The City of Lights
Trip Start
May 01, 2007
1
23
45
Trip End
Apr 29, 2008
Paris,
France
Sunday, July 29, 2007
We had a nice budget hotel outside of the city centre, but it was very easy to get the Metro into town - I know I say this about every city, but the Paris Metro system was first class. Perhaps slightly depressing inside - quite utilitarian for such a lovely city, but boy was it extensive.
Day one in Paris was an easy one - we got into town, checked into our hotel and napped. It had been a long day of travel from Amsterdam. That evening, we checked out some cheap eats outside the city centre, where a pigeon, perhaps not a fan of tourists, shat on me, then proceeded to throw some garbage (looked like a ball of feathers and bones) out of it's nest at me
01 Eiffel Tower 1
. Needless to say, we beat a hasty retreat from that restaurant. It wasn't all bad though - the prissy woman sitting right next to me looked quite mortified by the entire experience, and moved hastily away from me. It could always be worse. Like that other poor woman that got it in the FACE the next day. Hahaha. Day two was again the stereotypical cheap Matt & Terri tourism outing - walking around the city for several hours. We say the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Élysées, the Jardine des Tuileries and, of course, the Louvre. We didn't entre the museum that day, but checked out the courtyard area and the outside of the building. Now, the glass pyramids at the Louvre... I can't help but feel that they're tacky - you've got this gorgeous old castle surrounding a giant glass and steel structure half buried in the ground. I just don't get it.
Next was the obligatory visit to the Eiffel Tower. Being thrifty, and also enjoying exercise, we decided to walk up the tower rather than take the elevator. This saved us roughly 50% off the admission price, and was also a great work out. The view, not surprisingly, from the tower was spectacular, especially at night. We stayed up there for a couple hours so we could get good day and night photos of town. After sundown, every hour on the hour, the tower resembles a giant flashing disco ball, as thousands of strobes flash on and off for 10 minutes. It was quite impressive to watch, especially so from inside the tower.
Notre Dame Cathedral (the setting for The Hunchback of Notre Dame) was really nice, and Les Invalides, which was a military hospital, and also contained the remains of Napoleon was also well worth the walk. Incidentally, we took a free walking tour put on by a Canadian expat in town - the company can be found at www.newparistours.com and is well worth a look
02 Eiffel Tower 2
. We took a rather morbid walk through the Paris Catacombs, which started life as a rock quarry and ended up as a mass grave for Parisians - there are probably over a million of them interred down there, all arranged into neat patterns. There is a job I wouldn't want. We did visit the Louvre eventually. Budget travellers take note: Wednesdays and Fridays after 6pm the Louvre is free for those under 26, and just €6 for everyone else. The Louvre did not disappoint - the building itself is a work of art, even without anything inside it. The crowds were massive, but it wasn't ever inconvenient - the place is so huge that everyone has plenty of space to spread out.One of the nicest things in the area is Versailles - the site of a massive castle built by a Louis (one of the many). The castle has been converted into a museum, but is expensive, so we just spent a couple hours walking around the massive grounds. Huge pools, statues, hedge mazes, fountains...it was quite impressive. It is hard to believe that all that was built for just one person. What a way to live!
That's really all there is to say about Paris - we really really enjoyed it, and would be happy to return.
Next stop: a visit to Interlaken, Switzerland. Stay tuned...
