Travel Alphabet History (X) eXhausted
In 2009 Joe and I went to Paris. I had spent weeks planning out everything we were going to see in detail. It was kind of like a puzzle. Every museum in Paris has one day during the week that they are not open and one day during the week where they are open late. I planned out what was near which museum and what we could see in the area based on the museums closing times. I crammed at least three major sights to see each and every day. I wanted to make sure that we got to see everything.
We were in Paris for five nights, which I thought was plenty of time. Our trip was actually five nights in Paris and then we were going to take the Chunnel train over to London and stay there for five nights. I had no idea just how big Paris actually was. It’s a huge city. All the names of all the streets change just about every block so it’s really easy to get lost even with a map which is exactly what happened. Still, we made our way to see everything I had planned.
On the first day of arrival after checking into our hotel we went for a walk along the River Seine and then made our way to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The experience was memorable but for all the wrong reasons. There were a series of elevators required for each level and the wait time for each elevator was about 30 minutes. So we have a 30 minute wait to get our tickets and get on the first elevator to level one. Then another 30 minute wait to get to level 2. And then another 30 minute wait to get to level 3. This doesn’t include the 30 minutes each level to get back down. It was windy and cold at the top and even though the view was incredible, Joe and I were suffering from our Jet Lag. Joe kept saying, “This is incredible but I’m going to jump off.” I couldn’t really concentrate because I was cold.
The next day we went to Notre Dame and continued an incredibly long walking tour to the next locations, mainly because we got lost. We went to Eglise St. Eustache, the Musee National Picasso (which was way far out and hard to find), then walked all the way down the Avenue des Champs Elysees from the Concorde. We ended up at the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the stairs to the top to see the sun set. Then we walked down to the Eiffel tower to see it lit up at night. The Eiffel Tower was gorgeous at night and Joe took my favorite pictures from our trip of it. I did regret that we didn’t take time to climb to the top of Notre Dame to see the gargoyle statues. The line was long and I felt we were running out of time.
The third day we went back past Notre Dame. The Crypt was open so we went down inside to see it. The smell was pretty musty. We continued to Saint Chapelle , the Catacombs, took a tour through the Jardin du Luxembourg, went to Secre Coeur and took a walking tour through Montmartre to the Moulin Rouge. We ended the evening with a Seine River Cruise. The Catacombs were an experience. On the way there I could no longer deal with my allergies. I’m basically allergic to Europe so whenever I’m there my nose runs and my eyes keep watering so badly that it nearly incapacitates me. Joe and I went to the pharmacy to get medicine but the pharmacist didn’t speak English. He asked if he spoke Spanish and another customer in the shop said she did. So it became a three-way translation where the Pharmacist would ask a question in French to the lady. She would then ask Joe in Spanish and then Joe would ask me in English. I would answer and the language chain would continue back and forth until I got my medicine. It was the coolest thing ever. It was so freaking cool! Let me just say that being bilingual kicks ass. I’m only sorry I don’t know any other languages. The medicine worked like a charm almost immediately.
I had a strange experience in the Catacombs. I don’t believe in ghosts or get scared easily but I did actually start to freak out down there. They only allow 200 people at a time down and it’s pretty deep underground. The isolation, cool air, being that far underground combined with the 6 million human skeletons just really freaked me out. We were separated from any other people in the dark hallways with human bones everywhere around us. As we continued on, there were some areas where water leaked down from the ceiling, which freaked me out even more. It was an awesome experience and I would go again but I was definitely not expecting to get so creeped out. The Moulin Rouge was the biggest disappointment of the trip. I was expecting it to be an olden village type of area with a windmill. It’s really just a building with a modern red windmill on top. It was the only thing in Paris I saw that seemed disingenuous and touristy. If I could go back in time I probably would have checked out the Montmartre Cemetery instead which we only had time to walk by.
The next day we went to Le Pantheon, the Eglise de la Madeleine and the Musee du Louvre. Le Pantheon was huge. I had no idea how big it actually was. The murals on the walls were a sight to behold. We even saw Victor Hugo’s tomb. The Musee du Louvre was of course gigantic. I still can’t believe that we did actually walk through every corridor in the entire museum. The highlight for me was finding a room full of Goivanni Paolo Pannini paintings. There were so many sculptures and paintings we could have literally spent and entire week in there.
On the last day we went to the Musee Rodin, the Chateau de Versailles and the Musee d’Orsay. The Rodin housed my favorite sculpture “The Gates of Hell.” It was literally his house turned into a museum for his sculptures. We didn’t really have time to see the gardens at Chateau de Versailles so we only saw the palace. The tickets we bought included a little train ride through the town of Versailles. Joe was kind of embarrassed to ride on the train. I guess he thought it was for kids or families but I liked it. It was a nice touch to our expedition to Versailles, we got to see the town and it was fun. I’m also glad we went to the Musee d’Orsay because I almost wanted to skip it. It really is an incredible museum with entire rooms dedicated to famous artists
The entire time we were in Paris we were on the move. Our schedule to see everything was so tight that we literally did not have time to eat. We would get back to our hotel at the end of the day with the intention of going back out to eat dinner but would just crash out and fall asleep. We never once went out to dinner our entire trip. We were just too exhausted. We didn’t have much time to eat either so meals mostly consisted of a quick sandwich from a café or from a street vendor’s cart. And even with all that we still didn’t have time to see Napoleon’s Tomb and Opera House. My feet were so sore I had to keep stopping to sit down for a few minutes and rest in the museums. I think I wore the soles of my shoes completely flat. I am definitely planning to go back to Paris only next time take it slower and make time to eat because I honestly can’t say that I’ve experienced French food. Exhausting as it was though, we did see a ton of things during our stay. We covered so much ground I really feel like I embraced the city and it’s incredible.
We were in Paris for five nights, which I thought was plenty of time. Our trip was actually five nights in Paris and then we were going to take the Chunnel train over to London and stay there for five nights. I had no idea just how big Paris actually was. It’s a huge city. All the names of all the streets change just about every block so it’s really easy to get lost even with a map which is exactly what happened. Still, we made our way to see everything I had planned.
On the first day of arrival after checking into our hotel we went for a walk along the River Seine and then made our way to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The experience was memorable but for all the wrong reasons. There were a series of elevators required for each level and the wait time for each elevator was about 30 minutes. So we have a 30 minute wait to get our tickets and get on the first elevator to level one. Then another 30 minute wait to get to level 2. And then another 30 minute wait to get to level 3. This doesn’t include the 30 minutes each level to get back down. It was windy and cold at the top and even though the view was incredible, Joe and I were suffering from our Jet Lag. Joe kept saying, “This is incredible but I’m going to jump off.” I couldn’t really concentrate because I was cold.
The next day we went to Notre Dame and continued an incredibly long walking tour to the next locations, mainly because we got lost. We went to Eglise St. Eustache, the Musee National Picasso (which was way far out and hard to find), then walked all the way down the Avenue des Champs Elysees from the Concorde. We ended up at the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the stairs to the top to see the sun set. Then we walked down to the Eiffel tower to see it lit up at night. The Eiffel Tower was gorgeous at night and Joe took my favorite pictures from our trip of it. I did regret that we didn’t take time to climb to the top of Notre Dame to see the gargoyle statues. The line was long and I felt we were running out of time.
The third day we went back past Notre Dame. The Crypt was open so we went down inside to see it. The smell was pretty musty. We continued to Saint Chapelle , the Catacombs, took a tour through the Jardin du Luxembourg, went to Secre Coeur and took a walking tour through Montmartre to the Moulin Rouge. We ended the evening with a Seine River Cruise. The Catacombs were an experience. On the way there I could no longer deal with my allergies. I’m basically allergic to Europe so whenever I’m there my nose runs and my eyes keep watering so badly that it nearly incapacitates me. Joe and I went to the pharmacy to get medicine but the pharmacist didn’t speak English. He asked if he spoke Spanish and another customer in the shop said she did. So it became a three-way translation where the Pharmacist would ask a question in French to the lady. She would then ask Joe in Spanish and then Joe would ask me in English. I would answer and the language chain would continue back and forth until I got my medicine. It was the coolest thing ever. It was so freaking cool! Let me just say that being bilingual kicks ass. I’m only sorry I don’t know any other languages. The medicine worked like a charm almost immediately.
I had a strange experience in the Catacombs. I don’t believe in ghosts or get scared easily but I did actually start to freak out down there. They only allow 200 people at a time down and it’s pretty deep underground. The isolation, cool air, being that far underground combined with the 6 million human skeletons just really freaked me out. We were separated from any other people in the dark hallways with human bones everywhere around us. As we continued on, there were some areas where water leaked down from the ceiling, which freaked me out even more. It was an awesome experience and I would go again but I was definitely not expecting to get so creeped out. The Moulin Rouge was the biggest disappointment of the trip. I was expecting it to be an olden village type of area with a windmill. It’s really just a building with a modern red windmill on top. It was the only thing in Paris I saw that seemed disingenuous and touristy. If I could go back in time I probably would have checked out the Montmartre Cemetery instead which we only had time to walk by.
The next day we went to Le Pantheon, the Eglise de la Madeleine and the Musee du Louvre. Le Pantheon was huge. I had no idea how big it actually was. The murals on the walls were a sight to behold. We even saw Victor Hugo’s tomb. The Musee du Louvre was of course gigantic. I still can’t believe that we did actually walk through every corridor in the entire museum. The highlight for me was finding a room full of Goivanni Paolo Pannini paintings. There were so many sculptures and paintings we could have literally spent and entire week in there.
On the last day we went to the Musee Rodin, the Chateau de Versailles and the Musee d’Orsay. The Rodin housed my favorite sculpture “The Gates of Hell.” It was literally his house turned into a museum for his sculptures. We didn’t really have time to see the gardens at Chateau de Versailles so we only saw the palace. The tickets we bought included a little train ride through the town of Versailles. Joe was kind of embarrassed to ride on the train. I guess he thought it was for kids or families but I liked it. It was a nice touch to our expedition to Versailles, we got to see the town and it was fun. I’m also glad we went to the Musee d’Orsay because I almost wanted to skip it. It really is an incredible museum with entire rooms dedicated to famous artists
The entire time we were in Paris we were on the move. Our schedule to see everything was so tight that we literally did not have time to eat. We would get back to our hotel at the end of the day with the intention of going back out to eat dinner but would just crash out and fall asleep. We never once went out to dinner our entire trip. We were just too exhausted. We didn’t have much time to eat either so meals mostly consisted of a quick sandwich from a café or from a street vendor’s cart. And even with all that we still didn’t have time to see Napoleon’s Tomb and Opera House. My feet were so sore I had to keep stopping to sit down for a few minutes and rest in the museums. I think I wore the soles of my shoes completely flat. I am definitely planning to go back to Paris only next time take it slower and make time to eat because I honestly can’t say that I’ve experienced French food. Exhausting as it was though, we did see a ton of things during our stay. We covered so much ground I really feel like I embraced the city and it’s incredible.