Ahhh….Paris. Love the city!! Lots of history to see during the day. And at night, it’s pure romance. As the lights come on, the city comes alive.
We love to walk….anytime, anywhere. And to truly experience a city, is to walk for miles, to do as the natives do…and to observe and to leave no rock unturned. That’s exactly what we did while in Paris.
We walked from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower and back, down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre and then back to the Arc de Triumphe…all in one day….and multiple times during the week that we were there. Loved every bit of it!!!!
We’d wake up to a French baguette and swiss cheese sandwich every morning. The bread is ohhhh soooo delicious…..crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. And the cheese…..sooooo smooth and creamy, unlike the cheese that we have in the US. It’s the best….and we looked forward to it every morning before our walking marathon!!!
The Eiffel Tower was amazing. Since we’d never done it before, we decided to walk up the many stairs to the top, resting a few times along the way to catch our breath. It was a beautiful spring day in Paris…not too cold…perfect climbing weather. By the time that we got to the top, our legs felt like rubber, so much so that we decided not to walk down as well. While going up gives you a great cardio workout, going down is much more difficult, especially if your legs have been compromised from the hike up. While at the top, we took in the views of the city down below, and in the distance, we saw Sacre Coeur sitting high atop Montmatre.
Our next venture was to the Louvre, where we saw the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory, among the most famous works of art. We also took in the Mesopotamia exhibit, with King Tut as one of the features. The museum was huge….and it took us a great while to get through it all. The Louvre itself is very beautiful — an interesting mix of old world and modern conveniences. I love the architecture!!
We walked along the Champs Elysees…great shopping street with a lot of good cafes…To rest our tired feet, we stopped at the cafes, ate some macaroons and relaxed and watched the many passersby…apparently a favorite French past time.
We visited the Notre Dame and took a lot of pictures of the beautiful stained glass within. The colors were amazing….red, blue, green, pink, purple. As the lights hit the stained glass, it was awesome. The Notre Dame architecture is amazing in and of itself. It’s beautiful during the day, but at night, its equally or more beautiful. It has somewhat of a mysterious glow, which makes it all the more interesting. Near the Notre Dame is the Sorbonne. Although the gates were locked and we weren’t able to go in, we found the buildings to be quite impressive. It was there that a lion almost bit my head off 
We heard so much about the Moulin Rouge, so much so that we had to see it! As we approached the theatre, we were a bit disappointed. After all the hoopla, it was much ado about nothing. It appeared to be located in a seemingly red light district, of sort. I’m not sure that I’d be caught there at night for more reasons than one. We walked up Montmatre, a nearby hill, and visited the Sacre Coeur. The church itself was beautiful — a white ghostly structure that we saw from the Eiffel Tower.
In my opinion, some of the best museums are those that are small and that focus on one artist only. I love the Picasso and Rodin museums. In my opinion, these are ‘must sees’ while in Paris. The Rodin garden is awesome! The Picasso museum is nothing short of amazing. There were very unique pieces of art that can only be seen in the museum there…..nothing like it elsewhere. I’ve been to each of these museum twice in my life…and I don’t think that I’d ever tire of them…..I’d go there a third and fourth time, easily!
We walked along the Seine, which separates the Left Bank from the Right Bank. It’s just amazingly beautiful. Along the Seine is a lot of historical sites, including the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais.
Speaking of romance, walking the city at night says it all. The lights are beautiful. It’s mesmerizing to watch the lights on the Eiffel Tower sparkle and glisten. The lights at the Louvre are very beautiful as well, with the pyramid being the focal point. The Place de la Concorde is also very beautiful at night, against the purple Parisian skies. And the Notre Dame, it’s simply amazing at night. Pictures can’t possibly tell the story…to experience it, is to see it in person!!
