The
Journey Out & Paris
Sunday May 25 2003
The trip out to Paris was by rail. We caught the 09:02 First Great Western HST from Bath Spa to London Paddington. Being a Sunday it was not a surprise to find the train not taking the direct route. Instead we turned right at Bathampton Junction to head down the line towards Westbury. Taking the right hand chord of the triangle at Westbury granted us access to the West of England mainline for the run to Paddington via the Berks and Hants route.
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Arrival
at Paddington was few minutes later than the booked time of 10:40 but
this was no problem as the onward connection from London Waterloo International
was some hours away. A quick transfer via the London Underground Bakerloo
line took us to Waterloo to wait for the Eurostar check in to open. |
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The 13:40 Eurostar to Paris Nord stopped at Ashford on the way but otherwise took us non-stop to France. That said, as with the HST, engineering work in the UK saw the service retimed to 13:48 and diverted to run via the Catford loop instead of the more normal route. On the way to the Channel Tunnel, beyond Ashford, the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link mainline runs alongside the traditional boat train route. It was looking just about ready to open. In France of course the high speed link was open before the tunnel was ready...
Arrival in Paris was at about 17:53, as scheduled. Unlike a cool and cloudy London Paris was warm and sunny. The hotel, the Mercure Gare de l'Est, was about a 15 minute walk away. Check in took a bit longer than it should have done due to a mess up regarding payment, something we had done in advance but the hotel was not aware of. Thankfully this didn't take too long to sort out and we were able to check in to room 110. The hotel, as the same suggests, is next to Paris Est station. Room 110, along with many others, overlooks the station. With the window open the comings and goings below could clearly be heard, but thankfully when the window was shut we could hardly hear a thing.
The Commercial Court house on the Île de la Cite, Paris. May 25 2003 © Brian Bane
Taking advantage of the unexpectedly good weather we headed out on foot towards the River Seine and Île de la Cite. The route took us down the Boulevard de Strasbourg before inadvertently wandering down Rue St. Denis that seems to very much be the red light district !
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The first public clock in Paris, which is on the corner of the Conciérgerie was first unveiled in 1370. May 25 2003 © Brian Bane |
The Palais de Justice. May 25 2003 © Brian Bane
The circular walk took us past many of the well known sights in Paris including the Conciérgerie, Sainte Chapelle, Notre-Dame, Hôtel de Ville and the especially ugly Pompidou Centre.
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Notre-Dame in beautiful evening light. May 25 2003 © Brian Bane |
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Notre-Dame from the south bank of the River Seine. May 25 2003 © Brian Bane |
The Hôtel de Ville. May 25 2003 © Brian Bane
From the Pompidou Centre we more or less retraced our steps back to the hotel to get some rest before a full day of sight seeing.