This is Part 2. Read Part 1 first.
Thursday. Today we were leaving Viking behind and were off to Paris. Traffic was bad but we still had plenty of time at the airport. But we read the arrivals and departures board instead of looking at our boarding pass and went to the wrong gate. We literally had to run a long way to get to the right gate and only made it because the plane was a little bit late. The only good that came out of that was that I learned that I could go fast and not get out of breath.
We got to Charles de Gaulle Airport and then couldn’t find our luggage because we were at the wrong carousel—boarding pass issue again! The SNCF (French transportation system) station is right in the airport. We had worried that in the ancient French metro system there aren’t many escalators and we would struggle to get our luggage up and down the stairs. But we decided to take a chance. Our hotel was inside the Gare de Lyon train station, so we only had to take RER (the system that serves the city and the suburbs) trains and didn’t have any stairs to navigate. So we saved a bunch of money by not doing private transport.
It took us awhile to find the hotel, so we dropped our bags and left again almost immediately to make our Seine River night cruise. We really didn’t have time to take the Metro and change stations and walk to the area of La Tour Eiffel, so we decided to take an Uber. That probably wasn’t much faster because the traffic was terrible. We were then in a huge line to get on the last boat going that night and had to take separate seats. It was pretty chilly. The ride was nice as it got darker (we wanted to see Paris at night). You do go past many Paris landmarks including under the Pont d’Alma (in whose tunnel Diana died), Grand Palais, Place de la Concorde, Musee d’Orsay, the Louvre, Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame. But by far the most spectacular (in its glory on the return trip) was the Eiffel Tower. Rita said the next day that even though we did not get to go up in it, the view the previous night was enough.
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| First view of the La Tour Eiffel |
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| Pont de l'Alma, in the tunnel of which Diana died |
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| Detail on the Pont des Invalides |
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| Pont Alexandre III |
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| Detail of Pont Alexandre III |
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| Houseboats on the Seine |
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| First view of Louvre Museum |
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| More sheathing of a building under renovation |
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First view of Notre Dame
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Some restoration work still on the exterior
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| View of east end of Notre Dame |
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| A Bateaux Mouches boat all lit up |
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Even the rigging was lit up--a nice touch
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Betty on the boat with Rita behind
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La Tour Eiffel in the distance
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La Tour Eiffel in all its glory
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| We could see every piece of metal--it was beautiful |
It was late by now. We noticed a sign on the fence of the Eiffel Tower that it was closed. We knew that there had been demonstrations against the government, but it still seemed odd that they would close it. In the next few days we saw demonstrations various places and a police presence. We took another Uber back to the hotel. Our driver couldn’t figure out how to get to the address listed for our hotel (it was convoluted), so we went round and round until we recognized something and just got out. I’m sure he lost money on that trip. So our dinner of croque monsieur and incredible fries (pommes frites) was very late; we didn’t finish until 10:30. Not late for Paris, I’m sure, but late for us. Finally we got to our quite small room. 11,639 steps
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| Dinner of croque monsieur and fabulous pommes frites |
Friday. The hotel breakfast was really extensive, maybe part of the reason for the outrageous price we paid for the room. I checked the Internet which said that Friday also the Eiffel Tower was closed. We had morning reservations for a tour that would give us entrance to the midlevel and the top. Because of the closure, we took the Metro instead to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur.
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| Loved this view of a dad loving his kid on Le Metro |
That had been on our list but not in a specific time slot. Montmartre is the hill in central Paris and Sacre Coeur is the church at the top. We navigated the steep street full of one souvenir shop after another and then took the funicular the rest of the way up the very steep hill and got in the very long line to go in.
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| Sacre Coeur on Montmartre |
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| Portal of Sacre Coeur |
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| View of Paris from atop Montmartre |
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Military presence because of the
anti-government demonstrations |
The fence around the area was covered in padlocks of all description. It started off as a love thing where couples put the padlock on the fence and throw the lock into water below to symbolize their commitment, but I’m sure now it’s just the thing to do. Interestingly, when I googled about the locks, the AI blurb said that they had been taken down because of concerns about the weight. Not so.
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| Some of the thousands of padlocks on the fence |
The basilica is Neo-Byzantine with lots of mosaics. A mass was going on so we sat for awhile to hear the priest speaking and him singing with the congregation as well as a solo. Very nice. We spent a good bit of time there walking all around.
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Nave of Sacre Coeur
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Stained glass windows
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| St Peter in his chair |
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| Choir and apse |
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| Old stone steps |
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| Sacre Coeur from down the hill |
Afterward we walked back down the steps to the souvenir street again where I got a few things and then on to the Metro. The Paris transportation system is very organized and very easy to figure out. We had a good map.
We metroed to L'Etoile (The Star because so many streets meet there) with the Arc de Triomphe in the middle where there were tons of people. It commemorates those who died in numerous French wars, particularly the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. We walked all around it but didn’t go inside (it was expensive). I was surprised every day that it was October and there were still so many tourists. Europeans tend to vacation in August, so these were people mostly from other places, I surmised.
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The Arc de Triompbe
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| In the middle of the Arc |
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Names of some of those who died
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Intrados (underside of arch) decoration
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| Relief on the pier |
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Just me though I could be anywhere
for all this shows |
We stopped to watch a street performer who was using audience members in a row to show that he could tumble over them. They go on and on in the buildup to whatever the climax is, but I do love to watch them—and admire their gumption at choosing to make their living (or part of it) this way.
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| The guinea pigs who looked a little nervous |
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| The performer at the beginning of his tumble |
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The performer at the end of his tumble.
He really did it!
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We walked down the Champs-Elysees and enjoyed seeing all the famous stores, some of which were being renovated and shrouded with a screen which had painted on it what was underneath. We saw that several places; I loved it and thought it very clever marketing.
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Place de la Concorde, the site of several
notable public executions
(obviously not named Concorde at that time)
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We didn’t find a way to do that, so we got on a Metro which did and then walked through the streets to the Musee d’Orsay. This is the wonderful old train station that was turned into a museum of 19th c to early 20th c art. We didn’t do the whole museum—I primarily wanted to see the Impressionist galleries—because by that time we were pretty pooped and had more walking to do to get back to the Metro and to our hotel. In addition, I had checked the weather in the morning which indicated no rain until evening. Well, it started raining around noon. It wasn’t hard rain, but we didn’t have our umbrellas, only hoods on our jackets.
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Just a few of the paintings we saw:
This one is The Poppy Field by Claude Monet |
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| The gigantic clock |
After returning to the hotel we rested a bit and then went out for dinner. I tried pike quenelle which I had never heard of and, as it turned out, didn’t really like. 19,334 steps—a lot of walking.
Saturday. We woke up to rain—not mist or sprinkles—rain. But this was the day for the Louvre. We had to stand in a line in the rain outside the Pyramide for about 15 minutes before we got in.
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Rainy day at the Louvre waiting
to get inside La Pyramide |
The Louvre is one of those places that you just can’t do all of; you have to choose. It was formerly a palace, so part of the visit is just looking at the building itself. We first visited French sculpture from 1750-1850 and saw a lot of fine pieces in a very open and multi-floored part of the palace, probably an inner courtyard once upon a time.
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| The courtyard where the French sculptures were |
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| Hunter Slaying a Boar by Nicola Coustou |
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Closeup of the boar where you can see that they
deliberately did not cover up the restoration |
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| Relief of Alexandre et Diogene by Pierre Puget |
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Marie Louise de Savoie by Jacques Garavaque.
Just look at the detail the sculptor gets.
I admire sculpture more than painting.
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We then went through Greek and Roman works on our way to Italian painting.
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| Sarcophagus of the Spouses, Etruscan, 6th c BCE |
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| Just look at the detail on the shoe |
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Rita admiring the building which you
should definitely do in the Louvre |
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The now-famous Galerie d'Apollon where the heist occurred on October 19,
just 15 days after we were there |
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Winged Victory (or Nike of Samothrace),
one of the highlights of the Louvre |
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| La Visitation by Domenico Ghirlandaio |
We were headed, of course, for the Mona Lisa. It was completely mobbed. The French are extremely orderly (just look at the difference between an English garden and a French garden to know that), so I was really surprised that they didn’t have a better system for seeing it. You just had to fight your way to the rope line. I thought I was at a train station in Italy! Even when you get to the front you are pretty far away, but at least Rita got to see the Mona Lisa.
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La Joconde (the Mona Lisa) by Leonarde da Vinci, not the greatest picture of it
because of my vantage point |
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So you can see how it is encased. They can't take
the chance of any more attempts to damage it--though
apparently it currently isn't too hard to steal pieces! |
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The big crazy crowd to see the painting
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We walked through gallery after gallery trying to find the staircase that we had seen earlier that would get us to the Dutch paintings which I like so much. We just couldn’t find that staircase (or any other way—directions at the Louvre are not great). I was frustrated and worried about getting in to Notre Dame next. So we left. At least it was no longer raining.
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Hera of Samos, a fine example of Greek
sculpture we encountered on our search
for the staircase |
Most of the top touristy places in Paris you can buy tickets and a reservation time online ahead of time. But Notre Dame is free. They do have an online system of getting an hour to arrive, but you can only book it a couple of hours ahead of time. And it was cranky and didn’t always get you to the page you needed. So we got another Metro to Ile de la Cite and walked over and got in line without having the benefit of the reservation line. Oh well. We had some conversations with people in line during our two hour wait.
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| Notre Dame de Paris and the lines to get in |
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| Closer view of the towers |
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And a closer view of the apostles and the evangelists
above the entrance |
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| The center portal of Notre Dame |
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| The beautiful wood of the new door |
Notre Dame was the reason I suggested Paris at the end of our Viking trip. I really wanted to see it restored. I had last been there in August of 2017; the fire was April 15, 2019. I remember that day vividly. My friend Emma Jane texted me that ND was on fire. I was devastated and followed the news and saw the pictures all day. I later contributed a little to its restoration. Anyway, now it is absolutely spectacular—so clean and white and the stained glass just sparkling. Just beautiful. We sat for awhile just taking it all in.
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| Nave of the restored Notre Dame |
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| I just love looking up in a cathedral |
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| Arches and vaults and stained glass |
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| Rita just admiring |
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| Rose window |
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| Good view of the three levels of a Gothic cathedral |
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| The Last Supper depiction in the choir aisle |
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| Entrance to Jerusalem depiction in the choir aisle |
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| Biblical scenes on the wooden panel |
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Vaults of the choir and apse
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Reflection from the south windows onto the
triforium of the north side
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| Mass being said as we were sitting to take it all in |
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View of part of the crossing after
the glorious restoration and cleaning
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| The same view in 2017 |
We walked around to the side when we got back out; I wanted Rita to see the flying buttresses. There was still scaffolding outside, but we could see them. Rita’s comment when we left was that she would have stood in line for another hour to get in.
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The flying buttresses on the north side
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That view in 2017--what a difference
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The new spire--I saw the old one
topple on TV over and over |
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| The rose window from outside |
Our next appointment was Sainte Chapelle. I had told Rita that I wasn’t going to tell her what we were seeing but that it would be wonderful. When we got there, we were told that no one was allowed in because their security scanner was broken. How French to insist that that scan had to take place, never mind the inconvenience to the tourists and the fact that they could have done it manually. They got it fixed eventually, and we luckily got in before closing. Sainte Chapelle is a chapel that is all stained glass. Pretty amazing, and Rita appreciated it.
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Flowers in the October flower market
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More flowers
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| Crossing the Seine |
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Sign in most Metro cars meaning make
sure you take your carryons with you
(I get on with. I get off with) |
We had not had lunch in all our hurry, so we were pretty hungry. We walked around the Gare de Lyon area for awhile looking for a place that looked appealing and came across a patisserie. That is definitely a must-do in Paris, and Rita loved, loved, loved the pastries we got and ate later. She said it was a good thing she didn’t live in Paris.
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| Beautiful pastries in the patisserie |
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| More pastries |
We decided on pepperoni pizza for dinner which was really, really good. Delicious bread and cheese. We had been watching some TV which was mostly sports. That night we watched soccer, some crazy combination of soccer and basketball and a trampoline competition. 14,190 steps.
Sunday. We got up a little later because our scheduled time at Versailles was 10:30. I had planned that we would take the very convenient RER-C but noted the night before that it did not go on Sunday! We had to take another Uber through the suburbs and then out into the country and into the town of Versailles. I hadn’t remembered that the palace is right in the heart of the town—and that it had so much gold on its façade.
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| Rita as we arrived at Versailles |
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| Gold on the chapel roof |
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| And lots of gold on the gates |
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| View of the front of Versailles |
After waiting in line to get in, we first went through the Mesdames wing. That was the living area for the unmarried daughters of Louis XIV. There weren’t enough suitable Catholic men at that time as Protestantism was on the rise, so the seven younger ones weren’t able to marry. Each of the girls had 5 rooms, a first chamber, an antechamber, a large chamber, a bed chamber and a private chamber. How far you got was determined by how close you were to the occupant. Most of their day was spent in the bedroom—even for the queen. The wonderful PBS series Marie Antoinette depicts the lifestyle brilliantly.
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The first chamber
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The second chamber
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| And the bedchamber |
Next were the King’s apartments (including the guard’s rooms and the Queen’s rooms) which ended with the splendid Hall of Mirrors.
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Elegant king's chamber
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Organ in king's chamber
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Queen Marie Antoinette
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King Louis XVI
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King Louis XIV who became king
at the age of 4 |
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| Versailles chapel |
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| Venus Room |
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| Very red bedchamber |
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| Very pretty Marie Antoinette bedchamber |
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And La Piece de Resistance--
The Hall of Mirrors |
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Ceiling detail in Hall of Mirrors
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All along we saw very dressed up women followed by a photographer whose only reason for being there was to pose for pictures with the rooms as a backdrop. It was almost comical because it was so exaggerated.
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| Taking a selfie in her odd outfit |
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| This one was too much. |
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| One pose more ridiculous than the last |
Another section was all about the Empire with lots of large paintings of Napoleon. The audioguide and the labels in the rooms were all about the paintings with not much about the people who lived in those rooms and what went on in there or even the rooms themselves. I thought the emphasis was a bit misplaced.
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| Gardens behind Versailles from above |
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| Perfectly laid out French gardens |
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| Long view of the gardens |
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| Still beautiful in October |
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| Threatening skies |
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| View giving sone sense of the size of the place |
The grounds are huge. Once again we did not bring our umbrellas because the forecast did not have any rain in it. So, of course, on that ride it started to really rain. I got soaked because I was on the edge of the open carriage. A woman offered her umbrella which helped. All along the way we saw loads of people walking or jogging, so that must have been a part of the grounds where you didn’t have to pay to get in.
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Some of the many walkers and joggers
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| Path through the gardens |
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| One of the statues around the pool |
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| Statues on the porch at the back of Versailles |
As we left, we tried to get another Uber but weren’t successful. We found a bus that would take us to a Metro station—far away from our hotel but if you can get a metro you can go anywhere. The driver even let us on free since I didn’t know how to pay.
When we got back to the Gare de Lyon we wanted to get our tickets for the ride to the airport the next day. We still had some money on our card for ordinary metro/RER rides around Paris, so we couldn’t add the airport tickets to it. We had one more ride on it. We weren’t going to go anywhere else that day, so we went through the turnstile and then back out, figuring that would use the ride but it didn’t. The agent took pity on us and somehow was able to add money enough for our airport tickets. French bureaucracy. That evening after dinner we had to pack up.
Monday. We were up early to get to the airport—so easy on the RER-A and -B. We got checked in and through security and then somehow took a wrong turn and wound up in baggage claim and had to go through again. We had just enough time to get a chocolat and pain au chocolat. On the flight to Atlanta I watched all four episodes of The Gilded Age and did a puzzle and read. We had a couple of hours in Atlanta where I got sleepy. Martha picked us up at GSP and we were home. 7585 steps.
So this trip was a combination of organized and self-planned. There are benefits and downsides to both. When it is all done for you, you just follow the herd. You don’t have to figure out transportation or where your next meal will be. But you are confined by the schedule. When you do it on your own, you decide when and where to go and how to get there and what to eat and where to stay, but you also have to figure all that out. And things don’t always go right. But, for me, the not going right is part of the thrill of traveling—figuring out that you really can get yourself out of most any situation. (If you don't believe that, see my blog on Uzbekistan!) So, honestly, I see the benefits of organized tours but I prefer the freedom—with its upsides and downsides—of going on my own.
Rita and I got to experience a river cruise and got to be on our own in one of the world’s great cities. I was so pleased that Rita liked Paris and wasn’t put off by the waits and the glitches.
