Too tall?

Originally posted by pintohoo: ↑

Ok - left on the 05.44 train - got into paris about 20 minutes or so later.

saw bugger all on the way in - I'm used to 6 km hour walking and not much faster on the boat --------- you don't see much out a train window in mostly dark at 2 km a minute

Entering paris reminded me of entering St Petersberg Russia on the train - dismal - don't know what it is about rail yards - but, they ain't pretty.

I will put up the little map of my walk - I walked about 25 km - on a mission to just have a quick look ------------ I was underwhelmed

There's more people in Tassie atm than Paris - and, I am grateful for that - I'm not a city guy and I sort of thought that the 'magic' of Paris might grab me instantly - it didn't - it left me pretty flat really.
I did see a few buildings that I thought lovely and will go back to - the Grand Palace stands out wildly as 'come and see me' - which, I will - I hope it's ok.
I walked to the Eiffel Tower - if I knew what it was like - I would have given it a miss. There were no queues at all - I could have gone in immediately - I didn't go up and I have no intention to.
The city is full - thousands of tables ------- almost completely empty - even when it got to midday - looks sort of sad I guess - and, dozens and dozens of restaurant boats parked up because there's no one wanting to eat there - there's no tourists.
I wish I was into it - because it's there for the taking - but, all I saw was overpriced menus and undervalued - that's what I thought anyway.
I was thinking about committing to spend 9 months there - then, I came back to six months - the way I feel atm is that 1 month would be well enough - but, I would like to see the change in season for the trees and gardens - but, is that worth it for me??????? Don't know.

Anyway - some of these are a bit rushed - and, you can see where I walked - the weather started a bit overcast but, turned beautiful - it was perfect walking weather.

View attachment 2339699

start with just some early morning shots near the railway station - I was heading towards the Louvre to just see the area
just shows what it's like as the city wakes up

Arsenal Marina is nice - has a really good feel about it and is quiet even when there's noise above it

https://youtu.be/mIw9ZHvjebk

https://youtu.be/dxW8NX8vj-A

Went from the station to the louvre to the eiffel tower then back to the station

https://youtu.be/RJYaDOiu04A

there were bugger all boats on the river

https://youtu.be/7Cf6Y1ruJR8

In the background is the Grand Palace - that was impressive - I will go to see that later

https://youtu.be/Pbfoc6WPXpY

A bridge well worth seeing

https://youtu.be/Sh7BaCnQgEQ

https://youtu.be/tYtMSRcgqHo

This is the bridge where people lock up their secrets - usually with their love squeeze -- supposed to be romantic ------- well, it didn't feel like that this morning - but, eh?

https://youtu.be/YAk4f1OWjrc

she was probably worth locking up for 3 or 4 hours though

https://youtu.be/KoHjezFyHqg

this was - must have been very close to lunch time - there were thousands of tables like this - just to give an idea of how few people are in the streets

https://youtu.be/cOyOqYy-jNE

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I wouldn't give up on Paris too quickly Pints.

Me and the missus have spent 6 Cristmasses in Paris now, a month each time. The last one being just before covid broke out and stopped all travel, at least out of AUs. We now know the city better than some of our local areas here in Melbourne. In fact it's only with 6 months of lockdown here that we now know all the back streets around our local suburb now.

We can 't wait to get back there again. And also western Canada where a daughter lives.

Regarding sites in Paris, we have our favorites but tend to stay with the locals rather than the tourist sites. So we've been around the Tour Eiffel several times but never bothered to go up. Sacre Coeur is interesting but you have to ignore the touts (walk over them) but much better to go round the back one of the oldest chapels left in Paris, lovely back streets away from the tourists and a vineyard! Plenty more across Paris but its taken us years of reading, walking and just looking to discover it all.

Where one city appeals to someone but not to others. You just have to find what suites you. For example there a few things I'd like to see in London again, but really I am not interested in the rest of London or England. Result we haven't been back in over 20 years. Doesn't mean its good or bad just doesn't appeal to us enough.

Keep well and keep traveling.
regards
dkit