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We’ll always have Paris.
A famous line uttered by Rick to Ilse in Casablanca, and now true for M and J!
Shortly before coming down on this latest 2 week stint to Dubai, we went to the French capital for a couple of days as J had a business meeting to attend there.
It was M’s first time in France, so it was really exciting for both of us. The French have style – it’s everywhere.
Foggy on the first day and bitterly cold for the whole time we were there, it didn’t stop us from walking our feet off. The more we walked, the more we fell in love with Paris. We could even understand a lot of what was spoken to us – our schoolgirl French came in handy after all!
We’ll let the images tell most of the story, interspersed with a few words to describe personal memories and experiences.
Our hotel, the Mercedes was not far from L’Arc de Triomphe in the district of Wagram. We liked that we could open the window to look out onto the street.
5:30am
7:30am
The pâtisserie was very popular!L’Arc de Triomphe
We walked to the top – 300 bloody steps of mostly spiral staircase.
It was well worth the effort to see Paris laid out with the roads leading spoke-like from Place Charles de Gaulle.
Les Champs-Elysées
M's first sighting of the Eiffel Tower - encased in fog!Le Métropolitain
An awesome way to get around when our feet screamed at us to stop walking.
Le Métro was easy to find and also easy to navigate once we got our bearings on the city layout.
La Seine
This is a river that is meant to be walked along - so much to see and do. The Left Bank (La Rive Gauche) is full of art and antique shops. The bridges crossing the Seine are also artworks.
Here's a favourite:
Le Pont des Invalides
The Four Seasons Hotel is between the Seine and the Champs-ElyséesLes Champs-Elysées
We walked the entire length of the avenue from L’Arc de Triomphe to La Place de la Concorde, in biting wind and freezing cold – stopping at a mobile crêperie for hot citrus crêpes to give us warmth.
The avenue is best viewed at night when the lights come on. While J was at her dinnertime meeting, M walked for hours up and down the street to take photos and to observe the tourists and the locals.
Window displays are very classy – the French know how to dress windows. Understated and elegant.
You can find everything – even tazers and personal security equipment!
The Peugeot showroom displayed some cool and crazy concept cars.
Restaurants spill out onto the pavements.
Bistro Romaine - 3 floors of classical French dining
Avenue de Wagram
Walking back to the hotel from L’Arc de Triomphe at night.
La Tour Eiffel
We queued for a bone-chilling 90mins to get to the elevators that would take us to the top of the tower.
Again, it was worth it to get an even higher view of Paris. Very high!
Towards the middle of the city and on to Montmartre
Towards the new La Défense districtCathédral Notre Dame
Our favourite stop during the 2 days that we were in Paris.
There’s something very special about this church.
We were privileged to visit while a service was taking place.
A visiting group of Russian Orthodox priests was being received by the Bishop, and their male choir was singing a cappella. Their voices filled the air in the massive cathedral and brought an extra sense of spirituality to our time there.
We lit a candle!
Le Louvre
Shaykhspeara Sha’ira gave us some great advice – go early and go straight to the Mona Lisa. We did both, and managed to beat the HORDES of Japanese tourists, to view La Gioconda with only a handful of like-minded people like us who had done the same thing.
Turn right at the top for the Mona LisaThe Mona Lisa is in the Denon Gallery on the 1st floor. It’s hard to resist stopping to gawp at all the other artworks on the way, but it’s worth it to get a front-row view of what is perhaps the most legendary painting in the world.
Impressions of Le Louvre:
- it’s big – damn HUGE. If you want to see everything properly, plan for at least 5 days there. We mean it. Each gallery has 3 floors, multiple mezzanine floors and rooms leading off rooms which lead to yet more rooms. Leave a trail of breadcrumbs if you ever want to find your way out.
- take the time to look out the windows. Inwards, you'll see different aspects of the inner courtyard and the pyramid, like the shot below taken from the Gallerie Richelieu. Outwards, you'll see little cameos of Paris life.
- get a map of the galleries and cross out the rooms as you go through them. That’s the only way of ensuring that you see everything.
- each gallery has a cloakroom and a baggage room. Use them. Carry as little as possible with you as you walk the museum.
- wear good comfortable walking shoes with soft soles!
- the Ladies’ toilet facilities in the entry foyer (under the large pyramid) are woefully inadequate and long queues are normal. Take advantage of the toilets which are plentiful in all the galleries.
What?- go for food in the underground shopping mall which adjoins Le Louvre. You get to it from under the Pyramid by walking west away from the 3 gallery entrances. In the mall center is where you’ll find the inverted pyramid made famous in the last scene of The Da Vinci Code. It’s also where you’ll see and smell the most amazing food hall up the escalators, with better prices and a bigger selection of food than in the Le Louvre eateries.
- there are NO PHOTOGRAPHY signs everywhere. The Japanese tour groups ignore them and shoot away at everything. You should too, and always without flash – although the guards around the Mona Lisa are more diligent and will tell you off!
No Photography allowed!- Venus de Milo is smaller than we imagined
- Mona Lisa is also small, and yet big at the same time!
- we loved the Islamic art section
- the most impressive paintings and sculptures are in the Richelieu Gallery – especially the 24 huge Reubens’ paintings commissioned for the Palais du Luxembourg. At least, that’s what we thought. You can also walk through Napoléon’s apartment in the Richelieu.
All too soon, we were back on the plane to Berlin. We’ll be back to Paris, as we’ve yet to see places like Montmartre and Château de Versailles.
Nous aimons Paris!