A Few Days in Paris

We were in Paris a little over two years ago for our honeymoon, so we weren’t planning to come back this soon. Jason had a conference, though, and when one gets a chance to tack on a trip to Paris, one should do so.

We landed at 8:00 am local, which is never fun, but we dropped off our bags and headed out to drink a lot of coffee and get some food. We also walked over to Notre Dame, which we were curious to see since the fire. It was…a bit heart breaking. There’s a metal and razor wire fence around the cathedral and surrounding grounds, right in front of the rows of cafes that previously had prime real estate. Notre Dame is such an amazing center point of the city, and it’s hard to see it barricaded. They are working hard to restore it, though, and it’s clear that it will be back.

Notre Dame under construction (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went to Shakespeare and Company to say hi to the books and the cat, and headed to the Louvre to do some people watching. We didn’t go in - we’re still pretty intimidated by the crowds and the pure size of the building, and we were exhausted - but it’s a fun area to wander.

Philosophical decisions at Shakespeare and Company (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Wedding pictures at the pyramid (Photo/Jason Rafal)

People watching near the Louvre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

While Jason was napping, I found one of my new favorite parks in the city - Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. There’s a pavillion on top of an island in the lake, and it’s quite beautiful. There’s also a lot of sloping lawn where I got to sit and read with the Parisians.

A multi-layered park view (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

On Sunday we took a bike tour of Versailles. I’d highly recommend doing a bike tour, since you’re able to see so much more of the grounds that way. It’s also far less crowded than the palace and garden area.

After we took the train out to Versailles in the morning, our guide took us to an indoor/outdoor market to buy picnic food. It’s probably one of my favorite markets that I’ve been to - it’s very picturesque and has a variety of food and wine to purchase (that being said, Jason didn’t get any pictures of it that he liked, so you’ll just have to go yourselves). We picked up the five essentials of a French picnic: bread, cheese, salami, fruit, and wine (we found a Marsannay, one of my favorite white wines, that I was very excited about). From there, we headed into the grounds.

Starting our bike ride in the town of Versailles (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A very classy classic car (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The grounds of Versailles are used for several things right now - Gordon Ramsey has a restaurant that looks out over the grounds, and there’s a farm to grow the food, as well as sheep and goats. It’s also classically pastoral and quite beautiful. We had a picnic lunch on the west side of the Grand Canal, and it was lovely and peaceful, with only a few other groups nearby.

The Palace of Versailles across the Grand Canal (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Biking through the grounds (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A few hedgehogs climbed out of the hedges at Versailles, juch to everyone’s delight (and the confusion of the Australians in our group, who wanted to know how big they get) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our guide told us a lot of French history as we made our way through the grounds. Most of what we learned was about Louis XIV, since he was the one who did most of the work on Versailles during his impressive 76 years of life, but we also heard about Louis XIII, XV, and XVI, making it a little difficult to keep everything straight. We learned about Marie Antionette, who was both very harshly judged and misunderstood (the quote about cake was not from her at all). But, she also made some rather lavish choices, like creating a sort of Bavarian working farm theme park where she and her children could pretend they were in Austria. It was both adorable and very weird.

Several generations of construction on a Bavarian village building (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another quite out of place village building (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After touring the grounds we went into Versailles, which is a place of excessive opulence. It’s very impressive, but the experience was hindered somewhat by the crazy crowds of people trying to see the most famous rooms. My favorite part (I’m not super into gilding, though it’s cool) was the painted ceilings - the attention to detail from the artists was truly incredible. It was also pretty crazy to imagine living in a place like that. We were only allowed in certain corridors, and we still felt lost a couple of times.

The courtyard of Versailles through the golden fence (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A really incredible map built into a table (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Hall of Mirrors (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The gardens outside the palace are also amazing and ridiculous. There are double hedges everywhere so that servants could get around without the nobility seeing them. There are also a ton of fountains - I was blown away by the number of fountains that we happened upon while wandering. The fountains were originally gravity fed (which was one reason so many servants had to run around in the second layer of hedges), and they were still having some issues keeping them all running.

Looking out over the gardens and the Grand Canal (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Paris is amazing. It’s always been amazing, and it always will be amazing. We moved over one arrondissement and stayed in the 10th this time, right next to the metro, which was lovely after we walked 31 miles in the first 3 days and were in considerable discomfort. We revisited some of our favorite places and also explored some more of the inner neighborhoods.

An incredibly colorful fountain area in the city (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Layers of murals (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A scene of Paris (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Late afternoon light (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A blue heron in a city park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Arc de Triomphe at night (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Monday we went to the Eiffel Tower (twice, actually - once in the morning and once at night, when it was lit up) and did some general wandering and relaxing. Our feet were in a considerable amount of pain by this point, so we were trying to take it easy (though I still ended up walking over 14 miles, according to my watch). Night walking in Paris is wonderful, and the Eiffel Tower at night is amazing. I have no idea how they light it up so completely, but it’s breathtaking, even when you’re been staring at it for a while.

The Eiffel Tower, all lit up (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Since we had already been to Paris and Jason had a conference and some work to do, we did less touristy things and had some more downtime planned in. I spent hours reading - mostly in parks, but on one occasion in a wine bar while locals chatted enthusiastically around me and kids played soccer outside of the school nearby. Being an introvert in a country where I don’t speak the language is a combination that can be somewhat isolating, but it’s always nice to see the similarities in human interaction around the world. We’re very consistent creatures, and it’s comforting to see such familiar joy and frustration.

On Wednesday we went to the Musée d’Orsay, which is a wonderful art museum in an old train station. They have a pretty amazing collection, including a bunch from Monet, Manet, Picasso, and Rodin, which are some of our favorites. There’s also a light-filled indoor courtyard of sculptures, which I’m always a huge fan of.

Looking down the Musée d’Orsay (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view of the city through one of the giant clocks (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Pompon’s Polar Bear (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had a variety of food while in the city - French food, of course, but also some fusions and imports, including Italian, Lebanese, and BBQ that was a mix between North and South American. We also had a ridiculous amount of wine, because how can you not.

Overall, Paris was amazing, as expected. The food, the parks, the views, the absurdly convenient metro system - it’s just a very good city. We’ll be back again.

Also, museums are closed on Mondays. Keep that in mind.

Views from drinks on the Seine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Views of Paris at night (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An incredibly decorated bench area off of the Promenade Plantée (Photo/Jason Rafal)