Playing in Paris

I hadn’t really planned on going to Paris during my middle aged gap year, it’s not that I don’t love the city, I do, but I had been a number of times before, and I knew that for me it wouldn’t be a city to travel to on my own – too many memories. However, when I found out that a friend from New Zealand would be in Paris for a few days with her mother (who had never been to Paris before) and was inviting friends to join them I signed up pretty quickly.

There are choices in how you can get to Paris from London, you can fly, or you can travel on the Eurostar from Kings Cross St Pancras to Garde du Norde in the heart of Paris. You won’t be surprised to hear that I chose the latter. There is no travelling across London to the airport, no 2 hour pre-travel wait, the luggage requirements aren’t as strict, and there is wifi available on board (admittedly not in the tunnels) – it was a no-brainer.
The arrival into Gare du Nord was a breeze – I picked up a carnet of 10 metro tickets and made my way to the metro and caught the metro a few stops and from there it was a 5 minute walk to the Air B & B apartment my friend had booked.
Once the four of us arrived, the first thing we all agreed was that a leisurely Parisienne lunch was in order, and as luck would have it, we found the perfect place just outside the door to our courtyard.

The food was delicious – we ordered variations of bruschetta which we shared and the drinks were refreshingly alchoholic – aperols, a gin and a pinot grigio were dispatched.  The conversation was convivial – both at our table and with the two Parisian gentleman who were sitting at the table next to us. It was the perfect start to what was to be a couple of fun filled days.

Our first visit, planned with my friend’s mother who had never been to Paris in mind, was to the Eiffel Tower. If you visit Paris at this time of year my advice would be to book any of the major attractions you would like to visit ahead of time, and luckily this was the case for us at the Eiffel Tower. You escape the queues and are guaranteed entry. As with any major tourist sites you have to undergo security checks so it pays to be mindful about what you put in your bag.

Soon we were off to the top, having first looked around the mid-point, where the second lift delivered us to. The views were to die for, as was the glass of champagne we treated ourselves to!
Once we were down it was dinner hour and a quick search of google maps and some reviews we were off for dinner. The restaurant we had picked Fontaine de Mars looked gorgeous and our eyes lit up when we saw an empty table outside in the last of the evening sunshine. Alas this was not to be ours as the guests who had sensibly booked arrived. We were offered a chance to wait at the table by the fountain – about 40 minutes they thought and so we enjoyed wines out by the fountain, which turned out to be a pretty special place to wait.

And what’s more we did get an outside table, enjoying more delicious French cooking. If you are looking for somewhere authentic to eat not far from the Eifel Tower I can thoroughly recommend this restaurant.

We were staying quite a distance from the Tower, but it was such a beautiful evening that we decided to stroll along the Seine until we decided we had walked enough and hailed an Uber to finish our journey back to our apartment.

The next morning we wandered down to Le Louvre, and quickly found we had made a mistake in not booking. However we were pretty quickly able to secure tickets on line for about an hours time. This worked out perfectly for me because I was able to meet friends from New Zealand who I hadn’t seen for over a year, and that hour and a half was perfect for a coffee and a catch up.

It was a pretty rushed trip around Le Louvre – even though we spent over a couple of hours there it felt quite rushed because there was just so much to see. We followed the highlights tour and managed to get to see most of the works we wanted to see bar one – Liberty leading The People by Eugene Delacroix, which had been shifted to a basement gallery and despite several tries we were never able to find it.

One thing I hadn’t done on my previous visits to Paris was to go to the Moulin Rouge, so when it was suggested I was keen to go. We had the most magnificent dinner beforehand at Rouge Bis on the recommendation of my friends French au pair, who was now back working in Paris. It was absolutely delicious and a lot of fun sitting overlooking the pavement and that famous windmill.

Im not sure what I think of the show itself, it is an institution and has appeared in so many novels and films, but my feeling was that the concept was a little dated (and out of date too). I don’t mind a bit of nudity, but it seemed that in this day and age that there could be a bit more male flesh showing too. Some of the Acts were awesome including the skating/acrobatics (not quite sure how to describe this) and the clowning, and the snake underwater was pretty different, but some of the dancing was a bit lacking in terms of modern choreography I thought. All in all I was glad I went, and it was another tick off the bucket list, its just that I was left with a feeling that it didn’t really belong to this day and age.

It was such a beautiful evening, and I knew we wouldn’t be back in this part of Paris again, so I suggested that we head up to Sacre Cour. When we tumbled out of the Uber, we discovered we weren’t the only ones with this idea, and there were several hundred people sitting enjoying the wonderful views over Paris at 11 pm – the temperature was perfect after what had been a hot and sweaty day. After having a bit of a wander round we then headed off down the hill before catching an Uber back to our apartment.

It was a slow start for our party the next morning, which suited me as I wanted to go for a run, so at 8 a.m. with my fellow travellers fast asleep I headed out finding my way to the Seine and then running along it until I had completed my 8km goal. It was extremely hot, but none the less very special.

I returned to the apartment to find everyone just beginning to stir. For me there was time for a leisurely breakfast before catching the Metro back to Gard du Nord and the Eurostar to London.
Even though I had been there before, I was so glad I got the opportunity to visit again, I just loved it and wouldn’t hesitate in signing up for another visit should the opportunity arise.

A big thank you to my travelling companions for such a fun few days, to Shirley – who runs Yoga With Me NZ – check out her yoga deck & poster here – who is also the ultimate holiday organiser, to Ailish Lucas of The Glow Getter  a website for natural beauty products and who has the best French accent ever, and to Joy, who let me see Paris through new eyes.