Wednesday 2 October

Another shocker of an early start, 6:30am up and quickly ready and out the door by 0700. The nav took us a ‘fast’ way into town, not the initial way we had scoped. In the dark of the morning we went through a pedestrian crossing with a person coming across it on the other side of the road. Gave us a bit of a fright as we were not expecting it. Some have lights, others not. When we got to town, the nav had brought us on the wrong side of the Gare (station) from the car park, so we had to quickly pull up my phone and go round the block to come in on a one way road from the other direction.

No big stress, as we had allowed plenty of time for any such eventuality. We still had half an hour to wait for our train and begin the fast 2 hr trip to Paris St. Lazare station. Despite the weather forecast for a nice day, it was actually raining when we emerged from the station. No worries, umbrella’s up and across the road to Starbucks for a coffee and comfort stop. There we put in our phone map the address for St. Chapelle, our first stop.

We got a bit of a surprise as when I had googled it at home, it indicated a 20 minute walk approximately 2km, however today it was 3.9km and 50 minutes! Nothing to do but either walk or get a cab. We chose walk as we had time and intended to stop for something to eat along the way.

It felt wonderful to be in Paris again. We have been twice before, staying about 8 nights in total and loved it both times. We still have not seen everything we want, and simply planned a day trip to visit the Louvre, which we gave up on lines twice before. This time we had pre booked tickets for 13:30.

Our walk towards the isle of Paris where St Chapelle is went quickly and took us through ‘high-street’ with designer stores, security guards and beautiful people. We found a small healthy and modern takeaway or eat in cafe where we shared a scramble egg pottle, chicken Caesar sour dough baguette, fresh black figs and yoghurt. It was not too bad, and yes we had a comfort stop.

Time was romping along and we didn’t have much time to visit St. Chapelle which is known for its stunning glass. I was determined to fit it in, so we walked an extra 1.5km and then my heart sank. There were queues probably equating to up to 1hr long. I could not believe it as normally one just walks in – of course the original Notre Dame on the same little island (l’ile de la cite) had queues, but we were not expecting this.

I quickly got over myself as we had no choice but to walk away and head to the Louvre. We took the positive attitude that it was a sign we had to come back again. A little bit of geography – the river Seine runs through the middle of Paris and there are numerous decorative bridges connecting the two sides. In our previous two visits to Paris we have walked many km along the Seine over the bridges, and had the pleasure of a river cruise. Notwithstanding the familiarity it still thrills us. We took the time to just enjoy that feeling which is hard to describe.

I think you either love Paris (and France) or not. It is hard to describe the feeling if you are in camp love it, to those that are in camp leave it, or those who have not experienced it. We see grand buildings and structures, the Eiffel Tower is an incomparable beauty. The country side (yes I am repeating myself) is one of the most scenic in the world, loving restoration and preservation of historical sites and buildings, variation between the regions so interesting and unique. The people are self assured and ethnocentric.

We do not find them rude, however, quite reserved and not warm or engaging. We have not felt unwelcome, and have always had assistance when needed. Binding this together is a pulse, a heat beat that you either connect to or not. If she speaks to you, the thrill evokes a feeling of lasting youth and romance.

We took time to savour those feelings as we took a slower pace along the Seine pausing on the bridge to breath and absorb the energy that is Paris.

When we got to the Louvre we were surprised that even with tickets there was a long snake of a line developing and it kept growing. It took about 25 minutes for us to get in! Once inside we made our way towards the Mona Lisa. About an hour and a half later we arrived in a room with about 300 other pushing bodies wanting to get their picture with the iconic painting. Security men did their best to manage the crowd, moving the front line along when they had taken one picture. It was a bit of a giggle, albeit hardly pleasant.

Our thoughts on the Louvre is that it is HUGE. Too big really, I found it overwhelming and could not help but compare it to other great and small museums we have had the pleasure of visiting that I have enjoyed more. There were numerous religious art and very few Monet, Renoir or any artists such as Henri Toulouse Lautrec, Salvador Dali, Picasso etc. The Egyptian collection was substantial but not a patch on Berlin museum or Vatican. As with the sculptures. I found it a little underwhelming, however was very pleased we went and to have the experience.

Our legs were seriously tired by the time we had finished, and we gingerly made our way downstairs for a coffee shot before commencing the 3.9km walk back to the Gare. For the return trip the sun had cleared the sky so we walked through the gardens in the late afternoon golden glow for their length and were rewarded with a distant view of the beautiful Eiffel Tower and Arch du Triumph.

We got back near the Gare as planned with plenty of time to enjoy dinner. We hit it lucky and had one of the best meals I can remember having in Paris. It cost us 111euro – eeek, however, no complaints. Two courses and one generous drink each ( wine by the glass has three size options).

Vern had an expensive foie gras at 26euro for entree and I had Escargot. Mains were Veal chop with cream sauce and duck confit. My red wine was excellent and we were smiling inside at being in Paris having a most evocative evening.

Our train left St Lazare at 8:40, arriving in Rouen at 22:00. We did over 16km walking, were rather tired and in discomfort, but very, very happy and fell asleep without having time to reflect on the day.