We went to Paris...

...on Thursday August 18th for 5 days. We arrived at the airport 1.5hrs early but found that our flight was delayed by 30mins. The flight to Paris from Dublin is about 1.5hrs long and though we left Dublin at around 5:30pm, we didn’t land in Paris until about 8:15pm. Paris is 1 hr ahead of Dublin time. Security in Paris was not too strict. Finding the Metro station to get into town was a little tricky but we managed. We got out in Terminal 1 but the Metro is in another station so we had to take the free shuttle to the Metro terminal. Going into town by Metro will set you back 8 euros, but I wouldn’t recommend this if you had luggage, unless you don’t mind carrying it up and down the stairs while you’re changing lines and exiting the stations. We both had a backpack each so the stairs didn’t bother us much. It’s now midnight, but we finally arrived in our Hotel (Hotel Le Quercy, 2 Star). I did some research and found that many hotels were more economical to stay at than hostels. We paid 40 euros per night for the hotel and breakfast was included. It was not in city centre but it was only a few minutes walk from the Metro station, on the border of zone 2. Even if we did find a place in city centre, we would still need to take the Metro anyways. Tonight was unbelievably hot and humid. It felt like that China trip we took a few years ago. I had a hard time sleeping and instead of a blanket, I used a towel for cover. Luckily, it rained really hard the next morning so the weather was just perfect for the duration of our trip.

On Friday we got up a bit before 9am to catch the breakfast. There was juice, cereal, buns, tea, coffee and croissant. It turns out that today would be the only day that we got up early enough for breakfast, which ends at 9am. The first place we went to was the Arc deTriomphe. This big yellow Arc was in the middle of a huge traffic circle with multiple lanes and speeding vehicles. Crossing it at the right time would be a bit tricky but doable. We’ve seen people successfully crossing it. Personally, I would take the underground to the Arc. It would be so much safer and French drivers wouldn’t be pissed off at you.

From the Arc, we started to walk to the Eiffel Tower. From afar, it doesn’t seem to look very special. At first, all we saw was a radio tower, since only the tip of the tower was visible, we were questioning if that was the Eiffel Tower. However, as more and more of the Tower were expose, we realized that it was the Eiffel Tower and it looks brilliant. The view from the Palais de Chaillot is the best for taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower. The Palais de Chaillot (Chaillot Palace) houses 3 museums. But we’re all museumed out from London so we passed. Instead, we took a lot of pictures of the large chunks of metal, also known as, the Eiffel Tower. The line to buy tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower by lift was very long, but the line to buy tickets to walk up the Eiffel Tower was quite short in comparison. Walking up was Bo’s first choice anyways, and though at first, I thought it would be an outrageous thing to do, I eventually surrendered to Bo’s preference. The walk to the first level was shorter than anticipated. I was only a tad bit tired after arriving on the first level. We hung out here for a short period of time, checked out the view, and took some pictures. The walk up to the second level was a bit longer than anticipated and I was quite tired after the walk. We took in the view and it was magnificent. I was quite proud of myself for successfully walking up the two levels of the tower. This would be the highest that one can walk, since the lift is the only method to get to the very top of the Eiffel Tower. The line up for this lift looks never ending. It was so long that they had to shut down ticket sales for an hour. So we decided to hang out for a bit on the second level and wait for the ticket booth to open up. There was a renovation to the Tower a few years back and though this move didn’t make the lifts go any faster, they did put in some shops and a restaurant. I had my one and only dessert in Paris, it was a waffle with whipped cream. Bo didn’t like it at all, and I couldn’t even finish it. The first bite was excellent but after that, it was like sucking down sugar! I think I consumed a whole week of my sugar quota in half of this waffle… eventually we made our way to the top of the Eiffel Tower (ET). The view and the winds are amazing. Even on a warm day, make sure you bring a jacket when visiting ET. We spent a long time at the ET and it started to get dark by the time we left. The lights on ET were on but the sky wasn’t dark enough for the lights to make ET shine. So that was our Friday. From here on, we were quite unorganized.

On Saturday, we got up really late, missed the free breakfast and left the hotel at around noon. Our first destination was Notre Dame Cathedral. Notre Dame is located on a little island in the Seine river that runs through the middle of Paris. It was made famous by the story of the hunchback of Notre Dame. It was probably famous before then but that’s how I know Notre Dame. The line up at first looked really long, but it was quick to get in. There were people going in and out none stop. It was quite dark inside, there were many candles available for the visitors to light up and put up. Admission is free but a donation would be nice. There was even a priest available for people to confess their sins to. The lineup is quite short but I passed. Its been never since the last time I made a confession. The particular priest available only speaks French, Italian and something else and not English. The English speaking priest was on break. All the glass windows inside has pictures on them. I wonder if they were the originals. Its hard to believe that glass windows can last so long. We sad in here for a bit and there was this creepy organ music playing in the background. I say its creepy cause it sounds a bit like the phantom of the opera music. After leaving Notre Dame, we took a stroll around this little island in the Seine river attempting to find the Sainte-Chappele and Conciergerie. Both should also be on this little island but they just eluded us and we found the Palais De Justice building instead. Bo assumed that this building took over the space cause it’s currently under construction. So we gave up looking and walked around Paris aimlessly. Eventually, we found what were looking for, but they’re closing soon. We will go there tomorrow. We came across many places that sell crepe. I wonder if this is was where crepe originated. I was tempted to get one, until I remembered the waffle experience I had on the Eiffel Tower… after some more aimlessly walking, we arrived at the largest Metro station in Paris, Chatelet Les Halles. I’ve heard that this station is not a friendly one to make connections at night because of the long tunnels. So I always remind Bo to find smaller stations to make our connections. But right now, this station is very lively. There’s a large shopping centre underneath this area and the metro station is located below the mall.

On Sunday, we got up and left at around noon. We’re in search of breakfast and found a nice seafood restaurant by our metro station. We saw ads for this restaurant and there was a large picture of a platter of mussels luring us in. The menu was all in French and I couldn’t understand any of it so we just ordered from the picture. But the picture always looks better then the real thing. When Bo’s platter of mussels came out, it seemed to have been blasted by a shrink gun. It’s just breakfast… this afternoon, we went back to visit the Sainte-Chappele and Conciergerie. However, we made it to the insides of the Conciergerie only. The line up for the Sainte-Chappele was quite long, we took a glance inside this place and it didn’t look like anything special. We thought that this place couldn’t top Notre Dame, and we saw that yesterday, so we skipped it. Eventually, we made our way to the Louve. This place is huge. We went down the pyramid to the information desk and found that they were closing shortly. Another reason why we should have done more planning. But things still worked out. We made our way to the base of the Eiffel Tower and joined the night bike tour. It was an American owed business so all the tours were in English. The tour was very nice. I would recommend it to anyone visiting Paris. They have sister companies in Barcelona and Berlin so we will likely visit them again. Our tour covered all the places that Bo and I visited but the difference is the time of day. Saw the Louve building illuminate with the lights and we biked around the fountain in the Louve. We did a bike by sneak peek of a lady statue with no arms (I don’t remember what she’s called) It was a 3 hr bike ride and we covered over 7 miles. Then we went on a one hour boat tour. We mingled with our group and enjoyed complementary wine from our bike tour company. We passed by the Eiffel Tower and it had lit up nicely in the dark with blue flashing lights. It looks magnificent and we have a picture to prove it. We also saw the statue of Mini Liberty. It looked so cute! We finally made it home with our McDonalds take out at around 1am.

On Monday, we had to pack up our sacks and get ready to checkout. Fortunately, the check out time for this hotel was at noon, so we slept in again. We checked out a minute early and went for some breakfast at the Japanese restaurant. Like any other day, I had nothing planned. After our delicious meal, we proceeded to the Rue Mouffetard. According to the pamphlet, this is “one of the Quartier Latin’s treatures. This lively street combines creative boutiques, friendly bars, and ample space for strolling” We got lost many times before finally finding the place. We wandered around that area for while. I had a large gelato; it looked brilliant and tasted delicious. However, this area didn’t look as lively as the pamphlet made it out to be. It was definitely aimed towards the tourist and I don’t think there were any French people hanging out there except for the employees of the shops. With the remaining time we had left in Paris, we walked over to Luxembourg and spent 15 minutes relaxing in Jardin du Luxembourg. There’s a beautiful garden in this large park area, with a pond where people sail toy boats.