My trip down the Champs-Elysées

by Matthew Bacon

In November last year, I found myself on a three day break to Paris (lucky or what!). The trip was planned to be a break from the norm, work and everything else stressful in life.

A decade ago, such a trip would have meant either a trip by plane (with a two hour check-in at the airport) or a ride on the ferry followed by a train/car journey. Today, thankfully, the journey is now a lot quicker thanks to the Channel Tunnel.

A short train ride on a cold Autumn morning from MyAtari HQ into London deposited me at Waterloo International, London. After passing through Customs and exchanging some currency, my friend and I found our seats on the Eurostar train to Paris Nord. The journey from Waterloo to Paris took an impressive three hours after which we jumped straight into a taxi, dumped our bags at the hotel and began our sightseeing tour of the city.

Having never been to Paris, I was looking forward to indulging in both the food and the culture of the city. The first thing that struck me about Paris was its wonderful architecture. Like most major cities, Paris is home to some beautiful buildings including the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre.

With so many major attractions, it was difficult to know where to start. We therefore decided to purchase two tickets for Les Cars Rouges, a tourist bus that visited the following nine attractions:

1. Effiel Tower
2. Champs de Mars
3. Museum of the Louvre
4. Notre-Dame
5. Museum d'Orsay
6. Opera district
7. l'Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysées
8. Grand Palais
9. Trocadero

With time against us, the race was on to see as much of Paris as we could. During our trip we managed to go up the Eiffel Tower, have lunch at the Louvre, visit the stunning Notre-Dame, stroll around the Opera district and visit the Arc de Triomphe. On our way to the Arc de Triomphe (down the Champs-Elysées), I was casually looking out the window at the shops and the crowds of people when suddenly I spotted an Atari Megastore!

As we passed it, I riffled in my pocket for my camera and managed to take the photo above (hence its blurriness). I couldn't believe it! Could it really be true? Was my mind playing tricks on me??

Once the bus had stopped, my friend and I jumped up from our seats, stepped out of the bus and marched back down the Champs-Elysées determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. After several minutes walk (the Champs-Elysées is a very long road), we finally arrived at our destination to find that is was in fact the Champs-Elysées branch of Virgin Megastore. Would you believe it? ;-)

With our train back to London leaving Paris Nord in just over two hours, we completed our shopping, strolled back to the hotel, collected our luggage and waited at the station for our train back home. If you are thinking of taking a trip to Paris, I can certainly recommend it! I had a great time and wish that I could have stayed longer... maybe next time.
 

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MyAtari magazine - Feature #3, January 2002