A day on the river Seine

Day 3 – First full day in Paris

October 3 – Paris – Eating, Batobus, Eiffel tower, Shopping, walking 21,000 steps

Weather – Foggy, cool – clearing up 11-18c

Wow – what a first day! Just need to pinch myself, as it’s been such an amazing first full day in Paris. Were to start? Ok, so we started early, and by early I mean, I was awake at 3am… Jetlag sucks. Lucy and I were up and showered by about 5am, Katie managed to wait until 6am to get out of bed. Sunrise is later here – 7:50ish, so it was dark for a long time. First thing on Lucy’s bucket list was to get a croissant – so off we went while Katie was getting ready. A little boulangerie around the corner from where we are staying. Oh, yes, by the way, we’re staying in a fantastic studio apartment on 62 Rue Greneta that Katie found through airbnb. A fabulous location, just around the corner from Rue Montorgueil, where you will find everything you want. 

View to our apartment 1st floor

Anyway, back to our croissants, I managed to order two in French, and so good was my French, that the responses back where also in French. To be honest that was a bit of a problem, but thankfully I knew enough to smile, nod, proffer a 20 Euro, and hope they gave me the right change, smile, nod again and in perfect French, obviously, Merci, and off we went. Lucy and I made in back to base with warm croissants in bag, I wanted to order three, but I forgot how in the heat of the moment, so two would have to do. We decided to face time Nanny P while Lucy ate her first true French Croissant – there was a lot of excitement, and crumbs all over the floor, but it was a fun first! 

We didn't leave much for mum...

By this stage it was closing in on 8:30am and the day was certainly starting to awaken, as was my appetite. Petit Déjeuner time. Café du centre was our first port of call, and after attempting to get started in French we were greeted this time in perfect English by our friendly waitress. Maybe my French is not as good as I thought… Croissant number two for Lucy, and omelettes for Katie and Andrew, along with some amazing bread, coffee, Tea and hot chocolates and fresh orange juice. All for a smidge over 30 Euro – not bad at all.

Time to hit the road and wonder down to the Seine for our Batobus hop on, hop off tour. First stop the Eiffel tower.

It was a reasonable walk from our apartment to the Batobus hop on point, and it was quite fresh – about 11C. The city seemed very quiet at this time of day, with very few people about. I guess it was about 9am, however I expected more people. Our walk took us through Les Halles – a massive Westfield shopping centre – and via play ground in the Jardin Nelson Mandela, and then finally past the Louvre and down to the Seine. By the time we got to the stop however we realised the next boat was still 45mins away – generally they are every 15mins, however they don’t start until after 10am. Oh well we thought, we will just need to find somewhere to sit down – can anyone say second breakfast? We must be hobbits on tour… This time we found a little spot on the south side of the Seine called La Frégate. Again, pretty quiet at this early time of day. Katie and Lucy had croissant again as part of the “rapido” breakfast and I ordered a fromage and jamon sandwich. The food here was ok, although not quite the standard from earlier in the day. Once done with second breakfast we were quickly back across the Seine to catch the batobus to the Eiffel tower, The batobus by the way is a great way to see Paris. For the three of us it was 48 Euro, with the tickets covering 2 days of access. The trip down to the Eiffel tower was so much fun, although we were only sharing it with 3 other people – so quiet… 

Arriving at the Eiffel tower stop is awe inspiring. It’s such an amazing view – you see it in the movies and on TV, but really, nothing prepares you for that first moment as you walk up the steps to stand before this giant iron construction. Walking in, again there were very few people, the crowds hadn’t yet arrived and there was still some clouds about the top of the tower, so perhaps that put people off? Once in we realised that the smart option is to purchase tickets before hand for the lift up to the top. The line to purchase tickets for the lift was long and slow moving. However the line for tickets to take the steps was short… Family meeting ensured, and it was decided that Lucy and I would take the stairs and Katie would wait down the bottom, take some photos and then meet us somewhere for Lunch. Off Lucy and I trotted to purchase our tickets, and thankfully we found out, that you only need to climb to the second floor and then you can get the lift right up to the “tippy-top” as Lucy excitedly shouted as I was purchasing the tickets – less than 2mins later we were bounding up the stairs to the first floor. Less than 2mins later we were stopping to catch our breath, no where near the first floor…Change to a more sustainable pace, and we were back on our way. As far as bucket list experiences got, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and we were both able to make it up and down without exhausting ourselves too much. 

By the time we got to the top the fog had mostly lifted and the view was amazing. It was fairly crowded up the top by the time we got there, and I can only imagine what it would be like in the height of summer. Lucy somehow managed to convince me to purchase her a Eiffel tower shaped lolly pop, and we made our way down to rendezvous with Katie at a nearby restaurant called Bistrot de la tour Eiffel. By the time we got to the bottom, the crowds had rolled in, so it would seem that earlier is better for tourist destinations.

This restaurant was a clearly catering to the tourist market. The waiters were putting on a bit of a show, and spoke perfect English with the occasional French flourish. It was fun, but don’t expect an amazing gastronomic experience. I had to order the croque madame – if you know anything about me, it that I have a bit of thing for the French toasted sandwich – Madame or Monsieur. We shared the onion soup (I guess you can drop the French part of the name in France?), and Katie ordered the veal piccata and Lucy the chicken nuggets and chips. I washed mine down with a nice Chablis, followed by a cote du Rhone, because hey – we’re on holidays!

By this stage we’re looking at just after midday, and the three of us look like we might be getting a little tired and jetlaggy. We decide not to push it too hard as we don’t need a blow up form Lucy – who by the way has been an absolute champ – running on sugar no doubt. Her infectious enthusiasm and little girl attempts at French have just made the trip so far. So we decide to hop back on the boat and see how we go – the round trip is about 2hrs so we have options if we decide to hop off anywhere.

Turns out, the option is based on the need to go to the toilette. So we hopped off tat the Jardin des plantes and made a mad dash for the nearest. The walk back through the gardens was quite impressive, and I would have liked some more time to explore. Perhaps on a future trip!

Back on the boat and now lopping back down the Siene towards our final stop by the Louvre. The boat trip was really fantastic and gave us an opportunity to see sights such as the Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Hotel de Ville.

By the time we got off the Boat, we were about 15,000 steps in and pretty tired. A quick detour through the grounds of the Louvre, I think Katie had a moment – don’t worry we’re coming back – and then another stop to refresh ourselves, we found a table outside at a restaurant called Aux Deux Ecus. It was happy hour, so that was a win – and the sun was starting to shine, so it seemed an appropriate time to sit back and relax for a moment.

Once refreshed it was decided that I would go shopping for our dinner and Katie ad Lucy would make it back to our apartment. My journey home took a little longer than expected as I stopped a few time and got a little bit over excited by all the options. My favourite stop was Le comptoir de la gastronomie – wow I could spend all day in there – and all my money… I made a fair dent on the latter. I was pretty happy with the final haul for light evening meal. After another glass or two of a fabulous masion rouche de bellene Volnay – Pinot – I was ready to collapse into bed. We made it to about 8pm. So that’s not too bad. Although I’m writing this at 5:00am as I have been wide awake since about 3am… Ready for another big day!

The Comte was amazing, as was the Rillette