Paris: The City of Lactic Acid...I mean Light

In the morning. we tended to our frostbite and second-degree burns from our shower at the Hotel Sante Fe. Then, Julie decided to brave the breakfast buffet a second time. Based on her description of the experience, the dinning hall would be better named, "The Petri Dish" - a cesspool of rudeness, germs, and chaotic children acting as vectors. She acquired some pastries on her mission and returned unscathed, a feat that shouldn't go overlooked. After listening to her heroic tale of securing the Pan au chocolat from the beastly brigade of bacteria, we shifted our focus to Paris.

Seine River

View opposite previous picture

We planned a full day of sightseeing in the City of Light - a "full day" is an overstated understatement, but we managed to survive. We walked to the train station and boarded the RER to Paris. The ride takes about forty-five minutes and we even had some (unwanted) entertainment. Ironically, at the Noisy-champs station, a middle-aged man boarded the train with an accordion, a speaker on a dolly, and his tambourine-wielding son. The street-rat peddling was imminent - the doors closed and we were burdened with amateurish accordion music accompanied by the jangle of an unenthusiastic tambourine. The father and son finished their set in three stops and the boy went through the train with a cup looking for compensation. At the fourth stop, Val de Fontenay, both vacated our car and high-tailed it to the next one. We heard echos of the same songs for the next few stations.

Building in Montmarte

Street in Montmarte

Arriving at Les Halles, we switched Metro lines and proceeded to our first attraction of the day, the Louvre Museum. To our delight, the line was minimal - providing us ample time to take pictures outside before joining the cattle call. A half-hour later - we were through security, had our tickets, and each a Nintendo 3DS with a headset. The Louvre is massive, even the museum map is mammoth, therefore; we spent a few extra Euro for the little gaming device. Each Nintendo is loaded with gallery maps and myriad interactive features. We selected the "Masterpiece Tour," a great way to find the works everyone else is there to see.

The Louvre

Alexandros of Antioch - Venus de Milo

Michelangelo - Rebellious Slave

Michelangelo - Dying Slave

I would hate to see the museum during the height of tourist season, it was bad enough plodding my way through the sixty tourist to wait for the front-row view of the Mona Lisa. As expected, the 3DS came in very handy, finishing our "guided" tour in less than two hours. For the remainder of our visit, we switched the Nintendos to identify works of art that were in our proximate area. We were at the Louvre for three hours and I don't think we saw half of the exhibits, but we needed to get outside and experience the rest of Paris.

Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa

Coronation of Napoleon (at Notre-Dame)....the art of the segue

We got back on the Metro and headed towards Cité, changing trains at Châtelet. Exiting the station, we arrived at our destination, Catédrale Notre-Dame. Similar to the cathedral in Luxembourg City of the same name, both share Gothic design - but Notre-Dame de Paris features flying buttress supports and is much larger. We exited the church and walked east - taking a few more pictures before making our way across Pont de l'Archevêché (Archbishop's Bridge). We didn't have a "love padlock" with us, but I think the bridge has plenty.

Catédrale Notre-Dame

High altar

Archbishop's Bridge

We crossed the Seine River and continued to the Panthéon, burial site of famous French figures: Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Voltaire, and Marie Curie (only female in necropolis) - to name a few. Unfortunately, the Panthéon has an admission - one we weren't willing to pay given the Foucault pendulum was undergoing major repair (and won't be re-installed until 2017, a most complex restoration for a simple device). Instead, Julie and I walked down Rue Soufflot towards the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens). Generally, one has a slim chance to find a seat by the fountain in front of Palais du Luxembourg, but it was nearly December - there was chairs sitting in chairs to stay warm (well, they were stacked). The weather was tolerable - allowing us to enjoy the view of the palace, the fountain, and the top of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We left the garden and got back on the Metro and headed towards the Catacombs, but we were greeted with disappointment. Upon exiting the station and crossing the street, the line was wrapped around the block. We were informed that it would take approximately two hours to get to the entrance - news that had us turn around immediately.

Locks of Love

Panthéon

Jardin du Luxembourg with Eiffel Tower

Palais du Luxembourg

We changed our course for the next attraction on our list, Sacré-Cœur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart). Our legs were already feeling the burn after several hours of walking and the sight of the stairs at Sacré-Cœur added to the lactic acid buildup. Fortunately, we had a 24-hour public transportation ticket - including access to the cable car to the top of Montmarte. Our legs rejoiced for the advancement of hill-climbing technology - as a added bonus, we got sit down for a brief two minutes. The view from Montmarte (highest elevation in Paris) was magnificent, even on a meh-weather day (like we had).

Street in Montmarte with Basilica

Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Highest point of Paris

Moulin Rouge

Moulin de la Galette

While in Montmarte, we strolled over towards Place du tetre, an area teaming with painters and caricaturist. We would have loved to purchase a painting, but the ends didn't justify the means - nor did bartering facilitate a more appropriate price. To finish our circuit of Montemarte, we did our best impressions of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - searching for giants. Instead, we found the Moulin Radet (a windmill) at the Moulin de la Galette, a place that served as inspiration for many artists (Renoir, Van Gough, and Picaso). Our last stop, the Moulin Rouge - birthplace of the can-can among other things. We didn't spend much time here, enough to take some photographs and marvel at the price for entertainment (€200 a seat).

Arc de Triomphe

Champs-Élysées

Under the Arc de Triomphe

After feigning interest in a show at the Moulin Rogue, we came back to reality and boarded the Metro at Blanche. We made our way to the most confusing traffic circle I have ever seen - the twelve spokes surrounding the Arc de Triomphe. The monument appears to be surround by a moat of automobiles - either a civil engineering masterpiece or nightmare. We continued down the Champs-Élysées and walked around the Parisian Christmas Market. From here, we boarded the Metro and went to our last stop, the Eiffel Tower. We got off at Trocadéro and proceeded to the Palais de Chaillot overlooking the tower. The top of the hour approached and we found an area on the stairs to sit and wait for the light show. The illumination was a great way to end our exhausting day in Paris. We took the Metro one last time, changing over to the RER, and returned to our less than humble abode at Disney.