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ahhh ... Paris - just for lunch don't you know! |
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 So, Paris in a day ... were we just slightly mad or very mad! We'd decided that there hadn't been enough adventure going on for our TOTTI Society and a trip to Paris that had been on the agenda for a while just had to be done ...
We managed to find some bargain tickets on the Eurostar and two other foolish friends to come along for the ride! The day started very early with a 6 o'clock pick up that required a hefty coffee to wake us all up and although we started to get jittery as our departure time loomed and we still hadn't reach Kings Cross St Pancras, we managed to arrive with enough time to get through all the check-in points and get comfy in our seats for the next couple of hours.
 As you can imagine with four girls, there was no problem passing the time ... chatter, chatter, chatter!!
All of a sudden we were at Gard Du Nord and scrabbling around for the maps that had been forgotten! We'd all decided that the best way to enjoy the day was to not try and do "everything" but to cherry-pick a couple of nice things to do - after all we were mainly there for lunch and that could to take a couple of hours and funnily enough we'd arrived at lunchtime!
Our next adventure was to work out how to navigate the Paris Metro! All we wanted to do was get to the river - just how hard could it be? After discovering via a very nice gendarme that "oui, il est trop loin pour marchere " we headed back into rather large train station to begin our ticket buying experience so we could catch yet another train!
Two stops later we stepped out of another station and frantically looked for a sign to the Notre Dame. After walking around a few back streets and having passed lots of lovely looking restaurants we found ourselves gawping up at the beautiful building of the Notre Dame and watching the boats to-ing and fro-ing along the River Seine ... that was plan no.2
By now it was well and truly lunchtime and the need for a latte was greater than the need to go on a boat. We decided to be real tourists and sit in an expensive cafe right opposite the Notre Dame and watch the french world go by. We ate ourselves silly and obviously forced down some frites before heading over the road and down to the riverside to catch an hour long trip along the Seine that would take in all the sights and therefore make it look like we'd been everywhere in Paris!
An hour later we were back on dry land and in need of some shade (not that we're moaning, but trust us to pick the hottest day of the year for our little jaunt!) We headed into the Notre Dame and let the quiet and coolness of the Cathedral wash over us. The enormity of when and how it was built is quite breath-taking and the stain glass windows are just stunning. After our slow meander around it was definitely time for a cooling french style glace and so we yet again picked a tourist trap cafe and let a rather lovely waiter meet our every glace, crepe and coffee need!
All of a sudden it was time to be making our way back to the Gard du Nord, after all we would need to stop in a few shops on the way back! The trouble was ... would we be able to find our way back! Luckily, Paula (the bloodhound) had the route back seared in her brain and managed to manoeuvere the rest of the flagging group back onto the Metro without losing any of us! Not long later we were all again ensconced back on the Eurostar for the homeward journey. Tired but happy we managed to keep up the banter and not fall asleep and set about planning our next little adventure. The list became endless - so watch this space for the next TOTTI Society day out!
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