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Published: July 19th 2010
June 25
We packed our things, stopped by the tourist office to buy some gifts and got our tickets to Paris.
We left Tours at 10:30, and arrived in Paris around 12:45. We took the metro to our hotel. It was the worst metro experience yet, busy and hot. We had to wait for three trains at one station because the first two were too full for us to fit.
Just about everything was closing for the afternoon so we grabbed lunch at Carrefour and went to Sacre Coeur. We had lunch overlooking Paris and listened to some street musicians. There were two guys playing guitars and singing cover songs in English and then a lady showed up and played two cover songs of Janis Joplin. They were really good. Sacre Coeur is one of the best places in Paris to take a break and relax, but today it was sunny and hot, so hot that the steps were almost too hot to sit on.
We walked around the area called Montmartre, it’s a nice area with a lot of shops and we saw some paintings that were a bit different that I liked. We went back by the church and
decided to pay the five Euro to go up the tower. We had great views of Paris and the Eiffel Tower, but wish we had the bigger lens for our camera to zoom in further on things.
We walked to Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise which is the most famous cemetery in Paris. It’s where Jim Morrison, Bellini, Chopin, and Moliere are buried. It was a really long walk and we found out when we got there around 7:30 that it closed at 6pm. I guess we should have checked that.
We went to Loving Hut, a vegan restaurant that we later learned is a chain. We had spring rolls, spaghetti, crisp with veggies and tofu, and salad, and then chocolate cake for dessert. The food was tasty except for the dessert, but it was really warm in there.
We found a free outdoor concert on our walk back to the hotel, but the music wasn’t Filip’s favorite.
It was really noisy in our neighborhood after 10/11 pm. There are a lot of strip clubs in our neighborhood and it looks like they are open nonstop, but the busiest time is after midnight and until about 4 am judging from the
noise coming from the street. Earplugs at this hotel are absolutely necessary. We were also on the 6th floor and there was no air conditioning. It must be hotter than they are used to because it was so hot in our room even after the sun went down and we had the window open. We asked if they had a fan we could use to at least get some airflow, but were told no. I realize this was a "cheap" hotel in Paris, but what a disappointment.
June 26
We finally got it together to wake up early. We went to Louvre and managed to walk there and arrive right at 9 as it was opening. There was a bit of a line from people waiting there right when it opened, but that moved through very quickly. We decided to start with Mona Lisa since that would be the busiest attraction. Too bad they put glass over the painting. We walked around the museum for about 3 hours and then went to office of tourism where we got information on how to get to Versailles tomorrow.
At that point we were super hungry and we decided to make the
lengthy walk to Loving Hut. Paris has a very limited selection of vegetarian/vegan restaurants for the city of its size. We saw a stage on the way and walked through neighborhoods ready to celebrate for the Gay Pride Parade, with events that seemed like they take place tonight and tomorrow. We planned to come back to the stage this evening, even though it said it didn’t start until 11:30pm.
Lunch was spring rolls, nuggets, fries, mushroom crepe with salad, and sorbet for dessert this time. The sorbet was much better than the cake and so nice, because it was hot again, even with a fan.
We decided to try the cemetery again since it is over this way and out of the way of everything else so we might as well while we’re here. It's quite a large place, and while we did walk around a little bit, the only grave we went to purposely was Jim Morrison’s grave.
We got dinner from Carrefour and stayed in relaxing since we planned to go out late. We were looking up the info about the Gay Pride events around 11pm only to find out the Parade had been this afternoon in the
area we were in just about an hour after we were there. Music was at the stage we were at just a couple hours after we were there, and the stuff that started at 11:30 was at a club much further away with a big cover charge. I was super bummed that we had missed it, and we ended up just walking around the neighborhood by our hotel to find an open pub.
Again very noisy, this time I had a harder time sleeping. Also, it’s hot in our room at night so we are torn between having the windows open for air, and closed for noise.
June 27
We planned a trip to Versailles today, but still didn't manage to get ourselves there until almost 1pm. We walked back and forth to get tickets because we were trying to find the place with the shortest line. It ended up being more expensive because of fountain show that happens every weekend. We had to come today, because Versailles is closed Monday. It was super hot outside walking around the grounds and since it was mid day there wasn't much shade for relief. It is so big there, and the
Grand and Petite Trianon are so far from the Chateau. We walked through the grounds to Grand Trianon, then Petite, then around the garden area by Petite Trianon to the Queens Hamlet. By now fountains were on for the show so we walked through the gardens by some fountains on the way back to the Chateau. We tried to go to some bathrooms but at every single one the line for the women’s restrooms was at least 15 people, so I didn’t bother. Of course, as always, men’s restrooms had no lines. We did the tour of the Chateau last, and I was least impressed with this. I liked the Grand and Petite Trianon better, and we enjoyed walking around the grounds surrounding Petite Trianon the best. I can see why Marie Antoinette liked being there best.
We returned to our hotel around 7pm, relaxed and cleaned up before heading downtown for the evening. We went to Maoz, Notre Dame, and then walked by many landmarks on the long walk to the Eiffel Tower. It was almost midnight by the time we got there. Then we walked to Champs Elysees and took the metro home from there. We did so
Map of the graves
at Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaisemuch walking we were completely exhausted.
June 28
Today is our last day in Paris. We got a late start after looking at which museums are open and what we should do, getting breakfast, and going to the store. We tried to find a new vegetarian restaurant that is supposed to be close to the middle of downtown, but we couldn’t find the street. It seems like the happy cow website may have led us astray again because we later saw the street on our map that the place is listed on, but it’s a little bit away from where happy cow had plotted it. We ended up back at Loving Hut, which is okay because the food is good, but no beer for Filip, and it’s always a bit warm there, even with windows and doors open, and fans moving some air around.
After lunch, Molly tried to do some shopping, but most of the stores with apparel were too expensive. She did not find any good deals. We made it all the way to Centre Pompidou, which houses modern art. It is also the only museum open on Monday. Their permanent collection was impressive. I finally saw
a painting from Salvador Dali. We seperated for a bit while walking around and when we met back up Filip said to me "They have some paintings from the most famous Czech painter" and I told him how I had found a new artist I liked that I hadn't known before. He asked me who it was and I told him the name was Kupka, to which he said, "That's the Czech artist." What a funny world. Then we walked back along the river and walked up Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triumphe. Then we called it a night and took the metro back to the hotel since we were so tired from all the walking.
-Molly and filip
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