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Published: April 13th 2010
Notre Dame
The front of Notre Dame CathedralHi all!
Sorry this one wasn't posted sooner. I slacked as I think it certainly is time for me to head home. As many of you know, traveling the world is amazing but a holiday can be exhausting. Though I certainly took advantage of my time and soaked in as much culture, sites and even sounds through my travels. So my eldest brother might start calling me a Frenchie as France is his favorite city - NOT! haha! I in turn LOVED it!!
Lisa B. and I took the train from Den Haag to Paris on Easter Monday and despite the slew of families on holiday, since many of their kids were off from school. We didn't let most of the site seeing stop us. It was my first time in Paris so I took full advantage of what I could see in 4 days. Even the Chinese tourists couldn't push me around, I started learning how to shove some of my people in their place - ha!
We arrived at our hotel, Hotel du Louvre, which was literally across from the Louvre, around 1pm and soon set our direction to Notre Dame. It was crowded but the
line to get into the cathedral actually moved pretty quickly. As soon as we went explored the church, we were determined to head up to the towers. This time around the long line didn't move so fast. We were standing their for close to 45 min and we barely inched forward. We heard that there was a museum pass that could be used in most museums of Paris, some of which you can bypass the line and get in quicker. So after about 20 min of figuring out where to buy the pass, we finally get them and head back to Notre Dame and to our dismay, it turns out we CAN'T use the pass! Stupid pass... so we made a decision to head back early the next morning to beat the massive line.
With the line of Notre Dame killing our plans, we found a new plan and headed to Cafe Angelina which is just pass the Louvre, to grab some lunch and some hot chocolate. Lisa had heard that this place had chocolate to die for and sure enough, it was DE-LI-CIOUS!!! If and when you head to Paris and you are a chocolate fan, don't disappoint
me and head to this place because you literally drink just melted chocolate. So yummy!! After our food and chocolate coma, we walked around the city a bit and later in the evening we went on a boat cruise on the Seine River. It was perfect because the sun was just setting and we were able to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle! Literally. Turns out that every top of the hour in the evening, there's a cool light display on the tower. Not only were we able to see Paris at it's best, we saw the main star sparkle. 😊
Our second stay started early with us getting to the top of the line for the Notre Dame towers. It paid off as we were about 6th in line and it turns out that we weren't the only ones thinking the same thing. We ended up meeting a nice family from San Fran on vacation. We finally got up to the top and it was certainly worth the wait. We were fortunate to have 2 sunny days in Paris and this was one of them. The views were spectacular and it was amazing to see it from above. Plus
the architecture of this place is mind-numbing, in fact many of these buildings still amaze me just thinking of it. I'm in awe of how they built these massive buildings without the technology we use today.
We were glad that we bought the museum passes as we used them to the fullest extent. I know I got my money's worth from it. As it got us into numerous museums, soon after Notre Dame we walked over to the La Concierge, which was basically a prison and where Marie Antoinette spent her last days. It's a stunning building inside but it certainly doesn't have grand memories. From there we jetted up on the metro to Champs-Elysee, where Lisa went shopping in Louis Vuitton and we climbed up another set of steps in the Arc de Triumphe. Wow - another amazing view of the city. I'm glad I climbed 1500 steps last year, because climbing the Notre Dame towers and these were peanuts.
Lisa and I then parted ways after lunch and I headed to the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully with the sunny day, plus the miracle of the internet and buying online tickets, I avoided the major line to initially
Inside the Louvre
This is the crowd we beat with our museum pass. enter the tower. It was busy there and people were waiting to buy tickets and to just get to the second tier for 3 hours...ugh! I was able to bypass that but then I got to the second tier and they shut down the top for about an hour. boo!! I thought to myself, "Well I could leave Paris and saw I went to the Eiffel Tower but only saw part of it OR make my visit here worth it and suck it up and wait." What do you think I did? I waited of course. I know not many would do that but I was here so I'm gonna do it. It was again worth the wait as I can say I've been to the top, along with it being a cool elevator ride and again the stinking views from the top were amazing.
After being at the Eiffel Tower for about 3 hours 😊, I took the metro to the Rodin Museum. You know that dude who created the Thinking Man... yup that dude. Well, his work is placed in this beautiful estate amidst a breath-taking garden and a beautiful home. I wandered thru there till it
Inside the Louvre
Welcome to my home. closed and was enamored by his work. From there I met up with Lisa and we headed up to Sacre Coure, which is basically situated at the highest point of the city. We got up there for the sunset and turns out a lot of other tourists and Parisians had the same idea. We walked around to find a place to eat and happened upon a cute little bistro in the Montmartre area - yummy food. After our dinner, we then headed to the Moulin Rogue. It's not in the best places but it was still cool to see it all lit up.
Phew... Day 3 was a day of racing the crowds. Thankfully with the museum pass we were able to enter the "secret" entrance into the Louvre, though Lisa still got shoved by some woman in the line as we were vying for line real estate. Once we were able to enter, we set our course directly to the Mona Lisa. Who cares that we're "running" thru this amazing piece of architecture, we were determined to see her first before the Chinese tour groups did! It paid off as we were one of the first 8 people
to set foot in that room. She's basically distanced from the crowd about 20 feet or so and she's in a glass case but it's still cool to see. After that we wandered thru the Louvre for about 2-3 hours. I personally was most amazed at the building itself, my god to think that people lived in here. It's mind-blowing at the grandeur of this place.
From there, Lisa and I grabbed some great Japanese ramen and we parted ways again. She headed back home to Den Haag and I stayed on for another day. I went to the Musee d'Orsay, which holds most of the Impressionist art from Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, you name them, they're probably there. My guide book misled me as it said I could take photos. As soon as I snapped a shot of the cool interior (it's set inside an old train station), I saw the sign, no pictures! oops! The creative energy that thrived during that time was quite remarkable and to see most of them in Paris was to me priceless. I then had to head to my new hotel in the Opera district where I was situated in a really
cool lively part of the city and where to my cousin Malia's help, I found the new Paris store for Uniqlo. Needless to say, I bought new clothes. 😊
From there I sat and had a couple glasses of wine and dinner at a cafe and enjoyed the music of this amazing pianist. It was a perfect way to end my last nite in Paris.
Thursday, I woke up pretty early and set off to the Musee Orangerie which is in the Tuilerie Gardens near the Louvre. This was awesome as not only does it hold more Impressionist work but it holds Monet's Water Lillies. Holy BEEP! It was stunning to see it in it full glory of natural light and placed in these oval rooms. It's one of the few pieces I've seen where I was speechless when it was before my eyes. This is a small museum but it made a huge impression on me (no pun intended). After that other cool museum, I headed towards Rue Cler, where I was set to meet a new found friend, Lauren (friend of another Lisa) Prior to meeting her I ventured into Napoleon's tomb...
What can I
say? That is one fricken big ass monument and tomb for a little guy. What the hell? To me it was so over the top but this man is a French icon and I'm not surprised. Anyway, I then headed off to a cute street called Rue Cler which is filled with cafes and grocers that locals come to buy their fresh meats, fruits and veggies. I met Lauren who is in the entertainment business and we had a delicious lunch and hung out for 3 1/2 hours. I then had to head back and catch the train.
Paris has definitely placed itself on one of my top 5 cities in the world that I've visited and I'm definitely returning. I didn't have a chance to hit Versailles but I certainly wasn't disappointed with what I was able to see. It's just another reason for me to return. 😊 Ah Paris!
Up next, Amsterdam and a whirlwind tour of Holland. This one will probably be done when I get home as it's now after midnight and I have to get up for my flight back home to LaLa Land. Till then, au revoir!
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