Europe Vacation – The French Connection – I

At its best, Paris is chic, stylish and flashy. Paris has its own share of shady parts of the town! And we tasted both. All in all, at the end of two days we were left longing for much more. And the impression that I came away with from the french land is that, for those looking for it,  there is unlimited fun available!

We set out for Paris on the morning of Aug 1st. The plan was to take the ferry to Calais from Dover, and then drive from there to Paris. All in all, total trip time was to be around 9-10 hours. Since we were to gain time on reaching Paris, we hoped to reach Paris by around 10 pm local time. We left Warrington around 10 am on a wet Saturday morning, running  behind schedule.

All packed and ready to go!

The drive took us longer than usual, as there was heavy traffic on the M-ways. We had to reschedule our ferry booking as we were not able to make it on the time for the original booking. Finally, we took the 5:00 pm ferry and reached Calais at around 5:30 pm, local time.

From left side to right side (driving)

The drive from Calais to Paris took us another 3-4 hours and and by the time we checked into the hotel we were quite exhausted. After check-in, there was not much to do, and we tucked in for the night, eagerly awaiting the next morning

Good Morning, Paris!

Charged on a breakfast of cereals, muffins, juices and other goodies, we set out see Paris. The weather was cloudy and chilly, but still pleasant. We walked down to the nearby train station, La Garene Colombes to catch a train to the city centre.

At La Garene Colombes station

As we got to the city, we walked around, taking in the sights and smells of Paris.

Sights in the city

Then, we came across the fashion opulence, the city is known for – a diamond and what else studded shoe

The Glamorous Shoe

The plan was to get on to one of those sightseeing buses to get the big picture of the city, initially. Later on we visited some of the more famous attractions (as much as possible in two days). The first half of the day, hence was spent in going around in the hop-on / hop-off bus.  We drove by on the Champs Elysses, passed Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, the Louvre, Cathedral of Nostra Damus, and others.

I loved these squares in Paris

A first look at Eiffel .. . .

Eiffel Tower - in the daytime

Once the survey was over, we decided on three attractions – Louvre (ofcourse), Cathedral of Nostra Damus and Eiffel Tower. By the time we finished off a full round on the sightseeing bus, it was lunch time, so we proceeded to one of the street cafe to scout for some veggie stuff. After a quick lunch, we proceeded to the Louvre.

Now we’ve heard and read about this place so much; t’was quite overwhelming to be there; and quite overwhelmed were we after entering the museum.

Infront of The Louvre

To even wonder whether we could cover the museum in on day would be blasphemy. The museum has three huge wings like the one in the photo above and extends several feet below the ground! Being the first Sunday of the month, there was a huge queue (on the first sunday’s of the month, entry is free). Once we got in, we two stood there like two kids lost in a huge city. Then we did what we thought most people were doing; ask the helpdesk to suggest the must see’s. Armed with the map and the key attractions marked out, we proceeded towards Venus De Milo. Amongst others, we covered Coronation Crown,  The Grand Feast, and others paintings and sculpture, finally coming to Mona Lisa – the most seeked after and crowded place in the museum. We spent at best 45 minutes in the museum, enough to get a look at some of the best attractions.

FIL at the glass pyramid in Louvre

We got out of the Louvre by around 4 pm and then proceeded towards the nearby Cathedral of Nostra Damus, the great fortune teller.

Cathedral Of NostraDamus

The cathedral is also apparently famous for the beautiful glass work inside the church.

Glasswork inside NostraDamus Cathedral

The church  is as beautiful inside, as outside. A service was in progress or about to commence, I guess. Hence, access to that altar was restricted, unless you wanted to participate in the service.  It looked even better there.

A service in progress in NostraDamus Church

We spent some time admiring the glass work and going around the church, before proceeding to the grand attraction for the day – Eiffel Tower.

At the Eiffel tower and Guess what time it is!8 pm

It was 7ish, and still bright and sunny (refer the european summer i talk about in my ealier post). And there it stood in all its mighty glory. It leaves you breathless even to think how they would be able to put up such a massive mass of steel together

A look at all the metal

Eiffel tower has two viewing decks – one at the second floor and the other, right at the top and the views from both are amazing. You can see all of Paris, with the Seine flowing through the middle of the city. I know I have written about how amazed I am with all of this (you really can’t help but get amazed); but if you take a look at the elevators, you will be amazed again! It not straight up vertica; it glides along the strussess; simply mind boggling. And to think that they built this between 1887 and 1889!

Awesome view from atop Eiffel Tower

We spent a considerable amount of time, close to some two hours, gazing with amazement at the views of Paris below us.  It was almost close to 10 pm by the time we left, and as we did, the lights on the tower came up.

Eiffel Lit ...look at the blue sky

So that was Day 1 in Paris. An attractions packed day. We still had to see Paris and the Eiffel Tower properly lit up in the night; that was planned for the next day. It became a bit of s struggle to get back to the hotel, as we took some time to find the metro, and which did not take us near the hotel; we ended up taking a taxi, which cost us 25 euros (that’s a lot by the way)! What’s a day without adventure, anyways:)