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TGV I
Our train arriving at Stuttgart main station.My family and I had given my mum a TGV trip from Stuttgart to Paris including a few days in Paris as a birthday present. The challenge was to find a date where most of us would be able to go on the trip together. We managed to find dates where at least my cousins Philipp and Alexander, Alex’s partner Lisa, and my aunt Teri as well as my mum and I were available: 9
th till 11
thof May. Unfortunately, Philipp had to cancel the trip just three days before due to unexpected circumstances. So, there were five of us left.
I caught a train from Dortmund to Stuttgart the day before and stayed at my mum’s place near Stuttgart for the night. At 8 am on the 9
th, a taxi came to pick us up at my mum’s place and took us to Stuttgart main station where we met with Alex, Lisa, and Teri. The train arrived perfectly on time, and we took our seats on the top floor of a first-class carriage, very convenient and with a nice view. The train departed on time, at 9.10 am, and took us to Paris via Karlsruhe and Strasbourg within only 3
TGV II
Speed between Strasbourg and Paris. hours and 23 minutes. The distance between Stuttgart and Strasbourg is about 150 kilometres, and it took us roughly 1.5 hours to get there. The distance between Strasbourg and Paris is about 500 kilometres, and it took us less than two hours. The train drove at a speed of around 300 kilometres per hour for most of the time between Strasbourg and Paris. Amazing! My mum had brought some croissants to put us into the right mood for a trip to France. We bought coffee in the board bistro and had it along with the croissants, and we enjoyed the fast and smooth ride on the train.
The acronym “TGV” stands for “train à grande vitesse”, high speed train. It can do up to 320 kilometres per hour. The first TGV line was opened between Paris and Lyon in 1981, followed by others. These quick connections are a good replacement for flights and are more popular, which is great for the environment. Within the first five years of operation, the train carried 60 million passengers. Of course, this requires specific rail tracks, called “lignes à grande vitesse”, LGV. France has a network 2,347 kilometres of these rail tracks, and
TGV III
First class coach. nowadays there is also Thalys connecting cities in Germany, France, and the Netherlands to Belgium, and Eurostar, connecting Paris, Amsterdam, and Brussels to London.
We arrived at Paris Gare de l’ Est at 12.33 pm and, caught a metro train from there, and checked into our hotel, Hôtel Tonic du Louvre, conveniently located in the 1
st district, with Louvre, Isle de la Cité and many other sights within walking distance. All the rooms were small, which is quite normal in Paris. But unfortunately, the room my mum and I moved into was not very nice, either. It was particularly small, had an old carpet in it, the safe was difficult to get to work, and the bathroom was run-down and shabby. Calling this a superior twin room was a bit of a euphemism, but when we complained the next day, the staff told us there was no better room they could give us. They were super friendly but could not help us. So, we stayed where we were. At least it was, compared to the other rooms where Lisa, Alex and Teri were staying, comparatively quiet at night.
The weather was splendid, so after settling into our rooms,
River Seine
... with Eiffel Tower in the background. View from one of the bridges leading onto Isle de la Cité. we walked onto Isle the la Cité, one of the islands in the river Seine, and sat down on a square to have a late lunch. I had a Croque Monsieur: gratinated ham and cheese toast which I had without ham, of course, and hot chips on the side, with some nice rosé wine. After lunch, we walked towards Nôtre Dame de Paris, the famous cathedral that was on fire a few years ago and that is still under reconstruction. It will not re-open until autumn, so we could only walk around it. There is still scaffolding around it, and there are cranes and building material everywhere around the cathedral. But at least from the outside it looked almost normal again. In spite of the scaffolding and the limited view, it was impressive, and whenever I see it I think of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, the famous novel by Victor Hugo. In front of the cathedral, there was a bread festival where one could buy all kinds of breads, which made the square in front of the building lively.
We walked back to Sainte Chapelle, which is just a few metres away, the former palace chapel of the
Nôtre Dame I
The front of the church, with a bread market on the square in front of it. royal residence on Isle de la Cité, and thought about visiting it. But we saw there was a long queue and decided against it. Instead, we made our way up to Panthéon, which is located on the hill of Sainte Geneviève and which is the burial site of many famous French personalities, amongst them for example Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Marie Curie, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. On our way up, we needed to have a small coffee break to let my mum rest for a bit. I took the opportunity and had an Orangina along with my espresso. The soft drink can be bought in many countries nowadays; however, it definitely tastes better in France.
We continued our walk up the hill and arrived at Panthéon and admired its beautiful decoration. Just opposite it, there are a few more richly decorated buildings: the Faculty of Law of the University of Paris and Town Hall of 5
th District. Between the two buildings, there is a wide road leading down the hill and opening the view of Eiffel Tower further down. On one side of Panthéon, there is a library, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, that has the names of 810 famous poets, thinkers, and
Nôtre Dame II
Still under reconstruction, with cranes and scaffolding. scientists engraved in the wall facing the square. Behind Panthéon, there is the church Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. Its façade dates from the 17
th century, but there was a church in the 5
th century already, dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul, along with an abbey, dedicated to Sainte Geneviève, the patron of Paris. Sainte Geneviéve lived in the 5
th century, was known for her asceticism, her support for the poor, and, most of all, for forecasting that King Attila who was conquering Europe at the time would not attack Paris. The legend goes that she encouraged all men to defend the city and all women to pray. The men wanted to lapidate her, but the women prayed. Attila marched past Paris, and this led to Sainte Geneviève being the patron of the city.
It was getting late, and we left the surroundings of Panthéon. We had dinner at l’Îlot Vache, a restaurant my gourmet cousin Philipp had recommended to us. Although it specialises in various beef dishes as the name tells, I got a nice vegetarian dinner: salad with goat cheese and vegetarian gratinated ravioli. The others had Boeuf Bourguignon, steak, or salmon. For dessert, mum and I shared Crêpes Suzette,
Panthéon I
The front and entrance of the building. thin pancakes that are flambéed with orange liqueur. After dinner, we were happy and tired and returned to our hotel.
On Friday morning, we left the hotel at 8 in the morning and caught a metro train to Place de la Bastille. From there, we started a walk into the district of Marais. The name means “swamp” and reminds us of what was there before monasteries and, later on, palaces were built: a swamp. Our walk started at Place de la Bastille. There is not much left of the fortress that used to serve as a prison before the French revolution and that was stormed on 14
th of July 1789, except for a few walls and some marks on the ground. In 1830, there was another insurrection against monarchy in the same spot, and nowadays, a statue on top of a column serves as a memorial of those who died in the fights. Just across the street, there is the opera that was designed by Carlos Ott, in rather modern design.
We walked down Rue de St. Antoine into an area where, until the 17
th century when Louis XIV moved the residence to Versailles, the royal family used
Panthéon II
The ceiling in the portal. to reside. We walked to Place de Vosges that has a beautiful small park in its centre and where on one corner the writer Victor Hugo used to live for some time. We sat down at Café Hugo to have a nice French breakfast: I had pain au chocolat, café au lait and fresh grapefruit juice. Then we continued our walk to Hôtel Carnavalet, a renaissance palace that nowadays hosts the museum of city history. It walks the visitors through the history of the city, starting in Mesolithic age, well-done and rather interesting. We did not have time to explore it fully, though, because we had booked tickets for Louvre and therefore needed to catch a metro train to take us there before noon.
The square in the centre of Louvre Palace, where a glass pyramid serves as the entrance to the famous museum, was incredibly crowded. However, everything was extremely well-organised. There was a sign telling us where to queue for our 12 pm slot, and the queue moved quickly. Within 15 to 20 minutes, we were in the building. We decided to split into two groups: Lisa had not been to Louvre before, and to give her
Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève
The library next to Panthéon, with the names of 810 famous poets, thinkers, and scientists engraved in the wall facing the square. the opportunity to see as much as she could, she and Alex headed off by themselves. I went with my mum and Teri. We agreed to meet 1.5 hours later in the entrance hall.
We wanted to go and see an exhibition with art from the Middle East and Egypt. However, we could not find it, so we decided to go to the exhibition where some of the famous works of French, Italian, and British painters were on display. We had a quick glance at famous Mona Lisa from afar because we did not want to join the huge crowd there, and we had all seen her before. So, we continued along the other alleys on the floor at a slow pace and stopped wherever we found a painting appealing. Teri, who, amongst many other things, used to work as a professor for history for over 30 years, has an absolutely incredible knowledge. For every painting we took a closer look at, she explained what was being depicted and gave us background information. It was super interesting, and I could have listened to her for hours. For example, there was the Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David, depicting Marat
Saint-Étienne-du-Mont
The church just behind Panthéon. dying in the bathtub after having been stabbed by Charlotte Corday. He was considered to be partly responsible for the massacres in 1792 in which many Girondists were killed. Or there was Nike of Samothrake, a sculpture of the Greek goddess of victory, probably dating from the 2
nd century BC. There were paintings by Domenico Ghirlandaio, Leonardo da Vinci’s teacher (I had only just visited an interactive Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Wuppertal, not far from Dortmund), and Caravaggio, a contemporary of Leonardo’s. Time passed too quickly, and we met with Alex and Lisa again in the entrance hall.
After leaving Louvre, we had a late lunch at a nearby café. I had a vegetarian quiche with broccoli, accompanied by salad, and some cidre. After lunch, we caught a metro train to Ecole Militaire, which is close to Champs de Mars, from where one can walk to Eiffel Tower and usually has nice views of it because there are no buildings obscuring the view. However, this time, preparations for the Olympic Games were taking place, thus there were fences that made it impossible to access many of the lawns, and we could see the beach volleyball venue to be
Sunset over river Seine
Our first evening in the city. where the grandstand for the spectators had been built already. In spite of this, we got some nice views of the landmark of Paris. We had decided not to go up because it is expensive, and being on top of Eiffel Tower you actually don’t see Eiffel Tower. But at least we wanted to be close to the famous monument.
From there, we caught a bus that took us across Pont de l’Alma to the other side of river Seine, where we were intending to catch a boat for a ride on the river. We had bought the tickets already, but when we got to where the boat was supposed to depart from, there was a very long queue of people who already had their ticket. We were assuming we would have to wait for at least two hours and decided to skip the tour. What a nuisance! How can Bateaux Mouches sell so many more tickets than available seats? They could have sold tickets for certain slots and then made sure everyone finds a spot. We would have been more than happy to book such a slot, but the ticket said we could take the tour whenever we
Paris métro
The pedestrian tunnels sometimes remind me of films like Matrix. wanted on the day. I suppose this is one more example of how too many tourists spoil any sense of customer service orientation.
We sat down in front of a nearby restaurant, had drinks and enjoyed the warm weather. My mum and Teri were happy that they did not need to walk any further, and thus, we called an Uber instead of catching the metro train to the restaurant where we had booked our dinner: Perlimpinpin, where the specialty is all kinds of tartar. As a starter, we shared a plate with a big cheese croquette, burrata, and poached eggs in truffle sauce, served with baguette. As a main, I had some “tartar” of bulgur and quinoa mixed with pickled tomatoes, avocado, fresh coriander, lime, and shallots, topped with burrata. Alex and Lisa shared a big platter with various different fish and meat tartars, Teri ate salmon, and my mum chicken. There was no room for dessert…
We wanted to catch the metro train back to our hotel. However, the line running close to the restaurant was closed due to refurbishment work. We did not want to make mum and Teri walk much further, so we called an
Place de la Bastille
... and the memorial dedicated to those who died in the 1830 insurrection. Uber again and were back at our hotel soon.
On Saturday morning, we checked out of the hotel at around 8, left our luggage there, and caught a bus to Montmartre. Montmartre is, as the name suggests, located on a hill, so the bus line Lisa had found took us up fairly high. However, the last metres my mum and Teri had to climb. We arrived just below the famous church of Sacre Coeur shortly after nine in the morning, which meant that there were not so many tourists there yet. We could enjoy an undisturbed view of the church and the city below, also not bothered by any of the merchants trying to sell all kinds of useless and cheap souvenirs. At 9.30, the café Hardware Société just below Sacre Coeur opened, and we could have another wonderful French breakfast: croissants, café au lait, and fresh orange juice. Nowadays, one can buy croissants in so many places in the world, but nowhere do they taste as good as in France.
Feeling reinvigorated, we climbed the last few steps to Sacre Coeur. For a moment, we considered visiting its interior. However, upon seeing another queue we decided against
The Opera House
... at Place de la Bastille. it. I was not too unhappy. I had seen it before, and I remembered it being beautiful on the outside but nothing special on the inside. We took a walk around the hill: past the church of St. Pierre de Montmartre dating from the 12
th century and into some of the streets in the area. There was one souvenir shop next to the other. All the roads and squares were packed with tourists. It was not nice at all. We made our way to the funicular railway that departs just below Sacre Coeur and rode down to its lower station. From there, we walked to a nearby metro station and caught a metro train that took us to Moulin Rouge, the famous cabaret theatre. It is, as the name suggests, painted in red, and has a small windmill on its top. The blades of this windmill, however, had come off shortly before our visit and had not been reinstalled yet. In the small entrance hall, freely accessible, there were a few tables showcasing the history of the famous venue. It opened its doors in 1889, and originally, the women dancing there were double jobbers who worked as washerwomen or linen
Place de Vosges
The square surrounded by renaissance buildings and a beautiful park in its centre. maids or the like. The famous dance was originally called “Quadrille”. The name “Cancan” goes back to an Englishman called Charles Morton who described it as a funny dance that makes a lot of noise and comes from France.
From Moulin Rouge, we headed back towards our hotel. We left my mum and Teri at the metro station close to our hotel, got the luggage, and joined the two again to catch a metro train to Gare de l’Est, from where our TGV home would depart. We had enough time to have a (mediocre) sandwich in a café in the train station and to buy a few souvenirs. Then, we boarded our train home. The ride was pleasant. Again, our speed was around 300 km/h for most of the time until we got to Strasbourg so that crossing a distance of almost 500 km took us less than two hours. Then the train slowed down and we needed almost 1.5 hours for only 150 km. We got to Stuttgart on time, said a quick goodbye, and Teri, Alex, and Lisa rushed to catch their connecting train that would take them to where they had parked the car. My mum
Hôtel Carnavalet I
The entrance to the historic museum of Paris. and I had plenty of time to catch our connecting train. However, two French ladies who spoke only French asked us to help them book train tickets on a ticket machine, so we would almost have missed our train. But we got there just in time, rode to Waiblingen, and caught a taxi back to my mum’s place from there.
I was super happy with and grateful for this trip with my great family. The five of us had a wonderful and relaxing time. We did not feel rushed, we enjoyed the weather, the sights, and the food as well as each other’s company. I found riding the TGV absolutely fascinating and fun. Paris I find to be a nice city, but slightly overrated, and unfortunately, there are simply too many tourists that do not allow one to remain spontaneous and that spoil the quality of customer service as well as the prices. But in spite of all this, the city is definitely worth visiting, and doing so by TGV makes it even more exciting!
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