The view of the stained glass ceiling is phenomenal. Chaddy's got nothing on this place. From here we headed up onto the roof for a spectacular view of the Paris skyline & the back of the Opera House. We had seen the front of the Opera House all lit up on the night drive but I was looking forward to going into the foyer & checking out the opulence. Unfortunately for us there were rehearsals for a new ballet being held at the time & for what turned out to be the ENTIRE time we were in Paris so it was a no go zone. Bummer!
After grabbing some lunch on the steps of the Opera House we headed off to the Place de la Concorde....& along the Champs Elysee where we got to pretend we had money. I don't think the shop keepers appreciated my nose prints & drool on their windows but too bad! The shops along this boulevard occupy some of the priciest real estate in the world & their window displays did not disappoint. There was even a queue to get into Louis Vuitton....I couldn't even afford a key ring in that place!
At the end of the Champs Elysee is of course the lovely Arc de Triomphe. Luckily there is a pedestrian underpass to get into the middle of the roundabout cos I wasn't too keen on playing chicken on the most dangerous intersection in the western world....all 12 roads leading into it! Underneath the Arc de Triumph is the tomb of the unknown soldier. It also has the eternal flame which apparantly has only ever gone out twice.....once was when a group of Aussies peed on it....classy!! Back down the other side of the Champs Elysee we headed to the Obelisk. Now, I'm not too happy with the Egyptians at the moment but I will go into that more later!
We also checked out the Princess Diana tribute. I had imagined that she died on the outskirts of the city so it was shocking to realise that it happened in a tunnel right underneath central Paris. From the memorial you can see the Eiffel Tower & the top of Notre Dame. The gold, concrete flame is a bit ugly but the railings & concrete around it have been decorated with tributes, pictures & random statements which made for some interesting reading. For some reason there were lots of Michael Jackson tributes written there too!
By the end of Day 1 we were exhausted & had estimated we had walked about 15kms so we headed back to our hood for some dinner. Later on we went up to Sacre Coeur....literally a 5 minute walk up the hill & there it was. The prettiest & whitest Basilica I had seen & of course even more spectacular all lit up at night. I just love the smooth curves of the pure, white stone. What's more, there was a lovely view of the night skyline & the sparkly Eiffel Tower from the top. I could have spent all night up there.....especially when we headed into the little artist village area with shop after shop selling freshly cooked crepes with Nutella & cream. Heaven!
The next morning it was back to Sacre Coeur to meet up with Gav & Christine, the Kiwi's we had hung out with while on Busabout. After a skip around the inside of Sacre Coeur it was back down into the centre of Paris to knock a few more sights off the list. We headed down past Moulin Rouge to Jardin de Touleries, next to the Louvre Museum. As it was a Tuesday, the Louvre was closed but it gave us a great opportunity to get photos of it with much less people around....not an easy thing to do at any of the sights in Paris! Before heading off to Notre Dame Cathedral we had the obligitory crepe break - something that would be repeated several time that day! The crepe guy even recognised us when we went back later - I thought it was cool but Andrew was disgusted!!
Photo: Not a bad place to get married aye???
So we walked along the Rhine with our crepes & criss crossed along all the bridges (including the Carrie bridge from Sex In The City) & ended up at the stunning, gothic, Notre Dame Cathedral. The stained glass windows inside were breathtaking but not the most intersting part. I was fascinated by the confessionals. I have only ever seen them in movies really so I was picturing the old, timber boxes that you sit in with the Priest guy peering at you through the little sliding window. Well not here. No, instead they had a set up that I can only describe as the kind of place you go to when you have an appointment with your bank manager. So freakin weird!! Before we knew it we had to say goodbye to Gav & Christine & grab the metro back to Monte Martre....for our nightly visit to Sacre Coeur.
Next up on the itinerary was the beautiful Palais de Luxembourg, maybe my favourite garden in Paris. It is a student area so has a very relaxed vibe with heaps of groups of kids chilling out in the gardens having picnics & hanging out. There are also lots of cheap eateries & I found some amazing brownies nearby.....I think that adds to the nice memories of the area! Then down to the Pantheon (nothing compared to my favourite Roman structure!!) & the Bastille. The Bastille is not very exciting but there was a bomb scare there while we were there so that added some colour. They ended up closing all the roads & the metro & bringing in the dog squad & police in riot gear.
The rest of the day was a blur of cathedrals, parks & yep, you guessed it, crepes!! Oh, & Andrew payed $9 for a 250ml beer......aarrrrrgggh! One of my favourites was St Chapelle, another gothic cathedral like Notre Dame but with no tourists (good tip Dad!). The stained glass inside was amazing but what was exciting was that there was a troupe of acrobats hanging from the ceiling, practicing for some sort of perfomance inside the Cathedral. They spun around on their silks & ran up & down the pillars & walls...it was really cool & quite modern for a church!
On our last full day in Paris, we had to pick up our passports (no problems there - woo hoo!) & then we were off to tackle The Louvre Museum. I had been warned about The Louvre.....you know...."You could spend a week there & still not see it all....". Well, we kinda stuffed up. We were going to go the night before because it was half price night but we were too exhausted, so we decided to go after picking up the visas. This meant we didn't get there until 3pm but we thought it was open until 9pm like the night before......whoopsies, that is only once a week for half price night. SO, it actually closed at 5.30pm. Hmmmmm......we made the decision to head straight to the Egyptian Antiquities section because neither of us are much for paintings & we are both interested in Egyptian history. Remember I said earlier that I wasn't happy with the Egyptians? Well it's because they have been having an ongoing battle with the French Government over the Obelisk in Place de la Concorde. You see the Egyptians want the Frenchies to return it to them & the Frenchies don't want to. So the Egyptians came over & took back a heap of the Egyptian artifacts from the exhibition. This has resulted in rows & rows of empty glass cases, empty hooks on the wall & a seriously depleted collection. Boooooo!
It was still amazing though. Walking through the vast halls of the museum - though it doesn't take too long before you forget to look at the artwork & find yourself craning your neck at all the amazing frescoes & stunning architecture. I guess I'm not really cut out to be an art lover!! Of course, a visit to the Louvre would not be complete without stopping in on the Mona Lisa herself. I was so surprised by how excited Andrew got. We battled our way through the crowds of people & there she was. A bit small but impressive all the same. It is one of those moments when you say "Oh my god, I can't believe I'm here". It seems it had even more of an impression on Andrew than me because every time I turned my back he would scamper off back to see her again. He was a bit star struck I think!
Photo: There she is.....behind reflective glass!!!
So our visit came to an end, we will definitely have to go back just to wander the endless halls & soak up the atmosphere some more. We had a date with my favourite icon in Paris though.....the Eiffel Tower. The funny
thing with the Eiffel Tower is that it doesn't matter how often you see it, you only need to spot it peaking through the trees for it to catch your breath all over again. We headed over to base of the tower....& that's the other thing, as you walk towards it, it doesn't seem to get any closer....you just walk& walk!! We were planning to climb up it but because of strong winds, they had closed the stairs & were making everyone go up in the lift. This resulted in over a 2 hour wait.....we gave up & headed up onto the hill opposite it instead to wait for the light show. It's ok though, cos we need to leave some stuff to do when we go back :)
And so our adventures in Paris came to an end. We are next heading to Portugal & to be honest, I am looking forward to the break!! Europe has been amazing but it is relentless. It is the kind of place where you feel the constant pressure to be out & about all day, every day because there is so much to see & never enough time. Although.....there's always enough time for another crepe!!
NOTE: You may be wondering about the horrific bedbugs?? Well, incase you didn't catch my rantings on facebook, we unfortunately had a VERY bad case of bedbugs in our hostel in Paris (I'm not sure how the mattress didn't get carried away while I slept on it). Sadly, it has since come to light that it is quite common in Paris, which is a real shame because it did put a slight dampener on things at the start. Especially when I was trying to walk around the city covered in hot, itchy bites, trying not to scratch myself into oblivion. The standard of accommodation in Paris is sooooo bad it defies words but they've got the goods as far as the sights go so it will never stop people from going there. It is just a bit sad that they don't care about people more. Love you anyway though Paris xx
Brilliant as usual, Ari.
ReplyDeleteThank you. xx