Bonjour, Merci, Au Revoir…Or France, I Love You! || Day 3 - Paris
In Paris every second building is a landmark and a tourist
attraction. If you have only two days to explore the city, the choice of places
to visit becomes a challenge. I've tried to do my best and to come up with the
most time efficient route to cover as many points of interest as possible in
one day. (Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Seine River Cruise were in the program of
the first day)
Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the busiest landmarks where
lines are huge and can be compared only to the lines for a new iPhone. The best
time to go is early in the morning. To tell the truth, even though it was early
and raining, we still spent about an hour in lines. Well, in my humble opinion
Notre Dame is totally worth the wait, especially the towers. I was impressed
beyond any expectations! The views of the city are phenomenal; the proximity of
dozens of mesmerizing gargoyles gives you goosebumps. The rain actually fits the atmosphere of Notre Dame perfectly!
Plan to spend about 2-3 hours at the cathedral (including
the wait) – go inside, then visit the towers. We also went to the archeological Crypt under the cathedral’s Parvis, but if you are short of time – skip it.
There are crowds of sparrows at the cathedral’s square –
they are not afraid of anything! People would hold bread in their arms to feed
the birds and that created quite a show. Kids had a blast and it was so much
fun to watch them.
Too much of anything can become tiresome, so my advice to
stay upbeat during sightseeing is to mix and match. Majestic wonders are
fascinating, but visiting them one after another is not a good idea. Mix them
with some simple pleasures – like having a lunch at the local street market. I
chose Marche D’Aligre (20 minutes by Metro from Notre Dame).
Though the market turned out to be almost closed by the time
we got there, we managed to buy some berries and veggies for my vegan sister and a salmon torte for myself. Oh, and a fantastic apple juice and some fun jams
for presents. We ended up having the most peaceful lunch at the benches in the
nearby square, watching people reading or playing ping-pong, kids playing,
sparrows and pigeons fighting for bread crumbs.
It was nice. It reminded me Russia and my childhood.
It was nice. It reminded me Russia and my childhood.
Our next stop was Pont Alexandre III – the most ornate and
extravagant bridge in the city. The bridge is perfectly located and served as a
starting point to walk to our next destinations – through Champs-Elysees to Arcde Triomphe. I don’t have enough words to describe all the beauty of the bridge
and surrounding palaces – every little detail is amazing out there!
The last place to visit that day was the famous Montmartre. Unfortunately, when we got there, it starting raining, plus we couldn't figure out which streets to explore (the boulevard with Moulin Rouge on it and dozens other cabarets, strip bars and adult stores didn't really make the cut for the romantic Montmartre, "the charming heart of Paris"), so we decided to wrap it
up quickly. No pics and no stories here, hopefully next time.
Next morning we said au revoir to our beautiful hotel room,
to the view from the window, to the pigeon on the cornice of the neighboring
building and to Paris.
I think Paris will be one of my favorite retreats when I
get old and have all the time in the world to travel!
When in Paris, do:
- Use Metro, it covers the city perfectly.
- Walk as much as you can.
- Go to some quiet neighborhoods (with no tourist attractions) and look at Paris from “within”.
- Shop at Champs-Elysee's for yourself and for presents – you don’t have to spend a fortune, there are many affordable stores, chocolate and candy shops.
- Ask for directions and advice to prove wrong the stereotype that French are rude and arrogant, because they are not! They are helpful and nice.
“Don’t you have these in your country?”
she asked with an ironic expression on her face.
“We do. I just enjoy taking
pictures of random things”, I replied.
She kept saying something in French and
we left.
All other encounters with locals were more than pleasant. While having
lunch at the park, I offered some fruits to the old lady sitting next to me.
She didn't speak any English and was thanking me repeatedly with a surprised
childish expression on her face. She was sweet, just like the rest of the French I had pleasure talking to.
You can read the previous post about Paris here.
Your photos of Paris are gorgeous! Unfortunately it was overcast the whole time while I was visiting so my photos look kind of gloomy. Great tips by the way.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mintnotion.com
Thank you, Eden! We had issues with the weather as well, maybe just had a couple of sunny hours. But still loved it!
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