Paris 2011 - The Main Sites

I spent about a week in Paris in 2011 and there is just SO much to see in Paris.

I realize most people will only spend a couple days in Paris as they’re taking a trip through Europe and trying to hit multiple countries, but if you can spend more days in Paris I would definitely advise doing so.

Sacre Coeur

During my first BLITZ in Paris, I tried to see as much as I could. If it's your first time, definitely go see the main tourist sites, but if it's not then aim for some of the more off-the-beaten-path destinations.

Here's the ones I hit during my first visit:

Not in any particular order:

• CATACOMBS

• LA TOUR EIFFEL

• DALI MUSEUM

• SEINE BOAT CRUISE AND DINNER

• NOTRE DAME

• CENTRE POMPIDOU

• LE LOUVRE

• L’ARC DE TRIOMPHE

• PLACE DES INVALIDES AND NAPOLEAN’S TOMB

• PLACE DE LA CONCORDE

• SACRE COEUR & MONTMARTRE

• MOULIN ROUGE

• JARDIN DES TUILERIES

• LATIN QUARTER

• CHAMP DE MARS

• PANTHEON

• PERE LACHAISE CEMETARY

• PONT NEUF

• CHAMPS-ELYSEES

• PLACE DE LA BASTILLE (ON JULY 14th BASTILLE DAY)

Taken from my Journal

July 17, 2011

OK, so I haven't written anything about Paris yet, and I know that's bad on my part, but we have been dead tired every day because we have been doing a lot.

I mean yesterday we probably did 2000 stairs, no exaggeration.

But before I tell you about that, I should probably start with Paris day one.

So the first day in Paris we went to Place de la Concorde, which was a little bit of a downer because they're doing construction and so none of the fountains were on, which were the main things I wanted to see there.

After that we visited le Jardin des Tuileries. It is a really pretty garden.

There was a guy racing a little remote controlled sailboat on the pond and many people were there having picnics. We just walked around basically.

We walked over to Le Louvre and took some pictures but we haven't been inside yet.

We came back to our hotel and then they started shooting off fireworks behind La Tour Eiffel. I wanted to go out and see them but we didn't go out because my mom wasn't sure if it would be safe in a strange city at night. So instead we watch them from our hotel and on the T.V. (There were fireworks because of Bastille day).

Oh! I almost forgot! Our first ride on the metro there was a bomb threat.

So, that was interesting. We had to get off the metro at some random stop and ended up in the Moulin Rouge.

Anyway, after that we went to the hotel Monceau Elysees.

The next day we got up to go see the catacombs. We stood in line for three hours. There was some type of security issue and so they were only allowing in half as many people as they normally do at one time. We arrived at 10 AM right when the catacombs opened and finally were able to go in at 1 PM. The catacombs were super cool once we got inside though. They were creepy! I was reading on one of the information walls how they used to do tours by candlelight before they had installed electric lights in the walls and I think that they should've kept it that way. I've been so awesome! It would have even further maintained the eeriness of the catacombs. It would've been super super creepy, and so much more real.

They were just so many bones! There are supposedly 6 million people down there. The bones seemed unless there were so many. It drips water from the ceiling to. So that only adds to the scary ambience. Did you know that they hold a concert down there? Creepy right?

I wouldn't want to listen to music surrounded by dead bones...

After the catacombs, we went back to our hotel to take a little break and then went to l’arc de triomphe. It’s huge! We climbed up to the top and you can see out over all of Paris. You can see Sacre Coeur, La Tour Eiffel, le Louvre, Place des Invalides, etc. It was a beautiful view of Paris. We stayed up there to watch the Eiffel tower get lit up at night. It's sparkles! So that was really cool to see.

We then came down from the arch and there were some break dancers who were fun to watch. There were also some Native American men singing. They played all types of beautiful flute instruments and I really love their music. It was like water. I could've stayed and listen to them all night.

Now, on to Sacre Coeur. Today we went there and did all the stairs. It was such a pretty Basilica. Since it is the only hill in Paris, you can see forever!

We paid to get into the dome in the crypt. 300 stairs up 300 stairs back down. (Not including the 250 stairs that you have to take to get up to the Basilica). It was so windy and raining at the top of the dome! I thought the wind would blow us away. I was really glad that I had a sweatshirt because it was freezing.

It rained all day, but it was the worst when we went out to Versailles.

After Sacre Coeur we jumped over to the Dali Museum (since it was right there) which is my favorite thing I have seen so far. I LOVE Dali. Such a genius. I love seeing his pieces especially the one of the woman on fire with drawers, the giant farm, the melting clock on the gallows, and the dancers. It was also amazing. I love his work. Ah! I could've stayed there forever. After Dali we headed out to Versailles and it is so huge!!

We went inside and saw some of it most of it is closed to the public. We paid for a dancing/light show to do at their side but the rain started pouring so hard that we only stayed to see the inside dancing and did not stay for the outside light show as we were already soaked and wanted to get home. By the time we got back to the hotel I don't think that there was a dry spot on us. Anyway, the dancers dressed up and danced like the traditional nobility that would have existed during King Louis XIV’s reign. Bagging the light show was a bummer, but I guess it was better than being in wet clothes and getting sick and miserable for the rest of the trip. We had a great time at the train station singing songs in the rain and playing name that tune. The Parisians probably thought we were crazy but we loved it and we had fun.

July 20, 2019

We stayed at Hotel 7 (which I had booked online prior to us arriving in Europe). At the time, I didn't know it was a honeymooner hotel... so the concierge was quite perplexed with us when I checked in with me and my mom.

The shower was all glass in our room... which made showering awkward haha. Not to mention I ran into the glass a few times because it was hard to see! The hotel is really cool, though, if you're looking for a fun place to stay with your spouse. We could even adjust the smell of our room. The bed also levitates and everything glows in the room.

The first thing we saw today was the Notre Dame cathedral and boy is she a beautiful cathedral! She was full of gorgeous stained glass windows. There were a tone of people there. After Notre Dame we headed to the Centre Pompidou but it was closed, so we tried to make it to the Opera Garnier, but it was also closed. We were striking out! So then we went back to the hotel to grab the rest of our group and to go to our boat ride dinner on the Seine river.

On our way there, we were running a little bit behind, but we thought we would still be able to make it to our boat...until we got stopped by the police. We were in the metro and a police woman as hiding around the corner making sure everyone had a ticket to ride the metro. Well, my mom had accidentally dropped her ticket in a puddle of who knows what liquid, so she didn't pick it up. The cop started demanding her to show a ticket and yelling at us in French. Of course, I only spoke a high school level of French at this point so I had no idea what the cop was saying.

Then a French woman stopped and was trying to help us. She assumed the cop didn't speak English and so she started telling us how we could just give the cop our credit card info to pay the fine she was demanding from us and that the cop would never actually charge our card. Well, that pissed the cop off and so she started yelling at us in English, "No, she will pay the fine now or I will take you downtown and you can spend the night in the police station!"

So, we paid the ridiculously expensive fine. Because of this whole ordeal, we missed our boat ride. This didn't go very well for me as I had a breakdown in such a stressful situation.

The night ended okay though because we went up on the Eiffel Tower. It's so high! I do not like heights! Luckily there was a cage all the way around. (I'm sure they've had people jump off in the past). It was cool to see the city at night. It's definitely a HUGE city. We were on the Eiffel Tower when it sparkled which was cool. The tower was awesome.

July 21, 2019

Today we visited Napolean's tomb and Hotel Des Invalides. The giant dome is very intricate and cool, but I found the inside of Napolean's tomb to be rather plain. It was huge though! (Naplean complex much?) Randomly - did you know short people are less likely to get cancer? It was on the news earlier. Anyway, back to Napolean. I need to study up on him again. He had a giant tomb for such a small man haha. I also found it strange that there was a smaller trios of St. Peters crypt from St. Peter's Basillica inside.

We left Napolean's tomb and wen to Le Louvre. That place is SOOO HUGE! I don't know how anyone could see it all. I made sure to see the Victoire de Samothrace, the Venus de Milo, and the Mona Lisa. Then I saw some of Arcimboldo, Van Eyck, and Davinci. Paintings are always better in person. We spent 3 hours in the Louvre looking at paintings and sculptures.

I always find it so interesting how different the art is from culture to culture, country to country, and time era to era. I mean, we call came from Adam and Eve and look how diverse we've become.

It's weird to think about the capacity humans have to constantly create new and different things even after this long of an existence.

We decided to try and make our way back to see the inside of the Opera Garnier. It is gorgeous. Everyone who goes to Paris should see it. One day I want to go back there to see an actual opera. I would love to come down those stairs in a beautiful gown! (To have a handsome man in a tuxedo at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me would be even better :) ) I love opera. I don't understand how people can make their voices sound like that. Plus, the costumes they wear create amazing performances.

After the opera we did some shopping. I bought a pair of faux leather pants, a button up shirt, a bowtie, and a blazer. It was an awesome outfit. I had fun wearing it on our boat ride (there was a particular dress code we had to adhere to for our boat ride, but I didn't want to wear a dress)

Oh, by the way the boat ride still happened because they let us reschedule our dinner due to what happened in the metro. It was lovely to drive around on the water and see the city at night. The food was okay, but most of it was strange.

We had the perfect end to our trip in Paris. We visited the Pere Lachaise cemetery so that I could visit Oscar Wilde--my favorite author! Yes, I kissed his grave! (Apparently it's a thing you do) I love his writing and the cemetery was the most unique cemetery I've ever seen. I'd recommend it. The crypts were gigantic, intricate, and so numerous. It's a huge cemetery. I think everyone in Europe does some cremation because there's not a lot of land room. It found it interesting that this cemetery is still used today--people are still buried there.

There was a funeral going on when we were there. I was also able to see Moliere, George Harrison, Chopin, Edith Piaf, and I would have seen a few more famous tombs, but it started pouring rain and we needed to find a bathroom! We stoped into a cafe on the corner and had the yummiest French onion soup. The bread and cheese were delicious!

We visited the Centre Pompidou and that was probably my favorite thing in Paris. I spent 5-6 hours there. I love modern art. The Picasso stuff was cool to see and I loved the variety of artwork they had (painting, drawings, 3D, sculpture, film, furniture, etc.) In the India Exhibit I loved the work of Amarettos Kanwar. He had a video playing that showed how human beings interrupt nature. There were also several other pieces I fell in love with at this museum. I loved Sunil Gauzes Razor Blades Lei, Alain Bublex's collage, the Delhi wall, and the room that an artist lived in where he basically went crazy. The permanent collections were also great! Ahh! I just loved everything here. I could have stayed for a whole day I was so content to spend time with the art. Too bad it's not closer to where I live. Utah has no art museums like this one. I'm really glad I went to see it because I honestly didn't know much about it and wasn't sure if we'd have enough time to go see it.

I've found in traveling that some of the things I enjoy the most are the things I know very little or next to nothing about before going to see them. It's like finding a surprise and having an adventure.