Home ·· News Room ·· Prints ·· Licensing ·· Gallery ·· About Us ·· Contact Us ·· Articles ·· Services Paris, France trip report, October 13-20, 2003 Updated December 12, 2008 Page 1 of 5 Next page
	Click here to download the whole Paris trip report in Acrobat PDF   Paris, France October 13-20, 2003 © 2008 Aaron Linsdau Exchange rate: $1.10US to 1 Euro Thursday, October 16, 2003 Right in the city We stayed the first two nights in the Latin Quarter at Hotel Eugenie, 31 Rue Saint-Andres-des-Art 75006 Paris. Rooms were 112 Euro ($1.18US = 1Euro) and very comfortable. We stayed on the inner-court room, so it was very quiet. The first day was spent at Saint-Chappel, a huge cathedral with stained glass windows. This is also the place where Marie Antoinette spent her final days in a cell. The Palace de Justice, next door, is a working court with French lawyers running hither and yon. To get into the court, you had to run your bags through an x-ray machine. I blew it and let my high speed 3200 ASA film go through, so it's likely toast. You really can take anything through without issue except a backpack, so just put things in a tray, pass it along and the guards don't give it a mind. Funny thing was the guards asked to see Patty's flashlight. There wasn't any problem, but maybe it looked like something more menacing. The best part about this place was they had toilets. That seems to be a little tough to find in the city. Where to stay? After touring around Isle Cite, we went over to the Latin Quarter to find a place to stay. All of the places recommended in the guide books were booked. Funny that. So, we wandered down the street and found a place to stay. It had double beds, showers in room as well as a toilet. Excellent, considering we were warned about European-style accommodations. From there, we went over to the Notre Dame. Wow! The place is massive, but don't show up too late. Everything closes up very early. Going up all 488 tower stairs is well worth the paid trudge. We purchased the carte-musee, a museum pass that's good for everything in the city for nearly a week. It's well worth it. The towers on Notre Dame provide a great vantage point for taking in the city. The bell inside the towers is massive, something you wouldn't want to be close to when it tolls. We wandered down and found some good, cheap eats in the Latin Quarter. I ate the salad and haven't died yet. Make sure you pick up a copy of the Metro map that has an overlay of the city, available at most metro stations. Without overland references, you won't be able to figure out what lines and stations you need to use. With the Metro pass, we were able to move about the city efficiently. But, we were warned to watch out for pickpocket crews. Being fresh off the boat on your first self-guided international jaunt, it makes you a little paranoid. Wednesday, October 15, 2003 I didn't sleep well, waking several times at night due to the time change. Then, when I did finally fall asleep, we both slept all the way to noon. Egads! We ran down, checked out and checked in, had to change rooms for another 112 Euro. Next page
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