Epic Honeymoon - Day 35 - Paris

An unmistakable sight.

... the city of lovers and of romance; a city with an incredible history of royal, rebellion, and culture; a city that truly needs no introduction. When I first came to this city in 2011, it was the first stop on a Contiki tour. I was a much younger man back then, but I still recall being blown away just trying to comprehend the age of this place. As an Australian, European history in my own country only goes back 200 years, but this place has existed for more than 1000. Ladies and gentlemen, bienvenue à Paris.

From Lyon Part-Dieu, we found and boarded our train. As with the trains through Italy, I booked seats well in advance on www.rail-plus.com.au. Sometimes, oddly enough, it was possible to get a first class ticket for cheaper than a 2^nd class ticket, and this was exactly what happened on this occasion. Our seats well very comfortable, and it was quite a shame that it was a high speed train, with the journey only lasting 2 hours.

Plenty of leg room up here in First Class!

Zipping through the French countryside.

We arrived at Paris Gare Lyon (yes, it’s in Paris, not in Lyon – confusing, isn’t it?) and transferred to the metro. Paris is not a walking city, but they have a fabulous metro network that gets you basically everywhere you could need to go. We knew we would be using it quite a bit, so straight off the bat, we bought the 10 metro tickets pack from the machine. This way, you get 10 tickets for €14.90 instead of €1.90 each.

Arriving to Paris Gare Lyon... in Paris, not in Lyon. :)

For frequent metro use, get the 10 ticket pack to save €0.41 per ticket.

Our next AirBnB was located just near La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle metro station. Not so much an apartment as a furnished storage closet, it had a very “Harry Potter” feel to it. Split into two levels, with the upper taken up almost entirely by the bed, the lower consisted of a kitchen, fold out dining table, toilet and shower. It was incredibly small, but basically everything you need was there. The kitchen was complete with a portable induction cook top, so we could cook dinner easily enough. However, without ventilation, the shoebox apartment turned into a sauna quite quickly! Overall, though, it was a good place to base our stay in Paris.

What you see if was you get!

A cramped, but functional shower.

Fold-out dinner table and chairs.

After checking in, we went for a walk to find food, but that ended up being a walk to see the Eiffel Tower. Only about 15 minutes’ walk from where we were staying, it was easily located, peeking out over the top of the local buildings. Paris’ iconic structure was looking as good as ever in the fine afternoon weather of our first day.

How delightfully Parisian!

Trust the French to make their scaffolding artistic!

Winding our way around most of the main streets of the local area, we eventually chose to sit down for dinner at Cafe le Piquet on Avenue de la Motte-Piquet. The waiters were really friendly and helpful, even after there was a mix up with what we had ordered. Avy got to have her first taste of escargot (I’d had them on my previous visit in 2011). As anybody will tell you, they basically taste like the garlic/herb sauce in which they are drenched. The snails themselves have no real flavour, and the texture isn’t that much different to other soft meats.

A snail a day keeps the doctor away.

A perfect start to our Parisian gastronomic adventure!

For main course, I opted for the pig belly, which was absolutely amazing. Soft, creamy, and served in a delicious sauce with mashed potatoes, I highly recommend this dish. Avy went with the steak, and that was equally well done (pardon the pun). Perfectly cooked and juicy; we were very happy with our first true Parisian meal.

Be triumphant near the arch on Day 36!