Paris - Sights

City of Lights.  Louvre.  Eiffel Tower.

My thirty-something birthday started out great.  Matt surprised me with a Starbucks latte and a birthday tart, what a sweetie.  So far so good!  Later in the day, we took the TGV from Basel to Paris for a long weekend.  The train takes 3 hours and funnily enough, we had just watched a program on the evolution of locomotives and how the French are now making an even faster train, the AGV.   

We stayed in a cute, boutique hotel (Recamier) across from St. Sulpice church in the St. Germain area. The room was small, but very well appointed. We literally checked in and then changed right away to make our dinner reservations. (See Food post). After a scrumptious dinner, we returned to the hotel via foot to truly enjoy the “city of lights”. There is definitely something magical in the lights of Paris!

Church & hotel.

Paris at night.

On Saturday, we decided to walk across the city to find an area with vintage clothing stores in the Opéra/Les Halles area that was mentioned in Time Out.  We didn’t buy anything, but did a lot of window shopping (at the Palais Royal as well), stopped in a bunch of churches, the Pompidou, and went to the Musee D’Orsay (hello Impressionist collection!).  We definitely criss-crossed the city on Saturday and saw a lot!

After sleeping in a bit on Sunday, we headed to the Luxembourg Gardens, which were quite lovely, and just a few blocks behind our hotel.  Apparently, it’s a popular running spot as there were a ton of them doing a loop around the Gardens!  We then headed up to the Pantheon and St. Genevieve Church, where we quickly popped in, and then out, because the morning service was being held.  We decided to return to the Pantheon and go inside.  It’s such a lovely building, but we’re not terribly familiar with the dead French, so aside from a few recognizable names, we still don’t know who the famous people in the Crypt are.  And some little kid made a bee-line for the pendulum, we thought he was going to break through the little barrier and knock it over!  We also hit the crumbly and old and cool Shakespeare & Co. bookstore.  Then it was time to go and stake out our seats for the Tour (see Tour de France post).  After the race, we wandered down to the Eiffel Tower and it was crawling with tourists!  The lines were so incredibly long, I couldn’t imagine waiting. It’s a beautiful monument, just too many people, in my opinion.  Last time we visited, it was November and freezing, so we had the exact opposite experience (it was totally deserted).  We took the requisite tourist photos and then called it quits. 

 

     

On Sunday night we took a river cruise (10 PM), which was a wonderful way to see the city and all the spakling lights.  It’s definitely a different vantage point to see everything from the river, and really beautiful.  Highly recommend doing it!

The last day, we headed across town and started at the Champs-Élysées / Arc de Triomphe.  There was a huge queue across the street in front of a stunning building and we spent about 10 minutes on Matt’s iPhone trying to figure out what it was.  Perhaps a hidden garden?  Chanel?  No, it was Abercrombie & Fitch!??  Wow, that was surprising.  We then proceeded up to Montmartre for the sweeping city views and to take in the beautiful Sacre-Couer.  We also visited the big Cimitiere Montmartre, where more famous people we don’t know are buried.  It’s really pretty though, with little street signs and mini-boulevards that seem perfect for a romantic stroll (kinda making you forget you’re in an actual cemetery). 

I really wanted to see the new Hermes store, so we went there next.  It’s so cool!  It’s in Hôtel Lutetia’s former indoor swimming pool.  It’s definitely worth a stop in.  Very artsy with beautifully displayed mechandise.

After Hermes, we ate lunch and finished our Paris trip with a quick stop into Notre Dame and walked along the Seine and islands.  Some of the bridges are completely covered in "love locks", viewed by some as graffiti and others as romantic.