Paris 12/8 and 14/8, St Germain 13/8

We headed into Paris from Verneuil sur Seine mid morning on Wednesday. As the campsite is a distance from the small village and we didn’t want to leave the van in the station carpark all day, we decided to get a cab to the station. We then caught an overland train into central Paris and then swapped for the Metro. We headed out to Port Dauphine first as the Russian Embassy is situated there and we intend to go to Moscow after all the festivals are over. After a bit of a trip on the Metro and some walking we found the embassy but too late for any visas to be processed that day. We decided to head to the Champs-Elysees to get some lunch and to have a walk down this famous shopping strip. The first stop was to check out the Arc De Triomphe and then food. We found a restaurant a street away from the Champs Elyssee in the hope it would be a little cheaper. We were quite well fed for the price and then we headed off. It’s been eight years since we had visted here but it’s hard to tell if many of the shops have changed. McDonalds, Quick (the French fast food chain), Paris St Germain (soccer club) and Sephora (giant perfume/makeup/everything shop) were still in the same places. One outlet that was very busy was the Peugeuot store, a mixture of retail outlet and concpt vehicle showroom. The other major French manufacturers are represented along the street but they weren’t quite as busy, Renault came close. After a stroll and a drink we had made it to the end of the main drag and caught the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. As it was a beautiful summer afternoon the queues to go up to the top of the tower were massive so we elected to give it a miss this time. We did however, spend some time relaxing near the base checking out the fantastic tower and people watching. After that we had a drink a couple of streets over at a typical French brasserie before heading back to Verneuil sur Seine. As we came back about 10pm we had been hoping for a taxi at the station but there wasn’t anyone around. Our attempts to call one were met with and answering machine, it seems that not much happens in rural France after 10pm. What it did mean though is that we had to trudge back to the campsite which took 45 minutes to an hour, not something we needed after such a long day. We were incredibly glad to be sitting down again once we reached the van. We had a rest day on Thursday, we tried to catch up on some internet and some washing but after a few attempts at towns nearby it wasn’t happening. We did get to have a look around St Germain which seems to be a trendy town with loads of bars, cafes and great looking shops. Yes mum, we were thinking of you. Heading back into Paris on Friday, we drove in and parked a few streets away from the Russian Embassy as it’s on the edge of the city where a forest/park begins so we thought we’d be able to park without incident. Unfortunately we’ve had a second visa issue, this time the Russian visa clerk reckons we need to have an ‘invitation’ from our chosen accommodation sent to us and then present this to the Embassy. As we’re not in France long enough we can’t get it sorted out here so we’ll see how we go in London. Next stop after Port Dauphine was Notre Dame Cathedral which was heaving with tourists but with good reason as it looked stunning in the morning light. Photos to come. After we had spent some time walking around Notre Dame and sitting in the garden out the back we had lunch in the Latin Quarter. I had a massive serve of Mussels Provencale while Kirsten had some garlic prawns, very impressive. After lunch we had more of a wander around the Latin Quarter, very narrow streets and loads of restaurants, before we got onto the Metro again and headed out to Montmartre. As it’s higher up on a hill and the metro is a decent amount underground, getting out at the Abbesses station meant a huge walk up some spiral stairs meaning that we we both stuffed at the top before we’d even had a chance to walk around. When we did get going, we discovered that this lovely area has loads of great shops, bars, restaurants, traditional streets and houses and of course Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. We caught the funicular railway up the steep hill to the cathedral where huge crowds were enjoying uninterrupted views out over Paris as well as watching the talents of some local breakdancers. There was also a wedding (not in the main cathedral) and they used Sacré-Cœur as a backdrop for some photos. The black couple looked very striking. All white suits for the groom and pageboy and a big white dress for the bride. The funicular either had some problems or was just swamped by the huge crowds so we walked to a local Brasserie and had an impressive iced coffee and icecream combination. More people watching which was lots of fun. We wanted to stay put and perhaps go to a restaurant for dinner but we had no room for any more food at that point. Definitely an area to revisit another time. At the end of the day we went back on the metro and back to our van. We both had our fingers crossed that it would still be there, not have its wheel clamped and have no fines attached and we were relieved to find out this was so. Woo hoo! This time it was a lot easier to get home although not easy to leave as we both have loved our time here, Paris is fantastic.