A Place to Visit – Paris
A couple
of weeks ago I've visited one of the most
beautiful cities of the world, Paris. I had been there already once
with my parents when I was very young, but just wanted to explore the
city by myself now, and enjoy the beauties of what is considered to
be the most romantic city in the world.
I stayed there 3 days, and I tried to organise my time so that I was
able to see as much as possible – even though its impossible to see
everything in just 3 days, Paris is definitely too big and too rich
in places to see. Nevertheless, take a block notes and organise your
days properly, you'll be able to enjoy a lot of what Paris can offer!
Louvres, Arc de Thriomphe, Notre Dame, and of course, Madame La
Tour
Paris
is a fairly big city, so what I did was taking the map, and circle
all the places I wanted to visit. Then I divided the map in zones
that I could have visited in a day, and organized my staying
according to that. The first day I went straight to Louvres,
as soon as I get into city.
I wanted to see the wonderful Mona
Lisa since I was a kid, and as on my
previous visit it was not possible, I decided to to it now. I have to
admit, I didn't visit the whole Louvres; that museum is massive, and
you will probably need a whole day to see all of it. I only chose
some areas I really wanted to explore, and left the others for my
next visit.
The
Louvres is situated in the middle of city, so from there you can
really move anywhere you like. I decided to move towards the left
side of the Seine, and get to the 7th
Arrondissement of the city, where the beautiful Eiffel
tower is situated. I didn't climb up to
the top, I just stayed around and tried some delicious crepes from a
street kiosk, and then had a walk towards the boulevards, leading me
to the famous Arc de Triomphe.
From
there, after lunch I took the metro for the 5th
Arrondissement, to see the famous Notre
Dame cathedral. I have to say I
remembered it much bigger and majestic, while it is pretty small.
Nevertheless, the inside (as for the outside) is awesome, and worth a
visit, no doubt. Exactly on the road opposite Notre Dame all book
lovers will be pleased to know they can find Shakespeare
and Company, the famous English book
shop, so characteristic, with a wide section of second hand books,
and a beautiful second floor rich of ancient and very old tomes, that
will make you feel like jumping into the 17th
century.
Versailles
I finally had dinner in little restaurant close to the Opera, and
then went back to my place, ready for the following day.
My
second day was all dedicated to Versailles.
The massive castle is situated outside the city, and you need to get
a train to go there. There's a cue to get in, but it goes pretty
quickly. Then you can get audio guides (in any language) which will
explain you the meaning and use of each single room. The gardens then
are stunning, and I think a visit is worthy even only to have a walk
in that massive land of green. It was a beautiful experience, and I
dearly recommend it.
Moulin
Rouge, Sacreé
Coeur, Galerie Lafayette
As
for my last day, I went up to the northern side of the city, to see
the famous Pigaille neighbourhood (the famous red light district),
in particular cause I wanted to see the Moulin
Rouge.
Obviously, as I get there in the
morning, the place was closed, but it still was very nice seeing it.
Very close to that neighbourhood you can find Sacreé
Coeur,
the Basilica situated on the top of Montmartre,
which is the highest point of the city. From there, you have Paris on
your feet, and can enjoy one of the most beautiful landscape of the
whole city.
Finally,
if you fancy some good (and expensive) shopping, you could go back to
the city centre, and enjoy some of the most beautiful Paris shops in
Galerie
Lafayette.
Tips and Tricks to Enjoy your
Stay
Organization
As Paris is a big city, so
overwhelming and full of places to see, I would suggest you to take
your map and organize it in zones, to have an idea of your daily
places to see, like I did. In this way you won't lose too much time
in travelling with the bus or the metro from one side to the other of
the city, and will have much more time to enjoy each bit.
Try
to get organized if you'd like to see the museums
or Versailles
as well, and buy tickets online before your departure. That will make
you jump the cue, both to buy entrance tickets and security scans (in
both the Louvres and Versailles you need to pass through a security
scan, like in the airport, before getting in).
I bought my tickets online, and
that gave me the possibility to skip the cue using a particular “fast
track route”, and save a lot of time! I bought them on the official
Versailles and Louvres web sites, that you can find here:
The
only down side in buying Louvres tickets online is that you need to
specify date and time of your visit, and you only have half an hour
to play with if you don't want to lose your privileges. Like, if you
say you're planning to visit on the 5th
of May at 14.00, you can get there at 14.30 the last if you still
want to skip the cue, otherwise they will let you skip the ticket
cue, but not the security one.
Public Transport
Paris
is really well connected, and has a huge metro maze, buses, regional
trains, all of them taking you around the city. However, they are
expensive. You can buy a daily ticket, that you can use both on metro
and buses (but not regional trains) for 7.30 euros, but if I can give
you a tip, try to go to Paris on a Monday, so that you can use their
Carte
Navigo Decouverte,
which costs 22.50 euros, but lasts a whole week, and includes the use
of regional trains (which you will need to go to Versailles, for
example) and transport to and from the airports. Unfortunately this
travelcard can only be used starting from a Monday, so if you go
there on a Wednesday, for example, you could not use it. If you think
of all the money you would use to move around the city and go back to
the airport, that travelcard is the most convenient.
Eating Out
Paris is a very expensive city,
no doubt about it. I went out with a friend who lives there for a
pizza, and we had a starter, a pizza and a glass of wine each. We
paid 45.00 euros each. And it was not the most expensive place down
there.
So,
what I would suggest you to do, is to eat out only if there's
something you really want to try. Like, the famous macarons
from Ladureé,
or the delicious crepes in the small local shops, or a yummy pain
au chocolat
in the morning from a lovely boulangerie.
But as for snacks and lunch, I would suggest to buy your baguette in
a supermarket and eat your panini or sandwiches through the day, so
you can save a bit on restaurants.
I hope you might find this little
post helpful. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, I will
be more than happy to answer! Take care! xoxo
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