We slept until 8/8:30am because we didn't have any tours. It was our "relaxing" day *coughbutwehadsomuchplannedcough*.
Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe. It was located in a roundabout and choked with traffic. There weren't any visible crosswalks directly to the arc, so we had to make a detour. Then after a few blocks, we realized that there were underpasses, which we thought were metro stations. Doh!
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The arc is larger than life. It's HUGE. I would have loved to see it up close and admire the designed, but it was blocked off. We walked through the arc
We planned to do the 1 hour walk to Musee d'Orsay since it's closer to the arc than Sainte Chapelle, but I complained about my feet after 15 minutes or so, and we hopped on the metro. Before that though, we went to McDonalds for lunch/snack.
Breakfast is usually coffee and a croissant; definitely not enough for our fat asses, so we were usually starving after 1-2 hours. Good thing that food is everywhere in Paris! So we usually ate about 4-5 times everyday - snacks like expresso, crepes, and hot dog.
McDonalds in Paris is FANCY. I mean, compared to NYC, it's like a restaurant. But to Paris, it's probably a dump, lowest on the totem pole. Anyway, I bought my first couple of macaroons there (because it's cheap) and had a good ol' cheeseburger, fries, and big mac. The macaroons were okay, they were really sticky and not as airy as I had imagined/wanted. The burgers and fries tasted like any other McDonalds, except I thought the bread bun was fluffier.
The walk would have been sweet. It's a super busy street with lots of brand name stores and of course, cafes. This was probably the most contemporary /familiar looking street I've seen in Paris. This was the main street that led you to the Eiffel Tower.
On the metro, we decided to go to Saint Chapelle first because we wanted to see the stained glass windows while the sun was still out. If we went to Musee d'Orsay first, we would have to rush through the museum to get to the chapel in time, and given the long lines, the sun might be gone by the time we get inside :(
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Saint Chapelle was in Ile de la Cite, and we wandered a little bit there before buying tickets to see the chapel. For another 3 euros, we could also see the Conciergerie, so we saw that too! The buildings are arranged as such: Palace of Justice in the middle, Conciergerie on the right, and the chapel on the left. All 3 buildings were part of the royal palace until the 14th century.
We learned a lot about these buildings and Ile de la Cite on our Notre Dame tour the next day It's more relevant in this post, so here's what we learned: the Conciergerie was a prison and quite uninteresting when we looked around ourselves, but after our tour guide's explanation, it was just depressing. It was used for prisoners during the French Revolution, and Marie Antoinette was also imprisoned there. It has 3 towers, and I only remember two of them: the second was for the king's treasures, and the last was a torture chamber, and stories say that you could hear the prisoner's screams across the river.
King Louis IX had Sainte Chapelle built for himself so that he could pray everyday. In reality, it was also built to house the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ! During the French revolution, the crown was taken and hidden away, and today, it is kept in Notre Dame.
Sainte Chapelle is Gothic architecture and the stained glass was amazingly beautiful. Not only was the detail amazing, the light shining through the glass made it heavenly, a sense of holiness.
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Then we walked to Musee d'Orsay, about 20 minutes. We took our time because we didn't think we were going to make it before closing anyway. During our walk, we found the bridge with love locks! Of course, we bought a lock and put our names on it. Hopefully, it's still there the next time we're in Paris (if we can find the bridge, let alone the lock).
On another bridge, a guy was playing the accordion. I had no idea what song he was playing but it sounded so beautiful. I could sit there all day and listen to him.
When we got to the museum, it turned out it's closed on Mondays! HAH. So we just sat around the museum, admiring its architecture and sculptures. After a few minutes, we went to a cafe across the street for expresso and crepes.
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Then we walked some more. We saw a park area, Place de la Concorde, and decided to walk through it. It was still pretty chilly, so there wasn't a lot of green or flowers, and the fountains were running. The designs on the fountains were beautiful though!
At the center of Place de la Concorde stood the Luxor Obelisk, where the guillotine used to be (the one from the French Revolution and where Marie Antoinette lost her head!). I noticed there were hieroglyphics on the obelisk and on one of our tours, we found out that the obelisk was a gift from Egypt!
There was also a Ferris Wheel, and we rode on that. We got a nice view of paris, or half of it at least.
Then we walked to get a close up of the Grande and Petite Palace. Mike was interested in the glass dome on the Grande Palace. During our walk to Musee d'Orsay, we kept wondering what the glass dome was. Well, all of our guesses were wrong!
After that walk, we went back to the hostel and took a nap.
We ended the day with a walk up to Sacre Coeur Basilica (Sacred Heart Basilica) and had dinner at a restaurant nearby called Chez Marie. Mike ordered their beef burgundy and I got some sort of stew. Both tasted okay, very simple meal and warmed us from the cold weather.
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Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe. It was located in a roundabout and choked with traffic. There weren't any visible crosswalks directly to the arc, so we had to make a detour. Then after a few blocks, we realized that there were underpasses, which we thought were metro stations. Doh!
Beautiful day! We were lucky that the entire week was sunny :)
The arc is larger than life. It's HUGE. I would have loved to see it up close and admire the designed, but it was blocked off. We walked through the arc
We planned to do the 1 hour walk to Musee d'Orsay since it's closer to the arc than Sainte Chapelle, but I complained about my feet after 15 minutes or so, and we hopped on the metro. Before that though, we went to McDonalds for lunch/snack.
Breakfast is usually coffee and a croissant; definitely not enough for our fat asses, so we were usually starving after 1-2 hours. Good thing that food is everywhere in Paris! So we usually ate about 4-5 times everyday - snacks like expresso, crepes, and hot dog.
McDonalds in Paris is FANCY. I mean, compared to NYC, it's like a restaurant. But to Paris, it's probably a dump, lowest on the totem pole. Anyway, I bought my first couple of macaroons there (because it's cheap) and had a good ol' cheeseburger, fries, and big mac. The macaroons were okay, they were really sticky and not as airy as I had imagined/wanted. The burgers and fries tasted like any other McDonalds, except I thought the bread bun was fluffier.
The walk would have been sweet. It's a super busy street with lots of brand name stores and of course, cafes. This was probably the most contemporary /familiar looking street I've seen in Paris. This was the main street that led you to the Eiffel Tower.
On the metro, we decided to go to Saint Chapelle first because we wanted to see the stained glass windows while the sun was still out. If we went to Musee d'Orsay first, we would have to rush through the museum to get to the chapel in time, and given the long lines, the sun might be gone by the time we get inside :(
Sainte Chapelle
Saint Chapelle was in Ile de la Cite, and we wandered a little bit there before buying tickets to see the chapel. For another 3 euros, we could also see the Conciergerie, so we saw that too! The buildings are arranged as such: Palace of Justice in the middle, Conciergerie on the right, and the chapel on the left. All 3 buildings were part of the royal palace until the 14th century.
We learned a lot about these buildings and Ile de la Cite on our Notre Dame tour the next day It's more relevant in this post, so here's what we learned: the Conciergerie was a prison and quite uninteresting when we looked around ourselves, but after our tour guide's explanation, it was just depressing. It was used for prisoners during the French Revolution, and Marie Antoinette was also imprisoned there. It has 3 towers, and I only remember two of them: the second was for the king's treasures, and the last was a torture chamber, and stories say that you could hear the prisoner's screams across the river.
King Louis IX had Sainte Chapelle built for himself so that he could pray everyday. In reality, it was also built to house the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ! During the French revolution, the crown was taken and hidden away, and today, it is kept in Notre Dame.
Sainte Chapelle is Gothic architecture and the stained glass was amazingly beautiful. Not only was the detail amazing, the light shining through the glass made it heavenly, a sense of holiness.
Then we walked to Musee d'Orsay, about 20 minutes. We took our time because we didn't think we were going to make it before closing anyway. During our walk, we found the bridge with love locks! Of course, we bought a lock and put our names on it. Hopefully, it's still there the next time we're in Paris (if we can find the bridge, let alone the lock).
On another bridge, a guy was playing the accordion. I had no idea what song he was playing but it sounded so beautiful. I could sit there all day and listen to him.
When we got to the museum, it turned out it's closed on Mondays! HAH. So we just sat around the museum, admiring its architecture and sculptures. After a few minutes, we went to a cafe across the street for expresso and crepes.
You probably can't tell from the picture but Mike was fooling around with the crepe to make it look like a pinwheel
Oh so dainty.
Then we walked some more. We saw a park area, Place de la Concorde, and decided to walk through it. It was still pretty chilly, so there wasn't a lot of green or flowers, and the fountains were running. The designs on the fountains were beautiful though!
At the center of Place de la Concorde stood the Luxor Obelisk, where the guillotine used to be (the one from the French Revolution and where Marie Antoinette lost her head!). I noticed there were hieroglyphics on the obelisk and on one of our tours, we found out that the obelisk was a gift from Egypt!
There was also a Ferris Wheel, and we rode on that. We got a nice view of paris, or half of it at least.
Then we walked to get a close up of the Grande and Petite Palace. Mike was interested in the glass dome on the Grande Palace. During our walk to Musee d'Orsay, we kept wondering what the glass dome was. Well, all of our guesses were wrong!
After that walk, we went back to the hostel and took a nap.
We ended the day with a walk up to Sacre Coeur Basilica (Sacred Heart Basilica) and had dinner at a restaurant nearby called Chez Marie. Mike ordered their beef burgundy and I got some sort of stew. Both tasted okay, very simple meal and warmed us from the cold weather.
The restaurant was near the basilica, and we had to walk these steep stairs to get there
The basilica at night. We went for a closer look and to see the view after dinner.
My stew. The sausage was GREAT.
Beef burgundy. I thought there was too much wine in it
View from the basilica
Another view
On our way down the stairs from the basilica, we saw some Parisian graffiti.