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Published: September 17th 2011
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Leading the way in food, fashion, art and history, Paris is like no other city on earth so spending a week there it was bound to be fun! I packed in as much as possible so have detailed each day separately for your reading pleasure (plus added a little history for any history buffs out there).
So get into the French spirit and grab some cheese, a coffee or croissant and read on..
Day 1 - 31 August The day started like no other – getting up at 5.30am, being charged 50 pounds for 5kg overweight luggage (that’s after I threw out 5kg worth of stuff and almost passed out on cough syrup before I threw it out), getting lost on the way to the hotel and coping with a heatwave (only 28 degrees but much warmer than Scotland/ England) and then I arrived - Bonjour Paris!
After dropping my bags off at the hotel, I set off to find some French cuisine and tried my first crepe and flan (my new favourite cake – but the one I tried in Edinburgh was actually better!).
Paris is big – it’s made up of 20 districts and I stayed
in ‘Bastille’, a very nice area with loads of cafes, restaurants, markets and shops. It was very close to the Colonne de Juliett (July column, erected in memory of Parisians killed during the July Revolution of 1830).
My travel buddy Steve (from camp - decided to join me as he had some time to spare before uni started again) knew a bit more French than my ‘bonjour’ so made the language barrier somewhat smaller than if I was on my own.
With no time to waste, as soon as he arrived we went and checked out Notre Dame (at night) and walked along the river Seine enjoying our first of many ice-creams for the week!
Day 2 - Thursday 1 September As if staying on the 5th floor (with no lift) at the hotel didn’t give us enough of a leg workout, we trekked down the main streets St Antoine and Rue De Rivoli to check out the Palais Royal and Musee Du Louvre (palace & museum – the nation’s first national museum and home of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa). We got some good touristy snaps infront of the 21metre glass pyramid before enjoying a lovely baguette in the
Jardin des Tuileries (garden).
We continued on to see another palace, the Grand Palais and walked down the ritzy Avenue des Champs to then pass under the world’s largest round-a-bout to reach the Arc de Triomphe (commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to commemorate his battle victories).
With our legs tiring, we got the metro (train) to the famous Tour Eiffel and took some cheesy tourist photos of the ‘metal asparagus’.
Crepes, baguettes, custard flan.. oh what else is French? Frog legs, snails, salmon and tarte tatin of course! A lovely French dinner to top off our first day in Paris was lovely (and yes, the frog legs are just like chicken! The snails.. well they were ok, but I’m not in a hurry to have them again!)
Day 3 - Friday 2 September The sun was out and it was a warm 27 degrees (but the locals seemed to think winter was on its way and were rugged up in pants and jumpers!?) so we packed a picnic with all things French – baguette, cheese, pate, ham, croissants and headed to the Eiffel Tower to relax in the park and splash in the fountain.
There was a
choice to take the lift or 1,652 stairs to the first 2 levels, so stairs it was! We were up for the challenge to make the big climb (and also didn’t want to line up for the lift for hours) and then got the lift to the very top. The views from all 3 levels were amazing! We timed our summit as the sun slowly went down so we saw Paris by day and by twilight 324 metres up.
Day 4 - Saturday 3 September Today we took the train 1 hour out of town to see the Chateau de Versailles (said to be one of the most beautiful achievements of 18th-century French art. It was built as Louis XIII’s hunting lodge before his son Louis XIV transformed and expanded it, moving the court and government of France to Versailles in 1682).
Hiring a bike or buggy would have been the best way to see the massive gardens but we set out on foot and soaked up another sunny day. The palace was equally as impressive as the gardens and we got a photo in what is known as one of the world’s most famous rooms ‘the hall of
mirrors’ (where the king put on his most ostentatious display of royal power in order to impress visitors) before heading back and experiencing a nice Paris down pour which brought on some cooler weather.
Day 5 - Sunday 4 September Today was ‘free’ museum day so Steve and I set out to conquer as many museums as we could – well the most interesting ones anyway! I’m no history or art buff, but I was up for the challenge and saw; Musee de Pompidou (modern & historical art), Musee D’orsay (historical art and statues), Musee de L’Armee / Hotel des Invalides (one of the largest military museums in the world).
We then discovered the “city beneath the city” in the Musee des Egouts (Paris’ sewer system) for something different and err.. smelly!
Day 6 - Monday 5 September Time to hit up some shops – but only to look! We caught the metro to Opera and marvelled at the colourful glass and steel dome inside Galeries Lafayette (a massive department store).
In the afternoon, after we moved to a hostel, we explored the winding lanes of Montmartre, home of Moulin Rouge and the famous landmark La Basilique
du Sacre Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) for a spectacular city panorama. The winding lanes were full of cafes, souvenir shops but also of character, charm and portrait painters. A very nice place definitely recommended to anyone that might go to Paris!
Day 7 - Tuesday 6 September Our last day in Paris..
We packed another French themed picnic and this time headed to Jardin de Luxemberg.
We then walked our way back to heart of Paris for a peak inside Cathedral de Notre Dame (built on the remains of a Gallo-Roman temple back in 1163). The beautiful stained glass windows and high arched ceilings made this one of the most impressive churches I have seen (and I have seen quite a few so far!).
We did one last lap around the city, but this time gave our feet a rest and cruised along the River Seine, taking in all the city sites with the wind in our hair from an open top boat.
What a week it was – I think I clocked up at least 30km on foot, ate way too much food (but enjoyed every piece of it and tried snails!), came to
understand how the French can eat so many croissants and still be skinny (they ride bikes everywhere!) and came to appreciate that the best way to experience the Parisian culture is to of course taste it, at least try and speak it, but also experience it from deep down in the sewers to stepping it up and soaring high in the sky.
Au revior Paris!
(click on the photos or scroll down to see more)
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