Paris is, with no hyperbole, is a spectacular city. Yes, it is full of the French, yes it is dirty, yes it is insanely expensive, but you don't even notice that when you look around. It is gorgeous.
So, to begin: we stayed in a gorgeous apartment in St Germain, on the left bank, which is full to the brim of restaurants, cafes, boullangeries and patisseries. The day we arrived, it was 0 degrees, and we were absolutely freezing, too freezing in fact to turn off the heater that the real estate agent had put on before handing over the keys - for fear that we wouldn't be able to figure out how to turn in back on again.
Our French apartment
Head to toe in thermals, with our scarves, gloves and doona jackets, we decided that if the French can brave the weather, so too can we. We had our Aussie reputations to protect. We immediately put on our walking shoes and hit the streets. We promptly froze, and dashed into the nearest cafe to defrost and figure out a new plan of attack.
On day 1: we walked around St Germain and tried to get over our jetlag. The streets are simply gorgeous - without seeing any monuments or museums, we were in love.
A Parisian bridge
Michael, in his NOBS jacket (his only jacket) without a beanie, scarf or gloves, playing spot the tourist.
Michael gave me the pep talk of all pep talks, and convinced me to go up the Eiffel Tower at dusk in -4 degree weather. The Tower was built by Gustav Eiffel to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution. You can see around 60kms in all directions and while we were up there, the light show started. For some unknown reason we decided to wait in the line to catch the lift up, it would have been much faster and warmer to take the stairs.
The Notre Dame, French for Our Lady of Paris, was built in 1163. It is a Catholic cathedral, and is the 'home' of the archbishop of Paris. It was where Mary Queen of Scots married the dauphin of France, where Napoleon was coronated and where Joan of Arc was canonised. It has 5 bells, each of which has its own name and a massive massive organ with 7,800 pipes.
I typically love churches on the outside, and can't help but wonder how many peasants died of starvation while the catholic church was covering their Jesus statues in gold. Michael on the other hand, being the mad catholic that he is, loves them.
Interestingly during the French Revolution, the peasants seized the Notre Dame, and turned it into a Church of the "Cult of Reason", an atheist belief system that they hoped would replace Christianity. Vive le Revolution.
Photos are banned on the inside, however everyone was doing it, so I sneakily took this photo of the glass windows while Michael wasn't looking. I couldn't risk another talking to on respect and religion etc.
Of course no visit to Paris is complete without a visit to the Louvre, the most visited museum in the world. I was a bit more of a fan of the outside than the inside (which had a million people in it). Here's me freezing outside. If you look closely you can also see my walking shoes, which the French took a particular dislike to (see below).
Our friend Andrew, a Melbournian living in Paris, offered to give us his personal tour of the Louve - he has done over a dozen of these for his international tourists, and it was great.
Favourites were the Winged Victory, from the 2nd BC, discovered in the 1800s (below), the Venus de Milo, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, and the statues in the ancient Greek wing.
It was awesome seeing Andrew, who kindly took us to dinner a few nights to some delightful French restaurants, and introduced us to his French, and Frozzie friends. He also introduced me to mulled wine, and a crazy potato cheese mash that was delicious.
A quick run past the Arc de Triomphe before hitting the shops (big time). In Paris the sales are heavily regulated by the government, and shops are only allowed to go on sale twice a year. I was fortunate to arrive at the end of the Feb sales, so everything was up to 70% off. I went mad. I like to think its because it was the only warm thing to do, but honestly, I would have shopped myself silly anyway. Michael nearly killed me when we couldn't fit our stuff into our bags (which he had to carry on and off the Eurostar).
Joan of Arc
Sacre Coeur, the Basillica of the Sacred Heart, at Montmarte. The view is spectacular climbing the hill up to it (and sitting in a cafe eating crepes at the bottom of it, as we did), and at the top, looking out over Paris.
The carosel at the base of the Sacre Coeur
And then, it snowed. It was the first time I had ever seen snow, and it was magical. We woke up in the morning and the world was blanketed in it. We decided to wander around Paris and just enjoy it, and we walked back past the Louvre again, and found some crazy tourists playing on the frozen pond outside.
Cars were blanketed in it, and Parisians and written little love notes and messages to each other on windscreens.
Speaking of Parisians, the French really are a unique group, aren't they? Without generalising them, our take was that they were all extremely good looking, smoked like chimneys and had little rat-like dogs (and didn't clean up after them - Ill forever remember Michael yelling "land mine!!" at me every 10 seconds as we walked the streets). They also expect excellent quality food and wine and are quite prepared to pay excessive amounts for it.
Oh, and they all (women and men) absolutely hated my shoes. I cannot tell you the number of Parisians who stopped in the street and looked horrified, at my shoes and then at me in obvious confusion. Apparently my timberlands, comfy and waterproof, were the height of .... ugliness for Parisians.
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