When I'd been in the States last month, I'd had dinner in DC one night with Ros and Alison. We talked about them visiting London, meeting me in Ireland for a long weekend, or picking another city somewhere in Europe to meet. We didn't decide anything at the time, but they'd said they would go and look at what flight options existed.
The next day, Alison forwarded to me their itinerary: they were flying into Paris overnight on a Friday two weeks out, staying there until Tuesday. Needless to say, I booked a Eurostar ticket and met them there.
Now, I've been to Paris twice previously. Both times had been fun, but I can't say that I particularly loved the city. This time was completely different. I'm by no means ready to live there, but it's gone from "eh, I'll go back to visit friends if they're there" to "this really is a fun place!"
I think the difference is that the first two trips ended up being "how much can we see and do and visit in as short a time as possible" whereas this one was more "let's avoid the mobs and actually experience the city itself." We walked through the Luxemberg Gardens, got attacked by a hailstorm walking past the Louvre, found some absolutely phenomenal croissants and wines, and just generally had a more relaxed, sane weekend.
A few of my photos are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/ParisMarch2009 and Alison's are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nosila/Paris2009FirstPass
And yes, it's amazing to be able to wake up in London and be at a hotel in Paris by 10:30am Saturday, have a full weekend there, leave at 8:30 Sunday night and still be home well before midnight. I could get used to this proximity to Europe!
3 comments:
Isn't it weird to travel from home to Europe and not have to fight jet lag? I too could get used to this proximity... However, I wish we could get frequent traveler points on Eurostar!!
They do have a frequent traveler program, but I have yet to sign up for it. Probably should have...
Tim, sign up for the Eurostar points program. I wish I had, as I clocked 8 trips on it in 2007 and never signed up because I always thought "how many more times will I really be going this year"?
My favourite weekeend trip to Paris is to meet up with coworkers at a bar in London for one drink on a Friday night, jet over to Eurostar, get to Paris Friday evening, and leave at 6:30 Monday morning, rolling into the office at 9am. This works best if you have a place to stay (like a friend's apt) where you don't have to pay per night, but it does maximise your weekend!
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