Summer Travels: Beautiful Sunny Paris

Lots of photos here because, well ... Paris! First that lovely moment of getting seated on my favourite train, the Eurostar. There is double border control at St Pancras station, checking us out of the UK and for entry into France, so that when the train arrives at Gare du Nord passengers can just walk off and away. That meant that once we were on board we knew we were really, definitely going to make it to Paris. As she was unvaccinated TG had to have a covid test the afternoon before we left, and her negative test certificate was carefully scrutinised by the French border staff, but all was well. For H and I, we simply had to show a QR code on our phones to prove we were vaccinated - we were very easily able to load the NHS code into the French anti-Covid app. I love it when things work! 

Our original plan was to go up to Montmartre to see the views from Sacre Coeur, but after 10 minutes waiting for a bus the girls decided that food sounded better than views. We abandoned the bus queue and got the metro down to Rue de Montparnasse which is lined with Breton style creperies. It was a lovely warm, sunny day, so we sat outside and ate galettes (savoury buckwheat pancakes). I washed mine down with a bowl of cider (yes, that's right, a bowl!). 

The best thing to do on a nice day in Paris is just to walk, so we did. We headed in the direction of the Seine, via the Jardin de Luxembourg. 

Before we got to the river we stopped to pick up dessert from a patisserie. I love the way pastries come in beautiful boxes.  

The raspberry tarts were for the girls. I had the apricot one. And yes, they were as good as they look. We found a memorial garden (I'm not sure what for?) right by the river with benches where we could sit and eat. 

We crossed the river via the Ile de St Louis, where we could look across to Notre Dame, surrounded by scaffolding and cranes as work goes on to restore the cathedral after the disastrous fire. I think the hope is that it will be finished in time for the Paris Olympics in 2024. 

I had noticed on the map that we were not far from the Memorial de la Shoah (Holocaust Memorial) and suggested to the girls that we should visit. The memorial had both outdoor and indoor sections. Outdoors there was a wall engraved with the names of all the Parisians who were murdered and a large bronze circular sculptured with the names of the extermination camps they died in. Indoors was a small museum and this Star of David. I'm afraid I can't remember what the Hebrew written on the wall behind said. It was a well done, thought-provoking memorial and we were glad we visited. 

Back out into the sunshine, we headed back to the Seine and walked along the river all the way to the Eiffel Tower. The road by the river has now been restricted to just pedestrians and bikes, so it was a nice, easy (though hot!) walk. 

We did a short detour to take some photos outside of the Louvre. We didn't go in, partly as we didn't have much time, and partly because it was much to nice a day to want to spend it indoors. 

We walked through the Arc de Triomphe and the Jardin de Tuileries, crossed the river and then did another mile or so on the other side until we reached the Eiffel Tower. We thought about walking through the garden under the Tower, but there was quite a long security queue so we though better of it. 

By this time we were all tired. We had an early start, catching the 5.45am train in to London to get the Eurostar, so we walked back across the river (again) and picked up crepes from a stall. Despite all the walking we weren't too hungry as the galettes and pastries had been filling, so we decided that we didn't need a full meal. We caught the bus back to Gare du Nord to collect our cases from left luggage, then headed off to the cheap and cheerful Ibis Budget hotel we had booked for the night on the line out to Disneyland, nicely situated so that we would be able to get to the parks early the next morning.