Paris

Paris reminded me of Vegas. Its one of those places that's super neat to visit, lots to see and do, but after 3 or 4 days, you are tired and need to go home just to rest! I'll also apologize in advance as this blog will probably be rather long. You just can't write a short blog about Paris and cover everything! So my apologies for the long blog today!

The intersection near our hotel

So lets get some of the basic information out of the way about Paris. Yes................its all true, everything you've ever heard about Paris, the people, the city............all of it. Yes its dirty! Yes the people are rude and yes some of them stink! BUT its Paris! I mean if for no other reason to visit than just to see Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph and the Louvre....then its well worth putting up with rude Parisians that can be smelly at times and the dirty city. I highly recommend anyone go there at least once in a lifetime if ever given the chance just to see the landmarks of Paris. Its also very expensive, just as people say. So expensive that you should not be shocked to find that you've spent 50 euro on three burgers with fries and three drinks. And just to put it in bigger perspective for my American friends, 50 euro is about $75! Yes......and that's the norm in the city! But some of the food is really quite tasty!
You will also find that if you want to use the restroom, be it to wash your hands or to pee........you'll find that it usually cost you to get in the toilet. The bathroom doors have coin slots on them where you must put in coins in order to open the door. I was blown away by this as you even see pay toilets on the sidewalks that look similar to port a potties, only you have to put coins in the door. I think on average we paid anywhere from 30 pence to 50 pence each to use the loo! And even more astonishing is that we had to even pay when we were paying customers in a restaurant! A restaurant, might I add that we were paying roughly 5 euro for a bottle of water OR a glass of soda! I would think in part its a way to take full advantage of the tourist and also to keep the gypsies from using their bathrooms. There were a lot of gypsies around the tourist spots.

When I always heard that Paris was dirty I had always envisioned that it was gray and dirty with grit and just smog or such. But I got there and it wasn't that way at all. In fact I was quite astonished when I seen Notre Dame for the first time and it was not at all this gray, dark building I had always thought it would be. Much of the city looks clean, from a distance. I would say that the dirty part comes in from the cleanliness of the streets, litter, and just over all filth of the public transportation. You just feel like you need to wash your hands a lot. Oops, but don't forget, it'll cost ya 30 pence to wash your hands before dinner! And if you have to pee........best do so then! LOL

Also don't be surprised to find a few prostitutes along the rail system. We seen a few along our journeys to and from points of interest. However I will say though that the metro/rail system is by far the best way to travel about the city! You'll still walk a bunch, don't get me wrong, as nothing is close to one another as far as points of interest. But buying a two day rail pass with unlimited use was by far one of the best buys we did.

Okay so enough about the low lights of Paris, lets talk about the highlights! Notre Dame is breath taking! At least to me it was. I stepped off the subway, walked up the stairs and there it was! WOW! As I said, I expected this gray cathedral. Jeff's dad told me that when he was visiting Paris about 9 years ago that they were washing it then. Its amazing. Its really amazing that this building still stands today and that it has all the details that it has. The inside is remarkable. I had no idea it was such a big building, both inside and out. Amazing architecture! We got to visit the crypts down under Notre Dame and its basically the base of the old building and things that they excavated. Really neat to see. You can walk up the towers but its all steps, the lines are long and we opted not to walk the steps.

Notre Dame......isn't it beautiful!

A very small part of the inside of Notre Dame

The back of Notre Dame, from the boat

We took a boat tour on the river too, around the city. I got some amazing shots of the Eiffel Tower from the boat and really...........its the best way to see the Eiffel Tower, if you ask me. We did walk up to the tower on our second day there, but it was much better seeing it from the boat. The boat ride was an hour long and we got to see the back of Notre Dame, several parts of the city and the Eiffel Tower. And it was a nice breezy way to relax and spend an hour of time.

The Eiffel Tower. I took this shot from the boat ride

Second day we went straight to the Louvre, first thing in the morning. I was simply blown away by the Louvre as well. Both outside and inside. Its amazing to me that there is so much art inside one HUGE building, so much history! I can't tell you how fantastic some of the statues are, or how neat it is to see the real Mona Lisa in person. To see the detail in the marble statues makes you wonder how on earth they had the tools to do such amazing things back then. And then to see some of the sizes of paintings............I found myself wondering how they were able to paint such detail and maintain a scale of the overall painting when they had to paint on ladders and such. Of course I am a fan of Da Vinci Code, so it was neat to see some of the Louvre in person just for that reason. I could have spent days in the Louvre and still not fully enjoyed it all. But it also goes without saying that after you've been in the Louvre for half of the day, been around all the people, you are ready to leave as well. I seen all the highlights and the things I really wanted to see. We probably covered at least 3/4 of the Louvre, but hardly no time to really stop and appreciate it all. If I ever find myself in Paris again, I will definitely go back, see a little more and pause to enjoy it. If you ever find yourself in Paris, go early to the Louvre.........when its not so crowded and the queues aren't so long!

A very small part of the Louvre from the outside!

Aphrodite aka Venice de Milo

Mona Lisa

Winged Victory of Samothrace

One of the many beautiful ceiling in what use to be Napoleon's home

One of hundreds of incredible statues in the garden of statues at the Louvre

After the Louvre that's when we went to see Eiffel Tower up close and in person. From there we went to see Arc de Triumph. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the architecture and art, but I was far more impressed by everything I seen, than by the Eiffel Tower. Its neat, don't get me wrong, just not as neat to me as Notre Dame or the art in the Louvre or even Arc de Triumph.

Arc de Triumph

The third day we were there we took a tour from Paris to Normandy. Its a long ride out to Normandy, about 3 hours, but its definitely worth seeing. The cemetery is what is the most remarkable thing to see. It puts war in a new perspective, no matter the patriot you are or your core beliefs in war and politics. Its a peaceful, beautiful place, even with all the white grave markers. A must see! And we found out that its US territory. As is Omaha beach where the battle was. Its all very surreal and it really puts the battle of Normandy into perspective for anyone that enjoys history and wants to know more. We seen a few films on the battle, seen the memorials on the beach and had a fantastic lunch at a french B&B.
The ride back was long as well but when we returned we had a nice dinner for our last evening in Paris and turned in a little early.

A very, very small tract of the graves at Normandy!

Part of the cemetery in Normandy

Memorial at Omaha Beach

We had a nice time and it was a fantastic weekend but we seen a lot, walked a lot and we were all tired when we got in the plane Sunday morning to head back to Scotland. So while France is expensive and the people are a bit rude, I highly recommend seeing Paris if ever given a chance. Just go into it with the mind set that you are going to spend an absorbent amount on food and drinks but its Paris...........home of the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph and Notre Dame. Those things right there make it worth the visit!

So that's our Paris trip. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I took over 100 pictures in Paris but of course I can't upload them all. Jeff's dad got back on a plane to head home this morning. We were so glad to have him and will miss him. We think he had a pretty good time but figure he'll be happy to see his wife, get some rest from his vacation with us and just be back in the good ole USA. ;)