Paris, Île-de-France, France
Bonjour from beautiful Paris! I always forget just how beautiful this city is. In terms of just sheer visually stunning cities, I struggle to think of any that can compare. Paris is many things, and I may have described it as such over the years. But it's impossible to come here and not fall in love all over again with just how gorgeous everything is.
Paris in a day?
We have just under two days here. A little less, when you count airport and transit time, so more like a day and a half. And while I've done the typical tourist thing here a few times, it's Ryan's first visit to the city. So after a pretty good night's sleep last night, we woke up ready to take on the day and see as much as possible today.
And we took that fairly literally. We walked over 40,000 steps today, nearly double our busiest walking day anywhere in Southeast Asia. The cooler temperatures helped, as did the fact that Paris, unlike Bangkok or Phnom Penh or Vientiane, is a city of wide boulevards and esplanades that is perfectly designed to be discovered on foot. Southeast Asian cities are designed for motorbikes, cars, tuk-tuks, skytrains... basically any mode of transportation other than walking. But here, we walked so much that we both have sore feet now. What's more, I seem to have managed to get a bit dehydrated for the first time on the trip. It's easy to remember to drink lots of water in 35-degree heat and humidity. It's much harder to remind myself in 10-degree cloudy weather. Whoops.
Breakfast and second breakfast
We woke up this morning far before dawn, which was partly the jet lag, partly the fact that the sun doesn't rise here until nearly 9am at this time of year. The very first thing we did was set out to take full advantage of the grand Parisian tradition of coffee and croissant for breakfast.
Actually, we had a first breakfast at a sidewalk table outside a cafe near the hotel of espresso and croissant. And then not far from there, we stopped at a bakery and patisserie for a second coffee and I decided I also needed a chocolatine. Calories don't count on vacation, right?
Arc de Triomphe (the real one)
Walking the long way, we meandered over to the Arc de Triomphe, passing by Place de la Concorde, the Palais Royal, and strolling along the Champs-Elysees. All iconic sights, all nearly empty. I've never seen so few people in these normally packed spots. It being a random Wednesday in January, early morning, and cool and a bit rainy probably all contributed to the smaller crowds. I wasn't complaining.
After visiting a bunch of imitation or trolling Arcs de Triomphe in Southeast Asia, including the Patuxay Monument in Vientiane, a shrine in Phnom Penh, and so on, it felt appropriate that we ended our trip at the actual Arc de Triomphe here in Paris. No, we didn't run across 8 lanes of traffic; we took the underground passageway like you're supposed to. Neither of us really felt the need to climb it; we just snapped some photos from various angles and such. The last photos I have from this spot were on film camera, just to give you an idea of how long it's been.
Eiffel Tower (also the real one)
Next, we strolled the long way over to the Eiffel Tower, taking in some additional sights along the way. I told Ryan that when he saw that fake Eiffel Tower at CDG Airport on the way to Bangkok that we could do better than that.
We took the obligatory photos from the viewing platform and then walked across to take more photos from the other direction where the lighting was better. Then, just before the pre-booked ticket time, we headed over to the tower and waltzed straight in, basically zero lineups. There were a few more crowds once inside, but nowhere near the number of people that would be here in the summertime.
The downside of visiting in January is that the summit is closed for a month for repairs. But we took the elevator up to the second level and saw the pretty decent views from halfway up, which I think was more than high enough for Ryan. After a quick stop at the gallery on the first level, we took the stairs the rest of the way down. Eiffel Tower: Check.
Paris sights, the condensed version
After that, we just walked. And walked. And walked. Along the Seine's esplanade. We saw all the usual highlights: Hotel des Invalides, Quai d'Orsay, Palais Royal, Musee d'Orsay, Louvre, Academie Francaise... I lost count, honestly. Basically we just walked along the banks of the river, gawking at pretty buildings. Paris may be all about form over function, but it does the form part really really well.
At the Sainte-Chapelle, we paid the ticket price to go in and admire the stained glass from the upper level, 'cause why not, eh? We've seen so many temples on this trip, I figured it was time for a church before we headed home. The light coming in around midday was quite beautiful.
For lunch, we wandered up to Le Marais, bought some takeout baguette sandwiches, and ate them on a small bench while we people-watched and admired all the cute little cafes. The sun had come out by then, and even though it was cool out, it was still pretty pleasant to sit outdoors and people-watch.
Then back down to the Notre Dame Cathedral, all blocked off for restoration construction. You can't see a whole lot of what's happening with the restoration work, though there are a few placards up explaining the painstaking work that different experts are doing to try to preserve and restore as much as possible.
We paid a short visit to the Memorial to the Deported, dedicated to the 200,000 Jews forcibly deported by Vichy France to Nazi concentration camps during WWII. It's a small memorial, underground and a bit hard to see, and I'd missed it on previous visits to France.
Some chocolate, some beer
We doubled back to the Marais district, as it was definitely time for an afternoon snack. Ryan bought us some macarons to share, because when in Paris and all that. Yes, we're eating terribly here, all bread and croissant and pastry and cookies. I'm very glad I don't live here, or I'd probably weigh nine hundred pounds.
Meanwhile, I stopped off at a couple of craft chocolate places. L'Instant Cacao is a small mother and son-managed company making really interesting single origin bean-to-bar chocolate. I chatted with the owner (the mom) for a while about the various trips they've taken to visit the local cacao producers, most recently to Tanzania and Cameroon, and about the different flavour profiles. bought a bar to take home with me.
Next door at significantly larger and more commercial chain Alain Ducasse, I also bought some chocolate to take home and sampled a coconut and passion fruit piece of chocolate. Not bad.
Then after we'd been walking for ages, we decided it was time for a beer. This being Paris in wintertime, our COVID rules made it complicated to go to a pub. So instead, we visited the gourmet grocery store at the Galeries Lafayette on the way back to the hotel and bought a couple of local craft beers to drink back at the hotel room. France is known for wine, of course, but there's a pretty decent craft beer scene that's sprung up here since my last visit, so it was nice to sample a bit.
Dinner and a light show
For dinner, we headed back out and found a small brasserie near the hotel with some sidewalk seating. Paris loves its year-round outdoor dining, so even though it's January, many of the cafes and restaurants still have some outdoor seating.
Somewhat inconveniently in terms of timing, France passed a nationwide ban on patio heaters last spring, ostensibly to fight climate change. That's important, obviously, but I feel like the environmental impact of patio heaters is negligible compared to the COVID impact of indoor bars and restaurants. Still, even without the heaters on, plenty of people were sitting outdoors, mostly because they smoke, not because they care about the pandemic. Yeah, we're back in Europe, where COVID denial is just as bad as it is back home. I miss Southeast Asia and its mask-wearing culture where people actually care about each other.
But anyway. It was chilly, but with our jackets, it was warm enough to sit and have a meal. I ordered a chicken burger that came with a side salad that I could actually eat for the first time in a month! I always get unduly excited about lettuce and raw veggies after spending some time in a country where you can't drink the water. Ryan had a French onion soup. because when in France and all.
After dinner, we thought about walking back to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up at night, but we were both pretty tired and a bit chilly and didn't really feel like the 45-minute walk in each direction. Instead, we detoured past Place de la Concorde, where we caught the very end of the hourly sparkly light show from further away. Good enough.
We headed back to the hotel, where had our second beer and the rest of our macarons, and turned in for the evening. I feel like I've rekindled my somewhat dysfunctional love affair with Paris after this very long day. And it was great to get to show Ryan some of the sights here. Heck, to some couples, 48 hours in Paris would constitute an entire honeymoon. I feel like we're so lucky that this is basically just the epilogue of ours.
More tomorrow!
Othe mom
2023-01-11
Wow, you really packed a lot into one day!
Joanne
2023-01-11
Wowzer that is a lot of steps!!! Please have some sinful pastry for me!
MOM
2023-01-12
You are probably on your flight home now….( no screaming babies, I hope) ….what a jam-packed time in Paris….covered almost everything. Brings back so many memories for me. BON VOLE, ADIEU…..and savor all those wonderful memories from a spectacular “Honeymoon”.. ..HUGGGS