Paris, France
After some good night rest I meet Chris at the breakfast table, where we talk about what we’re going to do today. Both of us want to see the main sights, so decisions are made pretty easy. We are going to see sights like the Eifel Tower, Notre Dame, the Sacré Coeur, Arc the Triomphe etc. So it’s going to be a full scheduled day, but we’re sure it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Since it’s still early we decide to start off with the Eifel Tower. This is of course the must visit of Paris, and apparently we are not the only ones that decide to visit this sight as early as possible. There is a wait of 2 hours to go to the top of the tower, can you imagine what it is at mid-day? And besides that it’s quite expensive too, 13 Euros each, that about 20 dollar! Well we decide not to wait and just make some pictures and leave again. It’s way too crowded over here anyway.
We hope that we have more luck at the Sacré Coeur. Thankfully Paris got an excellent metro system so we don’t have to walk that far. Even though we can imagine something worse then walking through the beautiful Paris. When we arrived, there was an unpleasant surprise, 237 steps up the narrow staircase. We could take the ‘Montmartre funicular‘, a little railway. Though of course this is big business and so it’s pretty expensive, so we start walking. When we arrived on the top we decide to just sit for about 20 minutes and enjoy the beautiful view on Paris.
Chris and I always thought the Sacré-Coeur was a quite an old church, well and it is, 100 years is still old though we expected it to be older. It was built for the almost 60 thousand victims in the Franco-Prussian war which ended in the late 19th century. We also would like to see the church form the inside and we pay a fee to get in. You’re not allowed to take any pictures and you should be quiet, after all it’s still a church. We light a candle in front of one of the several altars and someone asks us to leave the building, because the service is going to start in a few minutes.
The Sacré-Coeur lies on top of the hill Montmartre, which is also the famous artist district. Artist like Vincent van Gogh, Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso used to work here, though nowadays it’s, shamefully, more focused on the tourist industry. Though to be honest it’s still nice to walk around even though they try to rip you off and you should watch out for pickpockets, as you should in every big city! Even though we are pretty hungry we decide not to eat yet, because Montmartre is a really expensive lunch place.
We take the metro to a station close to the Notre Dame though not to close because we would like to eat something cheap and easy. We find a nice little restaurant a few blocks from the famous church. After relaxing a bit we visit the Notre Dame. The Notre Dame de Paris, which means ‘the old lady of Paris’, is a Ghotic style Roman-Chatolic church that was completed in 1345, even though they started building in 1163. We decide not to go inside because there is a really big line up before going in to the church. But what do you expect with 14 million visits a year, which is an average of 40.000 a day! Well, and now we do not get inside we can’t break anything either, in 1990 someone removed a candle without authorization, a crime that can lead up to 20 years in prison! Isn’t that insane?
We visit the Arc de Tiomphe, which was nice though the roundabout was pretty busy so Chris and I were not really able to talk properly. After this we walked together along the famous ‘Avenue des Champs-Élysées’. Because it’s already pretty late we decide to go back to the hotel to eat something. The hotel got a nice French menu, which includes the famous Beef Bourguignon of Julia Child. That’s also the course I ordered, with of course a nice red wine. While eating I talked to Chris about the wonderful day we had, unfortunately Chris goes back to the UK tomorrow, so I will be alone again. After dinner I decide to go to the Louvre, I ask Chris if he will join me though he has to pack for tomorrow. 
The Louvre, the world most famous museum, is wonderful picture at night. The museum has a really good collection which includes painter like Rembrandt van Rijn, Leonardo da Vinci, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer and Rafaël Santi. While reading da Vinci you of course though of the Mona Lisa, and believe me that was also the main reason why I came to visit the Louvre. Thankfully it’s already late in the evening and it isn’t that crowded anymore so I’m able to walk properly through the popular exhibitions.
Though I’m also pretty tired after the busy day and decide not to go to bed that late. I also decided that I’m going to leave Paris tomorrow. There is so much to see that I can stay forever in this wonderful city, though I feel that it was enough for this time. Tomorrow I’m going to the West, but not before I visited the palace of Versailles in the morning!
Are you interested in the city of Paris? Here are some books I recommend. Please click on the picture for more information.
