Trip To Paris France - Day 2
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Day 2: Musée du Louvre, Bastille and Eiffel Tower?
Making the excuse
of being on vacation, jet lag and a tiring day, we took the liberty to get up
late on day 2. The first thing we wanted to explore was home of “Mona Lisa”,
Louvre museum in the morning, then the most spectacular tower, Eiffel tower in
the evening before heading off to our pre-booked night bar tour.
Louvre museum
The museum opens
at 9:00 a.m., and it was already almost 10:30 by the time we left our hotel
room and reached there by 11:15 a.m. We had too little time and lots to cover.
This museum was
originally built as a fortress, which was then centuries later used to display
royal collection and today to display more of recent years, including Pyramide du Louvre which also acts as the
main entrance to the museum.
Pyramide du Louvre
I started from the bottom of the museum and worked my way up. Louvre
covers all kinds of art.
Historical:
Sculptures:
Walls and walls of paintings:
Ceiling:
Mordern art:
Controversial art:
Painting as big as a theatre screen:
To famous and comparatively small, Monalisa:
King Napoleon crowning his queen.
It was very
difficult to leave the museum with so much more to see. We had to literally
drag ourselves out. Especially me. If you are an art enthusiast, you need to
keep a whole day or two just to cover this museum.
We still had to
visit the most spectacular monument that represents Paris and we had not seen
it in yet. So we hurried back to the hotel, grabbed a quick bite and were on
the subway to Champ de Mars — Tour Eiffel station. We reached the tower around
5:45 p.m.
Tour Eiffel
The idea was to go
to the top of the tower before the sunset and stay there until after the sunset
and the city lighted up. Even though it was a good plan, we missed one little
detail: Ticket queue. Although it was mid September, Paris was buzzing with
tourist.
You can go to the
top either by walking up the stairs or by elevator. After spending the whole
day walking around Louvre, we (read I) did not want to climb around 704 stairs
(Level 2. The top: only elevator can access third level). In both cases there
was a long queue. We stood in the queue for about half an hour. Seeing no
progress, we decided to come back the next day.
We had some time
till 8:00 p.m. until our next walking tour. We decided to cover Arc de Triomphe.
Instead of taking the subway, we decided to walk. Because I had downloaded the
local map of Paris, it was very easy to navigate. It was not a short walk
unfortunately. The Eiffel tower looked beautiful from across River Seine.
Large flights of
stairs are constructed just across the river facing Eiffel tower. Watching the
sun set behind the Eiffel across the river is the most beautiful experience one
could have. But, we missed it and opted to cover Arc de Triomphe. Was it worth
it, I am not sure.
Walking on the
streets, we observed that the whole city had just one tone of colour: Off
White.
Streets of Paris
Arc de Triomphe
Walking for almost
an hour and a half, we reached Arc de Triomphe, representing and honoring all
those who fought and died for France. Much like India Gate in New Delhi.
Crossing the road
is an impossible task and don’t even try it. It took us some time to figure out
how to get to the center: Through an underground passage way. Like all tourist
attractions, seeing this arc up close had a fee. Since we
were on time crunch, we decided to skip visiting this place up close, take the
subway and directly go to our walk tour, starting at Bastille station.
Barhop Walk Tour, Nightlife of Paris
We wanted to
experience the nightlife of Paris, the young crowd and energy, thus enrolling
into barhop walk tour. We were the first ones to join the walk tour and within
half an hour around 7- 8 more people joined us.
Not only did we
experience what we wanted, but also discovered more: we were not that young. We
were the only couple in the group and we were the only people above 25! Oh man
did we feel old! This tour takes the group through different kinds of bars/night
club (spending an hour at each bar) around Bastille
along with a free shot at every bar when we buy a drink. However, we gave our
free drinks to others because we didn’t want to drink, especially when we were
on our own.
The night and
streets were buzzing with activity even at 12:00 a.m.
Barhop Walk Tour in Paris
Nonetheless we
were having a good time until it was 12:00. We didn’t have our dinner, we were
tired and not ashamed to say a bit sleepy. When we were on our way to the fifth
bar we saw an Indian restaurant. The fifth bar that we entered was very
crowded. There was no place to stand. Seeing the restaurant, my husband and I
had the same thought. The crowded bar just gave us the right push. We just came
out of there, excused ourselves from the guide and the group and straight
headed for the Indian Restaurant (Unfortunately, I cannot recall the name of
the place). We had awesome Biryani and Boondi Raitha, spent the hour there,
enjoying the bliss of comfort food.
We came back to
the nightclub and informed the guide that we would be leaving, tipped her and
bid farewell to the group, came back to the hotel room and crashed!
Hope you enjoyed another day of walking tour in Paris. The beauty of the city fills you with enough energy to walk all day long.
The tour does not end here. More to come soon.
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Guest Post By Akhila
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