Eiffel in love with Paris and will never fall out… Livonne

I woke up to a buzzing sound this morning and realised my son was facetiming me. He was with my granddaughters who I haven’t seen for a few months now, so it was a pleasure to wake up to. They are the funniest little poppets. All my grandchilden are the best of my life. Even this beautiful city can’t compare to the six treasures I have at home in Australia.

After I’d spoken to them, we were both up and about so I had a cuppa and some toast. It’s not a baguette but it had to do. At least I found the same butter we were eating at the chateau. My life will be incomplete without it when I go home. We were planning a slow morning, so I sat and wrote yesterday’s blog that I was too tired to do last night.

While that was happening, we started to hear lots of noise down the street and I assumed there was going to be a market as there were marquees and trucks etc there. So I was surprised a bit later to walk out onto our Juliet balcony to find a full on rally of some sort going on. Or at least I assume that’s what it was. Police had cordoned off our road just past where we were and there were lots of people there, cheering when speakers spoke and even some singing which I didn’t understand. I do wish I’d paid more attention in french class at school.

After a while it settled down and the crowds dispersed. We decided later in the morning that we would head into the city and perhaps see if we could go up the Eiffel Tower. We wanted to go to the Summit but they were sold out on line. We organised with Beth from the residency to catch up with her and her sister a bit later on, but would message as we were leaving, planning on getting a cab.

We had booked a Batobus ticket for the way home. A Batobus is like a hop on hop off bus but is a boat that runs down the Seine, stopping at all the major attractions along the way. One day was 23 Euro and 2 consecutive days was 27, so we took the two day pass. I had seen lots of stories on it when I knew I was coming over, so thought we’d give it a try. But first, to get to Paris.

Is it only yesterday that we left the chateau? Indeed it is, because Cecile had downloaded the G7 app to get around Paris if we need. G7 is a company which matched independent taxi drivers to passengers I think. You sign up with your credit card so don’t have to pay in the car. Honestly, I don’t know much more about it, but it does seem to be trusted in Paris and there are lots of them. Yesterday we used one and it was so efficient and the femal driver was friendly and helpful. So we were happy with them.

Well then today happened. When we were ready to go into the city, we went downstairs and called for a taxi. The app pins your location and asks you where you are headed, then the app shows you in real time where you cab is. It also lists the type of car and number plate. Very efficient all in all. We did all that and waited. The app said the driver was there but they weren’t. Then we realised it was at a different number of the same street. We knew it wasn’t far up the road so we started walking. Well he was waiting ages up the road, so we walked even further to get there.

That driver, while really well presented, wasn’t over friendly and spoke on his phone the whole time. That didn’t matter, we can’t converse easily with most anyway. Then there was a traffic jam down near the Musee de Orsay and well, Sunday Paris traffic anyway. I was almost having a heart attack with the amount of bikes there are in this city, as they weave in and out of traffic, just assuming cars will stop for them. And taxi drivers don’t seem to want to give way to them. My heart was in my mouth most of the time.

Along the way, we got a closer look at Notre Dame cathedral. We will head in there this week to see it’s newly restored interior but the exterior is still rougher than I was expecting. There is still a lot of scaffolding around her but as much as I’d love to see her as she was before, that sort of damage will take many years to fix so I have no complaints, only sadness at the damage that was done to her when the fire happened. We drove down beside the Seine the whole way and what beauty there is. It is one of my favourite drives in the world. Past the Orsay and all the little painting sellers along the banks of the Seine.. Lovers walking along hand in hand. Families walking and playing as they strolled.. and of course more bikes.

Anyway, we finally saw the Iron Lady looming on the skyline and we forgot how long it had taken us to get in there or how far we’d had to walk in the first place to meet up with him. We messaged Beth and found her and her sister Peggy at the base of the Eiffel Tower and with the lines so long, we decided to go have a drink first. The tower is open till 11pm so we’d come back a bit later in the evening to see what we could do.

As we walked down the road a bit, there were some girls in pink berets out in front of a gorgeous little restaurant with flowers draped all over the footpath canopy. I thought, ‘oh this looks very Emily in Paris’ (the netflix show) when I looked up at the name and saw it was Emily. Yup.. they were definitely trading on the show and people were loving it. So we decided to sit there to have a drink and perhaps something to eat.

After being seated we ordered wines and coffees and then Peggy and Beth ordered French Onion Soup and Cecile and I ordered crepes. I really wanted a Crepe Suzette in Paris. Cecile had one with fruit and maple syrup. I have to say, it was a pleasant experience but I thought it was a bit overpriced, but I hadn’t seen the food then. Look, it was all okay, but I got one crepe folded in half, with some Grand Marnier spread across it and not lit, which makes the alcohol the dominant taste. There was a tiny, thin slice of orange or lemon (not sure which) and that was it. Cecile got hers and it had banana, strawberries, cream and maple syrup. The others said their soup was nice but I was a tad disappointed in mine.. Still the company was fantastic.

We had learned that in Paris, if you say Merci Beaucoup, you are saying Thanks very much.. but if you change that slightly to Merci Beau Cul it means Thanks. Nice Arse. We learned this in Les Mans from David, so of course Beth said it to our waiter there. She decided to do it again today and the waiters were laughing their heads off at her.. First they wondered if she knew what she said.. and she laughed and said.. Oh I know what it means. That really set them off.

Anyway, we said our goodbyes to the ladies. They are now off to the alps and Italy and other places of beauty and we were off to the Eiffel Tower. When we got back there, the lines had reduced greatly, so we went in. Through the security screening and then off to the ticket office. The summit was still closed as it was sold out and we could have left it and come again another day but by then it was almost 6pm and we decided to go anyway. So up we went. In 2014 I did the stairs to the second level, thankfully this time, we did the lifts. So much easier and faster. The lift itself is so crowded but it’s only a short trip and there is never a quiet time, so we had no choice.

Up there it was lovely. Paris is such a beautiful city and you can see for miles up there. I think the only major landmark you can’t see from up there is the Eiffel Tower herself. The sun was starting to get tired and started to put on a show for us. Crepuscular rays (God’s fingers) broke through the moody clouds giving a promise of good things to come. I love this phenomenon and I usually see them at my happiest times. I took a lot of pics up there of course, then we headed back, aware that the Batobus does it’s last run at 7pm. Back down the packed elevator and finding our way out of the crowds, we found the area of the Seine it left from.

When I started to go down the steps to the boat I remembered that I’d taken so many pics on my camera as well as my phone, that the phone was almost dead and the screen was really dark. I wasn’t even sure if it would stay on until I could find my ticket to the Batobus. I was beside myself. I had sent Cecile hers but not mine, so I had to pray it would be easy to find on the almost black screen. Anyway, the guy just waved me on. I think he could see how frustrated I was and we were onboard and cruising down (or up not sure which) the beautiful Seine River. The trip is honestly a highlight of Paris. You go past Musee de Orsay, Notre Dame, The Latin Quarter just to name a few and the river itself has a charm all of it’s own. By my reasoning, we had to stay on till we got to Jardin des Plantes which was the furthest stop away from the Eiffel Tower and closest to our apartment. We loved the trip and are looking forward to it again tomorrow to do some hop on hop off stuff. You definitely should try it when you come to Paris. It’s so much easier than trains buses and taxis.

Anyway, as planned we got off at Jardin des Plantes and made our way up to the road, planning on booking another G7. We did and within a few minutes, it said he was here.. Only he definitely wasn’t. We tried calling and they said he was on the other side of the bridge which was a fair walk but we rushed over.. Then we had to walk down the side of the bridge and kept walking till we found him. It was a fair walk and we were exhausted. And in waiting because THEIR app had pinned the wrong location of us, there was a 20 euro fee already for his time.

Not happy but we would take that up with the company later on, we got in and we had given the address in the app. As we were going it seemed like we were going the wrong way. Cecile started to follow it on maps and realised we were heading back into Paris. She asked the driver if he was going to Alfortville where we were staying and he said no, Paris. So then he had to turn around and go the other way. By the time we got home, the bill was ridiculous. We will definitely be taking it up with the company.

To be fair to the driver, he doesn’t do the locations. That is entirely the software of the company so it wasn’t his fault. They obviously have some glitches in their system. Anyway, by this time it was so late, so before we walked upstairs, we walked the few minutes down the road to get some chicken for dinner. We saw a fried chicken place the other day, so headed to that. With language barriers still in place (our fault) we ordered what we thought was a 3 piece feed to share. It came with a drink and chips and it was all we needed. We got it home to find 9 pieces in there. He hadn’t charged us for them but we will be eating fried chicken for days to come. It was lovely though.

By now, I needed a shower before i sat down to write this. Now the only thing I could pick on in this apartment is it has one of those showers that doesn’t hang up. It’s hand held over the bath. Cecile had a bath in it yesterday and said her legs were too long for it, so I knew I’d be in trouble as she’s shorter than me (no matter what she tells you). But I decided to take a bath tonight as my legs were a bit sore. So I push the plug in and fill the bath. I even popped a bit of oil in there for good measure. Then I climbed in.

Hmmm.. now how to sit down in here as i couldn’t stretch my legs out. I finally managed to sort of fall down in a sitting position so all was well. I had to put my feet up on the wall to ensure my knees weren’t tucked up under my chin. To be fair, it was relaxing and I washed my hair with the hand held shower then went to get out. Uh Oh.. I am not built for getting myself out of a slightly oily bath. I was trying to work out how to do this so I tried to turn over to get onto my knees.

It took a few attempts but I was almost there. Cecile could hear me grunting and groaning from her room and we both started laughing which made standing up even harder.. But, thanks be, I finally managed to get out. That done, it’s blog time and here I am with you all now. It was still a quietish day but we are both exhausted and ready for a huge sleep if we are to get out and about tomorrow in Paris.

We have to contact the Australian embassy first thing to see about voting while we are over here. We couldn’t get postal notes before we left as the timing was wrong and while we could ask for an exemption, we don’t want to do that. I won’t get political here, but boy, we could be heading into a Trump style Australia if we vote the wrong way as nation and I’d hate to see that. We are a kind country and we need to stay that way. So we will make sure our 2 votes are counted. Please vote for the country, not your own situation. What might save you a measly few dollars in taxes could break another person beyond belief. So off to the embassy before we start our sightseeing adventure.. but for now.. bed!

Happy navigating your way through life …. Livvy xxx