The city that wore a hole in the sole of my shoes... Paris, France

For the third time in five weeks I found myself up long before anyone in their right mind should be on a Friday morning heading to London Luton for an early morning flight to Paris. As fun as it is to be able to jet set around Europe, the early morning flights are starting to kill me. Seven hours later (yet only 9:30 in the morning), Bart and I found ourselves landing at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France. Having only planned our trip to Paris for two full days and one long night we knew we would have to maximize our time to see all the sights. The main items on the itinerary were the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Versailles, everything else in between would prove to be a bonus. Our hostel was located a little ways from the city center, so thankful to packing light, we carried our backpacks all morning and set out on a walking tour of Paris.

Our first stop found us at the Louvre. The interesting blend of old architecture of the museum and surrounding buildings contrasted by the glass pyramids with view to the art galleries below provided an interesting contrast of old and new. The Louvre offers free admission for students on Friday evening so we delayed our visit inside until later in the day. From the Louvre we made our way towards the Concorde turning across the Seine to view the National Assembly. The view in the distance of the Eiffel tower was surreal. I couldn’t wait until later in the day to make our way to the tower. We walked along the Seine River passing the Museum D’Orsay. Walking along the river we saw many street artists and vendors selling memorabilia from nouveau art and film movements. Around midday we arrived at Notre Dame. The line to go inside the cathedral was considerably long and Bart and I agreed not worth the time on this visit (you have to prioritize at some point, J ).Nearly mid afternoon we decided now was a good time to go check in at the hostel and drop off some of our belongings before a full evening at the Louvre and seeing the Eiffel tower at night.

Below is a view of the conflicting (in my eyes) architecture of the Louvre.

Our hostel, Woodstock Hostel, was located in the 10^th arrondissement (area basically) of Paris, a few stops on the metro north of the city center. With the current transportation strike in Paris, I am glad the metro was operating smoothly while we were there. Having to walk to and from our hostel would have significantly cut into our sightseeing time. Luckily we had no problems. After dropping our bags at the hostel we wandered around the local shops in the nearby area. This was the Paris I imagined, butchers with meat, bakeries with bread, fruit shops with fruit, etc… there was no, and for good reason, need for a large grocery store. After picking up a roasted chicken baguette (which was delicious) we made our way towards the Louvre via the Arc de Triopmhe (which I would love to see at night but wasn’t able to) prepared to stand in a long line to see the Mona Lisa.

Below is a photo of the Mona Lisa… it isn’t much larger than 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

The free admission to students began at 6:00 p.m. By 6:15 p.m. we had made our way through the queue for tickets (not needed for a student) and were standing in front of the Mona Lisa. Honestly, as neat (yeah, I said neat) as it was to see the Mona Lisa in person, it was somewhat of a letdown. There were large barriers protecting the crowd from the work. The nearest we could get was ten feet or so and therefore were unable to see the brushstrokes of the piece. Following the Mona Lisa we explored the Louvre (by this time I was exhausted and couldn’t take much more art, which is a little overwhelming in the Louvre which seems to go on and on forever).

Bart and I then decided to finish the evening with our first visit to the Eiffel tower. We walked from the Louvre to the Eiffel tower, approximately 40 minutes intending to grab some cheese, bread, and meat to eat for dinner near the tower. Well, we found ourselves in a Chinese restaurant getting take-out. Either way, we still saw the tower at night (which was amazing) and were able to catch the strobe light show of the tower that occurs hourly. With a full day at Versailles ahead we called it an early night.

Below is a photo of the Eiffel tower at night.

Day two in Paris included two things: a trip to the palace of Versailles and an attempted trek to the top of the Eiffel tower. Versailles is located about forty five minutes from Paris. We had heard of a combined rail and entrance ticket (to avoid the lines) at Versailles, but no one at the ticket window understood our limited French or knew what we were talking about. After one misstep taking the wrong train (which we recognized one stop later) we were at Versailles and in a mad dash to beat everyone from our train to the front of the ticket line. Thankfully Bart and I both sport long legs and a quick stride… making our way to the front of the tourist crowd from our train saved us hours in the line (which was still about an hour long). We had heard that art students get in free to Versailles. Both being enrolled in an Art class in London we thought we would give it a try… no go, we needed documentation of our art student status. (hint for those going to Paris as students, bring some sort of identification of art student to save 15 euro’s).

Inside Versailles was a sea of tourists, us included, and a bit overwhelming. Assuming you lived there, the Palace of Versailles would be the ultimate home to wake up in and stroll to your porch overlooking the grounds to have one of those “it’s great to be king moments.” Everything about the Palace is lavish… the art work, the rooms, the gardens, everything. Most impressive was the partially renovated Hall of Mirrors, where the Treaty of Versailles was signed ending World War I. I would love to go back to Versailles in either the spring or early summer. I can only imagine how beautiful the grounds would be when properly maintained in the proper season. Our visit focused mainly on the interior of the palace as we were limited for time and the weather wasn’t the best to be wandering around outside.

Below is a photo of the Hall of Mirrors.

Making our way from Versailles back to Paris we took the metro over to the Eiffel tower. With a few hours before our bus to the airport for our flight back to London we had intended to go to the top of the tower, climbing the first two floors by steps and the last ascent in the elevator (the only way to the top). We bought our tickets for the stair climb, the shortest line at the base of the tower, and quickly darted up the stairs. 680 steps later we were on the “second floor” of the Eiffel tower. We quickly noticed the line for the elevator to the top snaked around the platform many times and appeared to be moving quite slowly. Being the sensible people we are (we thought about chancing it) we decided it was in our best interest to enjoy the view from where we were and leisurely make our way back to bus stop for our flight back. The view, however, from the second floor of the Eiffel tower felt equal to the top of any tower I have been to in Europe.

Below is my favorite daytime shot of the Eiffel tower.

En route to the bus stop we passed the main Opera house, failed to find a cheese stop for Bart to pick up some cheese, and enjoyed a crepe from a street vendor. The leisurely stroll, after a weekend of much walking and many sights, was the perfect way to end our trip to Paris. I can’t wait to someday come back!