We went there on a day tour (or more like, a 30-hour tour), with a bus that picked us up from Den Haag Friday night, and dropped us off in Bercy (Paris) at 6:35 in the morning.
Spoiler: Lots of pictures ahead. xD
Sleep drunk, shivering in the cold wind, we were trying to orientate ourselves. Looking back, those first ten minutes were hilarious, we were just dazedly standing there. xD
We found a metro station quite near, and went there to ask about. The lady (Sonya) was really nice and helpful, and told us we better get a day card for the metro, instead of getting a ticket at every stop. Everyone under 25 (four of us seven) also got a special Saturday-price, so it wasn't half as pricey as dad had expected it to be. (He wanted to cruise Paris on foot. Right now, looking back at it, that is simply laughable. All our muscles are aching horribly and we didn't even walk all over the place.. Or well, we did, but not .. oh well, you get it. Or not xD)
At 07:00 we were at the Louvre, and the first thing I did was look for the glass pyramid, wondering whether Mary was really buried. (Stupid Dan Brown putting ideas in my head D; )
We walked all the way down the Tuilleries, pretty sight, lots of fountains, and with our back to the Louvre, we could look out and see Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe and Cleopatra's "needle" (an Egyptian Obelisk)... Just from afar, that is.
Then we walked up close to the Obelisk, then looked for the nearest Metro station.
Took us a while to find the Metro, but really, I have to admit that that network is just as complete in France (Or Paris anyways) as the bicycle network is in Holland~
We got out in Montmartre (funnily enough the neighbourhood our french novel was about when I last took French -three terms ago-) and just walked there, through Place de Tertre, full of painters, sketchers and other artists... Someone stopped me, and then proceeded to cut out the profile of my face into black paper within one minute. Absolutely brilliant.
Then we asked for directions, and walked up to the Sacre Coeur... From up there, you could just give your back to that amazing building and look over all of Paris... Every tower, building, dome and museum could be pointed out. Plus, it was sunny, so the whole city looked like it was shimmering~
The Sacre Coeur on the inside was absolutely stunning. I usually like the way churches look on the inside, but this was just beyond good-looking. It's an absolute shame I wasn't allowed to take pictures there, the whole ceiling had lovely paintings on it, and it was all so.. warm.
Something that might have added a bit to it's magic was that when me and sis stepped inside, a second later the choir started singing. Right before we left it, they stopped. Coincidental timing, but spiffing all the same...
We went down, and took the Metro, heading for Tour Eiffel. I hadn't quite gotten the idea that we were actually going up there, and I was irked like crazy because dad kept urging us to hurry up everywhere. We had to switch Metros anyways, so I got them persuaded to go and see Arc de Triomphe as we got off one line to get on the next (it was a three minute walk from the station)...
And back down, to Tour Eiffel...
Only to find it so friggin' packed with tourists it wasn't even funny anymore..
The queue in front of the ticket booth must have been longer than 2kms (that's about 1,3 miles), and it wasn't going fast at all. I was actually quite content not going up, which would have meant wasting I don't know how many valuable hours to see Paris from up high, like how we saw it from the Sacre Coeur, only more... centric.
So we just took a crapload of pictures and wandered around a bit.
Whilst I was posing for a picture I hear a "mmmmwah" sound next to my ear, and before I know it this stranger kisses me on the cheek.
So what, you ask? It's Paris, after all, city of love.
Well, this stranger was wearing a clown's nose and pilot headgear D; So yeah.
xD Got a picture with him anyways.
Then we went to the most important place (to me, anyways. I'd been yearning to see it for years now) : The Notre Dame. Truth be told, I hadn't imagined it quite so impressive, beautiful and big as it turned out to be. I am thinking of getting a few of those statues, a pillar or two and some plated glass for my own future home. I'd build my own mini-Notre Dame 8D
In there, we /were/ allowed to take pictures. Or we did take pictures, at any rate. There weren't any "Forbidden to use camera" posters anywhere.
After that we took it slow, walked a long way, ate something, took the metro and went back to Bercy. We sat at a cute little cafe until it was almost time for us to leave, tired and numb, but entirely content.
Not a lot of sleep on the way back, I couldn't. Every part of my body had started aching (and still is, at that, two days later. Only far, far less.) and the view was interesting.
Came home, took a shower, and slept like a rock for the first time in... a year? (the sleep, not the shower D;)
Bloody awesome xD.
Oh. Yes.
An extraordinary amount of Harry Potter posters in France.
Practically every Metro-station-wall.
Couldn't resist taking a picture. (Or five)
xxx
The Gypsy
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