Paris, 1980

My one and only trip to Paris was with my mom in 1980.

It was a short three day stopover between Amsterdam and Berlin, so not much time to see anything.

We stayed in a smallish hotel near the Place d'Italie in the 13th arrondissement, the Hôtel de la Place des Alpes. I remember it as being quaint, but bordering on seedy. The current reviews seem to agree.

We had a shower and sink in the room, but the toilets were on the landings. The hallway lights were on timers, so you turned on the lights and dashed. If you were lucky you made it to the loo before being plunged into dark. They now have full baths in the rooms. What luxury.


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Our room faced the inner courtyard, but we had the same little Juliette balcony as shown here.

My strongest touristy memory was of trying to visit the Eiffel Tower, but, errmm, we couldn't find it. It is after all such an unassuming little structure.


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Instead we visited the Arc de Triomphe.


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And on the top, we had a revelation and found what we were looking for: