Hey y'all,
It has been a looooog time since I posted anything... Actually, I haven't been too consistent since last year, with an incredibly long pause between my last two posts as well. I don't think I can even begin to apologize for this absence, and I am contemplating if I should pour it all out here to you...
But anyway, it isn't like my life has been on a stand still. In fact I have tons of stories to share from New years onwards. But first, here is my Paris story, painted in Pink for you.
So, the first time I was in Paris was on my 25th Birthday at Paris Disneyland (I am such an adult!! LOL)... I visited the coveted Eiffel tower, walked from Arc de triomphe all the way through Champs Elysee and past Louvre. Danced and ate both in the heart of Paris and at Disneyland. For 3 days it was all things Paris and all things french... And in all honesty, I was extremely dissappointed. I felt the city was overly romanticized for what it was truly worth, the subways were no better than trash holes, people were unfriendly and rude, the city stank of piss and dump, food was just about average (and to imagine, I was coming from UK out of all the places), the crowd was insufferable, and almost everyone seemed to smoked and wayyy too much for my liking...
Don't get me wrong, it was still a lovely city with many a nice things to see but it left such a bad taste in my mouth (with food and the smoking included) that I never wished to visit it again. My partner, who has also been to Paris with his family, has a similar impression and opinion. For those of you who haven't been to Paris yet, let me tell you something bloggers and articles on Paris leave out everytime...
a) French train and metro services are one of the worst in Europe, with frequent strikes, quite often being out of order and really unmaintained.
b) Watch out for the Parisian taxi drivers, they are RASH! Just be on the safe side and cross only when the coast is absolutely clear.
c) Soooooooo many tourists, literally spoils the mood at times, be it in a restaurant, near a landmark, in a museum or just outside your hotel door at 6 in the morning.
d) The city literally stinks... If there is one scent I can strongly associate Paris with, it is the smell of piss, no matter it is across the bridge, under the bridge, at a corner, on the stairways... It literally reeked of pee in every outdoor open space.
e) The extremely irritating immigrants with their sign up sheets that wander around the big attractions, asking if you speak english, and ask for money... Ugh, if there is one thing worse than loud annoying tourists, it is the street scammers who ask you to sign up for some non-existent cause and oblige you to cough up some change.
So, with all that, niether of us were too keen on visiting it again. However, this spring, after seeing many a lovely pics of cherry blossoms in Paris on instagram, I felt a bit inspired to give it another go. My partner agreed, as we wanted to see if it would be any different as a romantic getaway. Besides we wanted to give Paris another chance to stand up to its reputation.
We planned to spend a weekend, from 20th - 22nd April, at Hotel des Canettes located at the heart of the city. After an initial hiccup with the train service, we arrived at Bercy bus station in the middle of the night at about 1:45 AM. To get to our hotel we needed to catch a Metro.
As expected from a busy city, or the city of light as it has been rightfully nicknamed, Paris was more than alive at that hour, especially since it was a friday night. Or perhaps it is always like that...?! While approaching the Metro station to get to our hotel, we got a little cautious as the entrance looked more like a dumping site, with large overturned dumpsters, and absolute chaos. Thankfully, it wasn't too complex to get a single trip ticket and find our way to the right subway platform.
Once at the station closest to the hotel, we walked down an extremely busy street, filled with chattering crowd at 2 in the morning. Restaurants had only started to pack up. It was suprising, yet reassuring at the same time, since we were not alone. Once in the hotel, we realised that the street noise could be a major problem... However we were too tired from the trip and found sleep easily.
Next day was the testing time... The plan was to hunt for cherry blossoms in Paris, visit Eiffel, have a picnic in a park and perhaps visit Sacre-Coeur. I had a feeling that we were already a little too late to catch the sakuras at their blooming best. But first, breakfast. Ham and cheese omelette can feel like magic at times...
From there we walked further to Montparnasse tower, atop which you could have a lovely 360 view of Paris, along with a great angle of the Eiffel tower. This was certainly worth the 17 euro we paid (each) to get to the rooftop. After spending about 1.5 hour there, we made our way towards the Eiffel tower, making pit stops only to buy some essentials and delectable choices for our Picinc to be had at the foot of the Eiffel tower. After walking all the way up to the Avenue across the tower, we searched for a nice, quite and shaded spot on the grass as the sun was really scorching through out the day.
After a nice satisfying meal, a bit of rest and lots of natter, we decided to go over to the 18th Arrondissement where Sacre-Coeur is. I was already quite tired but my main motivation was not the church but the famous pink cafe, La Maison Rose just around the corner from Sacre-Coeur. We arrived there at about 6PM, and had a cold beverage as the sun was really dehydrating us fast. After a short break, we walked up a small hill, atop which the church Sacre-Coeur was built, and indeed, the view of both the church and the pink cafe were absolutely gorgeous... Plus we got to watch the sunset over the horizon behind the Eiffel tower from atop the hill. How grand is that? On our way back, we also went past the highly covetous Moulin Rouge. I would love to watch a show there, someday...
Well, the rest of the evening would have been great had it not been for the loud singing and talking at 4 in the morning outside the hotel that kept us from sleeping... The noise continued until about 6:30 in the morning. Only at about 7 AM, was there an absolute silence and we finally fell asleep for about 2 hours. We had plans to wake up early and watch the sunrise, but because niether of us could sleep well through the night we decided to start later at 9:45 AM.
For the 2nd day, we had planned a trip to Notre-Dam and the rest of the day in Louvre until our train timing. Although the beginning of the day was rough and went not according to the plan, both Notre-Dam and Louvre turned out to be an absolute treat. First, at Notre-Dam we had the utmost fun of shooting lot of lovely photos of the sakura. And secodly, I finally got to see the most famous painting in the world, Monalisa, along with several other exquisite pieces of art at the Louvre. However, I think the highlight of the day had to be the peaceful and sombre walk along the river bank, from Notre-Dam to Louvre, with low traffic, cool breeze, and alot of sunshine...
Hope you enjoyed the post and that it helps you in anyway to get an idea about Paris. If you would like to know more about planning your trip, good photography locations, places to eat or a few general tips on Paris, please let me know :)
It has been a looooog time since I posted anything... Actually, I haven't been too consistent since last year, with an incredibly long pause between my last two posts as well. I don't think I can even begin to apologize for this absence, and I am contemplating if I should pour it all out here to you...
But anyway, it isn't like my life has been on a stand still. In fact I have tons of stories to share from New years onwards. But first, here is my Paris story, painted in Pink for you.
So, the first time I was in Paris was on my 25th Birthday at Paris Disneyland (I am such an adult!! LOL)... I visited the coveted Eiffel tower, walked from Arc de triomphe all the way through Champs Elysee and past Louvre. Danced and ate both in the heart of Paris and at Disneyland. For 3 days it was all things Paris and all things french... And in all honesty, I was extremely dissappointed. I felt the city was overly romanticized for what it was truly worth, the subways were no better than trash holes, people were unfriendly and rude, the city stank of piss and dump, food was just about average (and to imagine, I was coming from UK out of all the places), the crowd was insufferable, and almost everyone seemed to smoked and wayyy too much for my liking...
Don't get me wrong, it was still a lovely city with many a nice things to see but it left such a bad taste in my mouth (with food and the smoking included) that I never wished to visit it again. My partner, who has also been to Paris with his family, has a similar impression and opinion. For those of you who haven't been to Paris yet, let me tell you something bloggers and articles on Paris leave out everytime...
a) French train and metro services are one of the worst in Europe, with frequent strikes, quite often being out of order and really unmaintained.
b) Watch out for the Parisian taxi drivers, they are RASH! Just be on the safe side and cross only when the coast is absolutely clear.
c) Soooooooo many tourists, literally spoils the mood at times, be it in a restaurant, near a landmark, in a museum or just outside your hotel door at 6 in the morning.
d) The city literally stinks... If there is one scent I can strongly associate Paris with, it is the smell of piss, no matter it is across the bridge, under the bridge, at a corner, on the stairways... It literally reeked of pee in every outdoor open space.
e) The extremely irritating immigrants with their sign up sheets that wander around the big attractions, asking if you speak english, and ask for money... Ugh, if there is one thing worse than loud annoying tourists, it is the street scammers who ask you to sign up for some non-existent cause and oblige you to cough up some change.
So, with all that, niether of us were too keen on visiting it again. However, this spring, after seeing many a lovely pics of cherry blossoms in Paris on instagram, I felt a bit inspired to give it another go. My partner agreed, as we wanted to see if it would be any different as a romantic getaway. Besides we wanted to give Paris another chance to stand up to its reputation.
We planned to spend a weekend, from 20th - 22nd April, at Hotel des Canettes located at the heart of the city. After an initial hiccup with the train service, we arrived at Bercy bus station in the middle of the night at about 1:45 AM. To get to our hotel we needed to catch a Metro.
As expected from a busy city, or the city of light as it has been rightfully nicknamed, Paris was more than alive at that hour, especially since it was a friday night. Or perhaps it is always like that...?! While approaching the Metro station to get to our hotel, we got a little cautious as the entrance looked more like a dumping site, with large overturned dumpsters, and absolute chaos. Thankfully, it wasn't too complex to get a single trip ticket and find our way to the right subway platform.
Once at the station closest to the hotel, we walked down an extremely busy street, filled with chattering crowd at 2 in the morning. Restaurants had only started to pack up. It was suprising, yet reassuring at the same time, since we were not alone. Once in the hotel, we realised that the street noise could be a major problem... However we were too tired from the trip and found sleep easily.
Next day was the testing time... The plan was to hunt for cherry blossoms in Paris, visit Eiffel, have a picnic in a park and perhaps visit Sacre-Coeur. I had a feeling that we were already a little too late to catch the sakuras at their blooming best. But first, breakfast. Ham and cheese omelette can feel like magic at times...
From there we walked further to Montparnasse tower, atop which you could have a lovely 360 view of Paris, along with a great angle of the Eiffel tower. This was certainly worth the 17 euro we paid (each) to get to the rooftop. After spending about 1.5 hour there, we made our way towards the Eiffel tower, making pit stops only to buy some essentials and delectable choices for our Picinc to be had at the foot of the Eiffel tower. After walking all the way up to the Avenue across the tower, we searched for a nice, quite and shaded spot on the grass as the sun was really scorching through out the day.
Well, the rest of the evening would have been great had it not been for the loud singing and talking at 4 in the morning outside the hotel that kept us from sleeping... The noise continued until about 6:30 in the morning. Only at about 7 AM, was there an absolute silence and we finally fell asleep for about 2 hours. We had plans to wake up early and watch the sunrise, but because niether of us could sleep well through the night we decided to start later at 9:45 AM.
For the 2nd day, we had planned a trip to Notre-Dam and the rest of the day in Louvre until our train timing. Although the beginning of the day was rough and went not according to the plan, both Notre-Dam and Louvre turned out to be an absolute treat. First, at Notre-Dam we had the utmost fun of shooting lot of lovely photos of the sakura. And secodly, I finally got to see the most famous painting in the world, Monalisa, along with several other exquisite pieces of art at the Louvre. However, I think the highlight of the day had to be the peaceful and sombre walk along the river bank, from Notre-Dam to Louvre, with low traffic, cool breeze, and alot of sunshine...
So, to sum it all, hotel services and environments could have been better. Perhaps next time I would choose a better starred hotel at an enclosed area... The food was wayyyyy better this time round. Try the local restaurants away from any of the attraction spots. According to my partner, the experience with people was also lot better as he did all the talking (in french). The crowd cannot be controlled but you can choose timings to visit the attractions, when the crowd is a bit less unbearable, like early in the morning or very late in the evening. Overall, has Paris redeemed itself to us?? I think it certainly has. I would love to visit it again with my love at a slightly less busy season (if there is any) and see the difference.
Hope you enjoyed the post and that it helps you in anyway to get an idea about Paris. If you would like to know more about planning your trip, good photography locations, places to eat or a few general tips on Paris, please let me know :)
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