Paris (A)
The month was September, and there was only one word on every kiwi's mind - Rugby. After our successful trip to Edinburgh and the good luck that we felt we provided the All Blacks with, we decided to venture to Paris to see them win the final in Paris for the first time in 20 years.
Unfortunately, assumption is the mother of all f ups, and an All Blacks final was the first one. Instead, I had to endure brutal taunts at work after the All Blacks were knocked out in the Quarter Final. After licking our deep wounds, we decided that we would go as planned to Paris.
Our second assumption was that catching the 4.00pm bus for a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Shannon airport would give us more than enough time to catch our 7.00pm flight. It took closer to 3 hours to get to the airport thanks to the phenomenon known as Irish traffic on a Friday. I was really annoyed when they wouldn't let us check in, even though we had priority boarding and no baggage, and then called passengers over the loud speakers for about 15 minutes. So, I had a wee cry at the airport.
We decided that we would catch the lunch time flight out the next day, which meant we had to find somewhere to stay the night. We couldn't face going back to Galway, so we rashly decided to jump on a bus out to Ennis. We had a rather Scenic trip to Ennis which was nice, it gave us lots of time to realise all the options that would have been more prudent throughout the day.
The lovely little town of Ennis
Ennis is a very pretty wee town, definitely if you have to get stuck in Ireland somewhere it is not a bad spot. Unfortunately, lots of other people also seemed to think Ennis was a nice place that evening. We felt like Mary and Joseph being told over and over again that there was no room at the inn. Eventually we got a room above a night club, and ended up ringing Dana in New Zealand on my cell to rebook our flights for us as the internet in Ennis was down.
It was 6pm on Saturday before we got to the apartment that we hired. Steve, being the great guy that he is, had already done a beer run and had some food there ready to be eaten. After our quick bite to eat and a stop off at the bottly we were off to the Eiffel Tower to watch the game.
Paris and the Eiffel Tower, with a rugby ball mounted in it.
The area around the Eiffel Tower was packed with Pom's. I don't think I have been in the presence of some many British people in my life - and that includes my trip to London. We tried to scout out some South Africa supporters as we figured there would be safety in numbers. No need though, the crowd was remarkably well behaved. It is amazing the difference that soldiers patrolling the parameter with automatic weapons has on crowd control. The park cleaner people were on the scene immediately after the game finished which was also pretty impressive, the next day there was no sign of the mayhem from the night before. The game itself, as most of you know, was a bit of a ho hum event and wouldn't even make the top 10 most exciting games in The World Cup. The only satisfying part of the night was that the English lost.
It was proven again that night that the world indeed is a small place. I knew that Cory Black, a friend from high school, and Susannah Page, a friend from Uni, were in Paris the weekend of the Rugby, but due to cell phone issues we weren't able to get in contact with each other. Steve, Matt and I were standing in front of the big screen in front of the Eiffel Tower when I hear someone saying my name. Turns out Cory and Susannah just happened to be walking past and they saw me. It was really great to see them, apart from Matt and Shaun they are the first people I have seen from home in almost a year.
After the rugby the crowds cleared away pretty quickly, so we decided to head towards home as well, home being the apartment we rented. No drinking night is complete without stopping off for fast food, so we hid our beer between the kebab shop and a bar, and had an awesome kebab.
We decided it would be rude not to go for a beer or two in the pub next door. Turns out that was a good decision as the brass band from the rugby turned up and played for us all. I am glad that we were at one of the first places they went to, they had a good few drinks there before heading off. Turns out the pub we were out was listed in The Times (London) as one of the Top 10 places in Paris to watch the rugby.
The next morning we were all feeling the effects of the morning after the night before - OK mostly I was. It would be criminal to go to France and not go to a bakery. So off Matt and I trotted (me thinking fresh air and something tasty to eat would work wonders) to the bakery around the corner. Fortunately there was only three of us to buy breakfast for as I only know the numbers one, two and three in French. So I ordered a selection of chocolately pastries and a flan, a custardly cake. They were pretty good and we polished them off.
First up on our Sunday Itinery was the Arc de Triomphe. I only saw the Arc de Triomphe from a distance last time but up close it is seriously a huge structure. We chose the legal route of walking under ground to get to it. We did see a couple of people cross the road to get there, but it was Sunday morning and even my Nana would have had an even chance of making it over.
The Arc de Triomphe
The boys decided since we were here we should be climbing up it. We had to pay €8 for the pleasure of climbing like 400 stairs. Bare in mind it is €11.80 to catch an elevator all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The climbing of the steps whilst hungover probably rates as one of the most unpleasant tourist experiences of my life. At one point I started crying and told them I didn't want to come up here anyway why did they make me, and really thought that I was going to have to go home to bed. Just as we were going to down again I got it together and soaked up the views that the boys had been admiring for the last 30-40 minutes. The way down wasn't so bad, but we all got a bit dizzy going around and around the spiral stair cases.
From the top of the Arc, looking towards the big, steel thingie
Down the spiral starcase from the top of the Arc
From here we took the Metro to the Louvre. We didn't go into the Louvre but we had a wee walk around it. One day I will make it in. We made our way to Notre Dame, past the high courts and along the river. Every now and then Steve and I would realise that Matt was missing in action, we would always find him taking photos a good way back.
Notre Dame, as always, was a busy place. The Romanian looking beggars were in full force outside the church. Young healthy non-national beggars really Erk me. They are either in the country illegally or won't contribute legally to their new home. There was a Mass being said when we were there which was kinda cool. I was able to point out a few of the things that I remembered from when I went on a tour of Notre Dame last year.
Notre Dame
By this stage we were all getting a bit peckish. We walked around for a fair while trying to find somewhere to eat that wasn't a complete rip off. It is not very often that you can go out for lunch have a decent enough sized meal and have one drink and the drinks bill be more than the food.
A big lion in the middle of the street. No idea what the significance is... but it's pretty cool.
Fed and watered we decided to go and check out the Catacombs. The Catacombs are a series of tunnels under Paris. It was originally a quarry used to provide stone to build the houses and building of Paris. From the pictures there was also a but of fighting action there at times, and one lot of people would use the tunnels as a hide out and then the others would come and try and deal to them. The Catacombs are most famous now as the last resting place of millions of Parisians.
The view as you enter the Catacombs.
Paris is a fairly old city, and there was a good number of cemetries around the city. As the population increased there was a need to build new houses. So they dug up some 15th century cemetries figuring nobody would complain too much as no one would remember them and relocated all the remains down into the catacombs. Stacking up rows of thigh bones and skulls into alternating layers and putting the rest of their bones into the area behind that. They kept at this for a good while, and now there are millions and millions of people's remains down there. When we first saw the remains we were a bit shocked and in awe, but after a while we started noticing the designs made, such as arches and skull and cross bones.
After walking underground for a couple of km's we reemmerged into the daylight, reorientated ourselves and headed for the Eiffel Tower again. The boys thought that the lines looked too long so we went for a walk toward the Giant Rugby Ball advertising the 2011 NZ Rugby World Cup and proclaiming NZ 100% pure. Unfortunately they were just finishing packing it up so we didn't get to see inside. Susannah and Cory said it was excellent. I hate to think how much money that cost the country, it was seen by a fair few people though. We decided to go home and that we would get up early in the morning and climb the Eiffel Tower.
Next to the Eiffel Tower, again.
NZ marketing opportunity.
Well morning came and we didn't go to the Eiffel Tower. We mooshed around in the morning, had another huge bakery breakfast and paid the owner of the apartment. Matt hates being late for stuff, and hates rushing. I usually arrive just in time. After missing our flight over though there were no chances being taken and we arrived at the bus out to the airport with time to spare. From there, we travelled back to Galway without any troubles.
It was a brief trip to Paris but a good one.
Unfortunately, assumption is the mother of all f ups, and an All Blacks final was the first one. Instead, I had to endure brutal taunts at work after the All Blacks were knocked out in the Quarter Final. After licking our deep wounds, we decided that we would go as planned to Paris.
Our second assumption was that catching the 4.00pm bus for a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Shannon airport would give us more than enough time to catch our 7.00pm flight. It took closer to 3 hours to get to the airport thanks to the phenomenon known as Irish traffic on a Friday. I was really annoyed when they wouldn't let us check in, even though we had priority boarding and no baggage, and then called passengers over the loud speakers for about 15 minutes. So, I had a wee cry at the airport.
We decided that we would catch the lunch time flight out the next day, which meant we had to find somewhere to stay the night. We couldn't face going back to Galway, so we rashly decided to jump on a bus out to Ennis. We had a rather Scenic trip to Ennis which was nice, it gave us lots of time to realise all the options that would have been more prudent throughout the day.
The lovely little town of Ennis
Ennis is a very pretty wee town, definitely if you have to get stuck in Ireland somewhere it is not a bad spot. Unfortunately, lots of other people also seemed to think Ennis was a nice place that evening. We felt like Mary and Joseph being told over and over again that there was no room at the inn. Eventually we got a room above a night club, and ended up ringing Dana in New Zealand on my cell to rebook our flights for us as the internet in Ennis was down.
It was 6pm on Saturday before we got to the apartment that we hired. Steve, being the great guy that he is, had already done a beer run and had some food there ready to be eaten. After our quick bite to eat and a stop off at the bottly we were off to the Eiffel Tower to watch the game.
Paris and the Eiffel Tower, with a rugby ball mounted in it.
The area around the Eiffel Tower was packed with Pom's. I don't think I have been in the presence of some many British people in my life - and that includes my trip to London. We tried to scout out some South Africa supporters as we figured there would be safety in numbers. No need though, the crowd was remarkably well behaved. It is amazing the difference that soldiers patrolling the parameter with automatic weapons has on crowd control. The park cleaner people were on the scene immediately after the game finished which was also pretty impressive, the next day there was no sign of the mayhem from the night before. The game itself, as most of you know, was a bit of a ho hum event and wouldn't even make the top 10 most exciting games in The World Cup. The only satisfying part of the night was that the English lost.
It was proven again that night that the world indeed is a small place. I knew that Cory Black, a friend from high school, and Susannah Page, a friend from Uni, were in Paris the weekend of the Rugby, but due to cell phone issues we weren't able to get in contact with each other. Steve, Matt and I were standing in front of the big screen in front of the Eiffel Tower when I hear someone saying my name. Turns out Cory and Susannah just happened to be walking past and they saw me. It was really great to see them, apart from Matt and Shaun they are the first people I have seen from home in almost a year.
After the rugby the crowds cleared away pretty quickly, so we decided to head towards home as well, home being the apartment we rented. No drinking night is complete without stopping off for fast food, so we hid our beer between the kebab shop and a bar, and had an awesome kebab.
We decided it would be rude not to go for a beer or two in the pub next door. Turns out that was a good decision as the brass band from the rugby turned up and played for us all. I am glad that we were at one of the first places they went to, they had a good few drinks there before heading off. Turns out the pub we were out was listed in The Times (London) as one of the Top 10 places in Paris to watch the rugby.
The next morning we were all feeling the effects of the morning after the night before - OK mostly I was. It would be criminal to go to France and not go to a bakery. So off Matt and I trotted (me thinking fresh air and something tasty to eat would work wonders) to the bakery around the corner. Fortunately there was only three of us to buy breakfast for as I only know the numbers one, two and three in French. So I ordered a selection of chocolately pastries and a flan, a custardly cake. They were pretty good and we polished them off.
First up on our Sunday Itinery was the Arc de Triomphe. I only saw the Arc de Triomphe from a distance last time but up close it is seriously a huge structure. We chose the legal route of walking under ground to get to it. We did see a couple of people cross the road to get there, but it was Sunday morning and even my Nana would have had an even chance of making it over.
The Arc de Triomphe
The boys decided since we were here we should be climbing up it. We had to pay €8 for the pleasure of climbing like 400 stairs. Bare in mind it is €11.80 to catch an elevator all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The climbing of the steps whilst hungover probably rates as one of the most unpleasant tourist experiences of my life. At one point I started crying and told them I didn't want to come up here anyway why did they make me, and really thought that I was going to have to go home to bed. Just as we were going to down again I got it together and soaked up the views that the boys had been admiring for the last 30-40 minutes. The way down wasn't so bad, but we all got a bit dizzy going around and around the spiral stair cases.
From the top of the Arc, looking towards the big, steel thingie
Down the spiral starcase from the top of the Arc
From here we took the Metro to the Louvre. We didn't go into the Louvre but we had a wee walk around it. One day I will make it in. We made our way to Notre Dame, past the high courts and along the river. Every now and then Steve and I would realise that Matt was missing in action, we would always find him taking photos a good way back.
Notre Dame, as always, was a busy place. The Romanian looking beggars were in full force outside the church. Young healthy non-national beggars really Erk me. They are either in the country illegally or won't contribute legally to their new home. There was a Mass being said when we were there which was kinda cool. I was able to point out a few of the things that I remembered from when I went on a tour of Notre Dame last year.
Notre Dame
By this stage we were all getting a bit peckish. We walked around for a fair while trying to find somewhere to eat that wasn't a complete rip off. It is not very often that you can go out for lunch have a decent enough sized meal and have one drink and the drinks bill be more than the food.
A big lion in the middle of the street. No idea what the significance is... but it's pretty cool.
Fed and watered we decided to go and check out the Catacombs. The Catacombs are a series of tunnels under Paris. It was originally a quarry used to provide stone to build the houses and building of Paris. From the pictures there was also a but of fighting action there at times, and one lot of people would use the tunnels as a hide out and then the others would come and try and deal to them. The Catacombs are most famous now as the last resting place of millions of Parisians.
The view as you enter the Catacombs.
Paris is a fairly old city, and there was a good number of cemetries around the city. As the population increased there was a need to build new houses. So they dug up some 15th century cemetries figuring nobody would complain too much as no one would remember them and relocated all the remains down into the catacombs. Stacking up rows of thigh bones and skulls into alternating layers and putting the rest of their bones into the area behind that. They kept at this for a good while, and now there are millions and millions of people's remains down there. When we first saw the remains we were a bit shocked and in awe, but after a while we started noticing the designs made, such as arches and skull and cross bones.
After walking underground for a couple of km's we reemmerged into the daylight, reorientated ourselves and headed for the Eiffel Tower again. The boys thought that the lines looked too long so we went for a walk toward the Giant Rugby Ball advertising the 2011 NZ Rugby World Cup and proclaiming NZ 100% pure. Unfortunately they were just finishing packing it up so we didn't get to see inside. Susannah and Cory said it was excellent. I hate to think how much money that cost the country, it was seen by a fair few people though. We decided to go home and that we would get up early in the morning and climb the Eiffel Tower.
Next to the Eiffel Tower, again.
NZ marketing opportunity.
Well morning came and we didn't go to the Eiffel Tower. We mooshed around in the morning, had another huge bakery breakfast and paid the owner of the apartment. Matt hates being late for stuff, and hates rushing. I usually arrive just in time. After missing our flight over though there were no chances being taken and we arrived at the bus out to the airport with time to spare. From there, we travelled back to Galway without any troubles.
It was a brief trip to Paris but a good one.
posted by Abby at 12:52 PM
