Day 3
Paris
Darn you jet lag!
Today, our hopes of catching up on sleep and being totally rested were shattered when we found ourselves awake at 5 am and not able to get back to sleep. It was a total buzz-kill cause we were both still tired, but sleep just wouldn’t happen.
Instead we got up and prepared for our day ahead. We knew we had to pick up our Paris Pass at 10 when the place opened so we planned around that and decided to play it by ear and see what we felt like after we got the passes. The weather forcast called for a chance of rain, but not very much, so we both packed our raincoats but opted for sandals (Matthew with his trusty new Chaco’s).
We left the flat around 8 or so, found a cute pastry shop near by, and got some bread for breakfast. It was super yummy! We made our way across town riding the ghosttown Sunday morning metro lines, it was way nicer than battling people for space, and got to our destination about an hour before it opened. Since we had some time to kill we walked around the area and saw a few neat things, a new shopping centre and metro station they’re building, a cool old cathedral, and a plethora of “sex shops”, unfortunately the latter were closed that early in the day. Also, good thing we brought our raincoats because it started to rain; and it didn’t stop at all.
We got our Paris Pass successfully and headed to Avenue l’Opera to get the hop-on, hop-off bus tour pass. We hopped-on and armed ourselves with ponchos and headphones for the ride. First stop was the Musée du Louvre. We plan on visiting the Louvre when we have time to enjoy it properly so we did not hop-off but instead kept going. After that, the next major spot was Citê, an island along La Seine river. What’s on Citê, you may ask? Well Notre-Dam de Paris, of course!
Notre-Dam de Paris
What an impressive building! It was so amazing to see such an iconic structure up close. First thing was we went through the cathedral (quietly, as there was a mass service going on) and saw the nave and beautiful stained-glass windows. It was astonishing to think that people built this hundreds of years ago because it was so massive and tall. We also read about the construction of the cathedral. It has been around for about 800 years and has gone under crazy amounts of construction to bring it to what it is today. It was neat to learn about it.
After going through the church we went up to the towers. We had to climb over 300 steps to get to the top, and it was worth it because the view of the city we were greeted with was amazing. It also happened to be our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower! Funny story: since it had been raining we were in the market for an umbrella. Chances have it that somebody left theirs at the first tower of Notre-dame, so we snagged it and played it cool just in case. Twenty or so minutes later, as we’re lining up to leave the towers, the couple behind us realized they forgot their umbrella. The man went back to find it while the woman waited for him and we hid the one we found, pretty sure it was probably theres. Now, neither of us are prone to stealing, but when it’s pouring down rain all day and you want a funny story, you take one. We got down the towers and made our way to a café to eat lunch, all the while concealing our new loot.
We had lunch at a restaurant next to the cathedral, I (Matthew) had a toasted ham and cheese sandwhich and Andrea had a crepe with jam. After we finished our meal we walked down to the Pont de l’Archevêché bridge with love locks on it. It wasn’t the original love lock bridge, that one is the Pont des Arts bridge and is a couple kilometers up the river, but it was still just as full. There were tons of people there taking pictures and even adding their own lock. We thought about getting a lock from one of the many vendors selling them but decided against it. It seems there’s lots of opposition to them because they’re “uglying up” the beautiful bridges. When we crossed the bridge we headed back up La Seine toward the bus stop. Along the way there were vendors selling really cool old French books and beautiful pictures of flowers, butterflies, and other neat things.
We hopped back on the bus and made our way up Avenue des Champs-Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile. Along the way there were so many beautiful old buildings to see like the Hôtel De La Monnaie, Place de la Concorde, and the Palais de Justice. Along the way of Champs-Élysées they were sitting up bleachers of chairs for the Bastille Day Parade that is happening tomorrow.
Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile
Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile. Commissioned by Napoleon I to celebrate the victories of the French Army, it was never actually seen by him because he died before it was finished. When his body was ceremonially taken back to Paris it was passed underneath the arch. To get to the arch you have to go underneath the road, which is good because the traffic around it is notoriously crazy.
Up close to the arch just floors you. It is so tall (about 15 stories tall) and detailed. Listed on the inside were the names of French military leaders. We got to go to the top (for free with our Paris Pass ☺) but had to climb even more stairs. Near the top there is a visitor’s center with information on the arch and a gift shop. Then there’s even more stairs until you finally reach the top and are presented with a grand view of the city and the Tour Eiffel. We spent some time enjoying the view before we made our way back down to terra firma. When we got back down, we spent some more time around the arch before heading back to the bus to go onto our next stop.
We got back on the bus and went back along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. We then went over the Pont d’Iéna bridge to the base of none other than the Tour Eiffel.
Tour Eiffel
Prior to being up close, and based off so many movie’s and tv show’s portrayals, our perception of how big the Eiffel Tower was was completely off. It is huge! We both thought it was about half it’s actual size. When we first got to it we expected more grass, but it was all paved and crowded. We walked underneath where they sell tickets to the top (we plan on ascending it tomorrow) and to the other side where they were setting up a big stage for a symphony concert. There we found the grass and took the opportunity to take lots of photos and enjoy the “The Iron Lady”.
After our stint at the Eiffel Tower, we took a river cruise along La Seine. It was nice, but we were so tired that both of us fell asleep and slept through most of it. When we got back to shore we headed back home. The Metro station close to us was shut down for construction so we ended up having to walk back to our flat. It wasn’t too far, and we stopped for some dinner along the way, but it was definitely more walking than we both wanted to do after having done some much already. So now we are at home and in bed at 8 pm and exhausted. Goodbye for now!
