We took the Eurostar through the chunnel from London to
Paris. It was really a wonderful way to
travel. A nice, comfortable, modern
train and with less than a 3 hour travel time it was a great way to transfer to
part two of my trip. I still had my dad
along with me for the adventure.
We arrived in Paris about 3 PM to slightly sunny weather but
very cold temperature, about ten degrees colder than London. We are staying in the Bastille area at a much
better hotel in comparison to London with a bathroom big enough to walk around
in and even a little mini closet! For
the short amount of daylight we had left we went to the quintessential Paris
site, the Eiffel Tower. I think the
sheer magnitude of this structure blew my dad away and as it did me on my first
visit two years ago. The base of this
structure is far larger than one imagines through pictures. Despite the freezing temperatures, we decided
to climb to the top. We took stairs up
to the first and second level (ground floor is level zero in Europe). Then we took an elevator all the way to the
very top. There are fantastic views at
all levels of Paris. We stayed at the
top as the sun set and the City of Lights began to illuminate. This was a beautiful sight but also a very
cold experience.
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| Eiffel Tower |
After making the trek down the tower and back to the
Bastille neighborhood we hunted for a dinner spot. For dinner we both ended up with steak
frites, basically steak and potatoes and an amazing baguette that certainly hit
the spot after skipping both breakfast and lunch that day.
Our first full day in the Paris was mostly cloudy with a
occasional sun peaking through but still very cold temperatures. We walked along a farmers market of sorts
stopping for croissants on our way to the metro. For the record, croissants in Paris are a
thousand times better than what you find in the states. In the states croissants are doughy and
soft. In Paris, they are flaky and
buttery and melt in your mouth. Our
first adventure of the day was the Louvre.
It was a bit different from what a remembered two years ago and the size
of the museum is simply overwhelming. We
spent four hours in total and probably could have spent much more but wanted to
save some daylight and rushed through several parts of the museum and skipped
others. We stopped to see the Mona Lisa
of course along with other Renaissance works by Da Vinci, Raphael,
Michelangelo, Mantegna, and Botticelli.
From the Louvre we walked through the Tuileries Garden,
impressive I’m sure in the spring and summer but rather drab in the winter, to
the Place de la Concorde which marks the start of the famous Champs
d’Elysee. We walked down the avenue all
the way to the Arc de Triomphe on the other end. We even crossed under the street to stand
under the magnificent arch. We did not
stay long however because the arch island left us exposed to the extremely cold
temperatures. We then walked around the
Madeleine areas before walking all the way back to the Bastille. That walk was likely one of the coldest
experiences of my life. For dinner we
weren’t that hungry and ended up splitting two quiches and a tarte aux pommes
(apple tart).
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| Arc de Triomphe |
Our second day in Paris was to be our adventure day out to the Palace of Versailles, approximately a 30 minute train ride outside the city. This palace is known as the biggest and grandest palace in all of Europe and it is certainly easy to see why. This palace is over the top in its grandeur from the vacation residences on site to each individual room’s décor. The tour was a bit shorter than we had anticipated from such a residence and seemed to be over quickly. The day was much to cold to do much walking of the vast gardens (we had a bit of snow falling in the morning). We did tour the Grand and Petit Trianon palaces on site however. After Versailles we stopped at the hotel before heading out to the area where your find the Opera for some more shopping and dinner. For dinner we split the lasagna bolognese (a safety dish) with the riskier duck confit, a French classic. I actually liked the duck confit better than the lasagna.
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| Palace of Versailles |
Our last day in Paris stood to be the coldest yet if that
was imaginable. We started first by
heading to the Musee d’Orsay, most known for having the largest collection of
Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, my favorite genre. I have particular fondest for Renoir, of
which they had several along with Monet, Manet, Pissaro, Van Gogh, Cezanne,
Gaugin, and Seurat. This was a wonderful
museum, much smaller than the Louvre making it much more manageable and far
less overwhelming.
From there we walked along the Seine River to Notre Dame,
which was unbeknownst to us celebrating its 850th year! This of course meant larger than normal
crowds given the quickly dropping temperatures. The tour of Notre Dame is free which gave us
some shelter from the cold. After our
tour, we walked to the Latin Quartier for a lunch of baguette sandwiches and
apples and to do some final souvenir shopping.
As the afternoon progressed, it began to snow harder and harder. Eventually, we were forced to take the metro
back to the hotel for the afternoon and only ventured out once for dinner in
the Bastille area surrounding the hotel.
My dad had some beef and egg concoction and I had the traditional croque
madame sandwich of ham, cheese, and fried egg paired with a glass of Sancerre
(white wine). It was good meal to end
our Paris stay.
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| Notre Dame |
As we left Paris in the morning we walked out into a snow-blanketed
city before parting ways. My dad was to
go back to London to fly home the next day.
I continued on my journey to my next stop, Nuremberg. This stop in Germany is pure business,
however, so don’t expect much in the way of pictures of updates. I will likely resume again in Italy!
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