Not a single f#*k shall be given. At least that’s what we’re told to
expect. Particularly when you don’t speak French. It
turns out to be far from the truth but it certainly starts that way – going through border control in London the
Frenchman barely acknowledges our existence, grunts a little, and sends us on
our way. A mere two hours by train and we’re there. London to Paris. Boom. It’s
a bit odd when you’ve been living in Western Australia where two hours travel,
even flying, will barely get you out of the state, let alone to another
country!
Paris hotels are really expensive so Em and I are staying in
a little apartment we rented via AirBnB - a basic apartment with a little bit
of noise at times but it’s all we need. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1993876.
It’s in St Germain, the 6th Arrondissement (suburb) of Paris It’s an amazing area to stay in – within walking distance to
most of the main attractions, it’s very safe, and tourists are relatively scarce
(personally I hate staying somewhere crawling with tourists). If you’re heading
there you could also try this one that my mate Fi stayed in https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1395142?cdn_locale_redirect=1
There’s also a bike hire station right next to us. It’s a
brilliant system as there are thousands of bikes available for rent around
Paris and the docking stations are regularly spaced. http://en.velib.paris.fr/How-it-works
Emily rocking the Velib bike
“Selfie, selfie”. The ubiquitous marketing
catch-phrase; visit any of the main attractions in Paris and you’ll have to
evade the hordes of hawkers selling tacky mini-Eiffel tower keyrings and selfie
sticks. It’s hilarious as they all sell exactly the same shit and all have the same marketing
catch-phrase. If I had a Euro for every time I hear the words “Selfie, Selfie” over
the next week I’d probably pay for the entire honeymoon.
The Louvre Museum.
Mind-bogglingly massive. With over 35,000 pieces of artwork, if you were to
catch just a glimpse of each one it would take you over six months! And busier
than a one-armed bricklayer in Baghdad – over 15,000 visitors per day. Naturally,
you need to have a bit of a game plan – we choose to
visit old mate Mona Lisa and tick that box. The room where the painting is kept
is a madhouse with hundreds of people pushing and shoving to catch a glimpse of
her. We also check out some Egyptian tombs, mummies etc. The mummies in
particular are pretty awesome – the one we see is in a glass cabinet but you can get right up close. It’s a strange feeling to be looking at a body
that’s a couple of thousand years old.
Don’t be like us and plan to visit it for a second time on a Tuesday - The Louvre just happens to be closed every Tuesday. Eejits!
Don’t be like us and plan to visit it for a second time on a Tuesday - The Louvre just happens to be closed every Tuesday. Eejits!
The Eiffel tower.
Built for the 1889 World Fair, the original plan was to demolish it after a short
period (way too much cash to burn). Fortunately it brought in so much money that
they kept it and tourists like us still get to visit it today. It's much bigger than we expected. Emily and I buy a few things from a local food market nearby and have
a picnic on the grassy area in front. Heaps of tourists do this – there’s
plenty of space and it’s a great way to spend a couple of hours. Just don’t be
fooled by the guys wandering around trying to sell the fake champagne!
Unless you’re physically unable to, I’d recommend taking the
stairs (as opposed to the lift) to the first and second levels of the Eiffel tower - it’s only about
twenty minutes of walking, it’s cheaper and the queue for the stairs is much shorter. It amuses me that able people would rather wait in line for
three hours just to avoid twenty minutes of exercise! Once you get to the top
of the stairs you have the option to catch the lift to get up to the top (more
queues!) – we decide to do this but the view is not any better so don’t feel like you’re
missing out if you can’t be bothered with this.
Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. Construction began way back in the 12th Century AD. The queue to get up the tower is about three hours so we flag it - get there early to beat the crowds if you want to do this!
L’Entrecote. We
meet up with Isa (who I’d met on the Salkantay trek in Peru a couple of
years earlier) and her mate Sophie one evening for a few drinks and some
dinner. We head to an amazing steak restaurant called L’Entrecote. There’s a
fixed menu; just steak and French fries. They don’t take bookings and there’s
usually a big line outside unless you rock up early (note – early in France is
around 7pm which is when most restaurants start serving). It sounds a bit
boring but it’s done very well and is great value.
Moulin Rouge. Boobs.
So many boobs! Coupled with some pretty awesome dancing skills. Unfortunately
no cameras were allowed so you don’t get any photos =(
Laduree. This café/patisserie is the
definition of decadence. Kind of like the sweet tooth version of an English
high tea. Definitely come here if you’re in Paris. The one in St Germain is
much quieter than the one near Champs-Elysees (expect to queue if you head to the latter).
Military museum. Worth a look if you're into it. The collection of old swords and armour is pretty amazing.
Military museum entrance
Le Procope. One
of the oldest restaurants in Paris (founded in 1686!) that we chanced onto one
night when walking through a little cobblestone alleyway. We went for a couple
of adventurous options - I had the braised calf head and Emily had snails -
both were actually really good! Napoleon left his hat here once to pay for a
meal – still proudly on display at the restaurant. http://www.procope.com/
Snails - actually pretty damn good. Once you get over the fact that you're eating snails..
Le Meurice. Date night with my beautiful wife. Pretty extravagent.
Coffee in France.
Pretty shit in general. There’s an app/website called Beanhunter to help you
find a decent caffeine hit. It works all around the world by the way - great tool for my fellow caffeine addicts.
There was one little gem we found - Dose cafe. Amazing coffee with free wifi
http://goo.gl/maps/YO7rX
Arc de Triomphe. Don’t
be like us and be tempted to cross the road on the mental five lane roundabout
to get to it – there’s a walkway underneath (which we found after reasoning
that there’d be a lot more squashed tourists if that was the only way across).
Anzacs should keep an eye out for photo of the Otago Regiment uniform in the
Unknown Soldier photo exhibition within the building (pretty cool for me too as my dad and grandad are from Otago).
Otago Regiment uniform
Our next stop is a cool little town called Beaune, in the Burgundy region. It sounds a little like
‘bone’ - but try as many subtle variations as you like, you will still get the pronunciation wrong and no one
from France will know where the hell you’re talking about anyway.
Wine country!
We arrive by
train on a Tuesday morning, when there happens to be a Farmers Market in the
town square – we load up on fresh bread, fruit, cheeses and ridiculously
amazing éclairs and head to the nearest park to pig out.
Our hotel, Najeti Hôtel de la Poste, is a nice place to stay with great customer service. Highly recommend it. There’s a cool little wine bar just up the road (Café du Square) that’s well worth checking out. We head there in the evening then to an AMAZING pork restaurant called Le Goret. They say never trust a skinny chef, well if the inverse is true then I think we’re in safe hands. There’s a massive language barrier as the staff don’t speak a word of English but they’re super friendly and with a bit of sign language we get by. Pretty sure we eat our body weight in pork before we roll out of there – the portion sizes are HUGE!! The chef brings out some gnarly alcohol/rocket fuel aperitif that's only brewed in Beaune and he seems pretty amused watching me try and stomach it without wincing or spontaneously combusting.
Our hotel, Najeti Hôtel de la Poste, is a nice place to stay with great customer service. Highly recommend it. There’s a cool little wine bar just up the road (Café du Square) that’s well worth checking out. We head there in the evening then to an AMAZING pork restaurant called Le Goret. They say never trust a skinny chef, well if the inverse is true then I think we’re in safe hands. There’s a massive language barrier as the staff don’t speak a word of English but they’re super friendly and with a bit of sign language we get by. Pretty sure we eat our body weight in pork before we roll out of there – the portion sizes are HUGE!! The chef brings out some gnarly alcohol/rocket fuel aperitif that's only brewed in Beaune and he seems pretty amused watching me try and stomach it without wincing or spontaneously combusting.
Ridiculously massive pork feast at Le Goret. Meat sweats.
The chef at Le Goret - what a legend!!!
Lyon, the
‘gastronomical capital of France’ is next on the agenda.
It’s a pretty little student town with a couple of rivers flowing around it. If you’re into good food then it’s well worth a visit. We love the chilled out vibe of this place, the good prices, and lack of tourists. Not a single selfie stick seller in sight! We’d definitely recommend staying in the same cool little self-contained apartment as we did https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4344925. La Morille restaurant is worth checking out if you’re here too - http://www.restaurant-la-morille.fr/
It’s a pretty little student town with a couple of rivers flowing around it. If you’re into good food then it’s well worth a visit. We love the chilled out vibe of this place, the good prices, and lack of tourists. Not a single selfie stick seller in sight! We’d definitely recommend staying in the same cool little self-contained apartment as we did https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4344925. La Morille restaurant is worth checking out if you’re here too - http://www.restaurant-la-morille.fr/
Scallops for entree at La Morille - amazing
Lyon at night
Biarritz. Like
Cottesloe in Perth on ‘roids. But less pretentious with fewer rules. I really like this
about the French – they seem to have the balance between rules and
self-regulation pretty right. For example, there are beachside bars where you
can just come in from a surf and grab a beer. No ID checks, no bouncers, no one
sending you away because you’re in bare feet. Nobody telling you off because
you’ve stepped half a metre outside the premises and you’ll kickstart the zombie
apocalypse if you don’t step back in immediately. At night the bars spill out
onto the streets – people just step aside if a car comes through. And, shock,
horror, they even serve your beer in real glass! If you hurt yourself because
of your own choices, then it’s just tough titties.
I buy a board here and finally get my surfing fix - a couple of days of fun 2-3 foot surf. Lots of power for the size. When it's 6ft+ I imagine that boards would be snapped left, right and centre!
Typical Biarritz beach - I had a heap of fun on the punchy little 2ft beachies
We meet up with one of Emily’s family friends, Karen, who
now lives in Biarritz. She’s stoked to
show us around. It’s only a 30 minute drive to San Sebastian in Spain from
Biarritz, so we head down there one evening for a few drinks and some tapas –
it’s quite surreal that in thirty minutes you’re immersed in a completely
different culture.
Bayonne (a ten minute drive from Biarritz)
We’re on the night
train. Bayonne to Paris. I amuse myself (and annoy the
shit out of Emily) with my repeated karaoke version of Guns ‘n Roses Night Train. It’s a great way to travel – they have
full beds so you sleep while you move and save a night’s accommodation. You can
go for first class (four beds to a room) or second class (smaller beds and six
to a room). Em and I manage to get a room to ourselves – winning. We’ve got the
arvo in Paris before the flight to Italy.
Ciao!
Bonus Pictures that don't really fit into the story but I figure are worthy additions...
Ciao!
Bonus Pictures that don't really fit into the story but I figure are worthy additions...
Amazing permaculture building near the Eiffel Tower
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