Paris - The City of Love

This morning we caught the high speed (Grand Vitesse) train to Paris. It is an amazing feeling silently flying along at 300 kph on a French train. While we flew along the tracks we could see the magnificent rolling Burgundy countryside passing by outside. This is one of our favourite regions of France.

I remember being fascinated as a child watching Dr Who for the first time. It was beyond my belief that the inside of the Tardis could be so much larger than the outside. Some fifty years later I had my own personal experience with an Inverse Tardis. I had carefully chosen our hotel using the Internet and the pictures of the rooms certainly looked large and luxurious. After a week of Internet starvation on the MS Andante we could not wait to explore the massive rooms we had booked in Paris and enjoy the benefits of unlimited high speed Internet access.

The Villa des Princes was certainly located in a lovely part of Paris. The left bank is the home of the Latin Quarter, The Sorbonne University, the Musee D'Orsay and many other wonderful old buildings. After our high speed train trip from Basel to Paris Gare de Lyon we stumbled out through the crowds to the taxi stand and proceeded to do battle with the hundreds of others who were also waiting to grab a taxi. Some are obviously more experienced at this form of mortal combat so it took some time before we managed to pile our bags and ourselves into a vehicle and start moving. It took a good while longer for the driver to push his way through the impenetrable tangle of other taxis (all the while with the meter running) and finally emerge into the haphazard street network that makes Paris so bewildering for first time visitors.

From the outside our hotel looked great. The concierge was even expecting us. "We have a lift" he proudly explained as if it was a brand new invention. We were directed around the corner and found the object he was so excited about. It was about the same size as a bar fridge. Maggie took one look in it and took off up the 3 flights of stairs to our room. I was left with all the luggage. I put one leg into the tiny lift and tried to pull in a suitcase after me. The door wouldn't shut. I squashed my face into the wall and pulled the case tightly against me. I pressed the button, hoping that the damned thing would not trap me inside. The door finally shut and the contraption slowly ground its way upwards. It was not pleasant, but sometime later I fell out onto the third floor landing. I had to repeat the process another two times before we were all reunited again.

The room itself was good, or at least it would have been perfect if we had both been pygmies about 3 foot tall. It was quite a challenge to get both us and our luggage inside at the same time, but it was clean, the bed was comfortable, the bathroom was excellent and the air conditioning actually worked well. It was our home for three nights.

After jamming our luggage into the room, we headed off on a short walk to the nearby Luxembourg Gardens. It was a perfect way to begin our short sojourn in Paris.Read more