For as long as I can remember I have wanted to see and eat my way through Paris, France. Well I finally got my chance over spring break. We just got back from a wonderful journey through Paris, complete with a river cruise, summit to the Eiffel tower, and of coarse a trip through the Louvre. In a few words the trip of my lifetime so far. Come and see the sights we saw as well as a few tips that made this trip great.
We started out when we arrived in Paris on Friday walking to Notre Dame. We didn't have much on the sightseeing for Friday, with an arrival earlier in the morning on an overnight flight, we took it easy. But in my research for our trip I discovered that on Friday's during lent they display the crown of thorns worn by Jesus. Growing up in a Christian family, this was an amazing discovery for our travels, and we couldn't pass up the chance to see this historic display.
I lite a candle in prayer for my mom, and with that day one was in the books. We were off to dinner then to bed early to try and adjust to the time change.
It's day two already, and we have a full day in front of us. Our first stop is the catacombs. I booked this one in advance as they only let so many people down in the catacombs at one time, and I'm glad I did. The line wrapped around the block, and gratefully we weren't in it!! Click here to see the official website and reserve and book your time, it's well worth your effort to book ahead to skip that line.
Once in we couldn't believe the labyrinth of tunnels underneath the city. They created these catacombs to combat the spread of disease.
I booked the four of us with an audio tour guide (hanging around our necks) for around 28 euros per person. We went through these tunnels to get to the catacombs.
Now we enter!
Each different area or section was marked with the date and area of the city these bones came from.
The skulls and thigh bones were painstaking laid out in an array of designs and with care and precision.
There was once a concert playing Chopin's funeral march in this space around this "barrel" of bones.
We finally made it back up to street level, and were on to the next adventure.
Another advanced purchase we made was to buy the Paris Passlib Pass. This pass from Paris tourism is a best buy if you ask me. We ended up purchasing the 5 day Paris Passlib which included access to most of the museums and attractions we wanted to see, plus a one hour sightseeing cruise on the Seine as well as a day pass on the Paris Hop on Hop off bus, and finally a 5 day pass on the metro and the buses. We used this pass to its fullest, and on day two we took the one hour River Seine cruise.
It was a totally different view of the city as well as seeing the architecture and artwork on these bridges,
plus it was our first full view of the Eiffel Tower which we were going to summit in a few days.
This was one happy girl! With no less than 15 Eiffel towers decorating her room she finally got to see it in person!
On Sunday we used the Hop on Hop off pass, we had walked miles already and were in need of a break. There are four different loops through-out the city all driving by the sites of Paris, and just as the name suggests you can hop on and hop off at your leisure. We decided to sit back and listen to the commentary and enjoy the sites from the bus.
In the study of the French Revolution in school, the kids wanted to see the Bastille. Once a prison stood here which was mobbed and thus started the French Revolution. It was a good drive by!
Arc de Triomphe, a monument to Napoleon we were visiting later in the week.
Well needed rest day, and took in more of the outskirts of the city than we could have on foot.
Well we have wrapped up our first three days, and in part two we start using our 4 day museum pass. Mona Lisa and the Louvre here we come. Stay tuned.
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