Paris, the most visited tourist destination in the world. And for good reason. It's one of those cities everyone should see at least once in their life. I had already seen it once, but since I was in the area (Belgium), I thought I might as well go see it again. I intended to take the short (1.5 hour) train trip from Brussels, but this was going to cost me over 100 euros, which is ridiculous, so I instead waited around a caught a 4 hr bus, for something like 30 euros.
I returned with the same camera I had 5 years ago to take pictures of the same things I took pictures of 5 years ago. But there are endless things to see and do in Paris if you look around.
Firstly I did a tour of Paris, mostly to learn more about the history of Paris. I don't know what's happened to me, but I've somehow gone from having absolutely no interest in or knowledge of world history, to actively trying to learn it. I blame the Australian education system for not teaching me any history in the first place.
On this tour we walked along the River Seine, where many of Paris' main tourist attractions are. Here's a picture with the Eiffel Tower in the background:
Here's another shot, with the Notre Dame cathedral in the background:
Next we headed to the Musee du Louvre. With my mad French skills, I can translate that to 'The Louvre Museum'. This museum has a crap ton (not a real measurement) of art and (spoiler) the Holy Grail (if you believe the Da Vinci code). I had already been inside the Louvre on my last trip, so I just took the typical tourist photo of the main courtyard and the pyramid, which has served as the main entrance to the museum since it was built around 20ish years ago.
Here's a closer up photo of the pyramid, facing away from the Louvre.
We continued in the direction of the last photo. If you go in this direction, you walk through a giant park (Tuileries garden):
and eventually end in a big public square (Place de la Concorde). Here they have a big obelisk that Egypt gave them:
The Place de la Concorde is at one end of the Champs Ellyses, but I left the Champs Ellyses for the next day.
The world didn't end overnight, so the next day happened and I was off to the Champs Ellyses. It is a busy street (source: Art vs Science - Parlez-Vois Francais). It's also notable for being the finish to the Tour de France, where many of the worlds best drug cheats, such as Lance Armstrong, have rode to victory. The street is about 2km long. On one end is the Place de la Concorde I was talking about earlier, and on the other end is the Arc De Triomphe:
This was build around Napoleon's time. There is also a crazy roundabout going around the Arc De Triumphe, which connects maybe 9 or 10 roads. The Champs Ellyses is a shopping street, with generally high end retailers. Not really the place for a cheap backpacker, but I thought I would check out Mercedes-Benz, just incase they had any specials going on cars:
I looked at this car:
.. but decided it wasn't within my price range ($100 or less), so I walked out without making any purchases. I purchased one thing on this street, an ice cream from Haagen-Dazs:
For 5 euros, I got one tiny scoop of ice cream. Value! Here's some useless trivia: Haagen-Dazs is an American company, that just uses a foreign sounding name. They should be reading by blogs in schools all around the world with gems like that.
Next, I was off to the granddaddy of tourists attractions, the Eiffel Tower:
More useless trivia: Apparently, when the Allies were on the verge of reclaiming France, Hitler ordered his general to destroy the Eiffel Tower, but the general disobeyed his orders. I should be a tour guide.
I witnessed a lot of tourists getting tricked by touts here. On the bridge to the Eiffel Tower, there was a tout playing the shell game. This is where he places a small ball under one of three shells, and moves the shells around, and then you bet on whether you know which shell the ball is under. He moves the shells around really slowly, so that even an old lady without her glasses could probably tell where the ball is. I saw people losing $50 a game on this. It's actually impossible to win this game, because the dealer uses slight of hand to remove the ball from under the shell, and put it back under a shell other than the one the player chose, when 'revealing' the shell the ball is supposedly under. They are fast though, and even though I knew how the trick worked, it was hard to see them removing and replacing the ball. I wanted to tell the tourists not to play the game, but that probably would have got me bashed, because the dealer has 4 or 5 fake players that play occasionally and always win (to trick tourists into thinking it's an easy game to win). Usually one of them is big, and I'm assuming he's the one that bashes you if you reveal the trick.
Finally, I went to Montmartre. It's a very artsy district, and dudes like Picasso and Dali apparently lived here at some point of their life. This is also the area where the Moulin Rouge and lots of clubs are in Paris. There's also a giant hill, which is one of the highest areas in Paris. You can get a lift up the hill, but to achieve street cred, I took the steps. Here a pic from the top of the hill:
There's also the Sacre Coeur basilica at the top of the hill:
That was enough tourist attractions for me. Time to have a drink. I knew a French girl in Paris, Melanie, who I had met 5 years ago in London. She took me to a few bars and we drank a fair bit of Guinness. At one bar, I waited for ages while a patron and a bartender were arguing in French. I had had enough of this and asked the friend of the patron what the argument was about. The patron was angry because he ordered a Jagerbomb, and the bartender tipped the yager into the redbull, instead of floating it on top in a shotglass. The bartender said it was still the same thing, but the patron demanded another drink. I was asked for my opinion. I told them they were both wrong. The bartender should have floated the jager shot on top of the redbull, but the patron should man up and just drink it. Anyway, it was good to see Melanie, and a nice end to my time in Paris.
I returned with the same camera I had 5 years ago to take pictures of the same things I took pictures of 5 years ago. But there are endless things to see and do in Paris if you look around.
Firstly I did a tour of Paris, mostly to learn more about the history of Paris. I don't know what's happened to me, but I've somehow gone from having absolutely no interest in or knowledge of world history, to actively trying to learn it. I blame the Australian education system for not teaching me any history in the first place.
On this tour we walked along the River Seine, where many of Paris' main tourist attractions are. Here's a picture with the Eiffel Tower in the background:
Here's another shot, with the Notre Dame cathedral in the background:
Next we headed to the Musee du Louvre. With my mad French skills, I can translate that to 'The Louvre Museum'. This museum has a crap ton (not a real measurement) of art and (spoiler) the Holy Grail (if you believe the Da Vinci code). I had already been inside the Louvre on my last trip, so I just took the typical tourist photo of the main courtyard and the pyramid, which has served as the main entrance to the museum since it was built around 20ish years ago.
Here's a closer up photo of the pyramid, facing away from the Louvre.
We continued in the direction of the last photo. If you go in this direction, you walk through a giant park (Tuileries garden):
and eventually end in a big public square (Place de la Concorde). Here they have a big obelisk that Egypt gave them:
The Place de la Concorde is at one end of the Champs Ellyses, but I left the Champs Ellyses for the next day.
The world didn't end overnight, so the next day happened and I was off to the Champs Ellyses. It is a busy street (source: Art vs Science - Parlez-Vois Francais). It's also notable for being the finish to the Tour de France, where many of the worlds best drug cheats, such as Lance Armstrong, have rode to victory. The street is about 2km long. On one end is the Place de la Concorde I was talking about earlier, and on the other end is the Arc De Triomphe:
This was build around Napoleon's time. There is also a crazy roundabout going around the Arc De Triumphe, which connects maybe 9 or 10 roads. The Champs Ellyses is a shopping street, with generally high end retailers. Not really the place for a cheap backpacker, but I thought I would check out Mercedes-Benz, just incase they had any specials going on cars:
I looked at this car:
.. but decided it wasn't within my price range ($100 or less), so I walked out without making any purchases. I purchased one thing on this street, an ice cream from Haagen-Dazs:
For 5 euros, I got one tiny scoop of ice cream. Value! Here's some useless trivia: Haagen-Dazs is an American company, that just uses a foreign sounding name. They should be reading by blogs in schools all around the world with gems like that.
Next, I was off to the granddaddy of tourists attractions, the Eiffel Tower:
More useless trivia: Apparently, when the Allies were on the verge of reclaiming France, Hitler ordered his general to destroy the Eiffel Tower, but the general disobeyed his orders. I should be a tour guide.
I witnessed a lot of tourists getting tricked by touts here. On the bridge to the Eiffel Tower, there was a tout playing the shell game. This is where he places a small ball under one of three shells, and moves the shells around, and then you bet on whether you know which shell the ball is under. He moves the shells around really slowly, so that even an old lady without her glasses could probably tell where the ball is. I saw people losing $50 a game on this. It's actually impossible to win this game, because the dealer uses slight of hand to remove the ball from under the shell, and put it back under a shell other than the one the player chose, when 'revealing' the shell the ball is supposedly under. They are fast though, and even though I knew how the trick worked, it was hard to see them removing and replacing the ball. I wanted to tell the tourists not to play the game, but that probably would have got me bashed, because the dealer has 4 or 5 fake players that play occasionally and always win (to trick tourists into thinking it's an easy game to win). Usually one of them is big, and I'm assuming he's the one that bashes you if you reveal the trick.
Finally, I went to Montmartre. It's a very artsy district, and dudes like Picasso and Dali apparently lived here at some point of their life. This is also the area where the Moulin Rouge and lots of clubs are in Paris. There's also a giant hill, which is one of the highest areas in Paris. You can get a lift up the hill, but to achieve street cred, I took the steps. Here a pic from the top of the hill:
There's also the Sacre Coeur basilica at the top of the hill:
That was enough tourist attractions for me. Time to have a drink. I knew a French girl in Paris, Melanie, who I had met 5 years ago in London. She took me to a few bars and we drank a fair bit of Guinness. At one bar, I waited for ages while a patron and a bartender were arguing in French. I had had enough of this and asked the friend of the patron what the argument was about. The patron was angry because he ordered a Jagerbomb, and the bartender tipped the yager into the redbull, instead of floating it on top in a shotglass. The bartender said it was still the same thing, but the patron demanded another drink. I was asked for my opinion. I told them they were both wrong. The bartender should have floated the jager shot on top of the redbull, but the patron should man up and just drink it. Anyway, it was good to see Melanie, and a nice end to my time in Paris.
Summary
Awesome:
The parks, squares, open spaces and monuments that make Paris one of the nicest cities in the world to see.
Craptacular:
Annoying, dumb tourists everywhere, taking way too many pictures and walking way too slowly.
What's Next
My final destination of the trip, the UK.
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