Paris

So, two and half days in Paris…

Clearly not enough… but it is a start.

I arrived on Thursday afternoon with parents and friends in tow, and on advice from family friend Helen (which turned out to be excellent, thanks!), headed straight out to Versailles. The Chateau is enormous and the rooms your get to see are spectacular (if I need of a good dusting!). We did not have the time or the weather to spend wandering the gardens which would have been very nice on a sunny day.

The dawning of day two in Paris saw the parents and I part company for the morning. They had a guided tour of the city organised as part of their grand tour of Europe and not particularly wanting to be the youngest on a bus by about 30 years I decided to go it alone and walk.

I started from the hotel, located handily close to the Eiffel Tower and walked toward Notre Dame. An hour later, having wandered along the banks of the Seine past the Tuileries Gardens and enormity of the Louvre I arrived. The pale cream, freshly washed exterior of Notre Dame belies the cool dark of the interior. Even filled with the chatter of tourists the vast space somehow remains peaceful and reflective. It is a place best observed while sitting quietly. I managed to find a seat where I could see both the naïve and the transepts and not be stood on by the other sightseers. The great rose windows, the height of the vaults and the detail of the stone work need time to be taken in due to the dimness of the light.

It seems my walking tour and my parents guided tour collided at Notre Dame as we ran into each other in the plaza outside… some quick hellos and I was on my way again back toward the hotel and this time to the Musee D’Orsey. If ever I underestimated the time needed to see something it is this place. I had an hour. I needed a day – at least! Still, it was €8 very well spent even for just an hour. This art museum is limited in what it displays – only works produces between 1848 and 1914 – but they are works produced by Monet, Degas and Van Gogh to name but some of the most famous …and not just one or two… but rooms full of works by each artist …and so, my list of places to revisit grows!

Following the rushed tour of the Musee D’Orsay it was a swift hike back to the hotel to meet up with the parents. After a quick lunch we decided to visit Napoleon’s tomb at the Eglise du Dome and the War Museum attached. Napoleon, it seems, is dusted more regularly than Versailles!

…and so to the Eiffel Tower. We joined the queue at 5pm and by 6 we were standing upon the second level looking out at the city. The afternoon was sunny and clear and the view was excellent. Not much else I can say really!

The third day in Paris dawned cool and slightly overcast and it stayed that way all day. We had set aside this day to do a walking tour recommended by Helen. We took the Metro to St Michel. After a slight sidetrack for the women to buy scarves and my father and I to buy the required small model of the Eiffel Tour at one of the numerous souvenir shops next to Notre Dame we started the walk. We strolled through the Place de Vosges with the house of Victor Hugo and surrounded by art galleries; Wandered down the Rue des Francs Bourgeois with its line of classy shops and the Gardens of the Musee Carnavalet and eventually to the Place St Gervais for Lunch a little cafe. Places I am sure we would not have found without the great instructions from Helen..

I have to admit that we did truncate the walking tour and after lunch headed to Palais Garnier (the Paris Opera). We were all keen to see it and decided to squeeze it in before I had to leave to get my train for London.

If Napoleon had been dusted the Opera is polished! It is, without a doubt, the most opulent place I have ever been. No palace I have been in is a magnificent as the grand staircase and foyers of the Palais Garnier. The auditorium is just as magnificent. The balconies contain only private boxes. The only open seats are in the stalls – a clear mark that to sit on the lowest level is, well, the lowest level!

It is also nice to know that the building is referred to as Palais Garnier, and Garnier was the architect. A fitting tribute to the amazing space he created.

So from the Palais Garnier to Gare de Nord, and to a place that needs more than a dust! Gare de Nord as the Eurostar terminal in Paris and I found it grimy and dirty, with cracked and broken floors. It made it a tad easier to climb about the comfort of the Eurostar and head back to London.