What a treat it was. Easter in Paris. We drove to our nearest station, Bram, and parked the car, without any trouble, in the free parking area next to the station. The train left at 11am sharp and were in Paris by 5pm. Everything went like clockwork.
The trip began on an a regional LIO train taking us to Toulouse. There was plenty of seating, an upstairs and downstairs. In Toulouse we changed to the TGV (train à grande vitesse) a superfast train, only four and a half hours to Paris Montparnasse. We had around half an hour to wait in Toulouse and took the opportunity to buy a coffee and a bun while we waited for the platform to come up. Boarding the TGV took us a little while, it was a very long train and we were in coach 17, but we found our seats on the top deck with little trouble, stored our bags and settled down for the trip. The Man was beside himself with excitement at what there was to offer. Excellent WIFI, spacious seating, a buffet car and . . . it was evident as soon as the train began to move that the train would run quietly and smoothly.
We really couldn’t fault the French railway system. Efficient, fast and clean. The four-and-a-half- hours just whizzed by in comfort.
However . . . (there’s always something) when we arrived at Montparnasse station it was ENORMOUS and we couldn’t find the way out. It honestly took us about 20 minutes and when we eventually emerged onto the Paris streets, Google Maps sadly let us down. I had booked a hotel only five minutes from the station but poor old google took us all over the place. I think it was at least an hour after descending from the train that we actually found the Hotel Waldorf Montparnasse Don’t get excited it wasn’t like any other Waldorf that I know of. But, it was nice little place with a pleasant lounge area and comfortable rooms. The shower in the bathroom was fantastic and the staff very friendly and helpful. We made a cup of tea (we always do) and then ventured out to find a place for dinner.
We found the restaurant La Vache Au Comptoir just around the corner from the hotel and we struck lucky. Not only was the food extremely good the owner was friendly and genuinely interested to speak with us. His English was excellent (he’d lived in America) and he told us all about his new venture, a Créperie in Saint Germain-En-Laye on the outskirts of Paris. He’d had enough of being in the city and since covid it had been increasingly difficult making any profit. We hope to visit him when we’re travelling back to the UK sometime. Pain Perdu by the way is made in many different ways, it’s also known as French Toast. I think using Brioche is the best way of making it, then it’s eggs, sugar and milk mixed together. Dip the brioche (or bread) in the mixture and then fry in butter. Serve with vanilla or salted caramel ice-cream. Well, that’s how I would make it. It has very few calories of course 😋
The next day was Good Friday and we weren’t meeting up with our daughter and granddaughters until lunchtime. We stored the bags at the hotel and took a walk to and around the Montparnasse Cemetery. Many famous people are buried in this enormous place and it seems there is room for every religion, culture and race. It was fascinating to stroll around. I always love reading the inscriptions on the headstones I’m fascinated by names, dates, ages and information that you can discover in these places. We looked first for Samuel Beckett then Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Guy de Maupassant among others
We stopped for a while to watch a couple of stonemasons repairing some inscriptions and adding gold leaf where necessary, which was fascinating. They were happy for me to photograph them.
Montparnasse cemetery is not Pere Lachaise, where Jim Morrison is buried . . . that’s for next time.
We went to the Pompidou Centre (click to see more about it). It’s a fantastic building, the architecture style exo-skeletal. A wonderful exhibition centre which was only marred by the amount of people in the exhibition rooms. It was hot and difficult to move around. We had the grandchildren with us and whilst the ten-year-old enjoyed the fashion side of things, the seven-year-old was bored and hot, which was completely understandable. It’s not much fun if you’re at waist height to everyone else and you can’t see anything at all on the walls.
It was stunning travelling up the external escalator and the higher we went the more spectacular the views. It was well worth the effort. At the very top is a restaurant where you can sit and take in a panoramic view of the city. Sadly fully booked on this visit.
On our final day in Paris The Man and I went to visit Versailles. It was something I had always wanted to do. But, what a disappointment. We had booked tickets for 1pm and it was decided that we would not take the children with us this time so my daughter stayed back at our apartment and had a chilled day with them. This was absolutely the right decision. We travelled to Versailles on the metro which I have to say was easy and very reasonably priced. When we arrived there was still a very long queue for 12 noon entry which was a little off-putting. However we lined up with others at the 1pm sign and eventually moved in through security at around 1.45. It was extremely busy, like the worst kind of rush hour. I discovered later that Versailles has an average of 27,000 visitors A DAY!! Which is equivalent to more than 3,000 an hour. I mean, it’s unpleasant and frankly not safe at all. The rooms are quite small so you are herded through. There are lots of paintings on the wall, Louis this and Louis that and queens and kings and another Louis…you see where I’m coming from? Not many rooms are furnished so no ‘feeling’ of what it was like to live there back in the day. The Hall of Mirrors, the most famous room in the palace was all right, but not spectacular, I expected to be blown away but I wasn’t. The crystal chandeliers were . . . okay.
We fought our way through the rest of the rooms but I couldn’t wait to get out and into the gardens. We eventually found the entrance to them after being taken through the gift shop (naturally) and discovered to our dismay that we would have to pay again to enter the gardens. When I asked the girl about this she told me they had just begun charging last Thursday. . . basically the day before the Easter holiday. Needless to say, The Man and I just made a hasty exit and head back to the centre of Paris.
NOTE: there are two stations for Versailles: Chantiers and Rive Droite. We chose Chantiers which is a longer walk to the palace, but thank goodness we did. On our return we passed the Rive Droite station and it was absolutely packed with people trying to buy tickets and get on the trains. When we got to Chantiers it was clear, except for a small queue at the ticket machine.
We averaged 15,000 steps a day, walking everywhere. My favourite walk was a was along the Seine to the Pont Neuf where we had a wonderful view of the Eiffel Tower. We went into the Samaritaine, visited a delightful tea/florist shop and we stayed on the Place des Vosges, one of the best squares in Paris; beautiful architecture surrounding a typical French cloistered park with trees, seating and grass areas.
We will go back to Paris . . . there is such a lot to see in this wonderful (but very busy) city! Have you been to Paris? What are your thoughts on the place, tell me in the comments please.
