Bonjour à Paris! Je suis dans la fenêtre de fromage!

I was up and out by 7:15am this morning. This time instead of taking the Tube I took a commuter train from Richmond to London Waterloo station. I caught the train at 7:30am and 20 minutes later I was at Waterloo.

I printed my tickets, went through security and cleared French customs by 8:15am. Then it was a lot of sitting around and waiting for the train to board.

Waiting area at the Eurostar terminal at London Waterloo station.

Boarding Coach 3 of 18 at Waterloo.

I boarded just before 9:00am and the train pulled out at 9:10am. After 30 minutes or so we did a quick call at Ashford Station to pickup more passengers then 15 minutes after that they make an announcement saying "We are about to enter the Channel Tunnel..." then you're plunged into darkness for 20 minutes. It was quite anti-climactic, a simple announcement, then 20 minutes of blackness. It doesn't even feel like you're under water really. The next thing you know...you're in France.

The French countryside at 300km/h.

After an hour of watching cows and old churches fly by the window, we pulled in to Paris Gare du Nord. It was close to 1:00pm Paris time.

Our Eurostar train at the platform in Paris.

After taking those photos, I headed right for the Metro station and hopped on the train to République Station to find my hostel.

Absolute Paris Hostel (left) sits within spitting distance of St. Martin's Canal (right).

After checking into my room, I ignored my rumbling stomach and started my whirlwind tour of Paris. Now, if you came to Paris and only had 32 hours to see most of it, where would you start?

Le Tour Eiffel and proof I am actually here!

No explanation needed for that one. I actually walked the entire length of le Parc du Champs de Mars all the way to the tower, across the Seine and took photos in the other direction towards L'École Militaire.

After that, I crossed back across the Seine and walked along the river, down Quai d'Orsay across Pont des Invalides to Le Grand Palais. I couldn't get any good shots of it because there are too many trees around it.

A further stroll up Cours de la Reine takes you to Place de la Concorde. This is where Avenue des Champs Élysées meets Jardin des Tuileries which guides you right to the Musée du Louvre.

The view from Place de la Concorde down Champs Élysées
towards L'arc du Triomphe (left), Place de la Concorde and it's fountains (middle and right).

A 15 minute walk from there takes you right to Musée du Louvre.

I couldn't find Tom Hanks or Audrey Tautou anywhere!

After relaxing a bit by the pools at the Louvre, my poor feet were killing me, it was after 6:00pm and my stomach couldn't take the abuse anymore. Right behind the Louvre, I found little place called Café du Pont Neuf. I sat down, ordered some Chardonnay and some food and enjoyed it on an authentic Paris terrace (that rhymes). I sat there for a couple hours actually, eating, drinking wine and sifting through "Top 10 Paris," a book Cindy lent me.

The cafés here tend to seat the tables on the terraces so that they face the street. What a great place to people watch! Not only that, from my vantage point (on Quai du Louvre looking across the Seine) I could see Le Palais du Justice, L'hôtel Dieu and peeking a bit over the top, Notre Dame. So, when I figured the waiter at Café du Pont Neuf had had enough of me, that's where I headed. A 20 minute walk later...

They started building it in 1163, it took 170 years to build.

It got nearly destroyed during the French Revolution,
then it was rebuilt to what we see today between 1841 and 1864.

By this time, the sun was setting over Paris...

This glorious sunset shot from Pont Saint Michel, of course!

After taking two wrong Metro trains, I made my way back to Champ de Mars for one last night shot.


By the time I made it back to my Hostel it was 11:30pm. It's been a long, hot, sweaty, bilingual day. I turned on the TV in my room to "CSI: Miami" (aka "Les Experts: Miami" on France 1 dubbed in French (in Quebec no doubt).

I've crammed too much in for one day and I've had a lot of sun. I like Paris, but I think London is cleaner and easier to navigate. Then again, I've only been here about 12 hours and my French is terrible.

More tomorrow...