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| Outside our hotel |
The week-long visit with our friends was quite busy, but we made time for yet another side trip to Paris on the Eurostar. We left Thursday night arriving in Paris and to our Hotel Des Arts in the Montmare area by 11 that night. We dropped our bags and headed down to grab some drinks and a bite to eat (dinner number 2) on Rue Lepic. With our bellies full, we took a stroll through the streets of Montmare and paid a visit to Sacre Coeur at night. What a sight. Kind of eerie, but very cool views over the city.
Our day Friday was spent making sure Heath got to see the sights of Paris as he was the lone member of the group who had not visited Paris previously. We made sure to take him to the Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower (which we climbed to the second level), and one of Eric and my favourite streets for ‘picnic-type’ lunches – Rue de Mouffetard. We gathered lunch goods and headed to a local park. Following lunch we strolled some more and ended up at a café to practice being French. We spent most of the afternoon drinking wine and people-watching; very Parisian. For dinner we headed to a local spot that was recommended by one of Eric’s colleagues – Chez Janou near la place des Vosges. The food was outstanding and although it was a very local, very French place, the waitress was kind enough to translate the entire menu for us. So much for practicing my French!
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| Rue de Mouffetard, lunch in hand |
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If Erin was in the picture, would
her left knee also be bent 90 degrees? |
Saturday morning we had our usual breakfast of coffee and a croissant. It was actually enjoyable taste-testing coffee and trying to find something that was similar to regular drip coffee. Hint – it doesn’t exist! We moseyed from our hotel to the Louvre stopping at the Opera house on the way. The girls dropped the boys off at the Louvre and then strolled the Les Halles area for gelato, McDonald’s French fries and home goods stores. A few hours later we met up with the boys for our last meal in Paris. The place was pretty nondescript and unmemorable, but it was nice to chill and just enjoy the company.
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| View from (near) our hotel |
In true Wilson Eurostar style, we picked up some goods for a makeshift dinner on the train and enjoyed the journey back to London reminiscing a great weekend with great friends.
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Rue Montorgueil makes me sad. Its the street we always walked
up to get to Gare du Nord train station to leave Paris.
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Pictures from our trip to Oxford and to Paris are here:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=hj0zhyv.82vltt7b&x=0&y=-t9esej&localeid=en_US
Our day Friday was spent making sure Heath got to see the sights of Paris as he was the lone member of the group who had not visited Paris previously. We made sure to take him to the Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower (which we climbed to the second level), and one of Eric and my favourite streets for ‘picnic-type’ lunches – Rue de Mouffetard. We gathered lunch goods and headed to a local park. Following lunch we strolled some more and ended up at a café to practice being French. We spent most of the afternoon drinking wine and people-watching; very Parisian. For dinner we headed to a local spot that was recommended by one of Eric’s colleagues – Chez Janou near la place des Vosges. The food was outstanding and although it was a very local, very French place, the waitress was kind enough to translate the entire menu for us. So much for practicing my French!
Saturday morning we had our usual breakfast of coffee and a croissant. It was actually enjoyable taste-testing coffee and trying to find something that was similar to regular drip coffee. Hint – it doesn’t exist! We moseyed from our hotel to the Louvre stopping at the Opera house on the way. The girls dropped the boys off at the Louvre and then strolled the Les Halles area for gelato, McDonald’s French fries and home goods stores. A few hours later we met up with the boys for our last meal in Paris. The place was pretty nondescript and unmemorable, but it was nice to chill and just enjoy the company.
