Impressions of Paris
Vee and I have just returned from a long weekend in Paris, We have been there several times before, but we went with two special young Chinese friends, Hua and Zhihao, who have not seen the city before and they were delightful company We took the Eurostar train from London to Paris which was very convenient. The weather was surprisingly mild for October (although there were a few heavy showers) and we were able to stroll a lot (and eat a lot).
We travelled out on Friday morning and, in late afternoon, we visited the Arche de Triomphe (going to to the top) and wandered down the Champs-Elysées. On Saturday, we spent the morning in the Louvre and the afternoon at Notre-Dame Cathedral before going to the cinema to see “The Devil Wears Prada” with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.
Sunday morning saw us at the Eiffel Tower. The top was closed temporarily but we went up to the second level for great views of the city. Then we walked round to Hotel des Invalides to see the imposing tomb of Napoleon. That evening we linked up with a young work colleague of Vee’s who happened to be in Paris the same weekend. We met Anna and her husband Fergal and the six of us had dinner at a Greek restaurant in the Latin Quarter.
This morning was a bit of a disappointment: we went to the Musee d’Orsay hoping to see the French Impressionist collection but found that the museum is closed on Monday. So we wandered over to L’Orangerie to see the Monet water lily paintings, only to find that the gallery did no open until 12.30 pm. We strolled around the Rue de Rivoli and had coffee but, when we returned to L’Orangerie, we found that the queue was too long, given our departure time from the city in the afternoon.
However, I’m returning to Paris for another long weekend in a month’s time when I’ll be going there with my sister.