Paris, France
July 6 - 17, 1998

Bounjour! I am now in Paris. As a matter of fact, I am writing this from the first landing of La Tour Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower)!

I came to Paris on the evening of July 6, 1998. I took the Eurostar from London and it only cost me 45 (I received a discount for having a Eurail passes). The Eurostar is the new (1995) high-speed train system that goes from London to Paris via the Channel Tunnel in just 3 hours. It can only go about 100/kph in England, but when it gets to France, it goes 230kph!

By the time I arrived and checked into the guesthouse, it was 9pm. Just enough time for me to find La Tour Eiffel. You would think that it would be easy to find. After all, it is the tallest structure in town. However, when all the buildings around you are built out to the street, and are all five to six stories high, you can't see it. What was suppose to be a 15-minute walk took me one hour! I now have a good map. I found it as dusk, just as the lights were coming on. It's a brilliant sight, all lit up.

My next adventure was to see the Champs D'Elysees. I walked over by the Arc D'Triomphe (it was lit up also) and then down the Champs D'Elysees. It's like an Ocean Drive/Sunset Strip kind of place, but the street and sidewalk is a lot wider. It's 2km long and is a nice stroll (as I did, with an ear to ear smile on my face, saying "I can't believe I'm in Paris"). Then, I took the metro back to the guesthouse and went to bed.

Tuesday, July 5, 1998

I got smart. I bought a Carte Orange (a 1 week travel card for the busses and Metro) for 80 FF ($14.04). The Paris Metro is great!. It's efficient, fast, and goes everywhere. It was set up so that nothing would be more than 300 meters from a Metro stop (many places are 300 meters from 4 or 5 metro stops). The normal fare is 8FF per ride, so after 10 rides, I paid for the weekly card. Also, the weekly card runs Monday - Sunday, no matter what day you buy it on.

Next stop was Notre Dame. What can I say except WOW!. Construction on it was started in 1163 and it is totally phenomenal, inside and out. Its a definite must see in Paris. The inside of the Cathedral is free, but you have to pay for the towers and crypt. I will come back for that, as it's covered under the museum card that I plan to purchase.

July 9, 1998

Today is the first day I used my museum pass. It was kind of a marathon day. My first stop was Chateau du Versailles. It is out of Paris 23 KM, but the regional rail goes very close to it. I didn't know what to expect, as I don't know anyone that had been there yet.

What a place! It's a huge palace that dates back to the 17th century. I only budgeted a couple of hours here and only was able to see the main palace. Don't make the same mistake. You could easily spend an entire day exploring the palace and area. This is one place that I will have to come back to.

My next stop was Invalides, back in Paris. It's, kind of, a complex. First of all, you have the Hotel National des Invalides. It was built in the 1670's, under order of Louis XIV, to provide housing to wounded soldiers. There are also other museums within its walls. At the back of the complex is the Eglise du Dome. Contained inside of it is the tomb of Napoleon.

Next, I took the Metro over to Ile de la Cite. It is here that Paris was founded in the 300 BC by members of a tribe called Parisii. There is a church called Saint Chappelle that dates back to 1248. The upstairs has huge stained glass windows that have many different panels each. They all tell part of a story. It's cool.

Next, right around the corner, is the Conciergerie. It was a palace that was transformed into a prison in the late 1700's, and even held Marie Antoinette before she was put to death. It was alright, but not really worth the money (28FF I would have paid if I didn't have the museum card.

July 10, 1998

Today was day two of Museum madness. My first stop today was Basilique de Sacre Coeur. It's another old church with a free inside tour. You can also purchase a crypt and dome ticket for 30FF (not covered by the museum card). The crypt didn't thrill me. It was a bit erie, as it was dark and cold. Also, it was early, so I was the only one there. The dome was cool, and gives you a good view of Paris. However, there are over 300 stairs.

Next was the Musee Rodin. Auguste Rodin is a famous French sculpture (he created the Thinker). The museum is very nice and has a beautiful garden area around it. I took my lunch and ate there.

Off to the Musee Picaso next. It is a museum of Pablo Picasso's works that were donated to the government by his heirs to avoid paying inheritance taxes after his death. It is an excellent museum that I highly recommend.

Across the road is something called Musee Anti (the Anti Museum). What a place! 25 artists got together and made it. It kind of looks like a swap meet blew up and things just landed in places. I liked it a lot. It's a donation if you can afford it museum.

Next stop was the Musee de la Musique Classique (Museum of Classical Music). WHAT A PLACE!!! It has a collection of musical instruments from the 16th century until modern times. If you like music, go here. They give you these cool headphones (and have a variety of different languages), you walk around, and they pick up music waves from some of the exhibits, from which you hear a narration and demonstration of some of the instruments. You could easily spend 3 or 4 hours in there. It was my favorite museum in Paris.

My last stop, much later in the evening, was L'Arc de Triomph. It was built in 1806 under Napolean to commemorate his victories at war. It is in the middle of the world's largest traffic roundabout, named after Charles De Gaulle. There are twelve streets that converge there, causing mass traffic confusion. It's a great place to see most of Paris from. I went at night, the first time, as I wanted to see Paris lit up at night (after all, they do call it the City of Lights).

You have to go up the arc by 10:30pm, as it closes at 11pm. However, in the summer, it stays light late and you don't really have a lot of time before it closes. However, it is a good site to see. The tallest thing is, of course the Eiffel Tower. All the major sites are lit up, however, the brightest was the Eglise du Dome, Napoleon's tomb.

Back to my Travel Page
Back to my homepage