Bonjour mes amis! Paris - Day 1

The next international trip that I planned after Italy was a two week holiday in France and England. Our rough itinerary consisted of starting in Paris for a few days, then renting a car and spending the rest of the week touring the French countryside. From there we drove back to Paris and took the chunnel over to London. We spent a few days in London, and then toured the English countryside. I'm going to break this trip down into more blog entries than the three that I did for Italy because I kept much more detailed notes from this trip. Lucky you! :-)

If I'm being completely honest with you, I was incredibly disappointed by Paris. (I'll wait a moment while you finish gasping. Now pick up your jaw off the floor.) ;-) There were a few leading causes for this: 1. Paris paled in comparison to all of the Italian cities that I fell in love with. 2. We had lousy weather. 3. We had an interesting "experience" that I'll share with you in Paris - Day 2. My overall assessment of Paris is that compared to Italy, it struggles with a huge identity crisis. Here you have this classic European city that is rich in history and culture attempting to mask that with a modern, chic, hipster persona. You may say that Paris is the ultimate fusion of history and modernity, but I didn't quite buy it. That is not at all to say that I would recommend skipping Paris. We saw many lovely things during our time there, and if you follow anything similar to my itinerary, you can easily get your city fix in 3-4 days. If you're a city dweller, you may enjoy staying in Paris for an entire week, but I preferred the days we spent outside of Paris compared to the city itself. It really comes down to your personal preference. As a timid traveler, I am out of my element in cities. But since I understand their cultural and historical significance, I force myself out of my comfort zone, and I encourage you to do the same.

I don't know what the going rate is for airline tickets to Paris or London these days, but back in 2009, I was stoked to get a nonstop flight into Paris (returning nonstop flight from London) for $800 on United Airlines. We flew all night, and landed at the Charles De Gaulle airport on Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 6:55AM. Before leaving the airport we had 2 key stops to make: the ATM, and the tourist kiosk where we bought the Paris Museum Pass and the Paris Visite Pass. (One was for museums (shocker!) and the other was for unlimited metro transportation.) Like the Venice and Rome passes in Italy, I highly recommend the Paris tourist passes if you're going to be in the city for any length of time. We were there for 4 days and ended up seeing the sites we planned much faster than we anticipated. We turned to the Paris pass for ideas on other things we could do. But I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself.

When we were ready to leave the airport (via metro), our first stop was our hotel. Not able to check in yet, we were going to ask them if we could store our bags there. (Hotels all over the world will let you store your bags with them if you're not able to check in early. This a great tip so you can enjoy your day without worrying about your luggage). Our Paris hotel was The Hotel Castex just a few mins walk from the Bastille metro stop. This little boutique hotel was great! It matched our 4-star rating and was under $200/night, though it did not include breakfast. I don't recall now if it had air conditioning, but it was early May, so that didn't concern us at the time. Since staying there, I've had other friends and family members stay there based on my recommendation, and they've all complimented it. It's worth noting that the rooms are TINY! We were warned about this ahead of time, so it didn't surprise or bother us.

We stored out bags without any issues, and were quickly out on the streets of Paris. Our first stop was within easy walking distance of the hotel, Notre Dame. We stopped at crepe cart just beside the cathedral for some sustenance before touring this gothic marvel. If I could complain about anything, it would be the fact that my camera photographs stained glass so very poorly. From Notre Dame we went to (what is in my opinion, a true hidden gem) Sainte Chapelle. While the size of this small church pales in comparison to Notre Dame, just wait until you go upstairs. Don't let the windy, narrow stairwell deter you. The marvelous beauty you will behold on the second floor is absolutely incredible.

Backside of Notre Dame

We finished up at Sainte Chapelle in the early afternoon (earlier than we thought) and were fighting some serious jet lag fatigue. Instead of giving in to every desire to go back to the hotel, check-in, and take a nap, we took a look at our day 2 schedule to see what we could bump up. The Musee d'Orsay wasn't too far away, so we decided to go there on Day 1 instead of Day 3. I mentioned during my post on Tuscany, and I'm not a huge art lover, so it didn't bother me much that I would be half asleep to tour Paris' Museum of Modern Art. Looking back on my photos of this museum, and I do regret that decision a little bit but only because I've developed a greater appreciation for art as I've traveled. But back then, this was absolutely the right decision. If you're a fan of Monet, Degas, etc. you'll love it here.

Inside the Musee d'Orsay

We ate dinner in the restaurant cafe (can't say it was that great), and then dragged our tired feet back to the hotel. We checked in, collected our bags, and totally and completely crashed. Click here for day 2 which contains many classic Paris sites like the Louvre, the Paris Opera House, and the Eiffel Tower.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler