Paris - Oct 07

Moulin Rouge at PigalleMy treat for October was a long weekend in Paris with my brother Stig and good friend Juline. I left work early on Friday afternoon and flew down to Paris arriving 7:30pm. Took the train into our hotel in Montmartre, just 200m from Pigalle and Moulin Rouge. Stig came in on a train from Nantes that evening and we met in the hotel before heading out for dinner. After dinner we walked around the neighbourhood and it did not take long for us to realize we were in the heart of Paris's red light district. We found a bar and had a few drinks before heading back to the hotel in the small hours.

Street band playing on IIe St LouisWe got up early Sat morning, got our running shoes on and headed out the door. We ran a pretty cool route which included Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, the river Seine, the Louvre and back through Marais to Montmartre. We had a quick breakfast and headed in to see Notre Dame and Chapelle before taking the boat down the Seine to the Eiffel Tower.

A long way down We took the stairs up the first third of the tower which was a good challenge, from there you can only take the elevator.. bummer! The view from the top was awesome, even on the hazy day we were up there.

As an engineer it was cool to see it from our angle, it is a very light and intricate structure. Very impressive to think it was calculated with the primitive techniques available in the 1800's.

A flash chocolate shop on Champs Elysees

After the Eiffel tower we went to check out some wine shops at Madeleine, got a few bottles and some glasses. We then went back to the Eiffel tower to check out the lights at night, was cool. We then walked to Champs Ellysees to visit Juline who was working in that evening at 'The drugstore' selling expensive wine and cigars. We then headed back to a restaurant over near Chateau d'Eau for dinner at a brilliant seafood restaurant.

The River Seine The next day we went to check out Hotel des Invalides which is the french war museum. We are both war geeks so it was pretty cool, we also checked out Napoleons Tomb. We then headed back to the hotel to meet Juline before heading out to dinner.

The corner shop from the famous film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain We met up with Juline and then headed up to the Sacré Coeur to check out the great views over the lights of Paris by night. There was lots of people up there and some pretty good live music. On the way back down Juline took us past the the corner shop from the famous film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain before finding a restaurant.

Dinner with Juline and Stig

We found a nice little restaurant and enjoyed the food and wine. Stig had a great time grilling Juline about being french but she took it very well (I had given her plenty of warning)! After dinner I drove back to stay with Juline in Saint Leu la Forêt whilst Stig flew back to the states Monday morning.

Juline's house in Saint Leu la ForêtSaint Leu la Forêt is a cute little town 40min from Paris. Unfortunately the weather on Monday did not come to the party, we had planned on going to Chateau Versailles but it rained the whole day. So we compensated by enjoying a good three course lunch at one of the cafes in town.

The first course of three The back of Juline's classic french house Dinner with the lovely JulineJuline had a evening class at Uni so she dropped me in at the Arc de Triomphe where I bummed around for a couple of hours until she was finished. We walked down to Place de la Concorde and took a ride on the large Ferris wheel before heading in to the Latin Quarter for dinner. We walked around and found another cosy little restaurant where we got another primo dinner.

I flew back to Copenhagen Tuesday morning and was sad to leave after an awesome long weekend with great company. Paris is a vibrant and interesting town with lots of life, I will certainly be back!