Who prefers Paris in the Spring?
Not us!
It's January 24th and we are off on our first trip of 2020. Thankfully, its only a short hop across the English Channel to the city of love....
We are flying easyJet as it's cheap, and hopefully cheerful. The French are currently striking due to pension reform and air traffic control, but we took off from Edinburgh at 7am, landing on time at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The flight was reasonable, however we landed in fog we couldn't see the runway until the last second and it was even colder than Scotland.
We quickly navigated the airport, before buying a train ticket into the city. After 35 minutes or so, we made it into the centre and to the next mode of transport, the metro. We had to take two lines to our hotel which was located just off the Champs Elysees. Last time Iain and I stayed in Paris for one night, we stayed in an Ibis hotel which was not particularly good; this time, I booked the Hotel Bradford Elysees, a 4 star hotel which was top rated on tripadvisor. The hotel is just next to a metro, has free food and soft drinks in the afternoon and an "honesty" bar at night; who could ask for any more?
We arrived just before 1pm but thankfully we only had a 10 minute wait for our room. I had booked a boulangerie class for Iain, so we dropped our bags and headed straight out. It was a 50 minute walk, but due to the protests (it was called Black Friday), we were diverted and decided to get the metro instead. As we got out of the metro, we stumbled upon the protesters marching against the reforms. There were armed police, soldiers and thousands of people marching against Macron and his reforms. Thankfully, we were heading in the opposite direction and made it to the boulangerie class on time.
As I am not a baker, I decided to visit the Musee d'Orsay instead. Unfortunately, I couldn't walk up the Right Bank of the Seine and had to weave through the streets, across the island on the Seine and then down the Left Bank.
After a 25 minute walk, I found the museum. The queue was pretty small and it was relatively easy to get through security. I wandered around for 2 hours, enjoying the peace and tranquillity. I even managed a slice of apple cake and a latte in one of the restaurants before wandering back along the Seine to meet Iain after his bread-making shenanigans.
We met outside La Cuisine and decided to saunter back along the Right Bank, eating some of the delicious pizza like things and baguettes that Iain had baked throughout the afternoon. There was still a large police and army presence and a large part of the Champs Elysees had been shut off as we were walking home. It was cold but clear, although we were both exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel; a few cakes, a chocolate muffin and a soft drink helped though.
Neither of us were particularly hungry so we decided to go to The Bowler Paris; it was a British pub and just around the corner from the hotel. We had a couple of drinks and managed to get a table by the door; I was astounded by the number of young French people going in and out to smoke, particularly as it was freezing. We decided to go back to the hotel and try out the "honesty bar." There was all sorts to choose from including bottles of champagne, obviously at a price! We had to fill out a form, hand it in to reception, and that was that. We may have been slightly generous to ourselves in pouring some of the measures however, but that was just us tipping the bartender...
After getting up just before 4am, it was time to bed.
It's January 24th and we are off on our first trip of 2020. Thankfully, its only a short hop across the English Channel to the city of love....
We are flying easyJet as it's cheap, and hopefully cheerful. The French are currently striking due to pension reform and air traffic control, but we took off from Edinburgh at 7am, landing on time at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The flight was reasonable, however we landed in fog we couldn't see the runway until the last second and it was even colder than Scotland.
We quickly navigated the airport, before buying a train ticket into the city. After 35 minutes or so, we made it into the centre and to the next mode of transport, the metro. We had to take two lines to our hotel which was located just off the Champs Elysees. Last time Iain and I stayed in Paris for one night, we stayed in an Ibis hotel which was not particularly good; this time, I booked the Hotel Bradford Elysees, a 4 star hotel which was top rated on tripadvisor. The hotel is just next to a metro, has free food and soft drinks in the afternoon and an "honesty" bar at night; who could ask for any more?
We arrived just before 1pm but thankfully we only had a 10 minute wait for our room. I had booked a boulangerie class for Iain, so we dropped our bags and headed straight out. It was a 50 minute walk, but due to the protests (it was called Black Friday), we were diverted and decided to get the metro instead. As we got out of the metro, we stumbled upon the protesters marching against the reforms. There were armed police, soldiers and thousands of people marching against Macron and his reforms. Thankfully, we were heading in the opposite direction and made it to the boulangerie class on time.
As I am not a baker, I decided to visit the Musee d'Orsay instead. Unfortunately, I couldn't walk up the Right Bank of the Seine and had to weave through the streets, across the island on the Seine and then down the Left Bank.
Neither of us were particularly hungry so we decided to go to The Bowler Paris; it was a British pub and just around the corner from the hotel. We had a couple of drinks and managed to get a table by the door; I was astounded by the number of young French people going in and out to smoke, particularly as it was freezing. We decided to go back to the hotel and try out the "honesty bar." There was all sorts to choose from including bottles of champagne, obviously at a price! We had to fill out a form, hand it in to reception, and that was that. We may have been slightly generous to ourselves in pouring some of the measures however, but that was just us tipping the bartender...
After getting up just before 4am, it was time to bed.
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