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.

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. 

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. 

There was only one time when an older lady sort of made fun of me taking pictures of the fruits on the counter.