Paris

What can I say about Paris! It is one of those cities which has had all the superlatives used on it already and still continues to top them all. Everything is like a picture – as in everything is so photographed even if you haven’t been there before you already feel like you have!

We stayed in a little apartment in the outskirts of the city centre, nice and close to a metro station. It was actually the apartment of a young girl who we rented it off, so it was like living in a home away from home!

Day one in Paris was the most hectic, a full 14 hour day out and about! We tried to see a lot of the main sights that Mum and Dad were interested in as I had been before with Jon in 2009. We began at the Opera, moved to the Vendôme palais with the massive column made out of cannons taken from Napoleon’s wars with the combined countries of Europe. The Column shows Napoleon’s victories with a figure of himself as emperor standing on the top.

Notre Dame was next, where we managed to find ourselves on a free walking tour! The guide was a little armature, but hey, it was free. We moved to the Louvre where we made the obligatory pilgrimage to see Lisa herself (Mona Lisa), but I was more impressed with the massive painting hanging opposite her! There were heaps of people and I think the Louvre should invest some money into air ventilation. I was happy though as being under 25 and an EU citizen, I had free entry! Doesn’t get much better than that!

I found a walking tour path in my Lonely Planet guide up Monte Marte to the Sacre Cour which we did after the Louvre. It was great because I was able to direct Mum and Dad on a walking tour, giving them the facts as we went, and they just had to come along! We began at the Moulin Rouge, so Dad was happy, then we worked our way up the monte. We found a gorgeous little restaurant to have dinner at which overlooked the city where the food was delicious and the service was super friendly! We continued our walk until we got to the Sacre Cour, with it’s magnificent views over Paris. Inside the Cathedral we were greeted by a huge mosaic picture of Jesus with his arms stretched wide, up over the nave. It felt like he was reaching his arms out to you as soon as you walked in the door, inviting you in, never wanting you to leave.

We stopped off on the way home to have a look at the Eiffle tower by night and get a few pictures, it was beautiful! We somehow managed to fight our way to the front of the tourist lines and take a photo with no one else in it but us! Amazing and totally breathtaking.

The next day we took it a little easier, having more of a general look around. We decided to head straight to the Champs Elysees, where we headed away from the Arc de Triumph towards the Luxor Obelisk, a 3300 year old obelisk given to Paris by Egypt in 1829. A super quick detour took us to the Church of St Mary Medeleine. We walked down some amazing streets full of designer stores we could have sworn were on the street before as well!

Crepes for lunch in the park took us back onto the Champs Elysees for a little retail therapy! Dad loved the amazing car concept stores, his favourite being the Citroen one (of course) with it’s 6 levels of amazing vehicles, he could have spent all day in there!

The Palace la Grande and Petite were absolutely amazing too. Just off the Champs Elysees, they seem to get only a little wrap by tourists! They were built for the 1900’s World Fair and are testament to what man could do without the technology we have today!

The Arc De Triumph was next, and although it was a few too many steps up to the roof for us to mention again, the view was well worth it! It was actually free for me again (bonus)! From the top of the Arc de Triumph you can see all of Paris, and all of the Grand Boulevards which come off the World’s Craziest Round-a-bout. It seems as though there are no rules for this round-a-bout, and we watched with horror as one too many cars nearly crashed!

We walked over to the Eiffel Tower from here, to sit and have a gaze at it from the Champs de Mars, the park directly in front of the Tower, which once served as a parade ground for the French military. For the thousands of people who were milling about, it was surprisingly peaceful and a great way to end our day. Our feet were killing us!

Back near our apartment, we had a nice meal and a few too many wines then went to bed. After two days of intense sightseeing, we were all looking forward to a nice quite night spent in the forest.