I hadn’t planned to take the side trip excursion to Paris, France during my weeklong visit to England, mostly because I had already been there before. This may sound silly, but if I had intended to go, the number one reason would be to visit the Hard Rock Cafe. So I nearly almost passed up the trip even when circumstances (namely a couple who had signed up for the trip never made it to England) allowed me to go for free, because I knew there wouldn’t be an opportunity to get to the Hard Rock during our brief guided tour of the city. But there was one specific thing that I had not accomplished the last time in Paris, and this tipped the scales in favor of me going to Paris again. Bob passed on the opportunity although I tried my damnedest to get him to go.
After just a couple of hours of restless sleep, I was back among the land of the living (although I could hardly count myself as one of them) before 6am on the morning of Wednesday, March 31, 2010. Since Bob was in charge of the London trippers, he got up to herd everyone together and see us out. He was now staying in another room, so he paid my room a visit, naturally finding me in bed still at 6am. I got ready quickly, grabbed a couple of croissants from the basement restaurant and got on the shuttle at 6:30.
We arrived at St. Pancras International train station about 20 minutes later. I grabbed a big hard ciabatta sandwich and a Coke, dropping and nearly losing 20 pounds on the floor (and not in the good way). After about another 20 minutes, we all boarded the Eurostar train and headed out. And then I faded out. I slept nearly the entire three hours, even as we passed through the marvelous Chunnel, the train system linking London and Paris under the English Channel.
When we arrived, we met up with our animated tour guide Lexie. She was outspoken, vivacious, and much too tan – but certainly one of the best tour guides one could ask for when touring Europe. We boarded a bus which was to be our transport around Paris. Whereas, during my last trip with the Wileys, we went from place to place via train, this gave me a bit better opportunity to simply ‘see’ Paris as we made our way through the city. From the bus windows, I saw such iconic locales as Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Grand Palace.
Entering Paris
Around 11am, our bus pulled up to the Eiffel Tower. This was where I would accomplish something that I was unable to during my last visit, which unfortunately corresponded with Bastille Day. I got to actually go up into the Eiffel Tower. Our tour guide Lexie forced us through the tour group line and we got immediate access to the elevator that took us up to the second tier, as high as the general public can go.
Heading up via the East Pillar
Overlooking Paris and the River Seine
Me on top of the world…or at least Paris
The Champ de Mars, taken from Mars. No, not really.
Lost and caged
The second tier of the second tier
After spending about a half hour looking around, stopping in the gift shop at the end to get an official magnet, I realized that my entire tour group had disappeared. What was worse was that the elevator line to get back down was impossibly long. Somehow while I was in the gift shop, Lexie had gotten everyone but me together and corralled them into the elevator. He she did this I’ll never know. But from this point, my only choice was to walk down. I never realized how tiring walking down steps could be, but if you walk down enough of them (674 to be exact), your legs turn to ginger ale.
I walked out a ways along the Champ de Mars plaza in front of the Eiffel Tower to get the picture I always wanted with the Tower in the background. The sinking sun had prevented a good photo the last time I was there. I made it back to the bus in the nick of time at 12:30.
Finally a nice shot of Kings Island, er…the Eiffel Tower of Paris
Our next stop was the Louvre. I had seen this before so I wasn’t all that thrilled, but I figured that, while here, I’d get some updated photos of me with the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. After our tour guide Lexie got in a fight (in French) with a museum official (something about our headsets, which we didn’t end up getting), we had a few minutes to get a snack. So I continued my tradition of grabbing sandwiches whenever possible by buying a jambon fromage, some salt and pepper potato chips, and a Coca-Cola.
Me and the Mona Lisa, together again
With our tour guide Lexie, with the Venus de Milo background
Lexie only took us to the major, major works in the gallery – but I did add two photos of pieces I hadn’t gotten before: Michelangelo’s Captif and the Winged Victory. I also got a good picture with the two pyramids that come together, which played a prominent part in The DaVinci Code.
Michelangelo’s Captif, or the Rebellious Slave, dates from the early 1500’s
The Winged Victory of Samothrace, aka Nike of Samothrace – an acclaimed sculpture by an unknown artist from around 190 B.C .
The Da Bradli Code
We left the Louvre around 2:30pm, boarded our bus, drove through the famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées shopping district, and headed to the Paris Opera district – centered, oddly enough, around the Paris Opera House (where the fictional Phantom of the Opera took place). The intention here was for Lexie to take us into a perfume museum and then give us a bit of time to shop the area and catch a bus back to the train station. Naturally, a light bulb went off in my head, and I asked Lexie if the Hard Rock Cafe was near here. I was thrilled when she said that it was right across the street from the opera house.
A rainy day at the Opéra National de Paris
Actually, it wasn’t. There were five streets that met at the Opera House and it was down one of them…quite a waysdown one of them. It wasn’t easy getting the specific directions there from the poor people of Paris who couldn’t speak English, and even less so in the rain. But eventually I found my way to 14 Boulevard Montmartre and the Hard Rock Cafe. Quite proud of myself for my accomplishment, I dined alone on a Sinful Hot Fudge Sundae.
First Hard Rock Cafe of 2010. This takes me to lucky twenty-one total. But not for long.
Sinful sundae on Wednesday
A black wool jacket custom tailored for John Lennon
Signed record of the Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3
My photographer (a random man from the kitchen) was enjoying taking my pictures so much that he suggested that I pose with Madonna’s leather teddy that she wore in her book Sex and in the video for Erotica. What the heck.
After quickly visiting the displays, I headed back on foot toward the Opera House, at one point thinking I was lost and very much in trouble, then finding my way to the bus stop. The bus took me back to the train station and by 5pm, I was spending the last of the Euros I had purchased to get another quick bite to eat at Paul (a canele and the hardest ham and swiss sandwich I’ve ever had), then heading back on the train through the Chunnel which departed at 6:43. Again, I mostly slept.
We arrived back at St. Pancras in London at 8:06. Only one pair of tourists from our group had been left behind in Paris and had to catch a different train. A group of us split a cab back to the hotel, and by 8:45, I was settled into my room. I flipped on the TV but they were only speaking British. So I reverted back to Facebook, which would once again keep me occupied for the evening.
The England trip will continue…
Did you get the Nike of Samothrace picture due to my suggestion last time?
I guess you have to go back to Paris sometime to get your picture with Jim Morrison’s grave. It’s one of Paris’s most-visited tourist attractions.
Chris
June 2nd, 2010
Sure, great suggestion. I bet you didn’t know that by commenting on my website, you could change the entire course of history.
Brad
June 8th, 2010