We booked our apartment through Airbnb. Having never booked using this forum before, we weren't 100% sure what it would be like but after reading many positive reviews we felt more comfortable that this was a legitimate and more economical alternative to booking a hotel. The apartment we rented is a very spacious, well appointed 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment which was renovated not too long ago. It has an open concept kitchen/dining room/living room with three access points to a large balcony off this area. Each bedroom overlooks the courtyard. It's conveniently located a couple blocks from the Metro station and has several restaurants and cafés around it. It's away from all the tourist hustle and bustle, more in a locals' neighbourhood. There is a great pastry shop a couple blocks away where we've purchased a few (maybe more than I'll admit to) very tasty treats. I was pleasantly surprised with how lovely this apartment is! The owners were here to greet us upon arrival and they were very pleasant. They even left a little Canada flag in a vase in the kitchen for us.
After settling in a little, we got started on our tour of Paris. We started by taking the river cruise. The cruise is 1 hour 10 minutes and takes you down the Seine river highlighting all the major buildings/tourist attractions. The tour is narrated into many different languages. It also gives you a good vantage point to view many of the spectacular bridges that cross the river. There are 37 bridges that cross the Seine river.
After the river cruise we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower, about a 10 minute walk. The Eiffel Tower was erected in 1889 and was the entrance arch for the World's Fair. Both Z and I on previous visits had been up the tower so we skipped it this time. We made our way to the Arc De Triomphe- construction of which was ordered in 1806 by Napoleon, and cost 9.3 million French francs at that time. On our way to the Arc, we came upon some rollerbladers who were demonstrating some very impressive tricks on their skates. There were even a couple who rode down a fairly long set of stairs. West of the Arc is Avenue des Champs-Élysées, one of the most famous and most expensive streets in the world. Even the MacDonald's on this street features high-end treats like macaroons. This marked the end of our first day....we were all rather pooped from all the walking we did.
Day two consisted of making use of our museum pass to fast track into the Louvre. Z and I spent a little time in here looking at the Greek sculptures before heading off to Sacre Coeur Basilica. Z's mom wanted to explore the Louvre more so we ventured off ourselves. Sacre Coeur is a sight to see. It stands at the highest point in Paris on the hill of Montmartre and just towers over the city. The views from here are breathtaking. Construction of the Basilica began around 1875 and finished in 1914. The interior is absolutely stunning with its painted ceiling and beautiful stained glass windows. This basilica is unique in that the building exterior is white and is well preserved to maintain its colour. Many other buildings in the city have turned black from all the pollution. You can either walk up the stairs from the main street access or take a funicular. There is a grassy area on the hill side where people sit and take in the city view. It truly is stunning up there and now probably one of my favourite areas in Paris. Time was short because we stopped for lunch first and as I'm finding restaurant servers aren't in a real hurry around here and so lunch took longer than I had anticipated. We had to get back to meet up with Z's mom so exploring the Montmartre area will have to be another day.
After the Louvre/Sacre Coeur visit we made our way to Notre Dame. Entry to view the cathedral is free, but talking a tour of the towers is another story. This tour is included in our museum pass but the line up was too long for us to wait. We did queue up to see the cathedral as this line was moving relatively quickly. While the cathedral is also beautiful inside, I think Sacre Coeur beats Notre Dame out hands down. The French Gothic architecture of the cathedral is impressive though particularly the intricate details seen in the stone work.
We popped into Musee d'Orsay quickly before it closed. This museum houses Impressionist art collections from 1848 to 1914, including many pieces from my favourite artist's work, Monet.
Our last stop of the day was Musee de L'Institut du Monde Arabe which was open later than most museums. This museum provides some history of the Arab world. Compared to other museums visited this one did not have a large collection of artifacts on display or exhibits.
This last museum is in the Latin Quarter and so we walked around this area for awhile and found a Lebanese restaurant where we ordered take away dinner. I had a great tasting falafel sandwich and Z had makanek (a Lebanese sausage) sandwich which we enjoyed in a park overlooking Notre Damn. What a fantastic way to end day two in Paris.
With all the walking we did, I really didn't feel bad indulging in a tasty strawberry pastry for dessert afterwards!! I kinda wished that I had a pedometer on me as I'm very curious to know how many steps and kilometres we are walking on this trip.
Had I known the French Open would be on during our time in Paris, I would have looked into getting tickets to a match or two. But we only realized it once here and by then getting tickets was proving difficult.
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