Around The World Without Flying: Paris - the journey to Paris, wandering around the city

To join my Scenic river cruise from Paris to the English Channel and back - I arrived in Paris via the Eurostar on the evening of 8th July. Early that morning two of my friends whom I met on the Queen Mary kindly braved the crowds of people and vehicles at the port and collected me from my Northern Delights Cruise. They took me to a local shopping complex for coffee and we had a great catch-up. It was so good to see them again. They then drove me around some of Southampton to Southampton Airport Station, where I caught a train to Waterloo Station, then a taxi to St Pancras Station, the station from where I had to board the Eurostar.

When I arrived at the Paris Nord Station, I was transferred to my hotel by limousine, courtesy of the river ship company. It was peak hour, so quite a slow drive. But it was during that drive and the taxi drive to the Paris Nord Station some weeks earlier on my way to Amsterdam, that I gathered my first impressions of Paris. It is a city of many fine buildings. From what I saw, there were many cream-coloured buildings about five storeys high, each with attractive, simple but elegant plasterwork and a steep grey roof containing small windows, and usually shops on the ground floor. It appeared they were apartment buildings and hotels, commonly with many balconies on each floor that had black wrought iron balustrades. Most of the buildings were in excellent condition, but those in some areas were more run-down. Most roads were quite wide, but some were narrow one-way streets, full of parked cars. I loved the hanging baskets full of large floral displays, like balls of flowers, hanging from many lampposts.

I had a free morning on 9th July, as I was not being collected to go to the river ship until 3 pm. I made the most of that by going on two very long walks armed with my camera and a map from the hotel. (I had to return to the hotel at to vacate my room in between the two walks.) On those walks I was very delighted to see some lovely 'snapshots' of Paris - their beautiful opera house - Opera Garnier, a Roman-style cathedral at Place de la Madeleine, a very exclusive shop with an ornate and imposing frontage - Le Printemps, a huge square featuring a very tall monument to Napoleon - Place Vendome, and a garden where a fun carnival was taking place - Jardin des Tuileries. I had delicious herb omelette at a little outdoor French cafe on the way. It was really, really hot and time had run out, otherwise I would have walked on further to more well-known sites, but I still was very happy with all I had seen, including seeing people of many different nationalities going about their daily lives, and listening to all the rapidly spoken French. Only now and again did I pick up a word I knew.

Despite warnings to the contrary, wherever I walked or was driven, I found that Paris drivers and pedestrians were no problem at all. While the staff at a couple of little street cafes I ate at were not what you might call over-friendly, though they were still polite, the staff member who helped me at the Post Office was terrific. She even folded and taped the boxes for me so I could send parcels to my grandchildren, without me even having to ask. (I can never work out those 3D puzzles!)

When I was driven to the second hotel after the river cruise, we did drive past the Eiffel Tower. I had not realised it is right in the thick of things, as it were, along an ordinary street. For some reason I thought it was like our Shrine of Remembrance - isolated on a hilltop, with roads leading up to it. I also thought it was silver. Not so, more a dull brown-grey, from what I could tell. From the bottom it just looked like metal scaffolding. Anyway, there were temporary fences all around it and no-one could enter. But as I looked upwards I thought to myself - nothing would induce me to climb those narrow winding steps or get into those pokey little elevators to go up that high. No doubt those of you who love the tower and the view from the top will jump on me for saying so. Maybe my reaction was coloured by my feeling ill. However, I do agree that from the distance it looks imposing on the city skyline. Interestingly, our last tour guide from the river ship told us that Parisians hated it at first. It certainly is in stark contrast to all the stately buildings they have.

On my last drive back to Paris Nord on Friday, I was fortunate enough to see the Palais de Justice - the French law courts. So beautiful! I also saw some imposing cathedrals, though not Notre Dame.

All in all, I was very disappointed not to have seen Le Louvre, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, the museum that features Monet’s work, other art galleries, Champs-Elysees and so forth, but I still have memories of a lovely, dignified, historic city to take back with me, and in the end that is what counts.