The Eurostar is certainly a comfortable and convenient way to get to Paris. It leaves central London from King’s Cross / St. Pancras to Gare du Nord in central Paris. It’s not the cheapest way to get to Paris (fares are cheaper if purchased at least 2 months before) but it’s comfortable and the quickest. Check-in is 30 minutes before the train departs although it’s advisable to be there about an hour before as the customs queue can get quite busy.
#1. St Pancras station, home to Eurostar
I bought a Standard Premier pass, which comes with breakfast, from the Eurostar website here. You get to choose your exact seat (remember to watch out for the direction the seat faces) and the power socket (either UK or European) on the seat. The rail pass costs me £142 (about RM715). Again, if I had planned my trip in advance, it could've been cheaper. Read up The Man in Seat Sixty-One for more info.
#2. My breakfast
I have booked the next 3 nights accommodation at the Plug Inn Hostel, which is just a skip and a hop from the Moulin Rouge.
#3. Le Moulin Rouge
However, navigating my way here from Gare du Nord was a painful ordeal. It's true that the French doesn't like speaking English.
From Gare du Nord, I were to take the Metro to Barbes-Rochechouart, switch to Line 2 and get off at Blanche, which is the nearest Metro stop to the hostel. Seems simple enough except that I cannot find the platform for Line 4. After looking at the map of the station for the 10th time and walking up and down for 30 minutes, I decided to ask for directions. The lady at the information counter shook her head at me and another lady at the ticketing counter shouted impatiently she doesn't understand English, in English. After walking around for another 15 minutes, I finally stumbled upon the platform.
I had bought a stack of carnet (10 single ride Metro tickets) for €14 on the Eurostar and used these to get around on the Metro. Now, the Metro was something unexpected. When I first told friends that I’ll be going to Paris, the first thing they said to me was beware of pickpockets, beware of gypsies. It would help if I know how gypsies look like. In my mind, they look like Esmeralda but I’m positive gypsies have kept up with the times and fashion. So when I went underground and see all these graffiti on the walls and not brightly lit interior, the warning on gypsies flashed up. I must say I didn't feel very safe on the Metro.
The hostel was easy to find and only 5 minutes walk from the station. Since it was too early to check in, I left my bags in the storage/computer room and went for a walking tour. It's a 3 hour walk that highlights all the main sights of this popular city. Best of all, it's conducted in English and it's free. Well, almost. The tour guides are usually students or part-timers so all they ask for is a tip at your discretion.
I think I saw half of Paris today so I'll just summarize everything.
#4. The tour starts at Fontaine Saint-Michel (Saint-Michel Fountain). In the middle is Archangel Micheal wrestling with the devil. Looks like he won.
#5. A short walk from the fountain, here we are standing on Pont Saint-Michel (Saint-Michel Bridge) overlooking the Seine. That's Pont Neuf in the distance.
#6. Pont Neuf (New Bridge) is the oldest bridge across the Seine in Paris. It was commissioned by King Henry III and completed by King Henry IV. It was usual for bridges in the past to be built with houses on them. Pont Neuf was the first without and because of that, many people said the bridge wouldn't stand.
But stand it did and King Henry IV threw a huge party to celebrate the completion of the bridge. For that party, he even commissioned an artist to sketch portraits of his guests, as keepsakes. Obviously, the whole lot of them were drunk that night and King Henry IV had a big laugh when he saw the sketches the next day, so much so that he didn't want to give his guests the sketches as promised. So what he did was he got a sculptor to sculpt the faces on all the sketches and installed them on the bridge!
#7. Ile de la Cite (Island of the City). You can't really tell from the picture, but that is an island, one of the last 2 natural islands in the Seine.
That garden is where King Henry IV supposedly used to bring his mistresses because no one would go to that place. It was believed that the place was cursed! Story has it that the Knights Templar, an organization that first started out for the giving of protection to pilgrims, grew popular and powerful. Pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land would deposit their money and valuables with the Knights and thus one of the earlier known banking system was born. Soon the Knights became very rich and King Philip IV owed them a lot of money. Over time the Knights became unpopular with the church and King Philip IV seized this opportunity to wipe them out. Many were falsely charged of sodomy and other stuff, and on October 13 1307, all the Knights were executed. And that was the origin of Friday the 13th.
#8. Institut de France, from Pont des Arts.
#9. Love locks on Pont des Arts. Couples will write their names on a padlock and lock it to symbolise ever lasting love, and throw the keys into the Seine. Besides serving as a witness to everlasting commitment, the Pont des Arts is a pedestrian bridge that links the Institut de France with the central square of Palais du Louvre (Louvre Palace).
#10. And here is the Palais du Louvre, where one can visit the Musée du Louvre and see the infamous Pyramide du Louvre. The Louvre is the longest museum in the world. It took about 6 months to complete the museum.
#11. The Louvre Pyramid was initially constructed to look invisible but since on its own it cannot support the weight of the glass, support beams were used. There's an urban legend that the number of the glass panes on the pyramid totals 666 (being the number associated with Satan) but we were told it's in actuality 667 panels.
#12. Intersection of Rue de Rivoli and Rue de l'Échelle. Rue de Rivoli is THE street in Paris to drop some serious cash. I think it's really cool that Paris is able to merge historical value with modern commercialism.
#13. Fontaines du Theatre Francais. It's a bronze status of a river nymph. Black and white picture looks so much better than grey skies, doesn't it?
#14. Fall colours in Jardin des Tuileries. The sun decided to make a short appearance for this beautiful shot.
#15. A strange looking Egyptian obelisk in the middle of the city. The Luxor Obelisk is where the guillotine used to stand. During the revolution, 20,000 people were guillotined. It was said that if you step on a cobblestone hard enough, blood would ooze out from the bottom. Damn geli. The last execution by guillotine was in 1970, in private, which marks the end of the death penalty. Apparently the guillotine is still kept in working order in case they decide to bring back the death penalty.
So here is an interesting anecdote about the Eternal Flame located beneath the Arc de Triomphe. It is rekindled every day at 6.30pm, even through World War II. It has never been put out under usual circumstances but was put out twice under unusual circumstances. The first time was when a Spanish man was so drunk he peed on the flames. The second time was when 4 Australians were looking for an open fire to do a barbeque. Their slab of meat fell on the flame and thereby putting it out. They were all exiled from France, never allowed to return. Haha, the guides tell really funny stories (too funny to be true, me thinks).
#16. And there she is, in the distance.
#17. Les Invalides. The dome there is a former church and wherein lies the tomb of Napolean Bonaparte. Even in death, one has to bow down to see him. The tomb was built one level below, so that whoever who wanted to see his tomb would have to look down, and that is sort of like to bow before him.
#18. Our final stop, Le Tour Eiffel, the grand dame of Paris and a landmark synonymous with France. It is painted 3 times a year in different colours so that we see only one colour at all times.
A walking tour is such a great way to see a little bit of Paris. I explored the city a bit more (but not too much coz the walking tour has tired me out) and decided to head back to the hostel. They roomed me with 3 other girls (I requested for girls only dorm) and we hung out together for dinner and walked around Montmartre.
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