Tag: Tour Eiffel

The Retirees go Abroad – France Norway UK and Ireland – Lunch in the Tour Eiffel

Next day – time for a haircut and Kerry and Nerida make great fun of Doug and me in the barber’s chair. After that the pressure is too great – we are surrounded by shops and the girls give in. I decide to walk down to Jardin au Ranleigh and spot the Monet museum – queue from one corner to next. I must be looking European as I am stopped by French people for directions to the museum – which I give in perfect “Ausnch” or “Frenaussie”. Back to the shops without any luck as the girls are still shopping.

We are going to Jules Verne at the Tour Eiffel for lunch to day so back to the hotel to smarten up and then the metro to travel to the Tour Eiffel. Buy the tickets following the instructions given the day before (or so I thought) then jumped the Metro at La Muette travelled to Trocadero to change metro and Nerida saw some signs to Tour Eiffel but when we exited we were at Trocadero (as you would expect) across the river and Pont D’Ilema to the Tour. No good we must travel to Bir Hakiem to get to the left bank. So back on the Metro and exit at Bir Hakiem (there is still 4 blocks to walk to the Tour and we have 10 minutes before our booking at 13.30. Raced down the stairs into the arms of the train police checking tickets. Of course I had stuffed up the selection of tickets buying “jeune” tickets instead of “adult” tickets and they jumped on us with on the spot fines of €33 each. Of course our HSBC credit card had expired on March 1, 2014(heh that is today). 15 minutes later I am rushing the 4 blocks to the Tour where the doorman is talking to a swarthy Arab looking fellow without a booking and saying there was 4 no shows when I pipe up and the doorman expresses regret to the Arab and sends him packing. Not very happy about our Metro experience but jubilant about the lunch we were about to have and the queues of people waiting to go up the Tour and we jumped in ahead of them.

In the restaurant (Jules Verne) we take our seats beside the window and smirk about our view and what is too come. The menu is handed to us and the waitress is already trying to sell us champagne – (“Is the champagne part of our package” I ask but get no answer – Kerry has the maître de’s attention and notices the same time as I did the menu is for 5 or 6 courses not 3 and the price is double our package deal. “Oh no says the maître de the €90 menu is only available on week days”) So after arguing the point with the maître de he politely says “the choice is yours whether you stay or leave” as the waitress pours the champagne for Nerida and puts some nibbles on the table which Nerida has already put in her mouth. S***t! what to do – we all agree it is not something we will ever do again so we decide to stay and live on bread and water for the rest of the trip. Lovely lunch for 3 hours thereafter – now stuffed like Xmas turkeys we go down to the viewing platform (being diners we saved €15 each to go to the viewing platform) and see the sights of Paris along with a throng of the unwashed of Paris (warnings about pickpocket blaring over the intercom).

Feeling chasten by our financial misfortunes we decide we will walk back to the hotel. From Pier Sud to Pont D’Ilema over the Seine into Avenue Delessert and then Rue de Passy (stopping at Le Passy for a reviving refreshment) along Rue de Passy to Place Passy shopping centre through the centre into Rue de L”Anonciation (in all under half an hour) and we are back to our hotel – we did not even have to catch the Metro after all. Very quiet night and no dinner.

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Bishops Visit – France and More – Gay Paris

We arrive at the traffic chaos of Paris around 3.00pm. Thus far our joint effort of navigating and Kerry’s driving was working well. But the Parisiens have an annoying habit of creating lanes where there are none. One knot actually had six lanes of traffic (where there should have been two) trying to push through an intersection where the crossing traffic was trying to do the same but our lanes reduced to one lane on the other side of the intersection. This is not a time for politeness and courtesy apparently as every other driver asserted an apparent right to pass through the intersection ahead of the crowd. Meanwhile the traffic lights flicked from red to green to red ignored by every vehicle choking the intersection. As with passing trucks on the highway during heavy rain and fog – you hold your line and keeping moving. Kerry toughed this out and the traffic spat us out into the relative calm on the other side. We made it to the Hotel amid many sighs from the back seat.

The Hotel Mercure Montemarte is well located between the metro stations of Place de Clichy on the blue line and Lamarck-Cauliancourt on the chartreuse line. It also has “parking available” which means there is a parking station nearby – something we learnt after getting there. It has a modern reception (there is no desk between you and the receptionist who walks around with an IPad and distributes keys). After booking in while Kerry battled her way into the carpark we met (by accident) on the footpath collected the luggage and retired to our rooms. We had been on our bums nearly all day and Kerry and I were itching to get out and walk.

With no particular goal, we walked to Place de Clichy, bought a 2 day metro pass, and caught the metro to Saint Michel. On surfacing from the underground we headed across Pont Michel along Rue du Palais and Pont Change. We could see Notre Dame on the eastern end of Ile de Citie and off to the west Tour Eiffel and the dome of the Grand Palais. We decided to check out the Musee du Louvre. It was not open but still a vision by night. We then travelled west through the Jardin Tuileries onto Place de Concorde and the Obelisk. We sighted the Xmas lights of Champs Elysees and straight away Kerry wanted to walk through there.

Both sides of the Champs Elysees was alight and bubbling with Xmas stalls and food. We enjoyed a truly unusual French delight – Baked potato with various toppings – far more a Midlands/ Yorkshire dish.

Nevertheless on we strolled, passing children’s rides and umpteen shops until we reached the commercial end of Champs Elysees. We were starting to tire so we called it a night outside of the Lido and caught the Metro at George V metro station to Charles de Gaulle Etoile metro station which got us back on the blue line to Place de Clichy, our hotel and bed.

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