Paris day by day: the novel

This is not for the light of heart. I called it the novel for a reason...

Prologue: Thank you to everyone who gave me hints, tips, and suggestions for my trip, especially Walter and Dee.

Day 1: Friday

We arrived into the city center by 10am and got to our hostel at 11. We dropped off our bags and set off. Our hostel, Caulaincourt Square, was in the neighborhood of Montmartre. La Butte Montmartre is the highest hill in Paris, atop of which sits the Sacre Coeur, a cathedral and the highest point in Paris. We were welcomed to the city with a 360 degree panoramic. My first impression: Wow, Paris is big!

We ate lunch at a chic little café in the neighborhood where the waiter was so nice and looked up the menu for us in English. Good thing too or else I was about to order a heaping plate of calves liver. No thank you! After lunch we grabbed a quick nap, needed after over 24hr of straight travel, and headed off to the most famous sight in Paris: the Eiffel Tower!

Strolling from the ends of the tower’s garden in early dusk we took in the impressive tower. My first impression was that it was the wrong color – I thought it would be a dark gray like the material it is made from. Wrong! It’s brown. Who knew?

We went up to the second floor and enjoyed the view past sunset and until the tower began to sparkle for the first time at 7pm. You feel like you can see the ends of the world from up there. Paris seems never-ending. One thing I must say is that it deserves its nickname the city of lights. After taking the elevator down we got to see an impromptu break dance session and then headed for our first crepes, right outside the Eiffel Tower and next to the Seine River. Here we watched the tower sparkle, reflecting of the Seine into a kaleidoscope of beautiful colors on the waves or this very choppy river. We strolled along the Right Bank to the metro (which we completely conquered without a problem) and headed back to the hostel, enjoying the accordion players that hop on and off the trains after any given station. Sadly the subway performers usually smell terrible, but the songs are fun and upbeat!

Day 2: Saturday

Up’n’at’em nice and early.  We headed to Versailles first thing in the morning after the best continental breakfast ever at the hostel. If I have one word to describe Versailles it would have to be GRANDEUR. Everything, and I mean everything, if not made from beautiful, rare marble is coated in gold. The famous Hall of Mirrors was impressive and seems like it would have been a great place to thrown a rocking party but my favorite part was the Pink Palace our in the gardens. It is a smaller version of the big place that was very airy and decorated with my favorite colors: yellow, green, and antique blue. It was precious, and being so modest myself, I would only need a small palace, not the big one. That would just be greedy. Marie Antoinette’s play village was precious as well. A little village with thatched roofs and a lake, I just want to play here with the youthful queen.

After seeing Versailles I can’t really blame the French people for revolting. This place had to cost a fortune! The gardens are beautiful and while not in full bloom now, they are still impressive. There is a huge man-made lake in the middle called the Grand Canal which used to house a full sized war ship in the days of all the Louis XIV-XVI. I couldn’t help noticing it would be the perfect place to waterski… Not sure how the French government would feel about it, but I’m game to try if anyone else is!

Back in the city we visited the Musee du Orsey which houses many famous paintings from Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh among others. It was amazing and I preferred it to the Louvre which we went to on Sunday. Afterwards we grabbed a lunch of Quiche and continued on our day.  Quiche = delicious!

Saturday also consisted of strolling across the Bridge of Locks (Pont du Arts), where lovers write their initials on padlocks and lock them to the sides of the bridge.  Afterwards we tried to see the Mona Lisa but the cute old man at the ticket counter told us she was sleeping (aka we were too late on Saturday).

After taking the necessary silly pictures in front of the Louvre’s glass pyramid we strolled towards the Rouge de Paris Ferris wheel through the Jardins des Tuileries. Past the Ferris wheel, light up for the night, we started at the beginning of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and window shopped our way down. I bought a headband at a store where I would have happily had every article of clothing in my closet. We grabbed a snack (crepe, duh!) and people watched as we continued towards the Arc du Triumphe. After visiting the Arc and taking in the light up Avenue des Champs-Élysées, we headed back home. We grabbed a baguette, brie cheese, fresh fruit, and wine to have a very French dinner. Sadly The wine, which came recommended by the nice man at the wine shop was gross in my opinion, but I enjoyed the rest of the dinner and of course it was all for the experience. “How French!” is more what we were aiming for than a 4 star dinner. 

Day 3: Sunday

We walked out of our hostel and ran into the quaintest little street market where vendors sold junk, furniture, and knick-knacks on tarps. I found a box of old postcards, some dating back to the 20’s. I bought 5 for a euro (not 1 for 2 euro like the sign said, the man was so sweet). I got 3 very old ones that have writing on them which I need my lovely big sis to translate for me, and 2 without writing, one of which is now on its way to a very beloved grandmother.

Sunday was a huge day. We hit the Louvre first. We saw the Mona Lisa, which I had expected to be disappointed at but I was the opposite actually. It was bigger than I expected and really neat to see in person. We also saw the Venus de Milo then headed off to Notre Dame. On our way we strolled across Pont Neuf, the “new bridge” that is now the oldest bridge in Paris. On the Ile de la Cite we found another street market; this time it was for selling birds, small pets, and flowers. What a fun surprise!

We took the mandatory pictures outside Notre Dame and then strolled through the church (mass was going on concurrently). I was surprised there weren’t more gargoyles! Off to the connecting smaller Ile Sainte Louis we got the best sorbet in the world. I got blood orange sorbet. Delicious.

Next we stopped in at Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore. PARADISE. I could easily have spent hours upon hours here. It’s a quaint little store right across the river from Notre Dame. It’s colorful and has books stacked on every surface possible with little wooden ladders that you use to get books from the top shelves. I would love to spend a whole day here… if only I had time to search out the best bookstores in the world. That would be the dream life.

Shakespeare and Co is tucked neatly into the Latin Quarter, the little Left Bank neighborhood where university students spoke Latin as their common language up until about 1900.  We grabbed lunch in the Latin Quarter (French onion soup, peppercorn steak, pom frites, and sorbet) and then headed off down to Luxemburg gardens. Through Luxemburg and down father away from the river we walked to the Catacombs. Now those were something to see. A giant ossuary was built in old limestone quarries in 1786 when Paris was constructing its sewer system. The city’s cemeteries were all emptied of their residents and the bones were put into the catacombs, up until 1860. Creepy and amazing, it is an interesting part of Parisian history to behold, you wander through thinking, wonder to whom that skull belonged to, and which of the millions of femurs belong with which skull.

From the catacombs we headed up towards the Bastille and saw the opera house then wandered into the Marais Neighborhood and into its small Jewish quarter where we enjoyed the colorful surrounding, the smell of falafels, and feasted on our daily crepe. At a small Jewish bakery we bought some challah to take home for dinner.

We finished our days sightseeing in the red light district so that we could see the famous Moulin Rouge. That was a very different side of Paris than we had seen thus far… bright neon signs unashamedly advertised what they sold inside. About 5 minutes here was enough for us and we headed home past the city’s most famous cemetery. Back at the hostel we feasted on our nightly bread and then I headed out for the airport at 10:30 pm. It was a perfect trip. We saw and did so much (as you can see if you actually stuck with me through all that!) 

I tried to just skim the surface here, if there is anything you want hear about in more detail, you know me, I love to talk so I will happily give you all the details in an email. 

 I love and miss you all  ~At