Ok, Ok…I know I’m a bit late with this post (we’re now in the beginning of October, and Paris was wayyyyy back in early July)…oops! better late than never 😉

We spent roughly 10ish days in Paris, and never ran out of things to do, so here are a few of the activities we enjoyed:

The Eiffel Tower: (duh!) This one is a no-brainer.  How can you come to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower!  Great pics can be snapped from the Champ de Mars (the lawn area in front of the tower), but if you want to go to the top of the tower, you better get there early!  From what I remember, it opens up 9am (ish), so plan on being in line no later than 8:15am, unless you want to wait in a looooong line!  My personal favorite time to see the tower was at night…when it is lit up and sparkling.  Starting around 9pm, the lights go on and “sparkle” for about 5 minutes, and this happens on the hour, ever hour, from 9pm to maybe 12am or 1am.  It’ll make you feel like a little kid at Disney World! 🙂

The Louvre: Anther no-brainer.  This museum is huge, and has tons of famous art works and other interesting things to see.  The most famous, of course, is the Mona Lisa painting.  Be prepared to wait in an overpacked room, squished against random people for what will seem like forever, just to get up to the front to snap a pic of the Mona Lisa encased in (what I’d imagine is bulletproof) glass.

Arch of Triumph: A must-see.  However, seeing this won’t take very long.  It’s in the middle of a very crowded road area, and pedestrians must use an underground walkway to get up to the Arch.  Very easy to get to by metro (at the Charles de Gualle-Etoile stop).

The Rodin Museum: Home of the famous “Thinker” and “The Kiss” sculptures, and many other cool sculptures by Auguste Rodin.

Moulin Rouge: the outside of the building makes for pretty cool pics (both day and night), and you might as well see the world-famous cabaret show while you’re there.  However, in my opinion, the show (Feerie) was like a cheesy amusement park show + boobs. Not worth the price, if you ask me, but…it’s the Moulin Rouge, so you gotta do it. Buy tickets at least a day in advance as the shows typically sell out.

Sacre Coeur Basilica: By far, the most beautiful church I’ve ever seen! It sits on a hill top in Monmartre and provides beautiful views of Paris.  Be prepared to walk up hilly streets in Monmartre (and stop at some of the local restaurants for a bite), and then climb lots of steps to get in the church.

Versailles: An extravagant palace with humongous gardens! It’s about an hour or so from Paris, and can be reached by train, but we signed up for a day-tour paired up with a tour of Giverny (Monet’s house/gardens).  A tour of the palace itself can be incredibly crowded (and boring, IMO), but the gardens are definitely worth seeing.  Also, if you walk to the very end of the gardens, there’s a little pond where you can go for a boat ride.  Makes for a very romantic row boat experience if you’re there with your significant other <3

Giverny: (The 2nd half of our day-tour) Home of Claude Money and contains the garden where he created the famous “Water Lilies” painting.  Being in the gardens will make you feel like you’re in the Garden of Eden….absolutely gorgeous!

Notre Dame Cathedral: Pales in comparison to the beautiful Sacre Coeur (so maybe see this one first between the two), but still worth seeing!

The Love Lock Bridge (aka Ponts des Arts): A romantic bridge where couples from all over the world can make a symbolic gesture of their eternal commitment to each other by writing their names or initials on a lock, locking it to the bridge, and throwing away the key.   Some may call this vandalism….but I call it romance 🙂

Catacombs:  If you can stomach it, this huge grave holds the remains of roughly 6 million people.  Skulls and femur bones artistically decorate the passages with things like skulls in the shape of a heart, or a skull vase.  hmmm….creative or disturbing?

Rue Cler: (Near the Eiffel Tower) A cute little pedestrian street lined with cafes, restaurants, cheese and wine shops, bakeries, and gelato stands.  Great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  All of the restaurants have outdoor seating, and eating/drinking while people watching is a great way to pass the time. (Just  watch out for the low flying crack pigeons)

Latin Quarter: (Near Notre Dame/Love Lock Bridge) Another good place for meals, happy hours, and people watching.

Bastille Day Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower: If you can make it to Paris, come in July! July 14th is Bastille day in France, and in my opinion, the fireworks show in Paris are by far the best I’ve ever seen (I used to think DC had the best until this year). Before the fireworks start, there are opera singers that I would have paid to see!  Between the beautiful music, enthusiastic French/international crowd, awesome fireworks show along to classic songs (including The Beatles), and being able to picnic and have champagne on the lawn, I think I can easily say this was one of the most memorable experiences of our trip!

There you go…enough suggestions for what to do in Paris to keep you busy for at least a week!

Until the next post!

S