5/3/19
After a flight delay in Dallas, we landed in Paris in the early afternoon and began to explore after hammering some espresso and dropping off our luggage at our hotel, the Maison Albar Celine. The Maison Albar is located a quick walk from the Les Halles metro station and is very close to the Louvre and the Ile de la Cite. All the toilets have heated seats and really cool bidets. My butt really enjoyed Paris. Excellent service in the hotel as well.
After regrouping with Adam and Jennifer, we were ready to explore Paris. We had originally planned to be dropped off via Uber at the Arc de Triomphe, but traffic led us to bail at Place de la Concorde. They guillotined quite a few people in this square, including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. There is also a really cool golden tipped obelisk there now. Big fan of obelisks. They look like wieners and that's funny to me.
We continued toward the Arc by walking up Champs-Elysees, which is considered the most recognizable avenue in the world and is lined with fancy shops and cafes. It is also super crowded and the site of many of the Yellow Vest protests, so there were quite a few cracked windows to be seen while we explored our way up the avenue towards the Arc de Triomphe. They usually riot on Saturdays, so we were unfortunate to have visited on Friday because I really wanted to tip over some cars and get shot by rubber bullets.
After walking under the madhouse of a roundabout circling the Arc de Triomphe, we decided to make our way to the top of the monument. Climbing to the top of the Arc was the first time of many in France that I was reminded that I had gotten a bit fat. We were, however, rewarded with beautiful views of the city once we made it all the way up.
The Arc de Triomphe's construction started in the early 1800s and took almost 30 years to complete and was considered the world's tallest triumphal arch for around 100 years. Below the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame remembering those lost and unable to be identified during the World Wars. We bought a Museum Pass before visiting, which allowed us to skip the lines and made our visit to the Arc de Triomphe a great start to our trip.
5/4/19
Saturday was rainy, cold, and windy. We started our morning off with a walk from the hotel to visit Saint-Chapelle, built in the 13th century and home to a massive collection of stained glass windows. Twas neato.
After visiting Saint-Chapelle, we decided to check out the Conciergerie since it was right next door and included in our museum pass. We had originally decided to skip, but the fire in Notre Dame a few weeks before our trip opened up some time in our schedule. Excellent audible on my part. All credit to me. The Conciergerie was a former palace that was turned into a prison (housed Marie Antoinette) during the French Revolution. I really enjoyed the architecture in the Hall of Guards and Hall of Men-at-Arms. I will admit that the former palace is much more impressive from the exterior, as the interior is a bit barren.
Unforutately, Notre Dame caught fire just a few weeks before our planned visit. Nearby streets were still closed down due to the lead contamination from the roof and spire when we visited. The French President seems to think they can rebuild in 5 years, but I highly doubt that. We were still able to get a lot of pictures after leaving the Conciergerie, though.
After lunch, we made our way into the subway (we lived) to get to our next stop, Musee d'Orsay, a massive museum located in an old train station. One of the few lines we had to stand in on our whole trip. Lots of cool statues, as well as some paintings by Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Monet, and Manet. Monet, Manet. Tomato, Potato.
A quick walk from Musee d'Orsay is Deyrolle, a taxidermist that opened in the 1830s. They didn't allow pictures, but I just want everyone to know that you can buy a stuffed red panda for under $4,000. You know how you get to take your wife to a taxidermist on your trip to Paris? Don't tell her until you are already inside. We also made a quick stop at Pierre Marcolini on our way to dinner to stock up on some chocolaty snacks. Still delicious.
5/5/19
The following morning, we booked a half day private tour to Versailles. Versailles was originally built as a hunting lodge in 1623 by Louis XIII before morphing into the massive palace it is today. We learned a ton on our tour, but the thing that really stood out to me was the process of how the king went to bed. The king had a public and private bedroom. Every night, a crowd would gather in the public bedroom and they would perform a 45 minute ceremony of putting the king to bed, where he would pretend to sleep until everyone left. Then he would go through a secret door to his private bedroom to perform another ceremony before actually going to sleep. Then, in the morning, he would return to the public bedroom and pretend to wake up. Between that and the guillotine, being the king sounds awful.
The gardens in Versailles are absolutely massive. Unfortunately, as was the case for most of the trip, it was raining. We were able to snag a couple of pretty good pictures during breaks in the storm, though. An interesting fact we learned was that their pipe system was not sophisticated enough to operate all the fountains at once, so they had an underground passage system used to warn the workers when the king was about to come around a corner so they could cut pressure to fountains behind him and turn on the ones he was about to come across.
All in all, Versailles was super cool, but it reminded me of our trip to the Vatican, where the museum and Sistine Chapel were so crowded that it was difficult to enjoy ourselves.
All in all, Versailles was super cool, but it reminded me of our trip to the Vatican, where the museum and Sistine Chapel were so crowded that it was difficult to enjoy ourselves.
We had some time between our tour ending and our Eiffel Tower reservation, so we decided to check out Musee de l'Armee. The Army Museum is located is Les Invalides, which was built to treat and house war veterans. It also contains museums, monuments, and the tomb of Napoleon. We got to see a ton of ancient armor and swords, as well as a WW1 pistol that could shoot around corners. It would be tough to choose between the gun-sword we saw in Venice or the shooty corner gun in Paris in a fight, but if I had to choose, I would go with the shooty corner gun because I'm a coward.
After finishing at the army museum, we took a taxi to the Eiffel Tower, which was built for the 1889 World's Fair and stands over 1,000 feet high. It held the title of the tallest structure in the world for just over 40 years. We booked reservations to visit the summit and I will just go ahead and say it was a long ride to the top. Allison and Jennifer were terrified. Luckily they sold champagne at the summit, because security confiscated the beer and wine we tried to sneak up.
Restaurants
Pain Vin Fromages is a fondue place near our hotel. Our seats were really cramped and the fondue left a lot to be desired. Maybe we just ordered the wrong type of cheese?
La Jacobine is a traditional French restaurant in the Latin Quarter. It was excellent and not a far walk from Musee d'Orsay, Deyrolle, and the area's chocolate shops.
Most restaurants are closed on Sundays, so we had a hard time finding a spot to eat after our Eiffel Tower adventure. We settled on L'Alsacien, which served a pizza-type dish called Flammekueche that hails from the Alsace region of France. They use a base of creme fraiche instead of marinara. The food we got was delicious, but the combo we ordered smelled horrible, so the taste was a pleasant surprise.
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