Here we meet again! Paris, France

By 8/21/2015 , ,

I don't like travel somewhere twice. If I choose a place for a vacation I try to take everything I can from it. But there are always exceptions. And for me this exception is Paris.






I already wrote about our one day getaway to The city of love during vacation in Spain, but this time all vacation was dedicated to Paris.


We arrived late in the evening and decided to save money and get to our hotel by metro. I booked a hotel room near metro station Malesherbes. It is a very good location for me, because I prefer walking during my trips and don't really wanted to use transport. Only 1 km from Montmartre, 3 km from Eiffel Tower and pretty much all main sights within 1 hour by foot. So here we are looking at the metro map, found the station we needed. We were surprised it was the last one on the line, because the hotel supposed to be very close to the center of the city, but we were tired in the strange city and really wanted to get to the hotel as soon as possible.

I got suspicious when we were waiting 20 minutes for our train, doesn't look like metro, huh? But hey, it is almost midnight, maybe that is why - I thought. Then I noticed that the time gap between the stations is about 10 minutes. AGAIN doesn't look like metro, right? And people around us were not so much friendly, besides no one speaks English and my French is pretty much basic. I turned on my gps to check where we are and it appeared we are 65 km away from Paris going to the city Malesherbes. On the next stop we ran out of that train and it was a gift of a fortune that the train back to Paris came in a few minutes, because I believe that day it was the last one. Anyways, naming RER station and metro station with the same name is pretty cruel to the tourists.
But we were happy to be in this beautiful city again.






It is basically our tradition to visit famous cemeteries. Since last time we walked around Pere Lashes, this time we chose Montmartre cemetery.




All cemeteries in Europe look similar, you can't really tell the difference between them. They all look like the cities of dead. But there is something special about every single one of them.




Paris is definitely a very romantic city. 





We were so lucky with the weather. The broadcast was saying 7 days of non stop rain during our visit, but it was only one rainy morning on the first day, that's it. I guess Paris loves us.














Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur

The place we didn't have time to visit last time. This time we had lots of time, so we spend the whole day walking around Montmartre.








We got lost in the steep and cobbled streets of one of the most historic and interesting neighborhoods in Paris.







Finally we got to our main goal that day. Despite the crowds, the view is the most spectacular in Paris.







The Basilica Sacre-Coeur was only built a century ago and took over 40 years to build. For 5 euros you can climb the 80 meter dome and get and even better view of Paris.













The Louvre
The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is one of the world's largest museums, so we had to go there! And it was one of the best experiences in Paris.








I loved the section "The Netherlands, 16th Century". I think we spend there 2 hours. The rooms were almost empty. We were surprised where did everyone else go, there were so many people in the line, we waited for 2 hours. But when we got to Mona Lisa - there they were! Crowds and crowds of tourists. But since I am a tourist too, I couldn't resist to take a selfie with Mona.









Of course you will need at least 1 day to visit Louvre, so don't plan too much for the day of visit.







Versailles
The biggest disappointment in Paris for me was Versailles. But that is maybe I saw too many similar palaces with gardens in my life. Pretty much every city has one. And Versailles wasn't the prettiest.




It may take you about 30-60 minutes to buy a ticket and then you have to wait again in another line to come in. When we visited the time of waiting in the line was about 2 hours. So around 3 hours and you are in. Include that time in your plan for the day.





It is a very peaceful place. The fountains work on schedule, so be sure you know it if you want to see them. I guess we were just lucky, because we didn't have any schedule.




The gardens didn't impress me that much. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, I just don't think it worth the time. You can visit many other parks and gardens closer to Paris and for free. Only my humble opinion. But it is a nice place to stroll around, that is for sure. Boats, river, green grass, what else can you wish for?

















Notre Dame de Paris
I think it is not only a must while in Paris, but I would actually come back here.









As I said we had a lot of time in Paris and by the end of the trip it was even nice to get back home. Since our family loves tennis we visited Roland-Garros and bought some souvenirs.






I could write and write about how much I love this city. But pictures will show it better.






Paris, oh Paris, is there anybody who doesn't love you? I can't imagine that's possible. And of course we've visited DISNEYLAND. But I will write a new post about that.

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