Paris

Travel Dates: October 25, 2013 to October 28, 2013

We arrived in Paris in the evening at the Villa Eugenie hotel. It was conveniently located next to a metro station, and while the rooms sported an old-time Parisian feel, they weren't the cleanest of sorts. However, our concierge Daman was really nice and helpful; he gave us tips for getting around the city and recommended nightly eateries for us to try. The nice thing about the Villa Eugenie was that it was walking distance to a lot of delicious hole-in-the-wall eateries, and because all these were a ways from the Paris city center, the meals were very affordable as well.

For our arrival dinner, we ate Italian food at the Santa Maria. Our host didn't speak much English, but one thing he conveyed well: when we ordered wine with our dinner, he said the most popular sound in Paris is that of liquor bottles being uncorked.

Seafood pasta with marinara sauce

 The next morning, we made our way to the Paris Tourisme office, where we had ordered our pink Paris Museum Passes to be picked up. I love this pass--it allowed us to skip very, very long lines at famous attractions, saving us a bunch of time. If you make it to three museums covered by the pass, you've already gotten your money's worth out of a 2-day pass.

We caught our double-decker hopper bus at the Opera House (Palais Garnier), one of the most famous opera houses in the world. I would have loved to tour this place, had we more time--it was the setting for Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, one of my favorite musicals.

We often cut through the Tuileries Garden on our way to and from the Louvre Museum. Commissioned by Queen Catherine de Medicis after the likeness of a Florentine garden, it certainly speaks to an ambiance of romance and relaxation. In autumn, the leaves turn a rustic shade of orange and brown; fallen leaves border the lush lawn and dot the footpaths in bursts of hot colors on the cool, green landscape.

Our first stop from the tour bus is the Avenue des Champs Elysees, lined with designer boutiques and brand-name shops. It certainly is a shopper's paradise, but were here for the sights, not the shops.

 

We dropped by the Arc de Triomphe and, after figuring out how to take the underground to get to the Arc, we climbed the 164 feet up to gaze at cars whizzing by in the city below.

View from under the Arc

View from atop the Arc. Paris spans out in a complex and artistic web off to the vanishing point.

The stark-white Basilica of Sacre-Coeur can be seen in the distance.

After descending from the Arc de Triomphe, we walked along the Champs Elysees and window-shopped our way back to the bus station for pickup.

In front of Louis Vuitton, where each display window sports a golden dinosaur skeleton.

At the Toyota Store

 Here's one of my favorite stops: Laduree! I don't swoon over macrons to begin with, but man, were these good. Light, airy, and fluffy on the outside, with chewy, true-to-flavor centers. The store front is classically Parisian.

Goodies in the display window at Laduree

 

This box of 8 cost way too much for cookies, but boy, were they yummy.

 Of course, what's a trip to Paris without a stop at the iconic Eiffel Tower? I couldn't get online tickets in time to ascend the tower, and the line was ridiculous to even try.

We did enjoy the tower view from the nearby Cafe Branly, where we stopped for lunch. It took us forever to find this cafe, tucked in the Musee de Quai Branly, which is more visible from the street front.

Open-faced smoked salmon sandwich for lunch

More touring: the Luxor Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde

 Attached to the chain link fences of several bridges along the Seine River are countless locks. These Lock Bridges represent a movement by Parisian and tourist lovers, who would write their names or initials on a padlock, lock it to the bridge, and throw the keys in the Seine as a symbol of their eternal, unbreakable love. Though officials saw this as vandalism and graffiti and tried to clip off the locks in the past, they couldn't keep up with the numerous lovers. Personally, I think the metallic glitter of the hundreds of locks on the bridge look rather artistic, as colorful and vibrant as the city itself.

A representation of eternal love

We used our Paris Museum Passes to get into the Louvre over two days. It's no wonder this museum in its enormity used to be a fortress and palace. It holds a reputation as the world's most visited museum, and the throngs of tourists that form long lines at its entrance can attest to this any day of the year. In all its grandeur, decadence, and stores of amazing world treasures, this was my favorite museum.

View of the Louvre courtyard and Inverted Pyramid

From the moment we set foot inside, we were accosted by art. From the marble staircases to the painted ceilings to the collections behind glass and the carved sculptures from the Renaissance period, all our senses went crazy from the vastness of the museum's treasures. Though more than 8 million visitors come to the Louvre each year, there are those who yearn to see it but could not in their lifetime; I couldn't help but feel so lucky to be pacing such an artistically rich building and gazing up at all the art, most of which have become icons in literary and cinematography references.

 

Statue of Pallas Athena

The famous Venus de Milo

Classically Greek. All the Athenas, Aphrodites, and Hercules we cared to see.

The Greeks did a great job of bringing forth the illusion of softness and fluidity in cold, hard marble by capturing the angles of the human form and the detailed drapes in the garments.

I love the ornate ceilings in the Denon Wing with their burnished gold details.

A favorite is the astrological representations etched in marble, with paintings depicting the four seasons clustered around the signs.

Time of the Scorpio

Crown jewels

A favorite piece of mine--intricate artwork on a thin, luminescent shell

Weapons and armor

French stained glass. I love how they are displayed with light behind them so we could see the details up close.

Famous Mona Lisa. We ran into her without even meaning to see her, as all roads in the Louvre lead to Mona!

I was so happy to be able to see the original Raft of the Medusa by Gericault. It was smaller than I thought it'd be, but just as dark as depicted in the textbooks. This painting has moved me since I read about it; it makes me think of the boat generation of Vietnamese immigrants--those who braved the journey on the sea, those who didn't make it, and those who barely did.

The enormous scale of some of the oil paintings on canvas

Golden Jeanne d'Arc statue, erected in the Place des Pyramides to commemorate where she was wounded.

A snapshot along the Seine

We also visited the Musee d'Orsay,which doesn't allow photography of the artwork. It had a more modern feel than the Louvre and houses an impressive collection of Monet's works. Though less touristy, it didn't make as lasting an impression for me as the Louvre.

For dinner, we were going to visit a Parisian restaurant recommended by our concierge, but it ended up to be closed, so we dropped by this hole-in-the-wall Malaysian restaurant called Langkawi that served up some of the best rice dishes we've ever had in their pre-fixe menu, which included small appetizers and dessert. The host spoke several languages and fluently chatted with us in English throughout our meal, which made for a fun and intimate dining experience.

It took two tries to get into the notorious Angelina's cafe. We gave up the first evening we tried to get in, as it was raining and there was a snaking line of customers wanting hot chocolate. We decided instead to drop by the next morning for breakfast, and the meal and hot chocolate did not disappoint. For someone who's not big on sweets, Tung actually had a second order of the hot chocolate!

Chocolate display in Angelina's

For our last full day of touring, we started off at the Sainte Chapelle...

...because the line into the Cathedral of Notre Dame looked like this, so we gave up:

Gargoyles guard the Gothic towers of the St. Chapelle

This tiny cathedral was hushed and sombre inside. The first floor boasted primary colors that made me feel like I was engulfed in rich velvet.

But the second floor was what blew you away, with its towering display of stained glass depicting every possible scene from the Bible. As the sun moved across the sky and its rays illuminated the rich colors, you were bombarded with details in a kaleidoscope of hues.

We tried our luck again at the Notre Dame toward the evening. It was drizzling and the line looked shorter, but that ended up being because they had closed the way up to the bell towers for the night. Drats, I really wanted to climb those and have my "Hunchback of Notre Dame" experience. The Notre Dame was a half-church, half-tourist-attraction, with a place reserved for sermons and worship roped off in the middle, glass-door confession booths in all different languages flanking one side, and tourists meandering and being shoved along the alleyways to the flow of foot traffic. For that reason, it struck me as a strange clash of purposes--too rushed as a tourist attraction and too distracting as a place of worship.

 

Flying buttresses of the Notre Dame

A highlight of the visit: the Rose Window in all its glory

Dinner for our last night in Paris. Hey, sometimes you've just got a hankering for sushi.

One of my favorite parts about the Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport in Paris---these ultra-sweet lounge chairs for long layovers! Brilliant floor plan. All airports should offer these, as who wouldn't want to stretch their legs before being all cramped up on a long flight? And by the way, for those who are into Laduree macrons, there are a few kiosks that sell them in CDG--no ridiculous lines like that along the Champs Elysees shop!

Next up, flying back to the US to visit our last Capital for the tour, Washington DC.