GETAWAYS: City Break in Paris by Charlie Stong

Standing in a packed Paris Metro carriage on the way down to the Eiffel Tower on day one of our trip to the City of Light it is not unrealistic to suggest that two years ago I wondered whether such joys would ever again be possible.

For the majority of the past 24 months our trips – like those of most others – have been limited to the UK borders. And that’s no bad thing in a way for we’ve discovered places in this beautiful country that we may never had, had it not been for the pandemic. But my goodness, is it good to be able to go abroad again.

This trip was itself delayed – we had originally planned to go for new year, but Covid restrictions meant we put it off until the February half-term.

If you’re short on time but fancy a foreign city break, Paris is the perfect destination for us Londoners. Just 2hrs 16mins on the Eurostar from St Pancras, it’s easier to reach than many English cities, and dropping you in the heart of the French capital the train is the perfect way to travel.

We boarded our Eurostar at 7am and were in our hotel, the cosy boutique Maison Mere in the Opera district, a little over two-and-a-half hours later.

To put that into context, it takes me almost that long to get from my home in Islington to the South London Press offices in Catford by bus.

 

After dumping our bags we – that’s me, my wife, Hayley, and our nine year-old daughter, Nellie – jumped on the Metro and headed for Cadet to Trocadero station for a quick look at the Eiffel Tower.

Be warned, you will be accosted by one of the many sellers of mini Eiffel Towers if, like me, you have your camera phone out and are dawdling like a daydreaming Brit tourist.

We decided to spend our first day on the south side of the Seine, and our second on the north, so crossed the river at the Eiffel Tower and headed back east along the river.

Our first stop was the wonderful Musee d’Orsay, which boasts one of the most extensive collections of mega-famous art you’ve seen, including van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles and Starry Night – a painting so famous that Don McClean mentioned it in his introduction to his song Vincent.

There are also masterpieces from Renoir and Monet there.

In the afternoon we made our way to the Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the Seine, and headed for the Conciergerie, used for many things including the incarceration of many of the opponents of the French Revolution in the late 18th century.

Those kept there included Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, who was kept here before being taken to her place of death at the hands of the guillotine – the square now known as the Place de la Concorde, a short distance away.

There was time for a quick drink before dinner at Le Bistro des Augustins – a lovely little bistro on the south bank of the Seine, selling one-pot wonders based on potato gratin.

There, three meals, a soft drink and a carafe of house wine set us back barely €40 and provided a hearty fill after a long day on our feat.

After a wonderful French breakfast in the hotel we headed for the starting point of day two – Paris’ most famous museum, the Musee du Louvre.

Sadly there we were disappointed, as although we were making the most of our Paris Museum Pass provided by the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau, we hadn’t read the small print.

Beware that if you use one of these passes you do still need to book a time slot for some of the bigger attractions, and unfortunately we missed out on the Louvre this time. Mind you, whisper it, I think the Mona Lisa is a bit of a let down, anyway.

However there was plenty more to do. We next headed for the Musee de l’Orangerie, a museum of two rooms built in the 1920s to house Claude Monet’s eight majestic Water Lilies paintings.

You’re asked to remain silent when viewing these works – which Monet produced as a gift to the people of France after the perils of the First World War, and which he intended to be viewed in peaceful tranquillity.

We grabbed a quick baguette on the Champs-Elysees before heading for the Arc de Triomphe, then jumping back on the Metro to the Centre Pompidou, an amazing building built with its escalators on the outside, allowing more space inside.

It is full of stuff to do for kids, as well as adults – indoor play areas as well as art galleries. But arguably the most impressive thing there is simply taking the trip to the top of the escalators to take in the view across the city. It’s well worth a visit.

That night we enjoyed dinner at the majestic Bouillon Chartier. The restaurant was created in 1896 by two brothers, Frederic and Camille Chartier, in a building resembling a railway station concourse.

The long Belle Epoque dining room has a high ceiling supported by large columns which allows for a mezzanine, where service is also provided.

The name Bouillon literally means broth, or stock, and the restaurant, as grand as it is, was originally a cheap workers’ eatery which served stew, near the Grands Boulevards, the Hotel Drouot, the Musee Grevin and the Palais de la Bourse.

The restaurant is open 365 days a year, with a menu offering traditional French cuisine.

The table service is provided by waiting staff dressed in the traditional rondin, a tight-fitting black waistcoat with multiple pockets and a long white apron.

Again, the prices were amazingly cheap. But beware, if you don’t plan, Paris can be an incredibly expensive city. We enjoyed a nightcap in bar La Cacahuete in Square Montholon, a bar which could easily have become our ‘local’ had we stayed longer than the two-and-a-half days we were there.

Before boarding our Eurostar on day three there was time for a walk round our district – Opera – and to the world famous department store Galeries Lafayette, and a trip to the church built on the site of the Madeleine cemetery in the Rue d’Anjou, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI’s original burial place. And that was that – a wonderful whistle-stop tour of Paris.

We were on the Eurostar at 3.12pm and home by 5pm UK time – and foreign travel had well and truly started again

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‘Welcome home to Maison Mere’

“Welcome home”, announced the receptionist at Maison Mere as we arrived for our two-night stay in the heart of Paris’ Opera district, and that’s exactly where we felt during our stay – at home.

Maison Mere is based in Rue Mayran, about a 15- minute walk from the Gare du Nord, Paris’ northern railway station which connects the Eurostar to London St Pancras.

A quarter of an hour the other way down Rue Lafayette is Galeries Lafayette, and the shopping centre district of the city. We stayed in a Parisienne triple (superior category) room with breakfast included, which is priced at about €280 a night.

The room included a large double bed and staff had brought in a child’s bed for Nellie.

We were made to feel welcome immediately. The hotel is small but perfectly located just a couple of minutes’ walk away from Cadet Metro station, from which you can link to all the major attractions in 20 minutes or so. But its location, although reasonably central, is suitably out of the hustle and bustle to provide the perfect retreat after a day in the centre of town.

The tranquil 19th Century Square Montholon is a stone’s throw away, and houses a children’s playground and a quiet place to sit and take in the surroundings.

The hotel has a funky bar/restaurant, which doubles as the breakfast room where warm min-croissants with jam were the Stong family favourite.

There’s also a hot buffet breakfast available if you prefer. Maison Mere translates literally as ‘Mother’s House’ and the hotel says it is a “cosy nest, the place to which you return for solace and comfort”, and we could all do with a bit of that at the moment.

It’s a funky boutique hotel with bright decor, yet at the same time retains a cosy feeling of somewhere you can relax as well as play and work.

The hotel houses 51 guest rooms and two “royal suites”.

We had a wonderful stay.

For more information see https://www.maisonmere.co/

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Paris pass – and how to get to the city

Paris is easy to reach with regular flights and Eurostar trains throughout the day.

We travelled by Eurostar – https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en – where prices start at £35 for a one-way ticket if you’re smart enough to get in on one of the sales.

We also used the Paris Museum Pass, which gives access to dozens of museums.
www.parismuseumpass.fr/t-en and parisinfo.com

 

Main Picture: Charlie, Hayley and Nellie at the Arc de Triomphe; Eurostar train