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Paris 02 Ancien - Quartier Palais-Royal

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    • TravelerMy Big OE
      Day 22

      Notre-Dame Tower

      April 16, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

      The visit to the Notre-Dame Tower is a climb of around 400 steps and only costs a few euros (or is included in the museum pass I bought). The downside, besides the stairs, is that they only let 20 people up every 10 minutes so only a small queue can mean a long wait. I waited for just over an hour and passed the time chatting with a lovely couple from Ottawa behind me. We tag teamed and went to the toilet and got coffee etc so it passed quite quickly.

      The climb was pretty hard with the steps getting steeper and narrower the higher we got. The first level saw sweeping views and the chance to get the classic shot of a gargoyle looking towards the Eiffel Tower. Tourists before me had ripped holes in the netting to allow easier picture taking. On this level you got to see inside the bell towers and admire the luckily inactive bells.

      The next climb was even narrower and not for the claustrophobic but led to the very top viewing area. The views were from this high point stunning. It was nice to be able to see all the parts of the cathedral from this angle. The climb down was almost as tough with the spiral downwards making you a little dizzy.      Read more

    • TravelerMy Big OE
      Day 22

      Notre-Dame Cathedral

      April 16, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

      Despite staying so close to the Notre-Dame Cathedral I had not yet been inside. So it was that I found myself doing it on Easter Sunday (I had checked it was still open to the public). There were some signs saying Mass would going on throughout the day and that visitors were allowed but needed to be quiet and no flash was allowed. As I walked around taking photos with the lovely rhythm of the Mass being sung in Latin and French by the priests and a group of Nuns, it felt a bit surreal (and a little disrespectful). I found myself shushing the groups of tourists ignoring the signs in multiple languages to be quiet. However my sympathy for the church waned a little when I came to the shop (inside the church) which was still open and selling. Obviously tourist business was trumping religious activity.

      The cathedral is truly stunning and the music and mass made the visit even more special. I had come to think of it as my special place after staying so close for the past five days.      Read more

    • TravelerEurope 2016
      12
      Day 12

      Day 12: Paris, France

      July 18, 2016 in France ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

      Today we had a later start than we would have liked. It feels like we've been traveling for weeks and our bodies are tired and losing stamina. The sun didn't set in Scotland until 10:20 and it rose at 4:45 so we feel like zombies in the morning. Now that we're in Paris with AC, blackout curtains, and a comfortable bed, all we want to do is sleep, but we want to see everything, too. The good thing is that everything is closer in Paris than it was in London. Paris may be sprawling, but the main attractions and neighborhoods (or arrondissements) are incredibly close and the metro stops are very close together if you need to use them at all. Some other differences between the metro and tube is that the tube was used by everyone (businessmen, tourists, locals) where the metro seems to mainly be poorer to average locals and some tourists. Paris' boulevards are much wider (thanks to Napoleon) and therefore driving is possible where in London it was not. Today we walked to Ile de la Cite where Paris began in the 50s AD. It's a fairly small island in the middle of the Seine next to Ile de St. Louis. On the Cite there are several iconic places including St. Chapelle church (didn't tour), Conciergerie (where it was first a palace then a prison especially during the French Revolution where Marie Antoinette stayed) and of course Notre Dame. Notre Dame is the most visited monument in France (that's what the brochure said) and is stunning with it's 2 towers, rose windows, flying buttresses, and is the best example of gothic architecture standing. We took some pictures, but with the heat and long line, we decided we'd try early another morning. We walked across the bridge to the Latin Quarter (oldest quarter with iconic Haussmannian architecture) to Shakespeare and Company bookstore. This little independent bookstore is famous for the people who frequented it like Fitzgerald and Hemingway during the 20s. It was opened by an American and houses all English books. I bought a Madeline in Paris book and received their official stamp in the front cover. We then went to the Musee de Cluny. This is a medieval museum in a monastery most well-known for the Lady and the Unicorn tapestry ("I've come to see the tapestries" keeps running through my mind) which is shrouded in mystery since it's unlike anything else made at the time. Nice museum with few people. The building itself was really neat with it's gothic medieval architecture. We then walked to Jardin du Luxembourg and had a salad and cold tea and people watched. This is probably the most famous garden in France where people come to lay in the grass, eat, and let their poor cooped up city children run around. Kids also rent little sail boats to put in the murky fountain in front of the palace. We then walk to the Pantheon where King Louis XV built a secular building to the Saint Genevieve and where thousands are buried in the crypt below with lots of famous French people (like Rousseau, Voltaire, Hugo, Dumas, Braille, etc.). I found it amusing that the godless were buried here because they couldn't be buried in a church. After cooling off there, we headed back to the island, grabbed a chocolate crepe made fresh, jumped on the metro and headed back to the hotel to shower, cool off, and give our feet a rest. Some side remarks: I read in several places that everyone under the age of 35 knew English- that is so untrue. Except those at front desks, I'd say most do not know English here. They may know a few words, but they cannot carry on a conversation or understand anything specific. I'm totally blown away. I didn't learn French before we came here, so we've been going off Joel's high school French and it's saved us several times already ordering food, maneuvering the streets, and reading placards (which are all in French even in the museums). The children at church didn't know English (and their grandmother is American) and a teenager at church last night began in English and switched to French when he got too frustrated. Anyways... After our rest, we made our way down Champs-Elyses where they are getting ready for the tour de France next week. We decide to grab a cheap and healthy dinner at Pret-a-manger because last night's dinner was super annoying with our waiter not understanding Joel explaining allergies so he gave him more potatoes, not no potatoes. Sometimes our French is better than their English- and that's bad. We decide we're going to do 2 nice dinners with reservations and pre-explain the allergies and do pret the other nights. After dinner we walk to the Arc du Triumphe (walked under the street to get to it) and then used our fast pass to walk right by the line again. Joel thinks we're going to save ourself an entire day of waiting when this is all over. We walked the 200 or so steps to the top and we got an awesome view of the entire city as the sun sets. Everything is so close- you can see the modern downtown to the west, the eiffel tower to the south, the champs-elyses and the ferris wheel to the east and sacre-couer church NE. Totally worth it. We walk down and walk the other side of the boulevard until we want to take the metro the rest of the way to the Louvre to take some awesome night pictures. We're super tired and go back to the hotel to rest our weary little legs.Read more

    • TravelerFrance, Belgium, Ireland 2018
      Day 2

      Bordeaux!

      April 28, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

      LOVE this city! Had a jet lag adjustment, forgot my camera the first afternoon in, but I think I got this. Yesterday when I was buying a tram ticket at the kiosk, I finally felt like I had found my feet.Read more

    • Destination UnknownParis, France
      Day 5

      Walking

      November 9, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 48 °F

      After coming out of the metro, it was just a short walk to Angelina's, the tea house that we're going to. This must be a well to do neighborhood because we're passing some fancy designer boutiques. I like this covered walkway. This would come in very handy when it rains.Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure
      Day 49

      Paris - Again!!

      November 20, 2021 in France ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

      What a day we had today....... we woke up at 8:20am after a good nights sleep except for the rooster that started at 6am, however I had read about the rooster and knew what it was so I just turned over and went back to sleep.
      We had no hurry today as we were heading into Paris. Ellie bought tickets for the catacombs online and the earliest visit we could get was 5:45pm which was fine with us as that would give us a chance to look around the Christmas markets.
      We took the 100 mile drive to Paris and this is where the day started to go wrong.
      On the drive my best friend phoned me to tell me that his mum had died earlier in the week as I hung up I triggered a speed camera and I’m assuming it was faulty as I was doing 60mph on cruise control and the speed limit is 70mph.
      We had found a parking spot on park4night outside Paris in the town of Meudon and the description said it was a 5 minute walk to the station but in actual fact it was a 30 minute walk and when we got there the station we wanted was closed.
      There were some young french girls making a YouTube video there in English so we asked them where we could get the train and they told us there was another platform around the corner so off we went and while I checked our route on the Paris Metro app, Ellie bought the tickets.
      The train came and as I tracked us on the metro app I realised we were on completely the wrong train because our line wasn’t even showing up and the train was travelling to stations that didn’t exist on our app until we were 3 stops in but then we were on the metro line.
      Alarm bells were already ringing by then and panic was setting in that we were getting further away from Wanda who we had left locked up in the woods by a lake and we wouldn’t be able to find our way back.
      After 30 minutes we pulled into a station in the heart of Paris, exited the train and went to get on the underground but the barriers to leave the platform wouldn’t open. After 3 attempts a security guard came over, asked us where our tickets were and we showed him and he said they were wrong and didn’t look very happy at all. The fact that we couldn’t speak a word of french was just adding insult to injury. Then another guard came over who did speak English and he was frustrated that we couldn’t produce a ticket for the journey we had just taken. It turned out that the line we had taken was run by a different company and we had bought the wrong tickets, which obviously we didn’t realise and after telling them both he did say that he should fine us both €100 euros but as we are obviously idiots he would fine only one of us €50 euros and we paid the fine there and then.
      Not a good start to Paris, but like our last visit this seems to be a city we don’t get on with.
      From there we did get the tube and 2 stops later we were 1/2 mile from the Louvre museum and we started walking. Next to the Louvre there was a Christmas food market which was expensive but we looked away before I checked my watch and realised it was now 4:45pm.
      Then I checked google maps and realised the catacombs were 2 miles away and an hour walk.
      For the life of me I don’t know why we didn’t get on the tube again especially as we had tickets, but we did walk and got there just in time for our ticket time.
      The Catacombs were amazing, miles and miles of tunnels deep underground and an estimated 7 million bodies all stacked up on top of each other. It sounds gruesome but in actually fact, each year has it’s own tombstone and visitors are super quiet and respectful, I’m glad we got to visit as this was also high up on my photography list and last time we came they were closed.
      From there we walked back to the concierge building and by now it was dark and getting cold and we were hoping to spend the rest of the evening wandering the Christmas markets, but on reaching what we thought was the Christmas market actually turned out to be the night run of Paris for cancer. Gutted.
      We turned around and our legs and feet were really aching now. It was 8pm and we had spent 6 hours solid walking. We headed for the Louvre market and on the way I did manage to photograph the Louvre pyramid before finally getting back to the food markets where I got a paella and Ellie got a chicken curry which did fill us up. Then it was back on the tube to reverse course back to the station where we got fined and we actually got there.
      We couldn’t work out what ticket to buy to Meudon so Ellie went to the booth and got us tickets and it turns out they weren’t on the machines anyway so we couldn’t have bought one like that. 40 minutes later we were back at Meudon station and took the 30 minute walk uphill back to Wanda.
      14.5 miles we had walked and it was now 10:15pm, we were both knackered. I honestly felt like crying with relief once we had got back and just as I sat down with a beer who pulled up next to us??
      The vanlifers!!
      We are in a big car park in the woods, we were alone but out of this whole car park these idiots park right on top of us. Open and close doors for 35 minutes and talk right outside our windows until finally at 11:10pm they shut there sliding door and put there diesel heater on because they’ve let all there heat out leaving the door open.
      Vanlifers really are a different breed, the entitled, selfish idiots of the road and this has just reinforced that belief.      Read more

    • TravelerTour de France 2011
      Day 14

      An Evening in Paris

      July 21, 2011 in France ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      At Nike Paris on the Champselese, the 4 winner's maiuous (jerseys) of Le Tour were displayed proudly in the window. I was really tempted to get one, but unsurprisingly they were extremely expensive.

      When I stopped for my second crepe (Jambon et Fromage; because it was specifically crepes plural in the plan) I met a very charming young lady from Switzerland. We chatted away in a gazebo near the Eiffel tower for about an hour, and exchanged stories of travel and and a few points of culture. It was very pleasant indeed.

      I decided to limit my self to entering just one attraction with an entry fee. I considered Muse' de Louvre, but decided that the restrictions on photography would be too frustrating. At the eiffel tower and Arch de Triomph, I was put off by queues. I opted instead for the River cruise; it seemed fitting to use another slightly off-beat mode of transport on the trip. I departed from the base of the eiffel tower at 20:00, the cruise lasted just under an hour, and I had a great chuckle at the extremely cliched' commentary. I picked a fairly good time, as at the point where we had finished traveling up-river, and turned about to come back the lights of Paris were just beginning to come on.

      After the cruise I wandered the area to the north West of the eiffel tower. (If I'm honest I got a little bit lost around this point, but eventually got back to the eiffel tower).

      I stopped for a snack, and when I emerged from the restaurant (which I'm sorry to say was a McDonalds, but I was trying to keep things a bit austere) night had properly fallen and I began making my way back along the Sene. Paris is, of course, full of beautiful renascence architecture and by night the grand buildings look more striking if anything. Each structure is enhanced with lighting designed to accentuate it very best aspects. I was quite annoyed with my self for not having brought my tripod (as when I set out I had it in mind to return to the hotel before nightfall), I ended up balancing my camera on my knee, bollards or fencing in an attempt to stabilize it for longer exposures but, I'm sorry to say, with limited success.

      In my revere at the sights, I quite lost track of time and, having walked back down the sene beyond the Louvre missed the last Metro train back to my hotel. It was all the more irritating for the fact that I was stood beside the last train as it waited on the platform, but found the signage quite confusing and only realized that was the train I needed as the doors were closing (had I twigged a couple of seconds sooner, I would have been on it). After that train rolled out the board changed to "Service termine'". I wandered around looking for another train but eventually found that there were no more. So my journey on the metro ended up being just an expensive walk along the escalators and travelators of a particularly extensive Metro station.

      Having wandered Paris all day, I now had to make my way back to the hotel. I had forgotten to turn my phone to "airplane mode", so it had used all its power by the early evening in a futile attempt to find my home (as opposed to a roaming) mobile network. Consequently I had to navigate my way through Paris, a city with which I have no familiarity, by night using just land-marks and periodically referring to the metro maps which are positioned at the entrances to most of the metro stations.

      I managed to find a fairly direct route, but was quite weary by the time I finished. My feet certainly felt that they had had their fill of Paris. I got back to my room and was just about to retire to bed, when the fire alarm went off. This resulted in much wandering around in night clothes trying to figure out what was going on, but it was eventually explained that "Its good to sleep; alarm not good, but its good to sleep.". So ended my "Jour rapose" in Paris.      Read more

    • Tre Donne in Italia
      21
      Day 11

      Saying goodbye

      May 30, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

      Our last beautiful day in Europe!! A very special trip with the best people. We will miss all the places, views, and people we’ve experienced along the way❤️

      Tre Donne Out ✌️… for now ;)

    • TravelerPARIGI
      Day 3

      Place Vendôme

      November 28, 2018 in France ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

      Uscite dal museo andiamo verso Place Vendôme. Lungo la strada facciamo un giro nel mercatino di Natale all'interno dei giardini Tuileries e ci fermiamo in un negozio di macarons per un caffè e un pasticcino.
      Continua a piovere, anzi diluvia quindi non riusciamo a goderci in pieno le bellezze della piazza famosa per le sue gioiellerie...      Read more

      See translation
    • Destination UnknownParis, France
      Day 5

      Walking Back

      November 9, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 48 °F

      On the way back to the metro, we passed several shops that seemed to be selling the same sort of Paris souvenirs that we've been seeing all over the city except that they were much more expensive here. We're guessing that the prices have gone up because this is a more well-to-do neighborhood. We'll just do our shopping elsewhere.Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Paris 02 Ancien - Quartier Palais-Royal, Butte des Moulins

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