Was woken at around 4am by the most unearthly noise ! Lay there, wondering what on earth it was, with heart pounding - and then I heard it again,. and could have kicked myself ! Blooming pigeon, sat on the edge of the open skylight window, 'wuddering' away to itself !
Drifted back off, and then up at 6.45am. Got up and washed and dressed, by which time the others were stirring. Down for a quick ciggy, before breakfast, smiled politely at Lurch behind the desk - and got a scowl in return ! Wonder what charm school his Mother had sent him to? Considered I had done well not to employ any of the wonderful French phrases my oldest DD had provided me with for the trip.
Down to breakfast, and we were lucky to get a table - dining room packed with an influx of French students, and awful lot of pushing and shoving going on. It was at this point that the 'talking croissants' made their first appearance of the trip - Gemma and Will both have secret ambitions to be ventriloquists I think - however, given the nature of the conversation, and the fact that the word 'rabbits' kept cropping up, this falls under the 'What happened in Paris, stays in Paris' umbrella ! .
Gemma, Katie and Andy all wanted to visit the cafe featured in Amelie, so we decided to make that the first stop of the day - Andy assured us he was sure of the way, so after collecting our gear, off we set.
I haven't seen this film, so had no expectations - but the others were a little disappointed as they said it looked nothing like they remembered from the film. Still, we enjoyed a nice cuppa here, whilst discussing our plans for the rest of the day.
So off set both Katie and I - slightly nervous, because I have absolutely no sense of direction, can get lost going to the local shops, and could do with being 'chipped' (according to certain friends) - and Katie assured me that she was every bit as bad. Hmmmmmm - this should be fun then !
Actually, we did pretty well - stopping to ask for directions twice only confirmed that we were on the right track to the Louvre - and snapping away as we went.
Eventually finding ourselves obviously on the right track, and passing some nice street art on the way .
It had taken us way over an hour to get this far, so we decided to leave exploring the Louvre for another day, and instead headed towards Notre Dame, walking along towards the nearest bridge to cross the river - lovely blue skies and pretty warm .
We couldn't work out why this bridge was decked in so many padlocks?
Got some nice shots for the Street photography unit here - in fact got so many shots in Paris overall, that I am having trouble deciding which ones to use, which is why I haven't included many in these blogs !
We crossed and descended down the steps to actually walk alongside the river . . . it was such a pretty day, and there is so much worth photographing . . .
After stopping for lunch in a riverside cafe, Notre Dame finally came into view
Absolutely loved the detail in the architecture, and we spent a lovely half hour or so, just taking photographs and drinking in the atmosphere.
We decided to go in, and I am so glad we did - absolutely beautiful place - unfortunately, also very dark, and as both the use of tripods and flash are discouraged, wasn't able to take as many photographs as I would have liked.
There is a section within Notre Dame called 'The Treasury' - and we decided to go have a look - it cost 3 euro's, but then Katie and I spotted a sign that said 'Students - 2 euro's ' - so as we both had our student cards, we duly presented them. Katie had no problems - but the woman looked me up and down and informed me that I was not a student, as I was 'over 26' - and I had to pay full price !
It was worth every penny though, stunning displays of precious religious items - and I liked this shot I got of one of the fabulous stain glass windows reflected in the display.
In fact, the stained glass throughout the whole place was amazing !
Emerging into the sunshine once more, we decided to just sit for a good while longer, and found a lot of opportunities for getting some street photography shots.
We were also 'entertained' by probably the worst juggler we had ever seen in our lives - every few seconds he dropped the items he was juggling with, and I ended up feeling quite sorry for the guy . . .
He was just as unsuccessful at walking on his hands, falling after a few seconds each time . . .
And he gave up after a dozen or more attempts to get the spoon he was balancing on his foot, into the glass balanced on his head !
We must have sat for over an hour and a half, just watching and taking photographs and chatting - really lovely afternoon - before we decided to start heading back down the river towards The Eiffel Tower - we knew we had a fair walk ahead of us, so wanted to give ourselves plenty of time.
Once again, we decided to stroll along the path at the side of the actual river, and we came across a 'mini river cruise', lasting 1 hour - at just 12 Euro's, we felt it was probably worth it - so we paid our money and queued to get on . We sat on the open top, one behind the other, both wanting to get lots of photographs - which we did !
It was around 4pm now, and the light was absolutely gorgeous .
We saw a different view of Notre Dame .
And I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel tower - and was blown away by the sheer scale of it - beautiful ! .
We were joined on the top deck by a party of French people, all carrying glasses of wine - and who lit up the biggest spliff's I have ever seen - Katie and I were desperately trying not to inhale too much because despite the open air, we felt we were in the middle of a some sort of opium den ! Again - a bit of an eye opener, because I have never seen drugs used so openly before, and the tour guide, stood just a few feet away, didn't turn a hair !
After a really lovely hour, sadly the tour was over, and we docked back at Pont Neuf
And continued on our way towards the Tower - we had been walking for maybe an hour or so when we spotted it, just visible through the tree's - and as we watched , against the darkening skies, it began to light up. And I don't care if it makes me sound like a kid, it was fabulous ! Again I was somehow taken aback by the sheer size - and when the lights came on, it was that sense of seeing the Christmas tree lights when you're a child, and feeling all the excitement that goes with that .
Exhausted as we were, we quickened our pace, until the whole thing was in sight - and then it 'blinged' - seriously 'blinged' , sparkling like it had been decked in a million fairy lights - I was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and couldn't wait to find a spot where I could set up camera and tripod and get some photographs.
We gazed and snapped for quite a while, till gradually we realised two things - one we were starving - and two, we were shattered!
The food problem was taken care of by a near by stall - the two of us sat across the road, feasting our eyes on the Tower, and feasting our stomachs on hot, tasty crepes. . . bliss !
We went towards a taxi rank, found that it was only 15 euro's to get us back to the hotel, and in we hopped and off we went. It was a slightly 'white knuckle' style journey (actually, I don't think its possible to have any other sort of journey on the Paris roads !) but we got back in one piece, driven by a very friendly and chatty driver.
A very brief visit to the local finished off the night for us - an absolutely brilliant day !
Amazing pictures Sue.... you could sell them to postcard companies and tourists!!! fab! x
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