Saturday in Paris

Posted on 2005/03/02 13:55:05 (March 2005).

[Saturday 26th February]
Headed into London towards the end of the morning, and caught the Eurostar from Waterloo around 1 o' clock in the afternoon. It was a very pleasant journey on the train (very pleased I managed to talk the girls out of going by plane), although I have to admit it did seem to drag a bit towards the end.
Arrived in Paris around 5:30 French time, and after quickly checking into our hotel (near Opera/Madeleine) we went out for an early evening stroll to see some of the sights. Got a load of the obligatory touristy bits done straight away - a stroll down the Champs Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe, and even a quick trip up the Eiffel Tower (to the second floor, from where there were some very nice night views of Paris).
After this I escorted the girls to a restaurant, at around 9:30, where I left them and headed over to Gare du Nord to meet up with David for a drink. It just so happened that David was in Paris that evening too - having been to see the rugby or something. Spent a while in a very "lively" bar just outside Gare Du Nord, which was totally overrun with Welsh rugby supporters. We left that bar around midnight, having been told it was perhaps not such a good idea being a group of Englishmen surrounded by increasingly drunk and rowdy (roudy?) Welshmen. After a failed attempt (i.e. it had just closed) to get a drink in David's hotel bar - disappointing, as it had an interesting range of whiskies we went to another bar next door for a couple more drinks.
David decided to call it a night at about 1AM, and I then had the fun task of trying to get back to my hotel. I initially went into the metro station at Gare du Nord, to discover the metro had stopped for the night, and then slightly to my dismay realised the gates to Gare du Nord had been locked (with me on the inside). Obviously I managed to get out in the end. Having retrieved my Time Out Paris (including the all important map) from the "choppy" bar overrun with Welshmen I was able to navigate my way back to my hotel. This was actually a very pleasant walk - about 45 minutes - the snow was falling, and the population of Paris seemed to have gone to bed for the large part.

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