clog blog: Pancakes in Paris

Bonjour!

What a great week in Paris! Seven consecutive days of sunshine, temperatures in the high teens, flowers everywhere and sunset after 7pm; the promises of summer. We love Spring!

Last week Saturday we arrived in Paris after an easy flight from Lisbon, except for the usual mishaps at security. Again no passport control, I love Europe! Sunday was our first day to explore and after sorting out some admin we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. After climbing the stairs to top we were greeted with amazing views over the city, from the Grand Arch to the Sacre Coeur past the Champs Elysees and the Eiffel Tower. Wow! Definitely worth the hard climb up! The rest of the day was spent orientating ourselves in the city and planning the week ahead. We decided to get a 4 day museum pass which meant we had access to 60 museums in Paris and theoretically skip the queues. After walking down the Champs Elysees, we made our way to the Rodin museum to see the famous Thinker and other pieces by the sculptor. We liked the setting of the bigger pieces in the garden and smaller pieces in the house. After popping into the Louvre to get a map it was time to head back to a home cooked meal! Our accommodation had a laundry area and our room had a kitchenette so we got back to a little bit of normality this week doing laundry and making our own dinner. Maybe we missed out on some French cuisine but it was good practice for the weeks ahead; Justin was able to get the creative juices flowing again! Paris was very busy and vibey on Sunday and it was a good welcome to the city.

Monday was an early start at the Musee du Louvre. I didn’t know it was originally a palace, it’s absolutely massive! I think we were feeling a bit paintinged-out when we were at the Louvre because we didn’t see as much as we wanted to although we were there for about 4 hours. The museum was also very full being one of the only museums open on a Monday. We did however see the Mona Lisa and lots of cool statues including Michelangelo’s entrapped slave. We were planning to come back on Wednesday when the museum is open until late but it didn’t happen. Next time!

Next stop was the Notre-Dame Cathedral. The queue to walk to the top was a bit long so we just went inside the cathedral. It is huge inside with many little chapels. Also very busy with a choir rehearsing for a concert. After the Notre-Dame we made our way to the Pantheon. Modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, it also has a dome and many columns; an interesting design for a church. Many great French citizens rest in the crypt, including Marie and Pierre Curie, the chemists who discovered radiation, and Victor Hugo, the writer who wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Almost time for sunset, we headed back to the Arc de Triomphe for views over Paris at sunset. Last stop for the day was the Grand Arch at La Defense, a business centre with many tall buildings. Much bigger than the Arc de Triomphe, the Grand Arch is a hollow cube with enough space to hold the Notre-Dame!

Tuesday morning we headed back to the Notre-Dame and braved the queue to climb the stairs to the top. It was well worth it! The views over the city were awesome and it was kewl to get close to the gargoyles and other creatures that watch over the cathedral. We couldn’t however see the flying buttresses from the top as they are on the other side of the cathedral. We saw the great bell of the cathedral and the wooden bell tower. The bell weighs ~3 tons and the clapper about half a ton. A team of 12 ringers is required to ring the bell and it is only rung on special holidays. The bell tower is made of wood to absorb the impact of the ringing bell so as not to crack the figures and rest of the cathedral. How did they get it up there all those years ago?!

After the Notre-Dame we headed to the Musee d’Orsay for a fix of impressionist paintings. Originally designed as a railway station, the outlay of the museum is very interesting! Many stairs to would-be platforms and a great clock to keep the time. The museum is home to a real mix of art including works by Matisse, Monet, Manet, van Gogh and Cezanne as well as a section on photography and many sculptures. The less random of the impressionist era, for more random modern art head to the Centre Pompidou!

Last stop for the day, the Eiffel Tower! We ascended the North Pillar right to the top. A bit early for sunset but still kewl nevertheless. Although it was a beautiful sunny day, it was quite windy and cool at the top. Awesome views over Paris, a bit different from so high up, 376 m! It was a bit hazy but apparently on a clear day you can see as far as Chartres Cathedral 72 km away.

Wednesday we started with Les Invalides, home to the Musee de l’Armee and Napoleon’s tomb in the crypt of the Dome church. We saw Napoleon’s tomb, a huge red sarcophagus, the church and also walked through some of the museum’s collections. The parts we saw were the armoury, housing a vast array of ancient armours, the section on Charles de Gaulle and the section depicting the history of France from Louis XIII, Napoleon and the Revolution. Very interesting but obviously from the army’s point of view. Since visiting Paris, I feel inspired to learn more about Charles de Gaulle and read the story of Quasimodo!

Next we made our way to the interesting Pompidou Centre. President Pompidou had a vision for a place dedicated to modern art and the Pompidou Centre was born. An interesting ‘modern’ building, you feel like you are in a Guinea pig cage going up the escalators closed off with plastic pipes on the outside of the building. Matisse, Dali and Picasso are featured here and are the more tame of the modern art. There is also an emphasis on photography and other visual and audio arts such as movies and music etc. There are a lot of random pieces and we didn’t stay too long, lol.

Thursday was our last full day in Paris and also the last day of our holiday touring Europe *sigh* Our museum passes were up (only 4 days) so we spent the day exploring outside areas. Feeling melancholy, we headed out to the Luxemburg gardens. Originally the gardens of the Luxemburg Palace, these public gardens are full of joggers and sun worshippers even at 10 am on a Thursday. We love people gazing and enjoyed watching groups practising Tai Chi and the old retired gentleman playing tennis, what a great way to pass your retirement in the Spring sunshine! A walk down Boulevard St Michel to the Metro station and onto Place de la Bastille. There isn’t anything left of the old prison where the French Revolution broke out, but there is a monument to the victims of the revolution in the middle of the square. Many cafés line the square and we enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere over a croquet monsieur and sugared crêpes. Also in the area is Place des Vosges, a beautifully manicured square surrounded by 36 houses. Once the home of aristocrats, today the area is lively with antique shops and cafés.

Feeling a bit better, we headed to Montmartre on top of a hill, most well-known for the Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge! I love the Sacre Coeur, it is one of my favourite churches in Europe. Even though it was pretty busy inside, it was still quiet and peaceful, unlike other European churches we have been to. It is a huge church and well decorated but not overly ornate like so many others. We enjoyed walking around the streets of Montmartre with many patisseries and artists. Eventually we found the Moulin Rouge! It is in a bit of a dodgy red-light district and we didn’t hang around too long! It is still open though, and for between 90 and 180 euros you can have dinner and watch a show including the French can-can.

After a busy week it was time to pack and get ready to head back to Rotterdam. Although we are sad that our holiday has ended, we are still at the beginning of our adventure and have many things to look forward to! Paris is only 2.5 hrs from Rotterdam on a high speed train which means we will be back for many weekends away! Other nearby places we want to explore include Brussels in Belgium and many parts of the Netherlands. Our first Netherlands adventure is a day out to Keukenhof on Sunday, the colourful bulb fields!

Justin starts his new job next week Friday (April fool’s day, a coincidence?) and we have a confirmed delivery date for our furniture. Our goods arrive on the 11^th of April so we have about 2 weeks of an inflatable mattress and sleeping bags. We managed to acquire two sleeping bags this week but still need to find an inflatable mattress and some other odds n ends to make the next few weeks comfortable. We don’t have internet at home yet but the blog will continue when we are set up and organised! =)

Daylight saving time starts on Sunday morning. The clocks switch forward one hour at 2 am so we will be the same time as South Africa until the last Sunday in October when daylight saving ends. We are looking forward to even longer days but still find the idea of changing the time strange!

Hope you are all well and that Autumn is treating you kindly.