Hester’s Birthday in Paris – July 2010
New York may be the place to blow your mind and leave you breathless with wonder, but Paris has always held a special place in our hearts. Because the occasion was very special, we decided that Paris was the place to celebrate Hester’s 60th birthday. It had been a long time since we’d last paid a visit there, but the beautiful capital did not disappoint.
Previously, we had always driven or flown to Paris, but this time we went by Eurostar. It is so much more civilised than flying or driving, especially in Leisure Class – that I don’t think we’ll ever travel there again by any other means.
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel in the Place de la Republique, just a few Metro stops down from the Eurostar terminal at the Gare du Nord. We had a traffic-noise-free room away from the square, and the hotel’s location was ideal for getting to all the places we wanted to visit.
Difficult to believe, but we’d hadn’t been to the Musee d’Orsay before, and it was a “must see” for both of us. It was originally the Gare d’Orsay railway station, and its transformation into an art gallery is just as impressive as the works of art themselves.
The Place de la Republique was ideal as a base for exploring those parts of Paris between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Concorde, including the river, the Ile de la Cite and parts of the left bank. We had from Friday evening until Monday lunchtime, so we restricted ourselves to new territory, avoiding things we’d done or sights we’d seen on earlier trips there.
So, no trip up the Eiffel Tower, no visiting the Louvre or shooting off up to Montmartre or down to Montparnasse. Instead, we “discovered” the Place des Vosges, with its Royal Residences, the beautiful Place Dauphine and some lovely hidden corners of the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St-Louis. We also stumbled across the beautiful old back-streets of Le Marais, and the delightful alleyways off Rue Francois Miron. On top of all that, Les Halles was a real eye-opener, with its quirky mixture of futuristic buildings alongside the beautiful Gothic church of St Eustache.
To see a fuller photo album, click either of the pictures.
One sight, well worth a mention (and which sadly has now been taken down) was the photo-montage of Charles de Gaulle in the square by the Hotel de Ville. It was made up of hundreds of photos of those wartime resistance fighters who, after the war, were decorated for bravery. The photo-montage was erected to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the broadcast on the BBC by de Gaulle to the French people, to encourage them in their struggles against the Nazis.
Apology: we did make some concessions to “standard tourism” by visiting La Madeleine (a particular favourite of Ray’s), the Jardin des Tuileries (not been there before) and the Place de la Bastille.