Two Nights in Paris – 2016

Two Nights in Paris

We arrived in Paris (from Nice) around 9:45 AM at the Gare de l’Est station.  The apartment we rented for our 2 nights in Paris would not be available until around 2 PM.  Therefore, we took the metro to the closest station to the apartment, in the St. Germain area, and found a café to have some breakfast and to get out of the rain.  I contacted the apartment owner and they agreed to meet us at about 12:30 PM to give us the keys and to let us into the apartment.

The apartment was about 75 meters down the street from the café.  Finally, we were able to settle into the apartment, get cleaned up, and to take a short nap before going out for a walk later in the afternoon.  The location was perfect; across the Seine from the Louvre and about six blocks from Notre Dame.  Our apartment was above a small bar on a side street. Luckily for us, the bar was closed on the days we were there.

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Moving time

Our daughter was changing Au pair families over the Christmas and New Year break while we were in Europe.  The first afternoon/evening in Paris, she went to the old family to pick up her personal items with our son and to take them to a friend for storage until she started her new job.  My wife and I relaxed in the apartment while they were gone.  After they returned, my daughter wasn’t feeling well so she stayed behind while the rest of us went out to eat at a gyro restaurant in the St. Michel area and we picked up a meal for my daughter.

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Notre Dame

The next morning we woke up and started our day of tourist fun; we had to make the best of the one day we had to see as much as possible. Luckily, our daughter had been there since late August and knew her way around.  We started off at the Luxembourg Gardens then headed to Notre Dame. We spent about 30-45 minutes in Notre Dame, amazed by the architecture. Unfortunately, I only had a phone camera and the pictures along with many on this trip did not turn out great in low light situations.

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After we left Notre Dame, my wife wanted to see the Shakespeare and Company book store. This is a book lovers’ dream: it is wall to wall books with little reading nooks scattered throughout. My wife got her book fix and we went next door to a small restaurant for breakfast. Our table had a great view of Notre Dame.

Louvre to Arc de Triomphe

Due to only have two nights in Paris, we did not go inside the Louvre as you could spend a week there and not see everything. Unfortunately, we did not have the time to spare.  The Big Wheel (Ferris wheel) was running and we decided it would be a great option to see the skyline.  Afterward, we walked to Arc de Triomphe up the Champs-Elysée. The Christmas market was still open with a lot of vendor stalls along the Champs-Elysée.  We visited a couple of stores and went to see the Arc de Triomphe.

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Our next stop was the world-famous Eiffel Tower.  We took the metro from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower. We spent about an hour in this area taking in the beautiful clear skies on an early January afternoon. The Eiffel Tower was a disappointment for me and did not live up to the hype. It was still very interesting; maybe my expectations were set too high. I asked my son to take a picture of me in front of the Eiffel Tower, see if you can spot the one he took.

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Paris Attacks

Just 6 weeks before our arrival, the attacks in Paris occurred on November 13, 2015. Our daughter was on a train into Paris and was passing the Stadium when the attacks started there.  We heard about it on the news and I called her immediately to make sure she knew and that she was safe. At that point, she was exiting the metro in downtown Paris and it was already chaos downtown. She was supposed to be meeting friends for a night out.

I advised her to find a safe place a.s.a.p.  She met up with her friends and proceeded to her closest friend’s apartment. This friend lived only a couple of blocks from the Bataclan.  I had a Skype call with my daughter after they arrived safely and it was chaotic in the area. She could see the police, ambulances, and all first responders at the Bataclan from the friend’s apartment window.  This was her first time being on her own and it must have been frightening for her.  She kept her cool as best as she could.

Place de la République and the Bataclan

We still had a few things we wanted to see before the sun went down. I wanted to see Place de la République and the Bataclan were the attacks took place.  We visited Place de la République to see the memorial that was in place around the statue.  The Bataclan was a short walk from there and the fencing across the street was covered in stuffed animals, posters, and other items in memory of all of the lives lost that night. It was a very sobering experience to see the location that had been part of the horrific attacks.  I can’t imagine what it was like to be there at that time. After visiting the Bataclan, we went to Place de la Bastille.

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Last Night in Paris

This was our last night in Paris; we wanted to have a good meal with our daughter before we left the next morning. My daughter suggested that we try another restaurant in the St Michel area. We found a restaurant that served 3-course meals for less than 20 euros.  It wasn’t fancy, but my daughter had been there before with a friend. It turned out to be a great meal and very relaxing.

After dinner, we walked around the area and over to the Notre Dame side of the river. We picked up a few souvenirs and then returned to the apartment to finish packing before going to bed.  It was going to be an early morning. Unfortunately, two nights in Paris is not enough time to see everything you want to see.

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Leaving for London and Atlanta

Our alarms went off at 5 AM the next morning; we needed to shower, finalize packing, and catch an Uber to the station. The trip to London was via a Eurostar train at about 7:30 AM.  This gave us plenty of time to get to the station and have breakfast with our daughter before we left.  My daughter had her phone service through her old Au-pair family and it was no longer working. My son gave her his SIM card to use until she got a replacement with the new family.  We could easily replace his SIM once back in the US after her service was activated with the new family.

After breakfast, we went across the street to the station. We said our goodbyes and entered the Eurostar section at the station. Our daughter caught a train to a friend’s place to stay for a few days. Our vacation was winding down and we were heading to London to fly back to Atlanta.  Two nights in Paris are not enough to see everything but was a nice final stop on this trip.

London

The Eurostar train ends in downtown London at St Pancras station. We still needed to get to the airport. The best option was one of the trains at King’s Cross across the street from St Pancras station. We had a couple of hours to waste, so we grabbed a snack and relaxed at a café in St Pancras before taking the train to the airport.

Bitten by the Travel Bug

The Eurail Global Pass made this trip very easy to do, and the kids enjoyed trains more than being stuck in a car with us old people. After about 3 weeks traveling around Europe at a very fast pace, it was starting to show. We were basically zombies by the time we arrived in Atlanta. However, after this trip, we were bitten by the travel bug and knew we needed to do this more often.  Tired or not, it was worth every minute and dollar spent. See our trip itineraries here.

This post was written 3.5 years after the trip. I did my best to fill in the details with the help of family, social media posts, and the pictures I took while in Paris.