Farewell to London, Bonjour from Paris!

| Wandering over to Notre Dame Cathedral on our first night in Paris. |

England 2015 Travel Journal Entry
Monday, March 23

(11:46 AM) London, it's been grand. You showed one of your best sides last at St Pancras Station, making it even harder to leave you. I wasn't sentimental about leaving until this morning. That thought that we plan to come back, and most likely will, softens the blow considerably – but deep down I almost wish I was never leaving.

Leaving London from one of it's grandest stations: St. Pancras International.

The fact that we're coming back to England in a few days softens the blow even more. Really, it feels like we're going on holiday, especially since there are so many Brits traveling with us to Paris. There is an adorable group of ladies in our carriage, probably just older than Mom, who seem to be having the grandest time chatting and enjoying each others' company. One of them came out to the luggage area where we were seated in the poor relation folding seats, having missed our original train because we didn't read the instructions on our ticket that said to check in 30 minutes early, to look for her coffee she'd forgotten about and left out in the luggage rack. Sadly, it was gone, but she seemed quite a cheerful, talkative soul, simply laughing with us about the whole thing.

Making the most of sitting with the luggage.

Now we have normal seats, and they are quite luxurious! I think they are more comfortable than plane seats. They are certainly more commodious than plane seats! A friendly conductor was walking through the train and found us with the luggage, so he asked us if we liked the comfortable new seating area, and Mom just told him we were stowaways, which seemed to amuse him. :) He told us he would check for some empty seats, and after merely a couple of minutes he returned with the good news of two seats for us!

We had planned to leave at 8:30 to catch the Eurostar but somehow we didn't wake up until 8:15, which was the end of that plan. However, despite my minor dissolution into tears, there was no harm done. The lady who got us places on the 11:31 didn't even let us pay for them (again). And on top of that we got to sit and have a coffee from Caffè Nero. :) When will I ever learn not to worry...

I'm always tense when we have to travel anywhere on public transportation. I only sort of relax once we're seated in the vehicle – bus, Tube, train, plane, whatever. But, not only does God say He will protect and care for us, I have seen Him do so countless times.

So, we're under the channel now, presumably. Otherwise it is an unnecessarily long tunnel. At least I won't miss any scenery while I'm journaling.

On the way to our apartment in the 6ìeme Arrondissement

(9:00 PM) Well, bonjour from Paris! I think I am enjoying myself much more this time than the first time we came. I feel in much less danger of being lost in an unfamiliar non-English speaking land, where I could easily be confused into a state of collapse. Travel can be challenging enough without a language barrier. It sounds a bit dramatic, I know, but I believe it gets to the root of what would actually happen to me. :)

Now the people and culture seem much less foreign, and more likely to be friendly and try to help you (even when you can remember almost zero French). Basically, I have learned to see them as people – people like me. The gentleman who carried my bag for me down some stairs in the Metro help bring that about, especially when it's added to my experience with people in general.

The Metro certainly takes time to get oriented to (or re-oriented to, in our case), so we walked back and forth, up and down stairs in the Gâre du Nord trying to figure out where we were going. But if you have a map and can trace the Metro line you need to take to the last stop (happily, they are numbered rather than named and each is a different color), then you can get somewhere. Once you figure that out, then you will find the signs with each subsequent stop from your current location.

It felt a bit unreal when a guy got on during our first Metro ride playing a lively French tune on an accordion. I was thinking, "Is this actually happening? Or are we a part of a tourism video?"

Once we surfaced it was easy to find the apartment. We hovered outside for a bit because we were early and we hadn't asked how to actually get in once we arrived. After standing uncertainly for a few minutes we tried the door, then we tried wifi, and then our host herself appeared! That was quite a relief. She felt bad that she was still cleaning, and we felt bad for arriving early, but it all worked out since she was able to finish cleaning while we began our sightseeing and got to get rid of our bags before doing so by leaving them there.

We promptly found a pâtisserie with a delicious-looking quiche lorraine and chocolate éclairs. :) (Just like our first visit!) Then we decided to walk to the Seine to eat them. I love being in a place like Paris or London and being able to say, pretending to be casual, "Why don't we eat our dinner by one of the most famous, iconic and picturesque rivers in the world, and then maybe walk to Notre Dame cathedral and the Left Bank afterwards?"

In France the food is half of the cultural experience.
Here is our quiche that melted in our mouths.

And an éclair du chocolat.

Our view for dinner: the Pont Neuf and Notre Dame.

After dinner we made our way to the "Iles" – also known as Ile-Saint-Louis and Ile-de-la-Cité – to wander their picturesque streets in the twilight of an early Spring evening. There were a few shop windows that glowed in the waning light, filled with decadent and ornamental stationery, toys, food, or, my favorite, chocolate.

A bridge to Paris's Rivre Gauche – aka the Left Bank, the artistic quarter.

A shop window with chocolate!

As we reached the middle of the Ile-Saint-Louis, standing on one of its narrow cobbled streets that has been there for a thousand years, I looked up and asked Mom, "Where did Notre Dame go?" It just seemed very peculiar to be a couple hundred yards away and not be able to see even a spire of that enormous thing. But that happens to us all of the time. We suddenly turn a corner and there is the Eiffel Tower, a ruined cathedral, even the seaside staring us in the face.

The main street down the Ile-de-la-Cité.

There is no mistaking that Gothic architecture of Notre Dame.

It makes a statement.

Pretending to be Parisians. :)

As we reached the front of Notre Dame the sun was completely set and it got rather chilly. So, being tired and cold we headed back to our own neighborhood and the highly recommended Creperie Bretonne. And thank you, Trip Advisor! We got a ham and cheese crepe for dinner, and a chocolate and chantilly (aka whipped cream) crepe for dessert. That was real chocolate, people. Honestly, a dessert cannot have a much higher quality than that crepe. The same goes for the coffee.

I tell you, in Paris, half the pictures involve food. It is the best in the world!

Mom enjoying our peerless coffee.

And me with dessert. :)

The atmosphere was a very traditional French country with a definite Brittany seaside feel. It was quite small, with one stone wall and one half-timbered wall. It was also only a few blocks away from our apartment... :)



© 2015 Anna Morton