Trip To Paris France - Day 1
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Day 1: In and around Île de la Cité
We arrived Paris
early in the morning. Not being a morning person, it was a bit difficult for me
to be active with very little sleep. But, we did not want to waste any time. So
we directly went to the nearest information center and picked up as much
tourist information as we could grab. Language could be a barrier in Paris.
English is not very widely spoken. Knowing key words help a lot. In our case,
my husband knew and understands a bit of French. Being vegetarian, it made a
huge difference.
Travelling in
Paris using public transport is comfortable as well as affordable (Taxies are
available but they are unnecessary and expensive). We can buy a 3-day or 5-day Metro
pass. Paris is very well connected by subway system and the pass is valid on any
number of subway/tram travels. Since we had plans to live in Paris for just 4
days, we decided to buy a 3-day pass (Zone 1- 5) and pay for travel on the
fourth day. Paris Metro gives a lot of
information on travel rates, metro map, deals around Paris, guides and more!
Paris subway is
one of the oldest subway systems in the world, which began its operation in
1900 A.D. They are very ‘tunnelly’, unique and surprisingly smelly and not in a
good way (I was not expecting this at all!).
Subway tile art @ Porte de Versailles subway station:
We had booked
ourselves a walking tour at 1:30 in the afternoon. So we took a quick shower at
our hotel in Paris and left to Cité via
subway of course. When we reached there, we still had some time to look around
and have something to eat.
That is when we observed this:
If you observe,
you will see that all the seats at the table face the street. Who knew Paris is
also a place where people gossip. It is said that, please like to relax and eat
at a patio in good weather and spend time with friend, gossiping about people
who pass by. Well its fun to sit facing the street and have a good bite
observing people.
During research,
we came across a few walking tours, where guides (mostly students) guide a
limited number of people around the city walking. Some are free (guides depend
on tips) and some are paid (tips are excluded). We had extensively used Sandemans. We took the free day tour
(group of 8 people) at 1:30 p.m and paid night tour (group of 4) in the
evening. The afternoon tour started at the center of Paris - Île de la Cité or Cité
island.
An old map of
Paris with Cité at the centre.
If you see the
map, you will find that Paris almost looks like a circle. The city of Paris is
built around river Seine and looks like string of concentric circles.
At the center of Cité
island is “Point Zero”. This is considered the center of Paris and apparently
center of the universe according to legends.
Point Zero, Center of Cité
island , Paris
Just in front of
point zero, Cité is home to Notre-Dame Cathedral well know for its
Architecture and stained glasses.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
There was a huge
line-up to get in. We decided to explore later (But we could not due to lack of
time).
Cité is also home to Hôtel-Dieu de Paris –
considered the oldest hospital(not hotel in Paris as I initially assumed)
established in early 16th century, just a few steps away from the
cathedral.
There were talks
of converting this to a Paris hotel by the government as maintain this building
was costing the government a lot of money. A small garden inside the hospital
with protest flags:
Hôtel-Dieu de Paris - oldest hospital
Behind Hôtel-Dieu
de Paris , you will find Palais de Justice – center for Justice
Palais de Justice – center for Justice
You will see a lot
of ruins around Cité mainly destroyed
during French Revolution.
Across Paris you will see a lot of signs changed giving it a humorous
twist by French artist Clet Abraham just like the one below. This was right across
10, Rue de Seine (residential building featured in a few movies like Julie and
Julia), just around the corner from the Pont des Arts and the Academie des
Beaux Arts.
Humurous Signs by French Artist Clet Abraham
The walk tour lasted about 2 hours. By the end of the walk tour we were
thoroughly hungry, as we had already digested the most delicious 3-cheese
Panini that I ever had. We had booked another walking tour at night, which was
supposed to start at 7:00 p.m. We had ample time to roam around and have some
food. Using my mobile downloaded app, I located the next tour starting point
and started to casually walk towards the spot passing past the beautiful river Seine and Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre).
A few shots of
River Seine facing Cité:
Facing South of Cité
– You can see Eiffel Tower in the skyline – That was the first view of Eiffel
Tower for us.
A random building
on our way:
Map of Louvre Museum outside the museum:
Entrance to Louvre Museum. Just a teaser. Not going
inside there yet:
Food can be a bit
tricky for vegetarians in Paris. There are hardly any vegetarian French
cuisines. However, the Tomato-Basil Panini and 3-Cheese Panini that I had here
were the best Paninis that I ever had! If you eat egg, you must try the
street-food: Crêpes(Yes, it is a street food here!). But, for vegetarians, the
safe bet are Indian restaurants, Italian (Pasta / Pizza) and Panini.
As we were
starving, we started looking places for food and were hoping to have something
good. And what do we see in one of the restaurant menu! The restaurant name is Framboise near Louvre.
Food Menu @ Framboise near Louvre
We spent a little
bit of time here as we had a lot of time until our next meeting point: Musée du
Louvre station. This place was mainly chosen because the guide wanted to
introduce us to this art: “Kiosque des noctambules” by Jean-Michel Othoniel to
mark Paris Metro centenary in the year 2000.
Kiosque des noctambules,
Art by Jean-Michel Othoniel to
mark Paris Metro centenary
While we were
waiting to meet the guide, we enjoyed the street performance by a group of
students.
The next spot the
guide took us was right beside the subway station to see Les Deux Plateaux – a controversial art
installation – basically different heights of black and white striped columns.
Les Deux Plateaux , Paris
The next
destination was Louvre Museum. This according to me is the most beautiful and
romantic part of Paris! Especially at night, when the whole courtyard is lit,
it’s just breathtaking. This is my favorite place in Paris.
Louvre Museum, Paris
The guide brought
us here to show us the “Arago Medallion”. This is an art containing 135 bronze
Medallions which are placed along a longitude known as the Paris Meridian Line.
From Louvre, we
could also see the Historic axis of Paris: A line of famous monuments that can be seen
on a single axis.
Coming out of
Louvre, we walked up to Latin Quarter
and few other areas which were buzzing with life and to the very quiet areas of
Paris where life seemed to have come to a stand still.
After the long
walk, we came back near Louvre where we walked towards river Seine facing Love
Lock Bridge (Pont des Arts): This bridge is portrayed in many films and
advertisements as a symbol of love. Is it said that if a couple write their
name on the lock, attach it to the bridge and throw the key in the river, their
love would be undying, a symbol of commitment towards each other. There is a
similar bridge (Pont de l'Archevêché), which is filled with similar locks.
There are controversies regarding which is the actual lovelock bridge. However,
people just fill the bridge up to show their undying love.
The guide informed us that since the bridge gets too heavy, the
government has decided o replace the grills time to time giving more space for
people to fill and the bridge to be safer for pedestrian use. I must confess, I
was very tempted to add a lock of our own, but felt it was too cheesy to do so.
River Seine facing Love
Lock Bridge (Pont des Arts)
Right across Louvre Museum crossing Pont des Arts we came across Institut
de France, basically an institute that safeguards French language, art,
literature and sciences
Walking non-stop
we were completely tired and waiting to go back when the guide bid farewell to
us at this institute by singing a very sweet French song (Don’t ask what it
was. Her voice was sweet and we were being nice). We just went to the Hotel
room and slept like a pair of logs. It was a very fulfilling day with lots of
sight seeing on a single day.
Hope you enjoyed pics of the first day of trip to paris france.
There is more to come about our family trip to paris france. Keep
watching this space.
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Guest Post by Akhila
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