Chapter 3 - Whirlwind Paris

Day 2 and we find we are thwarted by a National strike. The Metro and buses are affected, as are tourist attractions and heaven knows what else. Some things are open, some are not. Some bus and train lines running, some on complete shut down and some on partial shut down. We had big plans for the day, so headed out early.

We had all the line closures and partial open times written down and we were prepared We are staying in the Montmartre area and although supposed to be open in rush hour, our local station was shut up tighter than a drum.. Now what? Thankfully we had given ourselves lots of time. So, on went my data and we started walking. We were headed to the Eiffel Tower, and it was just over an hours walk from where we were - not including the 10mins we had already taken to get to the station. Off we go! We knew there was a chance the Eiffel Tower would not be open, due to the strike, as I had had an email the day before. We had purchased our tickets 2 months ago, so fingers were crossed. I had checked the website and my email, and no updates had been added. On the way there, we stopped at the Statue of Liberty flame. This was gifted to France from the US and is set as a memorial to Princess Diana at the entrance to the tunnel she died in.

When we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, we were thrilled that the gates were open and we were allowed in! As we walked around at the base taking photos, Kat was in awe. I’ve been before, but it is still a magnificent sight! There was no one in line for the elevators. Wait….there was no one in line anywhere, and the info booth was shuttered and dark. I checked the website again and now the update was there. Closed for the day. 🥲. Are you kidding me??? The security personnel that Kat us in are obviously not in the same union as the rest of the workers. Well, hell. Only upside that I could see is that Graham, Kat’s husband had asked her to save some of the sights for when they go to Paris together (sometime in the future). Eiffel Tower ✅.

What to do now? Catacombs is open and we need to be there for 1:30pm which is when we booked for. So we have just enough time to walk to the Arc D’ Triomphe (30 mins back the way we came) AND get to the catacombs on foot if we can not get on the metro. Line 1 was apparently running all day and this would work for us IF it really was open. We decide to give it a shot. Only tickets available start at 12:30, but we figure maybe we can get some on the spot when we get there. On arrival, there are armed military personnel walking around, and some kind of ceremony happening under the arch. Looks like it could be a Rememberance Day service, a day early. Who knows - but the ticket office is closed so we can only take our photos and wander a bit. We consoled ourselves that we were getting to see a lot of Paris, with all the walking! So Arc D’ Triomphe for Kat and Graham to see together ✅.

Next up - the Catacombs of Paris. This IS open. Website says they have to close by 5 due to the strike, which is fine by us! We check the route map and head for line 1. Open -yeehaw!! When we get to the interchange station, Line B is also open as it is SNCF and not affected by the strike. We get to our destination with 1.5hrs to spare and head to this amazing and eclectic cafe for a fabulous lunch. Kat is able to get escargot which she loves (and they did them beautifully) and I got a house made country style pâté which was also wonderful. Rest of the lunch was lovely as well and we headed to the Catacombs with happy tummies.

The Catacombs are are located twenty meters underground in a maze of galleries (only some of which are open to the public). The area is an ossuary containing the remains of approx 6 million Parisians, according to records. The Catacombs were installed in the tunnels of former quarries. and this unique site recalls the history of quarrying in Paris and how the Catacombs came to be in the old quarries. Preparation work began shortly after a 1774 series of basement wall collapses around the Holy Innocents' Cemetery added a sense of urgency to the cemetery-eliminating measure, and from 1786, nightly processions of covered wagons transferred remains from most of Paris's cemeteries to a mine shaft opened near the Rue de la Tombe-Issoire. The ossuary remained largely forgotten until it became a novelty-place for concerts and other private events in the early 19th century; after further renovations and the construction of accesses around Place Denfert-Rochereau, it was opened to public visitation from 1874. Since 2013, the Catacombs have numbered among the fourteen City of Paris Museums managed by Paris Musées. Although the ossuary comprises only a small section of the underground mines of Paris, Parisians currently often refer to the entire tunnel network as the catacombs. Although I have seen bone chapels in Portugal, they are nothing at all compared to this. The Catacombs of Paris defy anything you can believe, just by the sheer quantity of bones in these tunnels. I loved the audio guide and the history of this unique site!

Next on our list was to get photos at Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris and then head to Sainte Chapelle. The Sainte-Chapelle is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century. We were able to get back on the B line and come out right at Notre-Dame. There is a ton of construction here and I don’t even know if it was open. We took our photos and headed over to Sainte Chapelle. Oh look - closed due to a “social action”, which we assumed was the strike. Lots of police and barricades, so maybe it WAS something else. We walked all around the Halls of justice block (about 2km!!) but there was no way to even see Sainte Chapelle from the outside. Sainte Chapelle for Graham and Kat ✅.

Time was starting to run out for us as we had tickets to Moulin Rouge and needed to get back to our hotel to change and have dinner first. We were nowhere near a metro line that would get us to where we are staying, so we were on the hoof again. Luckily, we were able to take a short detour to go and see the outside of the Louvre and the Pyramids. We did this, took a few photos and marched on. As we got close to the Opera house, we were able to take a Metro line that took about 25 mins off our walk, thankfully. We then only had another 25 mins to go to our hotel and made it back by 5:15, after stopping for some cheap wine to bring home.

Quick change and out the door for dinner and then the show. Dinner was amazing and so much food we could not eat it. We could easily have shared! It was a 3 course meal for 30€, so good value - especially for what we got!

Both of us were dying. Our feet and ankles were killing us and we were just plain exhausted. It’s been a whirlwind couple of days, for sure. But, we still had Moulin Rouge to attend! We stayed in this area specifically because it was close to Moulin Rouge - and so lucky we did as it’s only 10mins walk from the hotel. We were early and got a great table to watch the show. Our tickets came with half a bottle of champagne (each), and it’s a wonderful way to go! The costumes during the show were magnificent. The show itself - meh. We were both a bit disappointed, to be honest. It was crazy expensive and we would rather have seen Cirque du Soleil. There was dancing and of course the Can-Can. But, there was no “theme”. Each act seemed to be a small act unto itself and there was no consistency (other than lots of titties on display) between them. There were also acrobatic acts (balance, strength and acrobatic roller skating) and these were far and above better than the dancing. The show was over 1.5 hrs long and I can honestly say that both of us fell asleep at one point or another during the show!! We were happy when it ended and could escape back to the hotel. I think we were in our beds in record time!! Kat leaves in the morning and now has to Uber, due to the reduced service on the metro, for Armistance Day. She heads out before 8am, so a good sleep was needed.

Just to note, we walked over 32,000 steps and almost 24 km yesterday, thanks to the National Strike Day!Read more