Maybe I am just oblivious but I always have had the
impression that Paris was synonymous with the Eiffel Tower, and vice versa.
When tourists go to Paris they are going to spend all of their time at the
Eiffel tour, eating crepes and pastries, because there aren’t that many more
main attractions unless you love art museums. This past weekend I was proved
very wrong and quickly learned that there is MUCH more to see than just the
Eiffel Tower. Paris is a huge city packed with beautiful and influential monuments
and buildings along with some of the most fashionable people you will ever see
in your life.
After meeting up with Jack in the Paris airport (he was on
fall break for the week) we made our way to our hotel which was located right
across from the Moulin Rogue. When we first arrived and were walking around the
area, I was a little skeptical that my research about where to stay had led my
in the very wrong direction. Surrounding the Moulin Rogue were blocks and
blocks of sex shops and peep shows- all with huge fluorescent, tacky lights
that were impossible not to look at. Clearly in the ‘Red Light District’ of
Paris, I was a little concerned that it might be really sketchy at night. However,
I remembered reading in the reviews that the Moulin Rogue was towards the end
of the district and that on the other side was Montemarte which is an area that
is known for having many cute little shops and restaurants. It is also on a
hill and if you follow the streets all of the way to the top there is this
beautiful cathedral – the Sacre Coeur, and beautiful views of the city.
Determined to find the top, we set off walking all around the area and followed
other tourists in the right direction. When we finally reached the top I could
definitely see why so many people recommended to make the trek to the top. It
was just starting to get dark out and we had a panoramic view of the whole city
just starting to light up. The steps going up to the cathedral were already
filled with people sitting in groups and eating or drinking or just
socializing. We made our way up the steps and went inside the cathedral which
had beautiful stained glass windows and huge sculpted columns. The exit to the
cathedral led us into these small streets where there was a farmers market-
almost like a little fair- going on. There were hundreds of little tents set up
with locals selling all different types of wine, food and crafts. We walked
around the area for a little but then it started to rain, so we headed back
down the hill and found a place to eat dinner.
The Sacre Coeur
The next morning we were a little disappointed to see that
it was overcast and supposed to rain most of the day but we put on our
raincoats and grabbed our umbrellas and headed for the metro. As I mentioned
before, Paris is a HUGE city but has a really good metro system that we found
was fairly easy to figure out so we relied on that most of the time which was
cheaper and more convenient than taking taxis. We decided to get off at the
‘Jardin des Tuileries’ stop and then see where we wanted to go from there.
Walking up out of the metro station we were both shocked to be surrounded by
such massive, elegant looking buildings. We decided to first walk through the
Jardins before it started to rain. The Jardin is a huge park that lies between
the Lourve and the Palace de la Concorde, so is always filled with tourists.
There are lots of different fountains, sculptures, little cafes, and
playgrounds inside of the park and although it was a cold, rainy day I could
definitely picture how crowded it would be during the summertime. We followed
the park all the way to the Lourve- the art museum where the Mona Lisa is
displayed. Although I’m not very interested in art, and had heard that the Mona
Lisa was kind of a let down it started to rain and we figured that we had to go
inside if we were right there. The entrance to the museum is underground so it
is hard to tell how big it is from the outside but once we got inside it was
huge with many different wings dedicated to different styles of painting. If
you really loved art, you could definitely spend a whole day exploring all of
it. After waiting in line for tickets, we found which wing the Mona Lisa was in
and headed in that direction. On our way we saw the statue of Nike, the Greek
goddess (what the Nike logo is based after) which was really cool. We knew when
we found the Mona Lisa because there was a huge pack of tourists (mostly
Asians- they are everywhere!) around it. Although people had told me that the
painting was pretty small, I didn’t actually think it would be THAT small. It’s
crazy that just because of its fame, so many people were pushing to take a
picture of it (including me, haha). After seeing that we had had enough art for
one day and left the museum to find that it was pouring rain outside. We quickly
found a restaurant and stayed there until the rain passed.
The Louvre
The rest of the afternoon we just walked along the Sine
River which runs by most of the monuments and later that night we took a river
cruise along the river to see all of the monuments lit up at night. Although it
was really cold and raining a little it was so pretty to see all of the
monuments and gave us an idea of where else we needed to go the next 2 days.
The next morning we decided to go to the Palace of
Versailles which is located a little outside of the city. We were able to take
the metro and a train to get there and although we got a little lost and ended
up taking way longer to get there than should have, we finally found our way.
The Palace of Versailles is where French King Louis XIV moved to and designed
and was the Royal Family residence for about the following 100 years until the
French Revolution began. The moment we saw the palace, everything I had learned
in my high school AP European History class started to come back to me and I
remembered what an important symbol of absolute monarchy the Palace had been at
its time. Today the Palace is mainly used for a museum, however, there are
occasionally government meetings held in the Hall of Mirrors.
The palace is massive, so we decided to take a guided tour
through King Louis’ apartments and then were able to continue on through the
Queens apartments and a few other major parts. What I found most interesting,
and remembered learning about in school, was that the house was divided into
the King and Queen parts. The only times when they really spent together were
for some meals. Also, it was really interesting to learn about how King Louis
XIV loved the public’s attention and the public would watch him wake up and get
dressed every morning and he had a large staff to help him do so. Also, in the
King’s apartments, there were rooms for his mistresses which were publicly
acceptable for him to have. After touring the King’s apartments we were able to
see the chapel which was inside of the palace and really beautiful. The king
always stood from a balcony high up so that people were always looking up to
him.
Lastly, we went through the Hall of Mirrors which is
considered one of the most famous rooms in the world. It is literally a huge
room with one wall completely covered with these large, elegant mirrors. King
Louis XIV had it built because at the time mirrors were one of the most
expensive things you could own and should a sign of social status. So, because
he wanted all of the public’s attention, he would walk through this room every
day. Overall, the Palace was very impressive and almost kind of overwhelming
because each room was so elaborate.
Hall of Mirrors
After the Palace, we walked through the
Gardens which are located behind the palace and extend very far out and to the
sides. Even though it was raining, the Gardens were so beautiful and had many
fountains and statues and music playing. Also in the Gardens is Marie
Antoinette’s Estate. Marie Antoinette was the wife of King Louis XVI and unlike
most women in the Royal family, had a very strong opinion and disliked living
in the extravagant palace. Louis XVI built her her own estate located back in
the gardens which is where she spent most of her time out of the public eye. We
decided that we had had enough of the rain and didn’t tour her estate but
headed back into the city and spent the rest of the night in the Moulin Rogue
area and got banana and nutella crepes!
Monday morning we were pleasantly surprised to see that it
was sunny! I was glad that our flight was not until later that day so that we
could see some of the city without umbrellas and puddles. We took the metro to
the Eiffel Tower to see it up close during the daytime. I think that it was
much more impressive when it was lit up at night, but it still is pretty amazing
how big and unique it is. Although it was still morning, there was a really
long line to take the elevator to the top, so we decided to skip going up and
rather go see the Notre Dame.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame being one of my favorite movies,
I was especially excited to see if the cathedral actually look anything like it
did in the cartoon. Although it didn’t really bring back many memories, it was
still so beautiful and had such cool and unique architecture from the outside. Inside
was even more impressive because it was filled with stained glass windows and
with the sun shining in from the outside which was so beautiful. I think it
might be my favorite cathedral that I have seen from the inside.
We walked back along the Sine river until we reached the
Champs de Elysee which is the main shopping street in Paris. It was fun to walk
down and great people watching. I thought it was interesting how there were
both very high end stores and just average stores all mixed in together, but I
guess this way it appeals to basically all types of people. At the end of the
street is the Arc de Triomphe which was again, so tall and massive and incredible
that anyone could build a structure like it. Once we reached the Arc, we had to
take the metro back to our hotel and head to the airport. I was definitely glad
we got almost 3 full days in the city because I definitely underestimated the
amount of things there are to see and I am so happy that we were able to make
it to Versailles because it was definitely my favorite!
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