Seeing in 2007, Parisian Style

After my week in Italy visiting family and playing the tourist, I took a night train to Paris. This was my 3rd trip to Paris. Last time I was there for 8 days, this time I was there for half that.



This is a photo of the Boulangerie I went to almost everyday I was in Paris, it was right around the corner from where I stayed. It sold the best panini and deli rolls as well as some of the most delectable deserts I've ever had the privilege to consume!

I found a lovely hostel about a 2 minute walk from the Louvre and stayed there for 3 nights. I took off the first day without a map, only my memory, to take me to the famous shopping street that is the 'Champs Elysees'.


(The park near the Louvre)

I arrived here late in the afternoon and being a northern hemisphere winter, it didn't take long for it to go dark. The street looked really pretty lit up at night... the trees that line Champs Elysees were lit up with a hundred different lights and there was a Ferris Wheel at one end of the street. The Arc De Triomphe was at the other.


(You can see the Ferris Wheel at the end of the street)


(Sorry the photo's a bit dark - it's the Arc de Triomphe)

Also, while I was in Paris, I managed to take in the Notre Dame church... well, only from the outside. It was raining when I turned up, but that didn't stop the tourists from coming to visit one of Paris' more known sights. It turns out there was a mass on, which I didn't realise at the time, but it explains why the queue of people was so long to get in. I had just seem the Duomo in Milan only a few days earlier and walked right in there, no problems - but there was no mass going on at the Duomo when I was there.

The bridge not far from the Notre Dame Church, where I stopped to take some night photos.

The Notre Dame Church, which is sort of in the middle of this photo. The blurry white light is coming from the top of the Eiffel Tower. I do hope to buy a better camera soon, for better quality night time photos.

On the 31st I went to the Eiffel Tower with two American girls who were staying in the same room as me at the hostel. I spent the day with them and we went to find out about the celebrations that evening at the Eiffel Tower. The police told us there weren't any. We were asking about the fireworks and they kept telling us 'No, no fireworks'. Honestly, we thought, how could there not be fireworks in Paris for New Years?

We went back to the hostel for a bit of R&R and then took off that night for dinner at a little French restaurant. I left the girls about 8.30pm and headed off to the Eiffel Tower. They decided instead to go to a bar. I guess if there were no celebrations, then they wouldn't worry about it. Me, I had extended my trip to go to Paris escpecially, so I was convinced something would be happening at the tower.

So for 3 hours I waited in the cold as it rained on and off. Then, came the countdown... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... and suddenly the Eiffel Tower lights up and it's sparkling. Like diamonds. Sparkling. But that's it. No official fireworks. It just stood there, sparkling for 10 minutes - then the sparkling stopped.

The only fireworks going off were the 'unofficial and illegal' ones that people had bought to the gardens themselves. Also, as they had made the tree 'sparkle' every hour on the hour it was nothing new for me. I was not impressed. I had specifically come to Paris for New Years and I was 'rewarded' with probably the lamest New Years celebrations ever. The place was filled with about 15 000 tourists all asking 'Is that it?'.

The 'sparkling' Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower from a distance. I took this photo as I was heading away from the crowds trying to find the metro station. Apparently there were riots and trouble last year at the celebrations, which is why they didn't do anything this year. As my mother says, it pays to do your research.

I headed back to the hostel at about about 12:30am and then the next day the sky was a lovely blue (though it didn't last long), so I headed off to see the Sacre de Cuor church in the Montmartre district. When I went in there was a mass that had just begun. I sat in on it for about 40 minutes and even though it was in French and I couldn't understand what they were saying, I'm sure the message of the church is universal. It was lovely to hear the nuns singing the hymns in French too. I wasn't able to take photos in there as it's not permitted, but it was a lovely church both inside and out. There are 281 steps to get to the base of the church from the bottom of the hill. There's then another 24 to get inside.

(A photo I took with the sepia setting on my camera. It's a side street near the Sacre de Cuor)

That night, I took a plane back to London, where I am now back at work and back to my movie premieres... which I'll write about when I get the chance. There's quite a few I have to catch up on aswell as those just around the corner!