Paris in Springtime with lots of luck!

Well if in Sevilla we had lots of bad luck I can only say this was totally the opposite and someone was looking after us.

Thursday 29th March, 2012

Our Easter holidays started that evening and we had a flight booked for Paris. However, we woke up to a transportation strike in Madrid. First we thought we had missed the bus to school as no one was waiting at the bus stop. It is not unheard of but we are generally not the first at the bus stop in the morning. Today we surprised ourselves as we saw the L3 coming towards us. The sign in its window stated Minimal Services. How lucky we were, we had not missed the bus and our bus was still running. We needed public transport a lot that day and so we only hoped that our luck would continue.

As soon as I had dropped the boys off at school I went to Pozuelo train station to find out about the trains' strike schedule. They were running but instead of the many per hour there was only one per hour. I therefore, wrote to the boys' teachers to say I would be picking them up from school 30minutes early.

Just made the Cercanias train from the school. I was exhausted and it's quite lucky that there is no photo of me here.

At the time to pick the boys up from school there were no buses running. We did not have time to return home so I brought all our luggage to school with me. It was a 20 minute walk which was fine down hill for the two suitcases on wheels but not so good up hill. In fact the last hill up to the school I was hoping I might see a bus to take me there as I was completely exhausted. There was no bus but a kind lady asked if she could help me. The boys were not waiting for me when I arrived as one teacher had not seen my email and the other lost track of time due to all the fun they were having on the last day of school. Consequently we had about 5 minutes to get out of school and up to the train station. We literally made it with no seconds to spare. I really thought we would have missed it but we jumped on and off it went.

From the Cercanias to the metro which took us to the airport with not much of a wait.

View of Madrid on takeoff with the four towers just right of the setting sun.

View of Paris on landing and our first view of the Eiffel Tower.

On each hour, the Eiffel Tower has a light show. We were passing at 10pm so managed to see some of it from the air.

My biggest worry all week had been the knowledge that the plane's scheduled arrival time in Paris was 10:30pm and due to Paris rail construction the last train out for us would be 10:58pm. Therefore, I wanted to get on the plane first so we could get front seats in order to make a quick get away to the train. We managed it with minutes to spare.

We caught the Paris train from the airport with minutes to spare but were all really tired now.

Tired looking boys - it was late.

We stayed on the outskirts of Paris with my uncle and aunt and when they met us at the train station they said that due to the Madrid strike we were on one of the very few planes that had taken off from Madrid. So all in all we felt very lucky that we had arrived.

Friday 30th March, 2012

To avoid Eiffel tower 2 hour queues we had booked a coach tour around Paris which ended at the Eiffel Tower and allowed us to go right in. When we arrived at the train station, St-Nom la Breteche, we bought our train tickets and were just clipping them when the train doors closed for the train to leave. For some reason one set at the back of the train were slow to close and I was able to reach them, hold them open and tell the boys to jump through them. I finally got on and the doors closed for good. We then realized that my uncle Robert who we were staying with still had one of our tickets in his hand on the outside of the train. He managed to slot it through the rubber door seals to us before the train set off. Another close shave.

Caught the train to Paris with no time to spare.

First view of the Eiffel Tower by train and daylight.

We arrived at the coach 30minutes early and were about the fourth family in the queue, so when we got on, the front top seats were already taken, however, the back top seats of which there were four were all ours. We felt very lucky with many sights because the coach would turn around and we would have a perfect view leaving them.

Joan of Arc

Looking out of the back of the coach - Joan of Arc and the Louvre in the background

The Palais Garnier
-named after its architect Charles Garnier was built between 1861 and 1875 for the Paris Opera. Now used mainly for Ballet.

The Louvre which on a Friday is open until 9:30pm, so we were able to spend alot of time following selfguided tours from the internet.

L'Hotel de Ville
A venue for large receptions and also houses the offices of the Mayor of Paris and the city of Paris administration.

Cathedral of Notre Dame (construction 1163 - 1345)

The Panthéon.
In Paris' Latin quarter - originally a church, now a secular mausoleum housing the remains of distinguished French citizens.

Musée d'Orsay - originally a train station serving the southwest of France

The Grand Palais on the right bank of the Seine.

The Eiffel Tower on the left bank of the Seine.

Place de Concorde with the Ancient Egyptian obelisk (red granite) inscribed with hieroglyphsic.

Champs Élysées with the Place de Concorde in the distance.

Arc de Triomphe -
based on the Arch of Titus in Rome - more than three times as high but the same proportions.

View of the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Arc de Triomphe.
Like Arc du Carrousel, Arc de Triomphe was commissioned by Napolean I to be built in 1806 (to commemorate his victories). It is about twice the size of Arc du Carrousel and took many more years to complete (1836).

Next stop Eiffel Tower - the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.

While it rained everyday of the holidays in Madrid, we had a beautiful sunny day in Paris.

The Eiffel Tower - made of wrought iron and named after engineer Gustave Eiffel.
Foundations started January 1887 and construction was complete March 1889.

The Tour was supposed to only remain standing for 20 years. I first visited it when I was 10 - around their same age.

Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur on top of the hill de Monmartre

La Défence, business district of Paris, seen in the distance.

View from the second floor.

Les Invalides - The National Palace of Disabled

They wanted to go all the way to the top - I had never been this high on the Tour.

How tall?

View below of Champ de Mars.

Trying on the French Berets.

On our walk from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre.

Champs  Élysées.

From the Place de Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe

Tuileries Gardens.
Just before reaching the Arc du Carrousel (picture below) with  the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de Concorde behind us.

Our walk was part of the route known as the Triumphal Way (includes three arches) or the central axis between the Louvre and La Defense (business district). The third arch (which we did not see) is the Grand Arch de la Defense, a modern 20th century arch in the business district of Paris the latter of which we just saw in the distance from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
Arch of the Carrousel is a triumphal arch based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. Under Napolean's order it was built between 1806 and 1808 and originally displayed St. Mark's Basilica's (Venice) gilded bronze horses (looted by Napoleon I in 1798). After the Battle of Waterloo (downfall of Napoleon) in 1815 the horses were returned to Venice. 1828-replicas of the horses plus a chariot and either side statues representing Victory and Peace. Next stop was the Louvre.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Louvre following the self guided tours we had found its webpages.

I was 10 when I first visited Paris and the last time before this year was 1997 visiting for the weekend for the hen party of a school friend. In writing this blog I still don't think we have seen enough of it - there is so much more to see! We hope to be back!