Day 2: Paris

We slept the sleep of the dead last night.

By about 7.00pm we were both so tired that we couldn’t stay awake, so I took a sleeping tablet and got ready to head off to the land of nod.

I know that taking a sleeping tablet when I’m tired may seem counter-intuitive, but I struggle to sleep well at the best of times and I wasn’t prepared to take the risk of waking in the middle of the night and contemplating the mysteries of the universe.

MBW is a different story.

If sleeping was an olympic sport, MBW would be on the podium. Actually, she’d probably be acccepting the gold medal.

So I was showered, in my PJs, and self-medicated when MBW annouced that she was going to clean her teeth.

I’m not actually sure how long that took, because the bus to the land of nod had already departed from the station.

I woke a couple of times – around 1.30am and again around 4.00am – but  went back to sleep both times and emerged from about 12 hours of sleep around 7.30am.

We are staying in the Hotel Cluny Square, just around the corner from Notre Dame. It’s very convenient to transport and the Seine, and it gets good reviews on the InterGoogle.

Compared to hotels in Australia, the room is quite 3 star, although the splatter marks on the walls and ceiling probably bring it back to 2 1/2 stars. I have no idea what they are – well, I have a few ideas what they might be – but I prefer not to think too hard about that.

CSI would probably have a field day in this room with their black lights.

As I’ve said before, it’s always best not to ask a question if you don’t want to know the answer.

The room is essentially clean, tidy and comfortable. It’s a bit small, and a bit dark, but quite a charming litte hotel and very functional for our needs.

Feeling a great deal better about ourselves than we had last night, we got up, showered, dressed, and went down for breakfast – included in our stay.

By the time we got there, it appears that all of the good stuff was already gone, so we settled for some toast … and then the good lady who was serving breakfast brought us a tray loaded with croissants, baguettes, coffee, yoghurt, and cheese.

It was all very good and very French. There is something about French croissants that is very special 🙂 And their baguettes … and their butter.

A couple of young ladies came down for breakfast while we were finishing ours – they drank their coffee and got up to leave without touching their bakery items.

I was plotting how I might swoop in and steal their breakfast when the waitress came back in and they told her that they were gong for a run (… seriously, nobody likes a showoff …) and could they take the rest of their breakfast for later.

Bugger 🙁

Back to our room, loaded up our stuff, and we were off on our first full day to explore Paris. Today was our “big day” in Paris, with much of the day planned out in advance.

First stop was the Musee d’Orsay, an old railway station that was falling into decay, and was refurbished in 1986. It is a beautiful old building filled with many arfefacts and art collections ranging from paintings, to sculptures.

The French have something of a predisposition towards full frontal (mostly female, but also male) nude sculpures, all of whom look perkier than I have ever felt or looked.

In fact I have seen so much nudity at the Musee d’Orsay, that I have mostly lost any interest in going to the Moulin Rouge …!

After that we headed over to the Eiffel Tower for a 2.00pm ride to the top level and a glass of champagne.

I would be lying if I said that I enjoyed the ride in the elevator to the top level … in fact the only good thing about it was that it was better than getting there by climbing the stairs (… which MBW tells me is what we did last time – albeit that we only went to the first level last time.) And the glass of champagne – Moet no less – helped to dull the fear of being that high while not strapped safely into an aeroplane seat.

The views from the top were spectacular though.

After that we headed to the Arch de Triomphe for a 6.30pm climb to the top to watch the sunset, and to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at 7.00pm.

Amazing!

The taffic around the Arch de Triomph is seriously mental, and you would have to be certifiably insane to tackle it in anything smaller, or more precious than a garbage truck.

There was lots of horn honking, shouting and waving of hands (… my kind of driving, actually …) and I cannot understand how none of the people on bicycles in the mayhem didn’t get killed.

The police here seem to love using their sirens when they are driving … in fact I can’t recall seeing a police car (or bike) on the road that wasn’t using it’s siren.

And European emergency vehicles have that unusual two-tone BEEP-BARP sound that is  perfect example of the Doppler effect in action as they go past.

We did some train hopping home to the HCS via the Metro or RER, grabbed a bite to eat and were back in our room by 8.30pm.

A big day, but a good day. I think I walked about 22,000 steps today, so I’m sure that my legs will have something to say about that tomorrow.

Shower, bed and we will be ready for a visit to Monmartre tomorrow. (Acually, I will be ready for more baguettes, croissants, and cheese tomorrow, and if I don’t eat myself into an early grave then I’ll be looking forward to seeing Monmartre too!)

Ciao

#Europe2025