Sadly for me, I was WELL hungover by the time we got on the train. Twas the work Christmas do the night before, which I enjoyed slightly too much. Oops. Anyway, so we found ourselves on the Eurostar, one of us in a jumper with a reindeer on the front. Nice. Needless to say, I slept all the way there with my mouth open and didn't care one little bit.
After a quiet night of re-hydration via cranberry juice and bizarrely cold steak and a brief wander of the almost red light district where our apartment turned out to be, we set about ticking off the sites we'd missed in our first trip to gay Paree back in March 2012.
First up, Notre Dame. Another gorgeous cathedral... I had to drag my tired, sorry behind around as Kyle set what seemed to be a furious pace. Meanie.
We found that bridge where people attach padlocks of eternal love. There were thousands of them - the only conclusion to draw, in the immortal words of Hugh Grant, is that, actually, love really is all around.
After that, there was another mightily long yet aesthetically pleasing walk down to Napoleon's completely well proportioned tomb. He didn't have small man syndrome at all. Nope! Europe's arguably smallest dictator now lies in the below.
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| Such reservation |
It was a beautiful day, so what else should we do but walk some more? So we wandered back through the Trocadero Gardens up to the Palais de Chaillot for a view le Tour Eiffel as dusk started to fall. The Gardens were lined with Christmas Markets, but we were unenthused. The memory of our Dusseldorf fail was still very fresh and, besides, chowing down on bratwurst while in France just doesn't seem right. Even at Christmas. But the view was difficult to beat.
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| Second favourite hunk of metal |
After that, we found an amazing restaurant down the road called L'Apibo for a five course chef's tasting menu of complete deliciousness. Thank goodness, too. We had started to think you couldn't eat well in Paris. But you can! After all that walking, we deserved a decent meal. And then more walking!
We went to check on Mary M before trundling back to the apartment for some sleep.
The next morning was another pearler. Perfect for more walking - this time, after girding ourselves with some croissants and coffee, we meandered through the Tuileries Garden, where we stopped by a pond to rest and watch the birds (and maybe have a sneaky wee nap).
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| Not bad at all for "winter" |
Then it was off down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de triomphe. Last time we were there it was a really grim day, so it was good to see it with its Sunday best on, so to speak.
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| Gorgeous. The Arc's not bad, either. |
Following that, there was only really time to head back, grab our stuff and make our way back to London.
Two weeks later, it was Christmas for real. We were very fortunate to be adopted by the wider Von D clan for an amazing family feast and frivolity. A thoroughly enjoyable end to another fab year.
Lovely jubbly,
M&K xxx
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