This was the closest I had come to almost cancelling a trip
due to a few things going wrong in the days before I was due to leave, but
realising that that would be a disservice not only to my loyal readers but also
to myself as a budding travel aficionado, I said ‘problems be damned’ and
scurried off to catch the Eurostar from London St Pancras.
The Eurostar is a fine way to travel – fairly similar to a
plane in the amount of legroom you get, but with the added benefits of not
needed to travel far from London as you may have to do for an airport, and that
there’s no such things as baggage allowance or limits on liquids.
Plus the view is actually quite pleasant – I amused myself
staring out of the window as we rushed through the British countryside to Dover,
had a quick jaunt through the tunnel, and emerged in the French countryside,
which looked pretty similar to where we had come from except we were now an
hour later.
I arrived at night, which perhaps wasn’t the best decision
to have made. Normally I’m a very confident traveller and have no problem
travelling solo around so-called ‘traveller-wary’ places like Mexico (you can
read about that trip here), but in the lead up to my trip I’d been told plenty
about the dangers of travelling solo in Paris, let alone as a woman (no thanks
to Liam Neeson’s Taken), and now with
the added presence of the gilets jaunes riots that had been taking place.
Such was the case that I had turned myself into a walking
Swiss Army knife – everything I needed was on my person and not in my bag, and
tucked under as many layers as I could manage to deter any pickpockets who
might want to take it. My first port of call was to get to my accommodation,
and then hopefully the nerves would ware off by the time morning rolled around.
Due to the issues mentioned at the beginning of this blog,
I’d ending up booking my accommodation that very morning (always a good idea)
to stay at Le Village Montmartre hostel, about 15 minutes away from Gare du
Nord. The reception seemed modern and welcoming, and it was only once you’d
checked in and got your key that you opened a door to the rickety wooden
staircase that looked like it had been there since the beginning of time.
In spite of appearances, it was a perfectly nice hostel. The
first floor had a little terrace with a wonderful view of Sacre Coeur, and my
4-bed female dorm on the fourth floor did exactly what it said on the tin with
2 bunk beds, lockers, and even an ensuite! Who could ask for more.
I was alone for about two minutes before another girl burst
into the room shouting down the phone in a language I didn’t understand and
crying – having seen her down in reception, I think this was due to the
accommodation and perhaps some miscommunication with whomever had booked her a
hostel instead of the five-star hotel she had been expecting… She locked
herself in the bathroom, still crying, and I took that as my cue to head
downstairs to start planning my weekend.
Aside from my initial contact with one of my roommates,
everyone else I came into contact with at the hostel was very nice. A flight
attendant from Toronto offered me suggestions of what to see and do, and two
Korean girls who turned out to be my other roommates invited me to share
(spicy) ramen with them that evening. I can see why people choose hostels as
good places to stay if you want to meet people.
The big downside of staying in a hostel is that you live on
other peoples time, as I found out at 5:30 the next morning when some of my
roommates got up to pack and depart. So much for a lie-in! It was soon time to
carpe the diem anyway, so I headed downstairs for breakfast – a glass of orange
juice; your choice of coffee, tea or chocolat chaud; a croissant; a pain au
chocolat; and a piece of baguette. Not a bad selection and mine was included in
the price, although I’m sure you could have found nicer French patissieres for
the same price just around the corner.
And so it was time to begin Day 1 in Paris. I was
disconcerted stepping outside at 8am to darkness. Had I somehow misread my watch
and it was actually still the middle of the night? It turns out winter sunrises
are pretty late here, so I began walking down the dark streets, shops and bars
still lit up with neon lights. Using my trusty printed Google Maps (I’m a fan
of going off-the-grid when travelling) I wangled my way down-city for about
fifty minutes until I reached Fontain de St Michel, my meeting point for
today’s tour.
Knowing that I was going to do my usual free walking tour of
Paris, I decided to book a tour of Versailles with the same company. As the
square in front of the fountain starting filling up with tour-goers, we split
into two groups – the twenty or so Spanish speakers, and four English-speakers
- a nice little tour for us then.
We began by catching the train to the end of the line,
getting off at Versailles and taking a short walk to the Palace and its ornate
golden gates. Here we were explained the history of Louis XIV who, along with
Louis XV and Louis XVI, would be our protagonists for the day.
Whilst I was aware that my tour ticket, which I’d bought for
30 Euros, didn’t include entrance to the Palace, I had hoped it would be
somewhat similar to my trip to Potsdam, just outside of Berlin (you can read
about that here), where there was so much to see and do that you didn’t require
going inside any of the buildings.
However, what frustrated me was that whilst marketed as a
‘Versailles Tour’ online, it is in fact a ‘Gardens of Versailles Tour’ – those
two minutes outside the Palace would be all we would see of it, and the rest
would be spent walking around the gardens behind it.
Yes, the gardens were nice (although I’m sure they would be
more pleasant in warmer months when plants are in bloom and the statues are not
covered up in bodybags), and our guide as very knowledgeable, telling us plenty
about the three kings and how many of the statues in each of the ponds
represented Louis XIV’s obsession with the God Apollo and being known as ‘the
Sun King’; so it wasn’t a bad way to spend the time. However, buying a ticket
to the Palace itself would’ve probably been a more interesting and cheaper
option, so there’s that.
By 1pm, the tour was over, so I headed back to the train
station. In my mind, I’d decided to take the ambitious route of catching the
RER back to the Eiffel Tower and then walking along the Seine to St Michel
where I would pick up the walking tour. However, this didn’t take into account
that the time I arrived at the station there would be a half an hour wait until
the next train when they were supposed to run every fifteen minutes max…
snowglobe shopping it is then!
I returned to the train station twenty minutes later and
hopped on the train. As we got closer to the Eiffel Tower stop, I kept thinking
that maybe, just maybe, I might have enough time to enact my ambitious plan. In
the same vein of ‘problems be damned’ that this trip would become known for, I
decided to hop off and risk running the last leg if I had to.
It was totally worth it. Whilst Paris might look small on a
map, it really isn’t, and walking the four RER stops between the Eiffel Tower
and St Michel takes an hour, so getting this side of the city over and done
with today meant that I would have more time in the next few days to do other
things.
The Metro stop brought me right next to the tower, which is
now significantly more heavily securitised than I was when I was last here
about ten years ago. You can no longer walk under the tower without going
through extensive security checks, but I got plenty of nice photos from the
surrounding street. Eiffel Tower, tick!
I continued along the Seine, singing La La Land’s ‘Audition (Fools Who Dream)’ in my head and mentally
crossing off each bridge as I passed them, and basically doing one of those
Seine river cruises without spending a dime. There’s the Grand Palais, there’s
Hotel des Invalides, there’s Musee d’Orsay and so on and so forth.
I arrived at St Michel just in time and we set off on our
tour, first to Notre Dame, then Pont Neuf, the grounds of the Louvre, and
finishing in the Tuileries Gardens. It doesn’t sound like much and to be honest
I’d expected more, but what we did see was well-informed.
The tour not lasting as long as I’d hoped was actually a
blessing in disguise as I decided I would now have enough time to visit the Louvre
which I’d planned to do on Sunday morning, but was open late on Friday
evenings. The best bit? I got in COMPLETELY FREE. You heard right, EU citizens
between the ages of 18-25 get into the Louvre FREE! And that’s not all, you’ll
be hearing more about the benefits of being 18-25 from the EU to come…
I had no plan of action, and in fact because I hadn’t needed
to buy a ticket, I hadn’t been able to pick up a plan of the museum either, so
I was free to happily wander. There were signs pointing towards the Mona Lisa,
so I figured that was a good place to start. For those who’ve not seen the Mona
Lisa IRL, she’s small and she’s crowded, but you have to see her, you know?
I continued my wandering until I picked up signs to see the
Venus de Milo which frankly I’m only really familiar with from that Simpsons
episode (don’t hate me, art historians!) Picking up a map in Spanish off the
floor (#nolittering) I knew that I wanted to see Napoleon’s apartments as they
had been recommended by today’s tour guide, so that was my next destination.
These were very cool with their ornate furnishings as if palatial rooms had
just been plucked up and placed inside the walls of the Louvre.
By this point I’d actually wandered through quite a lot of
the gallery so decided it was time to head on my merry way. I took the long
walk back to my hostel, rested my aching bones (I’d done a LOT of walking)
before getting ready for that evenings entertainment.
Thankfully my destination, the Moulin Rouge, was in the same
district and a mere fifteen minutes walk away. Unfortunately, this district so
happens to be the red light district, which certainly was interesting to walk
through at nighttime… Before long I arrived and was seated two rows away from
the stage in this beautiful ballroom type place – not bad, eh? I’d arrived
plenty early so whilst higher-paying guests finished their meals, we were
serenaded by singers before the show began.
I’d booked this ticket being a gullible tourist and knowing
little more than there had been a movie made about the Moulin Rouge (Do I
remember the plot? No) and that it’s just one of the many things to do in
Paris, so I didn’t really know what I’d gotten myself into…
I would like to sum up the Moulin Rouge with France’s
national motto – ‘liberté (freedom), égalité (equality), fraternité (brotherhood)’. Freedom – absolutely, of
the nipple. It is essentially an hour long musical (with no plot),
in which most of the women seem to have forgotten their tops. My favourite
review on Tripadvisor is titled ‘Disney with tatas’ and I think that does it
justice.
Equality – frankly, this show could be the poster child for
double standards, as about a quarter of the cast were men and yet never showed
more than their hands and heads… Seems fair, right?
Brotherhood – well, I don’t really have much to say on this
point so I’ll just tell you my honest opinion. I spent most of the time
wondering whether or not I had accidentally taken drugs as these half naked
women flounced around the stage, occasionally with tiny horses or dancing in a
pool with snakes (definitely not approved by animal services), and one of the
dancers accidentally overshot her cartwheel and landed smack on our table.
However, by far better than the chorus dancers were the
individual acts which included a roller skating duo who flew round a small
raised platform, her being flung around by leg, arm, and even neck just inches
from the ground; a contortionist who could literally sit on her head; and a
juggler who could juggle seven batons at once (you’ll know I’m a fan of
juggling if you read my Cruise Diaries here!)
So yes, it was entertaining, and admittedly I would have
been even more entertained had I not paid 112 Euros for the privilege (with
that kind of money you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment), but I
paid so you don’t have to. Or do, it certainly is an experience. And so to bed.
It was an early start the next morning so that I could be
amongst the first in the queue for Musee d’Orsay, another museum I got into FOR
FREE! I’d heard the fifth floor was the place to be, and this was actually an
excellent decision as whilst everyone else started on the first floor and
worked upwards, I started at the top and worked downwards, meaning that I was
often the only one in each of the rooms.
This museum is really something special, and I walked
through admiring the colourful impressionist paintings including a few by Monet
himself. The second floor had an exhibition on father and son Pierre-Auguste
Renoir and Jean Renoir; as well as some Van Gogh. I took a picture of his
Portrait of an Artist, and I swear to you the eyes move… The ground floor has
the long corridor of sculptures and small rooms to each side highlighting
different styles which I very much enjoyed looking at. I knew this would be my
favourite museum of the trip, and it remained that way.
Done by 10:30, it was time for the next museum, Musee
d’Orangerie (for FREE!). This is quite a small museum, so perhaps not one that
I would recommend paying entry too unless you really want to. The first floor
has some of Monet’s Water Lilies stretched across vast walls; whilst downstairs
had a rather creepy exhibition by Paula Rego and some permanent pieces by the
likes of Cezanne and Matisse.
With that not taking long, I headed off for the quick jaunt
across the Grand Palais. Or so I’d hoped. The gilets jaunes had thwarted my
plans (as would come to be a theme) and the whole Place de la Concorde was
cordoned off by police meaning I had to take some convoluted route across the
river and back, and then get questioned by the police as to why I wanted to go
to the Grand Palais!
I decided to start with the Petit Palais. This one is free
to all, and I’d say is a good bet if you want to get some culture in for free
as it has a good range of artworks from paintings to sculptures and
furnishings. With the bar set high by Musee d’Orsay, I wasn’t too bothered with
paintings that didn’t float my boat so breezed my way around and left.
Across to the Grand Palais, I was astounded that they
offered no gratuite to 18-25 EU citizens, and having been so spoilt by all the
other museums that let me have my culture for free, decided I couldn’t be
bothered to pay, especially when each of its three exhibitions cost
individually, and who’s to say if I’d like them or not?
I had great fun trying to get out of this area as it was
again cordoned off by police but eventually squeezed my way out onto the Champs
Elysee, aka the street to be seen on. Now if you’ve gathered anything from my
travels, I like to do things on a budget, so popping into Louis Vuitton or
Chanel was not really an option, and most of the shops along the street were of
a similar ilk.
However, I did make an exception to visit Laduree, home of
the macaron. When in Rome, right? I spent a while deliberating over which four
I would spent my hard-earned cash on (yes, they really were that expensive) and
opted for rose-litchi (Why? I don’t even like rose! But it was in the shape of
a heart); fruit de passion (This one was yummy); fraise bonbon (Passable, a
little too crunchy); and Marie Antoinette (Citrus with a rose filling.
Thankfully the citrus overpowered the rose so it was nice). Thank goodness the
museums were free!
My intention had been to climb the Arc de Triomphe (for
FREE!) but I was thwarted once again by the gilets jaunes whose threat of
protesting had shut down the monument to tourists. My loving family later sent
me links to articles showing protesters being tear-gassed (not sure why, I
don’t think they were being violent…) right outside so I probably left at the
right time.
Next stop – Galeries Lafayette! Or not… After passing about
a million police vans (they were all going in the opposite direction, that must
mean I was going the right way!) I was about a hundred metres from the Galeries
when people starting running in the opposite direction. Why? Yellow vests.
Again. Deciding I didn’t want to get tear-gassed or batoned, I guessed it was
better to head on.
I had walked about three marathons by this point but that
wasn’t going to deter me so I headed down to the Ile-de-la-cite to visit Saint
Chapelle (for FREE!). I walked in and there were some pretty stained glass
windows – nice, I guess. Then I headed upstairs to the Upper Chapel. Oh my
goodness, what a sight to see! Wall to wall of stained glass beauty, each
window depicting different Bible stories. Wow wow wow. This is something
special.
I headed next door to the Conciergerie aka Medieval royal
palace aka Marie Antionette’s prison (for FREE!). Not too much to see here, but
hey, it was free. Round the corner, you bump into Notre Dame which if you look
closely you’ll see is actually imperfect – the doorways are all slightly
different and one of the towers is thicker than the other. This is because only
God can make perfection – interesting, huh? Being a church, this is also free
to all, so I had a little wander round inside before heading round the side to
see about climbing the Towers.
Turns out that you have to book a ticket so they have
machines that let you pick a time to reserve – the earliest availability was
thirty minutes later so I hopped across the river to Shakespeare & Co. This
bookshop has become somewhat infamous because it looks like what you want a
bookshop to be – windy corridors, narrow stairs, books out the wazoo.
It was pretty crowded but a nice place to rest my weary feet
before I returned to the Notre Dame, and good thing I’d arrived when I did as
tickets for the day were all gone by the time I got back. I had to wait in the
cold for a little while as you can only go up in certain time slots. You’re
taken to a gift shop/ticket booth (mine was FREE!) and then clamber up the many
many steps to the top.
The view was very nice, but shrouded by
anti-suicide/anti-throwing-things fences (for good reason) so I had to stick my
phone through gaps to get a good photo. This is not a place for those with
vertigo or claustrophobia as the spaces you have to squeeze through are far
from large.
It’s also a one way system, so we had to wait a while whilst
those at the upper level made their way down before we could go up to the
higher level; and then wait again to come down. Nevertheless, you’re not going
to get better views of Paris (no, not even from the Eiffel Tower – you want it
in your photo, don’t you?) but make sure to book beforehand!
My feet had had enough and it was a real struggle to get all
the way back up to Montmartre – every hotel and hostel I passed on the way
seemed to be mocking me by saying ‘if you were staying here, you’d be home by
now’ but eventually the sight of the Sacre Coeur welcomed me home yet again.
For my final day in Paris, I decided I’d done pretty much
all I’d wanted to do. What now? My first thought was the Musee Rodin which
would probably be the next one on my list, but on second thought was just too
far for my little legs to manage. Instead, I decided to make use of my
surroundings and walked round the back of my hostel to the Sacre Coeur.
Maybe it was because I was visiting it pretty early in the
morning, but this seemed to be a less touristy destination than all the others
I’d visited – perhaps because it was much farther away from everything else, or
perhaps because you weren’t allowed to take photos inside. Pretty nice.
The people I’d sat next to at the Moulin Rouge had told me
of a food tour they’d taken around Montmartre which had brought them to the ‘I
love you’ wall. Having spent so much on the Moulin Rouge, I wasn’t willing to
shell out another 90 Euros for the food tour, but I could go to the wall (for
FREE!) since it was just round the corner. The words ‘I love you’ are written
in many different languages, the perfect place for a quick photo stop.
As the gilets had stopped me from visiting Galeries
Lafayette, I thought I might go there next. However, noticing just how many
shops were closed on this Sunday morning, I wondered whether the Galeries might
be shut too. As fate would have it, my handheld map had been produced by
Galeries Lafayette (maybe that’s why I was so keen to go – subliminal
marketing?) and handily told me they didn’t open until 11am, so I swiftly
changed direction.
I headed across town to the top of the St Martin Canal, with
a sub-mission in my mind to find myself a nice French crepe. Everywhere. Was.
Closed. I ambled down the canal, marvelling at the fact that there were
probably very few tourists around since I was so far away from the main area.
Again, it looks small on the map but it’s really quite a distance, so by the
time I reached the end of the canal, I was dying for a crepe.
Planned routes be damned, my crepe took priority. Google
mapping ‘crepe’ (it works!) I picked one that was slightly off my route and
ended up at Chez Alain Miam Miam for my crepe avec Nutella. The crepe was
scalding hot and nice and light, although by the time I’d finished I felt like I
never wanted to eat anything ever again.
I was now in the Marais district which was a pretty nice
place to walk around, and accidentally ended up right outside Centre Pompidou.
Since I really didn’t have any set plans for the day, I decided I’d go in and
see if my 18-25 EU citizenship would get me in for FREE here too (it did!) and
decided to check out the modern art.
I’m going to be honest – I don’t get modern art. Sure, the
Picasso ones are interesting in their own right, but let me give you some examples
of some of the other pieces of art in the Pompidou. 1) A white canvas. It’s a
canvas, painted white. It looks like a blank canvas. Why? 2) A white canvas
with a circle painted on it. Same as above. 3) A literal chair. I could tell it
was an art piece because it had a ‘do not cross this line’ sticker in front of
it. 4) A room of rolled up insulation with a piano inside. You get the point.
Again, I went so you don’t have to. Or maybe you want to. Maybe you get modern
art.
And so I trudged onwards to the other side of town to my
beloved Galeries Lafayette. Honestly by this point, all I wanted the store to
provide was somewhere to sit down because my three days of non-stop walking
were taking their toll. But as I went up floor after floor, there was not a
seat in sight. There was however a floating glass walkway hanging out beneath
the centre of the dome which I of course had to go stand on, but no seats.
I could take it no longer, and knowing that I would only
have to walk half an hour before I got back to the hostel (and to some form of
chair) decided that that was the best course of action. A short while later, I
was on my way to Gare du Nord to say goodbye to Paris, and no doubt to free
entry to museums, once again.
Tips for visiting Paris: If you’re an EU citizen aged 18-25,
you have literally no reason to go. My trip (in cash, not including pre-booked
tickets, accommodation and travel) cost under 50 Euros. It’s a no brainer. I
recommend visiting Versailles – it’s just one of those places you’re supposed
to go, right? And then maybe you can tell me what it’s like and if it was
better than my tour. In terms of museums and attractions (particularly if you’re
a paying customer and want to pick the best), my top picks would be 1) Musee d’Orsay
2) Saint Chapelle 3) Louvre (they have eight miles of corridors, surely a good
way to pass the day and get your exercise in?) Enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed
today’s blog and would love to know your thoughts on my journey, as well as
your own experiences of Paris! Drop me a message in the comments below or on
Twitter @CiarasCountry. Thanks for reading!
What a great experience and a nice blog... keep up the good work..
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things to do in Paris! This city is amazing! I was in Paris last October and i have to say that Paris is definitely my favorite European city! I booked some tours from here https://daytrip4u.com/destination/France, but i want to visit and other french cities like Nice and Marseilles.
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