After the usual horrendous flight from Australia we arrived with bad backs, numb bums and totally exhausted. Thankfully our seats on the flights were in pretty good positions, especially the last 7 hours from Dubai as we were in the first row so had plenty of leg room and we both managed to doze for most of that flight.
Arrived at hotel Waldorf at around 10pm so a quick shower and crawled into bed and managed to sleep thru to 6am with only a couple of brief wake ups.
Our Room is the first story window
We woke up quite refreshed and after a quick breakfast of croissants (yep Astrid Granny ate a chocolate croissant just for you) we ventured out to catch the metro to Montmarte. Even though Nic and Anto had warned us about the stairs at the metro we bypassed the lift and I exhausted myself climbing up what seemed like 20 flights of stairs out of the metro at Montmarte. Needless the say I opted for the Funiculaire up the hill. We wandered around Sacre Coeur and the streets of Montmartre before stopping for a coffee on our walk down to Paris central.
As we were enjoying our walk in the brisk morning air, and it was all down hill we decided to walk to Galeries Lafayette. We didn't spend too much time wandering around the shopping centre as it was all too expensive for us.
From Galeries Lafayette we continued walking and after not too many wrong turns (we were only using a paper map) we eventually ended up on Avenue Des Champs Elysees. We wandered all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe but didn't go up it as that's on our Paris Pass for tomorrow. We did stop for Crepes at one of the many stalls along the street. I opted for the sugar and lemon and Alan went for the Nutella and Banana.
From here we decided to head back to our hotel via some back streets where we could enjoy the architecture, shops and restaurants etc without the huge crowds of Champs Elysees. I managed to order a sandwich and coffee in a cafe where they didn't speak English and my French is non existent so quite chuffed with myself when I actually got what I asked for.
Eventually back at the hotel, foot sore and aching hips with the pedometer telling us we had walked 15ks so not too worried about that chocolate croissant and crepe after all.
Quite pleased with ourselves for navigating with the paper map, admittedly using a GPS would have been a lot easier, but wandering up and down the streets is fun and once we figured out where the streets signs were on the buildings it wasn't too much trouble navigating around the place. We also found the Metro to be very easy to use despite our language problem.
Arrived at hotel Waldorf at around 10pm so a quick shower and crawled into bed and managed to sleep thru to 6am with only a couple of brief wake ups.
Our Room is the first story window
We woke up quite refreshed and after a quick breakfast of croissants (yep Astrid Granny ate a chocolate croissant just for you) we ventured out to catch the metro to Montmarte. Even though Nic and Anto had warned us about the stairs at the metro we bypassed the lift and I exhausted myself climbing up what seemed like 20 flights of stairs out of the metro at Montmarte. Needless the say I opted for the Funiculaire up the hill. We wandered around Sacre Coeur and the streets of Montmartre before stopping for a coffee on our walk down to Paris central.
As we were enjoying our walk in the brisk morning air, and it was all down hill we decided to walk to Galeries Lafayette. We didn't spend too much time wandering around the shopping centre as it was all too expensive for us.
From Galeries Lafayette we continued walking and after not too many wrong turns (we were only using a paper map) we eventually ended up on Avenue Des Champs Elysees. We wandered all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe but didn't go up it as that's on our Paris Pass for tomorrow. We did stop for Crepes at one of the many stalls along the street. I opted for the sugar and lemon and Alan went for the Nutella and Banana.
From here we decided to head back to our hotel via some back streets where we could enjoy the architecture, shops and restaurants etc without the huge crowds of Champs Elysees. I managed to order a sandwich and coffee in a cafe where they didn't speak English and my French is non existent so quite chuffed with myself when I actually got what I asked for.
Eventually back at the hotel, foot sore and aching hips with the pedometer telling us we had walked 15ks so not too worried about that chocolate croissant and crepe after all.
Quite pleased with ourselves for navigating with the paper map, admittedly using a GPS would have been a lot easier, but wandering up and down the streets is fun and once we figured out where the streets signs were on the buildings it wasn't too much trouble navigating around the place. We also found the Metro to be very easy to use despite our language problem.
You should have walked up the steps at Sacre Couer with a 15 month old strapped to you!! That's when you can eat all the croissants :)
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty fun just wandering around the streets and eating all the yummy food....... I miss that!
Hope you get some pastries tomorrow.
I hope you have a chance to walk around Paris at night when all the lights make it quite magical.
ReplyDelete