Wandering Slippers: Love, Paris (January 2015)

Paris is the third and last leg of our Euro Tour. The one and only place Krz wanted to visit and spend time in. Actually, she just wanted to see the Eiffel Tower and Musee D'Orsay, which she actually saw and visited.

Transportation

At first we planned on taking the train from Florence to Paris. This was actually one of the things that we both were looking forward. It was supposed to be an adventure in itself, but since Krz was 6 months pregnant then, we chose to fly instead (just 2 hours instead of 12 hours on the train). I booked the ticket via Expedia to look for cheap plane tickets. Luckily enough, I was able to find one way tickets worth 60 USD for the both of us.

Florence Airport

From the hotel in Florence, we requested for a cab and asked to be brought to Florence Peretola Airport. This is different from saying 'Florence Airport' only as the cab driver might bring you to the nearby Pisa Airport (as what the kind gentleman from the hotel front desk told us). Upon landing in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, we just followed the crowd to the exit for the train stations. When riding the train, you should be wary of your belongings as a lot of tourists often lose things while on vacation.

There are a lot of choices for train tickets within the city (you can read more about the Paris transport system in TripAdvisor's article about Paris Public Transportation). For this trip, we just chose the most practical - a carnet of tickets. A carnet is a book of ten tickets priced at 13,7 euros, which you can use in the metro and buses. Most of the sites are a couple of minutes away from one another, so it is best to just walk. Paris has an extensive metro system and is tourist friendly, you won't get lost when riding the metro.

Accommodation

The hotel we stayed at was also suggested by Tripadvisor - Hotel Cluny Sorbonne. It is a small hotel located in Paris' Latin Quarter, in the 5th arrondissement. The hotel is close to a lot of tourist attractions, thus making it practical for us. Notre Dame Cathedral is just 5 minutes away, Rue Mouffetard and Le Pantheon is just a couple of blocks south of the hotel as well. To make it even more convenient, the hotel is located near a metro station.

Attractions Visited

There are a lot of attractions in Paris, most of them have admission fees while others are for free. For those that require a fee to visit, we considered buying the Paris Museum Pass. This allowed us to visit a lot of attractions for free, sometimes it allowed us to bypass the lines at the entrance. Around 60 museums are included in the Museum pass - the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and a lot more are included in the pass

Krz and I wanted to hear mass, so we went to Notre Dame and checked the schedule for the Sunday mass. What was supposed to be an international mass was actually a mass in local language (French) with English songs. Churchgoers were not allowed to take pictures inside the church while the mass is in session.

Krz and I in front of Notre Dame

As one of the most popular Gothic Architecture in the world, one could not help but notice the grandeur of the church. We were both at awe upon seeing the church in person. Entrance to Notre Dame is Free of charge, but you have to pay around 12-14 euros if you want to visit the crypt and/or climb the towers to see the gargoyles

Notre Dame

We also visited the a bookstore so popular that some of the most famous writers stayed within the walls to start on their works - Shakespeare and Company. Krz was so excited to be there that she asked me to take a picture of her in front of the bookstore - she rarely asks me to take a picture of her alone.

Look at her smile

We also did not miss the chance to take a cruise on the River Seine. It really helped us on our itinerary and make last minute changes.

In front of the Louvre

The next day, we went to the Louvre - one of the things that I really want to visit in Paris. Huge is an understatement to describe the Louvre - we even couldn't decide on how to go about exploring the museum. It's a good thing we have Rick Steve's audio guide to help us walk around. The statue of Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory, Mona Lisa and a lot more helped satisfy our Art Craving.

Mona Lisa

Random Statue

Venus de Milo

Winged Victory

It was a good thing that we visited during the winter - there were not a lot of people visiting the attractions. We didn't have a lot of competition when it comes to viewing the art works. The Louvre was part of the museums included in the Paris Museum Pass mentioned earlier in this post.

Pyramid in front of the Louvre

The next day, we went to the Orsay Museum to view the greatest Impressionist paintings of all time. Taking pictures was not allowed inside the museum, but I was able to steal a picture of the iconic clock on the topmost floor.

Clock of Orsay Museum

Of course, a visit to Paris is not complete without a picture of the Eiffel Tower. It was really a great site to see. We didn't bother buying tickets and lining up the to go up the tower. Even in winter, the lines going up was meandering under the tower.

Eiffel Tower

#Forever

The next day, we opted to visit Versailles, which was only an hour away from Paris. The ticket to get inside Versailles is also already included in the Paris Museum Pass. We were supposed to book a tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours, but since Krz was pregnant, it was not advisable for her to ride the bike.

The Palace of Versailles was breathtaking to say the least. You can just imagine how hard it was for people living inside the palace to communicate to each other. I actually have no words to describe our visit to Versailles so I will let the pictures tell the story.

It was also in Versailles where we first encountered snow. It was such a great experience that we were running around the palace catching the snow. We were the only ones running about, but we weren't embarrassed at all.

snow flake on my gloves

We were in Paris for a week but it was as if we only scratched the surface and weren't able to visit other attractions such as the Sacre Coeur, Pere Lachaise Cemetary, Opera house, catacombs of Paris and Pompidou center to name a few. We will definitely be back to visit these attractions.

It was not what we initially planned but it was an experience we will never forget. This is the end of our European tour and we will definitely be back for more.