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Top 10 things to see in Paris
#travel #inspiration #experience #challenge #paris
Paris is always a good idea.
I wanted to google the best Paris quotes to add to my posts, and this one kept jumping up as the first one. Do you know why? Because it’s true! Paris is one of the few cities I came back from, and kept thinking about what to visit the next time around. For most destinations, it usually boils down to having my impressions settle down, and then putting them on paper. For Paris? Well, I’ve been there about 4 months ago, and you see I am still thinking and writing about it.
A TOP 10 of things to see and do in Paris would be impossibly difficult to sum up. A TOP 10 of things I got to do during my first stay (excluding Disneyland, as it is a fairytale of its own) – now this can be achieved. Also, I will be skipping the top things I missed doing, because it is easily stretchable to multiple posts. I’d rather come back a few months (or even years) later, providing a TOP 10 things I saw and did in Paris the second, the third time around, and so on.
1. The Eiffel Tower
Let’s get the obvious and the least good place out of the way. The edifice is not bad per se, though it would be a shame not visiting it when in Paris. But is it worth it? Probably not. The Eiffel Tower is a sign of its time, and that is literally all it is good for. It represents a time when it was difficult to raise so much iron up into the sky. Also, it was the tallest man-made structure for some time – a time that is long gone. Is it worth going inside? I assume not, I even skipped it on purpose. Are the shots around it good? Well, yes. Is it a flex to drink in the park below it? Not for me, but to an enormous number of humans it is. I don’t know, when in Rome…
The true flex was being able to see the top of the tower from the hotel window. But as we walked closer and closer, it was leaving less and less good of an impression. Don’t get your hopes up, nearing this monument!
If you decide to walk from the Eiffel Tower, on your way to the next destination, you will have to cross one of the bridges, full of street vendors, people offering to take pictures of you and your significant other holding love balloons, merchants selling cheap Eiffel Tower keychains, etc. If you enjoy the romance, take your time (and money) and spend it here wisely.
2. Arc de Triomphe
From the bridges around the Eiffel Tower, you can walk up one of multiple streets to the Arc – and chances are, you will get to see a spectrum of beautiful embassies of various countries. I remember, on this path, I saw the embassy of South Korea, and said how I would love to visit it, and then take a guided tour to its northern counterpart, as well. Anyone up for joining me?
The Arc is situated in the middle of a large roundabout, if I’m not mistaken, with 7 tracks for vehicles. Some of the islands around it offer underground entrance to the Arc itself. Of course, you’ve guessed it, the entrance is charged. There’s an endless mass of people, taking pictures from inside the Arc. Would anyone believe you this is the place you went to and paid to take pictures from within? Probably not. From across the street, it really did not feel worth the wait. But, standing on any of the islands around can give you a great vantage point for a very nice picture or selfie for your social media.
I may have mentioned it already, the restaurants are priced pretty evenly around this site, as well as anywhere else in the city. For those of you who would try to find a cheaper solution, simply don’t, because you won’t be able to.
3. Napoleon’s grave (including the surrounding park)
This is actually the first destination I visited, as it was on the road from my hotel to the Eiffel Tower. This was an eye-opening sight, showing how gigantic the old buildings around Paris are, making me wonder how they managed to construct such wide and long streets.
The entrance to the building containing Napoleon’s remains is charged, just like most other attractions in Paris. The weather was so nice and warm during my trip, I’ve decided to refrain from entering any museums, and spending the warm end of an October trapped inside four walls. Also, I was basking in the clean air and the beauty of the park, that there was no time left to go in, whatsoever.
This construction itself is, again, a sign of its time, representing the spaciousness and vastness, required to hold up such a timeless memorial. But the culture of greenery, covering the white and yellow blocks the streets and passages are erected from – truly makes us see the meaning of the word “royal”.
4. Sacre-Coeur (and Montmartre)
A friend told me, once I go to Paris, I simply must visit Sucker Care! Now, I do not speak (or write) any French, so I asked her how the name is spelled. She had no idea, so she had to look at her Instagram story archive to find it. We stuck with the nickname “Sucker Care”. I even made quite a pun about it. “If you’re such a SUCKER to climb it, other people will need to take CARE of you.”
Sacre-Coeur is a basilica, situated atop Montmartre, a high hill in Paris. It is magnificent, of course swarming with tourists. But the surrounding area has a unique and specific vibe of its own. As now everywhere in Europe, there are bridge fences filled with “locks of love” (Vrnjacka Banja did it first, and the best!) – for those of you who came to take pictures with love balloons in front of Tour Eiffel, I assume this is a must. For the rest of us, exploring the area around it, listening to street musicians, having some coffee to go – this is the unbeaten path.
DO NOT forget to take a picture from the stairs leading uphill to the basilica!
5. Champs-Elysees
This area actually stretches all the way from Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde – I’ve visited both, not realizing I was in Champs-Elysees. Thus the lack of pictures in the area. I have to mention, though, the park between Place de la Concorde and Louvre Museum is something extravagant. This is exactly where I made my legendary photo session with Gaius Julius Caesar!
6. Louvre Museum
Everyone coming to Paris wants to see only one celebrity – Mona Lisa. What if I told you the lines for this painting solely can take up to three hours? On such a beautiful day for a walk outside, this was not worthy to me. For those of you who visit in the winter time, I would definitely encourage a day at this spectacular museum. Also, always buy cut-the-line tickets. They are more expensive, but otherwise, you will need to pay with your time. And don’t hope that visiting on say Jan 21 will relieve the city of tourists – for it will be packed year-round!
If you decide not to go inside, like moi, there are really good spots for selfies or group pictures. But let us break a famed illusion – the popular glass pyramid is not situated in the middle of a vast square, but rather within the confinement of the museum’s inner yard.
Nevertheless, Louvre should be near the top of your list of activities in France’s capital.
* “Moi Lolita” is playing in the background while I’m proofreading this post. Coincidence?
7. Notre Dame
Have you seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame? If so, this ought to be one of your favorite sites. If not, it is still pretty awesome, generally speaking. Lamentably, the recent fire caused it to gain on publicity, but lose on tourist potential. The square in the front is still bedecked with visitors, but there is no entry point beyond the barricades. What we can see is only the beautiful church in the back. Also, don’t waste time trying to get a good angle, a crane here or there is inevitable.
The image of Notre Dame live made me overly sad, the emptiness of the remainder of this paragraph will paint a realistic picture of it.
8. The Pantheon
In some strange route, this was on our way back from Notre Dame to the hotel. It was late at night, but the weather was still warm enough for a T-shirt. What a wonderful way to spend a birthday in the autumn! Anyway, my impression of the Pantheon is that the building itself is excessively spacious. The hilltop where it is situated is filled with narrow streets, cobblestone, and even other religious objects. It is quite unusual to know a city has been around for so long, built in the time when there were incomparably fewer people on the planet, where the buildings were still erected as leviathans of their time. Imagine the magnitude at that scale!
9. Versailles (with the surrounding area)
Most people come to this part of the capital only for the chateau museum. However, the area offers much more. Although it is located within Zone 5 of the subway line, if you were taken here with your eyes tied, you would never guess it’s not the city center. Apart from cleanliness and majestic views, the area around Versailles can also serve as a good scene for a weekend picnic. Whether you go into the inside museum or the gardens, always do your ticket shopping online. We forgot to do it this time, so let me show you what a chill and relaxed Sunday morning we ran into.
10. Versailles – Gardens
Now this simply had to be an entry of its own! The gardens around Versailles are so magnificent and majestic, that it would be a complete shame not to award them with a spot of their own. I can literally not list out everything that they encompass, or the territory that they cover. In all honesty, I don’t believe I managed to see every nook and cranny. Endless hedge-mazes, dancing fountains, enclosed monuments, secret gardens of kings and queens of old, yet I had a feeling someone still lived in Versailles and went around their own gardens every day. With such expansive and grandiose gardens, I don’t believe they ever had a need to go into the city – no wonder they were situated so far away!
I want to hear about some of the places you’ve visited lately. Also, I want to hear suggestions on what to visit next. Europe is quite a small continent, and I’m (not even so) slowly but certainly running out of new places to discover. Should anyone have a need to share something nice and inviting about their local community – feel free to do it in the comments below. Until next post, safe travels!
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