A Quick Trip to The City of Love, aka Paris

On our way to Bordeaux, where we would pick up our new Charge, we decided to stop for a quick 4 day visit in Paris. There’s a reason Paris is one of the most popular cities among travelers. Known as the “City of Light” or the “City of Love,” the streets of Paris overflow with culture, art, beauty, and history.

We stood under the Eiffel Tower in awe, and enjoyed a crepe along the Seine while gazing at the Magnificent NotreDame. Paris is a city that captures the hearts of millions ever year and rightfully so.

We rented a car at Charles de Gaulle and drove to the little flat we rented in the Moulin rouge area of Paris.

For 4 days we walked, took subways, looked at the sights, stopped at cafes and enjoyed the beauty of this enchanting city, originally a Roman City called “Lutetia.” It is a beautiful city, as I’m sure you know if you have visited, but we will share some of our highlights.

We parked the car in the underground parking and left it there until we had to leave for Bordeaux, as the subway system, although daunting to look at, is easy to navigate and cheaper than finding parking for the car while touring parts of the city.

The Eiffel Tower was our goal one day, however, when we got there it was very busy and the two hour wait to go up the lift was daunting in the cold wind. It was February after all and was not exceptionally warm.

We walked the grounds and enjoyed the view from below this magnificent structure. The Eiffel Tower was supposed to be a temporary installation, intended to stand for 20 years after being built for the 1889 World Fair.

The Louvre was the goal of the next day, as we were due for rain. We took cover admiring some beautiful and some of the most famous art in the world, and were mesmerized by the sheer size and spectacular architecture of the building.

The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as the Louvre castle in the late 12th to 13th century. Remnants of the fortress form an exhibit in the lowest level of the museum.

The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal or confiscated church property.

Currently the Louvre is home to approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century exhibited over an area of 72,735 square meters.

We wish now that we would have had time to visit the Musée d’Orsay which houses the works of Van Gogh, but with only 4 days to visit, we ran too short of time.

The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris and honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

It is encompassed by a large traffic circle forming it juncture with twelve radiating avenues which is quite intimidating to drive!

During our walks of the city we passed through The Place de la Bastille not far from The Louvre, where the Bastille prison stood until its physical destruction between 14 July 1789 and 14 July 1790 during the French Revolution.

Notre Dame is lovely on the edge of the Siene river, however, because of the fire last year, we could only admire it from the street., yet it remains standing tall and proud in its glamour.

Our little apartment we rented was right off the steps of Montmarte Cemetary and it is the third largest necropolis in Paris. Some interesting facts about this Cemetary which opened in 1825 and was originally outside Paris proper. It was an abandoned gypsum quarry can be read in Wikipedia if you click the link. Might be a bit creepy but cemeteries of this era have a sort of magic.