones headed for the Eiffel Tower. We rendezvoused with them at the tower, where we took charge of the grandkids while the parents went off for an anniversary night off. After some baguettes and some chocolate and strawberry crepes from the local crepe place, we had the grandkids out for the count (still suffering jet lag, it was hard to believe how well they did). That night we said farewell to the travelling team, as the next morning they headed off early to Italy.
Bon voyage! It was sooooo much fun!
25 cent Poker on the train to Versailles
Part 2 - So this is Christmas (In Paris!) (Dec 23 - 27)
Back on our own again, we swapped hotels to a new hotel just down from one we stayed at 2 years ago. It's near the shopping district and an easy walk from Pigale and Montmartre.
After checking in we headed back out to head for our final TBE vaccine (yep we are super safety conscious - especially after my tick run in back in May!!), and did some exploring around that area, and then back to the shopping area for a quick look around (and a quick visit to my bike shop!).
The next day was Christmas Eve, and not being sure what would be open we decided to stock up on goodies. But first I wanted to take a trip to to La Defense, the business district in Paris that I'd never been to. I'd seen pictures of the Grande Arch there, but it was so much bigger than I expected. After a quick look around we headed back along the main road (like an extension of the Champs Élysées), back towards the Arch de Triomphe, eventually starting to freeze and after grabbing some yummy lunch, we headed back to the Galleries Lafayette food hall to stock up on Christmas treats, included the MOST AMAZING LEMON MERINGUE ever, in the history of the world (and yep... I'm not over selling it).
Then suddenly, it was Christmas, and after a breakfast buffet in the hotel we headed up to Sacre Coeur, and with the sun shinning it was spectacular. In the afternoon (after watching Home Alone) we continued our adventures and headed out to another area of Paris and then down to the Pompidou Centre and on to the Pantheon. Just spectacular!!! Then it was home time for me to find us food, which fortunately I could from a small hole in the wall pizza place a couple of freezing blocks away! (No need to stress, the Cider that we'd had out on the windowsill to keep it cold, was keeping warm from the inside).
Boxing day we headed out for more adventures, this time to the Latin Quarter, and through some food markets, and walked to the Place d'Italie and back through some really cute streets, and after a relax in the Jardin de Luxeburg we did some shopping (well Serena did), in St Germain.
Next morning we had morning tea back at the Galleries Food Hall, and then off to our next stop!
Part 3 - So this is La Defense (Dec 27 - 31)
After a trip to La Defense, we found some great deals and decided to hang there for our next 2 stops. The first 4 nights we booked at Citizen M right in the middle of La Defense.
After settling in we headed off the next morning to a near by Boulangerie. After breaky we again grabbed the Metro into town - this time it was my plan to visit the new metro stations on the Grand Paris Express - an amazing expansion of the metro system. We jumped on it and headed out to a freezing stop on the way to Orly airport. It's impressive and new and won design awards, but we were happy to get back in the warm and head home pretty quickly!!
The next day we took a chill day, not leaving La Defense, we headed out for breaky and washing and had our first introduction to ice conditions. Super slippery when you aren't expecting it. It was a sign of things to come! After an amazing kebab roll for lunch we headed home for movies and chill!!
Our last full day here was spent heading back into St Germain to visit Le Bon Marché, an amazing department store, then a walk through their food hall, and after a little more shopping we headed home (via an amazing bakery with the best ever Madelines).
Part 4 - So this is New Years Eve (In Paris) (Dec 31 - Jan 3)
New Years Eve we headed one metro station closer to town and stayed near La Defense, in a cute residential area with its own shopping area. After checking the "place to be" for the fireworks earlier in the day, we headed out about 11:30pm to walk about 500m to a spot looking directly down the road to the Arc de Triomphe (which is where the main fireworks happen). It was freezing but awesome to be there (and impossible to get a decent photo!!).
New Year's day everything was closed. Forunately we had supplies on hand and bunkered down for the day. At one stage we went to go for a walk but the freezing conditions sent us back to the room!
The next day we had our adventurous spirit back and headed off on the Metro again to search for some spoons (yep, just an excuse to head to new areas ... and ... an excuse to head back to the Galleries food hall for more Lemon Meringue pie (yep... I am addicted!)).
The next day it was all over... we were packing up to head back to Beauvais, but first we discovered the streets and cars around us covered in a light dusting of snow! To much excitement I called Serena and we went for a walk around, and took some pics.
Epilogue - Beauvais in Snow!
Leaving Paris to head back to Beauvais was uneventful, as we are now Metro, RER and TER gurus! One thing we did notice was the amount of snow laying around anywhere the sun hadn't hit. Walking home from the station in Beauvais with our backpacks was tricky as the snow and ice covered a lot of the footpaths.
Today we woke to promises of snow, and light flutters started about 10am. We of course took this as a sign to walk into town and get our washing done and pickup some extra supplies. One the walk the snow started in earnest and was just breathtaking. Despite the cold, the snow was just so amazing!!
Just 2 weeks to go, and we're starting to get into serious final planning - a whole bunch of logistics to sort out, and then.... we're on our way back to the warm!!
Amazing how much the young ones have done in such a short time and with jet lag!
ReplyDeleteSounds fabulous (the lemon meringue pie)... bring some back for me. Oh and a bottle of ratafia to wash it down.
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