Saturday, 9 June 2006
As I said in my last post, we went to Paris two weeks ago. The flight was too short to even bother getting the laptop out and start watching a movie. In fact, it felt like we took off, got fed, then landed. Considering my treatment on some U.S. flights, I was amazed at being served food on such a short flight. Suzanne was a bit miffed that she didn't get a stamp in her passport when we went through customs, but was able to survive the trauma. When we left the airport, the sun was shining and all the makings were there for a beautiful day. We waited for the shuttle to the Hilton to arrive and when he showed up, he explained to us that he only went to the Charles de Gualle Hilton, and not the one we were looking for, but that he would be happy to take us to his Hilton which was a short walk to the trainstation. He was wrong, it was a mad dash to the trainstation because as soon as we headed towards the station, it started to rain. OK, it was more like the tide was coming in from the sky, but you get the idea. To add to the fun, the wind was blowing at gale forces directly into us. We arrived with only having to sacrifice one Burberry umbrella to the rain gods.
The trip into the city was relatively uneventful. Although I have to say that while the English have double decker buses, the French have double decker trains. We arrived a short walk from our hotel, right next to the Eiffel Tower. We stayed in the Paris Hilton. I have spent weeks thinking of the appropriate off color remark or pun to make here and figured the imagination of my readers was far better than my own and will leave it at that. The hotel was wonderfully luxurious, though had a suprising lack of a heated towel rack. The heated towel rack is almost synonymous with the modern European bathroom. In typically French style, though, there was a bidet. After getting settled in, we went for a short walk and decided to go under the tower. The winds were too strong to actually go up the tower on our first day, so we left that one for later.
I have to say, Paris is a gorgeous city. More beautiful even than London. The streets are all lined with trees in most of the popular areas and it was suprisingly clean. Of course, we were in the heavily travelled tourist areas rather than the slums, but we live in the middle of tourist central here in London. There don't appear to be as many parks in Paris, but there does seem to be more greenery. We called it an early night and went to bed not too long after sundown. The sun set about 9:30pm while Suzanne, Andra and I were walking back from a grocery store. As we neared the Paris Hilton, the tower lit up with a very Christmas like light display and went on for about fifteen minutes.
The trip into the city was relatively uneventful. Although I have to say that while the English have double decker buses, the French have double decker trains. We arrived a short walk from our hotel, right next to the Eiffel Tower. We stayed in the Paris Hilton. I have spent weeks thinking of the appropriate off color remark or pun to make here and figured the imagination of my readers was far better than my own and will leave it at that. The hotel was wonderfully luxurious, though had a suprising lack of a heated towel rack. The heated towel rack is almost synonymous with the modern European bathroom. In typically French style, though, there was a bidet. After getting settled in, we went for a short walk and decided to go under the tower. The winds were too strong to actually go up the tower on our first day, so we left that one for later.
I have to say, Paris is a gorgeous city. More beautiful even than London. The streets are all lined with trees in most of the popular areas and it was suprisingly clean. Of course, we were in the heavily travelled tourist areas rather than the slums, but we live in the middle of tourist central here in London. There don't appear to be as many parks in Paris, but there does seem to be more greenery. We called it an early night and went to bed not too long after sundown. The sun set about 9:30pm while Suzanne, Andra and I were walking back from a grocery store. As we neared the Paris Hilton, the tower lit up with a very Christmas like light display and went on for about fifteen minutes.
posted by Unknown at 9:06 PM
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