Katie and I spent a couple weeks in Paris this summer for both business and pleasure.
As it was Katie’s first time there we did most of the big touristy things, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Arch de Triumph, etc. We also did The Louvre and Versailles, which were two of the big things I wanted to do and hadn’t gotten to yet.
Versailles is a short train ride from Paris and is spectacular. Lines are long so get there early or pay for a private tour which includes admission to the rest of the castle after a behind the scenes tour. We opted for the tour of Marie Antoinette’s private apartments that allowed us to jump the line. I won’t lie and say the apartments are great but they are a good way to get inside and see the rest of the castle, which is great! Books have been written about the castle’s interior so I won’t try to write my own here. I will take a couple sentences to tell you how great the gardens are though. The gardens I believe are open every day but the fountains only operate at the weekend. The gardens are massive, sculptured, and beautiful. There are dozens of fountains, large and small, all over the gardens. Many of the fountains have massive stone or bronze sculptures that spray water in some manner. My favorite was of a dragon and some angry looking fish. Other than a strong recommendation to work this day trip into your visit I would also recommend packing a lunch and something to drink. There is a café to get food but it is over priced and there are plenty of places to sit and eat in the garden.
For those of you who haven’t been to Paris, the Louvre is massive. By far the biggest art museum I’ve ever seen. There isn’t possibly anyway to see the museum’s collection in one day, which is all we had. We spent the majority of our day between the great hall and the Dutch collection. The great hall houses the most famous pieces. If you only have a couple hours this is where you should spend it. The other old masters and Rembrandt are represented in a big dutch collection. Some of the pieces I remember best are the Winged Victory, Madonna on the Rocks, Raft of Medusa, Coronation of Napoleon, and at least a dozen others that I can’t recall the name of right now. I could probably spend another day or two and will looking forward to doing so next time.
While there we were able to meet up with a few friends. Katie’s cousin and her husband live in Germany and were able to join us for a weekend of delicious food and some rain drenched sightseeing. We were also able to met up with a high school friend of mine who is on a ridiculously long, around the world backpacking trip and just happened to be in Paris at the same time we were. Shelli and her friend Cookie (I think it was Katie but since we already had one in our group it kept things simple) met all of us at Sacre Coeur. We chose the meeting point because it is the highest point in Paris and there are suppose to be great views, people watching, sunsets, etc. Figured it was pouring down rain and we missed all of that! After a hurried tour of the church we found a restaurant where we could keep dry and have a relaxing dinner. Because of the rain we were practically the only people in the place. Ended up being a really great night!
Like I said above, Katie's first time in Paris and she was deadest on going up the Eiffel Tower. I wasn’t against going up the tower but I was against waiting in line to go up the tower. If you are planning to go to the top I offer two pieces of advice. One, get there early and go directly to the top. You can stop for pictures on your way back down. Second, climb the steps and skip the line for the elevator. The climb is 10 minutes or so and there are two. The line to climb is shorter, often you can walk right on, and you’ll save a couple Euros going this route. The views once you get to the top are better than I thought they would be.
I’m sure we’ll be back in the future so all for now.
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