Paris 2009

05/11/09 - 09/11/09

Laura took me for a romantic trip to Paris.

On Thursday we took the Eurostar to France. At check in they searched Laura's backpack, presumably because she'd thought to pack lots of metal objects like a pencil tin and thermos flask - but overall this was still much easier than flying. After a change to the TGV (fast and efficient!) in Lille and a short bus ride, we arrived at the Dream Castle Hotel, Disneyland.

Friday was our big day in Paris. We started by exploring the area the RER deposited us in, which included the famous 'inside out' Pompidou Centre.

Next we headed over to the Notre-Dame cathedral, a building of staggering size both inside and out.

We explored a bit more around the river, and found a patisserie where Laura impressed me by fluently ordering a chocolate croissant and a drink. Then we took the metro back across the river to the Louvre. Since we were only in Paris for a day we didn't have time to go in, but walked the tourist flooded path up to the Arc de Triomphe. From there we could also see the Grande Arche, some 5km away.

Finally we headed to the Eiffel Tower. Laura wanted to go up at night, so we ate at a pizza restaurant whilst it got dark, and then got tickets to the top.

The area around the Eiffel Tower is a horrible tourist trap, but once we were up it was an awesome experience. After taking countless photos at the top and miraculously not losing anything to the wind, we started back down, exploring every nook and crannie on each of the three levels that 90% of it's visitors miss.

Saturday and Sunday were the days of the Magic The Gathering Grand Prix Paris, the largest Magic tournament ever at 1,961 players. It was held at the Newport Bay Club, Disneyland (notice the pieces of Laura's plan coming together). The language barrier was basically non-existent and I only once had to refer to my page of useful French phrases. Neither of us did particularly well, but it was fun and we did win a few prizes in side events.

We had our last buffet breakfast at the hotel and came home on Monday.