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Published: June 13th 2014
FRANCE AT IT'S FINEST
(by now we were really getting the hang of paris, so getting around really wasn't an issue!) DAY TEN: Being the second day in France we began to get pretty good at using the metro system, and with the morning starting with sunshine our day was looking up. The weather forecasted was 26 degrees, but with the day before being forecasted as good weather we weren't convinced. We were up reasonably early all stiff and sore, the beds we slept in wasn't ideal, but we just kept thinking.. 'it's cheap and in the middle of Paris' and besides, it was only two nights, so we thought we could get by. The plans for today were to visit the ‘Eiffel tower’, ‘Center G. Pompidou’, ‘Royal Palace’, ‘Musee Du Lourve’,’ Jardin Des Tuileries’,’ Place de la Concorde’,’ Des Champs Elysees’,’ Arc De Tromphe’. But basically it was a day with a lot of walking...
We started the day walking past our bakery, but we noticed that it was closed! We already realized it was under new management but we didn't think it'd close! Anyways we took a bit of a
detour through the shopping district in Paris; unfortunately a lot of the shops don't open until 10:00am in Paris. So it turned into more of a stroll passed the shops rather than through them. But none the less we were passing through a different region of Paris so the building and landscapes where all different anyways. We followed the shops around to the art center "George Pompidou" that had a bit of a fountain installation in front of it. It was in a massive basin and all the individual fountains used and sprayed the water in a different way. All of the art pieces where very unique, but they all complimented and contrasted one another so it was really quite interesting. Although the art center looked quite intriguing and i really wouldn't have minded having a look around, mum insisted we were on a tight schedule and we didn't have the time to. So we pushed on.
With the weather looking good we slowly made our way to the Louvre, this enormous museum that houses the "Mona Lisa" and has this glass pyramid featured in "The Da Vinci code” and the ‘Jardin De Tuileries’ where we would sit
and have lunch in the gigantic park that was absolutely beautiful! The plants were all well-kept with the grass and garden beds restricted. The fountains were all clean and running and there where chairs placed all around the garden to sit in or to soak up a bit of sun. So we found ourselves a shady spot and ate lunch. I had a chocolate croissant, my second for the day, mum had a baguette and my little sister had a regular croissant. Then to finish the meal we devoured a bag of M&M's. All throughout the garden was also statutes dating back to the 16
th Century. Then at the end of the garden a little walk go you to the ‘Place De La Concorde’, which was quite magnificent. The pointed statue was covered in hieroglyphics and painted a gold texture. It stood so high and in such an open space it just caught everyone’s attention. Then with the ‘Arc De Triomphe’ just behind it we thought it wasn't a long walk to it, but the distance to it was very deceptive. Taking a lot of the afternoon, we stopped regularly because by now our feet where absolutely aching and the
weather was really beginning to warm up which didn't make the walk any nicer. FORTUNATELY FOR US… We were on another massive shopping street, the ‘ Des Champs Elysees‘. So ducking into shops to look at clothes broke the walk up a little. My personal favorite there was H&M where i bought three shirts, one being an ice-cream one and the other fairly plain and the last one being a 'run DMC' shirt. I was pretty impressed with that shop. Pushing on, the walk was nearly done. But it still felt like it went forever, and that’s when we realized we'd been walking uphill the entire time, hence why we were all feeling so exhausted.
We FINALLY got there and the reason it looked closer than we anticipated was because the arch was in fact a lot bigger than we had originally realized! But the main thing is that we got there and we could sit down. The arch was beyond stunning, the amount of detail put into the stones, with all the carvings and sculpting’s was absolutely mind blowing. The fact they actually made something that big and that impressive in a time that didn't have a
lot of things available like a crane etc. We sat around the ‘Arc De Triomphe’ for a while just taking it in along with the beautiful weather and because our feet hurt too much to move. But it was all absolutely magnificent. After all the walking mum definitely agreed we'd take the metro to the closest stop at the ‘Eiffel Tower’. Which was at the viewing point a little bit in front of it, this spot was famous for the trick photography. With people that look like they're leaving on the tower or holding the tower and the photo squishing the tower. So obviously we were going to take a few of those. Then the bottom of the Eiffel tower was just a small walk down the steps. When we'd had enough fun with the trick shots we made our way to the bottom to see the Eiffel tower 'close up'! After endless amounts of photo's we decided we'd check out the cruises heading around the river in Paris. We found one making stops at every famous location and doing a complete circuit. We took this cruise and got off at the closest stop to our hotel, the pass we'd
bought was a day pass because mum intended on taking the cruise again in the evening to see all the buildings all lit up at night. The lady told us as we got off, that the last circuit was at 8:20 that would get back to the stop "Hotel De Ville". So that's the one we aimed to catch.
Once we got back to the hotel, the first thing we all did was take our shoes off and stretch our toes, then put on some trackies and just relax! The last little bit of the afternoon went quick enough. Before we knew it we had to leave to head down to the spot where the cruise docked. We were cutting it close, the boat already pulled up and the people had already boarded it. So we steadily jogged our way down and just made it on. We managed to find some seats to sit on the opposite side of the one we'd caught previously so the view was completely new. The cruise was really relaxing it'd cooled a lot and the sun was beginning to set as well. It was more a look into the nightlife of Paris.
Lots of people had all gathered with a bite to eat and a bottle of wine just to enjoy the weather and sit along the river, there where couples, guys having a chat over a beer, girls catching up on some goss and the casual person just sitting by herself reading or correcting something it was quite nice. Even the people around Paris, mum and i agreed weren't as technology orientated as say the people in Australia, which was a nice break.
We were back at the hotel around 10 which was nice and early compared to the night before and i think we were all in need of it. I pretty much just did a blog entry once i arrived back, sifted through some photos and that was the end of the night for me.
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