Trip Part 2 - Paris

After Germany, we took a train down to Paris.  It was only a 4 hour trip and not to expensive so the train was the best way to go.  We stayed in Paris from a Friday night to a Tuesday morning. In the end, we felt we could have seen everything we did in less time and perhaps given another day to another country, but it did allow us to go at a very leisurely pace some days.

In Paris we went to:

The Louvre. I liked this much more than I thought I would. I loved the architecture as well as the items they had displayed. My main problem with this museum is that its all French so you might not learn a lot. They have extended hours on Friday nights. You get in for a few euro less and there are fewer people there.

A pizzaria/kabob/salad place. We did not have much luck with food in France but we did enjoy this pizzaria like place enough that we went there twice. The salad above uses greek cheese and it was amazing.

The Catacombs. It was fun but quite strange and creepy to see so many bones just chillen underground. The hubby loved it. It is quite a bit of money just to walk around looking at bones but we are glad we did it. It is an experience we wont forget.  

The Arc de Triompe. I really enjoyed this. We were going to go to the top of the monument but it was closed due to a strike. The picture above is of the eternal flame.

 The Eiffel Tower, of course. I enjoyed seeing this, though ugly it may be during the day. At night, when it is all lit up, it is aw inspiring.

 City Parks. If there is one thing I enjoyed about Paris, it was their big parks. They were the cleanest part of the city and were some of the prettiest city parks I have ever seen.

The Pantheon. It wasn't a must see for us but we were close by and we ended up going inside because it was free to get into on the day we went. It was nice to see it but not that exciting. The crypt would be boring for anybody who didn't know a lot of French history. We recommend going into if its free but not if you have to pay.

Many many churches, including Saint-Suplice Church. The pictures above are of a variety of churches, all of which we loved seeing. They were magnificant. If you ever visit Paris, you have to go to Saint-Suplice Church.

The Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, which is yet another church. It was worth going to for the view of the city. It is on a hill overlooking the city. The inside wasn't amazing compared to some of the others we saw but the view and the architecture of the building made up for that.

The Sainte-Chappelle church. We had mixed opinions about this church. It is one of the few you have to pay to get into. The reason being is that this is not a church anymore. It is more of a historical monument. People still go to it because of its history and for its stain glass windows. It was expensive to enter and the line to get in was incredibly long. The church itself was small, and the front of it, which is usually the best part to see, was closed off. They did not warn us about this at all and we may not have gone in if we had known. It was closed off because they are in the middle of cleaning all the stain glass and I guess that that is the portion they are working on. The stain glass takes many many years to finish cleaning and restoring, so if you go to Paris, and want to visit, make sure you double check if the restorations have been done yet. The nice thing about this church was that we received a free tour, in English, about the church and stain glass windows. It was the only church I got a tour of and it was nice to have the stain glass windows explained. For that reason, I did not mind that we went.

Notre Dame Cathedral. Not our favorite favorite church but we still loved it a lot. It is such an awesome gothic building. To enter it is free, you only have to pay to climb to the top or to go under to the crypt. It was free to climb to the top the day we went though. I wasn't going to do it but Jon was until he saw the length of the line. This is a must see if you go to Paris.

We finished off Paris with a night cruise. It was so fun and totally worth the price. We happend to be on the boat when the Eiffel Tower did their light show, and I seriously about cried, it was that amazing.

What I liked about Paris:

1. The city all lit up at night. That is when Paris really gets romantic.
2. The churches. There are so many and they are almost all free to visit. They are huge, with stain glass windows, and amazing architecture.
3. It was cheap to get into places usually. Or at least much cheaper than England.
4. Again, they have the best city parks ever. There were just filled with people enjoying their Sunday afternoon. Everyone relaxing, listening to music, playing sports, racing little sailing boats, eating good food, etc. etc.
5. There are vendors all over that sell such good snacks. We didn't have much luck with real meals but the junk food was delicious.
6. The underground was very easy to take. Probably that easiest system we encountered. And tickets were cheap.

What I did not like about Paris:
(You can't hate me for this Logan)

1. Out of all the countries we went to, people were the rudest here. It's true what they say about France.
2. There are these immigrants that sell cheap souvenirs all around the city. They were soooooo obnoxiou and we had some ridiculous experiences with them.  I really do dislike each one of them.
3. It was a dirty dirty dirty city. Everyone smokes and it seems everyone throws their cigarette butts on the ground. We even had a mouse in our bathroom at the hostel. Hated that hostel.
4. The airport we went to, Paris Beauvais, was also terrible. Our flight was cancelled, which we know they couldn't help, but they were the least helpful airport workers ever. It was such a stressful day. We only got onto another flight by borrowing someones phone and calling the airlines office. Oh, and just by chance, there was a bomb scare that day too. It was such a lovely experience.
5. All the meat I ate tasted like the sewage to me. Something just didn't sit right with my taste buds. Maybe it's the oil they cook their foods in. The first time this happened I just thought it was the kabob place we went to and that they just sucked. But then we went to a nice american eatery called Breakfast in America and got hamburgers, that the hubby loved, and that tasted like sewage to me. So I just can't eat meat in Paris.
6. Like many big dirty cities, it kinda smelled like sewage.

Tips:

1. There are some great little places to eat by the back of the Louvre that are not costly. This was our favorite place to go and find something to eat.
2. Take a cruise at night. It's not much money, as long as you don't decide you want to do the dinner cruise. If you do it though Bateauz Parisien, which is near the Eiffle Tower and at the foot of Notre Dame, do not feel the need to book in advance. Just get there early. We prebooked and it caused more problems than it was worth.
3. If you go to the churches on Sunday make sure you know when their services are so you don't go while they are worshiping unless you want to participate.
4. Unless you want to spend a whole day at the Louvre, go Wednesday or Friday evening when they have extended hours and are a bit cheaper.
5. The weekend we were there in September is the weekend that some monuments and government buildings open up for free. If you plan to go in September, check when Heritage Days are and consider going then. That's why we went into the Pantheon for free and we could have climbed Notre Dame for free.
6. Unless your rich, shopping along the Champs-Elysees isn't as exciting as it sounds. So unless you are there for an extended period of time don't bother planning to shop there. There were much cooler shops around the city that you might run into while wandering from location to location.
7. Bring water bottles then buy big bottles of water at the local markets to refill them with. Water is much too expensive and buying water at a market is much cheaper.
8. Don't even consider renting a car if you're only going to be in the city. Driving there is crazzzyy. Just being in a taxi is scary.
9. Book a place to sleep many many months in advance, especially if you are going in the summer or in September.