We had booked accommodation in a hotel close to Gare du Nord train station which was a very convenient location in terms of access to the Paris Metro system, and when you looked out of the window of our room you could see Sacre Coeur which was a beautiful sight.

On our first morning in Paris we got pastries and coffee and headed for the Metro station. Here we purchased a three day train pass which was a brilliant idea as it meant we didn’t need to worry about purchasing any train tickets for the rest of our stay. Our first train journey led us to Notre Dame cathedral where we took in the outstanding Gothic architecture from the outside and then joined the swiftly moving queue to take a look at the inside.

Notre Dame is an amazing structure, but I was disappointed by just how many tourists were in there talking loudly to one another or talking on mobile phones, taking photos with the flash on and treating this holy place like an amusement park. It really took away from the feeling of awe and holiness that a Gothic church was designed to inspire, there was no quiet place to sit and really take in your surroundings because the crowds were immense. This definitely was a tourist attraction and not like a proper church at all. It was surprising to note that mass still gets said here every day in spite of the crowds, how weird and challenging it must be for the priest to perform a full mass with people taking photos and talking around the isles of the church, and for the parishioners who attempt to partake in the mass, how do they feel about the crowds I wondered?

We left Notre Dame and crossed to the south side of the Siene river to get some lunch. We found a cafe where we managed to get a delicious filled baguette with a can of coke for only €4.80 each – our coffee that morning had cost €4.50 each so this was an amazing deal! Afterwards we stopped in at the famous Shakespeare and Co bookshop before heading on a lovely walk along the Siene riverside.

A while later we were still walking and found ourselves outside the Musee d’Orsay. The queues here were amazingly long so we took a look around all the interesting sculptures that were on display in the courtyard and then we crossed the river and entered le Jardin des Tuileries. Here we took the time to enjoy a beautifully manicured green space in central Paris. There was also a sculpture exhibition in the gardens so it was wonderful to walk around and discover random contemporary sculpture placed in obvious and not so obvious places around the gardens.

At one end of the Tuileries is La Louvre and at the other is La Place de la Concorde. We headed to La Place de la Concorde, stopping for a crepe along the way. There was a street performer on La Place de la Concorde who was blowing giant bubbles and teaching a young girl how to make these bubbles, we spent a while transfixed by these bubbles, trying to capture them on camera.

Walking away from La Place de la Concorde we began the walk up the most famous street in Paris – La Champs-Elysees – with our ultimate destination being the Arc de Triomphe which is at the top end of the street. Along the way up the street we got sidetracked by Avenue Matignon and a quick visit into the Paris office of Christie’s auction house. This was a beautiful French building and well worth the visit, there was a wine auction taking place while we were there so there was a lot of people around the building which made it all the more interesting to visit.

La Champs-Elysees is a crazy street not just for the big names stores which line the street, or the really large sidewalks, but for the sheer number of people that those sidewalks accommodate, and the insane amount of traffic in both directions on the road! This is most definitely the busiest street I think I have ever been on. By the time we got to the top of the street we were so exhausted that we decided just to take some photos of the Arc de Triomphe from across the road and leave it at that. We then decided to have dinner at the only place we could afford on La Champs-Elysees – McDonalds! (It was interesting to note that it was still more expensive here than at other McDonalds restaurants in Paris).

The following day we went to the Louvre. We had pre-booked our tickets at a ticket booth in Gare du Nord station the day before so we were able to jump the crazy long queue and go straight inside. I was surprised to find the the Louvre (home of such priceless art, like The Mona Lisa) did not have as strict a security policy as the Uffizi in Florence, we only had to walk through a metal detector and our bags through an x-ray machine but we were still able to hold on to our bags when we went through the galley (unlike at the Uffizi). We were also allowed our cameras which was a novelty for a museum, normally all form of digital recording device is forbidden.

There is so much to see in the Louvre and I know that the almost 6 hours we spent walking around it barely scratched the surface of the collection, but I was very happy with all I saw. Having completed a whole degree in the history of art with a focus on the Renaisance and also 17th-19th century French art (and with a few Classics papers completed), this museum was a treasure trove of art I had studied and written essays on. If I had to choose 5 pieces that blew me away they would have to have been The Winged Victory of Samothrace (an ancient Greek statue), Gericault’s “Raft of the Medusa“, David’s “Intervention of the Sabine Women“, Rubens’ “Marie de Medici cycle“, and Canova’s “Cupid and Psyche“. Each of these pieces were highlights in their own way but the power exuded by these works by their size or the way they were sculpted or painted really impacted on me.

The most disappointing work I saw was the Mona Lisa. While I admit it is a beautiful work by da Vinci, the fact it was behind bullet-proof glass and security guards and a barrier set a few meters back meant that it was not as easy to appreciate as every other work in the museum is. I found watching the crazy crowd around this small painting to be a more interesting experience. People would fight their way to the front of the crowd, pull out their camera and take a couple of pictures, then move on. I am not sure that many people actually stop and really look at this painting which is sad, but then again, with all the camera lights reflecting off the glass in front of the painting it was quite difficult to really look at.

After our art overload we refueled and headed down to the Paris’s most famous icon – the Eiffel Tower. On my first trip to Paris I saw the Eiffel Tower at night, all lit up with twinkling lights, so it was strange to arrive here in daylight and see the iron structure in full light. For some reason I was really surprised that it was brown. I am not sure why I was surprised but for some reason in my head it was a black structure, not a brown one! We stayed in the area until it was dark enough for the lights to go on at which point we saw the Eiffel Tower transform itself into a beacon of twinkling lights.

Our last day in Paris had only one destination in mind, Sacre Coeur and the surrounding Monmartre area. Our first discovery was an entire street which led away from Sacre Coeur which was just fabric shop after fabric shop. This was a dream for my mother who loves to sew and for me who loves craft projects – a whole street of options for random bits and bobs to use in our sewing and crafting. Just wonderful!

We ate filled baguettes for lunch on a park bench in the garden just below Sacre Coeur, it was a beautiful day and this was the perfect spot for lazily watching the world go by and enjoying some very French food. After lunch we climbed the rest of the hill and entered Sacre Coeur. Unlike at Notre Dame, you were not allowed to take pictures in this church and people were generally less chatty so there was a completely different vibe inside. This church really felt like a church, it felt like an escape from the madness of the busy Parisian streets outside, it was a quiet sanctuary where you could sit and think. We took the opportunity for a moment of quiet contemplation in this beautiful place of worship.

The Eurostar journey back to London was comfortablele and straightforward. The two hour train ride was a great opportunity to just sit and reflect on the wonderful holiday I had just been on. Paris showed us a good time and I am glad to have been able to visit for a second time. It is a city so full of history, and so much of that history is visible in the design of the streets and buildings that despite the obvious modernisation and the millions of tourists, this city still leaves a lasting impression of delight.

Our first outing of the day was to walk to the giant department store known as Galeries Lafayette. When we booked our Eurostar tickets we were each given a voucher to receive 10% off any purchase in store, so we thought we would go have a look at what the store had to offer.

Once inside it was clear that we probably would not be buying anything other than souvenirs from this store – the price tags and the labels were a bit much for the humble tourists who had no income as yet! But the souvenir shop had some great items in it, although when it came time to pay it turned out that the voucher wasn’t valid on these items!

But the experience was great, the shop was huge and very grand looking, as can be seen in the image of the central hall below.

Upon returning to the hotel with our purchases Rachel and I managed to place them in our bags and then check out of our room. We stored our bags with the hotel until it was time to go home because they were just too heavy to carry around for a full day.

Next destination was the Arc de Triomphe. The centrepiece of Haussmann’sParis town planning is incredible, a series of 12 grand tree-lined avenues radiate from the Arc, one of the most famous being the Champs-Elysees. The arc is the site of the tomb of the unknown soldier and is a memorial to honour those who have fought for France, especially during the Napoleonic era.

As with the previous two days Rachel and I were experiencing yet another Paris monument with a lot of stairs! But the view at the top was well worth the effort. As you walked around the top of the Arc de Triomphe you are faced with the most magnificent views of Paris, looking down the Champs-Elysees and how it appears to go for miles and converge towards the horizon is quite a sight.

Here is an interesting fact about the Arc de Triomphe: the roundabout that it is located on is the only place in the world where all travel and car insurance is null and void due to the high volume of crashes that occur on this round stretch of road. Pedestrians beware – use the underground tunnels provided!!

Strolling down the Champs-Elysees is such a dream, the street is so grand. Rachel and I found a nice little French cafe and paid the money to sit down in the cafe rather than take-away and so we had lunch on the Champs-Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe behind us! Very cool

Once we got to the bottom of the street we had arrived at the Place de la Concorde, we then made our way down the Rue Royale to take a look at the Greek Temple-styled church of St Mary Magdalene. This impressive structure is interestingly mirrored on the opposite side of the Place de la Concord by the National Assembly building, also styled like a Greek temple!

With very tired feet Rachel and I were keen to sit down for the rest of the afternoon until we had to go to the train station and catch the Eurostar back to London. We ended up heading to the Pompidou Centre where we located the cafe and sank into incredibly comfy couch seats and slowly drank a hot chocolate – delicious!

So two very tired people made their way to the Eurostar, cleared customs and then settled in for the short trip back to London.

Au revoir Paris, until we meet again…

It was a great weekend!

Our journey began with a train ride to Versailles. This was a novel experience as we got to ride on a double-decker train! I had never seen one of these before, what a novelty! Working out which train to be on was also a tricky job, there were a few other people on the platform clearly going to the same place we were going and we all boarded the train bound for what we thought was Versailles. Once on the train I decided to get up and take a closer look at the train map, I am really glad I did this as I found out that the train line splits in two and we were on a train bound for a different ‘Versailles’ stop and not the ‘Versailles’ stop we wanted. So we hopped off the train at the last station before it went the wrong way and waited for the next train which turned out to take us exactly where we wanted to go!

Once in Versailles we were heading for the chateau when we came across a tour company who sold tickets for the chateau so that we wouldn’t have to wait in the queues. Our ticket allowed us entry to the entire chateau and included an Audio guide; it also allowed us access to the gardens. This was a great find because upon entering the main gates at Versailles we saw the longest queue formed outside the ticket office and every time we walked past that part of the chateau during the day the queue wasn’t any smaller! The queue we joined to get inside took 5 minutes before we were past security and on our way to collect audio guides and begin our mammoth trek around the chateau.

The first room on the itinerary was the Chapel. This room, with its beautiful frescoed ceiling and the light and lofty feel made for an excellent start point to the Versailles experience – if this was the start point, imagine how amazing the rest of the place must be!

There were history rooms which were full of various paintings and sculptures of people and places, all relating back to Versailles. Then there were the King’s Grand Apartments – the Hercules Salon with its gigantic fireplace and its Apotheosis of Hercules ceiling paintings and Veronese’s monumental painting Christ at Supper with Simon; The Abundance Salon, where refreshments were normally taken; the Venus Salon, the room leading to the State Apartments; The Diana Salon, which currently holds a wonderful sculpted bust of Louis XIV made by the famous Italian sculptor Bernini; The Mars Salon; The Mercury Salon; and the Apollo Salon.

The Salon of War with its marvellous relief sculpture joined to one end of the famous Hall of Mirrors. At the opposite end of the hall of mirrors was the Salon of Peace. The hall of mirrors was just as impressive as I imagined it to be and out of its windows it offered some of the most amazing views out to the gardens since it is located at the very centre of the chateau looking out toward the gardens. A major restoration project had recently taken place in the hall of mirrors so we were lucky enough to enjoy the splendour all freshly restored to its former glory.

The queen’s bedchamber, currently fashioned in the style that Marie Antoinette created. This room was where the queen would sleep and also where she gave birth. Apparently 19 French royals were born in that room. The King’s bedchamber was equally impressive.

The Dauphin’s Apartments and the Princesses Apartments were also breathtakingly beautiful. The libraries, the games rooms, the State and Private Cabinets, all had a wonderful individual quality from the ceiling paintings and the gilded detailing to the rich coloured fabrics on the walls and the comfortable looking furniture. What I loved about the Chateau wad that the furniture looked lived in, it didn’t look like it had never been used or had been restored to perfect condition, the seat fabrics were worn away from use, the cushioning seemed to sag from people sitting in the same place – it had life and didn’t feel like a creepy museum full of old furniture that had been arranged to show where life had once been, it almost felt like someone was going to come and sit down at any minute and continue with their day as if the place were still functional. Let’s just say that Versailles worked its magic on me – I loved it!

Once you get outside the chateau there is over 3km of garden to explore, with 1,400 fountains and the Grand Canal is itself 1.6km in length! After getting some lunch and finding a spot in the garden to eat Rachel and I embarked on a tour of the gardens. Even from the other end of the garden the chateau dominates the landscape – it is so impressive! We saw so many fountains in every place imaginable. There were statues and perfectly manicured lawns – the whole garden was a work of art. At 3.30pm all the fountains in the gardens began to work, there was also so music being pumped out into the garden through speakers hidden in bushes all over the place. The fountains, once alive, are very impressive – it is hard to describe, as with the whole place, everyone should make the trip out there!

The next stop was Marie Antoinette’s Estate. This required the purchase of another ticket but there was no queue to be found here so that was an easy task. Marie Antoinette’s Estate took in the Petit Trianon and the Grand Trianon as well as yet another impressive garden which included a Rustic Garden, an English Garden, a Farmhouse, a milking dairy, the French Pavilion, the Queen’s theatre.

It was a marvellous day, a great experience. There is just so much to see at Versailles! I would love to go back!

Rachel and I arrived back at our hotel with very tired feet at about 8pm that night! We hadn’t eaten dinner yet and were feeling rather hungry so we caught the Metro towards the Champs-Elysees and had some McDonalds. We then took some photos of the Arc de Triomphe at night and then made our way to the Eiffel Tower. Here we saw it all lit up and sparkling in the night sky, just beautiful! We went to see about going up the tower but the queues were all very long. Then we noticed that one queue was MUCH smaller so we went for that line and found ourselves walking up to the first level of the Eiffel Tower, all 360 steps! (Paris is great for stair climbing!) From here we walked around the floor and tried to find all the sights of Paris, most were difficult to make out as they were not so well lit up, but there were many that were very easy to spot. I imagine the view would be far more impressive by day but the night time experience is just as interesting.

So another day in Paris came to an end, bed time was even later than the night before and I was even more tired! I was sad that there was only one more day left in Paris before I had to go back to London…

Ingredients:

• 1 pair of really good walking shoes (there will be lots of walking and stair climbing),
• 1 list of all the places you want to go,
• 1 map of Paris,
• 1 friend to share the experience with (always more fun to have someone to talk to and share the experience with),
• 1 camera fully charged up and ready for lots of photos!

Method:

So, now that we have the ingredients here is how you make the perfect three days in Paris. I began by getting myself a copy of the Lonely Planet Paris Encounter book (it is a small, pocket sized book) which was incredibly useful for planning my trip as it had opening and closing times of all major monuments, shops and eating places as well as approximate costs of all these things. I also did a bit of internet research to decide where to go and what to do, this was after all my first trip to Paris and I didn’t want to miss out on anything just because I was under-prepared! I also wanted to do more than go to all the big monuments so I had a look at this website http://en.parisinfo.com/ to find out what was on in Paris that might coincide with my trip. This was very useful.

I had a very early start on the Saturday morning, had to be on the 5am tube towards Waterloo International Station. Then checked in for the Eurostar and was on my way to Paris at 6.30am. Just under three hours later I was in the centre of Paris! How exciting!! This was my first long distance train ride as well and it was not a bad experience. Such a straightforward way to travel, how can you go wrong really.

So once in Paris Rachel and I purchased tickets for the Metro system (the same sort of train system as the London Underground). We got a 3 day pass which I highly recommend to anyone thinking of heading over for a few days because you can hop on and off the Metro as much as you like for three consecutive days which is really useful both for unlimited use and also so you don’t have to purchase tickets every day you are there.

I had made the decision before I left London that one place I would NOT visit on this trip was the Louvre Museum. My decision to exclude this national treasure from my itinerary was not an easy one but was necessary as I believe a place like that deserves an entire weekend dedicated only to exploring within its walls. With that decision out of the way there was still so much to do. One thing we took close note of before leaving was what monuments and galleries were closed on Monday (the usual day for things to be closed in Paris), based on this information Rachel and I tried to go to these places on the Saturday, saving the rest of the places to visit for the Monday, Sunday was reserved for a trip to Versailles (a place I have always wanted to visit).

Our first port of call was the Musee d’Orsay, by the time we arrived it was 12pm and there was the most amazing queue of people stretching for miles outside the building and continuing on inside from what we could tell – note to self, pre-book tickets for this Museum to avoid the queues! So plans were quickly changed and the Museum was dropped off our list, we were outside it and in our opinion that counted!

As it was now lunchtime Rachel and I decided to find some food and head across to the other side of the Seine River to sit in the Tuileries Gardens. The sun was beginning to come out and the early morning fog was finally lifting, sitting on a park bench with food and drink in hand, the reality of being in Paris was really starting to sink in, it was just so unreal, a city I have always wanted to visit, and finally here I am!

The next step in our day was to get to our hotel and drop off our bags which were beginning to rub on our shoulders and become irritating. We had booked our hotel with our Eurostar tickets from the Eurostar website this worked out really well and the accommodation couldn’t have been better! The location was great, being located literally 2 minutes away from the nearest Metro Station, and the beds were comfortable enough to have a great sleep both nights we were there. The street it was located on was also one of those lovely Paris streets full of classic ‘Parisian’ buildings – very pretty.

Once we had settled into the hotel room Rachel and I headed for the area of Montmartre and decided to take in the sights of the basilica of Sacre Coeur.

Located at the top of one of the highest points in Paris, this church is visible from all over the city and is truly magnificent to be in front of. Once we climbed the large number of steps to reach the entrance of the church we went inside and looked around the beautiful interior of the Church. I even lit a candle and placed it among the many burning candles which were burning in remembrance of loved ones.

Next up was the stair climb to the top of the basilica, at almost 300 steps it was quite a workout in a very narrow stairwell to the side of the building, but the climb is well worth the view we got from the top – WOW! From up here I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, although there was still a haze around that area of town and as such the Eiffel Tower didn’t pack as much of a punch as I expected.

After the trip to the top of Sacre Coeur I got the feeling that that wasn’t the end of the ‘big walks’ in Paris and I was right. Next up Rachel and I wandered around the gardens of the Rodin Museum. Seeing the impressive ‘Gates of Hell’ complete with Rodin’s most famous figure, ‘The Thinker,’ was amazing.

The gardens were lovely to stroll around on a Saturday afternoon. Equally as entertaining was leaving the museum and coming across a lamp post that was an artwork in its own right, it would seem that everyone who had ever walked out of the Rodin museum felt the need to place their stickers upon this lamp post and the result is a colourful piece of random street art – Great!

Filling in more time for the afternoon was a trip to the Musee de l’Orangerie on the edge of the Tuileries, near the Place de la Concorde. The prime reason for visiting here is for Monet’s ‘Waterlilies’. This is definitely worth the entry fee! There are 8 massive painting placed on the walls of two oval shaped rooms. Monet had painted these works specifically for this site which makes them all the more impressive to see in-situ.

By the time we got to Notre Dame Cathedral it was 6.30pm! Walking into the church I was blown away by the Gothic feel of the interior. It was a wonderful feeling to be standing inside a church which I had actually studied in my art history courses at university. To make the experience even better, I noticed that we happened to have arrived as a mass was getting underway, so despite the fact the whole service was in a language I did not understand I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of attending mass in Notre Dame – what a privilege! Once the service was finished the interior of the church was closing for the day. Rachel and I went to try climbing the 300 steps to the top of this church but with a queue that extended down the entire length of the cathedral and around the corner we decided that it was best left for another visit to Paris!

After a lovely dinner in a little Parisian cafe with views looking back across the river of Notre Dame, Rachel and I made our way to our next destination – an outdoor movie in the Parc del la Villette (found out about this on the earlier mentioned website). On the way we stumbled across the most wonderful old bookstore called Shakespeare and Co. This store was full of a huge variety of books both in French and in English and is apparently very well known as a hangout for young writers. I was very impressed by the bookshelves on the exterior of the building around the door frame!

After checking out the movie (Sofia Coppola’s ‘Marie Antoinette’) Rachel and I headed to the Moulin Rouge for some night time photos outside the famous place, after this we were feeling very ready for sleep – it had been a very long day, our feet needed a good rest! Needless to say we slept quite well!

(Days 2 and 3 to follow…)