Bonjour mes amis! Paris - Day 2

Our second day in Paris was jam packed so jet lag was something we had to be rid of. Since we were in bed before it was dark outside, we had no trouble rising bright and early. And early it was because we were out on the streets of Paris as the sun was coming up. We found breakfast in one of the many delicious French bakeries. Our first stop was a place recommended by a coworker: The Sacred Heart Basilica. This white church on a hill was stunning especially with a radiant blue sky backdrop. Little did we know the blue sky would quickly give way to clouds....and then rain. On our way up to the basilica we had a sort of an accosting happen to us. In Italy, it was common to see peddlers trying to hawk knock off goods on the city streets (handbags, sunglasses, etc). They kept them on the ground on blankets, so that at a moment's notice they could wrap up everything and take off. (As we saw later when a cop was chasing one of these guys down the street.) We took the "don't bother them and they won't bother us" approach and everything was fine. In Paris, however, that wasn't necessarily the case.

We were walking up the hill to get to the church when similar type peddlers approached us only this time they weren't hawking any illegal wares.  They spoke in broken English and asked us for money claiming that it was for the church and to help children. We shook our heads, politely repeated "no thank you" and kept walking. Suddenly, one of them grabbed my husband by the arm (not aggressively but to get his attention), and said something to the effect of, "Sir, no problem, it's for the church." My husband immediately grabbed his arm back and shouted at the man telling him to get away from us. The man let go, backed up, and then proceeded to scream very offensive profanities at us. Then his other buddies around him heard him screaming at us, and they all joined in. It was like a weird chorus of the "F" word. We weren't harmed or robbed. When we exited the basilica and came back down the same way, they didn't bother us again. But that was still one of the single most terrifying things that has ever happened to me while traveling and probably one of the reasons why I'm not crazy about Paris.

Sacred Heart Basilica

From the Sacred Heart Basilica, we went to the Paris Opera House, the infamous setting of the Phantom of the Opera. In 2009, the Paris Opera House wasn't open daily to visitors. There were only certain days one could tour it, and we happened to get lucky and be in Paris when it was open to the public. The inside is beautiful and I loved getting the opportunity to peak into the main theater through a box seat. But we didn't stay too long because our main activity this day was arguably the most famous art museum in the world: the Louvre.

Beautiful ceiling in the Paris Opera House

I've had friends tell me that they spent an entire day or multiple days at the Louvre, and given its sheer size, I don't doubt those statements at all. Even despite knowing my own personal indifference to art, I still planned on spending several hours there, just not an entire day. I thoroughly enjoyed our time there and loved that you were allowed to take pictures of everything. I found that true all over France. Anywhere we went, we were allowed to take pictures. We saw the legendary Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo, Winged Victory, and the Code of Hammurabi. I also greatly enjoyed the ancient Egyptian section. (Random side note: I saw the Audrey Hepburn movie Funny Face over the weekend, and just loved the scene where she's running down the steps of the Louvre with the Winged Victory behind her.)

The Winged Victory in the Louvre Museum

The Louvre is an attraction that gets incredibly crowded, and I read online that tourists could wait in line for hours to enter. We were there in the middle of the week in early May, so we just didn't have the type of crowds one could expect over a holiday or in the summertime. Note to any future travelers, springtime in Paris can be lovely (if not rainy) and not too busy. (The same is true for London.)

From the Louvre we considered our options for getting to the last thing on our list for the day: the Eiffel Tower. I can remember so clearly, seeing it in the distance and thinking to myself, "If I can see if from here, it must not be that far of a walk." Ha...hahahaha! Oh, how wrong I was. Do not fool yourself. The walk from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower is very long. But the weather was ok at the moment (clouds had rolled in but the temperature was ok) and we had no other pressing things to do that day, so we were up for a stroll. With a baguette in hand for a snack, we started out for the iconic tower.

Despite the walk being incredibly long (well over an hour; a good 2-3 miles) we enjoyed getting to walk the streets of Paris and even strolling through a lovely park on the way. We could have walked almost the entire length along the Seine River, but we found it more exciting to zig zag down different streets.

At last we arrived at the prima donna of all Parisian landmarks. You can buy tickets online in advance for a specific day and time which allows you to avoid the queues. Since we visited during a less busy time, we decided ahead of time that we would just buy tickets when we got there. As I said, the Louvre wasn't crowded and neither was the Eiffel Tower. Granted it wasn't empty, but we were able to buy tickets without waiting and go right up. Since it wasn't too busy, the optional elevator was only running for individuals with physical needs, so my husband and I both took a deep breath and started trotting up the steps huffing and puffing until we reached the observation deck. The pictures I took from our time at the Eiffel Tower suffered from overcast skies which was rather disappointing.

Sooo cloudy! :(

We then went to dinner while deciding how to spend the rest of our day. One thing I wanted to do was to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. We walked around the grounds near the tower until almost 9:00PM. When it still wasn't dark out yet, we gave up and took the metro back to our hotel. Keep in mind that we'd been up since before dawn, so we were mighty pooped by 9:00. (Wow! Some of you readers much think that I'm ancient. I'm exhausted by 9:00. I don't care for nightlife. I swear, I'm not actually THAT old...though I am admittedly no longer in my 20s.)

One more day in Paris before rounding out our city tour with Versailles. Big shout out to the Paris Museum Pass for helping us fill our third day in the city. Click here to continue reading about my experiences in Paris.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler